CH 127

Tl Amy: Changed game’s “main body” to “mainframe.” 

(Is it?) 

There is always a difference between one’s own property and that of others. Shen Dongqing couldn’t do it, so he finally changed his style and resorted to climbing over the fence.

Zhou Wenyan: “Climbing over the wall is also fine.”

He backed up a bit, ran up two steps, and easily landed on the fence with one push of his long legs. He stepped on the top and asked the man below, “Can you come up?”

Shen Dongqing believed there was no problem and emulated Zhou Wenyan’s method of climbing. It’s just that his height was nearly the same as Zhou Wenyan’s, therefore he didn’t appear as smooth and effortless. 

The Zhou family’s old residence was in a relatively quiet spot with no nearby residents. Disregarding their image, the two crouched on the fence, peering at the home behind the fence.

The place had been closed for a long time, and it was somewhat lacking in character perhaps because no one lived there. The yard was covered with fallen leaves and desolate.

“Is it really here?” Zhou Wenyan asked the man beside him.

Shen Dongqing cupped both palms over his chin: “I’m not sure. I’ll know when I go in and take a look.”

After all, it had been 180 years since he had heard where the mainframe of the game was. Time passed, the seasons changed, and he had no idea if there had been any demolition and reconstruction.

“The Zhou family’s old house has a history of more than a hundred years,” Zhou Wenyan commented, hearing this.

It wasn’t until after repairs and development nearby that it became a wealthy neighborhood.

Shen Dongqing: “Then let’s go in first.” 

Zhou Wenyan drew Shen Dongqing and jumped down the fence, creating crisp sounds as he stepped on the dead leaves in the yard.

Shen Dongqing walked around the yard in a circle.

“See anything?” Zhou Wenyan asked as he followed behind him.

“I don’t see anything else,” Shen Dongqing said, shaking his head, “but the fengshui is extremely bad.” 

Zhou Wenyan was slightly surprised.

This family residence had existed for a century, and a skilled great master came to see it in the early years, stating it was an excellent land with extraordinarily good fengshui that would benefit future generations. But Shen Dongqing naturally had his reasons for saying this.

“Bad how?” inquired Zhou Wenyan.

“I’m fairly comfortable here,” Shen Dongqing explained, “so it’s not good.” 

Zhou Wenyan: ?

But he quickly understood.

What was the previous identity of Shen Dongqing? The Ghost King! The environment where he felt at ease had to be filled with yin energy, which was bad for ordinary people.

“It appears that the great master your family invited is a fake,” Shen Dongqing concluded. 

Something didn’t feel right to Zhou Wenyan.

That great master was the real deal. The master set the ghost marriage contract between him and Shen Dongqing, and it changed his life, so it was doubtful that he couldn’t discern if the feng shui was good or bad.

Unless…there’s a conspiracy at work.

But the most critical thing at this point was to locate the game’s mainframe. Zhou Wenyan could only put this matter aside for the time being and wait until the mainframe of the game was settled before asking his parents about the great master. 

Shen Dongqing noticed nothing peculiar outside and proceeded to the main entrance.

The entry was naturally closed, and there was no fence they could flip over this time, so Shen Dongqing could only open the door forcefully and with regret. A blast of frigid wind blew from the inside as soon as the door opened.

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Shen Dongqing, who was walking alongside him, was full of enthusiasm: “I want to bump into a ghost!”

If he ran into a ghost, he could also exercise his body.

It’s simply that the two strolled all the way into the old house, only to find the temperature drop, but no non-human creatures.

Shen Dongqing sighed: “No way—” 

This world can’t be so dull, can it? Wouldn’t it be difficult to get through the days ahead without even a single ghost?

When Zhou Wenyan heard his sigh, he burst out laughing and said, “There is a variety of delicious food and countless games you like outside.”

Only then did Shen Dongqing realize there was a signal, wifi, and a variety of games not available in the game world. How could it not be 100 times better than the game world?

“Then let’s get this over with swiftly!” he exclaimed, his eyes glowing. 

The Zhou family’s old house took up a huge space, and the two of them searched for a long time but couldn’t find the mainframe of the game.

Shen Dongqing squatted against the wall, thinking, “Could it be that I remembered incorrectly?”

