Chapter 45 Infinite World + Real World "Sleep well, my sweet child..."
Xue Chao wasn't directly transported back to the real world; it seems the villa was his "transfer station," and he had to return to the villa to get back to the real world.
Without delay, just as he touched the doorknob, the red door of the shop was suddenly kicked open from the outside. Xue Chao immediately stepped back and saw a man in black robes rush in, kneeling down on the ground, stopping right in front of his shoes, as if he were fleeing from someone's pursuit, his whole body trembling.
Xue Chao lowered his head and met the huge all-seeing eye on the man's hood.
The man scrambled into the store, but another group of men in black robes gave chase and quickly subdued him. The man struggled violently, but against his clearly well-prepared pursuers, his efforts were like an ant trying to shake a tree.
Xue Chao stood aside and observed coldly. He found that the group of black-robed men who were suspected to be his colleagues were indeed "exactly the same". Regardless of their height, weight, walking posture, or behavior patterns, they were like template NPCs mass-produced in a game. Is this what is called "fuzzy features"?
Among the group of men in black robes, there was clearly a captain. He bowed towards the direction of the cuckoo clock, as if apologizing for letting this ungrateful fellow barge in. Then he nodded to Xue Chao, turned around, and led his team away.
The man was dragged away mercilessly, like a drowning person struggling to move his tightly bound limbs. Only then did Xue Chao notice the strange sense of incongruity. No matter how the man struggled or panicked, he didn't utter a single word or make a sound. It was like a terrifying and silent mime.
After the red doors of the shop closed again, Xue Chao asked, "What happened?"
Bennu poked his head out from the cuckoo clock, his beady black eyes moving silently as if ignoring the door and walls, watching them leave. His distorted childish voice cried out, "Traitor! Traitor! You deserve the company's judgment!"
The first clause of the contract states that the host must not betray the company.
But their lives and livelihoods are in the company's hands, and the game world is dominated by the company. They are like helpless children.
Not meeting the weekly assessment standards is just "failing," and a special instance is sent out as "punishment." How does one end up "betraying"?
What did he do?
"He betrayed the company! He betrayed the company!"
It was the same old story again; they just weren't going to tell him. Xue Chao rolled his eyes and asked again, "What will happen to him? Will he die?"
“Death? That’s too easy on him. He should pay tenfold!” Bennu’s dark eyes suddenly fell on Xue Chao, and its previously boisterous bird calls became flat and matter-of-fact. “Do you want to go and take a look?”
It was ten times worse than death, a living hell. Xue Chao dismissed his thoughts; he didn't want to get himself into trouble because of his curiosity. He waved dismissively, pushed open the door, and left.
Bennu did not return to the cuckoo clock, but watched him leave. His gaze was almost tangible, as if warning the novice host to take this as a lesson and become the "monkey" who was made an example of.
In the corridor, the group of people had completely disappeared, but the new red door that should have led them away had not vanished. It stood quietly at the other end, blatantly tempting him to investigate.
Xue Chao glanced at it, then returned through his red door with a sense of boredom.
The moment I stepped into the villa, my vision brightened, and the door closed automatically.
Xue Chao walked to the window. It was already morning outside. The ground was wet, and the rain from last night had not yet dried. The thin sunlight shone on him, dispelling the lingering chill.
He opened the window, and the earthy scent of his neighbor's vegetable garden after the rain wafted into his nose. He felt as if he had been awakened by this vibrant life. His suspended nerves dissipated into the loose soil, and he belatedly realized that his seemingly reckless behavior at the company was not because he was truly content, but because he was still secretly on guard.
He remembered making plans in his mind, albeit somewhat clumsily, one after another, filling the short two days to the brim. If he were to return to the real world, he should seize every second and act immediately. However, in the dusty old house, feeling the warmth of the sun and listening to the sound of the wind rustling through the leaves, he inexplicably felt sleepy. He suddenly realized that if he spent all of these two hard-earned days revolving around the "infinite world," it would truly be a waste of the points he had worked so hard to accumulate.
So he put aside all his plans, went upstairs wearily, his body acting before his mind, entered his sister's room, set the alarm, collapsed onto the luxurious double bed, and fell asleep amidst the slightly musty smell.
The stale smell slowly faded away, replaced by a fragrant embrace. The scent was subtle yet rich enough to permeate his soul, like a black datura flower blooming at midnight—alluring yet dangerous, but bringing him a sense of peace.
A hand gently patted his back, like soothing a kitten, comforting the boy and dispelling all the nightmares that tried to come. The woman said affectionately, "Sleep, my good child... sleep."
After a harrowing experience that upended his life for twenty-three years, he actually slept soundly.
When Xue Chao woke up, it was already afternoon. He looked around and covered his face in embarrassment... He was a tall young man, over 1.8 meters, and when he stood there, he looked like a living Yama, but in his restless midnight dreams, he sought solace in the coquettishness and tantrums of his childhood.
He chuckled self-deprecatingly, "It's precious enough."
