Chapter 39 Platinum Joy Supermarket wasn't a girlfriend, but a boyfriend...
"What's wrong with her?"
"Make way! Someone's fainted, everyone make way!"
"Call 120 immediately!"
A commotion arose behind her, and Shi Yu turned around to look.
The crowded people parted to both sides, and a little girl in a pale yellow dress with long, flowing hair collapsed on the snow-white floor in the middle. It wasn't a normal fainting spell; the little girl had hit the ground with the back of her head and was unconscious. Dark red blood was still gushing from her mouth and nose, probably indicating that her cerebellum had been injured.
The surrounding customers dared not approach, and someone in the crowd had already dialed 120. About ten minutes later, the ambulance arrived, and the nurses carried the person away on a stretcher.
Where the little girl had lain, a pool of dark red blood had accumulated on the snow-white floor, and a pearl earring lay nearby.
The little incident didn't dampen the customers' enthusiasm for shopping at the supermarket; however, everyone carefully avoided the blood on the ground and the earring as they passed by.
Shi Yu stared at the earring without moving. Lu Chengjing asked him, "What's wrong? Are you afraid of blood?"
"No." Shi Yu shook her head, glancing around as she spoke. "This is my first time in this supermarket. It seems to be an unmanned supermarket. I didn't see any staff members inside, so I was wondering if someone would come to manage things here?"
"Oh, that? Don't worry about it." Lu Chengjing said with a sigh of relief, "This is my nephew's supermarket. To save on labor costs, they did use a lot of robots, but it's not like there are no real people at all. There are people watching from behind the monitoring room. They will handle it. Don't worry about it, let's go."
"Hmm." Shi Yu nodded. Lu Chengjing helped him push the shopping cart, and the two walked towards the checkout counter together. After a few steps, Shi Yu asked again, "By the way, Mr. Lu, you said this is your nephew's supermarket?"
Speaking of this, Lu Chengjing began to talk non-stop: "That's right, my nephew is named Lu Boyue, and the supermarket is called Boyue Supermarket. It's not a very creative name, is it? My nephew is a typical person who is all brawn and no brains in business. Don't be fooled by the fact that he is the store manager. In fact, the entire supermarket, from top to bottom and inside to outside, is managed by a professional team."
"The fact that the supermarket is so successful shows that Manager Lu has hired some really capable people," Shi Yu praised sincerely.
"What's so impressive about it?" Lu Chengjing scoffed. "It's just that the location was chosen well. Anyone who opens a supermarket here will have a booming business. What's truly impressive is turning adversity into success under bad conditions! Come to my company sometime, and I'll show you around. Our team is the real elite."
Lu Chengjing's words were filled with contempt for Lu Boyue and confidence in himself, suggesting that their relationship couldn't be very good. And someone who is confident enough in their own career wouldn't be interested in someone else's inheritance.
By now, Lu Chengjing can be completely ruled out as a potential dispute over the inheritance.
"Let's talk about it when we have time later," Shi Yu replied casually, since he didn't have any money on him and needed this sucker to pay for him.
As expected, the gullible Lu Chengjing paid for Shi Yu's things without hesitation. The shopping cart was filled with four shopping bags. Shi Yu was too embarrassed to ask Lu Chengjing to help him carry the things, so he carried two bags in each hand.
As Shi Yu was leaving, she noticed a girl coming in from the supermarket entrance.
The girl was wearing a pale yellow dress and had long, flowing hair. As she approached, Shi Yu noticed the pearl earring on her earlobe... it was exactly the same pearl earring that had fallen onto the bloodstain earlier.
Wasn't this girl already taken away by the ambulance? How did she end up here again?
Moreover, the girl looked radiant and seemed perfectly fine.
"What's wrong?" Lu Chengjing waved his hand in front of him, puzzled. "What are you looking at? Is there something there?"
The girl is coming straight this way, can't Lu Chengjing see her?
Shi Yu glanced at Lu Chengjing, then looked ahead again; the girl was gone. In just a few seconds, the girl seemed to have vanished into thin air.
If the settings are the same for each instance, then the NPCs who exist as customers in the supermarket should also have the same configuration. In other words, the girl wearing a pale yellow dress and pearl earrings will also exist in other instances.
Shi Yu was certain that he was not seeing things, nor was he hallucinating.
The only explanation for this phenomenon is that a copy overlap occurred for a brief moment.
According to this theory, the figure he saw in the supermarket that looked very much like Shen Su might actually be Shen Su himself.
Judging by the time, Shen Su should have returned to the hotel long ago, and Lin Fengbai had already told Shen Su what had happened today and his current whereabouts, as he had instructed.
Given Shen Su's personality, once he learned that Chen Su had come to the supermarket, he would definitely follow him to find out what was going on.
