After asking Chang Ge, Su Ming’an reconstructed what happened in those eight hours.
...
One hour after sleeping.
"Knock knock." Black Sparrow knocked on the door, holding a small lighthouse figurine in both hands: "This is my gift to you, Su Ming’an."
Chang Ge took it blankly, his eyes sowhat confused... what is the aning of suddenly giving a gift?
Black Sparrow asked: "Can you tell how you feel right now?"
Chang Ge: "..."
... He’s not Su Ming’an, how should he answer?
Chang Ge answered according to his heart: "I don’t know why you are giving a gift..."
Black Sparrow nodded, turned, and left.
...
Three hours after sleeping.
"Knock knock." Black Sparrow knocked on the door.
Chang Ge stopped playing the piano.
"Your piano playing is really beautiful." Black Sparrow said with a smile, "Can you teach to play?"
Chang Ge: "Didn’t you say the pollution outside is severe? Why are you always walking around at my door..."
Black Sparrow’s eyes brightened slightly: "So that’s how you answered."
Chang Ge: "..."
... Suddenly, a feeling of sympathy welled up within him. So this is what Su Ming’an usually faces, these incomprehensible peculiar NPCs. He really couldn’t figure out what Black Sparrow was doing.
Given that Black Sparrow was considered a friendly NPC, Chang Ge didn’t refuse. Black Sparrow learned quickly, it seed he also had a talent for the piano.
...
Five hours after sleeping.
"Knock knock," Black Sparrow knocked on the door, this ti holding a music score.
"This is the music piece I wrote, nad ’To Su Ming’an’. It’s inspired by the piece you played. What do you think?" Black Sparrow’s eyes glead.
Chang Ge profoundly realized how difficult Su Ming’an’s usual life must be. Not only does he have to work hard to find clues, but he also has to show care for various eccentric NPCs. He glanced at the sheet music and was surprised to find that Black Sparrow had a good talent for music. Although there were abrupt notes, the lody was beautiful. Chang Ge didn’t hesitate with his praise: "It’s very lively. Is the imagery moonlight and the sea?"
Black Sparrow squinted his eyes and smiled: "Moonlight, waves, lighthouse, cat... these are what I thought of."
Chang Ge: "I don’t have deep interactions with you, we only t for the first ti a few hours ago, yet you seem to know well?"
Black Sparrow did not answer.
Looking at Black Sparrow’s mask, Chang Ge suddenly asked curiously: "Can you take off your mask and let see your face?"
Black Sparrow stroked the mask. At the mont Chang Ge most anticipated, he instead pressed the mask more tightly.
"No." Black Sparrow’s ten fingers gripped the mask firmly, revealing just a pair of pitch-black eyes, and he smiled mischievously: "This is the most perfect face in the world."
Chang Ge nearly spat blood.
... He had never seen soone so narcissistic. If you don’t want to show, just don’t, why use such a reason?
After Black Sparrow left, Chang Ge held the sheet music and pondered as he sat at the piano, playing the piece Black Sparrow composed, ’To Su Ming’an’. In a hazy mont, it was as if he could hear the sound of waves washing over the beach, and the bright moonlight standing vigil over the lighthouse all night. These images brought a tranquil state of mind.
He could feel Black Sparrow’s deep, deep obsession with Su Ming’an. Even in the written music piece, one could feel profound emotions.
...
Within eight hours, Black Sparrow ca ti and again. Sotis bringing sweets, sotis writing new music, sotis asking inexplicable questions.
After listening to Chang Ge’s slightly helpless recount, Su Ming’an also felt embarrassed. Although he had gotten used to these inexplicable NPCs, it was still too advanced for ordinary players.
"So the NPCs you encounter are all like this." Chang Ge chose his words carefully.
"What do you an?"
"Riddle type, similar to Holy Initiation, Li Mingyue, mainly ’I know, but I won’t tell’. Chang Ge summarized: "Fraud type, similar to Xiber, Deity, mainly ’Only in the end you’ll discover why I tricked you’. Obsessive type, like Nailuo, Noah, Beili Sier. Then there’s the blackening type, there’s just too many, like Shen Xue, Xu Anna, Lin Guang, Xiao Jingsan, Black Sparrow... each one less normal than the last..."
Su Ming’an listened to Chang Ge’s summary, coughed, and signaled for him to stop talking.
