The Diary of a Renter

33. Fluctuations from Hometown

In the dead of night, within the data hub of the endless corridor, only the faint hum of energy flowing through the conduits could be heard. Fox was working overtime to process an abnormal spatial reading, while the Doctor assisted with biosignal filtering.

“Strange…” The fox pushed up its glasses, and an extremely subtle ripple in spacetime was magnified on the holographic screen. “This fluctuation frequency… is very familiar. It’s Earth’s technological signature, but the precision and energy level… are incredibly high. It’s like the technology has exploded for decades since we left.”

"Decades?" The doctor frowned. "We've only been here... for five years, haven't we?" Her voice carried a hint of barely perceptible hesitation. In the Infinite Game World, the flow of time is different from the outside world. Coupled with the continuous fierce battles and reconstruction, the changes brought about by five years are far more profound than those in five years outside.

“The flow of time is different in the main universe. Five years for us might have passed for our homeland… fifty years, or even longer.” The fox’s voice deepened as his fingers tapped rapidly, decoding the core encoding rules of the signal source. “That’s right, it’s Earth’s technology tree path, but it has reached a level we can’t even imagine. This signal… is an active scanning signal from a high-dimensional detector, and it seems… to have captured the unique energy signature of our building.”

Just then, the signal suddenly intensified! A highly unstable crack tore open in the center of the control room, and the scene coming from the other side of the crack froze the doctor and the fox in place—

It was a city skyline futuristic yet still vaguely discernible in its basic outline! Dynamic light and shadow flowed across the surfaces of towering skyscrapers, and silent aircraft traversed three-dimensional tracks… What made the doctor's heart stop was that, through her professional instincts, she instantly recognized the outline of a complex of buildings in the distance—a complex that had undergone complete renovation but still retained its core structure—it was the National Biomedical Research Center where she had worked day and night! Now, however, it emitted a cold blue light, resembling more of a technological fortress.

"Is...is this home?" The doctor's voice trembled with disbelief, and carried a sense of bewilderment stemming from a sense of disorientation. "But...how did it turn out like this?"

The cracks were extremely unstable and began to shrink.

"Coordinates locked! It's a parallel plane, and the time flow is faster than predicted! The signal source is a dimensional detection device on the verge of overload!" the fox exclaimed.

34. The trepidation of returning home

The news spread instantly. Rock, Zero, and all the "players" from Earth gathered, looking at the scene on the other side of the rift with mixed feelings. Five years (or rather, decades in their homeland) had drawn an invisible chasm between them and their homeland.

“Decades have passed… and my hometown has become… unrecognizable.” Pan Shi looked at the cold steel jungle and the completely unfamiliar city layout, his voice dazed. The old town, the noodle shop on the corner, the park where he used to exercise in the morning—all the places he remembered were long gone.

Zero, unusually, abandoned his cynical expression, his eyes deep and tinged with self-deprecation: "Heh, while we're fighting tooth and nail here, back home... they're quietly making a fortune, getting into cyberpunk."

Jiang Yu sensed the intense emotional turmoil in everyone's hearts, a mixture of excitement, unfamiliarity, alienation, and even a touch of sadness. He stepped forward and asked softly, "Want to go take a look? Since the signal is pointing towards us, perhaps... it's an opportunity to understand the current state of our 'hometown'."

Ultimately, a special "return-home observation group" was quickly formed:

Team Leaders: Doctor, Fox, Rock (They have the most direct yet blurred emotional memories of this "hometown").

Order maintenance: Jiang Yu (Source Key ensures the team's safety and return).

Technical Advisor: Steel Godfather (has an academic interest in highly advanced, purely technological civilizations).

Unexpected addition: Annie (she heard that the doctor was going back to her "hometown" and insisted on going to see what it was like).

With a complex mix of feelings of trepidation at returning home, and especially a sense of bewilderment at the passage of time, the team crossed the rift.

35. Familiar Strangers

They appeared at a hidden ventilation opening on the top of a skyscraper. Stepping onto the cold composite floor, the doctor took a deep breath. The air had a faint smell of ozone and highly filtered air freshener, completely different from the air she remembered that was a mixture of disinfectant, coffee, and the smell of everyday life.

The city before them gave these "hometown people" a tremendous shock and a profound sense of alienation:

They relied on their memories to find familiar landmarks—the research center where doctors once toiled day and night is now a "Global Genome Mapping and Precision Medicine Center" radiating a cold blue light, with serious-looking AI guards at the entrance; the former site of the Special Operations Command in Pan Shi's memory has become a fully automated "Unmanned Tactical Platform Dispatch Center"; the computer science building of Fox's alma mater has become a massive "Quantum Computing and Consciousness Uploading Research Institute." Familiar outlines are completely enveloped by technology, and the core has been unrecognizable.

People hurry along the streets, dressed in functional smart clothing, their expressions mostly calm or even indifferent, communicating silently through implanted devices or AR glasses. The once bustling street markets and lively shops have been replaced by efficient and tidy vending kiosks and holographic billboards. A sense of efficient yet cold order permeates the air.

They passed a community square and saw children playing a complex, holographic educational game, efficiently learning programming and physics. There was no mud, no chasing and roughhousing, no imaginative, childlike play like Anne and Teddy's. Anne, hugging her teddy bear, whispered, "Doctor, don't they...play hide-and-seek? Their teddy bear...can't it talk?" The child's innocent question, like a needle, gently pricked the hearts of the doctor and the others. They realized that childhood in their hometown had completely changed.

