Chapter 60#

Meeting#

After dinner, Wang Zhifeng accompanied Mo Xuzhi back to the apartment assigned by the institute to pick up some clothes and his laptop, then returned to the residential community.

The sun was very strong today. Mo Xuzhi and Wang Zhifeng originally wanted to take Mo Xiaobao out for a walk, but they eventually gave up the idea and stayed indoors.

Wang Zhifeng was handling other matters in the study, while Mo Xuzhi moved his laptop to the guest room and started surfing the internet.

The internet is constantly updated every moment. In more than three years, he had already felt out of touch with society.

When chatting with the staff at SARFT today, he had already found that he sometimes didn’t understand the meaning the staff wanted to express.

They naturally used the popular memes of the moment in their speech. Most of these vocabularies came from current celebrities or social hot spots, assuming that the listeners would understand.

Several researchers present at the time didn’t understand what they were talking about.

The deep blue light reflected on his glasses. Mo Xuzhi clicked the keyboard a few times and began to quickly browse the previous social news.

This kind of thing has been experienced several times, and he was very skillful in doing it, but every time he experienced it again, there was still an indescribable feeling.

It was very flat, but it did exist.

Every researcher is never as the netizens said—plunging headlong into the laboratory without asking about world affairs; they also want to integrate into society.

The news on the internet is too chaotic and hard to tell if it’s true or false. Mo Xuzhi has always disliked searching for information on overly entertaining software or platforms. To quickly understand the development and major changes of society, Central News is always the fastest and most credible way.

Central News has live broadcast videos and text report formats. Mo Xuzhi chose to watch videos.

There was too much text. Although he had become accustomed to the dense, long strings of text on the computer, his eyes still couldn’t keep up with long-term fast browsing, and after watching for a while, his eyes would start to feel swollen.

The bullet screen could more directly see people’s current views and changes in attitude toward various things, so Mo Xuzhi didn’t turn it off and watched at triple speed.

On the way, he also saw several reports about himself.

The first few reports were about the self-control of the words and deeds of fans in the “fandom,” suggesting that speaking should be through thinking and not arbitrarily blacken or rumor others.

He was probably the one who was cursed the most at that time, so he was pulled out as an example. After his photo was released, there were still many people chasing and cursing on the bullet screen.

The following reports were also like this.

Although the host spoke very objectively and fairly, as long as one wanted to argue, even without a fulcrum, netizens could pry up an Earth.

Many unsightly vocabularies quickly passed by, including various greetings involving family members and organs.

Mo Xuzhi’s expression didn’t fluctuate in the slightest, and he continued to look down.

Then, from a certain day, netizens’ attitudes underwent a major change.

Network anti-fake successfully sent many marketing accounts to court in an unstoppable posture. Many rumors had no support and were quickly found with flaws.

Marketing accounts didn’t dare to pop up and spread rumors. Netizens had breathing space and could finally conduct independent thinking.

The following wind direction gradually improved.

The wind direction completely changed since he won the Best Actor award at the International Film Festival.

The previous cursing no longer existed. All netizens seemed to have lost their memory overnight and began to praise him, saying he had good acting skills and brought glory to China. Only a few scattered ones persisted in cursing him, but they were cursed back by many people.

Everything turned for the better, and flowers and praise were thrown directly from the hands of netizens as if they didn’t require any cost. They no longer stinted on their praise vocabularies.

Mo Xuzhi’s expression still didn’t have any fluctuation.

The phone rang. He looked down and found that a reader had sent him a private message.

The little reader first sent a cat head to say hello, then praised a large section of words, and finally got down to business, saying that when she went out to play today, she saw a travel brochure, and then said that the travel brochure looked very much like his new book.

Simply put, it was a hint that he should start a new book.

The eyebrows and eyes of Mo Xuzhi, which had not changed, smoothed out, and he smiled, then picked up the phone and replied to a message.

