"What time is it? Why don't you get up?"
"He even locked the door and didn't respond when I called him, this brat..."
"Youyou, get up and eat, it's already twelve o'clock!"
When Wei You woke up, he heard a knock on the door and his mother's voice calling him to eat. He reflexively shouted "Got it".
"Hurry up, your dad and I have finished eating. You are sleeping like a pig. You must have stayed up late again last night..."
Amid Rong Qing's muttering, Wei You sat up and raised his hands to rub his forehead and temples.
He didn't know if it was the aftereffect of leaving the game world, but he felt dizzy as if he had slept for a whole day and night after a hangover, and there was a slight pain between his eyebrows.
Thinking of the game world, Wei You forced himself to cheer up, reached for his phone and pressed the power button, and the screen lit up. Although the battery level in the upper right corner showed that it was about to run out, there was still about 5% remaining.
This shouldn't be the case...
My phone clearly still had power, so why did I come back?
Wei You frowned. He couldn't figure it out, so he charged his phone first, then got up and went to the bathroom to wash up.
Ten minutes later, he sat at the dining table to eat, his mind still swirling around in the game world.
He came back so unprepared, not only did he not spend the whole birthday with Wei Xu, he didn't even have the chance to say happy birthday to him.
That kid must be so angry that he must be dying. I don’t know how long I’ll have to coax him the next time I see him.
But will there really be a next time?
Wei You was very skeptical about this issue.
His phone clearly still had power, but he was dragged back to the real world. Thinking about the special time when he came back, it was hard for him not to guess: at midnight, Wei Xu would become an adult, and an adult paper man did not fit the concept of "cub" in the game.
"I'll go to your aunt's house and get a pork leg. You wash the dishes after you finish eating."
Rong Qing's hurried voice sounded at the entrance, interrupting Wei You's thoughts.
Wei You responded first, then asked, "Where's Dad?"
"He's gone to drive the car. Let's go over there and pick up your grandparents. We'll have New Year's Eve dinner together tonight."
When Wei You heard the words "New Year's Eve dinner", he realized that today was still New Year's Eve.
Rong Qing went out of the room soon after. As the door was heavily closed, the room suddenly became quiet.
With something on his mind, Wei You quickly finished his meal and did not rush to wash the dishes. Instead, he went back to his room, picked up his half-charged mobile phone, and opened the "Zi Zi's Growth Plan" game app.
Soon, a familiar progress bar popped up on the screen and loaded rapidly.
Wei You's heart was pounding. For the first time, he hoped that it would get stuck at "99%". But in fact, after only three seconds, the progress bar loaded to "100%". Immediately, a prompt box popped up on the page: [Congratulations to the player for successfully raising your first cub. Click below to receive points and gold coins as rewards! ]
Glancing at the option below, it said [Receive reward, adopt a new cub].
Wei You closed the game directly.
Although he had guessed this possibility, when he knew the story was over, he still felt a sense of helpless melancholy in his heart.
This time there is really no going back...
He sat down on the bed and sighed.
To be honest, although he felt very sorry that he could no longer travel through time and space, he didn't feel that heavy-hearted.
There seemed to be a voice in his heart telling him that it was not over yet and he would still be able to see Wei Xu again.
Since there is a self in the game world, there must be a Wei Xu in this world as well.
But now he began to doubt his past conclusions.
Are the game world and the real world really the same space on different timelines?
Could it be just two identical parallel universes?
Is the Wei Xu here the same person as the Wei Xu he knows?
Wei You thought about these questions and felt anxious for no reason.
Even if they are the same person, Wei Xu in this timeline should be about 23 or 24 years old. According to the normal life trajectory, he would have been working for half a year now.
Why would he go to see a man who is only two years younger than him, who doesn't need him to support him or take care of him? To reminisce about the past?
It's fine to become sworn brothers, but the other party may not be willing to be his brother.
Thinking of this, Wei You suddenly couldn't help laughing, and then a slight sourness arose in his heart.
