Chapter 454: The Forsaken Realm of Gods (43) (1st + 2nd update) [VIP]

Nowadays, players all over the street can’t help but mention Lao Zhang when chatting, but the only ones who are so sure that Lao Zhang is dead and even went to a certain "address" are these few players that everyone has seen.

Seeing someone coming over, [The Grievances Are Heavier Than Ghosts] who was about to say something subconsciously closed his mouth, and waited until the group of people passed before lowering his voice: "Anything else?"

"What are you afraid of?" [Pure Love Wild Female Cockroach] looked at him strangely, "Isn't this just an NPC?"

"What if?" [Grudge is heavier than ghosts] lowered his voice, "You won't forget, the n.pcs we met before, they lived with their own thoughts, what if these n.pcs are the same?"

"Shouldn't they have known about this a long time ago?" [Pure Wild Cockroach] looked around. "So many players are talking about Lao Zhang. It's impossible for these NPCs not to know about this, right? They just don't know who 'Lao Zhang' is, and they don't know what the players are discussing."

This is indeed the case.

Today, most residents in Cyril heard passers-by talking about a person named "Lao Zhang" on the streets, but they didn't know who this person was. Most people chose not to ask about other people's affairs, but a small number of people took the initiative to ask and received all kinds of strange answers from the players.

But no matter what, "Lao Zhang" has little connection with these n.pcs in essence. Apart from making some curious people more curious about who this is, this news did not cause much impact in Cyril City.

Guan Hongyan slightly adjusted the telescope in her hand: "I remember who the person who said he had seen Lao Zhang was."

"Who is it?" Xu Zichen asked casually.

"Think about it," Guan Hongyan blinked, "We have seen it before."

"The man who appeared under the Mage Tower with the grudge," Bai Jinshu revealed Wang Wenhua's identity before she could continue to keep him in suspense. "He has only seen Hector."

At that time, Enoch was still in Besser City, being turned mute by him and seeking help everywhere. It was not until they had stayed in Besser City for a while and were preparing to leave that he took the initiative to bump into them.

"Oh, yes," he said, and Xu Zichen also remembered, "I remember those two people were wearing very golden clothes at that time, why are they dressed like this now?"

If they didn't still remember the face of "The one with more resentment than a ghost", no one would have thought that these three people were game players based on their gray appearance.

"To avoid other players," Yun Guang said in a gentle voice, "They were the first to reveal that Enoch was in the game. Now I guess the players are looking for them as well as us."

He is right.

These past few days, [Grudge Heavier Than a Ghost] and [Pure and Wild Female Cockroach] have been living a life of being chased and blocked.

[Grudge is heavier than ghosts] Needless to say, after the news broke out, his former teammates and friends from a gang all came back to life overnight and asked him whether the Lao Zhang he saw was real or fake.

The stagnant gaming community suddenly came alive.

Among these people were his ex-girlfriend whom he had an online romance with but broke up with not long ago, his bodyguard partner who used to run daily missions with him, his teammates who had played difficult dungeons together, his fellow gang members who were added to the gang for the convenience of coordinating gang wars, and his sworn enemies from rival gangs who had once been enemies and had put each other on the blacklist.

At first, [Grudge Heavier than Ghosts] was still interested in replying. He talked about the changes in the game over the past few years, the extraordinary intelligence of n.pc, and how he was threatened by a wizard he had never seen before.

It was as if the past few years since they left the game and returned to real life had never happened, and when they mentioned Breath of Slenkmed, they became adventurers in the game again.

His friends exclaimed in unison as if they had heard some legendary story, boasting to the people from the rival gang that if they wanted to know the inside story they could wait until their next life, and then they pressed him on whether Enoch was really Lao Zhang.

This [resentment is heavier than ghosts] is not clear.

His intuition told him that this "Enoch" was definitely not an ordinary NPC, but he was not sure whether it was Lao Zhang.

The specific details depend on what Wang Wenhua can ask.

