Chapter 20 Daily Life (I)
A muffled thunder rumbled and spread into the huge venue.
Mu Yu moved the phone away from his ear in disbelief.
He looked at the screen, and the three words "Yan Shaowen" were clearly displayed on it.
Jiang Shuyue knew something was wrong and asked nervously, "Can't get in touch?"
Mu Yu froze for a long moment before slowly putting the phone back to his ear.
He didn't answer, and Yan Shaowen didn't say anything either. After two or three seconds of silence, he asked with a strange smile, "Class monitor, you're not playing some truth or dare game, are you? Why should I go to the University of Science and Technology? Who is Lu Chongnian?"
From his side came the metallic sound of the pen cap hitting the table. Yan Shaowen was obviously reading and studying.
Mu Yu felt as if he had been hit by a club, and his head was in a mess.
Yan Shaowen would never play such a boring joke on him, and Lu Chongnian would never play such a joke on him either.
Lianhua University is very close to the University of Science and Technology, but it takes at least ten minutes to drive there. If the two were still in the New Lianhua Theater at 6:14, it would be impossible for them to return to the Lianhua University dormitory in such a short time.
Unless, they have never been here at all.
But - how is it possible?
Mu Yu opened and closed his mouth several times, and finally said in a low voice: "I called the wrong number. Sorry, I'll hang up first. I'll contact you later."
After he finished speaking, he hung up the phone without waiting for Yan Shaowen to answer.
Mu Yu turned around and looked around the theater. There were so many people that he couldn't tell who was who.
He ran towards area D.
Jiang Shuyue and the other three quickly followed behind him.
The auditorium in Area D is almost full, and the few people standing in the last row are probably students from other schools.
Mu Yu walked quickly past them, looking at their faces as he walked. They stepped back and looked back at him strangely.
No, not here.
Mu Yu ran down to area D again, looking at the people sitting in their seats all the way.
None of them, there is no Lu Chongnian.
His footsteps finally stopped at the entrance of the passage leading down from Area D. Chang Sen said, "Why don't we search the entire venue again!"
Just like when they searched the entire place at the beginning of the copy, if the five of them divided the work and cooperated, wouldn't Lu Chongnian be much easier to find than the monster generator?
The other four nodded quickly.
However, there was a voice in Mu Yu's heart telling him that he would not find it by looking like this.
Lu Chongnian is indeed not here.
Not in the auditorium, not in the Xinlian Theater, and maybe not even anywhere they could find now.
"Mu Yu?" Su Mingyun and the others looked at him worriedly.
Mu Yu panted and stood there for a while, then said to them in a hoarse voice: "... Leave your phone number and contact me later. I need to go find my friend now."
"Also, Jiang Shuyue, please do me a favor."
*
Ye Sui was patted on the shoulder. He turned around and was stunned: "...Ayu? Why are you here?"
And - how did you know I was sitting here - before he could ask the question, Mu Yu motioned for him to follow him out and turned away.
The two came to the outfield corridor.
At this moment, the etiquette had been withdrawn and there were few people in the corridor. Outside, heavy rain was pouring down accompanied by rumbling thunder, and humidity was everywhere.
Mu Yu bent one elbow, bit his thumb joint with his teeth, walked back and forth, and said, "Lu Chongnian came to the University of Science and Technology."
Ye Sui asked in confusion: "Lu Chongnian? Who?"
Mu Yu paused, gritted his teeth and said, "...You don't remember Lu Chongnian either."
Ye Sui adjusted his glasses in confusion - he was nearsighted like Mu Yu, but his degree was much higher and his lenses were thicker.
He is very tall, about 1.92 meters tall, with slightly long black hair. Wearing a pair of thick glasses, he looks like a gloomy otaku, not very smart.
But Ye Sui is definitely not a dark otaku, nor is he a fool.
He noticed Mu Yu's anxiety, quickly searched his mind, and said, "I don't remember knowing a person named Lu Chongnian. Calm down. What happened to this person named Lu Chongnian? What did he do to you?"
Mu Yu started walking back and forth again. He said, "There are 48 people in our Class 32, Senior High School, right?"
Ye Sui frowned: "Yes."