Although the boy had vowed to wait for him forever, Wei You always felt that the promise he made in his youth did not count.
So much can happen in five years, not to mention that university is the period that can most change a person and make one grow and mature quickly.
That guy has seen a bigger and broader world, and may have forgotten about him long ago. Now he may be working in a big company, earning a high salary, surrounded by a group of good brothers, and even found a girlfriend early.
Thinking of this, he suddenly felt even more sour.
After thinking it over for a long time, Wei You finally decided to go to Xiangfang Town to see if Wei Xu still lived there.
After making up his mind, Wei You immediately used his mobile phone to book a flight to Chuanlin.
Although I really want to resolve this matter as soon as possible, I still have to stay at home with my family during the New Year holidays.
After thinking for a while, Wei You decided to book the flight on the fifth day of the first lunar month.
In the next few days, Wei You stayed at home quietly to celebrate the New Year. Apart from accompanying his parents to visit relatives and friends, his daily schedule was to lie in bed with his mobile phone and computer.
He no longer had to worry about the fact that there was a child waiting for him to return to the past world, which made him feel relaxed, but also a little lost and melancholy occasionally.
Wei You tentatively regarded the occasional depression as a normal reaction to game withdrawal.
On the morning of the fifth day of the New Year, Wei You found an excuse to go out and participate in an event, said goodbye to his family, and went to Chuanlin City with light luggage.
After the flight and two or three hours of driving, it was almost four o'clock in the afternoon when we arrived at Xiangfang Town.
Compared to the ever-changing big cities, this small town as a whole has not changed much. However, as Wei You walked along, he still found that many of the surrounding stores had changed owners.
A large number of internet celebrity-style shops have appeared on the street. Fifteen years ago, there was only one Western fast food restaurant in the entire town, but now such shops can be seen everywhere.
The fruit shop at the entrance of the old alley has now been transferred to someone else. It was merged with the tailor shop next door and renovated into a bakery.
Seeing this, Wei You couldn't help but sigh, feeling that time flies and things and people have changed.
There is no change inside the alley. The original snack stand is still there, but it is closed. The owner must have gone home for the New Year and has not returned yet.
Going up to the fourth floor along the increasingly old corridor, Wei You looked at the doors on both sides and found that the door lock of the house he rented had been replaced again. The door of Wei Xu's house next door was still the same, covered with rust on the outside, and it was obvious that no one had lived there for a long time.
With a somewhat apprehensive mood, Wei You knocked on the door on the right, and a woman's voice came from inside: "Who is it?"
Wei You had a bad feeling and knocked on the door again and said, "Hello, I'm looking for someone."
After a while, the door was opened a crack, and the aroma of food and the sound of children shouting wafted out from the gap.
A strange woman in her thirties pulled the door handle, looked at Wei You through the crack in the door, and asked, "Who are you looking for?"
Wei You smiled and asked, "I want to find the original tenant who rented here. Did you just move in?"
“No,” the woman blinked, “My husband and I have lived here for four years.”
Wei You was stunned for a moment: "Four years?"
"right."
So, Wei Xu moved away as soon as he graduated from high school.
"Have you seen the neighbor across the street come back?"
"No, no one has lived across the street." The woman said. Wei You looked harmless, so she added, "I have the landlord's contact information. If you want to find a tenant, why not ask the landlord?"
Wei You waved his hand: "No, no thanks."
Speaking of contact information, Wei You suddenly remembered that he also had Wei Xu's contact information!
I just don’t know if the other party is still using that old number.
Since the rental house had been moved to a new place, Wei You left the old residential building.
Perhaps because the sun was about to set, the temperature suddenly dropped.
When Wei You returned to the street, he shivered several times due to the biting cold wind.
He immediately found a milk tea shop, went in and ordered a cup of hot cocoa, then took advantage of the air conditioning to call Wei Xu.
After a while, a voice came from my ear: "Hello, the number you dialed is turned off..."
