Chapter 75

Joe returned to the real world. He woke up in bed and found himself covered in sweat and weak. He had recovered from a high fever by sweating. Feeling thirsty, he got up and dragged his limp legs to drink water.

Entering modern society, he felt that everything was unreal.

My phone suddenly rang.

Qiao looked at the "Manager Xu" displayed on his phone. He felt somewhat lost and timid, his mind blank. After a moment, he vaguely remembered that this was his boss in his modern job.

He reached for his phone, but hesitated to swipe to answer. He endured the torment of the ringing until the other end hung up automatically.

His mind is blank right now; he needs some time to adjust to some of the modern things.

Joe even wondered if he was dreaming, and if the world of the Cohens in his dream was all fake.

But the dream felt so real that he had a sense of unreality, as if even his present moment was an illusion.

With so many calls, Qiao finally answered the phone amidst a barrage of calls, only to hear her boss's disgruntled voice: "Qiao Ye, what's wrong with you? Why are you only answering the phone now? Why didn't you come to work today?"

Qiao gave a vague reply: "I'm not feeling well today, so I'd like to ask for the day off."

The manager grew anxious: "Feeling unwell? Take some medicine and try to tough it out. The project is at a critical stage, we're short-staffed and time is tight, you can't afford to let us down..."

Qiao vaguely recalled his current situation. He couldn't afford to lose his job, as it would put him under immense pressure to survive. He remembered promising his boss that he would definitely be there tomorrow, but his boss deducted three times his salary for unexcused absence and then hung up the phone.

Joe felt that oppressive feeling return to him.

He dreamt of a life of abundance, pampered by a wealthy master, and suddenly he started acting all spoiled? He's a man with exceptional resilience!

But he found himself becoming dulled; everything here had a familiar yet strange feeling, as if the dream was real and this was the dream.

Joe also found that he couldn't keep up with the workload. He couldn't react to many things immediately and needed to adapt. He frequently made mistakes at work and was scolded by his boss: "Are you out of your mind? You can't even do something this simple. Do you not want to work here anymore? If you don't want to work here, then quit. If you don't want to work here, someone else will! Don't you understand the current economic situation? So many people can't find jobs right now. I could recruit eight hundred people a day for this position..."

Joe also felt that he might be sick. He had finally been scolded by his boss until he couldn't breathe, so he resigned from his job.

The resignation process was exceptionally quick, completed in just one day. Quitting his job gave him a brief respite. He tried not to think about how he would survive afterward, as he still had some savings that could sustain him for a while.

He wanted to calm down and think carefully about what exactly was going on.

Years of working late into the night left him physically weak, and his biological clock was in conflict with the biological clock in his brain, often leaving him unable to fall asleep in bed with his eyes closed.

His daily routine was very regular in Ji Fang's world, because Ji Fang's daily routine was also very regular. Whenever he was with Ji Fang, he would sleep with Ji Fang. He had become accustomed to having Ji Fang by his side.

Now he lies alone in his rented room, a cramped and messy little space, his disrupted biological clock making him toss and turn in bed, unable to fall asleep.

He felt he must have a mental illness, perhaps depression? Hysteria? Or some kind of hallucination.

He went to see a doctor, who thought he was fine and that it was probably caused by too much work stress, so he was prescribed sleeping pills.

After taking sleeping pills, he was able to get a good night's sleep, but upon waking up, that feeling of emptiness would take over his mind.

He wanted that world to be real, he missed Ji Fang, he wanted to go back to that world, and he was willing to believe that world was real.

He now has plenty of time to think, and he exhausts himself through exercise.

He refused to think about Ji Fang's world.

But the more he tried not to think about it, the more he resisted it, and the more real it seemed. After a few months, he actually started having dreams about Ji Fang's world.

In his dream, he followed Ji Fang, but Ji Fang could not see him, nor could he touch Ji Fang. It was as if he was just a ghostly observer following Ji Fang.

Ji Fang became very busy and even more cold and ruthless. Qiao also saw him leading troops into battle. At first, they were the country's rebel army, but later their reputation grew, and they became the righteous army that was clearing out the corrupt officials from the emperor's court.

Ji Fang attacked and entered the capital of Lixi, forcing Mu Jingchuan to abdicate. He then summoned the old king and asked him to express his support for the fourth prince, Mu Jingtang, to ascend the throne again.

Ji Fang now possessed absolute power. Mu Jingtang, a weak and timid man, grew increasingly afraid of Ji Fang, fearing that Ji Fang would kill him.

