Chapter 1 Bus
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Clang, clang…
7:05
Summer morning, windless.
The bus was packed with students going to school. The warmth of the crowd merged with the sunlight, filling the air with a stifling heat.
Chu Feng squeezed among them, his white shirt slightly damp with sweat, outlining the slender lines of his back. His beautiful back muscles were trembling slightly, resisting the advances of the naughty student behind him:
“No… No.”
The naughty student behind him wrapped his arms around Chu Feng’s narrow waist, his nearly six-foot-tall figure looming over him like a shadow: “Not even a morning kiss, how rude.”
Chu Feng turned his head slightly, gazing at the reflection on the window glass. The naughty student behind him, in a white T-shirt and navy blue school pants, had a tattoo on his forearm. His familiar face was as handsome and compelling as ever, with the characteristic rebelliousness of his age reflected in his raised eyebrows.
He was the youth Chu Feng missed, the senior high school bully Xie Shiyu at the age of eighteen.
Chu Feng patted the tattoo on Xie Shiyu’s arm, “Have you finished your homework?”
“Have you ever seen a school bully do homework seriously?”
“Then how can you ask me for a morning kiss? Let go, go finish your homework.”
Xie Shiyu reluctantly released his hand.
Crash—
The traffic light turned red. The bus braked suddenly, and Chu Feng lurched forward. Just as eighteen-year-old Xie Shiyu was about to reach out, he was immediately pushed away by another person:
“Teacher, be careful.”
Chu Feng was pulled into the arms of another student in front of him.
The warm embrace was familiar, comforting him, and Chu Feng recognized the student before him as well, nineteen-year-old Xie Shiyu.
—Because he wanted to attend the same university as Chu Feng, he came back to retake the exam. The Xie Shiyu who had tempered himself no longer looked as arrogant and sinister as he did when he was a school bully; there was a bit of maturity between his brows.
Xie Shiyu, a retaker, closed the English vocabulary book in his hand and gently supported Chu Feng: “Can I have my morning kiss now? I’ve finished my homework and I’m still reviewing words early in the morning, much better than some academic underachiever.”
The school bully Xie made an obscene gesture from behind.
“Not really.” Chu Feng felt a headache coming on. If he kissed this Xie Shiyu, the rest of the Xie Shiyus would pester him as well. He glanced at his phone, 7:10, and shook his head, “Sorry, not today. Maybe later, alright?”
“Chu Feng, what’s wrong with you today? You seem… nervous?” The retaker 19 year old Xie Shiyu leaned over to ask, getting close enough to almost kiss him.
“Don’t get so close to him!” The school bully Xie Shiyu behind Chu Feng grabbed the collar of the retaker Xie Shiyu unhappily, glaring down at Chu Feng.
“I think he’s tired of playing teacher and student. Chu Feng, we grew up together. Are you comfortable with us calling you teacher now?”
All the Xie Shiyus on the bus turned their heads, seeming to silently echo.
Chu Feng blushed under their gaze.
He stood in the crowded bus, surrounded by various Xie Shiyus—retaker, senior in high school, those holding basketballs, those who just shaved their heads… Every Xie Shiyu looked familiar to him. The hot carbon dioxide they emitted mingled together, exuding a faint sweaty smell in the summer heat, eerily as if he were still alive.
But Chu Feng knew Xie Shiyu was already dead.
He was just in a real-life experience game: Dream City.
Players could establish their own cities, import their favorite characters into them, change the story background and settings freely, completely free, maximizing the daydreams of all mankind.
Chu Feng’s dream was Xie Shiyu.
They met at the age of seven, grew up together, studied, confessed, fell in love, and got married at twenty, as happy and joyful as a fairy tale.
At twenty-seven, the fairy tale ended.
On the seventh anniversary of their marriage, Xie Shiyu changed his flight to rush back to celebrate with him. But that flight crashed.
The entire plane plummeted from an altitude of tens of thousands of meters into the Pacific Ocean, leaving no trace of the body.
The international search team searched for six months, but ultimately only found some wreckage of the plane in the Pacific Ocean, not even a body.
They would never have another anniversary. Every year on that day would be Xie Shiyu’s memorial day.
Living alone in the empty house, Chu Feng laid on the King-size bed where they had slept together, wearing the game headset of [Dream City].
Blue brainwaves interfaced with the system:
[Reading your memories, searching for the keyword ‘Xie Shiyu’…]
[We apologize, your memory spans twenty years, and the system cannot establish a unified single-person character image. Would you like to accept ‘character splitting’?]
Chu Feng stared at the screen in front of him, gently tapping his slender fingertips:
[Yes.]
At this moment, the wind blew the warmth of summer through his hair, and the bus announcement sounded in his ears:
“The next stop, Second High School. Passengers who wish to get off, please use the rear door.”