Wei You let out a light sigh, then logged into the Penguin account he had registered in the game world and wanted to send a message to Wei Xu, only to find that the other party's avatar was also black.
Suddenly, an indescribable anger surged in his heart.
Although he knew that it was normal for Wei Xu to change his number after so many years, perhaps it was the unpleasantness brought by the cold weather and the disappointment of having made a wasted trip that made him feel particularly annoyed at this moment.
Under the impact of this emotion, Wei You did not even stay in Xiangfang for one more night, and took the bullet train back to Jinyang that night.
·
After returning this time, Wei You decided to let go of this fantastic experience and return to his normal life.
If he could meet Wei Xu one day in the future, it would be fate. If not, there would be nothing that could be done about it. After all, the world is so big and it is not easy to find someone.
Of course there will be regrets in my heart, but that's how life is. No matter who is missing, life has to go on.
Wei You has made preparations for the name "Wei Xu" to disappear from his life from now on, and has begun to actively connect with friends around him in order to get out of that extremely unreal memory as soon as possible.
Unexpectedly, just half a month after returning to Jinyang, the person he had flown thousands of miles to another city to find appeared in front of him without any warning.
It was quite a coincidence that after the Lantern Festival, Wei You originally planned to return to Xuchang City where he lived. The date of his return was already set. But when he was booking the plane ticket, he suddenly received an invitation from his college roommate Chai Liming, asking him if he wanted to play a horror-themed escape room.
Wei You had never played in an escape room and had always been curious about it. Thinking that going out to play could also help him relax, he agreed.
The weather in Jinyang was not very comfortable that day. It rained for a while in the morning and stopped in the afternoon, but the sky was still gloomy, as if covered by a layer of gray fog.
Wei You went out after lunch. He was stuck in traffic on the road for a while, and it was already a little late when he arrived at the hall outside the secret room.
Chai Liming had a good temper and didn't get angry at all after waiting for half an hour.
However, he has always been a calm and gentle person, and Wei You has never seen him lose his temper since he met him.
"I've already bought the ticket for you. This secret room only allows six people to enter at a time. We have to compete with others. Do you mind?" Chai Liming said as he took him to the staff to scan the code to enter.
"It's okay." Wei You was prepared for this. "By the way, do you know what the theme is?"
"It's called 'Shadow Bride', so it should be about ghost marriage or something like that."
After entering, the two walked into a long dark corridor. Looking at the black and distorted figures on the walls on both sides, Wei You couldn't help but frowned: "Is it scary?"
"It's definitely a little scary." Chai Liming pushed up his glasses. "But I've been in so many escape rooms, and few of them can scare me. Just follow me later. I'll block you if anything happens."
"Okay, then it's up to you." Wei You knew that he was an experienced enthusiast of escape rooms, so he felt relieved.
At the end of the dark corridor was a door covered with a black curtain. A staff member in a Tang suit stood beside the door. When he saw them, he asked, "Are you two?"
"Yes." Chai Liming answered calmly.
"Okay, now everyone is here." The staff member bent down and made a gesture to invite people in: "Please come in, the game will start soon."
Chai Liming lifted the curtain and went in first, and Wei You followed him in. Then they heard a crisp sound of locking the door, and the staff closed the door.
Wei You couldn't help but start to get nervous. He looked around and found that this was a lobby decorated in a very antique style.
There was no light in the room, only a few candles burning. Through the dim light, Wei You vaguely saw several people waiting in the depths of the lobby.
Seeing someone coming in, several people turned and walked towards them.
In such occasions, even people with social anxiety have to introduce themselves to each other, so as to avoid scaring each other during the game process.
At first, Wei You didn't realize that there was an acquaintance among these strangers. After all, the light here was so dim that he couldn't see the person's face at all.
Until a few people approached, he felt someone staring at him out of the corner of his eye. He raised his eyes reflexively, and the next second, his sight met a pair of indifferent and beautiful eyes.
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