Chapter 415 Safe House
The signature on the document was clear and sharp. After finishing the last item, Gan Mi relaxed his fingers that were tightly holding the pen and put it aside. He lowered his eyes, and his nonchalant expression showed relief.
The smiling tiger who always squinted his eyes in the past died in time.
As a fully awakened mimic, his body is close to perfection, and the characteristics of the original owner have almost disappeared.
The warm yellow light from the vice president's office shone on Gan Mi, which did not soften his aura at all. Instead, it made his jawline, which was as sharp as a knife, more prominent. Even his thin lips revealed an unspeakable coldness.
"clatter!"
The gold pocket watch placed casually on the corner of the table made a crisp sound, and the next second, the pointer on the pocket watch that had been moving backwards stopped.
Looking at the pocket watch, Gan Mi's indifference faded a little.
"I'm really crazy..." He murmured softly, as if he thought of something. The corners of his mouth raised an inaudible arc and he reached out to grab the pocket watch.
“Click—”
The moment I fastened my pocket watch, a strange feeling of disharmony came over me.
At some point, the faint smell of ashes quietly spread throughout the room.
Gan Mi's mind instantly tensed up, and he looked around while holding his watch. This place still looked familiar. After discovering that the main system might use unconventional means, the mimic's base was moved from the shell to the Xu family's old house.
This is the boundary between the real world and the game. It is the base that has been used by the mimics for many years. The entire area has a complete defense system and should not be easily invaded.
Just when Gan Mi was puzzled, someone knocked on the door of the room.
“Knock knock knock—”
"Is Boss Gan here? I'm coming in."
The familiar voice made Gan Mi freeze in place. When the door was pushed open, he saw a person he had never dared to imagine walking in.
The dark red shirt and dark grey suit made the visitor's skin look even whiter. Xu Zhiyan's mouth was slightly curved with a smile in his eyes, and the light-colored teardrop mole under his eyes was more dazzling than the diamond cuffs, making people unable to take their eyes away.
"Nice to meet you again, Gan Mi."
The young man held a metal cane in his left hand, and the skull in his palm looked lifelike.
In his right hand, he held an iron bucket filled with ice cubes and two glasses, with a bottle of wine with fancy characters printed on it inserted diagonally into the ice.
“…”
Hearing the sincerity in the other party's tone, Gan Mi's expression changed from vigilance to shock, and finally to nervousness.
Wait? Why is Xu Zhiyan here?
The emotions that had been extremely thinned by Enli's death returned to normal in the blink of an eye. Gan Mi frowned and moved his lips slightly, as if he didn't know what to ask first.
Regardless of the other party's identity, the Xu family was not a place for him to come. If Yan Chengfan knew...
Xu Zhiyan seemed to know what Gan Mi was thinking and interrupted her.
"It may be a little abrupt, but would you like to take a look around first? This is no longer the place for you to...drink?"
Walking forward, he put the bucket down on the edge of the table and looked over leisurely.
Gan Mi was stunned and looked around.
As if to complement Xu Zhiyan's words, the wall began to become transparent as Gan Mi's gaze moved, and everything outside the room was visible.
Gan Mi clenched his hands on the table into fists and looked at the endless empty space outside the room. Even the ground under his feet was vaguely visible. The familiar fear engraved in the mimic's bones hovered over his head.
This is His territory.
Gan Mi had to admit that when this thought arose, he trembled for a moment because of the residual instinct of the mimic's memory, but then he met Xu Zhiyan's calm eyes, and his tense mood suddenly relaxed.
"What's going on?"
As he asked this question, Gan Mi resigned himself to his fate and reached out to take out the wine and glass from the ice bucket.
"As expected of Boss Gan? You calmed down so quickly." Xu Zhiyan's tone was a little admiring, and he leaned against the side of the desk with his cane in his hand.
"Okay, let me make it short."
"You died in the copy you were about to enter."
He didn't keep anyone in suspense and said it directly.
The memory in the pocket watch began from the moment the lid was closed, so the Gan Mi in front of him, who was reconstructed from memory, had no memory of what happened afterwards.
Sure enough, Gan Mi's fingertips trembled slightly when he heard this, but only for a moment.
He quickly reacted and poured the wine as if nothing had happened.
