Chapter 10 Suicheng
If Shu Fu had not discovered that Zhang Tian's boyfriend was cheating on her, if they had gone home separately as planned, and if Shu Fu had not offered to send them off, Chen Fa and Wu Shaoshan would have followed their normal route and taken Line 14 at the subway station next to the shopping mall to go home.
Chen Fa has always been bold, but when this hypothesis took shape in her mind, she felt a terrible shudder she had never felt before.
Although the incident has passed, her subconscious mind is telling her how high the probability of this "if" happening is.
It's like a human blinking unintentionally, or a butterfly flapping its wings gently...
There is a 90% chance that they would get on that subway. If they really got on that subway, it would be difficult to say whether they would live or die.
Shu Fu on the other end of the phone was also feeling a little nervous. She opened her black mini notebook again, and the joy she had felt because the progress bar had increased significantly disappeared at this moment.
[Complete the invitation task, get 10% progress bar of level 2 raft; get extra progress bar bonus of 10%; get 2 wheel draws. (Current progress of level 2 raft: 45%)]
She had wanted to come back to draw the lottery after taking a shower, but now she was not in the mood.
In today's invitation task, only one thing is certain to happen, that is, she will come for the appointment, because of the task restriction of "reducing the progress bar if she does not show up", and everything else is unknown.
If she hadn't thought about stocking up and had gone out more than two hours earlier, she wouldn't have happened to see Zhang Tian's boyfriend cheating;
If Zhang Tian hadn't had a falling out with that scumbag, she wouldn't have offered to drive them because she was worried;
If she had chosen to take the subway instead of driving, perhaps the four of them would have avoided the flood in the parking lot, but Chen Fa and Wu Shaoshan might not have avoided the subway that caused the death...
If, if.
Everything is if, there is no certainty, everything is variable, and that is why people feel uneasy.
When she drove out of the underground parking lot and avoided the fallen trees on the roadside caused by the thunderstorm, she was actually confused for a moment, because this mission was different from the previous ones. She was not outside the event, she was in the middle of the event, became a part of the event, and experienced the danger firsthand.
As early as the beginning, when she saw the tasks and progress bar, she had some ideas.
She guessed that these were rescue missions, like helping people avoid risks, gaining merit, and thus accumulating progress on her raft upgrade bar.
But soon, this speculation was overturned by her own.
Although she helped Zheng Feifei and the proprietress avoid some dangers, she felt that this part belonged to the 5% progress bar added later.
In other words, if she had not dropped her phone and had not decided to pack up, Zheng Feifei and the proprietress would not have been able to avoid the danger. After the incident was over, her task would probably still be considered completed, but the bonus would have been missing.
Such a mission is ambiguous and lacks precision. As long as the initial part is completed, there is no mandatory requirement for the result. It is definitely not a rescue mission.
Afterwards, she guessed that this might be the main storyline, or because she had not yet named the protagonist, she came here to fill this gap and become the protagonist of the world.
Now that the golden finger of "Drifting Island House" is in her hands, such speculation seems reasonable.
From this, she could further infer that the protagonist of the world possessed good luck, so he could take the lead in pushing the plot forward and help others avoid risks - especially what happened in the underground garage today, which solidified her guess.
But now Chen Fa's call brought things back to square one.
So the real danger is not in the underground parking lot, but in the subway!
So this time, there is no difference from the previous mission.
It is still impossible for her to dominate and drive the plot 100%. Without this 100% absoluteness, this would not be the main plot, and she would not fill the role of the world's protagonist.
She now feels more like a tool.
To give an example, it is like a wrench that must appear at a certain moment. Its purpose is to tighten a screw so that the two nearby gears can continue to rotate and avoid derailment.
As for whether these two gears rotate fast or slow, and whether they are worn, these are not things that a wrench can control.
But is this wrench really necessary?
Why did she come to this world?