He said he currently has no plans to start a new book.

The little reader sent another crying cat head. Although she looked quite disappointed, she still praised him once before leaving. Turning off the phone, Mo Xuzhi looked back at the computer screen, expressionless as usual.

His eyes were a bit tired from watching the news. He took a temporary rest, went to the living room to find Mo Xiaobao who was playing with himself, and after stroking Mo Xiaobao, went back to the room and continued to pull news.

He watched the video very quickly and pulled the progress of two years at once.

Many social news items have lost their timeliness and have no value for viewing. Mo Xuzhi directly pulled fast forward until he saw the news of the recent year before slowly slowing down.

Excluding other things, he actually quite enjoys this process.

He can understand the changes of this country little by little, see its changes and development, see it more vibrant and gradually move toward strength.

There is a big gap between reality and novels.

There is no one he is familiar with here, and no one knows who he really is. The thing that can most give him a sense of reality is probably this country.

The same national flag, the same bloodline.

It’s as if there is an intersection between reality and illusion. In this zone, he can feel his existence.

When he finished pulling the news, it was already evening.

Mo Xiaobao frolicked for an entire afternoon by himself and was already tired and fell asleep. This time, without the disturbance of Mo Xiaobao, Mo Xuzhi could finally enter the kitchen and cook with Wang Zhifeng.

It was called together, but it was nothing more than him helping to wash vegetables and then hand a seasoning, which was very low-tech.

After eating and washing dishes with Wang Zhifeng, Mo Xuzhi returned to the room again.

Days without work are indeed a bit boring.

When he was at the base before, he closed his eyes and thought about how to handle material problems, and the first reaction when he opened his eyes was to find a computer. After getting used to such days, suddenly returning to such a leisurely life, he was still a bit unaccustomed.

Because they left for several years, the structure of management personnel at the Institute of Technology was readjusted. Now that they were back, they were not ready for the handover work there yet, and it would take a few days to conduct the handover. There were also many documents in these few years, and someone was already organizing them, but it would probably take a while to organize.

In the meantime, he was an idle person with nothing to do.

The computer was still on. Mo Xuzhi took a look and saw the game icon moved to the corner, and then he remembered that this computer was the one he used to play games before, and a game was also downloaded on it.

Mo Xuzhi clicked in.

He was stuck at the first moment he clicked in. The system prompted him that the version was too low and he needed to update the version.

So he updated again.

Mo Xuzhi sat in front of the computer waiting for the game to update slowly, with surprisingly good patience.

He couldn’t sleep, and it was just to pass time anyway. It wouldn’t hurt to wait for the update in a while.

After the game was updated, Mo Xuzhi found that he was not only out of touch with society but also out of touch with the game.

With the slow change in a few years, the game interface has changed its appearance, and the previously familiar icons have all been replaced.

After logging onto the account, the interface lagged for a moment, and then a lottery interface popped up, saying that users above level 100 could have one free draw.

Mo Xuzhi didn’t find the exit button, so he clicked [Lottery].

After clicking, the interface that had just returned to normal started to lag again.

[Congratulations on winning a CK World League viewing ticket. Please bind your information and pick up the ticket at the corresponding ticket office]

A golden light flashed across the entire screen, and then a red and black thing said to be a viewing ticket appeared.

Above the game interface, a golden small megaphone followed, saying congratulations to “shu” for winning the top prize [CK World League viewing ticket] one piece.

Mo Xuzhi’s eyebrows moved, and then after clicking to receive, he didn’t pay attention anymore and clicked on the message notification.

He only added two people in total on this account, one “Du Minsheng” and one “shen_”. Since Du Minsheng was blood-abused by the AI, he didn’t continue to play for death. “shen_” would send him messages from time to time and was also online now.

He didn’t send many messages, and the interval was also very long. What he said was probably asking him if he had time recently, if they could play together or something.