The bus slowly pulled into the station.
Click!
The rear door opened. Many Xie Shiyus with backpacks got off the bus in an orderly manner.
Now that the bus wasn’t as crowded, Chu Feng found a vacant seat and sat down. Checking his phone for the third time, it was 7:15.
His gaze searched anxiously through the window, on the bus, at the platform, on the road, driving, walking—all different-aged Xie Shiyus, living vividly in the Dream City he had created.
But these Xie Shiyus would soon die too.
Chu Feng was as tense as a bowstring. His Xie Shiyus in the game would also encounter accidents repeatedly, repeating the fate in reality, and eventually leaving him forever.
Danger was imminent.
Chu Feng tightened his grip on his phone. The game system transformed into a small white spirit on the phone’s desktop. Suddenly, it darted around the screen, popping up with blood-red warnings:
[Danger detected by the system!]
[Deadly level of danger!]
[Player, please exit the game immediately!]
It was impossible to abandon the Xie Shiyus. Chu Feng swiped his finger and coldly cleared all those red warnings. The little spirit on the phone’s desktop made a crying expression:
[The system feels very sad at being ignored by you! It will remind you again in five minutes!]
[Cherish life, refuse to be addicted to games.]
Chu Feng couldn’t be bothered. He opened his phone contacts, found the person he was looking for, and clicked: Invite to join Dream City.
After a while, the system sprite popped up a notification: “Your cousin 【Lin Lan】 is about to enter your Dream City. Do you allow it?”
【Allow】
“Cousin—!”
Blue digitized fragments gathered at the bus stop, eventually coalescing into the appearance of Lin Lan. This guy had just graduated from college, wearing a T-shirt and shorts, with a military green canvas bag slung over his shoulder.
He ran onto the bus: “Wow! Thanks a lot, cousin!”
As cousin Lin Lan exclaimed, he naturally sat down beside Chu Feng.
—Immediately drawing the eyes of the entire bus, Lin Lan was scared and quickly stood up, trembling like a little hamster.
“Who are you?” Xie Shiyu, the school bully, sat behind Chu Feng, raising an eyebrow.
Chu Feng reassured him, “He’s my cousin, Lin Lan. Sit straight, don’t be jealous.”
“Oh.”
They only got married at the age of twenty and were formally introduced to their families. Eighteen-year-old Xie Shiyu had never met Chu Feng’s cousin.
Lin Lan nervously sat back down.
He is a veteran player of the 【Dream City】 game. When Brother Xie had an accident, it was also him who recommended this game to his older cousin. Earlier, his older cousin had told him that Brother Xie in the city would always have accidents, so now he came to see what was going on.
“Cousin, I checked. There are posts on the player forum about your situation. After importing deceased relatives into Dream City, they always encounter accidents in the game, and eventually the data is completely destroyed and disappears. But the people who replied later found a solution.”
Chu Feng: “Go on.”
“Before you enter the game, there’s a setting in the upper right corner of the light screen. Click on it, and there’s a ‘Character Realism’ option. Adjust it, don’t set it to 100%, because if it’s 100% realistic, not only will they 100% restore Shiyu’s personality, they will also 100% restore Shiyu’s… ending, that is… encountering accidents. If you don’t know where to adjust, I can help…”
“No.” Chu Feng firmly refused. “If it’s not 100% like him, what’s the point?”
“But… what’s the difference between 99%?” Lin Lan asked.
“There is.”
Chu Feng stared coldly at the seemingly cute system spirit on the screen.
“If the character realism isn’t set to 100%, the characters will be forcibly controlled by the system and then force the player to set preferences.”
For example, he had to set that he liked a gentler Xie Shiyu. Suppose the realism was set to 99%. That meant, for every 100 Xie Shiyus, one Xie Shiyu would be picked out by the system and killed because the gentleness didn’t meet the standard.
Chu Feng glanced at Lin Lan. “If it were you, could you accept such a thing?”
“Cous… Cousin, don’t… say such scary things.” Lin Lan touched the system spirit on his phone screen. “It’s so cute, it shouldn’t kill people, right?”
Chu Feng: “You can’t say for sure. Characters aren’t people to it, just tools for the game company to make money.”
“Cousin, don’t talk about the little spirit like that. I won’t find it cute anymore.”
The system spirit on the screen seemed completely unaware of their conversation, innocently selling its cuteness on the desktop, blinking its big eyes at its owner Chu Feng.
Chu Feng turned off his phone, blackening the screen, not wanting to look at it.
He never trusted these systems. Game systems could only act as his tools, like obedient 3D projectors projecting every Xie Shiyu from his twenty years of memory 100% into his Dream City. Anything else, the system wasn’t allowed to interfere with, let alone control his Xie Shiyu.