**
Shu Fu was standing on the small balcony wrapped in a coral fleece nightgown. Outside the balcony glass, the rain was much lighter than in the afternoon, but it had never stopped.
Both TV news and websites were filled with news about the heavy rain and thunderstorm.
The terrible thunderstorm lasted for more than ten minutes. Many trees and low conductive buildings in Suicheng were hit, and some pedestrians who took shelter in the buildings were also injured.
Suicheng has never had a thunderstorm before. When the disaster struck, many people lacked basic common sense and were anxious to avoid the thunderstorm. While running in panic, they were directly hit by the thunderstorm and fell into shock instantly.
Some people were lucky and were rescued in time, but some were alone during a thunderstorm and were already dead by the time they were found.
A total of eleven people were killed and more than forty people were injured in the subway flooding and thunderstorm disaster caused by heavy rain. In peacetime, this is a shocking number.
But Shu Fu knew that this was just the beginning.
After nine o'clock in the evening, the rain outside the window became heavier, with the sound of rushing water. Even with the windows closed, the air was filled with damp and cold vapor.
Shu Fu sorted out the supplies purchased today in the bracelet space. As usual, she put some non-food items with no expiration date in order and put them in the drifting island house. When she put away the raft and returned to the living room, she felt a little cold.
In fact, the temperature was not particularly low, hovering around ten degrees at night, but because of the rain, there was cold and damp air everywhere. At this temperature, it was a bit too much to turn on the air conditioner or use the kerosene stove, so she finally took out the heater.
The heater lit up, emitting a warm orange light, dispelling the coldness around her.
Shu Fu wrapped herself in her bathrobe, sat cross-legged on the sofa, opened her laptop, and posted an anonymous message online.
- Suppose I am now in a book. I am not the protagonist, but I have to complete some tasks every day. These tasks are trivial and disorderly, such as eating, going to work, meeting someone... They are just trivial and ordinary things. What do you think is the significance of such tasks in this book?
This website has a large amount of traffic. There are all kinds of weird posts on it, including all kinds of fantastic questions and answers. Many people who have nothing to do will pass by and leave a comment or two if they are interested. After getting likes from the poster, they will get points, which will increase their authority and make them more popular.
The account that Shu Fu used to post the anonymous post was a newly applied account and was not very popular. Even so, within half an hour after the post was published, people continued to leave messages.
——What a coincidence, I also traveled into a book a few days ago. Would you like to have a private chat with me?
——OP, can eating and working be considered a task? Please edit it more carefully next time, ok?
——Where do you go to eat and work every day and who do you meet? Isn’t that NPC? The protagonist needs to save the world, what else does the NPC want?
——The above, this is worse than NPC, NPC can also issue fixed tasks and play a role in promoting the plot! This is just a background board at best, what's the point?
…
It’s a pity that most of the comments are just nonsense.
Of course, there were also a few slightly more serious replies.
——Have you ever heard of the butterfly effect? An ordinary thing that seems insignificant to you may become the starting point of a key point, but you just don’t know it. The beginning, process, and result of this world are full of mysteries. Knowing the result in advance may change your trajectory of action, causing the outcome to change and become worse. Only when you know nothing can you make something that should happen happen.
——I think it is very meaningful. Although we do ordinary and trivial things like eating and going to work every day, it is impossible for every day to be exactly the same, right? Even if we take the same bus, if we leave a few minutes earlier or later, we will meet different people on the way. A book has only one protagonist, but there are so many people in the book. Without those other people, how can the protagonist be the protagonist?
——So it’s still the same question, are you willing to be a molecule standing at the top, or a denominator standing at the bottom and lost among the crowd?
…
Shu Fu sighed and closed the webpage.
In fact, she didn't care about being the "numerator" or the "denominator". What she cared about was that she was given the task of becoming the "numerator" when she knew nothing about it, but missed some important things that should have been completed without knowing it.
The mission is full of non-absolute uncertainties, and any slight idea will lead to different results. In the delivery rider mission, she did not get any extra bonus.