Compared with [The grudge is heavier than the ghost], Xiao Chun lives a more down-to-earth life.

Ever since the video was released, the gaming account has been pushed to the forefront. The boss of the self-media company was screaming about receiving traffic from the sky, while urging her to follow up.

What could Xiao Chun follow up on? Her account didn't even pay special attention to these n.pcs. It would take her forever to find them one by one in a map as big as Slenkmed. She just lived the same life as other players these days.

With the help of his boss's connections and his own speculation, he found the vegetative rehabilitation center where Lao Zhang might have stayed, and immediately asked someone to check it out.

With the hopes of these two people, Wang Wenhua went to the rehabilitation center on Saturday. He had no intention of obtaining any information, but who would have thought that he would gain something unexpected.

"Zhang Nuoke is dead, but Enoch is not necessarily Old Zhang, and the dead person is not necessarily Old Zhang either. It could be a coincidence, but I tend to think this person is Old Zhang," Wang Wenhua said with a frown, probably considering how to express himself, not saying it for sure. "I went to ask about Zhang Nuoke, and found out that he was very famous in the rehabilitation center. This fame has nothing to do with the game or Wei Yu, it's because he was so unlucky."

"Most of the people in the rehabilitation center are patients living in the holographic world. Some people who have been here for a long time know about this. Ten years ago, before the release of the holographic brain-computer technology for awakening vegetative patients, an unlucky patient died. That patient was Zhang Nuoke."

This is more like the pity and regret of some lucky people towards the unfortunate ones.

Those who can take care of vegetative patients day after day are all relatives who are looking forward to their waking up. Such days are too difficult to endure. Most of the patients' families have contact information with each other, and there are also various patient groups.

At the core, vegetative patients are patients who have no ability to act independently. Their condition is unstable. Sometimes an organ failure or an infection from an intubation can take the patient's life.

The specific cause of Lao Zhang's death is no longer clear. All we know is that he was a patient here before, and his family members came to take care of him every day. One time, he died in an accident like thousands of other vegetative patients. What's special is that just a few months after his death, the holographic brain-computer technology for awakening vegetative patients was released.

"Basically all the patients don't know him, but almost everyone knows his name," Wang Wenhua subconsciously tried to push up his glasses, but when he touched his nose he realized that he didn't have glasses in the game, so he could only rub his nose awkwardly. "Everyone knows that a few months before this technology was released, a patient named Zhang Nuoke died. His family had accepted his fate, but when they heard the news, they came to the rehabilitation center and shouted like crazy, and even cursed the people who came to persuade them as the murderer of Zhang Nuoke."

"Wait a moment." Xiao Chun and Bai E in the distance said in unison.

"Why would they hate their relatives for killing Lao Zhang? Because Lao Zhang's death was an accident caused by poor care?" Bai E looked at the others softly.

In the distance, [Pure and Wild Cockroach] also frowned: "So the cause of death of Old Zhang... no, this Zhang Nuoke, was due to poor care by his relatives? I remember that the rehabilitation center had nurses who were specifically responsible for the patients' lives, and they would not let relatives do it themselves."

The reason why she thought of this rehabilitation center was because the monthly custody fee was not cheap, and vegetative patients could receive the most professional care here, while family members only had to pay the money.

At that time, "Breath of Slenkmed" made a lot of money, and as a producer, it was impossible for Lao Zhang and his family to be without money.

So this rehab center is the most likely place for them to go.

If Lao Zhang's death was related to his relatives, then what did his relatives do that had nothing to do with nursing but could lead to the death of a vegetative person?

"It can't be that they didn't renew the contract?" she guessed half-jokingly.

"No," Wang Wenhua pinched the bridge of his nose, "This is why I am sure that Zhang Nuoke should be Old Zhang."