"But behind their abnormality, there’s their own rational reasons. So I’m wondering what exactly is Black Sparrow’s reason for being so obsessed with you? He was so curious about you at first ti seeing you." Chang Ge quickly changed the topic to the main point: "Also, I feel every ti he cos, his presence seems stronger, I don’t know what he’s doing during this ti. Is it my answers that helped him?"
Su Ming’an didn’t know. But he was about to head out.
After resting, he didn’t want to just sit and wait.
...Black Sparrow told him not to enter those locked rooms, which in the language of world gas ant he had to go in hard.
He pushed the door open, a blue-green semi-fluid floating in the air. There were eleven locked rooms in total. Each door looked exactly the sa.
At this mont, Su Ming’an heard a voice in his ear:
[Su... Ming’an...] It was Yamada Machiichi’s voice.
[Yamada?] Su Ming’an imdiately responded to the wristwatch. There had been no signal before, now finally a faint voice could be heard, Yamada Machiichi should be very close to him.
[We... we’re about to %%#... co down to find you... @%* give us... @& guide us down.] The voice was crackly, Yamada Machiichi was very anxious.
[Alright, I’m on a very tall building, you can just look for tall structures.] Su Ming’an said.
[Okay...] The signal was cut again.
At this mont, another voice spoke:
[Su Ming’an.] It was Su Rin’s voice, calr and clearer than Yamada Machiichi’s.
[You finally made a sound.] Su Ming’an said. Su Rin had been missing for too long, he called out his na but got no response, as if he had vanished from the world.
[I have entered the Nine Serenities, seeking your location. There are too many skyscrapers, I’m checking them individually.]
[Be careful of pollution.] Su Ming’an said.
Su Rin’s voice quickly faded.
Facing the locked rooms, Su Ming’an took a deep breath. He activated Eternal Dawn skill, sustaining spatial concealnt, hiding his form. Then, spatial displacent—
Su Ming’an silently entered a locked room, maintaining his invisible state.
——He saw a shocking scene.
A young man who looks exactly like him is sitting at the bedside, reading a book. In his hands is "Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among n." There are so philosophy and detective books at the bedside.
"...What is this? How is this person exactly like you?" Chang Ge was shocked.
Su Ming’an lowered his eyes in thought and teleported to the next room.
In the next room, there was still a young man who looked exactly like him. But this room had none of those philosophy books; the young man was sitting in front of a computer playing gas. Su Ming’an focused and saw it was so horror gas he had played before, like Paper People, Burning Grandma, and so on.
"We’ve made it here, the last incense stick... save point, done. Now the ghost can’t get in." The young man demonstrated one thrilling maneuver after another to the microphone. But the eeriest part was that while there was an interface of a live broadcast room on the computer, there was no signal from the Nine Serenities, so no audience could possibly be watching. The young man was just talking to himself in front of an empty broadcast.
Yet the young man kept talking, as if there were many spectators interacting with him on the blank screen.
"..." Even Chang Ge fell silent this ti. He watched this seemingly mundane scene and suddenly felt a deep sense of eeriness and fear, as if he were seeing a puppet on strings, acting according to a set behavior pattern.
Su Ming’an teleported to the next room.
This ti, he wasn’t reading books or playing gas. The young man was bent over writing, under the warm light of a lamp, like a college student earnestly doing howork.
Su Ming’an used to have the habit of writing diaries. He invisibly moved a few steps closer and saw the words the young man was writing. The young man’s face was still exactly the sa as his, as if looking into a mirror.
...
[September 21, 2023, Sunny.]
[The university has started for more than half a month. During the club recruitnt event, I chose the Youth Exploration Club. It’s said to have many fun murder mystery scripts and board gas. During high school, I was too busy, only able to occasionally watch so YouTubers collaborate on board gas. However, playing board gas with strangers always makes a bit socially anxious... I hope I can open up.]
...
[September 23, 2023, Sunny.]
[I sowhat want to join the student council. It’s said joining would make my resu stand out more in the future. But so people say competition and GPA are more important. What should I do... I asked in the high school group, and the forr class flower, Shen Xue, told that as long as I’m happy in college, that’s what matters. She even invited to her birthday party on the 30th. I asked why she sent a private ssage, and she said she didn’t want to invite so people in the class group.]