The latest message was yesterday. He asked him if he had time and if he was willing to watch the CK World League.

Having persisted in sending messages for so long, to some extent, it could be considered amazing perseverance.

Mo Xuzhi propped up his chin and stared at the screen for a while, then typed. [A bit of business and can’t go. Do you want to play a round?]

At the same time the message prompt sounded, Shen Fang took away the person standing on the roof with two shots, pursed his lips, threw a candy into his mouth, and said: “Zhou Wen, come over, let’s start a big wave together and take away the opposite side in one go.”

“What’s wrong?” Little Zhou found that someone on the opposite side was sniping him, and immediately found a cover to hide, saying: “Captain, brother, stay steady. I’m live-streaming. If this round is gone, people will curse me to death.”

“It’s fine, you come over.”

Shen Fang still had that expression as before on his face, his fingers tapping the keyboard fast, still steady as a rock. He said reservedly, “Someone asked me to play together. Let’s finish this round quickly first.”

Little Zhou didn’t understand at first, but he looked at Shen Fang again sideways and found that he threw another candy into his mouth. He finally realized it and tentatively asked: “Is it the Uncle?”

He asked extremely without confidence.

The Uncle has disappeared for several years, and the probability of suddenly popping up now can be directly ignored.

But this account of Shen Fang’s has no other friends besides “shu”.

Zhou Wen just asked casually.

Shen Fang nodded.

He gave an “mm” and said: “It’s him.”

He could stay steady on his face, but his ears were a bit red.

Little Zhou smacked his lips, always feeling it was a bit strange, and chose to skip this topic.

He always felt that if the topic continued, it might not be containable.

To help his captain, Little Zhou bravely rushed out of the cover and snuck beside Shen Fang with a “snake skin” movement.

The two together solved the remaining two teams.

The moment the [VICTORY] icon came out, Shen Fang exited the matching and quickly opened the message box to reply to the message.

[shen_: Okay.]

After he finished typing, he quickly started a round and invited Mo Xuzhi.

Mo Xuzhi put on the earphones, closed the room door, and agreed to the invitation after ensuring he wouldn’t disturb Wang Zhifeng.

the game had changed a lot, but the gameplay hadn’t changed. Mo Xuzhi tried the keyboard and mouse and regained some feeling.

He and “shen_” turned on the friend voice and didn’t turn on the team voice.

“Long time no see.”

A male voice came from the earphones. Mo Xuzhi clicked the character and replied: “Long time no see.”

The light voice seemed to be able to dilute all the anxiety.

In an instant, Shen Fang’s nerves relaxed.

He asked: “How have you been these past few years?”

“Not bad, much better than before.” Mo Xuzhi smiled and asked: “Where to jump later?”

Shen Fang glanced at the other people in the entire hall and said: “Let’s do something exciting. Jump to the airport.”

“I remember the first time we played together we also jumped to the airport,” Mo Xuzhi said. “Jumped slowly, and was almost killed instantly when going down.”

“So you also still remember.”

Shen Fang unconsciously took another candy and put it in his mouth. The brain that had just calmed down started to show signs of getting hot again.

The person on the other end of the earphones gave an “mm.”

Shen Fang originally tried hard to restrain himself, but ultimately couldn’t restrain himself and smiled directly, his eyes full of smiles.

He smiled so radiantly that Zhou Wen’s gaze couldn’t help but run toward him.

[What is Little Zhou looking at? Is there something on Auntie’s side?]

[Hahahahahaha this expression is perfect! A new emoticon is here]

[R-God, R-God, there’s a game in two more days. Are you nervous?]

[Does he look nervous with that lewd look?]

[I heard Auntie is going to retire after playing this world series. So reluctant boohoo]

[Heard Auntie’s voice. What’s going on? Why does it sound different from usual?]

[There’s no need to be nervous at all this time, right? The finals are in the country. Be tough; we are the hosts, and we will definitely perform better than people from other countries.]

