Chapter 20: Little Water Gun Spritzes You
Shoutout to nyanmaru for the commission!
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Drip—drip—
The Regulatory Center issued an alert, calling for an emergency meeting of all regulators:
“We have detected a high-risk S-class variant organism: the Red Belly Mosquito, appearing in the Dream City of players!”
At the roundtable meeting, 26 regulators stared at the floating screen, where a mosquito with red spots on its abdomen was projected.
X sat quietly in a wheelchair, listening in. He wasn’t a regulator specialized in biology, and this event should be handled by specialized biological experts.
“Due to the anti-human consciousness of player CF4088’s system, this information was not reported in time, and the entire city is now infected.”
X, who had been indifferent all along, suddenly looked up.
CF4088 was Chu Feng’s player account.
“It has been preliminarily confirmed that the mosquito is spreading the [Ghost Virus]. The number of infected characters is unknown, with one character confirmed dead. Currently, the player has safely logged out of the game under our guidance, but the entire Dream City remains at high risk.”
“We have detected that this player is a big spender, with assets in the city exceeding six million yuan. We will initiate Regulatory Level S protection for them!”
—Objective: Eradicate all viruses. If unable to identify the source, characters may be eliminated directly. Take all possible measures to protect the safety and property facilities of the player.
“Are there any regulators willing to participate voluntarily?”
Regulator B, specializing in insects, bowed his head. Virus researcher C turned his gaze out the window, and Regulator D, with a degree in biological genetics, remained silent. Mutant mosquitoes plus a city-wide virus crisis, characters throughout the city turning into formidable Ghost Shadows…
—It’s too dangerous. Who would want to participate?
In the silence, X quietly raised his hand.
***
Drip—!
The connection to the blue brainwaves was severed.
Chu Feng woke up from his bed in reality, his eyes staring at the blank ceiling.
“Cousin…” Lin Lan knocked on the door outside the bedroom, “Cousin, are you okay?”
Afraid that something might have happened to him, Lin Lan opened the door and came in to check. Chu Feng sat on the bed, still in the wrinkled suit he rushed back from work in. His eyes were hollow and dark, as dark as the rainy night in the Dream City just now, giving off a sense of… being soulless.
Chu Feng said nothing, reaching out to unplug the phone cord beside the bed, turning it on to check the “Little Xie Illustrated Handbook.”
[5-year-old Popsicle Little Shiyu]: Alive
[5-year-old Red Hat Little Shiyu]: Alive
[5-year-old Squeaky Shoes Little Shiyu]: Alive
[5-year-old Water Gun Little Shiyu]
Status: Deceased
“Cousin, cousin! It’s okay, cousin, it’s just a game.” Lin Lan rushed in, covering the death status on the Little Xie Illustrated Handbook with his hand, trying his best to comfort Chu Feng:
“Cousin, look, there are still… so many Brother Xies!” Lin Lan flipped through the silhouette of the Little Xie Illustrated Handbook that hadn’t lit up, “Cousin, you mustn’t be too sad! Sometimes… life is like this, unexpected things happen that we can’t control.”
Chu Feng looked up at Lin Lan.
Lin Lan felt a bit embarrassed, talking about life in front of his cousin, who was just a recent college graduate.
“I’m fine.”
Chu Feng put away the Little Xie Illustrated Handbook, then turned to look at the first photo on the wall, him at 5 years old holding hands with Shiyu with water guns, forced to make up in kindergarten.
Lin Lan saw him silent and felt a little worried: “Cousin, don’t dwell on it too much.”
“It’s been two years.”
Chu Feng suddenly laughed at himself: “If I still couldn’t let go, I would have jumped off from here long ago.”
Lin Lan felt a chill run down his spine upon hearing this. Before he could say anything else, Chu Feng patted his shoulder, stopping his words: “Go get some late-night snacks. You’ve worked hard too.”
In the end, the matter in the Dream City was between him and Xie Shiyu. Lin Lan was just a relative who cared about him, joining the game to check on him, only to end up hopping around in a life-threatening situation.
Water Gun Little Shiyu dragged two people with him and fell to his death. The system spirit led the remaining three Shiyus out of the West City, flying to the second high school in the East City, temporarily hiding in the high school dormitory. [Ghost Doctor Xie] has returned from the small woods to West City Hospital, but Dr. Xie himself has not been found yet.
“The system has reported our situation to the regulatory center. Cousin, you don’t have to worry too much, X the Great God will definitely save us!”
Lin Lan opened the food delivery app, ordering Chu Feng’s favorite Thirteen-Spice Spicy Crayfish:
“Everyone has their specialty. We can entrust the rescue mission to professional regulators and rest assured, it will be fine!”