“I can’t change the 100% character realism.” Chu Feng said, “When I first started playing Dream City, I went to the player forum too. Someone posted suspecting that once they gave up 100% character realism, the system actually no longer guaranteed the restoration of the characters.”
Even if the player set it to 99%, with time or system updates, his Xie Shiyu could decay to 98%, 90%, or even lower. In the end, he would become a stranger wearing the shell of Xie Shiyu, not knowing who was inside.
“Is that so?” Lin Lan asked, “Why didn’t I find that post when I searched?”
Chu Feng: “It was deleted by the administrator on the same day.”
Lin Lan: “Then… Cousin, what are you going to do?”
“Rescue all the Xie Shiyus before the accident happens.”
Chu Feng looked down at his phone, 7:20.
The system spirit on the desktop popped up another red warning, even redder than the previous one:
[Danger! Extremely dangerous!!]
[Player, evacuate immediately!!!]
The entire phone was vibrating. Lin Lan jumped in fright, “My god, it’s the first time I’ve seen such a terrifying warning. Are all the accidents Shiyu encountered of this dangerous level…”
Lin Lan shut his mouth immediately after speaking. Shiyu’s real-life experience was an international flight accident with no survivors, a probability lower than winning the lottery.
“Sorry, Cousin.”
“It’s okay, I’m not that sensitive.” Chu Feng glanced indifferently at the phone screen, swiped his finger, and deleted the warning:
“The system has only detected danger for now, but hasn’t detected what specific danger it is.”
Lin Lan: “Once it detects it, if we eliminate that danger, then… all the Xie Shiyus on this bus… should survive, right?”
Chu Feng: “En.”
Lin Lan nervously asks, “How much longer until it detects it?”
Chu Feng: “About three minutes.”
7:21
The bus smoothly headed towards the next stop. The scorching summer wind blew in from the windows.
Lin Lan sat anxiously in his seat, feeling like he could always see the consecutive red warning boxes popping up on his cousin’s phone, making his heart race.
Glancing to the side, Chu Feng sat calmly in his seat, eyes closed, enjoying the breeze.
Lin Lan: “…”
“Excuse me, the passenger who just got on, did you swipe your card?”
Suddenly, the bus driver’s voice came from the front.
“Oh! Sorry, sorry!” Lin Lan immediately stood up, looking like a startled hamster. He reached into his pocket but realized he didn’t have cash with him.
He also wouldn’t be able to get a bus card for Chu Feng’s Dream City.
“Cousin… That driver is also a Brother Xie, right? If I tell him I’m your cousin, will he let me off?”
Chu Feng opened his eyes, leaned out, glanced at the back of the Xie driver, and shrugged. “Probably not. He’s not in a good mood today… Here.”
He handed some coins to Lin Lan.
The Xie driver at the front, about twenty-five years old, was unmistakably recognizable to Chu Feng from a certain memory fragment. It was the day Xie Shiyu had taken him to the seaside for vacation, wearing a coconut tree shirt and sunglasses, driving an extravagant Lamborghini, being incredibly flashy. Chu Feng had advised him to drive something more low-key.
Xie Shiyu: “How can I take my wife out in a low-key car? This time it’s the Lamborghini, next time I’ll switch to a Maybach.”
Chu Feng: “…”
When they returned from playing on the beach and entered the parking lot, they saw that some dog, goodness knows whose, had deliberately urinated around the four wheels of the Lamborghini. Xie Shiyu was furious and cursed: “How unethical!”
“Are people nowadays so lacking in civic-mindedness!”
Checking the surveillance might catch the culprit, but they wanted to go elsewhere later. Xie Shiyu didn’t want to waste time, so that day he drove the urine-soaked Lamborghini around the city, while Chu Feng sat in the passenger seat trying hard not to laugh.
“Clang.”
The coin dropped into the coin slot.
The Xie driver, wearing sunglasses, said solemnly, “Young man, have some civic-mindedness. Remember to swipe your card or insert coins when you get on the bus.”
Hearing the familiar words, Chu Feng smiled slightly as he sat in his seat.
“Yes, yes, yes!” Lin Lan nodded vigorously, “There won’t be a next time, absolutely!”
7:22
Lin Lan returned to his seat. There was only one minute left.
He had never felt that one minute could be so long. He was still very nervous, still scared of the unknown danger, feeling suffocated.
“Cousin…”
Lin Lan was eager to distract himself and alleviate his anxiety:
“Come to think of it… we just talked so much, but it seems like… Brother Xie didn’t react at all.”
Chu Feng looked at the surrounding Xie Shiyus. When Lin Lan talked about “Character Realism,” these Xie Shiyus seemed to not hear it at all, either sitting in their seats or holding onto the handrails, swaying with the bus’s movements, somewhat like the dumb NPCs in the game.