Xue Chao put aside his awkward thoughts and got down to business. Most of the doors to the villa were locked in the infinite world, but there were not so many restrictions in the real world. He focused on the living room, his sister's room, his own room, and the study, and began his search after many years.
Unfortunately, he didn't find anything. Apart from the few rooms he frequented, the place remained unchanged for ten years. Nothing had been disturbed. The old television wouldn't turn on as expected, and there were no strange objects that had suddenly appeared or been hidden for a long time, waiting to see the light of day. There was no room for conspiracy. It was old and silent, like an isolated island forgotten outside of time. No one would come except him, an escapee burdened with cause and effect.
He thought he would find some letters, and after opening them, he would find "When you see this letter..." or "Next, I will tell you this secret..." or a diary, and then discover strange anomalies from the bits and pieces of records. But in the end, he only found a notebook used to make dead leaf bookmarks in the bottom drawer of his sister's bedside table.
One of the pages contained his photograph, a small boy leaning against the windowsill, gazing at the neighbor's grapevines, his eyes sparkling.
Beside her were her sister's elegant yet casual handwriting, a few everyday musings: Last night I read a fairy tale to the little guy, but he wasn't very interested. I asked him why, and he said, like a little adult, "These are all made up to fool children. How can beans grow to the sky?" I found it amusing, so I mysteriously told him, "They really are, it's true, you just don't know." He was skeptical, still not quite believing it, but the next day he secretly peeked out the window, staring at the neighbor's grape trellis, as if waiting for the grapevines to reach straight to the sky and enter a magical fairy tale kingdom... He's still just a child, so adorable.
Xue Chao looked at his sister's handwriting for a while, kissed it gently, and put it back in its place.
With no leads on the villa, Xue Chao put on his coat and went out for a drive to vent his frustrations.
As he approached the car, he suddenly remembered that the reason he returned to the villa yesterday was because on the way back after dropping a friend off at sea, his car had some kind of problem and kept shaking. To make matters worse, it started raining, so he had no choice but to return to the villa area, which was less than two kilometers away. At that moment, his beloved car was acting up and couldn't travel long distances, so he had to take it to a repair shop.
Xue Chao clicked his tongue in disappointment, reached into the car, took out a pack of menthol cigarettes that women liked from the armrest box, leaned against the car door, lit a thin cigarette, took a drag of the annoying "coolness", and used his other hand to scroll through his phone, looking up "infinite games".
There is a lot of relevant content, after all, as a voice actor, he also knows about the "infinite flow" genre, but when he puts together all the elements he knows, there is no completely matching entry.
He searched from the company to the game, from the guild name to the player name, but apart from a few obviously different names, he found nothing.
This is not right. There must be more than one person who was allowed to "take a vacation". How could the people who came back not be investigated or questioned?
Unless he couldn't get an answer. Xue Chao cautiously avoided sending chat messages to anyone, and instead registered a new account on a social media platform, attempting to post some content about the Infinite Game. However, the post button seemed to be malfunctioning; no matter how he pressed it, there was no response, no failure message, and no network busy signal.
He changed the content and the software, but the result was the same. He then abandoned the game and guild content and posted the player's name directly, but even the two characters "Zhu Wen" failed to be posted. It was as if something was blocking his content. He then randomly changed the name and posted it successfully.
Anything related to games will be "blocked"?
Xue Chao posted his name again, and it was successful. He thought for a moment and then posted "Xue Chao eating" and "Xue Chao playing games". The former was successful, but the latter failed. He then specified a popular game, and this time it was successful.
In other words, content revealing the infinite game will be blocked.
However, this is not a complete dead end. Both the host and the players are registered under their real names. If they come from the same world, when they return to the real world, someone will definitely leave clues using their own name. For example, in software that is open to the public, it is not difficult for these experienced people who have been through the game world to leave clues by "writing diaries" or "creating passwords" using their own names. They can also filter out other players or hosts with a high probability.
Xue Chao tried all the names he knew and the names on the leaderboard, including pinyin, abbreviations, homophones, and even passwords, but nothing worked. So there was only one possibility left: in the real world, information and intelligence between players and hosts were also blocked.
The few posts he successfully made related to "Xue Chao" are visible to ordinary people, but may never be seen by other players or hosts.
A gust of wind blew by, causing the smoke to ignite like sparks. Xue Chao suddenly felt a chill spread from the top of his head, down his spine and limbs, chilling his entire body. It wasn't a chill that came from the outside, but rather a chill that grew from within—as if an eye was hidden in his soul, coldly watching him.
...That's true. The host signed a contract, so that evil thing is likely bound to the soul. Players probably have something similar. Even if they return to the gentle world for a few days, their lives are still tied to the game world, and they have no control over their own lives.
The cold white light from the screen illuminated his expressionless face. Xue Chao stubbed out his cigarette, listlessly put away his phone, but a sudden notification sound interrupted his thoughts. It was his alternate account's special notification.
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