Chapter 30: Fantasy Scripture (XI) Zhang Xiaodeng wanders in wonderland. ...
Zhang Deng was worried that the luggage was too heavy, so she sent the cat to Hu Ningning's home. She was very excited and said, "My idol, as a foster care fee, can I take a couple of photos of you?"
Zhang Deng said, "What's the point of filming this? Who would watch it?"
"As for me," Hu Ningning said, "I love you, and of course I want to capture every moment of your life. Of course, I'm also in love with many other men at the same time, some singing and some dancing. Don't be too sad, because we're not very familiar with each other yet. Once I've developed my feelings, I'll focus on pursuing you."
Zhang Deng hadn't spoken to Hu Ningning much at all. He asked, puzzled, "How can we cultivate our relationship?"
"You don't need to worry about this," Hu Ningning said, "I can do it myself."
Zhang Deng cooperated in taking a few photos. It seemed that Hu Ningning was really good at taking photos. He almost didn’t recognize himself in the picture.
Hu Ningning said: "The raw photos came out straight away, it's amazing."
Zhang Deng didn't understand, but it seemed that Hu Ningning didn't really need him to understand. He wanted to explain a few words on how to take care of Xiao Mi, but Xiao Mi didn't have any quirks in life. It was just a very ordinary kitten and there was nothing that required special attention.
Zhang Deng said, "I'll come back to see it often. I hope I don't disturb you."
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Hu Ningning said, "You're more than welcome to bother me, okay?!"
Zhang Deng smiled and felt a little relieved.
Hu Ningning put her arm on his shoulder and said, "Just smile. Why are you so serious?"
"Are you going to save the world with that bad guy Wei Yuanye?" Hu Ningning suddenly asked in a low voice.
Zhang Deng: “…”
Hu Ningning acted as if he was making a fuss and said, "I guessed it a long time ago. He must not be an ordinary person. When he threw me down, I saw him upstairs one second and then I saw him standing in front of me the next second. I was scared to death."
Zhang Deng said: "Then you still..."
Are you still so calm?
Hu Ningning said, "I don't care. I'm just an ordinary NPC, so I don't have to worry about anything. I'll die when it's time to die. Idols, you guys are so romantic, just like in a TV show."
Zhang Deng, however, had his own melancholy and couldn't say much to her. He could only say, "I'll be back as soon as possible."
Hu Ningning said, "Okay."
"Don't worry," Hu Ningning said, "I'll stay away from Xiao Mi, don't worry."
Zhang Deng smiled again. He found that Hu Ningning was actually quite cute.
A month ago, he would have thought he was crazy for thinking this way.
After settling Xiao Mi down, Zhang Deng surprisingly had nothing left to say goodbye to. He only took a few changes of clothes, a toothbrush, a pair of slippers, and his computer. Before leaving, Zhang Deng cradled Xiao Ai in his arms, his face as if ready to die.
Wei Yuanye even suspected that he was kidnapping Zhang Deng.
Zhang Deng said, "I'm ready."
Wei Yuanye looked down at him, pulled him back, and pressed the pager.
Milky white sunlight shone down from the sky thousands of feet high, and was cut into tiny shapes by the white crown of the World Tree. It shone on the ground, forming sparse silhouettes, giving people a mysterious feeling of walking on water waves.
Zhang Deng was holding a cactus and walking among the group of people in uniform. Although the people around him did not look at him intentionally, Zhang Deng could always feel their eyes on him.
Zhang Deng did not meet any leader who made the decision to send him to World Tree. It was Wei Yuanye who directly entered the application into the machine terminal. Everything went according to the procedure, and he was assigned a dormitory.
This dormitory is located very low down, on the 300th floor, at the base of a tree.
Zhang Deng followed Wei Yuanye into the elevator. He felt strangely like a dependent, and it was hard for him to adjust. The people in the elevator cast vague glances at him, and Zhang Deng lowered his head.
Wei Yuanye said, "Let's go."
As he spoke, he grabbed his wrist. Zhang Deng quickly followed and said, "Okay."
The first time you check in, you need to press your palm print on the door. Zhang Deng put his hand up as if by magic, but a very calm voice came out: "Entry successful, welcome in."
Zhang Deng asked, "Is just once enough?"
Wei Yuanye said: "Three hundred floors, there should be no need to be too cautious."
Zhang Deng didn’t understand what it meant at first, but when he went in, he found that it was completely different from Wei Yuanye’s dormitory.
His room looked yellow, not white.
All the materials seem to be made of synthetic wood, not feeling like the old times, but rather a low-quality modern feel.
Zhang Deng pushed the bathroom door and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw inside. At least the bathroom was clean.
"World Tree ranks applicants based on their points," Wei Yuanye said. "You followed the normal application process, so your points are the lowest."