He drank a cup of coffee in the game with a full sense of office worker, and said with a heavy heart as if he was summarizing a report: "I heard that Zhang Nuoke's family blamed the people who came later for killing Zhang Nuoke because these people were practitioners related to holographic helmets. They thought these people were insiders, but they did not tell them about the research direction for vegetative patients, nor did they try to make Zhang Nuoke an experimenter of this technology. As a result, they didn't know that the technology was mature until Zhang Nuoke died."

"This is one of the reasons why many people remember this incident now. At that time, no one thought that this trick would be possible. The only person in the rehabilitation center whose relative worked in the holographic helmet industry died before the technology was released. It is too memorable." He added.

As beneficiaries of technology and the lucky ones who have started a new life, it is hard for them to forget this unfortunate patient, even if they have never met "Zhang Nuoke" himself.

"I feel like they are taking their anger out on others," Guan Hongyan commented quietly. "If the family members are blaming the Breath of Schlenkmed studio team, then gaming and vegetative rehabilitation are two completely different things. How would they know?"

After hearing this reason, everyone had the same idea.

Enoch, who was most likely Lao Zhang, scratched his head in confusion: "So you're saying that I died once before?"

"Is that all you ask?" [Grudge Heavier Than Ghost] confirmed.

"That's all," Wang Wenhua nodded, "So I think this deceased Zhang Nuoke is most likely Old Zhang, but the technology to awaken a vegetative patient only appeared after his death, so Enoch... may not be the one."

That's true.

All three players showed conflicted expressions.

From an investigative perspective, Enoch cannot be Lao Zhang, but from a technical perspective, Enoch is not Lao Zhang, so how could Enoch appear in the game?

This is Lao Zhang's account, which is bound to his biometric information. Even if the owner of the account dies, his family members will not be able to log in.

When the first holographic game came out, digital property protection was not yet complete. If the owner of the account died, the account was almost scrapped. This issue became a hot search, which prompted all holographic games under Weiyu to have a clause that if the owner of the account died, the account would be listed as a memorial account.

However, the helmet in "Breath of Slenkmed" is an initial version of the helmet, and the original design idea was to bind biological information, and it is no longer possible to change it.

"Let's do this for now," [Pure Love Wild Cockroach] stood up, "I'll go sort out this information and write an article. No matter if Lao Zhang is Enoch or not, I have first-hand information and will ride my boss to work tomorrow."

Those who were eavesdropping with props nearby imagined a wild cockroach riding his boss to work, and they all shuddered in a human way.

"It's indeed a bit too wild..." Yun Guang said tactfully.

"It sounds like a horror movie." Zhao Yinglai said bluntly.

"You go first," [Grudge is heavier than a ghost] waved his hand, picked up the coffee on the table and took a big sip, "Xiao Wang, do you think it is possible that Enoch is an NPC who gained consciousness after knowing that the owner of the account died?"

His tone was full of confusion and entanglement that was about to be visualized: "I really think that those n.pcs are not like ordinary n.pcs, and there is also the Perrin Mine. Something must have changed in the game that we don't know about, and you see."

He probably sent some pictures through the in-game chat box: "Look here, I added the n.pc Hector who I'm paying special attention to, and he's in Cyril!"

Hector in the distance froze.

"It's okay," Bai Jinshu glanced at everyone who was suddenly in a state of panic, "He can't see where Hector is."

"Although I don't know why the specific coordinates are not displayed, the location is Cyril City," he lowered his voice, "What does this mean? It means that the video that was released during the day was them. They are also in Cyril now. Do you think they will hear people on the street saying 'Enoch is Lao Zhang' and then think about who 'Lao Zhang' is?"

The exploration team members nodded silently.

Yes, they not only heard people on the street saying it, they also heard you saying it.

If you turn your head and look at the n.pc in the distance, you can look at Enoch himself.

Surprising or not?

"I don't think so," the honest man Wang Wenhua said sincerely, "because I think they don't know Enoch's name at all. Enoch is called "Happy 523rd Wedding Anniversary, Teacher and Wife" in their mouths."

