Chapter 18
The ID card worth 68,000 yuan was returned.
Zhan's mother didn't pay attention to her son's nonsense. Even after he came out with such a boast, she just laughed dryly, turned a blind eye, and continued to discuss the refund with the salesperson.
Only then did Lu Chao understand that his family had a laissez-faire lifestyle, and they even thought that Zhan Mu had always had something wrong with his brain, so they ignored him and treated his words as nonsense.
At this moment, our classmate Zhan Mu was smoking on the flowerbed downstairs in the residential complex, feeling quite melancholy. He wasn't addicted and didn't smoke normally, but today he was feeling annoyed, so he had a cigarette to relieve his sorrow.
I bought Ziyun a long time ago.
The flower bed where he was was very special. He could directly see his kitchen. Yes, Zhan Mu had climbed out from his balcony. This area was someone else's open-air garden, but that family was usually not at home, so no one took care of it.
Mr. Zhan did have a herniated disc, but it was nothing serious. He had gone to work at the small supermarket his family ran, while Mrs. Zhan was communicating with the salesperson about the follow-up and ignored her son who was sitting on the third floor as if he wanted to commit suicide.
"Go back, your mother doesn't blame you, isn't that good?" Lu Chao acted as a close friend to remind Zhan Mu, but unexpectedly the latter snorted and sneered, not listening at all.
Zhan Mu stood up, climbed over the wall, and slipped away to the balcony garden next door. He put his hands in his pockets and whistled out of boredom - his face really asked for a beating.
"What are you doing in someone else's garden again?!" Zhan's mother sent the salesman away and rushed into the kitchen, shouting, "If you can't find anything to do, why don't you help your dad run the store?!"
"If I were your mother, I would beat you too." Lu Chao reminded in a gentle voice.
"It's none of your business." Zhan Mu curled his lips, feeling annoyed and depressed. Of course, it wasn't entirely because of the 68,000 yuan, but because now that he was back home, his original daily routine and expectations for the future were disrupted again.
Young people often harbor unrealistic dreams, believing they can shake things up on their own. Zhan Mu is no exception. He's always believed he's incredibly capable, claiming he can become the king of self-media without his parents' help.
Unfortunately, the heavy reality of moving dealt a heavy blow to his desire to live stream, as he couldn't even get his parents to support his decision...
It’s annoying. Really annoying.
So Zhan Mu turned over again, and even stunned Lu Chao. He actually stepped directly on the cement gap between the flat-roofed houses on the second floor. With flexible movements and elegant posture, he shuttled through the residential houses like parkour and came to the main road.
"Brother, why don't you consider changing the track?" Lu Chao said to him again, "Let's find a photographer to film your parkour?"
"No money." Zhan Mu replied, with an indifferent look on his face, like a poker-faced widower who didn't want to talk to him.
Lu Chao found that he was really difficult to deal with.
The good thing about small towns is that they are small and can be walked around in just a few turns. Zhan Mu is very familiar with this area. He took a winding path and came to an old-fashioned convenience store. He bought a piece of crushed ice cream and squatted on the roadside in a daze. If he had worn a pair of loafers and tights, he would have looked like a typical taxi driver.
Lu Chao fell silent. He realized that Zhan Mu really had personality problems. He was handsome, but a bit unkempt. He wanted to be an internet celebrity, but he was self-righteous and didn't play with abstractions. His family cared for him, but he had a bad relationship with them.
Sadness, yes, it’s sadness.
Also, he is usually confident, but occasionally feels inferior, and jumps back and forth between the two. When he is not in a good mood, he just relaxes, stares blankly, does nothing, and feels weirdly irritable.
Zhan Mu was walking and passed by his father's supermarket. He saw that he was surrounded by old men and women from the town who were withdrawing money, the rural pension money. He stopped in his tracks and didn't want to go any further.
This scene was too familiar to him, too lifelike, and looked very much like the unchanging and boring future he would see in the future.
This is why he doesn't want to go home.
"I'm particularly curious about your hobbies," Zhan Mu said suddenly. He had his phone tucked into his chest pocket, so he could chat with Lu Chao as if he were on the phone.
"Me?" But Lu Chao knew he wasn't asking about him. Perhaps it was his family, the class that Lu Chao represented in Zhan Mu's eyes, the hobbies of the so-called rich.