Zhang Deng asked, "The higher you live, the better your living conditions, right?"
Wei Yuanye said "hmm".
"I thought this place was a pure utopia," Zhang Deng said, unable to explain his feelings. "It seems you hold a very high position in this world."
Zhang Deng immediately came to his senses again and said with a smile, "I'm doing pretty well."
At first, Zhang Deng was worried that Wei Yuanye's personality would be out of place in his own world, making his life difficult. Now it seems that his worries were completely unnecessary.
Wei Yuanye didn't put his things down. He seemed to just let Zhang Deng take a look at the dormitory, and then said, "Let's go."
"Hmm?" Zhang Deng asked, "Where are we going? Eat?"
Wei Yuanye said, "Go upstairs."
"You live upstairs," Wei Yuanye told him directly without any intention of discussing it with him, "I live here."
Zhang Deng thought he was exaggerating a bit and said, "That's not necessary. The conditions here are actually quite good."
Wei Yuanye shut Zhang Deng up with just one sentence: "There are cockroaches here."
Zhang Deng: “…”
Zhang Deng: “Ah.”
"I'm sorry to bother you for a while..." Zhang Deng said.
As for cockroaches, that's definitely not a good idea.
As friends, we should take care of each other.
Zhang Deng lived in the World Tree for two days, and he didn't feel very comfortable during these two days.
He felt that no matter where he went, many people were looking at him, but when he turned around, he could not see anyone. Moreover, everyone's attitude towards Wei Yuanye seemed a little strange. When Wei Yuanye took him to report on his work, many people seemed to be avoiding Wei Yuanye, as if they were afraid of him, but also as if they did not want to meet him.
Zhang Deng accepted the condolences from a senior leader with work number 681. The man also said that he had received a letter of praise from Wei Yuanye and would give Wei Yuanye some extra points. However, Zhang Deng could not see any appreciation or approval in his eyes. He felt that this person made him very uncomfortable.
Although Wei Yuanye's mood has always been indifferent, Zhang Deng can feel that after returning to the World Tree, Wei Yuanye's mood is particularly bad. Although he is still very careful and considerate to him, Zhang Deng can still feel that Wei Yuanye has been in a state of suppressing his emotions.
The sky above the World Tree was white. There was no sky, no clouds, just emptiness. Zhang Deng asked, "What kind of world is this?"
Wei Yuanye took him into an empty square. There were almost no people in the square. There were no old people, no children, no people who did not need to work, and no people who were mentally tired. Therefore, in the entire world tree with more than 3,000 floors, there was only one square serving as infrastructure.
Wei Yuanye sat on the bench and looked up, seemingly silent. After a while, he said, "This is just a gap in time and space."
"If the universe is viewed as a coordinate, this is the origin," Wei Yuanye said. "There is no sky, no sea, not even time."
Zhang Deng asked, "So what do you do for fun?"
Wei Yuanye said, "What kind of fun do you want?"
“Fun is work,” Wei Yuanye said. “When you go out to work, you’ll see interesting things.”
"But don't I have to clear my memory when I come back?"
Wei Yuanye said: "It's better to have experienced it than not to have seen it at all, although you will still forget it."
Zhang Deng felt a little regretful and sad.
Zhang Deng asked, "Why were you born in this hellish place?"
Wei Yuanye smiled and said, "The people here are immortal, and many people really want to come."
"People out there pray to gods and ask for divination, hoping to ascend to heaven. Aren't they also hoping for eternal life?"
Zhang Deng felt that what Wei Yuanye said was all sarcastic and inconsistent.
"I heard that the World Tree grows on a turtle shell," Wei Yuanye said, perhaps feeling the atmosphere was too heavy, so he took the initiative to talk about the World Tree. "But it's hard to imagine there are turtles that big in the world."
Zhang Deng: "Isn't the Ze axis all magic resistance universes? There aren't any?"
Wei Yuanye was stunned for a moment and asked, "How did you know?"
Zhang Deng: “Ah.”
He felt that at this point, there was nothing he could not say. He said, "I always come here in my dreams and meet a little boy. He told me this."
"What little boy?"
"A..." Zhang Deng described him. "He seems to be only about eighteen or nineteen years old, about the same height as me, with slightly yellow hair and very fair skin. There are red spots under his eyes, as if he's crying. In short, I think he's very handsome."
Wei Yuanye said, "Did he say anything else?"
"He said he really didn't like going on missions and that he was almost killed while on one," Zhang Deng thought for a moment and said, "There's nothing else."
Zhang Deng’s memory was not very good, and he did not record his dreams very carefully.
Wei Yuanye listened, but was unimpressed. He said, "There are too many people in the World Tree. There are over 50,000 residents here."
Zhang Deng said, "There are so many people."
