Chapter 231 The Real World
On National Avenue, an off-road vehicle was driving towards the central city.
On both sides of the avenue were barren wilderness and seemingly endless guardrails. The unobstructed sunlight made the metal parts of the cars sparkle.
The National Avenue in the east of Yangzhi City leads to two directions. One leads to Yuanwang Port in the east, and the other is the one they are taking now, which can go directly to the central city.
There are very few vehicles on this road because people in the central city rarely go outside, and people outside who want to go in will not choose to go through here unless they have formal identification.
Cheng Zitong drove very steadily and at just the right speed. They set out in the morning and five hours later, they were approaching the area where the central city was located and arrived at a checkpoint on the edge of the central city.
Cheng Zitong slowly stopped the car and said, "Xiao Chuan, after passing the checkpoint, you'll be in the central city. I'll take you here, and someone from the main hospital will pick you up. Just wait for him there."
Chen Chuan said: "Okay, teacher."
He got out of the car, took the Xuejun Knife from the back seat, and took out the suitcase from the trunk. Cheng Zitong also got out of the car at this time. He looked up and said, "Oh, the sunlight is still so dazzling." As he said that, he put on his sunglasses.
He walked over and patted Chen Chuan on the shoulder, "Xiao Chuan, when you get settled there, don't forget to inform the teacher."
Chen Chuan nodded and said, "Teacher, the student is leaving."
Cheng Zitong waved his hand at him and said, "Go ahead."
Chen Chuan bowed to him, then stood up and walked towards the checkpoint.
When he arrived at the movable isolation fence, two station patrolmen came up to check his transit documents. Seeing that everything was in order, they moved the fence aside and let him pass. It was not until he walked out of the other end that he heard the sound of the car behind him driving back.
At this moment, he looked up and saw that the road in front of him led straight ahead. Now he could vaguely see the central city at the end.
Gray and varying shades of city buildings stand on the horizon. Countless uneven tall buildings stand upright there. The high bridge leading to the sea draws an arc like a rainbow and gradually disappears into the sea mist. Compared with Yang Zhi who has been left far behind, it seems like another world.
Under the vast blue sky, he was carrying the Xuejun Sword and a suitcase, and now he was facing this world, and the road under his feet was the only line connecting the two.
After looking for a while, he put down the suitcase and looked at his watch. It was two o'clock in the afternoon. According to what Cheng Zitong told him, the person who came to pick him up would arrive around two o'clock.
However, the entry and exit procedures of the central city are complicated, and it will be very inconvenient for people without official status, so there may be delays. Let him wait patiently. Anyway, there are telephones, telegraphs, and simple accommodations next to the checkpoint, which can be used as long as you pay.
He stood there quietly, silently guiding the Hongfurnace Breathing Method. When it was almost three o'clock, the sound of cars came from the road.
Hearing the sound, he looked up and saw a half-old armored off-road vehicle driving towards him. When it was about five or six meters away from him, the car slowly stopped and a head popped out from inside. "Student Chen Chuan?"
Chen Chuan took a look at him. He was a man in his forties, wearing polarized glasses, with messy hair, deep nasolabial folds on both sides of his mouth and nose, and his beard looked like it had been trimmed not long ago. His lips were slightly chapped.
But it was different from what I imagined. This person didn't have any signs of a fighter on him. He didn't look like a teacher at the school. Could he be a faculty member or something like that?
It was normal to think about it, because it was the Chinese New Year period, and he had no personal relationship with those teachers, so there was no need for him to specially come out to pick him up. Those who could be sent out were usually people of low status.
He said, "I am Chen Chuan."
"That's good." The man didn't ask Chen Chuan to do any identity verification or anything like that. He turned his head back and gestured, "Get in the car and sit in the back."
Chen Chuan walked over to the back of the car, opened the door, and got in. After closing the door and settling in, he noticed a line running from the man's ear to the back of his neck, a mark of where the implant had been placed. He glanced at it and asked, "What's this teacher's name?"
"Hey, don't call me teacher." The man waved his hands quickly. "I'm not your Wuyi teacher. It's Chinese New Year, and your Wuyi Academy has commissioned me to pick up a student. I used to have a good reputation and have been to Yangzhi a few times, so they let me come... Please sit down."
The man waited for him to put on his seat belt before starting the car. He reversed and turned the car around swiftly and drove towards the central city.
After driving for a while, he said, "My name is Qi Gao, you can just call me Lao Qi. I'm telling you, classmate, have you brought all your ID documents? The city has strict inspections, and it will be difficult to enter without everything."
Chen Chuan said, "I have everything." He then asked, "So, you can enter the city without any documents?"
"You can get in, but you'll have to take a detour and take risks. I have to take the risks, and you have to take the risks too. It's better to avoid trouble if possible."
