Chapter 111 My Angel
Huo Shizhen listened to his conflicted words in silence, looked at him for a moment, and then chuckled.
That looked like a hint of disapproval and mockery to Lin Guantang, but it disappeared in a flash, making him suspect that he might have seen something wrong.
Then he heard Huo Shizhen ask a question:
"Can you tell where the sky meets the water? Can you find the horizon?"
Lin Guantang was sure that he was just mocking him.
Otherwise, why would you suddenly bring up such an insignificant topic, and something that you would never be able to do.
He raised his eyebrows, and said slowly with a slightly dissatisfied tone:
"I don't have that ability. Do you know where I can catch up with the horizon?"
Speaking of this, Lin Guantang naturally recalled his past in District 35.
In the boundless wilderness of District 35, looking into the distance is as habitual as walking and sleeping. As far as the eye can see, Lin Guantang has seen countless times the wasteland and the sky intersecting on a vague yet clear line.
It is clear because you can clearly see a line at the end of the sky, and it is blurry because the line is not sharp and straight, but continuous, emitting a hazy glow, as if someone has drawn a line on a blackboard with chalk and then gently erased it.
He couldn't help but give chase.
But as he ran forward, the line also ran forward. No matter how fast or slow he ran, whether he ran on only his two legs, rode a bicycle, or used other means of transportation, he would never catch up with the line.
Countless pursuits ended in vain, and the darkness often eroded the line, and then he returned to his residence under the starry sky or bright moonlight.
Huo Shizhen heard the subtle dissatisfaction in his tone, but smiled, and then spoke under Lin Guantang's glare:
"That's right. Not only is it impossible to find the boundary between sky and water, but even the distinction between life and death is difficult to reach a consensus on. Do you still want to clearly separate emotions and interests?"
It turns out that the purpose of bringing up this topic was to lead to this point.
Lin Guantang slowly opened his eyes wide, and suddenly realized something. He had to admit that it was quite effective, because he seemed to be convinced and felt that it was indeed the case.
Before he could express his feelings, he saw Huo Shizhen raise his hand and touch his cheek, which was very close to him. He pressed the soft flesh on his cheek, sighed, and said softly:
"Emotions and interests are two lines that have been intertwined since birth. Trying to completely separate them is a foolish waste of time."
Lin Guantang felt a chill on his face, and it felt a little strange to be pinched on the face, but he did not turn his head away. He just looked at Huo Shizhen and said thoughtfully:
"So... this is the answer you had already thought of, and you were just waiting for me to ask?"
Huo Shizhen did not answer this question directly, but just said:
"Everything is part of me. If you feel you can't respond to me because your feelings are impure, then shouldn't you also doubt the purity of my feelings for you? For example, is my attention to you due to pure emotion, or am I trying to dismantle your skin, flesh, and material potential to satisfy me and thus arouse my affection, or am I approaching you and using you for some purpose?"
Lin Guantang's eyes twitched because he was hit on the heart, but Huo Shizhen's expression remained calm, and he raised the corner of his mouth and said:
"Or are you actually feeling uneasy, wondering if I could treat you the same way as anyone else, that you could be replaced by anyone?"
That definitely won’t work.
"No way."
Lin Guantang spoke softly - there was no need to remain silent any longer. He said with some hesitation:
"I'm not so incompetent that I can be easily replaced."
Actually, it shouldn't be said to be incompetence... It should be said that there is no such thing as two people in the world who are exactly the same and can perfectly replace each other in every aspect.
"Since you know this clearly, why are you still struggling with it?"
Huo Shizhen's palm stroked from his chin to the back, passing through layers of soft hair, and finally stopped at the back of his head. The other hand was wrapped around Lin Guantang's waist, abdomen and back.
Then he just exerted a little force and made the man, whose arms were already sore and weak, fall into his arms.
One of Lin Guantang's feet was barely supported on tiptoe, while the other was kneeling on a chair, but his upper body had fallen into Huo Shizhen's arms.