[TTK, go for it! Win another world championship, okay!!!]

Feeling that he was about to be discovered by Shen Fang, Little Zhou withdrew his gaze, glanced at the bullet screen, and said: “Nothing, it’s just that there’s somehow always a sour smell of love on the captain’s side.”

He also fanned it at the right time, his expression full of disgust.

“Nervous? Nervous about what? Tonight is specially used for relaxing. Only Team Captain Shen and I are the most hardworking. Everyone else ran to restaurants, and only the two of us are still here diligently guarding the computer.”

Shen Fang glanced sideways at him, finally withdrew his gaze to stare at the computer screen, and said: “…Mm, still remember.”

The opposite side said something, and his expression changed slightly. He was stunned for a moment: “You were playing in the office at that time?”

Mo Xuzhi chatted with Shen Fang for a long time.

As long as a matter has a start, it will develop naturally afterward.

After greeting Shen Fang, they only chatted for a few sentences before finding the previous feeling.

Sometimes it’s so wonderful; even if some people haven’t communicated a word for several years, as long as they meet again, they can still talk about everything like before.

Perhaps because he was the first person he could talk to that he met here, although he and “shen_” couldn’t talk about everything, they could communicate relatively happily.

When he first arrived here, the plot hadn’t unfolded yet; he was just an ordinary high school student.

He could freely choose what he wanted to do.

Previously—or rather, it’s more appropriate to say in his last life—his life had been planned. In his only year of high school life, when he was learning modeling and other experimental equipment modification methods, other students were talking about games and novels.

He often had to go to the laboratory, so he was forced to skip many classes. He had very little time to communicate with his classmates, but his classmates would still mingle with him, and other boys would also drag him to chat together.

The topic they talked about most was games.

But he had never played games. After touching the computer, it was typing code and looking at information. The thing he touched most was just the Minesweeper that came with the computer.

They were talking very vigorously, and he was just watching from the side.

Having a high school experience again, he also wanted to experience what it feels like to be a normal high school student.

He started trying to play games. He understood various basic rules of games and gradually could understand what those words his classmates said meant.

Other classmates would lean over and discuss with him. Boys whose “Chunibyo” hadn’t been cured yet would also pretend to hold a gun in their hands and shoot bullets at the air.

He met “shen_” at this time.

“shen_” played a few rounds with him and slowly became familiar.

In the third year of high school, his classmates were all seriously preparing for the college entrance examination. He had nothing to do, and the time he spent playing games was even more than in the second year of high school. Jinghua University had already been coming back and forth for more than two months in the second year of high school, signed a contract with him, and was just waiting for his academic registration to be moved to Jingda after his graduation. At that time, the place he went to most was the principal’s office. When the principal and the people from Jingda were coming back and forth, he sat not far away and played games when he was bored.

At that time, “shen_” told him that he had a friend who wanted to go professional and whose game level was the same as his. He asked him if he would feel that doing so was irrational.

He was indeed very idle at that time. He asked about that friend of “shen_”, specifically found someone to understand the treatment and standards of the domestic e-sports industry at that time, then took the opportunity of the holiday to go to the field to take a look and consulted several influential team sponsors.

He felt that this matter was not a fantasy and had strong practicality.

He told “shen_” his thoughts truthfully. He just didn’t have time to wait for “shen_"’s reply; he entered the laboratory of Jingda and never touched games again.

There were indeed many things at that time that were somewhat regrettable.

He didn’t see the reply, didn’t have time to take a graduation photo with his classmates, and didn’t catch the time when his classmates shared the joy of getting into university.

“It’s like this,” Shen Fang said, “…that friend of mine really went to play professional games. He joined a team.”

Mo Xuzhi listened silently, giving an “mm” from time to time to show he was listening.

“He’s going to retire,” Shen Fang gripped the mouse and said, “this world series is his last game. I want… he wants to know if you can go to the scene, even just for one glance.”