"Can you name all 48 people?"
Ye Sui opened his mouth: "...Now?"
He asked sharply, "Who is Lu Chongnian?"
Mu Yu stopped and said in a hoarse voice: "Ye Sui, you sat at the same table with him for half a year, do you really not remember anything about him?"
"...What?" Ye Sui was stunned. "You mean--"
His first reaction was that it was impossible. A man named Lu Chongnian had been their classmate for three years and had been his deskmate for half a year. How could he not have any memory of him at all? This was not a horror suspense novel.
But just as he was about to say this, he stopped when he saw Mu Yu's expression.
Mu Yu's eyes behind the glasses were wide open, and he looked at Ye Sui, as if expecting him to give him a different answer. That was not the expression he would have when he was playing a prank.
However, as he remained silent, the light in Mu Yu's eyes gradually dimmed and disappeared.
Lu Zhongnian...
How could such a person like Lu Chongnian just disappear from everyone's memory like this?
Where are his people?
Did he disappear entirely?
Mu Yu asked Jiang Shuyue to help ask someone in the Department of Mathematics at Lian University. He has not received a response yet, but he has a strong premonition that Lu Chongnian is not anywhere on the earth at this moment.
But if this is true, where can Lu Chongnian go?
Mu Yu slowly sat down on the ground, and Ye Sui asked: "...Have you contacted him?"
Mu Yu propped up his forehead with his hand: "I called several times on my phone, but there was no signal at all. I couldn't get in touch with WeChat either."
Ye Sui immediately looked through his phone, but there was no such person named Lu Chongnian in his address book or WeChat friend list.
So he asked: "...Besides me, what about the other people in the class? Does anyone remember him?"
"I just asked you and Yan Shaowen."
"Yan Shaowen?"
"He and Yan Shaowen grew up together, and Yan Shaowen doesn't remember him."
Ye Sui thought calmly and asked, "What about his circle of friends?"
“He never posts on WeChat Moments.”
"Where are the photos? Didn't he leave any?"
Mu Yu moved.
That’s right, are those photos of Lu Zhongnian that he secretly took at that time still there?
Mu Yu opened the photo album and flipped up.
He discovered that only the photos of Lu Chongnian alone were preserved, and all the photos with other people in them had disappeared.
——What is this?
Mu Yu clenched his phone tightly, almost laughing out of anger.
Erasing all intersections between Lu Chongnian and other people in this world, erasing all traces of Lu Chongnian in this world - what on earth does this mean?
Ye Sui walked over and looked at Mu Yu's phone.
The photos shown in the album were taken a year ago, in September when the senior year of high school just started.
At the outdoor basketball court of Xinlian No. 1 Middle School, a boy wearing a blue and white short-sleeved school uniform and a black wristband on his wrist was throwing the ball into the basket in the air.
A strange face, a handsome figure, the shooting angle was very good, the afterglow of the setting sun filled the sky, the late summer evening became his background, and it seemed as if he was the only one left in the world.
Ye Sui looked at the photo and his heart was moved slightly.
He glanced at Mu Yu and asked, "Have you chatted with him before? Do you still have the chat records?"
"……Um."
"So, the current situation is that this person named Lu Chongnian, it is very likely that only your phone still has records related to him, and you are the only one who still remembers him?"
Mu Yu subconsciously said: "Besides me, there is also..."
He stopped abruptly.
Jiang Shuyue, Su Mingyun, Jing Qiao, and Chang Sen all got to know Lu Zhongnian through the dungeon game.
And what about before the copy game happened?
Before all this happened, who else in this world remembered Lu Zhongnian besides him?
*
8:30 in the evening, in the largest coffee shop in the center of the university town.
When Hong Yang limped to the store door with his injured leg, he ran into Yan Shaowen and was frightened.
Although they had been classmates for three years, he, Mu Yu, Ye Sui and Yan Shaowen, a group of rich kids, formed two distinct circles.
There’s no question of whether we have a good relationship or not, it’s just that we’ve hardly talked to each other and never played together. How come we bumped into each other here today?
Young Master Yan doesn't look like the kind of person who would come to a place like this to drink coffee.
Hong Yang greeted him: "What a coincidence."
