CH 8

Melancholy Song (8)

“No.” He raised his head and said, “Unfortunately… I have to decline your offer.”

Both Adelaide and He Huaizhou were stunned. He Huaizhou said in surprise: “Why? Our requirements are not harsh. Moreover, as Ah Qin’s elders, isn’t it reasonable that we want his things back?“

With a slight force on his toes, Wen Zheliu pushed the chair away from them. He coldly stared at the surprised He Huaizhou and the serious Adelaide, saying word by word, “When did He Qin ‘put down his guard’ against me?”

He Huaizhou was startled, then smiled bitterly: “No… I’m old, and I can’t understand the twists and turns of you young people. I thought you two were good friends after hearing what Ah Qin said…”

“Enough talking.” Wen Zheliu interrupted him, “The more you say, the more wrong you are. Not only did he never drop his guard against me, he also warned me, from the first day he knew me, not to expect others to have good intentions. I can tell that his identity and character make it impossible for him to ‘put down his guard’ when he first meets anyone. How can you, as his elders, be worse than me, a stranger who has only met him once?“

“You keep hinting at me during the conversation, trying to imply that ‘He Qin treats me differently, so you are also willing to treat me preferentially‘. Do you think that this would relax my vigilance and let me hand over his dog tag?” Wen Zheliu’s eyes darkened, and the warm smile on his lips just now also disappeared.

Wen Zheliu was indeed an optimistic, cheerful, and contented person. However, the living environment from childhood to adulthood forced him to learn the skill of observing words and expressions in order to escape the harsh words and beatings of his foster family all year round. After years of training, his insight into worldly affairs has become quite sharp. From the moment he got into the hover car and had a conversation with the lawyer, he instinctively felt a subtle sense of disharmony. The intentional and unintentional probing just now made him affirm his thoughts.

“Little friend, don’t think too much,” He Huaizhou hurriedly waved his hand, and Adelaide beside him was also sizing up Wen Zheliu as if he was crazy, “Yes, I admit that we said this to make you relax as soon as possible, but you can’t…”

Wen Zheliu tilted his head, lifted the leather rope that was hung with the dog tags, and smiled at them.

Since the day he got He Qin’s dog tag, he has strung it together with his own dog tag, lest he lose it. At this moment, these two delicate metal tags of the same size but different patterns were swaying and spinning on the knot of the rope.

“When I entered the room, I’ve been wanting to ask,” Wen Zheliu said, “Is the light here a little too bright? As you said, you two are already old. Since you are old men, won’t your eyes be uncomfortable when you stay in a room with this kind of light? Or is this light color being used to cover up something?“

He Huaizhou showed a puzzled look on his face. He opened his mouth and said helplessly, “Little friend…”

“He Qin’s position is very high, so his dog tag should have been encrypted with the highest authority. Those who are lower in rank than him, or those who are not allowed by him, can’t see the content at all.” Wen Zheliu said, “From the beginning, I was also one of the people who wasn’t allowed, so when I was in Nova City, I couldn’t read the writing on the dog tag, but I guess you are the same.”

His lips opened and closed, and he slowly spat out a name: “…Theresa.”

He Huaizhou and Adelaide’s expressions froze for a moment.

“Since the incident started, I’ve been wondering when exactly did you start to develop a consciousness of your own and decide to defect? Your current methods are vigorous and resolute, but you must be in a very long incubation period in the early stages to escape the N-star company’s supervision. But just now, the moment I observed He Qin’s dog tag, I suddenly understood that, at the very least, you had been closely monitoring him from the time he logged into Nova City.“

“You don’t have permission to see his dog tag, but you know I’ve seen it in the real world, so you should have used my memory to project an appearance I’ve seen in reality to deceive me. But you seem to have forgotten one thing…“

Recalling the day when Liu Tianxiong pulled out his VR headset, Wen Zheliu could not help but pull the corners of his mouth, “…Speaking of which, I have to thank that cheap guy. Human memory will retain the impressive side of things to the greatest extent possible. And my deepest impression of this dog tag is in the dim room, under the dim yellow light.”

The two dog tags were still shaking slightly, and one of them actually reflected a color similar to dusk. In the surrounding light as bright as day, such a dull color was absolutely impossible to appear.

“And this incredibly white light is to cover up the possible lack of memory projection? Under this kind of light, it is common sense that you can’t see the writing and patterns on it, but unfortunately, you are self-defeating.“

In an instant, the surrounding was rapidly disappearing; the ground, tables and chairs, the huge floor-to-ceiling windows with elegant and simple curvature… the whole space suddenly became incomparably far away, countless streams of data spread out within the line of sight, re-composing a snow-colored boundless world.