“Yeah.”
Chu Feng nodded in response, but deep down, he didn’t harbor any hope for the so-called Great God X. The primary task of regulators was to protect the safety of players, followed by safeguarding the priceless and rare outfits, as well as rare items, players possessed in the Dream City… As for the characters infected by the virus, if the source of the [Ghost Virus] couldn’t be found soon, regulators would have no choice but to kill them all to prevent the entire city from perishing.
“Cousin, do you want anything else to eat?”
“I don’t feel like eating much, you go ahead.” Chu Feng replied indifferently.
His whole demeanor was very indifferent. The less emotional fluctuations he showed, the more terrified Lin Lan became.
Back then, when Cousin learned of Brother Xie’s death, it was the same—calm, without much expression. Everyone thought he would break down and cry, but he didn’t.
Later, some people even gossiped, saying Chu Feng was heartless, maybe even secretly happy about his husband’s death. After all, all of Xie Shiyu’s companies, properties, including the huge compensation from the aerospace insurance, belonged to him now. They said he was ecstatic about it, so he never shed a tear in front of others.
Lin Lan wanted to beat those people to death for saying such things.
Chu Feng’s reaction to Xie Shiyu’s death was extremely flat, without breakdowns or tears, not just in front of outsiders, but even in front of family members, his eyes never turned red.
But Lin Lan could tell that Cousin’s indifference wasn’t indifference; it was just that he hadn’t reacted yet.
Like a blunt knife, when it was stabbed in, there wasn’t much pain. But the knife was stuck in the wound, rusting away with the blood and flesh forever.
Until now, Chu Feng still hadn’t accepted Xie Shiyu’s death. Lin Lan observed that everything in Chu Feng’s house—his toothbrush, towel, slippers, cup, pillow—was for two people. Even Xie Shiyu’s clothes still hung in the wardrobe, which Chu Feng often cleaned to keep them tidy. Even though no one would ever wear them again.
Lin Lan waited in the living room for the food delivery. He saw Chu Feng pick up his phone and make a call. As he answered, he walked back to his room. Just before closing the door, Lin Lan heard him say:
“Hey, Mom, do you still have the video from my kindergarten days….”
The bedroom door closed gently.
Chu Feng sandwiched his phone with his shoulder. “Yeah… the video from my sports day when I was five.”
“Oh, you’re twenty-nine years old and you still want to watch videos from kindergarten? It’s been twenty-four years…”
Chu Feng: “Is it in the storage room of the old house?”
“Why would I leave your stuff in the storage room to gather dust? It’s here with me. It might be placed on top of a cabinet, I’ll go find it… You need it right now?”
“Yes, I get it now.”
“Ah, it’s already late, can’t it wait until tomorrow?”
“No, Mom, I need it now, urgently.”
“What’s the urgency! Don’t think Mom doesn’t know what you’re thinking. You’re twenty-nine years old, why would you want to watch videos from kindergarten! Is Little Xie in that video?”
Chu Feng: “…”
“Feng Feng, Mom doesn’t mean to say harsh things in front of you. Little Xie has been gone for two years, can you please be more rational?”
“I know, Mom. I just… want to reminisce about my childhood, is that not allowed?” Chu Feng said, “Anyway, I need it urgently, I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
Forty minutes later.
Chu Feng retrieved the video from his childhood, returned to his room, and started playing it. In the dimly lit room, the small screen flickered. Chu Feng leaned against the photo wall, curled up in the blanket. He put on his headphones and heard the voices from twenty-four years ago, from kindergarten…
Amidst the laughter, there was one crying voice that stood out.
Five-year-old Little Chu Feng stood on the playground, his eyes red from crying, stomping his feet in frustration:
“Mom! The mosquitoes are biting me again!”
Little Chu Feng’s arms and legs were covered in red mosquito bites, itching unbearably, and he scratched with his small hands.
“Oh, poor thing, let me see. It’s true, you’ve been bitten once, twice, three times… Hahaha, nine bites!”
“Why are you laughing!”
“Because you didn’t listen to Mom this morning and refused to eat boiled eggs, so the mosquitoes came to bite you, you naughty little boy. Let’s see if you dare to be picky next time?”
Little Chu Feng’s eyes welled up with tears: “The mosquitoes have nothing to do with being picky! I’m bitten like this, and you’re laughing at me on purpose!”
“Alright, alright, what’s the big deal for a big boy like you to be bitten by mosquitoes a bit? Come, look at the camera. Mom will capture this crying face of yours, and when you grow up, you can look at it. If you get bitten by mosquitoes and cry like this, hahaha, what a crybaby you are.”