"I have many hobbies, but what I love most is exploring the ocean of knowledge, focusing on improving my personal professional skills, or doing sports related to physical fitness." Lu Chao's official answer.
"Awesome." Zhan Mu snorted and laughed twice, feeling a little unhappy.
Although he also knew that Lu Chao said this on purpose, probably to motivate himself, but to be honest - liking to study was really incredible in his eyes.
One of the great successes and failures of Chinese education is that it makes parents firmly believe that studying can change their destiny, but it makes some students feel disgusted with knowledge.
However, the love of knowledge and the pursuit of truth are the meaning of education.
"I really think that your personality is not suitable for self-media, or you haven't found the direction that suits you. There are many types of self-media, and it depends on how you play it." Lu Chao mentioned casually.
"Play?" Zhan Mu found this statement strange. He bit into the broken ice and raised an eyebrow in doubt: "Honestly, I feel that my life is very difficult and not fun at all."
Lu Chao: "Then try to do what you like."
"Playing games, oh no, and eating." Zhan Mu replied.
"You have to admit, even in gaming there are top players, and even in food streamers there are big eaters..." Lu Chao pondered, then added, "What I mean is, persist in doing something you're truly interested in, and that you can patiently and untiringly pursue. Even if it doesn't bring you success, it can still give you a sense of meaning in life, or perhaps even pure happiness."
"Happy? If you have money, you're happy. If you don't have money, then..." Zhan Mu answered casually, but he got stuck before he finished speaking. He muttered the word happy to himself, and suddenly he had an epiphany.
Happiness actually has little to do with money.
The morning light today was bright and not hot, but Zhan Mu liked to eat ice cream, so even though the weather was a little chilly and it seemed inappropriate for him to bite the crushed ice in his hand, he was still very happy.
"Why are you so philosophical?" Zhan Mu curled his lips and smiled.
"Because I've lived in this damn game for almost decades, and all I do all day is talk to myself and think about life." Lu Chao answered seriously, appearing calm and somewhat proud.
"Ah..." Zhan Mu hummed, he yawned, and after squinting his eyes, he saw a patch of ink-indigo blue clouds, with one or two birds flying by. It was very beautiful.
I haven't felt this way for a long time.
The last time was when he was about to graduate from high school. One day, he bought a spicy noodle from the school canteen and went to the playground. He encountered the only cloud in the blue sky and had this feeling.
"I still remember that I had a crush on our class monitor in high school," Zhan Mu suddenly said, causing Lu Chao's eyes to widen. He continued, "In our liberal arts class, she had excellent grades and was cute, especially in Chinese. Her excellent essay was posted on the wall outside the classroom. I've forgotten what it was about, but I just thought it was very well written and beautiful."
"So you guys..." Lu Chao was very curious about his past.
"Oh, I forgot to mention, I'm a sports student, practicing track and field, and she's the girlfriend of our track and field team captain." Zhan Mu said, "We all call her sister-in-law, hahahaha!"
I give up, you idiot. I thought you had a heart-wrenching, chaotic, and touching love story because you couldn't get the love you wanted.
"I was so ugly, a fat foodie, how could any girl like me—" Zhan Mu laughed as he spoke, as if he was making fun of himself, or joking with himself. In short, he was no longer emo, and his liveliness was back.
-
As agreed to be a food broadcaster, Zhan Mu took the initiative to volunteer to cook at noon and operated the filming equipment he bought, which stunned Zhan's mother who was carrying the food home.
At this moment, Zhan Mu had already prepared the meal and placed it on the table, looking clean and beautiful. He had also finished filming and was editing his own video and adding subtitles. Zhan's mother was deeply moved by the behavior of such a filial and well-behaved son.
She washed her hands and saw that Zhan's father's lunch had been plated in the kitchen. She felt relieved immediately. After delivering the meal to his father who was guarding the store, the mother and son had lunch together harmoniously.
Business at the family supermarket was mediocre, so only Zhan's father was in charge. Zhan's mother had recently hired a stewing assistant. In the afternoons, Zhan Mu could just sit back and watch the empty house and stream his games.
"The PVP mode of Desperate Situation is online." Zhan Mu said, twisting his fingers with full motivation. As soon as he put on the helmet, he saw n messages sent by Lu in the message box.
