Chapter 113 Chapter 26 At the very end, Wei Sheng took the initiative to propose...
Finally, Wei Sheng took the initiative to suggest that the harder you try to think of something, the less likely you are to think of it. So you might as well stop thinking about it. If you don’t know what to do, just go out first. Maybe you’ll think of it when you go out.
Li Zheng: "Okay, let's throw away the trash."
Wei Sheng: “…”
Wei Sheng and I were just leaving the apartment building, carrying two bags of trash, when we happened upon an elderly man exercising in the neighborhood. It was late autumn, and the wind was chilly. While the fashionable young people were wearing coats, he was still shirtless, unfazed by the cold.
The old man greeted Zhao Zheng very warmly:
"It's Officer Li. You're not at work today."
Li Zheng nodded, still with that indifferent look, and said concisely: "I'm taking a day off today."
The old man inevitably turned his gaze to Wei Sheng who was standing beside Li Zheng.
Wei Sheng had always been with Li Zheng, leaving early and returning late. This was the first time the old man had met Wei Sheng, so he naturally assumed he was also Li Zheng's colleague. "What's the last name of this young officer?"
"No, it's my friend."
While taking a detour to throw out the trash, another neighbor who knew Zhao Zheng passed by. He was a young man who worked nearby. He was obviously surprised to see Li Zheng: "Hey, Officer Li is not working today?"
Li Zheng: "Yeah, vacation."
I ran into another one when I was almost at the door after throwing away the garbage.
"Officer Li is out having fun."
"Um."
The two walked along, exchanging pleasantries along the way. When they walked out of the door, Wei Sheng also praised them: "Officer Li, I have to say, you are really popular..."
Li Zheng refuted seriously: "No, they are usually like this, greeting everyone."
This description is quite accurate. Unlike the cold interpersonal relationships in big cities where people may not recognize their neighbors even after living together for several years, the elderly in the old residential areas clearly have a different mindset. They can't help but exchange a few pleasantries with everyone they meet, and ask about their careers and families...
"Really? If you don't tell me, I'll keep asking..."
Wei Sheng: “…”
After exiting the gate of the residential complex, turning into a quiet alley, I arrived at the busy street outside. When I left, there happened to be a mobile vendor selling brown sugar rice cakes at the intersection.
The aroma of brown sugar and glutinous rice seems to have legs and goes straight into people's noses.
I just finished my meal, but...
Li Zheng and Wei Sheng glanced at each other and walked towards the vendors almost at the same time.
"Two servings, please."
"Two servings, please."
The vendor had just handed the glutinous rice cake from the previous customer to the other customer. When he heard the sound, he didn't even raise his head, but continued to stir the machine with his hands, while using the spatula to scoop out a portion of glutinous rice cake deftly.
"Large or small? More or less brown sugar?" The vendor raised his head and noticed that it was Li Zheng in front of him. His tone suddenly became higher. "Officer Li, it's you."
The glutinous rice cake vendor seemed to know him, but Li Zheng had no deep impression of the young man with a simple smile.
"Who are you?"
"You don't remember me, it was at the end of last year when I was setting up a stall over there and the urban management officer chased me away. You just happened to pass by and you went up to him and said a few words, and he returned the car to me. I had just started setting up a stall at that time, and I didn't know that it was not allowed to set up stalls during the day..."
He began to ramble on about how difficult his family's situation was, saying that it was only because of Li Zheng's words that his car was not confiscated by the urban management officer. Otherwise, he would definitely not have the money to buy another car.
He also said that he had been to many places with his cart and often saw Officer Li, but every time he saw him, he was almost in a hurry, and he couldn't say a word or thank him for what happened before.
"I know. Officer Li is a very busy man."
He described it in such detail, but Li Zheng really couldn't remember it clearly. After all, it was just a very small thing.
A bowl of glutinous rice cake costs five yuan, two bowls cost ten yuan.
