Chapter 102 Chapter 15 Li Zheng stayed in the hospital for a total of several days...
Li Zheng stayed in the hospital for almost an hour and a half. He spent five minutes talking to the doctor about the reasons why the patient fell into a coma and the possibility of waking up. The rest of the time was almost spent communicating with Liu Yingying's family.
He patiently comforted the crying couple, telling them that they were lucky to be alright. The doctor said that everything would be fine once the blood clot in the brain dissipated. Besides, they had a son, so they must cheer up.
The NPC next to them with Hu Hui on his head also started to comfort them. After talking back and forth for ten to twenty minutes, they finally calmed the two old people down little by little.
Li Zheng patiently instructed them on when to take which documents and where to apply for several subsidies, including what compensation they could get for this matter, etc.
The case is still under investigation. Although the restaurant owner is not the culprit of the accident, as the main person in charge of the venue, he naturally bears certain responsibilities according to regulations when customers have accidents in the store.
The two old men had no idea about these matters and listened to Li Zheng attentively.
Wei Sheng was watching from the side, frowning slightly at the scene. Officer Li had been busy all day like a spinning top that couldn't stop.
His voice...
It hurts, right?
Wei Sheng really wanted to go over and help Li Zheng, and he actually went, but was pulled away by Li Zheng.
"Is your last name Li? I remember you, I remember you. You and Yingying are in the same class, right?"
The woman held his hand, lost in reminiscence. "Yingying told us about you when she came back. I also often heard the teacher mention you when I attended Yingying's parent-teacher conferences. She said you were a good child..."
Li Zheng pursed his lips tightly.
Wei Sheng next to him knew clearly that he was in a bad mood. Even though he was not the murderer, he seemed full of self-blame.
Wei Sheng began to feel a little resentful towards the NPC whose name was blurred.
It’s not that he is so moral and thinks he shouldn’t do such a thing, he just feels that what he did actually affected Officer Li!
If it were me...
When they came out of the hospital, it was already completely dark outside. Hu Hui had originally planned to have dinner with them.
The place was agreed upon, the dishes were ordered, and the two old classmates talked about some of their school days. They also said that they had to have a drink tonight. However, before the waiter brought the dishes, he suddenly received a phone call.
It must be my wife at home calling.
He could vaguely hear a female voice asking him when he would be home, saying that he had a stomachache or something. He immediately stood up and anxiously asked what was wrong, and hurriedly picked up the coat hanging on the back of the chair and was about to go out.
"I'm so sorry, I have to go now. I have to go home... Well, next time, let's get together again next time." He waved at them while answering the phone, "You guys eat first, I've already paid for the bill."
There were two people left in the private room.
It was quiet.
After a moment's silence, Wei Sheng was the first to speak. He mentioned the topic that Hu Hui had just started talking about but had not yet finished.
"You were in a relationship in high school?"
There was no mention in the games, comics, or even the subsequent Easter egg materials that Officer Li had ever been in a relationship.
It only said that Officer Li was a top student in the class of honor students when he was in school, and he thought he was the kind of person who only knew how to study.
Actually... still... in love too early?
I can't believe it.
Li Zheng was about to speak when someone knocked on the door of the private room from outside. The waiter's voice came through the thin door panel very clearly.
“Dongdongdong——”
"Hello, sir. Excuse me, could you please serve the food now?"
Wei Sheng responded: "Go ahead."
They chose a chain hotpot restaurant and ordered the dishes in advance. Hu Hui was the one who ordered the dishes, and no one knew exactly what they ordered.
Now that he was gone, looking at the dishes being brought to the table like water, Li Zheng asked in a hoarse voice, "Are there any more?"
The waiter gave a very standard smile: "There is more, sir."
“………”
When all the dishes were served, the big table was full and some plates were still stacked up.
Li Zheng wanted to ask if he could return some of these things, or if he could pack them up and take them back, but before the thought came out of his throat, Wei Sheng next to him seemed to have the ability to read minds and asked for him first.
"This is too much f**king food! How can we finish it between the two of us? Can we return it?"
The waiter smiled and said, "Sorry, sir, your order has been settled and the system has sealed it, so you can't cancel it."
"Then you can always pack it up."
“…This is fine.”
“There won’t be any more food later, right?”
"there is none left."
"Okay, then you can go down."
Watching the waiter leave, Wei Sheng took something out of his pocket, quickly tore it open, and handed the round object inside to Li Zheng.
It’s exactly the same as the one I bought him this morning.
It should have a variety of fruit flavors.
He gave him a lime-flavored one in the morning, and now this one, judging by the color of the sugar, I think it should be orange-flavored, right?
"Hey, take some throat lozenges. You've talked so much today, your throat must be uncomfortable."
Li Zheng took it and put it in his mouth for a while. The sweet orange flavor instantly filled his entire mouth. After a while, the sore throat felt a little better.
The words that should have been asked at the door of the interrogation room or in the office once again surfaced in Li Zheng's mind.