“He said he can cover the flight and the viewing ticket, and he can cover food and lodging,” Shen Fang felt it was more and more strange as he spoke, and hurriedly added, “he’s not some strange person; he just very much… very much wants to say thank you to you in person.”

Very much wants to see him once.

Even if it’s just for one glance.

“When?” Mo Xuzhi glanced at the date and said, “The next few days might be possible. Give me an exact time.”

He relented.

Shen Fang wiped the cold sweat on his palms. His heart was almost jumping out of his chest. He said: “Tomorrow, at the Pinkan Arena in Beijing.”

“Pinkan Arena?”

Mo Xuzhi took out his phone and looked at the map, searching for [Pinkan Arena], and found it was a bit far from here but still within acceptable range.

“Yes, Pinkan Arena.”

Shen Fang didn’t even dare to breathe now, and even felt it difficult to reach for a candy. He said: “If it’s far, he can book the flight now and prepare the ticket… I…”

“No need.”

The air seemed to be frozen.

“I’m in Beijing,” Mo Xuzhi put down his phone, clicked on the viewing ticket he had just won from the lottery, looked at it seriously for a few moments, and then said, “it’s not very far from the arena here, and I also have a ticket.”

Shen Fang could even hear his own violent heartbeat.

He’s in Beijing.

He agreed.

Mo Xuzhi asked: “Will you go then?”

“Yes.” Shen Fang thought for a moment and said, “Just a bit later.”

Mo Xiaobao, who was lying on his lap, began to move restlessly.

The lazy pig woke up.

Mo Xuzhi started to close the page and said: “See you then. There’s something here; I’ll get off first. Goodbye.”

Shen Fang nodded dazedly: “Okay.”

Little Zhou looked at his expression and asked: “Captain, what’s wrong with you?”

Shen Fang didn’t speak, closed his eyes, and slumped on the e-sports chair for a while.

After a long time, he slowly showed a smile.

Little Zhou started to boldly guess again: “Uncle agreed to come and watch the game?”

Shen Fang nodded reservedly: “Mm.”

The netizens in the live broadcast room directly exploded.

Mo Xuzhi took off the earphones, lifted Mo Xiaobao’s neck scruff, and put it on the carpet on the floor.

After a period of living together, he had successfully learned the skill of lifting the puppy from Wang Zhifeng and was no longer afraid of accidentally hurting the puppy with too much force.

Mo Xuzhi crouched down, poked the puppy, and said: “I’m going out tomorrow. You play with your dad by yourself.”

Mo Xiaobao completely ignored what he said, holding his finger and constantly rubbing with his head. The whole dog was a chubby ball, and it was impossible to tell where the head and feet were.

Early the next morning, Mo Xuzhi ate the breakfast made by Wang Zhifeng as usual, and then said he had to go out.

Wang Zhifeng’s expression didn’t change; he only asked him when he could come back.

He had to cook according to the time he returned.

Mo Xuzhi recalled the event schedule, thought for a while, and said: “In the afternoon. I’ll try to come back early.”

Wang Zhifeng nodded and said: “Give me a call before you come back so I can cook.”

Mo Xuzhi nodded with curving eyes.

Afterward, Wang Zhifeng found a mask for Mo Xuzhi to put on and watched him go out of the front door.

Mo Xiaobao was held in his arms, constantly stretching its paws toward Mo Xuzhi, its expression shocked and sad.

Wang Zhifeng held its paw and told it not to make trouble.

Mo Xuzhi was dazed for a moment, as if he were a scumbag; while the child at home was crying and making trouble, he still insisted on going out to see his little lover.

What kind of thought is this?

Rubbed his hair, Mo Xuzhi closed the door and went out.

He didn’t call a driver today. After leaving the community and hailing a car, he drove directly toward the Pinkan Arena.

From a distance, the sea of people in front of the arena could already be seen.