“Okay, you skinflint Xu,” Zhou Luming muttered under his breath.
Xu Yan said seriously, "You wouldn't be secretly planning to ask Ms. Wang for your payment, would you?"
Zhou Luming was startled, like a frightened rabbit, "Did you plant a listening device in my brain?"
Why is it that she can always guess what I'm thinking so easily?
Wang Anjing watched the two of them talking back and forth and interjected with a smile, "I recognize some of the places, but there are some I don't go to, such as the football field, which should be at our school, but I don't really like watching football..." She paused for a moment before continuing, "Song Tao seems to go there to play football often."
Xu Yan raised his hand to signal Wang Anjing to stop talking, then turned to Zhou Luming and said, "The will isn't in there, don't waste time looking for it."
Zhou Luming finally gave up, leaning back in his computer chair in frustration, staring up at the ceiling. "Where is it anyway?"
Xu Yan looked at the aircraft carrier model in the conference room and a thought flashed through his mind. "Go to the battery compartment, which is the core of the ship. Since the model is a one-to-one replica of the design, there must be a space similar to the battery compartment in the center of the aircraft carrier. Quickly find the battery compartment and turn on the lights of the aircraft carrier."
Xu Yan paused for a moment and said, "The will and the code are right there."
Zhou Luming acted quickly and found a schematic diagram of the aircraft carrier's passageways in the corridor. After a brief pause, she recalled the diagram of the ventilation ducts she had seen on the wall of the captain's cabin. Fortunately, she had memorized the diagram at that time.
The blueprint shows several roads that are blocked, but there are ventilation duct lines, indicating that there must be a hidden space there.
Zhou Luming drew a conclusion and sprinted towards his target. Song Tao hadn't appeared; had he already discovered the secret? Damn it! He thought he was ahead, but he'd fallen behind. If Song Tao found the will and stole the crucial code, Li Li's inheritance would be severely damaged—that line of code was more valuable than the current legacy!
Zhou Luming exerted all his strength and rushed to a large iron gate with a rotating turntable. The folding iron gate had already been opened; it seemed he was too late, Song Tao had already arrived.
Zhou Luming tiptoed in and saw Song Tao's back.
This middle-aged man, who has already started a family and established a career and can be considered a winner in life, still maintains a meticulous hairstyle and a meticulous black suit even in the game, wearing leather shoes and standing tall.
"You're here a little faster than I expected." In front of Song Tao was a huge screen, showing a massive, smooth, white planet in front of the aircraft carrier. The carrier had been passing by this white planet, but now it seemed to have changed direction, facing it head-on, but moving towards the white planet at a very, very slow speed.
Song Tao pressed a power switch with his right hand, which was marked with a danger exclamation mark.
"It seems you really are Li Li's best friend. You understand Li Li the most. You discovered the secrets of the aircraft carrier long ago and have always been one step ahead of me." Zhou Luming said as she subtly approached Song Tao, looking for an opportunity to strike.
At this level, Xu Yan remained silent, like a spectator watching a play, leaving Zhou Luming to handle the situation himself.
Song Tao glanced at me and sneered, “I was his mentor and his friend, but he had an affair with my wife and refused to hand over the key code of the Metaverse game… He betrayed me time and time again. Although he is dead, I still hate him. Little girl, I advise you not to come any closer to me, otherwise I will accelerate this aircraft carrier and crash it into the white planet, and we will all go our separate ways.”
"The aircraft carrier is gone, and so is your critical code. Are you willing to accept that?" Zhou Luming stopped what she was doing, worried that the other party might really break up with her. This was her first time working on a project with Xu Yan, and a bad start wouldn't leave a good impression.
Song Tao said, "At most, without the key code, we can't upgrade or improve it. Li Li's game can last for at least five more years. I've made enough money, that's all that matters."
You are wasting his hard work.
"He's reaping what he sowed. We agreed to cooperate and share weal and woe, so why won't he hand over the code?" Song Tao said, his voice trembling with emotion.
Zhou Luming said calmly, "A genius like Li Li will always have his stubbornness and obsessions. His business philosophy is different from yours. Code is his only bargaining chip. I think only by holding onto the code will you not abandon him directly... He once had nothing, and you are his only friend... Can you understand his desire not to lose a friend?"