Bian Lu: In? x99
Bian Lu: The maze puzzle ranking competition has started, hurry up.
Zhan Mu hadn't even read the rules when Lu Chao, understandingly acting as his AI, said, "The maze puzzle competition has three levels, and each level has a new map. It hasn't been officially announced yet, but the ranking will be based on the time it takes to solve the puzzle. Those who livestreamed to take advantage of this wave of traffic have already posted it."
"Then what are you waiting for? Log in!" Zhan Mu said, and immediately accepted Bian Lu's invitation to join the game.
As soon as I entered, I found that there were almost a hundred people, but each level was limited to 100 people. You can form teams and groups at will. Whoever breaks through first will advance to the next level.
Zhan Mu immediately felt bad and sent a private message to Bian Lu: "There are so many people here, if we go in, we'll definitely lose."
Lu Chao: "No, this is not a killing game."
"I've already played several times and am currently trying to break the record." Bian Lu had time to reply him, but Zhan Mu saw that there were many men and women around him who were chatting with him happily.
"Understood. It's not whoever kills the most that wins. There are three dungeons in rotation, each one a maze with a changeable mode. The player who completes the dungeon in the shortest time will be ranked first," Lu Chao said, adding, "An Jing and Cheng Cheng aren't logged in."
"Interesting, a single-player time trial. I'll go in and try it out first." As he said that, Zhan Mu clicked to queue up, and in a flash, he entered the second copy: the maze puzzle competition.
He opened his eyes and saw a familiar scene: the village was dilapidated, the ground was muddy, and a drizzle was falling from the sky. Not far away, Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva had already held the magic weapon firmly in his hand.
It is the paper figurine village where I played.
Zhan Mu was just about to say a few words to Lu Chao. To be honest, he was used to the days when he could summon Lu Chao anytime and anywhere. When he knocked, he found that the game prohibited private chats and he was a little uncomfortable.
It was dark, but there were no paper figurines in the village. Zhan Mu was a little panicked. He was carefully moving closer to the statue of the Bodhisattva when he suddenly heard Lu Chao rushing over and shouting, "Watch out, buddy!"
He was curious about why Lu Chao called him brother...
He shouted, he shouted, right, Zhan Mu wondered, what did he shout at himself?
With such doubts, Zhan Mu turned around and looked at Lu Chao. Hey, something is wrong. Why are there two Lu Chaos, one in front and one behind?
But Zhan Mu was completely confused. He blinked and saw the two Lu Chaos running towards each other. They were the first to stare at each other. One of them said, "What a coincidence? Are you a monster or a player?"
"I should be the one asking you this," said another.
The health bars above their heads are both green! This means they are players.
Zhan Mu narrowed his eyes and looked at their faces that had once haunted him. He cleared his throat twice and said shamelessly, "Well, I have a cousin who..."
"Cousin!" Zhen Luchao said without hesitation, "It's me."
The player who had used Lu Chao's face as a suit was stunned and scratched his head, looking a little clumsy. In short, his naive look didn't suit Lu Chao's temperament. He said, "So you two know each other, hahahaha. How embarrassing! I thought he was a weirdo."
Just as Zhan Mu breathed a sigh of relief, he heard the fake Lu Chao say, "I didn't expect you to be a Lu Chao fan too. Well, how about we form a team? I'm still looking for my other friends."
"Others, friends?" Zhen Luchao immediately expressed his doubts.
Just as he finished speaking, the three of them saw Lu Chao running towards them again. They were impressed. He was wearing the same suit from the dungeon, the classic skin that had seduced countless men and women.
"Finally found the main group!" The man was overjoyed and rushed over to hug them.
It made the real Lu Chao himself, and even Zhan Mu's eyes sting - although Lu Chao was not a rigid person, he was definitely not as cheerful as them.
"Let's agree on a secret code." Zhen Luchao suddenly felt like crying, as he was racking his brains to come up with a slogan to go along with Zhan Mu.
"Call me husband." Zhan Mu said seriously with a calm expression.
Lu Chao: “???”
"Don't worry, no one would call me a stranger like that. This way, if you call me, I'll know."
Lu Chao was in a strange mood and smiled dryly, "Do you think I would be so careless as to call you that?"
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