"There's no turtle this big in the magic resistance world, right?" Wei Yuanye said. Although he had been there many times, he had experienced many memory erasures and was not sure. He said, "I've experienced too many C-level memory erasures."
"What is a Class C amnesiac?"
"The incident has been erased." Wei Yuanye, in his white uniform, was incredibly handsome. He returned to the World Tree like a fish returning to water. This was his home, and the atmosphere of this place perfectly suited him. "Only erase the memories related to the incident. Simply recall the things related to the mission in your mind, and you'll forget everything."
Wei Yuanye said, "C-level is event elimination. It only eliminates a certain event, but the people involved will still remember it."
"Class B erases a certain time period. Everything during that time becomes blank. Class A erases everything."
"Because sometimes, having supporters remember some key experiences from a world can also help with the next rescue. So usually when we come out of a world, we have C-level eliminations. Sometimes, because that world is more sensitive, there will also be B-level eliminations."
Zhang Deng asked, "How did you achieve such precise elimination?"
"There's a kind of animal," Wei Yuanye said without any particular emotion, as if it were just someone else's business. "That animal, caught from the Ze axis, is called an offshore Qi dolphin. It's a wild boar-like animal that lives by the river. There are male and female of that kind, often seen in pairs. Once they're together, they'll never be apart."
"This is a very mysterious animal. When captured, male offshore dolphins will desperately protect females, so very few females have been caught. Only one has been caught. Research has found that by drinking their venom, one absorbs the pain and desire of those around them. The female dolphin dies quickly."
"The mucus produced by male offshore dolphins during mating can cause temporary dementia. The gas they exhale can cause memory loss in a confined space. All it takes to forget all your memories is just three hours with one."
Only then did Zhang Deng truly feel that this was a completely different world.
Zhang Deng said, "Why do I have to make you forget?"
"There are too many ethical and moral issues," Wei Yuanye said calmly. "Have you heard of the suspension bridge effect? Many people fall in love with their beneficiaries, and many beneficiaries also fall in love with their supporters. This is unavoidable. In fact, the beneficiaries' lives will quickly return to normal after the supporters leave, but when the supporters return to the World Tree, their world remains the same, and it is difficult for them to get out of it."
Zhang Deng: "...Is that why?"
"Not entirely," Wei Yuanye said, "the main reason is wear and tear."
"We've experienced too much, and memory overload will cause wear and tear on the body. We won't be able to withstand such a high-intensity pace of life, so erasing it regularly is good for everyone."
Zhang Deng said, "But you are not machines."
Wei Yuanye said: "It's no different from a machine. There's no essential difference between humans and machines; they're both tools."
Zhang Deng had no idea how to refute Wei Yuanye.
He had wanted to know about Wei Yuanye's life before, but he didn't expect it to be like this.
At this moment, Wei Yuanye's communicator rang. His communicator was in his ear. He shook his head slightly and answered it. Zhang Deng saw the device in his ear light up. Then Wei Yuanye said a few words, stood up, and said, "Looks like I can't rest anymore."
"I have a mission," Wei Yuanye said, "and I need you to accompany me."
Zhang Deng: “Ah?”
He was completely unprepared, but Wei Yuanye said, "Don't be afraid, it's very simple."
To accept this not very important task, you must first go to the Information Resources Hall for confirmation. The hall is on the 200th floor, very crowded, and not very modern. It is like a railway station in an urban-rural fringe area. Several large screens are hung in the center of the hall. First, you have to confirm which window to register for your own world.
Wei Yuanye stood in front of the screen for a long moment, then brought Zhang Deng to the machine marked CS. He scanned the information card on his wrist, and a prompt popped up: "Do you want to accept the mission for the world with coordinates: xa12, yc33, zc56?"
Wei Yuanye chose: "Yes."
Please select the number of people traveling.
Wei Yuanye checked: "2."
Then came a bunch of regulations and notices, and Wei Yuanye chose "acknowledge" for all of them.
Then the machine spit out a ticket. Zhang Deng looked at it curiously. It listed the reimbursement scope of their travel, travel kit and other precautions.
Zhang Deng finally knew how much money Wei Yuanye had brought with him. He asked, "One hundred thousand yuan? You only brought one hundred thousand yuan?"
Wei Yuanye said: "You can exchange it with points."
"How much did you change?"
"One million." Wei Yuanye said casually.
Zhang Deng: "How many points did you use?"
Wei Yuanye avoided the question and simply said, "It's useless for me to get points."
Zhang Deng felt that Wei Yuanye must have spent a lot of money. He asked, "Why would you do such a thing?"
Wei Yuanye didn't know why he did this, so he didn't explain it to Zhang Deng.
He simply said, "Let's go."
