The sailors eagerly clamored to take photos with Bai Mu, flashing him thumbs-ups one after another. "Bai, you are an absolute miracle!" Stephen exclaid.
Unsure of how to respond, Bai Mu simply offered a polite smile.
His mind was occupied elsewhere. These people felt entirely too real, nothing like the rigid, chanically conversing NPCs found in video gas.
In short, the figures standing before him seed to be living, breathing human beings.
Yet, that was rely an intuition. He had no way to verify their authenticity, just as he could not definitively prove the reality of this world.
If everything was simulated flawlessly, without a single crack in the facade, then to his eyes, did this not count as a truly real world?
After an extended round of photographs, Bai Mu boarded a lifeboat and was hoisted onto the deck of the rescue ship.
As the sky darkened, the rescue team conducted a preliminary search and gathered evidence from the stranded cruise ship. They transmitted signals and coordinates before setting course for ho under the cover of night.
Bai Mu was provided with a private cabin. He shaved and took a hot shower. The mirror reflected his face, young, sharp, and defined.
He confird once again that it was his twenty-year-old face. It was him at his absolute peak, the age where his vitality and energy were at their absolute pri.
Yet, dwelling silently within this youthful body was the weary soul of a man who had survived a solitary decade in the apocalypse.
He changed into fresh clothes and trimd his hair short.
Everyone on board treated him with incredible warmth. The captain invited him to the Captain's Cabin for a detailed discussion, inquiring about the specific events leading up to the shipwreck.
Bai Mu offered vague responses, claiming he was already on the island by the ti he regained consciousness. He deflected most of the probing questions. Stephen was translating for him anyway, and Bai Mu had no idea what the two n were actually saying to each other. Regardless, when it was ti to leave, the bearded captain removed his hat and gave him a warm hug.
He spent the following three days on the ship.
Eating, sleeping, working out, and conversing with the crew.
Stephen ca to interview him whenever he had a spare mont. Like a stubborn piece of gum stuck to his shoe, the Reporter trailed after him with endless questions, constantly burying his head to scribble notes with his pen.
Surprisingly, Bai Mu did not find the overly enthusiastic middle-aged Reporter annoying. It had been a very long ti since he had engaged in such simple, ordinary human interaction. If anything, he actually found himself enjoying it.
Most of the ti, Stephen did the talking, asking questions and offering his own opinions, while Bai Mu remained largely silent, offering only a few words in response as he sipped on hot coffee or warm milk.
He cherished the feeling of chatting with a peaceful person in a perfectly tranquil environnt.
These mundane, seemingly worthless interactions were a rare and precious luxury that allowed him to truly unwind.
He spent three peaceful days aboard the ship. By this point, it was already his twenty-eighth day since the Script began.
Today, Bai Mu leaned against the deck railing, an endless expanse of blue sky stretching overhead. Wearing sunglasses and letting the sea breeze wash over him, he had fully adapted to life on the ship. The people here were kind, a product of a truly peaceful era.
Through Stephen's translations, he had conversed with several crew mbers. So proudly showed him photographs of their wives, children, and happy families. Others shared drinks with him deep into the night, casually passing him a cigarette.
It all felt like a surreal dream, as if he had ascended to heaven. If soone were to ask Bai Mu what his ideal life looked like, he would tell them that this peaceful, ordinary existence was exactly what he desired.
Furthermore, through Stephen, he also learned the details of his assigned background identity.
To his surprise, he wasn't so undocunted ghost whose identity could not be verified.
Using the ship's computer, they found a clear and comprehensive record of his life. The files indicated he was an international student from Country Z. His entire history, from childhood to adulthood, including records of his elentary, middle, and high schools, all the way up to university, was ticulously docunted.
The data showed that he was an orphan with no living parents or relatives, a self-made man who had relied entirely on his own two hands to get to where he was.
His profession was listed as an electronic software engineer, employed at a Country Z corporation branch based in Country S. His resu indicated he had moved to Country S less than two months ago, intending only to study before returning ho shortly after.
This particular trip was a long-overdue vacation. After successfully completing a major project, he had decided to take so ti to relax. Unfortunately, the journey had gone terribly wrong, leaving him stranded on that Deserted Island.
Stephen was absolutely convinced that it was his advanced technical knowledge and engineering skills that had allowed him to repair the malfunctioning marine walkie-talkie.
Bai Mu offered no corrections. He perfectly played the role Stephen had constructed for him, uttering not a single word about his actual past or the true nature of his arrival on the island.
He knew he was only here due to the machinations of an unfathomable, almighty power.
However, he did use the ship's computer and internet connection in private to conduct extensive searches and verifications.
He discovered a massive array of entertainnt dia and literature he had never encountered or even heard of before. Objectively speaking, an overwhelming volu of data and news was being updated across the globe every single day.
There was an incredibly high probability that this was, in fact, a completely real world, and that the people he interacted with were genuine human beings.
He attempted to register an anonymous account and posted a thread on a forum detailing his experiences and the Endless Paradise. He successfully hit publish, but when he refreshed the page, there was absolutely no trace of his post to be found.
After several more tests, he realized the truth: it was entirely impossible for him to leak any information regarding the Endless Paradise.
Even when he tried dropping subtle hints in verbal conversations with Stephen about Paradise, the result was the sa. His words were seamlessly filtered out and suppressed by an invisible force.
Interestingly, during all these attempts, he received no warnings of any kind. It was as if Paradise simply did not care about his probing, knowing full well that it was utterly impossible for him to break its absolute rules.
With that, he gained a crystal-clear understanding of his predicant. Yet, he felt no frustration or depression over it. Instead, he maintained his composure, quietly observing and analyzing his surroundings.
To him, the specifics of his circumstances didn't matter. The only thing within his control was how he chose to respond. His sole priority was figuring out the best strategy to survive in this new environnt.
And judging by the results thus far, he was adapting exceptionally well.
Before him lay a sprawling, modern seaport.
The rescue ship finally docked. After enduring twenty-five days on the island and sailing for three days across the ocean, he had officially returned to human civilization.
The site of the cruise ship's disaster wasn't actually too far from modern society. He had arrived at a brand-new tropolis.
A massive throng of reporters was already camped out at the port. The mariti disaster had resulted in dozens of missing persons, sparking massive public outcry and dia frenzy. And Bai Mu was the sole survivor recovered by the rescue team.
dia outlets and agencies from all over were clamoring for a chance to interview this incredibly lucky man, all desperate to secure an exclusive scoop.
The mont Bai Mu stepped off the ship, he was greeted by a blinding barrage of cara flashes. Stephen stepped in to help fend off the aggressive reporters, but they were still delayed for quite so ti.
Eventually, he followed Stephen into a sleek comrcial van belonging to Ti Weekly.
Outside the window, the streets were bustling with heavy traffic. Towering skyscrapers lined the horizon, and n and won dressed in all sorts of attire strolled along the busy sidewalks.
Bai Mu watched a little girl walking down the street, holding hands with her parents. He took in the vibrant atmosphere and the aura of absolute peace, things that had previously only existed in his distant mories.
He asked Stephen for a cigarette. The tal lighter sparked, igniting a small, bright fla. He took a deep drag, his eyes scanning the world before him with an incredibly complex mix of emotions.
"Bai, you seem a bit down. Is it because of those reporters? Or are you thinking about the other passengers from the cruise?"
"I can understand how you feel. Being the sole survivor... it's not exactly sothing to celebrate."
"You're right, Stephen," Bai Mu replied, exhaling a thick ring of smoke. "It's nothing to celebrate."
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