He Wuning and his group returned to the safe zone. Downstairs in the service hall, they spotted a familiar upright figure. Judging by the nicely rounded head shape, it could only be the Master.
Master Zhi Yin stood there with a solemn expression, clearly waiting for someone.
—Apparently, that someone was them.
“You’re here.” Master Zhi Yin nodded to them. The seriousness on his face didn’t ease in the slightest. “To the research lab. There’s a problem.”
Xue Xun took a deep breath and muttered, “Should we eat the vermicelli soup now? I’ve got a bad feeling that in a bit, I’ll be too upset to stomach a midnight snack.”
“From my experience,” He Wuning said as he walked inside with his hands in his pockets, “premonitions you don’t want to have usually come true.”
Xue Xun let out a long sigh.
They hurried to the research lab. Li Liangzi, Zuo Qianming, and a group of researchers they’d met before but barely spoken to were already seated. He Anan was sitting at the table with Qi Hong. Qi Hong was already sprawled on the tabletop asleep, and He Anan looked a little tired as well—but when he saw He Wuning and the others, his eyes lit up.
“Ningning! You did it!”
“We all heard the announcement—our guess was right!”
Zuo Qianming spread his hands and shrugged. “In most cases, the conclusion with the highest probability based on existing data is the truth. I’ve told you that many times already.”
He Anan beamed. “That can’t be helped. I was here all night watching Mr. Zuo mutter, ‘the success rate should be pretty high if we add this material,’ but it failed almost every time—so for now, I’m staying skeptical of ‘probability.’”
Zuo Qianming: “……”
He Anan tilted his head toward He Wuning with a harmless, gentle smile. “Ah, but I absolutely believe in Ningning.”
Zuo Qianming sniffed. “Sometimes I feel like your little brother has a bit of a mischievous streak.”
“That’s your imagination.” He Wuning sat down and swept his gaze across the room. “Everyone’s here… What exactly went wrong? The opposing side’s event hasn’t even officially started yet, has it?”
“That’s right. So far, we haven’t been attacked by the monsters at all. We even completed the first-stage progress task smoothly,” Li Liangzi said as she looked up. “But since early morning, the command center has been receiving a continuous stream of abnormal calls from civilians.”
“In the middle of the night—don’t tell me they saw ghosts?” Yi Luo sat down with a grin. “Though, in a game, I suppose even seeing ghosts wouldn’t be that strange. Aren’t Ghost Island’s monsters all nonhuman fantasy creatures?”
“On the contrary.” Li Liangzi’s expression was grave. “They said… they saw gods.”
The room fell silent for a moment.
At last, Xue Xun slowly turned to Master Zhi Yin. “As an atheist, my first instinct on hearing something like that is to oppose feudal superstition. But if we’re talking from the perspective of believers—Master Zhi Yin, what do you think…?”
For some reason, Master Zhi Yin’s expression seemed heavy. He was silent for a moment before slowly lifting his head. His scalp showed the results of his recent efforts to grow his hair back; beneath the faint bluish tone, strands were valiantly pushing through.
Master Zhi Yin slowly closed his eyes. “I don’t know.”
“Huh?” Xue Xun blinked in surprise.
Master Zhi Yin looked a little deflated. He let out a long breath, his expression tinged with worry. “I believe that conversing with the Buddha in one’s dreams is something every practitioner yearns for… Yet I’ve heard that many ordinary people have had such dreams. And I…”
He propped his head up with one hand. “I dreamed of nothing.”
He reached up to touch his scalp, his face conflicted. “Is it because I’ve started growing my hair again? Or because I’ve broken too many precepts in this world?”
Li Liangzi smiled helplessly. “I think it might also be because you didn’t sleep at all yesterday.”
“Most of the civilians who called in share one common point,” she continued. “They all said they saw the gods in their dreams.”
She flipped open the file in her hands. “And the gods they saw weren’t the same. Besides familiar deities, there were many bizarre ones.”
“For example, Satan, the Grim Reaper, Lucifer—some rather dangerous gods—and…”
Even Li Liangzi, usually so composed, couldn’t help showing a hint of exasperation. “Some people claim they saw kittens, holographic virtual idols, deep-sea octopuses, or even a lump of noodles with facial features appear as gods and ask them to convert.”
“If the number of such reports weren’t so overwhelming, I’d think it was a prank by some bored individuals.”
“By the way,” Zuo Qianming clicked his tongue, “we believe this is a very dangerous sign, but most players don’t seem to be taking it seriously at all.”
He opened the forum interface. Looking at the suddenly bustling flood of bizarre posts, he rubbed his temples. “They’ve even started a pre-apocalypse carnival.”
He Wuning glanced at the thread titles.
“Anyone in Zone A want to go out and watch the end of the world tonight? Looking for a girl—let me hold a girl’s hand before I die!”
“Flying Spaghetti God Cult assemble! Praise our Lord!”