Xu Yan's calm voice came through, "If you can't persuade him, look at the control panel ahead. There's a power switch there. Go and turn it on."
"But Song Tao will take the opportunity to ram and destroy the aircraft carrier—"
"It's alright, just do as I say," Xu Yan commanded.
Zhou Luming bit his lip lightly, then suddenly ran to the other side of the power switch and quickly pulled it. Lights instantly illuminated the front of the aircraft carrier, shining onto the white planet.
Song Tao was about to pull the switch on his side in response to the provocation, but he was stunned by what he saw.
Zhou Luming was also stunned.
Xu Yan's eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at the screen. Wang Anjing covered her mouth in surprise, stood up involuntarily, and stared blankly at the subtitles projected onto the white planet in the game world.
Using the lights of an aircraft carrier as a pen and a white planet as paper, Li Li left behind this unprecedented personal will in a magnificent corner of the universe, in the metaverse he created as the creator, through such a shocking method.
Chapter 10
===================
The universe is vast and boundless.
Zhou Luming never imagined he would go to space, let alone experience outer space so realistically in a game world. Above the white planet before him, huge subtitles were projected—the will of Li Li, the client of this case.
Zhou Luming couldn't help but sigh, "Boss Xu, we all misunderstand Li Li. He's not just a straightforward, unromantic engineering guy. He left a will in the universe. That's cosmic-level romance. When engineering guys get romantic, it's so sickeningly sweet."
Xu Yan slowly said, "I'm correcting a mistake. You have a prejudice and misunderstanding of Li Li, but I don't."
Zhou Luming was taken aback, then smiled and said, "Yes, yes, the mistakes were all made by me alone, and have nothing to do with you."
Xu Yan could hear the resentment in Zhou Luming's tone, but the scene before her was much more important than Zhou Luming's bickering.
The aircraft carrier's lights flashed a few times, and a countdown appeared in the center.
10 seconds
9S
8S
...
Zhou Luming immediately tensed up. "What does this mean? What will happen after the countdown ends?"
"Obviously, the will will be closed after the countdown ends," Xu Yan said. "From now on, please clear your mind of all distractions and store everything you see in front of you in your mind. Don't miss any details."
Zhou Luming said, "Can't you record a video?"
Xu Yan shook his head. "No, we can't see the contents of the will; we can only rely on your memory."
Zhou Luming stopped wasting time with words; the will before her was thousands of lines of code, utterly illogical to a layman, requiring rote memorization. It included numbers and characters, which she had to rigidly memorize. So, after almost half a second of thought, Zhou Luming obediently closed her eyes and began to memorize Li Li's coded will in her mind.
Xu Yan's voice came through, as if gently and carefully instructing you, "Don't worry, you can remember."
Zhou Luming frowned. "Don't make a sound."
As she had said, Xu Yan shut up.
Wang Anjing said, "Ms. Zhou has quite a temper."
"She made a very good point."
"What did you say?"
“Anyone with a bit of talent will be arrogant,” Xu Yan said. “She herself is that kind of person, but she usually pretends to be approachable and doesn’t easily show her pride. As far as I know, she is a genius at reading people, which means she has excellent observation and memory skills. I believe she can remember the contents of the will.”
Wang Anjing looked at Zhou Luming on the big screen with a quiet smile. At this moment, Zhou Luming's expression was focused and serious, which was different from his usual cheerful and lively demeanor. It was as if there was another soul living inside the same person.
It must be said that whether one is cheerful and talkative or serious and focused, having such a beautiful appearance makes one an object of envy.
After a ten-second countdown, the aircraft carrier's lights switched off precisely, plunging the entire carrier into darkness. Zhou Luming and Song Tao instantly felt weightless and floated inside the cabin.
"What's going on?" Zhou Luming was startled and slid to the window to look outside. Some light could still be faintly seen coming in from outside. "Is the aircraft carrier experiencing a power outage? Did the circuit breaker trip?"
Xu Yan said, "Without the aircraft carrier, it will soon self-destruct."
Zhou Luming smiled wryly, "Looks like we're going to have to run at top speed again."
"It's been hard work," Xu Yan said calmly, "but you can come back now."
Zhou Luming pried open the cabin door, intending to find his aircraft, get on, and escape, but when he turned around, he saw that Song Tao was still in the same spot.
"Aren't you going to run? This place is about to explode."
