Chapter 51 Memories of a Life of Humiliation—They're Waiting for You at the End of the Road…
Chapter 51
Before making a decision, Du Yu opened the task panel to check the task details. Standing proudly on one leg, the cat's head shone with golden light, its tone haughty:
The mission objectives will only be revealed after you accept the mission.
Du Yu was speechless for a moment, then quickly began to think. This was the first time he had encountered a mission without being informed of its requirements...
"Gurgle."
166 seemed to sense Du Yu's concerns, shifted his stance, and remained haughty. [The weekly quest location is within the time rift; player participation is not required. The worst consequence of failure is a loss of mental energy.]
Time Rift...
Du Yu's heart skipped a beat. For no apparent reason, he recalled the prayer he had composed, "The time traveler in the erosion rift." It seemed that the prayer he had made up before was gradually becoming a reality?
Smoothly suppressing the palpitations rising in her heart, Du Yu didn't think for too long. Since 166 had already said this much, although this weekly task was strange, there was no need to refuse.
"Accept the mission."
Please lie down on the bed or place your body in a safe and spacious location.
The mission was rather strange, so Du Yu simply gave the two of them a day off and went back to his room to lie down.
[Ding ding ding dong~ Weekly Task: [The Beginning of Transcendence (Ascension)] Loading!]
The system somehow got new background music, which sounds a bit like the songs played at elementary school field trips. The pixel progress bar also has a new UI design: a nine-tailed black cat chasing a six-winged white dove.
It's cute, but it's not a real game. Even with a new UI, I'd still give this game one star!
As Du Yu was inwardly grumbling, the black cat ran to the end of the progress bar and meowed at him with dissatisfaction. The sound was so close that it was as if it were right next to his ear. Du Yu was momentarily distracted, and his consciousness rapidly increased. All that remained before his eyes was an endless expanse of eternal gray mist that flowed slowly like a nebula.
I have entered the depths of the spirit world!
A thought flashed through his mind, and Du Yu glanced hastily at the three pixelated moons in the sky, not daring to look any longer. Following the urging meows of the cat, he found a crack not far away.
At first glance, the rift looked very similar to the Mist Rift, except that the edges were covered with a layer of shimmering gold, as if a cheap special effect had been added. A black cat squatted at the rift, patting the front with its black paws, while its nine long tails swung impatiently back and forth behind it.
Despite knowing that there was a pixelated filter protecting her, Du Yu still felt uncomfortable bathed in the moonlight. Without Xiao Jiu urging her, she followed the black cat and crawled into the golden crevice.
After a dizzying spin like being in a washing machine, Du Yu finally stepped onto the ground. As the surrounding environment came into view, a strong sense of astonishment swept through Du Yu's mind.
How could this be?!
"Meow."
Like all corporate slaves forced to go to work, the nine-tailed cat, though looking impatient, didn't stop leading the way, easily bypassing the book sculpture statue and passing through the security booth.
When it realized that Duyu wasn't keeping up, it stopped impatiently, jumped onto the windowsill of the security room, patted the facial recognition scanner impatiently, and urged it loudly.
At this moment, Du Yu had no mind to pay attention to the nine-tailed cat, or more precisely, her mind was completely filled with shock and realization, leaving her with no energy to think about anything else.
The old gate, which stubbornly claims to be from a century-old prestigious school and full of historical atmosphere, is dilapidated. The book carvings, which are meant to encourage studying hard but sound like "losing" in Chinese, are full of flaws. The towering, lush, century-old locust trees planted on both sides of the gate make the gate even more inconspicuous.
Du Yu stared blankly, momentarily stunned. What suddenly appeared before him was none other than his alma mater, Jinling University, which Du Yu thought he would never return to in this lifetime!
After more than a decade of life-and-death escapes, spanning two worlds, Du Yu thought that his memories of school had become blurred. But now, no matter where he looked, he saw scenery that was all too familiar.
Du Yu tentatively took a few steps before snapping out of his excitement, his purple eyes turning cold.
Aside from the lingering wisp of gray mist, the scene before me was exactly the same as the campus I remembered, but that was precisely what made it so different.
When a cataclysmic event occurs, the more people there are, the more likely powerful corrupted species will emerge. Nanjing University is located in the city center, and given its large population and limited land, it's no surprise that many corrupted species appeared there; how could it possibly have escaped unscathed?
Once she calmed down, Du Yu noticed more differences. Apart from the faint golden edges around the path the black cat had walked on, the entire campus was shrouded in gray.
Du Yu tried it, and sure enough, once he left the Phnom Penh area, it was like entering an invisible wall; he couldn't move an inch.
It really is a [memory]... a false field created based on memories.
The excitement vanished, replaced by a sense of unease as Du Yu scanned his face under the black cat's disapproving gaze, passing through the teaching building, Koi Lake, office building...
The black cat seemed oblivious to the faint gray hues that lingered around the campus, swaggering through the school. Du Yu sensed something and followed it through familiar buildings. The destination was indeed as Du Yu had expected—Dormitory Building No. 16.
The black cat Bangbang patted the glass door, and Du Yu opened the glass door to let it in. He watched as the black cat jumped up the stairs as if it knew the way well, climbed all the way to the sixth floor, and stopped in front of a dormitory room.
Whether it was Du Yu's imagination or not, he climbed six floors in one go, and the black cat seemed to give him a resentful look.
It's an illusion, definitely an illusion. How could a dignified, degenerate being be afraid of climbing stairs?