Yan Shaowen had a mature temperament that was different from other students when he was in high school. He was pampered and good-looking. Now that he has left the high school campus and puts on a white shirt, he has an even more gentlemanly feeling.
He smiled and said, "Unfortunately, I came out after answering Mu Yu's call."
Hong Yang: “Ah?” Why did Mu Yu look for this guy?
The two walked inside together and saw someone sitting by the window.
Ye Sui waved at them, and opposite his table, another person was lying headfirst on the table, looking like he was about to die.
"Shit," Hong Yang was shocked and asked Ye Sui, "What happened to him? Did the character I like get killed by the author again?"
Ye Sui: "...It's more complicated than this. You guys sit down first."
Hong Yang sat next to Mu Yu, while Yan Shaowen sat next to Ye Sui.
Hong Yang tugged at Mu Yu's shoulder and said, "Wake up, someone is here. What's wrong with you? Even though my favorite author has fallen from grace, you still look like a dehydrated mummy and have no desire to live."
He felt that if he shook Mu Yu again, it would break into small pieces all over the ground.
Yan Shaowen leaned back in his chair with his arms folded across his chest, looking at Mu Yu thoughtfully.
After looking at him for a while, he asked Ye Sui: "How is it related to the man named 'Lu Chongnian'?"
Hong Yang looked confused: "Lu Chongnian? Who is this?"
Ye Sui sighed: "Ayu, you talk to them yourself."
Mu Yu flicked his fingers on the table.
He slowly raised his head, his nose was red.
Hong Yang was stunned: "Have you cried?"
"...No!" Mu Yu's voice was hoarse, but his tone was harsh, "It's not time to cry yet."
Mu Yu admitted that he was greatly stimulated today.
It had only been a short time since the incident, and he had not yet digested the fact that Lu Chongnian was missing.
But Mu Yu is never someone who is easily defeated. He is always quick to pick up his goals and rebuild his confidence.
He thought about it on the way here just now.
Just because Lu Chongnian seemed to have disappeared, was he going to just let him disappear?
If someone wants to erase Lu Chongnian's existence from this world, will he just let them do it?
Why?
He still remembered Lu Chongnian.
No matter what, Jiang Shuyue, Su Mingyun, Jing Qiao and Chang Sen also remembered Lu Chongnian.
Lu Chongnian's existence was not completely erased. Perhaps the person who created all this created a bug, or perhaps they caught the last bit of the other party before he slipped away.
Once he grabs this tail, there's no way he'll let it go easily.
Mu Yu would never let something he had obtained slip away from his hands.
He sniffed and carefully took out a small card holder from his backpack. In the holder was a photo card about three inches square, which looked like it had been manually cut to this size.
The photo shows a handsome boy in a white T-shirt. He is leaning casually on the corridor railing and looking back nonchalantly. He is as beautiful as a painting.
The card holder is decorated with colorful stickers all around, which looks very cool.
Yan Shaowen: "......? What is this?"
Hong Yang: "His traditional craft - Guka sets, no, Muyu, when did you give up your two-dimensional idols and start chasing three-dimensional idols? Look at this tune, is it a domestic boy band?"
Yan Shaowen: "Wake up, didn't you notice that the background of the photo is outside our classroom door? Didn't you see the sign for Class 32 in the upper right corner?"
Hong Yang: "Ah? That means our school has an idol? When did our school have such a handsome guy? There is no way I don't remember!"
Ye Sui covered his forehead.
Mu Yu pushed the card set to the center of the table and said slowly, "I really shouldn't forget it."
"You shouldn't forget it."
Hong Yang was confused.
The next second, Mu Yu slammed the table, and the card holder flew up into the air: "How could I not remember such a big hunk in our Xinlian No. 1 Middle School?!"
Yan Shaowen's expression also began to look strange.
"It took our Xinlian No. 1 Middle School a hundred years to produce such a handsome boy. Even the teachers said that this face should be permanently printed in the history of the school. No one can forget it!"
"..." Ye Sui asked cautiously, "Is this part of the school history true or are you just making it up because we don't remember it?"
Mu Yu said coldly: "Now, the monitor will give you extra lessons."
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