"Hey, this will be ready to eat after a while." Wei Sheng put a piece of cooked meat into Li Zheng's bowl. "It's still a little hot now, wait until it cools down before eating."
Li Zheng hummed.
The question was not asked this time. Instead, the question that came out of Li Zheng's mouth was the one that was interrupted by the waiter knocking on the door and ended in vain.
"I did have a conversation once in high school."
This immediately caught Wei Sheng's attention. He lowered his mouth and asked, "What kind?"
"At that time..."
Li Zheng used to focus solely on his studies. After all, his family situation made him mature earlier. However, he had a pretty good relationship with the opposite sex since he was a child.
When he was in elementary school, there were girls who would take the initiative to sit next to him and invite him to play house and play the role of the father. He even received a love letter in junior high school. The time he had a relationship in high school was more like a half-hearted consent than a relationship.
Su Xinyue took the initiative to pursue him, and this was known to everyone in Class 12. Otherwise, with Li Zheng's low-key personality, he was not the kind of person who would like to make a big fuss about his relationship.
Do you like it?
Actually, a little bit.
After all, Su Xinyue's name suggested she was a young lady from the city. In a small place like Cheongdam, she could actually dance ballet!
Although she was from the next class, it did not prevent Class 12 from discussing this goddess.
No one knew why she came to this city. How did the young lady fall for the then-sullen Li Zheng? Not even Li Zheng himself knew.
After they got together, he also learned to pass notes secretly like other young couples in the class. They also went out a few hours early on weekends to go shopping together at the agreed place. He explained the questions to her in the beverage store and would blush for a long time if he accidentally touched the back of her hand.
However, later, because the relationship was discovered, Su Xinyue was forced by her parents to break up with Li Zheng. At that time, the two had agreed to apply to universities in the same city.
But later...
Falling in love during the second semester of his senior year was probably the most rebellious thing Li Zheng had done during his well-behaved adolescence, so much so that even after so long, he still felt happy when thinking about it.
"She and I were together during the second semester of our senior year. Um...we broke up during the first semester of our senior year, and we gradually lost contact."
Li Zheng finished talking about his first love in just two sentences. Wei Sheng opposite him had a particularly strange expression. He lowered his head and put shrimp paste into the pot without looking at Li Zheng.
"Do you have any pictures?"
"It was on my old phone. I changed my phone when I went to college, so I didn't save the photos. But it should be in the class group chat, right? Why are you looking at this?"
"What does he look like?"
"She was pretty." Li Zheng said truthfully, "She was the prettiest girl in our school at that time."
“…………”
“…………”
The food in the pot was boiling, and the air was filled with the rich smell of hot pot. The atmosphere suddenly became a little subtle.
Out of professional habit, Li Zheng was very sensitive to changes in other people's expressions, and could clearly tell that the young man opposite him seemed to be in an especially heavy mood.
The last sentence, which should have been asked at the door of the interrogation room, in the office, in the car on the way to the hospital, and in the hot pot restaurant, was swallowed back countless times. It was not until 4:32 in the morning that it was finally spoken.
The room was pitch black. Half asleep and half awake, Li Zheng faced the shadow under the bed and finally blurted out the words that had been pent up all day: "Who are you?"
Who are you?
What is your real name?
Why are you always by my side?
Why are you looking at me like that?
The next second, the shadow in the darkness moved, and the young man lying on the floor opened his eyes. There was no sleepiness in his eyes, and he stared at the dark shadow on the bed.
"I didn't lie to you before. I really did come to save you. You will die one day in the future, falling into the river for unknown reasons..."
"I came to you for only one reason, and that was to save you. I didn't lie to you about that."
He just concealed part of it.
The truth about this world.
After all, in the comics, many NPCs react very violently after awakening, and there are many cases of them going crazy.
Although he knew that Officer Li's mentality could not be that fragile, he was very scared and worried.
"I did hide something from you before."
"But you have to believe me, I absolutely didn't mean to hide anything from you, and I absolutely don't have any malicious intent..."
He was just too worried, so he said that he was reborn to save him. This was at least more reliable than going into the game.
But this afternoon, as he stared at the closed door of the interrogation room in the corridor, he suddenly felt very regretful and felt that he should have told him himself.
Wei Sheng began to tell the whole story.
Li Zheng also listened attentively.
The room was so dark that Wei Sheng had the impression several times that he was the only one in the room. However, every time this happened, Li Zheng's response in the darkness would remind him that there was someone beside him.
Yes, he is in Officer Li's room.
This room was filled with traces of Li Zheng's life: his rental house, his bedroom, his bedsheets, his pillows, his pillowcases...
In this atmosphere, Wei Sheng seemed extremely relaxed. He started talking about the game, then the comic plot, and then mentioned himself.
He said his name was not actually Wei Sheng, and he was not twenty years old. He quickly mentioned the life in another world in a few words.
He said that his life was actually quite happy. His two caregivers had a good relationship, were good to him, and were open-minded and gentle.
They never suppress him, never control him, and always respect his personal wishes. They are simply the best parents in the world.