It's not the mating season, nor is it a sudden emotional event, nor is it an accident. It is simply an expression of one's own thoughts - because they want closeness, they hug.
Lin Guantang stiffened for a moment, then collapsed in the cold and broad embrace, feeling fingers caressing his hair and moving along his spine.
"Lin Guantang, I'm not that kind-hearted. I don't generously give everything to anyone. Similarly, not everyone can accept everything from me."
His strengths and weaknesses are so obvious, the latter even far outweighing the former. He is not only a perfect choice as a lover, but also someone on the blacklist to be avoided.
Huo Shizhen lowered his head and approached Lin Guantang's neck and ears, making Lin Guantang feel as if he was going to bite his neck off, but in the end, only a trace of warm air came, accompanied by a whisper:
"It's all for you, just know that."
Lin Guantang felt his heart beating fast.
Although his heartbeat had not been normal just now, it now felt as if it was about to jump out of his throat.
This is a confession.
This is completely revealing one's true feelings.
So, should I also express something clearly so as not to let him down?
Things have come to this point, and it would be too hypocritical to say anything more entangled.
Lin Guantang's heart moved, and he suddenly straightened his upper body and put his hands on Huo Shizhen's shoulders again.
"In that case, it is enough for you to know a little bit."
Lin Guantang made his promise solemnly:
"I promise you, I will be with you until your life comes to an end - no matter what happens, my heart will resonate with you and will always be with you."
As he spoke, he passed his hands through the silver hair and wrapped them around Huo Shizhen's neck, clasping them tightly. For the first time, he took the initiative and embraced her in the cold but dependent embrace.
Then he seemed to hear a chuckle that sounded almost satisfied.
"Keep it in my heart forever, engraved in eternity, my angel."
When Lin Guantang heard these words, his face suddenly turned red, and he subconsciously buried his whole face in the chest that was right in front of him. The heat flowed through his breath, warming his cold body.
After a while, he pulled his face out calmly and leaned back as if nothing had happened.
Then he followed his line of sight towards the heavy curtains.
Huo Shizhen had no habit of opening the windows. Whether it was day or night, he would close the windows, put down the curtains, and turn on the lights.
But today, the curtains were not completely drawn, leaving a gap the width of a palm, allowing Lin Guantang to glimpse the world outside the house. White powder was flying outside the window.
It's snowing.
Lin Guantang gradually felt sleepy, and the light and shadows in front of his eyes became blurred, making it difficult for him to tell whether the silver floating in front of him was hair or snowflakes.
But all of them gave him unprecedented joy and satisfaction in the cold.
Rare, rare—
Lin Guantang wondered blankly, if only time could stop forever at this moment.
Unfortunately, time flies and does not stop for anyone's will.
***
The end of the semester and the end of the year are busy times for most people, and Lin Guantang is no exception.
A lot of things came to his mind, so he only went back to District 35 for a few days during the entire long vacation. He then hurried back to the imperial capital and was busy dealing with various affairs.
A promotional video was filmed for the civilian version of the system, which was eventually named "Amra". From the perspective of "ordinary people", the system was fully experienced together with other trial users to conduct the final check and fill in the gaps.
The next step is to officially start the promotion process.
As for the so-called foundation, although the original intention was just to find a name to fool the young man of the Chen family, Huo Shizhen is a man of his words.
Even if this foundation is no longer useful, the framework must be set up and all the procedures must be followed. Since this foundation was established in the name of Lin Guantang, of course he will have to deal with some troubles.
Lin Guantang received the most basic agreements almost every day that required his review and signature, which made him suspect that he would sign until the end of his life.
In comparison, the short videos that need to be shot to maintain my social media accounts and support the activities of Thorn Moon are just small things that I can do in my spare time.
From the holiday to more than a month after school started, things piled up one after another, making Lin Guantang busy and nervous all day long. If there was no system to help arrange various affairs, even if Lin Guantang had a good brain, he would be extremely confused.
