He collapsed in the middle of the game lobby and couldn't get up for a long time.
Weakness, pain, and exhaustion. He forced himself to glance at the empty hall; Jian Yunxian hadn't come with him.
He remembered what SHEEP had said last night, "If you really want to see him, he'll come back to see you tomorrow even though he's sick," which made him even more annoyed—he hadn't even come to the game, so what was the point of talking about meeting up?
He didn't know how to complete the task under such circumstances.
Yi Heye recovered from the excruciating pain, sat down on the ground, and hugged the fluffy long tail to his chest—this action made him feel a little at ease.
Maybe we should just forget it; this state really isn't suitable for continuing to play games.
Yi Heye swiped open the panel in front of him, deciding to take some medicine, lie in bed for a day, and then get up to play the game again—he believed that as long as he explained to the SHEEP that he was not feeling well, the annoying guy would not have the nerve to bother him.
However, just a second before his finger touched the exit screen, the scene suddenly changed, and the relaxed Q background of the game lobby was replaced with a city night scene with neon lights all over the place on a rainy day.
The game was forcibly started.
Yi Heye stood at the street corner, looking at the colorful ripples in the puddles on the ground, still in a daze.
He stood in the rain for a full two minutes before going under the eaves to take shelter.
The feeling of raindrops falling on the body is very realistic. The prosthetic limb even has the aches and pains of being soaked, and the whole body feels uncomfortablely wet and cold.
He coughed twice, feeling unwell, whether from drinking cold water in the middle of the night or from the false chill that had deceived his cerebral cortex.
This game made him increasingly uncomfortable.
Once he calmed down, his reflexes started to regress—just as he was about to quit, the game started on its own.
If I remember correctly, he didn't accidentally press any buttons; his game must have been forcibly started.
Having figured this out, Yi Heye suddenly became alert. Someone else had tampered with him.
He shook his head to briefly drive away the sharp pain, then opened the mission panel.
The screen was blank; even the exit button was nowhere to be found.
He stared blankly at the empty space, unable to come up with a reasonable explanation for a moment.
Yi Heye's head started to ache again. He looked up and saw the city shrouded in a gray haze as the night rain fell.
At the other end of the street were rows of towering skyscrapers, while behind him was a brightly lit entertainment district.
The interplay of light and shadow created a lively and bustling atmosphere, yet it couldn't mask the desolation and loneliness of the deserted streets.
Yes, apart from Yi Heye, there was no one else on the street in front of them, not even a single NPC.
The inexplicable encounter, coupled with increasingly severe physical discomfort, made Yi Heye irritable.
He turned around and first pushed open the door of the convenience store behind him.
The store, like the street, was completely deserted.
At the entrance, a small robot with two blue lights was staring at him. Yi Heye went up and patted its head, but there was no reaction. It must be a non-interactive background.
He frowned and went to the billiards bar next door—electronic music was playing in the store, the slot machines at the stairwell were running, and the electronic screens were flashing junk ads. Everything was bustling, except for one living person.
It was chilly and very eerie.
Yi Heye started to feel nauseous. He slammed the shop door shut and rushed out as if fleeing.
The moment he rushed out of the street, Yi Heye realized that the scene in front of him looked familiar—it seemed to be the neighborhood near his home. Because he rarely stopped while riding his bike, he didn't realize it at first.
Feeling extremely agitated, Yi Heye decided to return to his small apartment to calm down.
He hurried home, only to find that the old men who used to walk their electronic cats and dogs were nowhere to be seen, and the children who used to play soccer with their educational devices were also gone. The lights in each house were still on, but the entire residential area was filled with a chilling silence.
It felt like entering a ghost town.
At this moment, all of Yi Heye's symptoms began to manifest. He felt some stomach pain, was sweating profusely from exhaustion, and his vision began to be filled with white specks of snow.
At that moment, all he wanted to do was lie down on the bed and get some sleep.
However, the moment the door was opened, a strange bright blue light appeared in the center of the room.
In an instant, Yi Heye thought of the blue sheep.
Extreme tension and excitement briefly shielded him from all discomfort. He slammed the door open and ran toward the blue sky.
The instant Yi Heye made his move, Lan Yang leaped onto the living room windowsill, opened the window with a "whoosh," and jumped down.
I'm playing a game right now.
In an instant, Yi Heye's mind made a clear decision, and he jumped off the twenty-story building as well.
He's playing a game right now, so he won't die.
He reached out, desperately trying to grab the blue sheep—he wanted to see what it looked like, he wanted to know if this sheep was really SHEEP.
However, just before landing, he saw people walking in the stairwell, elderly people walking their dogs on the street, and children playing football on the lawn...
These unexpected people made Yi Heye's heart clench.
In that instant, a terrifying thought crept into my mind—is this really a game?
!!