Song Tao's expression was strange, a mixture of joy and sorrow. "He left the crucial code to me..."
"Isn't that great? You got what you wanted—" Zhou Luming heard a loud bang outside, "No time to dawdle and reminisce, let's run!"
Song Tao snapped out of his daze and looked at Zhou Luming strangely, "This is the world of the metaverse..."
Zhou Luming tilted his head and stared blankly at Song Tao with an innocent expression.
Song Tao shrugged and said, "This is a virtual world. We are the players. You can press the button on your arm to exit the game and return to the original world."
Zhou Luming slapped his forehead, realizing how embarrassing he had been.
Xu Yan and Wang Anjing both looked at the two people who had returned to the real world from the game. Xu Yan's face showed no change and remained expressionless; while Wang Anjing looked at them with gentle and warm eyes. Zhou Luming felt that Wang Anjing was like a loving old mother at this moment.
Zhou Luming stood up and went straight to the whiteboard. She picked up a marker and began to write down everything she had memorized. The only sound in the large office was the rapid scribbling of her pen. The other three people remained silent, afraid of disturbing Zhou Luming's thoughts.
Apart from Xu Yan, the other two had some doubts about Zhou Luming. After all, Li Li left behind thousands of lines of code, which ordinary people could not remember at all. Even if Zhou Luming had a good memory, he could only remember a part of it and could not restore the whole thing.
If it were someone with a professional background like Wang Anjing, they might be able to memorize it all easily. These symbols and numbers are just common words in her eyes, just like memorizing a text. Although it is difficult, as long as one is smart enough, one can still remember most of it.
However, Zhou Luming was not a professional in this field; all she could do was memorize by rote and make no mistakes.
About five minutes later, Zhou Luming stopped writing. The whiteboard was covered with dense writing, and he even needed a second whiteboard to pour out what was in his mind.
Zhou Luming sat exhausted in his swivel chair and said, "I tried my best, but there are still some things I really can't remember, about a third of the content."
She leaned back in her chair, looking up at Song Tao. "I hope the key code you need is in there, otherwise we've worked for nothing."
Song Tao stared at the code for a long time, then slowly revealed a smile.
"Thank you, the key code he left me is in here."
Zhou Luming breathed a sigh of relief and turned to look at Xu Yan, hoping to receive her praise.
However, Xu Yan didn't even look at her. Instead, he walked to the whiteboard, moved one board behind the other, and adjusted its height so that the two boards could be stacked together to form a pattern when viewed from the front.
Zhou Luming's eyes widened suddenly. "This—this will code actually formed a sunflower pattern? Is it a coincidence? Wow, this is so thoughtful!"
Xu Yan said, "The sunflower symbolizes silent love."
She looked at Wang Anjing and said, "Mrs. Song, you and Li Li are in the same field. Could you give us a simple interpretation of the will?"
Wang Anjing nodded and read Li Li's will in her uniquely gentle voice.
To my dear friends:
I am Li Li. I know there will come a day when I will suddenly disappear. I'm sorry I didn't say goodbye. It's not that I didn't want to, but I was afraid that saying goodbye would leave regrets and make me lose the courage to leave you. I left the key code to Song Tao, and all my savings, real estate, company shares, funds, and bonds to my parents. I need my friend Xu Yan to help me liquidate these securities; otherwise, my parents won't know what to do. As for the technical support and continued development of the metaverse world, I hope my senior, Wang Anjing, can continue. She is the best programmer I've ever met; she shouldn't waste her talent by being just a housewife.
I'm sorry, everyone, but playing this game with you one last time made me very happy. Goodbye, everyone. If there is a heaven, I will be watching you all live happily from above.
—This is Li Li's last message.
Zhou Luming felt a slight stirring in his heart upon hearing this. Li Li's words were gentle, and the content he designed in the metaverse was full of meticulous romance.
He had a thorough understanding of his illness and made comprehensive arrangements, leaving no regrets, at least in Zhou Luming's view.
but--
Looking at Xu Yan, who remained silent, Zhou Luming felt that she had other ideas and that she had seen something he had not.
Sure enough, Xu Yan said, "In his will, Li Li referred to me as 'friend,' Ms. Wang as 'senior sister,' and his parents as 'Dad and Mom.' Only one person did not have a prefix."