Du Yu stared at the familiar house number, too preoccupied to think much about it.
Dormitory 606, or rather, dormitory number 666.
Du Yu spent four years of university here, and met his best friends in his dormitory.
Du Yu's dormitory is on the sixth floor. She's used to exercising, so it's not too bad for her. It's just that lazy Wen Xi suffers. Every time she climbs up, she groans in the dormitory for a long time. Her other roommate, Shi Wei, got annoyed and bought some magnets to stick the "0" on the doorplate into a "6".
Du Yu's dormitory became the only one of its kind in the entire school, "666".
Wen Xi was quite an oddball. Although she was incredibly lazy, she was also extremely superstitious. After Shi Wei posted the message, she didn't complain about climbing six floors anymore, and even went so far as to consult a fortune teller.
"Dormitory 666 is definitely a blessed place. With us sisters gathered here, we can all achieve great things in the future!"
Shi Wei rolled her eyes so hard they almost reached the sky. The young lady had none of the superstitions of the rich. Wen Xi leaned closer and showed her his palm with tarot cards:
"Oh, Miss Shi, you're having some bad luck."
"What's wrong with it?"
"I have achieved what I sought, and I have no regrets even in death, though my life was a bit short."
"Ha, to die without regrets, isn't that a good life? If you can't even calculate this, what kind of life are you trying to calculate?"
Shi Wei snorted and was about to leave the maddening Wen Xi when his gaze fell on Du Yu beside him. Suddenly, he changed his mind: "I'll give you one more chance. You calculate what Du Du's fate is."
Wen Xi shamelessly sidled up to her, but Du Yu, who was busy with her online shopping spree, grew impatient with her and offered her a hand.
Wen Xi took the pulse for a while in a serious manner, then drew a card, shook his head and swayed for a long time, and suddenly slapped his thigh:
"Dudu, my dear Dudu, your life is truly extraordinary!"
Du Yu was amused by her exaggerated actions, and temporarily looked away from the chat box on the screen, teasing her: "What, am I going to become rich and powerful overnight?"
What does great wealth and status matter?
Wen Xi suddenly stood up, excitedly walked around a few times, and then went behind Du Yu to massage her shoulders: "Our Du-jie's life is truly unattainable! Our Du-du is the one who saves the world!"
Shi Wei and Du Yu were both amused by her exaggerated manner. Shi Wei ruffled her short hair roughly and sneered, "If you're so good at calculating, why don't you calculate yours?"
"Mine."
With her messy short hair, Wen Xi actually started calculating with her fingers. Shi Wei rolled her eyes at her chaotic fortune-telling method, but the latter said with great seriousness:
"I will save Sister Du once in the future, Dudu, if you become rich and powerful, don't forget me!"
"screw you!"
As the laughter faded into the distance, Du Yu's pupils dilated, his raised hand paused slightly, a chill gradually crept up his spine, and an unknown fear surged through his entire body like an electric shock.
Du Yu's lips trembled, cold sweat beaded on her forehead, and the memories kept replaying in her mind. Aside from manicures, Wen Xi was only enthusiastic about everything for a short time; she'd only ever done fortune-telling once. But at the time, she'd only taken it as a joke, a casual fortune-telling session, and yet, the very predictions came true the following day!
"I'm going now, Dudu, it's so cold. Luckily, I was the one who fell into the trap..."
"Stop being so sad. This is the path I chose. Instead of shedding tears, think about how you'll walk this path alone in the future."
He shielded her from disaster, and died without regret...
hiss--
Du Yu gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead, his brain feeling as if it were being scraped by blades, memories and reality overlapping, blurring the line between reality and illusion.
No—it's not just that, it's not just divination...
Du Yu slammed his fist heavily on the door, causing the magnet on the doorplate to fall off. Du Yu took a step back, staring blankly at the doorplate number which had changed to "606," feeling a chill run down his spine.
Why, after fighting together for ten years, can't I remember what traits my roommates awakened?
Wait... Memories are like sand, and by the time you realize the wind is picking up, it's too late to salvage them. The confusion in Du Yu's eyes deepens.
Wen Xi, Shi Wei, and myself—they must all be superhumans to have survived in the wasteland for ten years.
It's one thing for me not to be able to recall my roommates' traits now, but why can't I even remember the traits I awakened in my past life?
Saving the world... What exactly was the trait I awakened in my past life? How did they die?!
A bead of cold sweat rolled down her nose and slid down her pale lips. Du Yu's pupils dilated, her eyes glazed over, and almost instinctively, she thought of the curse in her status bar that she could never find its source:
[A Curse of Exile (or Desperation):] An eternal curse released at the cost of ?? Ignores all fatal judgments until your will collapses; your health is permanently greater than or equal to 0.001. To be or not to be, that is not the question for you.
The excruciating pain surged in his mind again, but Du Yu ignored it, letting the needle-like agony spread. He kept recalling his old memories, comparing and analyzing the loopholes in them. Finally, in Du Yu's desperate gaze, the line of cursed information in the status bar changed.
【The Curse of Exile (or Desperation): A curse of immortality released by Shiwei at the cost of his life. Before his will collapses, he ignores all fatal judgments and his health is permanently greater than or equal to 0.001.】
[Note: To be or not to be, that is not the question for you; someone has already made the choice for you. Live on, suffering, cowardly, and pathetic. The gate to immortality is narrow, the road is small, but they await you at the end of the road.]
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The author's note: "To be or not to be..."—a classic line from Hamlet.
"The gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to eternal life," excerpt from the Bible.
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