Next, he just needed to find an office to make the time and space jump. Wei Yuanye really just found one at random. He pressed the elevator button for one floor and came down. It was dark inside, as if it was an abandoned office. Wei Yuanye pushed open the door and found that there was someone inside.
A boy looked up from his computer and mumbled, "The toilet is over there."
Zhang Deng exclaimed in surprise: "Ah!"
The boy was also surprised and said, "Ah!"
"What's wrong?" the boy said after he woke up. "Are you scared to death?"
This is the little boy!
Zhang Deng was so excited that he quickly grabbed the boy's hand and said, "Do you still remember me?"
The boy stared at him carefully for a long time, then suddenly remembered something and said, "I know, you fell in from another world that day!"
Zhang Deng said excitedly: "Yes, it's me."
"Why are you here again?" the boy said. "You keep falling in."
Zhang Deng: "I've moved here now. What's your name?"
The boy extended his hand to shake his. "My name is Chi Xiaoxia. Hello, hello."
Zhang Deng said, "Chi Xiaoxia? What a unique name."
"Box," the boy explained with familiarity, "a box with dragon roars within it."
Zhang Deng: "Wow, so special."
"What's your name?"
"My name is Zhang Deng." Zhang Deng introduced himself. "This is the person I asked you to find for me last time. His name is Wei Yuanye."
Chi Xiaoxia said, "I remember you. 679, right? Your points are really high. When did you start working?"
Wei Yuanye went to find the office door and input his world coordinates, but he didn't miss the opportunity to make friends with Zhang Deng. He said to Chi Xiaoxia, "I don't remember."
"I understand," Chi Xiaoxia said. "I've been dealing with the aftereffects of C-level elimination for years. Ah, are you leaving now? Zhang Xiaodeng, are you a supporter now?"
Zhang Deng said, "No, I'm just accompanying Wei Yuanye temporarily."
Chi Xiaoxia said, "Okay, then you have to be careful. Although the ZC axis is gentler, there are some very scary metaphysical things. This world is a world that coexists with simple magic."
Zhang Deng said, "How come there's magic again?"
Chi Xiaoxia asked Wei Yuanye: "Why didn't you tell your partner?"
"I forgot," Wei Yuanye seemed to have just realized it. He said, "It seems so."
Chi Xiaoxia said, "Where's your tool kit?"
Wei Yuanye took out the tool kit, which contained two sets of clothes, two wooden sticks, two communicators, and two toiletry bags.
These two sets of clothes are similar to the clothes in Zhang Deng's world, and are also modern costumes.
Zhang Deng said, "It's a completely modern world."
"Too naive," Chi Xiaoxia said, "The timeline of World 56 is extremely chaotic. From World 40 onward, the time machine has disrupted the normal rhythm of life. There are a ton of time travelers, and you're all dressed like time travelers right now."
Zhang Deng: “Ah?”
Chi Xiaoxia commented on Wei Yuanye: "You are too amateur."
Wei Yuanye was actually like this before. He would enter a world very casually, with the idea that if he was full, the whole family would not be hungry. He was very strong, so no matter how casual he was, his life would not be in danger.
But this time, when he brought the lantern with him, he remembered that according to some of the previous operating procedures, when receiving a task, he had to first look at the structure of the task world.
Wei Yuanye remembered and said, "It's okay, there is a demon over there."
Zhang Deng said, "Ah?"
Chi Xiaoxia: "I remember that the industrial revolution occurred in the world after 1950. In short, you should be careful."
Zhang Deng: “Ah!”
He was so nervous that he quickly asked, "Then I'll go. How can I survive without magic power?"
Chi Xiaoxia said, "I'll give you the staff."
"This magical instrument is made from the Kunlun sacred tree from the ZE1 world. It contains the energy of a Taoist immortal. Just press it and it will work."
Chi Xiaoxia seemed to have a very solid foundation of knowledge. He took the stick and said, "Yours is made of snow mountain wood. It's very powerful."
"This one is the Flowing Water Wood," Chi Xiaoxia said, "It's not bad either."
Zhang Deng asked, "How do you know?"
Chi Xiaoxia: "I was unlucky. When we went to collect Kunlun wood, I was also selected. Transporting the wood almost exhausted me to death. Their buttons are all on the buttocks. Remember to make up a spell when using them, otherwise it will be like thunder out of nowhere and scare people to death."
Zhang Deng thought Chi Xiaoxiang was really interesting and wanted to say something else, but Wei Yuanye said, "Change your clothes and leave."
Chi Xiaoxia waved at them and said, "Bye, Zhang Xiaodeng."
"Remember to chat with me when you come back," Chi Xiaoxia muttered to himself, "Strange, why do I feel like I've said this before?"
Zhang Deng waved to him, Wei Yuanye opened the door, took Zhang Deng in one hand, turned around and walked into the light behind the door.
—End of Volume One: Troubled Autumn—
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