Li Zheng pulled a ten-yuan note from his wallet and handed it to the vendor, but the vendor quickly waved it away, "How can I take Officer Li's money? Take it back now!"
…
During the shoving and jostling, Li Zheng had no choice but to scan the QR code on the sign and immediately pulled Wei Sheng away.
After walking quite far, Li Zheng finished the last glutinous rice cake with a toothpick and threw the garbage into the trash can beside the road. He noticed from the corner of his eye that Wei Sheng was still looking at him with that strange look.
It was like this all the way.
He couldn't help but ask, "Why do you keep making that expression? If you want to laugh, just laugh."
"No, I just find it very interesting." Wei Sheng walked at the same pace as Li Zheng. "It's so interesting to see you talking to others, watching you leave in a hurry, watching you eat..."
Especially from his perspective, Li Zheng's cheeks were puffed up, and the way he chewed seriously was really interesting and cute.
He said it with confidence.
Li Zheng was completely confused.
strangeness,
What's so interesting about this?
But Wei Sheng always says such strange things.
Forget it.
We had lunch outside that day.
At Wei Sheng's suggestion, Li Zheng decided to do something he had never done before, such as going to a restaurant he would never have visited before.
This restaurant must have been newly opened, and its decoration was completely out of tune with the surroundings. If he only looked at the name and the shop sign, he would not be able to tell what the restaurant sold or what cuisine it served.
After entering, the interior decoration is even more beautiful.
The names of the menu are also difficult to pronounce.
Li Zheng had observed that while the restaurant was bustling with activity, every table seemed to be snapping photos. The photos looked good, but the food was average, and the prices were staggeringly high.
Wei Sheng paid. Li Zheng originally said he would pay, but when he went to pay, the front desk clerk said that his friend had already paid.
On the way, Li Zheng asked in confusion: "Is this what young people like now?"
"It's different now than it was back then. Kids now eat not just to fill their stomachs but also to get a beautiful visual experience."
Wei Sheng subconsciously used the term "our era," and Li Zheng didn't think there was anything wrong with it. He commented honestly, "I don't like it very much."
"Actually, I don't like it that much, but since I've never been there before, I thought I'd go check it out."
“…”
At noon, they went to the flower and bird market again, wandering around the market and seeing all sorts of cute little animals. They even nearly bought a kingfisher.
After drinking two cups of coffee at a beverage store that afternoon, I wandered aimlessly down the street and stumbled upon the vegetable market, which wasn't far from the residential complex where Li Zheng lived.
I just turned in and bought some vegetables.
Because it was afternoon, the market was not particularly crowded. Li Zheng walked in front and led the way, familiar with the place. After all, it was not his first time here.
However, he soon discovered that with one more person around him, the experience was different from usual.
Unlike Li Zheng, who prefers to talk as little as possible, Wei Sheng is very good at bargaining.
"Hey, this isn't worth that much. It's all off the market." He suddenly started speaking the local dialect of Cheongdam, picking and choosing, and said to the woman in a disdainful tone, "Give me the real price."
“…”
For a moment, Wei Sheng thought he saw Wei Lele again. Years ago, when he was still setting up shop at Pearl Plaza, he could sometimes hear the skinny little guy speaking to others with a similar accent.
Of course, Li Zheng swallowed these words.
He had an inexplicable premonition that Wei Sheng would be very angry as soon as he said it.
Bought a fish.
I bought a piece of old tofu.
Bought a bag of sauerkraut.
After returning home, Wei Sheng started to wash and cut. Of course, Li Zheng did not just watch from the side, but also helped, one cutting and the other washing.
Dinner was ready soon.
Spicy and sour food is naturally appetizing. That night, Li Zheng ate for a few minutes longer than usual and even drank a little wine for the first time. Wei Sheng saw the same thing.
After dinner, the two of them went out to digest their food. There was a river 1.2 kilometers away from the old community, which was a few minutes' walk away.
Take a slow walk along a riverbank.