I feel that time is passing by as fast as a stream falling from a high place.
But there is only so much time, and if you are busy with these things you can't do anything else.
For example, in Lin Guantang's studies, almost all irrelevant courses were cancelled, and some practical courses were changed to online teaching, but the basic physical training courses still insisted on in-person actual training.
I almost turned down all those messy banquets.
Although not attending these messy parties almost meant losing the chance of getting the scholarship, Lin Guantang weighed the pros and cons again and again and decided not to waste time on these things that he was not interested in.
Anyway, he is not short of money now, and no one will force him to participate.
As for the tasks related to the military academy, I almost never personally participated in tasks that were time-consuming and physically demanding. I mostly did task planning, and then, when the tasks were in progress, I would respond flexibly based on the performance of the executors on that day.
Apart from these, two other things happened during this period.
One of them is that the simulated world jointly created by Sheng Group and Duma Technology has officially been launched for public testing, but there are only a few minor changes -
The original promotional video for the simulated world said that it used all-round new technologies - the system that supported the operation of the entire simulated world was the latest product developed by Duma Technology, which was claimed to be the empire's most advanced intelligent system "Lilith" with self-evolution capabilities.
However, at the official public beta launch conference, the publicity and promotion team made no mention of Lilith, and instead said that the system responsible for supervising the entire series of the simulated world is the Empire's latest "Amra" that has been put into use by the entire population. It will be used to protect gamers and ensure that if gamers become addicted to the simulated world and their data exceeds the bottom line, they will be forcibly awakened by the system and return to the real world.
The promotional material is quite good at whitewashing the situation. On the one hand, it says that the virtual world supports official work, and on the other hand, it says that the official system supports new technologies. In short, it is a classic business case of cooperation between the government and the people.
But no matter how Lin Guantang looked at it, he didn't think the simulation world team was willing to take the initiative to involve the system.
If there really was such a plan, then the initial promotion focus would not be Lilith, but Amra - even if it needed to be kept secret, they would have given some relevant hints. Why did they suddenly announce cooperation with the official when it was time for the public beta?
Moreover, Lilith did not mention a single word about the system that was advertised so vigorously at the beginning and was obviously intended to be promoted vigorously.
It felt like... being forced to replace "Lilith" with "Amra".
As for the fact that after carefully watching the changes in his micro-expressions at the press conference several times, I felt that he was forcing a smile, but that was just insignificant evidence.
Regarding this question, Huo Shizhen's answer is quite simple:
"If you want to take root in the imperial capital, you always have to pay a small price."
What he said was serious and well-reasoned, but the smile on his face made Lin Guantang feel more and more that he was deliberately playing a trick on others:
"Whatever you want to gain, you are destined to lose. If you want to take root in the imperial capital, you must be bound by the imperial capital's rules. This is an obvious truth. Is there anyone who can't think of it?"
This is not a small price to pay; it is simply taking away the most important part.
Lin Guantang was sure that he did it on purpose——
He deliberately let the Huo family show weakness and act too conservative, causing public dissatisfaction and becoming sluggish, and then watched as the Sheng family thought they had seized a rare opportunity and found a way to introduce the simulated world into the imperial capital for public testing.
When everything was ready, except for the announcement, Huo suddenly announced that he had suddenly realized something and decided to support the unlimited development of science and technology. In a very short time, he quickly passed a bill to put the system operated by the Central Military Academy, which represented the highest level of combat power, into the use of public smart devices by all people.
Then implement it quickly and comprehensively.
That is not an ordinary system, but the system used by the Central Military Academy!
This gimmick alone aroused the excitement of the people, and the extremely smooth system functions and the cute and beautiful anthropomorphic angel image were deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
Another point is that the people also felt relieved, thinking that "although those bigwigs were unable to accept the progress of the times due to their conservatism, they finally came to their senses after a thorough understanding and decided to actively support it."
Due to a combination of factors, the launch of Amla has won the hearts of the vast majority of the people with almost no effort.