The fox attempts to access the public network, and a deluge of information floods in: society operates with extremely high efficiency, crime rates are incredibly low, life expectancy has increased dramatically, and many previously incurable diseases have been conquered. However, he also picks up on some vague terms—"emotional desensitization syndrome," "lack of natural contact syndrome," and "virtual nostalgia therapy." Technology has solved the problem of survival, but it seems to have brought new psychological dilemmas.

The Godfather of Steel marveled at the pure beauty of mechanics and logic. But the Doctor, the Fox, and the Rock, these "wanderers," grew increasingly heavy-hearted.

This is indeed their hometown, and the technology is flourishing along the expected path, but it seems... to have lost a certain "human touch" that they once took for granted but now cherish all the more in this building. A strong sense of alienation and loss, that "things are not the same and people are not the same," lingers in their hearts.

36. The Weight of Time

Based on the signal source, they needed to travel to the city's data hub. Along the way, they moved like ghosts through familiar streets, yet felt like complete strangers.

Standing outside her former research center, looking at the sign for the "Gene Mapping Library," the doctor recalled the anxious and passionate days when she and her colleagues would stay up all night analyzing data and racing against time for each case. Now, diseases seem to have been fundamentally solved by data prediction and gene editing—efficient and precise—yet she felt a sense of loss regarding the value of her profession.

She murmured, “Technology has saved lives, but… that sense of urgency and empathy that is directly connected to life… seems to have been diluted by technology.”

Pan Shi stood outside the former headquarters, watching the autonomous robot legion come and go, their discipline impeccable. He recalled the brotherhood he and his comrades had forged in the mud, sharing life and death, that unbreakable bond of trust.

Today, war (if it still exists) may have become a cold, algorithmic battle and a swarm of drones, with soldiers becoming remote operators. He felt a sense of pride belonging to his era being replaced by a more efficient ruthlessness.

The fox ventured into the database, attempting to find records of their disappearance as "Infinite Game Players." All it found were cold, impersonal files: "Individual No. XXX, lost contact during a 'Dimensional Anomaly Event,' exceeding the legal age for declared death; file sealed." Their relatives and friends had long since passed away or grown old.

They became true "traces of history," and no one even remembered why they disappeared. A sense of loneliness, as if utterly abandoned by time, welled up inside me.

They did not attempt to contact anyone.

In this highly monitored and developed society, the very existence of these "unregistered" people from the "past" is a huge anomaly. More importantly, they don't know how to face these "familiar strangers"—these "compatriots" living in a future they cannot understand.

37. Return and Relief

With mixed feelings and the recovered (discontinued) detection equipment, the team safely returned to the building.

The moment I returned, that cold, efficient, and slightly oppressive sense of the future was dispelled by the familiar atmosphere of the building: the aroma of Bloodaxe barbecue wafted over, Zero's boisterous welcome, Shirin's gentle starlight comforting me, and Annie's friends ran over curiously to ask, "Does the doctor have flying candy in her hometown?"

The stark contrast evoked a complex mix of emotions in the doctor, the fox, the rock, and others. But this time, beneath the surface of these emotions lay an unprecedented clarity of understanding.

Annie ran to the doctor, looked up at her, and asked, "Doctor, is your hometown... fun?"

The doctor knelt down, looking into the child's clear, curious, and vibrant eyes. The sense of loss she felt due to the passage of time and the changes in circumstances was suddenly diluted and soothed by the genuine warmth before her. She smiled, her tone firm yet reassuring: "That place... is very advanced and impressive. But there's no Annie, no Teddies, no noisy chatter... so, this is home."

The fox looked at the silent detector from its "homeland" in its hand and said softly, "The world we once desperately wanted to return to has already embarked on its own path. That path may be good, but it no longer belongs to us. And we... here, in our own way, have opened up new possibilities and are protecting something... that may have become scarce over there."

Rock slammed his shield down, his voice loud and resolute: "Yes! Our hometown has its own way of life, and we have our own way of living! Here, my fists and shield protect the tangible smiles and lively atmosphere! That's more important than anything else!"

38. Echoes and Rooting

That night, Jiang Yu wrote down new insights in her diary:

On [Date], my heart returned to its homeland, a place where my soul finds its rest.

Today, I accompanied the doctor and her colleagues on a trip back to their "hometown".

Time seems to flow much faster there than it does here. Decades have passed, and now skyscrapers stand tall, traffic flows silently, and everything is as efficient as a precision machine.

The doctor said that the illness there was cured, but the hugs became less frequent.

Brother Panshi said that the soldiers there might no longer need their mud-covered comrades.

Sister Fox said that their story over there has become a few lines in the archives that no one cares about.

Anne asked why the children there didn't play hide-and-seek.

I watched them go from initial excitement to unfamiliarity, and then to acceptance.

I suddenly realized that time is a one-way street. My hometown is wonderful, but it has already headed towards a future that is unfamiliar to us all.

And we, by a twist of fate, have created a new present here. It may not be perfect; there may be arguments and troubles, but it has real warmth, vivid faces that remember each other, and the life we've created together.

This return is not a homecoming, but a complete farewell. Saying goodbye to the hometown of our memories also makes us realize more clearly that—where the heart finds peace, there is home.

I'm so glad we're back. This time, we're truly home, feeling safe and at ease.

Goodnight, my distant homeland, now a thing of the past. May you be well.

Goodnight, dear building, our shared home. May you always be lively and full of life.

Closing the diary, Jiang Yu felt an unprecedented sense of peace and tranquility. That journey was like a baptism of the soul, allowing all the members from their "hometown" to completely let go of the deep-seated homesickness in their hearts and truly put their bodies and minds into this new home they had worked hard to build together, a home full of life and genuine affection.

Outside the window, the lights of the building remained as warm as ever, illuminating not only the road beneath their feet but also the future they had already set out to be, a future full of hope.