Some people were jogging at night, pedestrians were hurrying past after work, families with children were passing by, and groups of students in school uniforms were whizzing past on bicycles.
All the conversations started with the question, "Is all this fake? What is the real world like over there?"
Before this sentence, the two of them had been chatting about random trivial matters: about how the food at the restaurant they had lunch at was bad and expensive, about the case his apprentice had sent him today, about the small vendor from before...
After this sentence, the two began to discuss the right to define the truth and falsehood of the world.
"Personally, I don't think this is fake," Wei Sheng said. "I feel like it's real here, so it must be real."
Very idealistic.
"What do you think?"
Wei Sheng asked.
"actually……"
If it was before all this happened, Li Zheng could firmly say that truth and falsehood cannot be confused. True is true, false is false. How can it be true and false at the same time? Only one of the two can exist.
But now he didn't know how to answer.
Because he is very sure that all his experiences in the past few years are real, his emotions, and his efforts are real, but at the same time another fact tells him that none of them are real.
Perhaps because he was not confident in his answer, Li Zheng's voice was very soft, so soft that a gust of wind could drown it out.
"……I have no idea."
"Then we won't think about that."
Wei Sheng observed Li Zheng. The man in front of him had regular features and a handsome bone structure. Even though he was wearing very cheap clothes, it did not diminish his temperament at all.
"Actually, I've felt you were very tired for a long time, and it seems like you have a lot of things hidden in your heart."
Wei Sheng frowned slightly, his eyes filled with heartache that he himself was not aware of.
"No matter what you do, you always look exhausted. It's like you have a lot of heavy things weighing on you. I really want to help you, share your burden, and make you feel a little more relaxed."
"……Yeah?"
"What are you thinking about right now?"
Of course, I was thinking about what happened the day before.
Over the years, Li Zheng was used to keeping everything in his heart. He faced everything alone and answered all his doubts by himself.
But when he met those bright eyes, perhaps because of the little bit of alcohol, or perhaps because of something else, he suddenly had the idea of saying something.
He watched the surveillance video for a long time that day, and finally confirmed that the real reason for committing so many previous crimes was so ridiculous.
There's no mysterious reason.
It was just because Li Mingyu had a distorted feeling for him, jealous of his sister whom he cared about more, jealous of everyone around Li Zheng, jealous of everyone he had enlightened, cared about, helped...
It just so happened that he himself possessed a kind of supernatural power, and he wanted to test how far he could go, so he started committing crimes once, twice, and three times.
Although the first case Li Zheng discovered was the Electricity Bureau Community case, after this case, Li Zheng encountered various strange cases, but the first serious victim was a lady named Zheng.
It was his first time doing it, so he went to the scene to take a look, and that’s why it was captured on camera.
Several of the victims that followed were killed almost simultaneously, or within two days of each other.
Why? Because I don't like it, because I want to test those skills, because I just happened to come across it, because I feel like I am the chosen one...
This reason sounds so... ridiculous.
But it's actually true.
"For a long time, I kept thinking about why, why, why…"
"I was also shaken for a moment. Maybe everything I'm doing now is just because of the setting..."
The back of Li Zheng's hand was covered by his palm, and the warm body temperature seemed to spread under the skin little by little.
"No, no, no, that's not it..."
"You are you..."
"This is not your fault at all. You don't need to blame yourself or take any responsibility for this..."
Seeing that Li Zheng was still preoccupied, Wei Sheng had to bring up another topic to divert his attention.
"Did he say anything else?"
As the first awakened NPC in the game, and having explored for so long, perhaps I can know more.
Wei Sheng asked tentatively.
"have."
"What?"
"He said you might have found a loophole to escape this world, that you know what the loophole is, and that you..." Li Zheng looked into Wei Sheng's eyes, "that you have a way to bring everyone back to life..."
“…”
"Do you know?"
“…”
Wei Sheng's expression suddenly became very subtle. He seemed to be thinking, struggling, or trying to choose words. Finally, he asked, "Do you know about the brain in the vat?"
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