“Sir, do you have a moment? I’d like to introduce you to my Lord…”
“Any 1? Any 1? Any 1?”
“Are you all joking? Those who don’t believe will go to hell in the end, you damned heretics.”
“Before the end of the world—are there any hot male Bodhisattvas willing to post a nude photo? I’ll convert immediately.”
Q-chan suddenly popped its head out. “Sweetie, don’t click on that! It’s all bait-and-switch scams in there—and someone even had the nerve to say they want to see you! Wanting to see Yi Luo or people from the combat division is one thing, but someone actually dared to lust after my precious baby! That’s going too far!”
Yi Luo propped his chin on his hand and asked, “Why do you know the contents of those posts so clearly? You clicked into them, didn’t you?”
Q-chan: “……”
Yi Luo reached out and poked its round little head. “Heh. Bold of you.”
Then he turned seriously to He Wuning. “You should remember to avoid changing clothes around it in the future.”
“Y-you—you can’t just slander a system’s innocence out of thin air!” Q-chan protested fiercely, though its voice was clearly lacking confidence, guilt written all over its face.
Xue Xun rubbed his forehead helplessly. “Alright, alright, can we get back on topic already? We—”
“Oh? Director Xue, look here—someone’s asking if there are others who like Director Xue too.” Yi Luo cleared his throat and read aloud, “Doesn’t anyone think that Xue Xun from the command center—the one who gathers intelligence—is also really handsome, and looks super caring? Absolutely the perfect husband material.”
“Who said that?!” Xue Xun slapped the table and leaned over. “Who has such good taste? Let me see—”
Zuo Qianming: “…The entire tech department can see this. Can you people please act a little more seriously?”
“Oh, look at that—someone’s jealous.” Xue Xun, freshly buoyed by the realization that his romantic prospects might not be hopeless after all, pointed at Zuo Qianming smugly. “I’m telling you, your tech department just doesn’t like showing up in public. You’re not bad-looking either. High-IQ guys are popular with girls too, you know!”
Zuo Qianming let out a sinister chuckle. “Girls?”
“How do you know the one eyeing you isn’t a handsome older guy?”
Xue Xun: “……”
He returned solemnly to his seat, then turned and pointed at Yi Luo. “We’re talking about serious business. What nonsense are you browsing? Close it. Close it.”
Yi Luo couldn’t help laughing. He lazily went to close the thread—then suddenly paused.
People had started uploading photos in the replies. Most of them didn’t match the topic at all, but as Yi Luo scrolled down, he saw a familiar face.
It was He Wuning.
Naturally, fully clothed.
The photo was taken during a chaotic battle—probably snapped by someone who seized the moment with their comm device.
Smoke filled the air, rubble flew everywhere. A small stone had torn a streak of blood across He Wuning’s face. The skinning knife in his hand was embedded in a stone giant’s body, his gaze sharp, killing intent concentrated at the blade’s tip—as if it didn’t matter whether he was holding a level-1 skinning knife or a divine weapon, anything standing in his way would be cut down.
Yi Luo’s fingers twitched slightly. It looked like the first time he’d ever seen He Wuning.
He glanced at the username that had posted the photo—Brother Long.
Yeah. He knew exactly who that was.
He Wuning glanced at him. “What is it?”
“Nothing.” Yi Luo shook his head. “I just think next time we should suggest to the Voice of the World that the forum add a photo-saving feature.”
He swept his gaze around and smoothly steered things back on track. “Right—do we have even one confirmed case of someone actually dreaming about this?”
He Anan lifted his eyes. “We do. Me.”
He rubbed his chin a little helplessly. “I don’t actually believe in Buddhism, but my grandma does…”
He Wuning nodded. “I remember you used to help her look up obscure characters in sutras, and sometimes went with her to burn incense.”
“And you even bought her a dedicated sutra audio player—nearly drove Grandpa crazy,” He Anan chuckled. “Later, Grandma put it in the vegetable shed on the balcony. She always said the vegetables grew up listening to Buddhist scriptures and had accumulated merit, so she’d regularly give them away.”
“Ahem.” He Wuning said flatly. “You’re off topic. Why are you talking about me?”
“Ah, sorry.” He Anan smiled. “I just remembered some cute things from when Ningning was little. Anyway, even though I don’t really believe, I still ended up having a related dream.”
“If you need someone to study, I can be that example.”
Yi Luo glanced at He Wuning. “Cute, huh?”
He Wuning expressionlessly elbowed him.
“Tch.” Yi Luo protested. “Why is he the only one allowed to say you’re cute?”
“Because I’m his little brother.” He Anan’s smile grew brighter. “If you want to as well… why don’t you start by calling him ‘big brother’ and try acting cute like a little brother?”
Yi Luo was instantly covered in goosebumps at the mental image. “No thanks.”
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The author has something to say:
Brother Long: ? Why do I feel like my training’s gotten way more intense lately? Did I do something wrong?
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