Compared to the other tasks, she couldn't help but wonder if the extra bonus that she failed to complete would result in the loss of a life...
Once every tiny thought and choice involves human life, the thoughts and choices will become heavy, and these things will become an invisible net that will cover her head, making her feel constrained and at a loss...
This feeling was very familiar, just like when she was writing scripts in the past. Writing characters and plots is the creative process for the creator. Based on a theme, it requires great creative freedom to better perform and write fuller and more realistic characters and plots.
But if there are too many voices around, investors, directors, producers, actors...
Everyone interferes with the creation in a self-righteous way, wants to modify it, and wants to add things of their own subjective will. Those rules and regulations will eventually make the creators feel helpless and at a loss, and even fall into self-doubt, which will make the characters stiff and the script dead...
Shu Fu's mind was a little confused, with all kinds of thoughts filling her head. Her thinking became fast and chaotic, and she had no way of stopping and thinking deeply about a problem, because too many thoughts would confuse her. In the end, even she herself didn't understand the original intention of these thoughts.
Can’t think about it anymore!
She decided to stop, checked again to see if the doors and windows were closed, turned off all the lights, and went back to her bedroom to sleep.
**
Because she did not have the task of punching in at work this time, she asked for leave directly on Monday. The reason she gave was simple: she was at the scene of the underground flood incident yesterday and was too frightened and has not yet recovered.
Zheng Feifei: …
I have to say, this is really great luck, but I feel a little envious for some reason. Why?
After all, it has been raining in Suicheng since last week, with occasional strong winds and hail. There was even a thunderstorm yesterday, and the temperature kept dropping.
It was cold and wet outside. She didn't want to go to work in such weather. She just wanted to stay in her warm and comfortable home.
Unfortunately, although it is still raining today, the raindrops are much smaller and the wind is not that strong. According to the weather forecast, this season change and cooling rain will be over in two or three days.
In this case, it is impossible for the company to give them a holiday.
She didn't even dare to ask for leave like Shu Fu. She had asked for leave many times in a row recently. Although they were all sick leave, they were all recorded as personal leave.
The supervisor must have taken note of it, and no matter how legitimate her reason for asking for leave was, it would be included in the score when she was evaluated at the end of the year.
Zheng Feifei asked a few questions about the situation and, after comforting her, asked Shu Fu to go to work as much as possible. She said she and the other party got along well and she really didn't want her to be fired by the end of the year.
Shu Fu sent a voice message: It’s time to rest. The weather is so bad that it’s not impossible to give myself a break. I plan to use the food delivery app to buy more food and daily necessities, and stay at home to recuperate in the near future.
Zheng Feifei sent a text: I envy you, but I can't do it...
Shu Fu sighed. This was all she could hint at. She responded with a hug emoji and continued to concentrate on driving.
She couldn't rest at home after taking a leave, and since it was raining lightly today, she went out early to buy gasoline. She planned to visit all the gas stations with her home as the center before the window and door shop staff came to install the tempered glass in the afternoon.
The car couldn't hold much gasoline, so her main destination was the portable fuel drums at different gas stations. She would buy as many fuel drums as the car could hold, then fill them up and leave.
After a night's rest, she had put aside the inexplicable emotions of yesterday.
This is how she is. No matter how outrageous the situation is, once she adapts, she will just accept it. She is also very good at diverting her attention in other ways. In simple terms, she doesn't waste her time.
Since the outcome of each mission is uncontrollable and she has no way of knowing the most perfect method, she can only follow the few rules in the mission and obey her heart as before.
The original intention is the most important.
She couldn't have it all, but no matter what the outcome was, at least this was her most genuine choice.
As for herself, whether she is in the real world, whether she is "Zhuang Zhou" or "Butterfly", and whether there are eyes outside the world watching her, it is impossible to find the answer at this stage. In this case, let's just leave it like this for now.
She does what she can, tries her best and leaves the rest to fate.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