Qiao also knew that Ji Fang did not want to come to this point. It was those people who forced Ji Fang to this point step by step. He originally did not intend to kill anyone. He had always been loyal to his position and had always killed alien beasts, pirates, and enemies.

But now, Ji Fang has many enemies.

Qiao also followed Ji Fang, and no matter what Ji Fang became, Qiao was not afraid of him at all, because he knew how good his master was.

However, Ji Fang's condition was not right. His mental energy was disordered, and he was constantly tormented by headaches. He had hardly slept a full night.

Li Cheng brought in some Yuanren (original people) to try and alleviate Ji Fang's mental disorder and pain, but none of the Yuanren dared to approach Ji Fang. As soon as they got close to him, all the Yuanren would tremble with fear and even urinate on the ground.

Ji Fang's expression was unreadable, as if he was thinking of Qiao Ye through this original human. Finally, he sighed and said to Li Cheng, "Don't look for the original human anymore. No one can replace Qiao Ye. Qiao Ye is a unique existence in this world."

Qiao was also very happy, and Ji Fang missed him just as much as he did. He became more and more convinced that this world was the real one.

Qiao could also see that Ji Fang would occasionally browse through his previous terminal. Ji Fang copied all the data from his terminal, looked at the photos he had taken before, and often stared blankly at his photos.

At this time, Qiao Ye would become uncontrollably emotional. He wanted to tell his master not to be sad, that he had always been there, but he couldn't touch Ji Fang. Then Qiao Ye would realize that he was dreaming and would suddenly wake up.

The dream continued, changing every day. Qiao gradually came to believe that he wasn't going into a dream, but rather into Ji Fang's world while he was asleep.

Qiao is now obsessed with sleeping. Every day as soon as it gets dark, he takes a large dose of sleeping pills, closes his eyes, and quickly falls asleep.

On this day, Ji Fang was in a meeting. Ji Fang sat to the left of the puppet king Mu Jingtang. Throughout the meeting, Ji Fang gave important instructions, while Mu Jingtang was just a figurehead and dared not say a word.

Ji Fang replaced a large number of key personnel, which made the old faction and those who had previously targeted Ji Fang feel insecure.

Although Mu Jingtang was cowardly and incompetent, he also had some ambition and his own ideas. Because he was afraid that Ji Fang would take revenge on him one day, he was instigated by the people around him to organize a group of assassins to kill Ji Fang.

Ji Fang wiped out the assassins and immediately led his men to the palace. He dragged Mu Jingtang off the bed and threw her to the ground. He released a powerful mental pressure, and Mu Jingtang trembled like a leaf.

"You want to kill me so you can become king without any worries?" Ji Fang looked at the frail-looking boy with a mocking expression.

"I didn't do it, I really didn't do it. It was the guards who took it upon themselves. It has nothing to do with me," Mu Jingtang explained, her face pale.

Ji Fang's words were sharp: "Don't forget who put you in this position. You think killing me will give you a secure grip on power? How foolish!"

"I didn't..." Mu Jingtang wasn't stupid, but he was overwhelmed by fear. Ji Fang had dealt with too many people recently, and his decisive methods were terrifying. It seemed that Ji Fang had no weaknesses.

Ji Fang suddenly leaned down, reached out and pinched Mu Jingtang's chin, his eyes like knives piercing into those fearful eyes. He didn't mind making the child even more afraid of him: "This is the first time you've betrayed me. If there's a next time, I'll replace this king with an obedient one, understand?"

Mu Jingtang felt a chill run through his body. He trembled as he moved his pale lips and said, "I know, there won't be a next time. I will be obedient."

At this moment, Li Cheng dragged Mu Jingtang's teacher in. Mu Jingtang was even more terrified now, and he pleaded with Ji Fang, "This has nothing to do with my teacher. Please release my teacher. I promise you everything. I will behave myself."

Ji Fang sneered: "With your guts, if you wanted to plan this, someone must have put in the effort. I'm here today not just to give you a scolding, but to teach you a lesson you won't forget."

Terrified, Mu Jingtang knelt down and crawled to Ji Fang's feet, grabbing his clothes: "I know I was wrong, I was wrong, I'll never do it again."

His teacher was the one who spent the most time with him and gave him the most care. Apart from his teacher, no one respected him. Only his teacher never gave up on him and was his spiritual pillar.