"Mr. Lu, I just remembered there are a few things I haven't bought yet. You can go ahead now, no need to wait for me. I'll treat you to dinner another day."
After saying that, Shi Yu turned around and walked back.
If a brief copy overlap occurs here.
If Shen Su is still here, then it's possible they could meet here.
.
Shi Yu was unaware that in the instant he turned around, he brushed past Shen Su from another instance.
One went in, the other went out.
They all seemed to be in a hurry.
Viewers in both live streams saw this scene very clearly:
If this weren't a live broadcast, I'd suspect it was scripted, and it's one of those clichéd scenes where the main characters just brush past each other.
Although the plot is clichéd, I still enjoy watching it. To be fair, these unplanned clichéd plot points aren't actually that clichéd.
Is this really a horror game? Or is it just a romantic drama?
[This is truly a horror game; the other dungeons are already seeing people killing each other. See dungeons two and nine for directions.]
I went to see it, and oh my god, it's terrifying! Why are the NPCs killing each other?
[It's actually quite easy to understand. The instances are all designed the same way, and the number of NPCs is the same. When the instances overlap, another version of you is created, and you're told that only one can exist. Wouldn't you want to kill that other version of yourself?]
Thank goodness, it's just NPCs killing each other!
[You're being too optimistic. Merging two instances into one only allows NPCs from one instance to be accommodated. Do you think it can accommodate players from two instances?]
[The guy in front guessed right; the players have started killing each other.]
[Dungeon 4 and Dungeon 7 overlap! This time, the system directly ordered players to kill each other—amazing!]
Have you noticed that the system is more intelligent than it was a few years ago? It seems to no longer exist simply to issue tasks, but rather... to abuse its power for amusement? It seems to have evolved human emotions.
Yes! And it's no longer fair and just! It's become bloodthirsty! Brutal! It doesn't discriminate between family and friends! It even kills NPCs!
[Hey, you've got some nerve! Don't you know the system is everywhere? Watch out, it might be targeting you next time you log into the game.]
[MD, please stop talking...it's terrifying.]
.
Shi Yu searched the supermarket but couldn't find Chen Su.
He turned back in a moment of impulse, and only after he calmed down did he realize how outrageous his behavior was. If he wanted to communicate with Shen Su about what he had just discovered, he could have simply gone back to the hotel and communicated with Shen Su using Morse code. Why did he insist on meeting Shen Su in person?
The main problem is that after going back and circling around, I didn't even see a single person from Shensu.
When Shi Yu walked out of the supermarket, he found that Lu Chengjing hadn't left and was still waiting for him.
"It's so late, let's grab a late-night snack and I'll take you home," Lu Chengjing said as he walked over. Perhaps worried that he might disagree, Lu Chengjing added, "I've ordered food at a nearby restaurant, so let's not waste any."
The phrase "Don't waste food" perfectly captures the psychology of impoverished male college students.
Shi Yu had no choice but to agree.
While Shi Yu and Lu Chengjing were having a late-night snack, the three members of Dungeon 1 were woken up by Chen Su in the middle of the night.
Although it was called a meeting, Shen Su only said three sentences in total.
"Xu Tu, Lu Jianchuan, Lu Shang, Lu Chengjing... You're going to meet these four people tomorrow, right?"
The investigation strategies for Dungeon 1 and Dungeon 3 are the same. However, Mu Zhuo and his team are a step behind Shi Yu and his team in Dungeon 1. Although they have listed the suspects, they have not yet made any actual contact with them. The plan is to make contact with them one by one tomorrow.
“You three go.” Shen Su traced a line on the draft paper with his finger, the tip stopping at the last name. “Lu Chengjing, I’ll go meet him.”
Everyone was woken up in the middle of the night for a meeting, and they're all half asleep right now.
But when he met Shen Su's gaze, he instantly sobered up.
Why are you so irritable after just going out for a late-night snack?
The viewers in the live stream didn't think so:
[Huh? Can I interpret Shen Su's behavior as jealousy?]
[No need to interpret this, it's just jealousy and wanting to settle scores with the rival!]
[Lu Chengjing from Instance 1: Please don't take out your resentment towards me from other instances on me, thank you.]
[Hahahaha, that's right! Shen Su, your rival in love is Lu Chengjing from instance three, what does that have to do with Lu Chengjing from instance one?]
My romantic partner is unparalleled in the world; Lu Chengjing is nothing but a rival in love!
[How can you not consider him a love rival? He's already confessed his feelings.]
【？？？？？？？？】
.
Instance 3, Restaurant.
"You may not believe in love at first sight, but it really happened. From the moment I stood in the second-floor corridor of the coffee shop and saw you from above, I admit that I was smitten."
"I told you I wouldn't force you. I just wanted to tell you how I feel. So, could you give me a chance to pursue you?"