He can go wherever he wants, eat whatever he wants, play whatever he wants, and sleep whenever he wants.
As a teenager, he did many things that were considered quite outrageous among his peers, such as speeding, fighting, and piercing. He did all of these.
After doing all these unconventional things, he began to feel that everything was boring, and later started staying at home playing games to kill time.
He said he was actually quite stingy. Although his family was well off, he rarely spent money on games like other second-generation rich kids. He rarely spent money on games. The first game he ever spent money on was the one with Officer Li.
He said that because the game and books were very popular there, many colorful peripheral products were released, and he also bought a lot of Officer Li's peripheral products.
"Nearby?"
Officer Li raised questions from an outsider.
"It's just some...um...paper, plastic, iron, etc. with your pictures printed on them. Since the manufacturer didn't make your plush, I ordered a lot myself..."
"What's the use of this?"
"You look like you're in a good mood."
"oh……"
When he came here from that world, he bargained with the system for a long time, just to bring the money in his previous account over.
It can be said to be a very long list.
He also mentioned the game mechanics.
The previous method of leaving no trace is a prop effect, but this prop is a high-level prop, and players do not have these props at the beginning.
If players can leave no trace at all from the beginning, then the game will have no playability and will not be fun at all. If players in the game kill NPCs, they need to buy items to hide their tracks, especially in the Novice Village, where high-level props are almost impossible to use.
As for those awakened NPCs...
Wei Sheng guessed that since they were not players, a bug appeared after awakening, similar to a cracked version of the game, which is why it can be so perfect.
He even confessed that when he first met Officer Li, he had come in the patrol car. Because of this connection, many people assumed he must have a mysterious background and be powerful...
"How can I explain this to you? Actually, this is also the effect of a high-level prop, but I don't have this prop. It's mainly accomplished through the system..." Wei Sheng paused, "It didn't want to help me at first, but after I talked to it for a while, it agreed."
"This is also very important. Otherwise, how could I see you so quickly? Sometimes a seemingly mysterious background can really play a big role."
“…………”
Wei Sheng seemed to be really worried that Li Zheng would not be able to bear it after hearing these words, so he stopped every time he spoke to observe Li Zheng's face to see how he looked, and only continued to speak after seeing that he was fine.
"So now you know, what I said about me knowing you for a long, long time, even before you knew me, is true!"
"I really didn't lie to you."
Wei Sheng said he didn't know why he felt so familiar the moment he saw Li Zheng's portrait, and he liked him so much, even though there were so few scenes and his lines were almost the same...
But while other players were still discussing how to kill Officer Li, he was only thinking about how to communicate with him more and how to trigger more Easter eggs about him...
Wei Sheng himself couldn't explain why. At the end, he said, "Feelings themselves are without reason, right? It would be weird if there was a reason, right?"
After hearing this, Li Zheng was silent for a long time.
"So... you're from another world?" In the darkness, Li Zheng summarized everything he had heard in simple terms, "And in your world, I'm just an NPC in the game?"
"Yes."
"Our world is a combination of a game and a comic book, where everyone is an NPC. The person you met before awakened and became a player, and can use some props to do anything. The previous cases were also committed by an NPC who awakened as a player... right?"
right!
That's it!
He talked for half an hour without any beginning or end, but he sorted it out clearly with just a few words!
Li Zheng suddenly stopped talking. He sat up, turned on a small night light beside the bed, and took out a pack of wrinkled Double Happiness cigarettes from the first cabinet. He shook out a cigarette, looked at Wei Sheng before lighting it, and took out another one and gave it to him.
He held the cigarette and lit it.
Amidst the smoke, he spoke again: "Your real name isn't actually Wei Sheng, so what was your name in your original world?"
Three or four in the morning is the quietest time of the day. When they are not talking, it is so quiet that they can even hear their own heartbeats.
Cheap cigarettes generally have a pungent smell, a stronger taste and a more spicy throat. Double Happiness is one of the types with a softer taste and a lighter tobacco aroma.
Li Zheng smokes, but his addiction is not particularly strong. Generally, his addiction will only be slightly stronger than usual when he encounters a difficult problem that he cannot figure out or when he is extremely upset.
He smokes light cigarettes, so there is no pungent smell of smoke on his body, only a faint smell of tobacco.
Very light... very light...
It was so faint that it almost didn't smell like smoke, more like the smell of soil and grass mixed together after rain.
"Well..." Wei Sheng was obviously a little embarrassed when his name was suddenly mentioned. He cleared his throat with a kiss, "If I tell you my real name, please don't laugh at me..."
"Um."
"Are you serious?"
"Um."
"Wei Lele." He cleared his throat and said very embarrassedly, "My real name is Wei Lele."
Li Zheng exhaled a puff of light smoke. Through this thin layer of mist, the dim bedroom seemed to have instantly transformed into an interrogation room during the day.
The old classmate who hadn't seen him for a long time sat opposite him and asked him if he would believe him. Li Zheng didn't say anything, and the old classmate continued:
"I saw it."
"The name above his head is Wei Lele."
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