Little Chu Feng stomped his foot angrily and ran away. He was bitten so badly by the mosquitoes, not only did his mom not comfort him, but she also laughed at him and wanted to capture his crying face to laugh at in the future!
He ran to the edge of the playground and stood alone under the shade of a tree, angrily spraying the black ants on the ground with the water gun in his hand. There were a few kindergarten classmates standing around in twos and threes, watching the two people back-to-back on the front runway, playing ball games.
His mother stood not far away, smiling as she aimed the camera at him. Little Chu Feng turned his head away, ignoring his mom.
“Hey, Chu Feng, want to team up with me and give it a try?” A chubby classmate approached, pointing at the ball race:
“Didn’t we practice together last time? It felt pretty good, maybe we can win! If we win, we’ll get 50 popsicles!”
Little Chu Feng thought to himself, heh, this race requires two people to run back to back, squeezing the ball together to the finish line. Both runners need good running and balancing abilities, and they must cooperate well.
Last time, running with the chubby kid, they weren’t fast, stumbling after just three steps due to instability. Chu Feng was even pushed down by the chubby kid, it hurt a lot. He didn’t want to run this race with these classmates dragging him down again.
Little Chu Feng waved his hand lightly, smiling: “I’m not really interested in popsicles, you can ask someone else.”
“Okay.”
A slightly cool breeze blew through the trees in the summer. After a game ended, the kids rushed under the trees to rest. Little Chu Feng wanted to be alone for a while. He was planning to play in the sand area, but as soon as he took a step…
Sizzle—!
A stream of water splashed on the back of his neck.
“Who’s there?”
Little Chu Feng turned angrily, seeing a strange kid standing behind him:
“Why did you splash me?”
Five-year-old Little Shiyu held a small water gun, pointing it at Chu Feng’s neck, saying, “There’s…”
“What are you doing? Why are you shooting him with a water gun?” Suddenly, the chubby kid walked over and pushed Little Shiyu heavily:
“You’re from the next class, right? Trying to pick a fight?”
Many classmates from Chu Feng’s class gathered around: “What’s going on?” “What happened?”
“Some kid from the next class splashed Chu Feng for no reason.”
“Why?”
“Don’t know. Chu Feng didn’t do anything, and that person suddenly splashed him with water.”
“Is that guy crazy?”
Chu Feng was very popular in the class, and they were all classmates. Seeing someone from the next class bullying him, everyone spoke up:
“Apologize to Chu Feng!”
The classmates who were with Little Shiyu silently glanced over here, pretending not to see, standing far away, looking smug.
Little Shiyu held the water gun, standing amidst the clamor of classmates’ reproaches, unable to say anything. Finally, he lowered his head and muttered:
“Sorry.”
“I don’t want your sorry, I want to splash you too!” Little Chu Feng walked over angrily, picked up a small water gun, and aimed at Little Shiyu:
Sizzle, sizzle—!
Little Chu Feng had a bad temper and retaliated by splashing him twice, soaking Shiyu’s face and clothes.
Little Shiyu stared at little Chu Feng with wet hair, his eyes filled with indescribable grievances.
Little Chu Feng: “What are you upset about? You splashed me first!”
Little Shiyu opened his mouth, seeming to want to explain something, but before he could say a word—
“Alright, Chu Feng, don’t bother with him. His dad is a drug addict! He’s sick too!”
Suddenly, the chubby kid exclaimed loudly.
“What does ‘drug addict’ mean?” A kid asked quietly.
“It means… smoking big cigarettes, those kind of people who don’t make sense.” The chubby kid imitated the action of smoking a big cigarette from a TV show, then suddenly convulsed, pretending to have a seizure, then pretended to fall to the ground, looking very ridiculous.
“Hahaha.”
The kids laughed one after another.
Five-year-old Little Shiyu stiffened amidst the laughter. Holding the small water gun, he stood still, and finally, he didn’t say anything more.
Little Chu Feng didn’t laugh. He looked at the kid from the next class in front of him and felt that he was a bit strange.
“What’s going on? Why is everyone gathering here?”
The kindergarten teacher arrived.
The kids who were watching the commotion dispersed. Chu Feng’s mother also came over. After talking to the teacher for a moment, he squatted down and patted little Chu Feng:
“Alright, Feng Feng, you also splashed someone, so it’s even now. Come, apologize to him, and from now on, be good friends. Remember, kids shouldn’t argue with each other in kindergarten, okay?”
“Why? He clearly splashed me first!”
“Did he apologize to you after splashing you? And then you splashed someone else.”