"Oh? That's expected."
There was a hint of smile in his answer.
Xu Zhiyan was stunned for a moment, then he smiled with narrowed eyes, touched his chin and said, "You left me a memory pocket watch. In line with the principle of not wasting, I made you into a Tamagotchi. From now on, you will be trapped in my hands."
Unlike death, these inappropriate words were indeed beyond Gan Mi's expectations.
The calm and cold expression broke, Gan Mi looked over in disbelief, and felt that his blood pressure was raised by Xu Zhiyan's words.
"Can you please say something credible? Don't make me throw wine in your face!"
After saying that, he also laughed softly, his tone full of contempt: "Can't I feel my own body?"
In fact, when Gan Mi smelled the ashes, he realized something was wrong. His body became very strange. There was no support, and everything became thin, almost returning to nothingness.
He was still holding the pocket watch in his hand at that time. He was momentarily flustered when he saw Xu Zhiyan. As the other party opened his mouth, he had already guessed most of the process.
There is only one person in the world who can recreate the mimic through memory, but the memories he now has are only stored in the pocket watch. However, when Gan Mi thought about his plan, he felt that the fact that he was already dead did not seem so difficult to accept.
“The Mimic cannot survive without a body. Even if He takes action, I won’t be able to survive for long…”
Gan Mi handed over the glass and spoke calmly.
"So what happened to Rusty City? Since you resurrected me instead of cutting me into pieces, I'm afraid Wang Ying failed to kill Jiang Huai."
Although he asked this question, Gan Mi knew the result very well.
The Rusty City he was going to had new creations from the main system. If the mission failed, everyone would stay there and become nutrients for the new creations. Since Xu Zhiyan was able to come out, it meant that his mission was successful.
"So you planned to kill Jiang Huai Que before entering the dungeon?"
Xu Zhiyan pursed his lips and shook his head: "That's why I hate talking to smart people."
Time was running out, so he made some preparations before meeting Gan Mi, hoping to complete Gan Mi's final memory in the shortest possible time. But now it seems that this is no longer necessary.
"It's probably just as you guessed. The main system's final counterattack failed. You, Xinan, and Wang Ying are all dead. I got the key to the End of the World copy, the money you left, and the complete Wuta."
Xu Zhiyan learned his lesson this time and just lightly touched the edge of the glass with his lips when drinking.
But even so, the taste was still too strong.
Gan Mi looked at the young man's instantly frowned expression and found it somewhat funny. However, after laughing, he repeatedly chewed on the words in the young man's mouth and raised his head to drink up all the wine in the glass.
"Bang."
The cup fell on the table, Gan Mi stared at Xu Zhiyan, speaking slowly.
"Anything else?"
He planned his own death, and although he had no related memories, he knew the outcome in advance.
Everything is ready.
He had done everything he could and had no regrets.
Xu Zhiyan put down the cup, and the smile on his lips faded a lot.
"No merit, no reward."
"Gan Mi, your property is not within the scope of our transaction."
Their eyes met in the air, and he continued: "Of course, I will never give this money back after it goes into my pocket, but I am a businessman with principles."
This was the first time Xu Zhiyan spoke to Gan Mi in such a serious tone.
"Gan Mi, what is your wish?"
He took the money and had to do the job, this was his code of conduct. He went to great lengths to temporarily revive a person, just to have a clear conscience.
"Of course, if your wish is too big, you may have to increase the amount."
He spoke ambiguously, making it hard to tell whether he was joking or sincere: "After all, your current signature is still valid. Utopia still has some property that has not been transferred, including the auction."
At this moment, Xu Zhiyan hoped that Gan Mi's wish would be bigger and more difficult, so that he could get more legitimately.
Greed will not disappear, and interests will always be the strongest bond.
If there were no infinite games, he and Gan Mi would probably be good friends, or rivals.
Unfortunately, there are no ifs.
The room fell silent.
Gan Mi poured himself another glass of wine.
He was briefly resurrected, and there was no hatred in Xu Zhiyan's eyes, which meant that Jiang Huaique and the others were not dead. Everything he had done before was just to keep Xu Zhiyan away from the End of the World and not to die.
But now it seems that this plan is bound to fail.