[Since she sincerely invited , I might as well go. I’m just an ordinary person, so I’ll just blend in at the party and enjoy so desserts.]
...
[September 24, 2023, Overcast.]
[Attended the first board ga activity of the Youth Exploration Club, slaughtering them completely. As a freshman, is that not nice?]
[But so people are too weak, almost at the sa level as Yuanyuan... I want to treat gas seriously.]
[A senior sister asked to watch a movie. Why did she invite alone and ask for my WeChat? Does she want to teach her how to play gas? I refused her, not wanting to play with noobs.]
...
[September 26, 2023, Heavy rain.]
[I passed under a bridge today and saw so holess people. These people were shivering under newspapers. Recently the city is being cleaned up, and I don’t know if they can stay. If not, where will they go?]
[There are always many struggling to survive in this world. I can’t help everyone, but since I saw them, I can’t just pass by.]
[I gave them so old clothes and bread, hoping their circumstances improve a bit.]
[... I’m just an ordinary person and can only do this much. If I could be like my father, maybe I could help them find a new place to belong...]
[But when faced with many social realities, it’s who gets furious, and it’s also who feels powerless...]
...
[September 28, 2023, Overcast.]
[A Bilibili staff mber sent an invitation, asking to et at Qu Chang Street coffee shop on the 30th for a comrcial collaboration.]
[I’m not a big YouTuber, yet I can have an offline comrcial collaboration? I’ll go listen first. If they ask to show my face, I’ll refuse. I hate standing in front of a cara and having a bunch of people staring at .]
[If a comrcial collaboration can be achieved, can I develop so side jobs in the future? Things are getting more competitive, and I don’t want to take postgraduate exams or various certifications. But if I don’t, I won’t find a job... I can’t rely on Yuanyuan’s family to send groceries every day. I still want to study properly, make so friends, occasionally go out and play, read many books, and live a stable life.]
[I hope that in the future, when I encounter things that make angry, I am no longer powerless. I once heard a news story about a male student in Fusang who was bullied for liking won’s clothing and overdosed on sleeping pills. This was just his private hobby. He didn’t even wear it outside. And I thought... if people could be more tolerant, many tragedies might not happen.]
[I wish I could help. But my words can’t even be communicated.]
...
[September 29, 2023, Sunny.]
[Explored so personal little hobbies. So that’s what Formalin slls like.]
[Even managed to make so red bean pudding. Didn’t realize I have a talent for cooking. Will have Yuanyuan taste it later.]
...
[September 30, 2023,]
[Going to the coffee shop today, and in the afternoon to Shen Xue’s birthday party. Should I dress more formally?]
[Went through my wardrobe, all old clothes with patches and stitches... this’ll have to do.]
[Heading out; the diary entry is short today, will continue tomorrow.]
[Oh, need to record the schedule: release the new video tomorrow, want to read a newly released detective novel the day after tomorrow, and go to the zoo the day after that...]
...
Su Ming’an stood motionless.
He stared at the moving pen of the young man, feeling himself sinking into a deep nightmare. A sense of eeriness and fear crawled up his spine.
These were indeed diaries he had once written.
The diaries ended on September 30th. When the last punctuation mark was completed, the young man closed the diary and fell into a standby-like state, motionless, like a machine that had finished running its program.
"In the first room, the young man was reading the books you like. In the second room, the young man was playing the gas you like. In the third room, the young man was writing the diaries you wrote." Chang Ge’s voice was slightly trembling: "Is this... trying to ’synthesize you’?"
A thick sense of suffocation surrounded Su Ming’an.
He had long felt as if he had never truly entered this world called "The World of Old Days." All he ever saw were things guided by the deities: the sheep in the rain, the cries of the fire transmitters, the goddess and the witch, the brutality of the divine war... He had never truly discovered anything himself.
...Just like a butterfly sunk in a dream.
Thinking of the historical butterfly, it seed to wake from the first layer of the dream world.
Thinking of the butterfly from ten great regressions, it woke from the second layer of the dream world.
Knowing that each era was laid out as a map-shaped butterfly from the third layer of the dream world.
The butterfly that stepped into the Nine Serenities saw all this but had not yet broken through the fourth layer of the dream world.
Layer upon layer of dreams ford a surging giant net, entrapping the butterfly bit by bit—
Before the butterfly even broke out of the cocoon, the {net} was already layered and established.
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