They had gone over every room and found nothing out of the ordinary. The entire old property was clean; there were no ghosts, in fact, nothing at all.

Zhou Wenyan placed one hand on the stairwell banister and pondered for a moment: “There is also a basement.” 

Shen Dongqing raised his head and looked him in the eyes.

Zhou Wenyan’s hands were a touch itchy when he met that clear black-eyed gaze. He approached Shen Dongqing and brushed his palm along them, saying: “The basement will be the last place we look. If there is nothing, we will discuss it tomorrow.”

“I’m starving,” Shen Dongqing pouted.

“I’ll take you to eat something tasty later,” Zhou Wenyan coaxed, reaching out his hand. 

Shen Dongqing placed his hand in Zhou Wenyan’s and borrowed his strength to rise up. He was completely exhausted today and was dragged away like a sloth on Zhou Wenyan’s shoulder.

When Zhou Wenyan arrived at the basement entrance, he looked sideways at the man behind him and remarked, “Here we are.”

Shen Dongqing dashed away from Zhou Wenyan, examined the jade gourd on his wrist, and exclaimed, “It’s here!” He raised his hand, and in the darkness, the jade gourd on his wrist shone with green light.

Shen Dongqing was thinking about dinner, so he hurriedly opened the door and entered. 

The basement was dark, and they couldn’t see what was in there. Zhou Wenyan stepped back. From his perspective, Shen Dongqing had been devoured by the deep darkness.

His heart clenched for some reason, and he hurried after him.

Shen Dongqing entered the darkness as if passing through a barrier and arriving at the basement.

It was also dark inside. 

Nothing could be seen because there was no light. Even his own existence had vanished, leaving nothing but a dense black.

Fortunately, this state did not last long. Zhou Wenyan’s breath engulfed Shen Dongqing, and their fingers brushed, sensing each other again.

Beep—

A small light appeared in the darkness, perhaps a moment or ages later. 

The light then spread, illuminating the entire area like a starry sky.

When Shen Dongqing looked up, he noticed a glowing screen. The lights shining on it were not stars, but rather control buttons.

He moved over to the light screen and extended his hand with the jade gourd on it.

Beep, beep, beep— 

The sound became increasingly intense before disappearing completely after a few minutes.

The jade gourd on Shen Dongqing’s wrist was so bright that it almost drowned out the rest of the light in the room.

“You now have complete access.” A mechanical voice was heard.

Shen Dongqing jabbed at the light screen with his finger. He glanced at the multiple messages that were popping up and clicked “yes” on all of them. 

“…Shouldn’t you read them?” Zhou Wenyan reminded him.

Shen Dongqing: “There’s nothing to look at. This game is pretty stupid, so I changed everything.” He poked for quite some time before stopping. “Done!”

Zhou Wenyan inspected the light screen again.

What a pity he didn’t find any difference from before. 

Shen Dongqing prodded once more: “It is to modify the game system to make instance clearance easier and to prevent it from randomly dragging people into the game. The rest are core rules of the game that no one can change.”

“What core rules?” asked Zhou Wenyan.

“No matter how you get in, you have to clear the instance before you can get out,” Shen Dongqing explained. He paused, then raised his hand, “Cheaters like me don’t count.”

He added another remark after he finished speaking: “But I can also cheat for folks who have previously played with us. Just a moment, I’ll let our little pals out.” 

Whatever Shen Dongqing did, the light screen flickered, and Fang Qi, Wu Jia, Blueberry, and others appeared on it.

He clicked OK, and the figures on the light screen vanished.

“It’s over, let’s go eat something nice,” Shen Dongqing said as he clapped his hands.

Zhou Wenyan hesitated for a second before asking, “Is it over?” 

Shen Dongqing: “If not, then?” He made a list with his fingers, “I want to eat BoBo Chicken, pudding, stewed duck, and roasted wings. Hurry, hurry, or it’ll close if we delay.”

He dragged Zhou Wenyan from the basement. Zhou Wenyan returned his gaze to the light screen behind him before departing.

The spots of light on the light screen fluctuated for a bit before dimming and returning to pitch-black.

“What do you want to eat?” Shen Dongqing inquired. 

Zhou Wenyan was thinking about something, so he didn’t respond right away.

Shen Dongqing leaned in close: “Huh? Why do you look a bit off?”