He had no reason or means to stop Xu Zhiyan anymore. His time was over. From now on, he would disappear from Xu Zhiyan's life and become an unnecessary memory.
After a long time, Gan Mi finally found his voice from the silence.
"Xu Zhiyan, what do you think of this world?"
Perhaps he didn't expect that Gan Mi would one day ask such an abstract question. Xu Zhiyan was stunned for a moment, frowned, and didn't know how to answer.
But Gan Mi didn't seem to care what the answer was.
"The mimics were once described nicely as the main system's creations and subordinates. To put it bluntly, we are the main system's dogs." When talking about the past, his tone was cold and indifferent, as if he was talking about something that happened to someone else, and he was so frank.
"The ideal country has gone from one extreme to another."
At first, they just wanted to escape from the cage. Power is the source of evil, but also a gift that is hard to come by. Ambition grows wildly under the nourishment of power.
They who were once trapped in hell are too eager to become chess players.
They desire to the point that all groups, races, and lives other than theirs have become victims that can be taken at will.
Gan Mi's eyes flashed with confusion.
In theory, humans are just shells to mimics.
But when he entered the human body, surging emotions poured into his brain, creating huge waves in the sea of consciousness.
Joy, anger, sadness, loneliness...
Only at this time can he feel that he is alive and the world is alive.
He will feel excited when he makes money from a successful transaction; he will be hesitant and cautious when his business is losing money; and he will feel sympathy when he meets an opponent he admires.
When he was inexplicably affected and began to no longer put the mission of the ideal country first, he found that the world seemed to have details. He felt the spring breeze and the scorching sun on his face, noticed the tender green buds emerging from the branches by the roadside, and saw the dazzling yet gentle sparkling surface of the lake.
Maybe humans aren't as bad as we think.
Gan Mi found it a little funny when she thought about Yan Chengfan's suggestion that he transplant some emotions to better get through the awakening period. What's the difference between that and erasing his entire person and injecting another person's soul into it.
All this is so different from, and yet so similar to, the time when we were being controlled.
Gan Mi had experienced the fear of losing his emotions. Xu Zhiyan was his last link with humans. If Xu Zhiyan died, he would have no connection with humans.
Seeing that Gan Mi finished speaking and did not say anything for a long time, Xu Zhiyan was not in a hurry and remained silent with her.
Fortunately, Gan Mi did not get stuck in his emotions for too long, and soon he changed the topic back to the topic.
He looked at Xu Zhiyan, who was dressed in a gorgeous outfit, and behind his deep gaze was attachment and reluctance.
"Thank you for your part in my death."
"In exchange, I feel like I have a new desire."
Gan Mi tightened his fingers around the wine glass, his Adam's apple rolled and his voice became hoarse.
“Do what you want to do, be who you want to be.”
"Xu Zhiyan, keep going forward, don't stop."
After saying this, Gan Mi showed a happy smile.
“I loved this funeral.”
"Hail death, hail freedom."
He raised his glass and drank the wine in it.
Xu Zhiyan also raised his hand.
"To you."
Gan Mi paused for a moment, looking at the young man who was drinking with a frown on his face. His body was almost unable to hold on and was about to enter a state of dissipation and was shaking.
He suddenly found it difficult to breathe, but he couldn't tell whether it was because his heart was beating too fast or he was suffocating due to some other reason.
Seeing Xu Zhiyan finish the whole cup, Gan Mi waved his hand and turned his back.
There is a dark void before my eyes. Time and space seem to have lost their meaning at this moment, leaving only peace and tranquility.
Gan Mi looked into the distance and said, "Go ahead."
He didn't want to leave Xu Zhiyan in a miserable state in the end.
He hoped that when Xu Zhiyan thought of him in the future, he would smile knowingly and say that they were friends.
Xu Zhiyan pursed his lips, took one last look at Gan Mi, nodded, pushed the door open and left without staying any longer.
"Bang--"
The room returned to silence again.
After making sure Xu Zhiyan had left, Gan Mi stared at the ceiling and suddenly smiled and talked to herself.
"I worry too much."
"You will protect him."
He used affirmative sentences.
The next second, the figure of the ghost appeared in front of the table.
He did not speak, but responded to Gan Mi with his eyes in silence.
Yes, He will protect Xu Zhiyan.
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