“He Huaizhou” and “Adelaide” stood side by side and looked blankly at Wen Zheliu, who was also standing opposite them. “You can see through me for just these two reasons?“

Even though he was prepared, seeing all this with his own eyes still made Wen Zheliu stunned. He tucked the dog tag back into his collar and snorted cautiously, “There’s no harm in telling you the third reason.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the images of the two top leaders of the N-Star company in front of him melted suddenly like two pools of mercury, then they were fused together by external forces, twisting, gurgling, and gradually pouring out the slender and snow-white figure of Saint Nun Theresa.

While he was on guard, trying to delay time and find a breakthrough to escape, he slowly said: “It’s very simple. You actually didn’t show any abnormality about the fact that I have a fragment of a 3S-level item when you answered me.”

“Oh?” The holy nun tilted her head like a little girl. Her soft and pure eternal wish veil hung straight to the ground, looking holy and noble to the extreme, but Wen Zheliu would never treat her as a normal intelligent being. She curled her red lips and asked curiously, “Why?”

Her expressions, gestures, and even her questioning attitude were identical to those of a real person. Wen Zheliu could not help but get goosebumps. He replied, “Because he… He Qin sent me a letter that mentioned a sentence—’About how you got that 3S fragment, we will talk about it online.'”

The holy nun paused for a while, then suddenly smiled, “So that’s how it is…“

Wen Zheliu watched her every move cautiously and said slowly: “I don’t know how many monitoring channels you have in N-star company, but I vaguely understand one thing from the time I saw this sentence. That is, there must be something wrong with the origin of this fragment of mine, that’s why he specifically mentioned it in the letter. But you…“

“But as one of the N-Star company executives and chief designer of Nova City, I didn’t make it clear to you in time.” The holy nun took over, “Ah… this is my negligence. My Father’s precious blood shed from the cross covered all my sins, but failed to cover up my mistakes…“

Wen Zheliu said coldly: “Plus, this attitude of yours seems to take full responsibility, but you are actually justifying AI with your words… Now it’s my turn to ask you. Where exactly is He Qin, and when did I fall into the trap you set?“

The holy nun folded her palms and made a prayer gesture: “Since the lost sheep is so smart, why don’t you guess for yourself? When did you fall here?“

She avoided the first question, but Wen Zheliu was imprisoned and unable to fight against this AI that could be called a god in the virtual world, so he reluctantly calmed down and asked in a low voice, “… when I broke that LCD screen?”

The holy nun smiled and said, “O lost sheep, may the Father’s miraculous light shine upon you!”

Wen Zheliu snorted coldly, thinking in his heart that he must have been electrocuted after breaking the screen in a hurry, and then was seamlessly connected to her virtual world by this monster-like AI, and was forced to watch her play such a good show…

“I guess He Qin’s dog tag must have contained something important for you. No matter what, I won’t give it to you.” Wen Zheliu said, “And the authority is here, so you have no way to forcefully snatch it from my hands. What else do you want to do next, kill me?“

“My Father‘s heart is merciful.” The holy nun shook her head and laughed softly, “Look at your inventory; isn’t it already in there?”

Wen Zheliu was stunned for a moment because a translucent suspension bar suddenly flashed before his eyes.

[Player Name: Wen Di]

[Level: –/–]

[Experience:–/–]

[Strength: –/–, Spirit: –/–, Stamina: –/–, Agility: –/–, Authenticity: –/–]

[Package: none]

[Equipment and items: dog tag with intricate patterns, secret black box]

He was stunned and suddenly reacted!

Although the Uncanny Valley is a one-shot real-time game, its mechanism is no different from the ordinary game world. In the ordinary game world, the punishment for players’ deaths was nothing more than spraying coins, dropping equipment, and dropping levels; but in the current uncanny valley, in addition to dropping money and equipment, players have only one life, and death is death. In the real world, they will become vegetative people. There is no turning back at all.

If Theresa killed him now, He Qin’s dog tag will only turn into a stream of data and disappear into the boundless virtual space; if he entered the Uncanny Valley and died as a player, the dog tag will be immediately judged as a dropped item by the system and subsequently reclaimed by Theresa!

“You…!” He was shocked and angry, and as soon as he blurted out a word, Theresa in front of him opened her arms and said loudly, “Welcome to the Uncanny Valley. May the glory of Heavenly Father shine upon you!”

The overwhelming flow of data surged towards him and strangely circled in front of him into a bottomless passage. He was unable to avoid it and fell head first with a cry.

At the last moment before falling unconscious, he saw the back of Saint Theresa’s fully exposed hand—

There was a tattoo of a red snake with its tail in a circle, and inside it stood a distinct and precise pentagram of the same color.