Lao Qi looked in the rearview mirror and said, "Brother Chen, this is your first time in Central City, right?"
There's nothing to hide about this. Chen Chuan said, "Yes, it's my first time here."
Lao Qi smiled, a hint of mystery on his face. "That's the checkpoint ahead, the one entering the city. You'll need your ID when you get there. You'll understand then."
After driving along the road for less than half an hour, we were getting closer and closer to the city ahead. In some places closer, we could already see silver-gray skyscrapers under the blue sky.
There are no guardrails on the roadside anymore. Instead, there are raspberry-shaped piers in front, which look a bit like column bases without pillars. People seem to be able to walk on them, but it is unclear what their use is.
Lao Qi said, "That's it, get off the car." As he said that, he took a box and pushed the door open and got out first.
Chen Chuan looked outside. It was still very empty and there was no one else. It didn't look like a checkpoint. He also pushed the door and got out of the car.
Lao Qi placed the box on the ground, then squatted down to open it. With a click, cold air immediately emerged, and the box was filled with ice cubes. He reached out and took a few ice cubes and threw them away. There was a sealed bag buried in the middle. He took it out, opened it, took out the contents, and threw it towards Chen Chuan.
Chen Chuan caught it and found that it was a mask covering the upper half of the face. It seemed to be made of bone, but felt very light. The eyes seemed to be made of a transparent film like a lens. There were two white bugs on both edges of the mask, wriggling slightly, as if they were growing on it.
"Put on the mask." Lao Qi said over there.
Chen Chuan put the mask on his face and felt that it was easily attached there. The two sides of the mask formed an arc above the earlobes, which was just right for it.
After putting this thing on, the strong light from outside is blocked. Although only the areas around the eyelids and other parts are covered, at this moment there is a feeling of being isolated from the outside world.
At this time, the two little bugs slowly stretched down and drilled into the ear canal, but only the front end went in a little, and they shrank slightly as if adjusting themselves, and soon became much fitter.
At the same time, he saw very faint signs of emptiness on his second self, which was almost imperceptible if he didn't pay attention. He thought about it and decided not to continue letting his second self divert this external invasion.
Just after he chose to do so, his vision first dimmed, then flickered like a jump, and a hissing sound came from his ears.
When he looked up again, the whole city suddenly appeared in front of his eyes in another form. Layers of colorful neon lights and swirling and dancing light bands suddenly floated above the originally pale and gray buildings. They leaped and stretched, and the light curtain extended into the clouds and rushed into the sky!
Above the glare floated all sorts of giant human projections and flickering scenes, from the old era, the new era, reality, and the bizarre. They seemed to be pulled out of the time scale and then blended and confused in the chaotic space.
At this moment, his ears became extremely noisy, filled with various languages and chaotic sounds.
Whether it was light or sound, everything was poured into him at once, enveloping him and surrounding him. Each one seemed to be trying its best to grab his attention, but every time he tried to stay, he was swept away by the countless streams of information that followed, and disappeared in a flash.
"Hey, Brother Chen, can you still hear me?"
The sound seemed to come from far away, but it was the only coherent one. Chen Chuan turned around and saw Lao Qi yelling at him, waving one hand in front of him and the other hand to his ear, tapping him gently.
The way he shrunk his neck, pressed his hands together, and closed his eyes looked like he was coaxing a child to sleep. It seemed a little funny, but the meaning he conveyed was very clear.
Chen Chuan raised his hand and gently tapped his ears twice. The insect beside his ear suddenly curled up, and at this moment, the mask darkened again. Everything he had seen before disappeared without a trace, and those complicated sounds also disappeared all at once, and the world returned to its original state.
He stretched out his hand and slowly took off the mask. The wind from afar blew over, carrying some dust, blowing through his hair. The surroundings were quiet and vast. The buildings opposite were still standing there quietly, as if what had just happened was just some kind of illusion.
Old Qi stared at him from side to side, a hint of surprise in his eyes: "Brother Chen, are you okay? Most people can't handle this for the first time, and some even faint. You're really amazing. You've been staring at it for so long, and you're still okay?"
Chen Chuan raised the bone mask in his hand and asked, "Lao Qi, what is this?"
Lao Qi shrugged and said, "The Dashun government officially calls this 'Jie Ping'. We usually call it 'Yin Yang Yi'. There's also a special name for it, what is it..."
A gleam of light seemed to flicker in his eyes. "Oh, this is 'Biofield Interconnection Technology'. Other companies have special names for it. In short, there are many. You should have seen the central city just now, right?"
Chen Chuan nodded.
"Well then... welcome to the real world."
Lao Qi spread his hands, his expression filled with excitement and madness, his voice a mixture of hatred and love. He looked towards the central city and sighed, "What you saw when you came here was only the covered-up, incomplete side, but what you just saw is its complete and true appearance."
…
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(End of this chapter)
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