[Grudge is heavier than ghosts]: ...

Enoch himself: ...

Exploration team member: ...

What you said makes a lot of sense and we can't refute it.

If Enoch is really Lao Zhang, then they are...

"I'll go check with them," Guan Hongyan coughed lightly, "Since these players can find it, they should be able to open it too."

There is still room for discovery of the specific cause of Lao Zhang's death.

"I'll go... I'll go order some food. I didn't have enough to eat." Bai Mo quickly stood up and dragged Zhao Ying along. "What do you want to order?"

“Cappuccino.”

"Cyril milk tea."

“Pumpkin chowder.”

"Catgirl-style grilled skewers."

"Ah?" Zhaoying turned around, "There are skewers in the coffee shop?"

"I don't know," Xu Zichen blinked innocently, "but I saw the barbecue stall when I passed by just now."

"Then Brother Yun Guang and I will scout the area," Su Hao quickly grabbed Yun Guang and stood up together, "to see if the interruption of the supply of magic sand has caused the plants to wither."

"Hector, come too. Hehe, do you want to join us?"

Within a few minutes, the group of people ran away.

Only the victim himself and the unembarrassed Dermis remained seated.

"Magic pattern," the necromancer, who was not embarrassed at all, calmly took out the newly copied pattern and said, "Put it together."

Enoch: ...

Enoch took the paper weakly, and just before he picked up the pen, he stopped and thought for a few seconds: "If... I mean if..."

He looked at Delmis hesitantly, not knowing whether it was right for him to seek answers from this person. "I know you are doubting that the Grand Mage and I arranged these magic patterns together. But what if it was not me who arranged them, but the person they are talking about? Am I his reincarnation? I was a very famous mage a long time ago?"

Although he didn't understand much, for some reason many people knew his name, and they all called him "Lao Zhang".

Apart from reincarnation, he could not think of any other possibility.

"There is no such thing as if." The necromancer in front of him suddenly showed an expression that he could not understand. This expression flashed for a moment, and the next second his face returned to normal. "From a sociological perspective, the most insignificant part of a living being is the soul."

"Humanity is made up of social relationships. A person is made up of the environment he grew up in, the education he received, the relatives and friends he came into contact with, the things he experienced, and the genes he inherited from his parents and even from more ancient times," Enoch seemed to understand what the person in front of him said. "When a soul reincarnates and is born into a new family and starts a new life, he is already a different person. Even if he had many magnificent experiences in his previous life, unforgettable regrets, and unswerving love and hatred, it is difficult for the new soul to empathize with him from the perspective of a person who experienced it."

"I don't quite understand..." He continued, seeming to understand.

"From the macroscopic perspective of life, death treats every creature equally. The so-called reincarnation of short-lived species is actually just a psychological comfort for long-lived species," Delmis explained calmly, "At the moment of death, no matter what story and new life this soul will have in the future, and no matter what kind of intersection it has with you because of this past relationship, the creature you knew has indeed disappeared at this moment and will never come back."

Enoch rarely heard Delmis talk so much about anything other than magic. He was stunned for a few seconds before he found his own thoughts: "So you think I have nothing to do with that 'Lao Zhang' anymore?"

"So I think..." The necromancer in front of him suddenly smiled with determination, "If you want to see the dead again, all those waiting for reincarnation are cowards. The only way is to snatch the dead back from the underworld. Whoever stands in the way will die."

"Pray to God...look forward to the afterlife...tsk." The necromancer sneered softly and rolled his eyes with disdain. After saying this, he left with his partner, with a sharp look on his face that Enoch had never seen before.

【Fuck, so handsome.】

【God of De, you are so cool. 】

[So the god of virtue once went through the underworld in order to see the dead souls? ]

[Can Pluto defeat him? ]

[I don't know, but according to a certain law, the dead cannot be resurrected, right? Even if you break through the underworld, you can't bring the dead back to life? Is the God of Virtue so powerful that he can change the law?]