His teacher, however, was already weak in the knees. His delusional ambitions had ruined him. He knew very well how weak this student was and how easy it would be to control him. Who wouldn't want to be the person behind the scenes who could control the king? Who wouldn't want to sit in Ji Fang's position?

Ignoring Mu Jingtang's pleas, Ji Fang raised his hand, signaling Li Cheng to take action.

With a loud bang, Li Cheng smashed his teacher's head open, successfully scaring Mu Jingtang so much that he wet his pants and fainted.

Ji Fang coldly watched the unconscious boy who had wet his pants, and sighed in his heart, "Even Qiao Ye has more courage than him." Thinking of Qiao Ye, he recalled the scene of that small boy nestled in his arms, but it was that small boy who bravely used his body to block Zhou Shiqing's deadly gun and protect him.

Mu Jingtang is such a weakling that he can't even compare to a hair on Qiao's head.

Let the betrayers see the consequences of their betrayal firsthand; the deterrent effect is not to be underestimated. Ji Fang has a bottom line; he will not tolerate betrayal again.

Ji Fang confined Mu Jingtang to his quarters and replaced all the people around him before the matter was considered closed.

After being frightened by this incident, Mu Jingtang developed a high fever and could not get out of bed.

Although Qiao Ye, who witnessed all of this, sympathized with Mu Jingtang, what could he do? He wanted to kill his master. People should pay the price for their actions. If he had succeeded this time, Ji Fang would have been the one to die.

His master is becoming increasingly cold-hearted, and his mental disorder is getting worse. When he has a splitting headache, Ji Fang injects large amounts of drugs to control it.

Qiao felt a pang of heartache. When he was around, Ji Fang had never had any problems with his mental strength. Every time Qiao saw Ji Fang silent, he wanted to hug him, but this was a dream, and he couldn't touch him.

Joe increasingly evaded reality, indulging in everything in his dreams. He now felt that everything he had experienced must be real. In reality, he had no friends or family to care for him, and he felt lonely.

He recalled that there was news last week about a 30-year-old programmer who died suddenly at home. The company was prepared for the family to come and demand compensation, but not a single relative came to claim the body.

In the end, the company helped transport the body back and gave the elderly man who received the body 50,000 yuan as compensation, and no relatives cared about the young programmer.

Joe felt that the world was meaningless. If he had died suddenly, he might have ended up like this young man, forgotten by everyone.

Only Ji Fang doted on him. Even though he was just a pet, Ji Fang cared about him and saved him many times.

With that thought in mind, he swallowed a sleeping pill, this time a larger dose than before, hoping to prolong his dream.

This time, however, the entry into the dream seemed different from before. He saw a white light, and in the white light was a figure. He felt that it was a bit dazzling. In the hazy light, it seemed to be the figure of Ji Fang. Ji Fang opened his arms to welcome him, and he happily walked towards Ji Fang.

The blinding light momentarily blinded him. When he opened his eyes again, he saw Ji Fang's cold face, his eyes containing an unfathomable light.

Others were afraid of him, but Qiao wasn't afraid of him at all. He knew the doting tenderness and patience in those eyes when they looked at him.

He happily propped himself up and jumped up to hug Ji Fang's neck: "Master, I've come to see you again!"

His actions startled Mu Jingtang's servants, who cried out in unison, "Your Majesty, this is rude!"

Only then did Qiao realize that he could actually touch Ji Fang. He could actually touch a real person in his dream. He let go of Ji Fang, then rushed over and hugged him tightly. Confirming that it was real, he suddenly felt a surge of grievance and choked up, "Is this real? Master, I miss you, I miss you so much, I think about you every day."

Ji Fang gestured to the people around him not to move rashly. He was initially taken aback by Mu Jingtang's sudden and affectionate embrace, but then the familiar feeling made him feel somewhat dazed: "Qiao Ye?"

Qiao nestled in his arms, whimpering sweetly, "Who else could it be but me? You haven't forgotten me, have you!"

Ji Fang reached out and grabbed Qiao Ye's shoulders, pushing him away from his embrace to observe him closely. Mu Jingtang, that coward, didn't have the guts. Last time, because he killed his teacher in front of him, Qiao Ye had a high fever for several days. This time, his people reported that the treatment ward couldn't cure him, so he wanted to come and see for himself.

After all, if Mu Jingtang were to die, it would be detrimental to him in his current situation.

Unexpectedly, he received an incredible surprise: his little Yuanren actually met him again in this way.

How could he not recognize his Qiao Ye? This was his little Yuanren! His beloved pet!

(over)