Chapter 115

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Chapter 115- Back to the real world (5)

Chatter…..Chatter….

In the lively and noisy restaurant, the once joyous dinner had turned depressing and the reason for that was because….of the person next to her.

I must endure it…must endure….endure it my ass! Gu Anran thought angrily. Who in the right mind would be able to put up with someone smiling at them so weirdly while eating???? She looked over at Hong Qingyi whose face was practically buried in her bowl to avoid Chi Mengyan’s staring. Can’t they let people eat in peace?!!

“Can you stop looking at me?” Gu Anran swallowed her mouth full of food and then turned to face Mu Qingli’s smile that wasn’t really a smile.

“But I like you! Mu Qingli smiled and her sudden statement caused Gu Anran to spit out the soup in her mouth, “Oh, why are you so careless.” Mu Qingli took out a tissue and began wiping Gu Anran’s mouth.

“What do you mean…senpai?” Gu anran frowned and pushed Mu Qingli’s hand away as she put special emphasis on the alienating term ‘senpai’.

“The literal meaning.” Mu Qingli didn’t seem to mind Gu Anran’s action and replied to her question with a soft smile. However, she didn’t know that in Gu Anran’s eyes that her smile looked as devious as a fox’s smile.

“But I don’t like you.” Gu Anran snorted coldly. She couldn’t eat properly with these four annoying people sitting around her, so she made to leave, but suddenly her arm was pulled by Mu Qingli and she found herself falling into the other person’s embrace.

“What are you….uh…” Gu Anran was startled as face suddenly drew near and a pair of lips pressed onto her mouth. The soft lips and the tongue that entered her mouth told her she was being taken advantage of, but even though she struggled to pull away, a hand wrapped around her waist prevented her from moving. Thus, she could only let out a whimpering sound from the back of her throat.

The lips finally pulled away and just as Gu Anran was about to ask her next question, a helpless-sounding whisper entered her ears,

“Don’t leave me again…”

“You…..” Gu Anran turned to look away, only to see that Duan Hongwu and Song Wenyan were watching them with their cheeks propped in their hands. She couldn’t understand the emotions flashing in their eyes.

“Hey….don’t touch me….” The little shriek on the side attracted Gu Anran’s attention. Hong Qingyi’s face was flushed a deep red, and she wanted to escape, but Chi Mengyan’s arms were wrapped around her so tightly that she could not move.

“Hey, hey…enough…” Gu Anran patted Mu Qingli’s shoulder. Hah, her soft heart will be the death of her one day!

“You won’t leave me again?” Mu Qingli pressed even closer, her hot breath leaving an itchy feeling across her skin.

“Yes…”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“That’s great.” Mu Qingli raised her head and revealed a radiant smile. There was no hint of sadness on her face, making Gu Anran suspect that the ‘sorrowful’ words just now were all an illusion!

“You guys should eat first. If you have something to discuss, do it later, otherwise the food will be burned if it cooks any longer.” Song Wenyan pointed to Mu Qingli and Chi Mengyan’s boiling pot. Mu Qingli fished out a spoonful of green vegetables and….they promptly melted in her mouth. Chi Mengyan’s was not much better as the meat had already turned into black lumps.

“Should we call the waiter to replace the dishes?” Hong Qingyi looked at the piece of meat that Chi Mengyan couldn’t tear apart, and kindly suggested.

“No need, we can just share with you. There’s too many people here anyways, so it’ll just be adding more trouble for the waiter.” After such magnanimous words, Mu Qingli picked up a well-cooked fish from Gu Anran’s pot and casually ate it as if it were hers the whole time.

“…..” Gu Anran almost threw the bowl into Mu Qingli’s face, but couldn’t bear to when she looked at Mu Qingli’s beautiful face. Instead, she just decided to bow her head and turn a blind eye to the thievery.

One very ‘healthy’ dinner later, they went to a coffee shop and entered a private box.

“So, what matters is do you seniors need us?” Gu Anran said awkwardly as she stood in front of the coffee making station.

Gu Anran usually wouldn’t say such polite words but felt pressure to in the face of the awkward silence. She could only relax her tensions by falling back on what she knew, and that was making coffee.

However, she didn’t realize that her every move was being observed by the people behind her. The gentle-looking President was smiling an unfathomable grin and the iceberg beauty was also smiling a similar uncomfortable smile at Hong Qingyi. Hong Qingyi, who was the target of the Thai smile, wanted to warn Gu Anran of her actions but was stopped by the two smiling foxes.