Correspondingly, since the "Simulated World" is claimed by the entire empire to be the most advanced intelligent product, there is nothing more suitable for system supervision than it, and there is no reason to reject it.
Perhaps this series of events is moving so fast, there is another possibility -
In fact, all the relevant documents and bills had been planned long ago. It was not because the Huo family and their faction were too conservative, but they just wanted to wait for the most appropriate opportunity.
However, that was beyond the scope of Lin Guantang's understanding.
He just felt that it was not a bad thing to have the system supervise the simulated world.
Lin Guantang thought back to the experience he had participated in before - perhaps because of his short-sightedness, he always felt that entering the simulated world was like separating his soul and body, as if something was stealing the memories recorded in his consciousness.
He also asked Jian Yinglai, who participated in the test, how he felt, far away from Sheng's place. Jian Yinglai's answer was:
"Fake is fake after all, but when the fake is too beautiful, people are willing to give up their souls and choose to stay in the fake world completely. But whether the soul that can no longer extricate itself is active or passive is very intriguing."
In short, I feel similar to Lin Guantang, believing that the simulated world will make people addicted to it... and even actively lure people into it.
Regardless of the purpose, parachuting in an extremely powerful external system will undoubtedly add a heavy burden to the developers of the simulated world, but for ordinary people - at least from Lin Guantang's perspective, it will bring a lot of peace of mind.
After all, he always felt that the simulated world was unreliable, and if Hexi was embedded in it, even if it was just as the default supervision in the game, even if it was a civilian version with many functions cut out, it would greatly improve the trustworthiness.
Moreover, the civilian version of the system is essentially a branch of Hexi. If an accident occurs that Amra cannot solve, Hexi can also sense it at any time.
***
Another thing is a request for help from a classmate from O College.
This classmate first sent an invitation letter to Lin Guantang through the internal system of O College, wanting to invite him to have afternoon tea.
Since Lin Guantang became famous, there have been countless letters like this, most of which were politely rejected by the system.
However, this student was rejected three times, but he still persisted in sending invitation letters. The fourth invitation letter was forwarded by the system to Lin Guantang for personal review, and the previous invitation letters were also turned out.
Judging from the wording, the contents of each invitation letter became more sincere and urgent than the previous one, and the last one was even sincere to the point of begging.
The message isn’t “I want to meet you because I’m a fan or I’m curious about the influencer,” but “I want to meet you because I need your help with something.”
So Lin Guantang decided to meet him.
Although Lin Guantang didn't think he could do anything to help this classmate.
Lin Guantang had an impression of this classmate. He was a rich young man who was superior in every aspect, with a good temperament and many friends. No matter how you looked at it, there was no need for Lin Guantang's help. If it weren't for the adventures he had experienced so far, it would have been normal for Lin Guantang to ask him for help when he was forced to do so.
It means that he is also very caring. Whether it is the previous sponsorship of Thorn Moon or the currently unformed foundation, this classmate actively invested money at the first opportunity. According to Yuan Wenjun, this is because he admires Lin Guantang very much and can be said to be a die-hard fan.
Even ardent fans.
Before the meeting, Lin Guantang had thought that perhaps he had misinterpreted the situation. In fact, the hurried tone did not come from trouble, but from obsession.
But since they have agreed to meet and even arranged the time, it seems impossible to refuse - the main thing is that it doesn't matter whether they go or not, so if that's the case, there's no need to break the appointment.
But on the way there, Lin Guantang couldn't help but think, what should he do if he was too enthusiastic and made some requests that were difficult to meet.
It turned out that his initial guess was correct and his worries on the road were somewhat unnecessary.
After the meeting, the classmate's eyes were filled with tears of excitement, and he burst into tears before he could say a few words.
Lin Guantang had no choice but to hand him a tissue and comfort him. After he calmed down, he understood the general situation from his intermittent words.
It turned out that this classmate was going to be arranged by her family to marry an aristocratic old man who was over a hundred years old.
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