A private restaurant, a candlelight dinner, roses, violin music... Lu Chengjing looked at Shi Yu with deep affection and said these words, which could not be wrong as a confession.
Shi Yu sipped his tea, and after about a minute, he finally spoke: "President Lu, actually I have a girlfriend."
Shi Yu saw through Lu Chengjing's intentions at a glance, but she hadn't expected him to confess so quickly.
He will not accept Lu Chengjing's offer, whether it is sincere or not.
He only had six days left in the game instance, and he didn't want to be harassed for the remaining days. The best way was to make the other person give up completely, and the way to do that was to tell them that he already had a girlfriend and that he had no chance.
"You have a girlfriend?" Lu Chengjing was extremely surprised, even shocked, by this answer. He was so shocked that he blurted out, "You have a girlfriend? How could you have a girlfriend! Really? You're not lying to me, trying to reject me like this?"
Shi Yu said earnestly, "I have no reason to lie about this, President Lu."
Lu Chengjing scratched his head, looking anxious, and rattled off a long string of questions: "You're a poor student, you don't even have money yourself, what can you give your girlfriend? Forget about a car and a house, do you have money to buy her a Valentine's Day gift? Can you surprise her on her birthday? Can you take her traveling around?"
"I know you young people are head over heels in love and don't care about anything else, but you also have to consider reality. Although it's true that pure love shouldn't care about material things, how long can love stay fresh without material support?"
“Although we don’t have money now,” Shi Yu clenched her fist, her eyes resolute, “we can work hard together, and we’ll have cars and houses in the future.”
"Strive?" Lu Chengjing said as if he had heard a joke. "You think striving is too simple. Without a background in government or business, without a solid family fortune, without useful connections, isn't striving just about suffering? Endless suffering, and you don't even know if that so-called future even exists."
"Putting everything else aside, just consider the aspect of enduring hardship." Lu Chengjing calmed down and asked a question that struck at the heart of the matter, "Is she willing to endure hardship with you?"
Shi Yu was still thinking about how to answer.
A voice came from the restaurant entrance, providing the answer for him.
"He is willing."
Shen Su looked like he was getting ready to sleep. He was wearing a loose, light gray bathrobe, with a long overcoat draped over his shoulders. His wet hair hung down, covering his forehead, and the tips of his hair were still dripping water. He yawned as he walked over.
Shi Yu noticed through the restaurant's floor-to-ceiling windows that the Lu's Hotel, where they were staying, was diagonally opposite the restaurant.
Lu Chengjing, who had lost his composure when he heard that Shi Yu had a boyfriend, calmed down when he actually saw Shi Yu's "boyfriend". He glanced back and forth between Shi Yu and Shen Su, and said with a meaningful look: "Oh, so it's not a girlfriend, but a boyfriend."
“I’m willing to fight alongside him.” Shen Su sat down beside Shi Yu, draping one arm over the back of Shi Yu’s chair. From behind, it looked as if he was holding Shi Yu in his arms. When he spoke again, Shen Su’s drowsiness vanished, and his eyes were clear. “But I won’t let him suffer. I’d rather work three jobs myself.”
Lu Chengjing scoffed: "I understand you. After all, everyone has a reckless youth..."
“That’s right,” Shen Su interrupted. “Everyone has been young, but not everyone has a beautiful, devoted partner to fight alongside when they are young.”
Lu Chengjing: "..."
Shi Yu sat quietly beside Shen Su without making a sound.
I don't know why, but he probably felt reassured when he saw Chen Su appear.
But at that moment, he had a bad feeling.
His premonitions are always very accurate.
Especially the bad kind.
It was late at night, but there seemed to be more people on the street outside the restaurant. Upon closer inspection, they didn't seem to have walked there normally; it was as if they had appeared out of thin air.
Meanwhile, Shen Su, who should have been in another instance, had not disappeared and was exchanging sarcastic remarks with Lu Chengjing.
The two instances just now only overlapped briefly.
Could they be completely overlapping now?
Shi Yu didn't think that overlapping instances would be a good thing at all.
Sure enough, the game panel popped up, displaying scrolling mission information.
Not only him, but all players in all ten instances of Platinum Supermarket received the same system message—
[Duplicate merge complete!]
The dungeon merge results are as follows: Dungeons 2 and 9 are merged into Dungeon A; Dungeons 4 and 7 are merged into Dungeon B; Dungeons 5 and 6 are merged into Dungeon C; Dungeons 8 and 10 are merged into Dungeon D; and Dungeons 1 and 3 are merged into Dungeon E.
Each instance can only accommodate four players. Instance merging has led to overcrowding. Players have six hours to complete their actions.
If the number of players in a single instance still exceeds four after six hours, the system will randomly assign players to deaths until only four players remain in the instance.
The next instance merge will take place in 24 hours.
Enjoy the game!
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