The moment he landed, immense pain spread from the top of his head.
When Yi Heye sat up abruptly from the bed, his whole body was soaked in cold sweat.
I woke up suddenly, my vision and consciousness were still blurry, and waves of fear and lingering dread washed over me.
His hands were still trembling uncontrollably, and he felt a chill run down his spine, wanting to vomit, but he couldn't stop his heart from pounding.
I felt cold all over, and I was terrified.
Just as he was curled up on the bed, shaking the dice with his eyes closed and knees drawn up, the door to the room seemed to be pushed open by someone, and someone came in.
Before he could even open his eyes, Yi Heye was pulled into someone's arms.
"Had a nightmare?" Jian Yunxian's voice rang in his ears.
Author's Note:
Yi Heye: When did we become someone you can kiss and hug all the time?!
Chapter 24, number 024
Although unwilling to admit it, Yi Heye did feel a strange sense of peace the moment he fell into Jian Yunxian's arms.
But his body relaxed for less than a second before he became alert again.
He looked up and saw Jian Yunxian's emerald green eyes looking directly at him, her gentle gaze filled with worry.
Yi Heye kept staring at him until the buzzing in his head subsided a little and his consciousness slowly returned. Then he looked away, his brows furrowing slightly.
Then, gently and subtly, push the person away from you.
His head was still throbbing with pain, so Yi Heye turned his back and got off the other side of the bed.
"Are you alright?" Jian Yunxian went over to help her up, but Yi Heye carefully dodged her.
He stumbled, then, supporting himself against the wall, walked to the study. Seeing the empty desk, he frowned: "Where's the helmet?"
Jian Yunxian: "I've put it away for you. Your physical condition isn't suitable for playing games lately."
Yi Heye frowned, pursed his lips, and said nothing more.
He turned around and reached for the window, but Jian Yunxian stopped him, saying, "Turn on the heating."
Yi Heye withdrew his hand, preventing him from touching him, and then walked out of the stairwell without looking back.
"Don't go out." Jian Yunxian pulled him back, closed the door again, and said, "Get some sleep. You need to rest now."
Yi Heye raised his head, staring at him with his scarlet eyes for a long time before sitting back down on the sofa in the living room.
He swept his bangs back, revealing his forehead, which made his features look more mature: "It's so quiet outside."
Jian Yunxian: "Today is the 14th. Everyone should be rushing to take advantage of the mall's promotions."
Yi Heye's head was still spinning. He reached up and wiped his face, then leaned back and said, "Pour me some wine, so I can sleep better."
Jian Yunxian nodded, turned around, picked up his cup, and went to the kitchen.
Yi Heye watched his retreating figure, his expression turning cold. He stood up and quietly pulled open the drawer beside him.
"Heye, where's the wine?" Jian Yunxian's voice came from the kitchen. "I can't find it."
The next second, Yi Heye appeared behind him without him even noticing: "Do you know why I can't find you?"
A chill ran down his spine as a fruit knife was pressed against Jian Yunxian's neck.
“Because I never drink,” Yi Heye said. “Don’t you remember, Mr. Jian?”
In front of him, Jian Yunxian, with his back to him, slowly raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.
But Yi Heye wasn't one to hesitate or waste words. Before he could react, he swiftly raised his knife and brought it down—
With a "splat", the throat of the "Jian Yunxian" in front of him was instantly slit open, and blood splattered everywhere.
“You shouldn’t have pretended to be Jian Yunxian.” Yi Heye leaned close to his ear, his thick nasal voice carrying a hint of illness. “This guy is bad in a unique way; not everyone can pull it off.”
From the moment this guy grabbed him, Yi Heye felt a strong sense of unease.
Although Jian Yunxian was shameless, he still had some sense of propriety regarding such overly intimate physical contact.
At least he, uh, would ask for his consent before kissing himself.
He guessed that this fake Jian Yunxian must have seen them in the game, and... kissed them, so he mistakenly thought that the two had a relatively casual relationship.
Yi Heye opened the window with a "whoosh." What should have been a large factory in the distance was now a mosaic that had not yet been refined.
He didn't have a nightmare; he never actually left the game.
Before our eyes, "Jian Yunxian" was struggling, and soon a cluster of blue electricity appeared around his body, which then slowly began to transform into a ball of virtual data.
Yi Heye poked it twice with his knife and found that it was invincible during the transformation and could not be damaged, so he looked at it expressionlessly.
As the shape twisted and transformed, a blue sheep gradually took shape, largely consistent with his guess—
"You're trying to frame him, aren't you?" Yi Heye squatted down in front of the sheep and asked, "After it was exposed, you deliberately used the image of a sheep to wander around the live stream, just to make everyone suspect SHEEP, right?"
The sheep's eyes popped out with a "pop" and swayed as it looked at Yi Heye.