“Mmm.”
Chu Feng lowered his head. “They can only respond to the original memories or the stories I’ve set in the game.”
Topics like character realism, game systems, etc., didn’t belong to the shared memories of him and Xie Shiyu or to the background of the game’s story. Xie Shiyus would choose not to hear them.
“After all…”
Chu Feng paused for a moment.
“He’s not really alive.”
Seeing that the topic was about to become heavy, Lin Lan quickly stopped him:
“Uh, then… if there were no dangerous accidents here, what kind of story would have happened?”
He wanted to hear what kind of youthful romantic story his cousin would have set in Dream City.
Chu Feng, in his crisp white shirt, said lightly:
“Teacher and student, bus ride, and various plays.”
“?” Single dog Lin Lan felt devastated. “…Cousin, I think I want to get off.”
“You can’t.”
Chu Feng suddenly grabbed Lin Lan and pointed strangely under the seat.
Tick, tick. 7:23
Three minutes had passed. The system detected the specific danger.
Lin Lan felt even more nervous from his cousin’s actions, and he leaned in to listen:
Tick, tick, tick…
Suddenly, there was a countdown sound from under the seat.
In the scorching heat of summer, Lin Lan felt a cold sweat breaking out.
—It’s a bomb!
A new notification popped up on Chu Feng’s phone screen:
【Specific danger detected: Bus bomb】
【Explosion when bus speed is below 50km/h, explosion when above 60km/h】
【Starting now, boarding is allowed, but no one is allowed to get off. If anyone gets off, explosion】
【Due to player setting 100% character realism, the system cannot intervene in your Dream City, nor can it protect your personal safety】
【Once again, please cherish life. You can lower the character realism to let the system protect your safety…】
After that, Chu Feng swiped his finger, not looking anymore. He calmly turned off those blood-red warnings and handed the key to Dream City to Lin Lan:
“Take it.”
“Dream City” is a real-life experience game. If a player dies in the game, they will die in reality too.
“If it comes to the last resort, my Dream City will automatically eject you and return you to reality.”
There’s only one key to Dream City, and only one person can leave.
“Cousin! What about you?”
“I’ve already lost him once in reality. I can’t leave him behind in the game.”
“Cousin…”
“Don’t worry, I won’t die. Aren’t you a graduate of the police academy? You can defuse bombs, right.”
“?! Cousin, I’m a police officer!!”
The bus announcement sounded again: “Next stop, East Gate of Second High School. Passengers who want to get off, please use the rear door.”
The repeating Xie Shiyus picked up their school bags and walked towards the back door together…
“No!” Lin Lan shouted, “Brother Xie, you guys can’t get off! Wait… we should…”
The bus entered the station and began to slow down!
Because there weren’t many vehicles in Chu Feng’s Dream City, the road was relatively empty, and the bus was now traveling at 57… 55… 53…
If the speed is below 50, it will explode!
“Brother Xie!!” Lin Lan rushed to the driver’s seat, “Brother Xie, you mustn’t slow down!!”
His mind racing, he impulsively stepped on the gas pedal for Xie Shiyu, giving it a boost.
The speed went from 53 to 58 in an instant!
—If the speed is above 60, it will also explode.
“Ah!! Don’t speed up either!” Lin Lan was terrified and released his foot, “Brother Xie, listen to me, you must keep the speed between 50-60! Otherwise, we’ll all die in this bus explosion!”
Driver Shiyu looked up, confused. In his view, Lin Lan rushed over and stepped on him, then opened and closed his mouth, unable to hear what he was saying.
—The bomb is an accident, not part of Chu Feng’s story background, so Shiyu cannot respond to it.
He followed the story’s settings, played the role of a bus driver, slowed down as he approached the station, and let the passengers board.
The speedometer was dropping…
58… 56…
Chu Feng stood up and pulled Lin Lan back.
54… 52…
Chu Feng took a long stride, walking up to Driver Xie. Every button on his white shirt was tightly fastened, not revealing an inch of skin. However, as he moved, the wrinkles of his shirt outlined a slender waistline, subtly enticing. Chu Feng leaned in close, very close to Xie Shiyu, and in his cool voice, there was a hint of sweetness:
“Shifu*, could you please keep the speed between 50-60 and not make any stops or let anyone get off.”
* form of address for qualified worker in that role/field
Under the summer sun, his skin had a moist, jade-like whiteness, irresistibly alluring. Chu Feng turned his head slightly and gave Xie Shiyu an affectionate good morning kiss:
“I’m counting on you.”
…
The descending speedometer shot back up, maintaining a safe speed of 55.
A group of young Xies waiting at the platform watched in disbelief as the bus sped past them.
Meanwhile, single guy Lin Lan on the bus was dumbfounded: Is this the sophistication of married people?
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