“Hong Qingyi, your coffee.” Gu Anran turned around and handed the coffee to Hong Qingyi who was constantly winking her left eye for some reason. She had no idea what her best friend was trying to tell her and asked, “Are your eyes cramping up?”

“You…..” Hong Qingyi felt like angrily scolding her, but before she could, a pair of hands grabbed her away.

Seeing her friend being dragged away, Gu Anran reached out to help but then heard a chilling voice say,

“Anran…..I want a cup of coffee too….”

She turned her head to see Mu Qingli standing behind her with a confident expression. It was only then that Gu Anran realized that the gig was up.

“What the hell do guys want from us?” Gu Anran spoke frankly and asked. Why do they insist on crossing paths with them? The game is over, so wouldn’t it be better if they go their separate ways?

“You admit that you know us?” A strong brilliant glint flashed in Mu Qingli’s eyes. She had already figured out that the two were just pretending not to know them, but she felt more assured hearing it straight from the horse’s mouth.

“En, but didn’t you guys say it was just a game for you? Are you guys here to ask us to act in your play again? We’re done being your playthings. We don’t want to be entangled with you people ever again and so we wish to have nothing to do with you two in the future.” Gu Anran no longer avoided Mu Qingli’s questions and made her intentions as clear as possible.

“I don’t agree.”

“En?” Gu Anran looked at the person in front of her strangely.

“I said I don’t agree.” Mu Qingli held Gu Anran’s hands and interlocked their fingers together before pulling her onto the sofa to sit down, “ We wish you to tell you something.”

Song Wenyan opened his laptop and opened a folder. In the folder was all the various designs and details about the game, including many strings of data.

“I believe you both have heard about our game.” Mu Qingli raised her head and looked at Gu Anran and Hong Qingyi.

“Yes.” x2

“This game is a product of our four groups and designed to have multiple mini-worlds in mind. The identities of the players are all different in the game, and once the player’s id is registered, everyone would have their own missions catered to their identity. Since every player is different, the development of the missions and the world is different. Once the first world is completed, the player may move on to the next one.” Song Wenyan showed them the 7 worlds they have been through.

“The moment the player enters each world, their memory will always be wiped. The player will then believe that they are a true denizen of the world and thus everything that happens to them must be true.” Chi Mengyan said.

“Wipe their memories? How is that possible?” Gu Anran frowned.

“It was difficult, but we eventually found a way. Don’t worry, we used the latest technology and have a funda way that will not destroy one’s memory. Once the player quits the game, their memories will return and only disappear when they return into the game again. It will not leave any lasting side effects on your brain.” Duan Hongwu said with pride.

“Of course, the missions will take some time so the players must first fix the time before entering the game so that they can complete the missions for that world in the set time. However, once they do reenter the game, they will be forced to move onto the next world and their memories will once again be wiped. This is to prevent early gamers from spoiling the magic of the game and prevent alliances from forming in the game itself. In the last world, the players’ memories will be returned to them in the form of a dream. Thus, the players can then decide what they want to do in the last world. We hoped that the apocalyptic world could offer a world of true freedom to our players.” Mu Qingli finished the explanation.

Gu Anran and Qing Hongyi were dumbfounded, and who wouldn’t be in their shoes? Four twenty-year-olds were able to use their own imagination and hardwork to create something so unbelievably amazing.

‘So that means….you didn’t have any of your memoires?’ Hong Qingyi asked quietly.

“Yes…even though we are the founders of the game, we are also its first testes. After all, you have to experience your own product yourself before giving it to others. However, we didn’t expect to encounter two certain errors.” Song Wenyan intentionally looked after Gu Anran and Hong Qingyi.

“Of course, we also encountered some other hiccups. We never expected that the plot settings would be so effective that the characters in the game would affect the players’ real behavior and thinking.” Chi Mengyan said expressionlessly, but the tightening grip on Hong Qingyi’s hand showed her true unrest.

“So….the reason why….” Gu Anran’s eyes widened.

“Correct, we are sorry for the misunderstandings we’ve caused. In the last world, the original character settings were two heirs of two big triad groups. Their thinking was one of decisiveness, self-protection, and swift determination. Any distracting thoughts would disappear and one will only focus on the mission. This was the education the character was raised with and directly affected us as well.” Mengyan let out a sigh.

“Of course, this doesn’t setting doesn’t extend to every person. The male and female leads let certain people past their walls such as people they believe will never hurt them like their gang members or family, but…” Mu Qingli pursed her lips and spat out the last few words, “You two didn’t count among this group of trusted people.”

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