[Well, the skeletons summoned by the necromancer are actually a kind of summoned souls. The essence is to control the souls of the dead to attach to the skeletons and come to the human world for a short time. The reason why they are skeletons is because these dead souls cannot attach to other things. They cannot return to the human world, otherwise they will suffer severe punishment and may completely dissipate.]

[…I think I discovered something horrible.]

【……I also. 】

[…Family members, is this really possible? ]

[…Family, isn’t this a living example right before your eyes? ]

[…So who died in the first place? ]

[…From the conversation, it can be concluded that it is not the God of Virtue.]

[What are you guys talking about? No, how come you understand now? Who can tell me something scary? ]

[In the previous... Is there a possibility that half of the couple's outfit of De Shen and his partner is a skeleton? ]

【！ ！ ！】

Enoch sat there for several minutes, probably understanding what Dermis said in his mind, before he heard the conversation between the two strange adventurers in the distance coming from the strange alchemical equipment left behind by these team members.

The adventurer named [More Resentful than Ghosts] hesitated, "What if, I mean what if, you said that Lao Zhang has been a vegetable for several years, then when he became a vegetable, wasn't it the time when Breath of Slenkmed was at its peak? At that time, there was only this one holographic game. Then, as a buddy of his in the same studio, the only team in the world with the most complete holographic technology, could someone have secretly used a holographic helmet to stimulate his brain once before this technology was announced to the public to confirm its safety?"

"Is it possible?" he asked weakly.

"Yes..." Another adventurer was also hesitant, "But if the one who entered the holographic game at that time was the current Enoch, then why didn't the people in the studio know about it?"

Shouldn’t they quickly come to the game to find Lao Zhang?

Or are those NPCs with Enoch the people from the studio? Are they accompanying Lao Zhang in another way in the game?

"I don't know..." [Grudge is heavier than a ghost] paused, drank the coffee in one gulp and said frankly, "I just want to... I want to prove that Breath of Slenkmed is not just a game. Or I just don't want to admit that Lao Zhang is dead."

Old friends will reunite, outdated games will become popular again, but Lao Zhang, a person who also exists in the past, will never come back.

He created the dream of Slenkmede, but when it was at its peak, he was unexpectedly reduced to a vegetable. It was unknown whether he was fortunate or unfortunate that he did not see the decline of this continent.

[Grudge is heavier than ghosts] He is not sure whether he wants to see the game become like this, but he feels in his heart that if the game producer who only exists in his memory is still alive, it means that this game will never end.

And "Breath of Slenkmed" has indeed been immortalized in another way. As the underlying code for most of Weiyu's holographic games, it is like the core of an onion, wrapped and protected by layer upon layer of games and codes. It is like a heart that never stops working, always beating at the center of Weiyu.

Never stop, never extinguish.

"Take it easy," Wang Wenhua patted his shoulder. "If Lao Zhang were alive, he would probably think that this is the best outcome for Breath of Slenkmed."

There have been rumors that before Breath of Slenkmed was on the verge of shutting down due to lack of revenue, the studio sold it, along with the underlying code and everything else, to Wei Yu.

Therefore, in today's market, Wei Yu's full range of holographic games are still far ahead of the industry with their unparalleled authenticity. No one knows, and everyone wants to know, what is written in their core code "Breath of Slenkmed" that has allowed it to support such a huge holographic empire for more than ten years.

But as long as there is a game of Wei Yu alive in the world, Slenkmed will never die.

An inexplicable depression and panic suddenly arose in Enoch's heart.

What if... the core of Wei Yu, the heart of all games, is also about to decline?

The author has something to say:

By the way, our super topic has exceeded 5 million views, and Hantang’s Weibo has 20,000 followers. I will organize a new peripheral lottery in a few days. I have my eyes on a new acrylic craft and plan to make a metal and Xiaochu translucent color window stand (rubbing hands)

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