“I keep feeling it’s too simple,” Zhou Wenyan said, placing his hand on Shen Dongqing’s shoulder.

Shen Dongqing puffed his cheeks out: “How hard can it be? It’s not like playing games where you have to defeat a boss to advance to the next level. Even if there is a boss, I’m unbeatable.” 

That’s right.

Shen Dongqing was the game’s most powerful boss. Nobody could ever stop him.

Only then did Zhou Wenyan feel a smidgeon of relief.

Zhou Wenyan and Shen Dongqing were both much more relaxed after dealing with the game. Furthermore, Zhou Wenyan was a rich second generation with plenty of money. They had a terrific time for two days eating, shopping, and exploring. 

During these two days, Zhou Wenyan’s subordinates also located people who had left the game, the first of whom was Fang Qi.

Shen Dongqing still had an impression of Fang Qi, and when he heard the news, he dropped the game in his hand and said, “Let’s go see him!”

Fang Qi happened to be in the same city as them.

The two went to have a look and discovered that Fang Qi was a college student, a sophomore, who was rushing out of school with his books to eat. 

Shen Dongqing approached him and greeted, “Hi—”

Fang Qi slammed on the brakes and gazed hesitantly at the brightly smiling Shen Dongqing: “Hello… Do we know each other?”

Shen Dongqing looked Fang Qi in the eyes and saw a blank expression. He was so silly and innocent that he didn’t appear to have experienced the game at all.

“I got the wrong person,” he simply stated. 

Fang Qi: ?

Then he watched as the guy who had suddenly appeared, disappeared suddenly as well.

Shen Dongqing returned to the street coffee shop and told Zhou Wenyan, “He doesn’t remember.”

“Don’t you forget the past when you exit the game?” Zhou Wenyan replied softly as he stirred the coffee with a little spoon. 

That’s when Shen Dongqing recalled this setting.

They didn’t forget because Shen Dongqing opened the back door. Fang Qi’s plug-in, on the other hand, was rather low-end, and he forgot everything after he exited.

“But it’s nice to forget,” Zhou Wenyan added.

Shen Dongqing thought so too. After all, not everyone was eager to remember what happened in the game. Since Fang Qi had forgotten this period of time and started over, there was no need to bother him. 

“Let me play with your phone, my phone is dead,” Shen Dongqing said from the side.

Yup! He’d magnificently upgraded to an Internet addiction teenager just a few days after leaving the game. He was fortunately in his twenties and unlikely to be myopic. Otherwise, he’d already be wearing spectacles.

Zhou Wenyan pulled out his phone and handed it over.

Shen Dongqing took it and noticed a text on the screen: “Your message.” 

When Zhou Wenyan looked down, he noticed it was a message from Dad Zhou. It stated: Your Mom and I are currently in Europe, so it’s a bit inconvenient to talk. If you have any questions, we’ll discuss it when we return. It’s only that the Zhou couple’s European tour would take at least a month or two.

Even if the matter of the game was resolved, Zhou Wenyan was still perplexed as to why the game’s mainframe would appear in their basement, so he contacted his parents. It’s merely that the two were honeymooning in Europe, and it took them so long to respond.

Zhou Wenyan couldn’t force the two to return, but the matter was truly urgent, so he had no alternative but to pick a suitable hour and call when it was daytime in Europe.

Toot, toot, toot— 

Nobody picked up the phone.

Zhou Wenyan didn’t think much of it when no one answered the phone the first time, but when no one answered the second time, he sensed something was amiss and called Dad Zhou’s secretary and requested him to contact Dad Zhou.

The secretary worked quickly and efficiently, returning a call to Zhou Wenyan when he was through.

“Chairman Zhou said that he is in Europe, so you do not need to contact him unless there is an emergency. You can make your own decision, Young Master Zhou.” 

“He answered your call?” Zhou Wenyan questioned after listening to him.

“Ye..yes,” the secretary said, taken aback.

Zhou Wenyan hung up with the secretary and dialed Dad Zhou’s number again.

Still, no one responded. 

Zhou Wenyan’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Dad Zhou took the secretary’s call but not his own. Is it possible that he was worried Zhou Wenyan would discover something?

Zhou Wenyan sent a message to the secretary.

“Please book me a flight to wherever Chairman Zhou is. The sooner the better.”