Little Chu Feng remained silent.
“Chu Feng—” his mother dragged out the word.
Little Chu Feng reluctantly hummed, “Sorry.”
“Earlier, you splashed him twice.”
“I said sorry! Is that enough?”
“You’re such a child. Remember, you can’t argue with other kids in kindergarten, okay?”
“Alright, alright.” The kindergarten teacher chuckled, trying to defuse the situation, “Come on, hold hands and make up. You two are friends now. If I catch you arguing again, I’ll take away your little red flowers!”
Little Chu Feng had a displeased look on his face as he reluctantly made up with the equally expressionless Little Shiyu.
“Come here, Feng Feng, look here at mother—”
Click.
The camera captured their first ever photo together.
Now, Chu Feng sat with a blanket wrapped around him, watching the screen flicker with scenes from twenty-four years ago. He screenshot the moment when Xiao Xie Shiyu squirted him with the water gun and found a tech processing shop on Taobao:
[Can you enhance this image a bit?]
There seemed to be a blurry black dot on the neck of 5-year-old Chu Feng.
[Sorry, we can’t do that.]
Chu Feng: [I’ll pay extra. Urgent. ¥5,000. Can you do it?]
[Dear, when do you need it?]
[Now, the sooner the better.]
Thirty minutes later.
The shop sent him the processed high-definition image.
Chu Feng opened it: in the picture, the 5-year-old him had a blurry black dot on his neck, which turned out to be a flower mosquito.
—Little Shiyu wasn’t trying to bully him intentionally, nor was he sick; he just saw Chu Feng was about to be bitten by a mosquito again and used the water gun to help him fend it off.
Chu Feng curled up under the covers, tightly hugging the large black cat plush toy nestled within. It was a gift from Xie Shiyu on their fifth wedding anniversary. Chu Feng secretly dressed the life-sized black cat plush toy in Xie Shiyu’s shirt and hugged it every night.
Chu Feng buried himself in the shirt of the large black cat, breathing heavily… Twenty-four years had passed, yet Xie Shiyu had never mentioned this incident to him.
On the photo wall, 5-year-old Chu Feng and Little Shiyu stood under the tree, holding hands.
The screen continued to play. In the next scene, there was lively cheering. Chu Feng looked up and saw footage of himself winning the ball race at the age of five.
“Why aren’t you going to the race?”
Under the tree at the kindergarten, little Chu Feng walked over and poked Little Shiyu, who was playing with the water gun.
He had noticed earlier that this weird guy from the next class, just like him, never participated in the ball race and always seemed to be glancing over here.
The prize of fifty popsicles was tempting for any child.
“Why don’t you find a classmate to compete with?” Little Chu Feng hinted with some annoyance.
“They don’t want to play with me.”
Little Shiyu squatted on the ground, squirting water from a water gun, watering the big tree.
“I mean…” Little Chu Feng was a little angry. He had put aside his dignity to make a friendly gesture, but why couldn’t this water squirter understand the hint?
“Do you… want to team up with me?”
Little Chu Feng disliked little chubby for holding him back. The person in front of him seemed to be good at sports.
On the track, holding hands, Little Chu Feng and Little Shiyu stood back to back on the starting line, with a soccer ball sandwiched between their backs.
“Ready, set, go—”
Little Chu Feng and Little Shiyu dashed out, and the ball seemed to be stuck between their backs as if it were glued there, perfectly balanced and coordinated.
They seemed like they were born to be together.
The video ended with a scene of little Chu Feng holding up popsicles and a certificate for winning the race.
The wall photos hung silently. The bedroom was dark, and Chu Feng laid on the bed, hugging the fluffy black cat plush toy, his eyes watering…
Knock, knock, knock.
“Cousin, the takeout’s here. Shall we eat together?”
Chu Feng quickly wiped his eyes, tucked the black cat plush toy wearing Xie Shiyu’s shirt back under the covers, and stood up, opening the door with a calm, unaffected expression, his eyes bright and clear, showing no signs of having cried.
The living room was filled with the aroma of spicy crayfish. Lin Lan was afraid that his Cousin wouldn’t have the appetite for such a big meal right now, so he also ordered a few plates of congee and side dishes.
Chu Feng sat at the dining table, split open a pair of disposable bamboo chopsticks, and buzz—
His phone in his pocket vibrated, and Chu Feng took it out to see two WeChat messages from X.
One was a link to a dance party:
[Dream City Fifth Anniversary Celebration! Luxurious dance party on the top floor of the Hudson Castle. Limited to 100 invitations globally.]
The other:
[Do you want to go?]
Recalling that X had also shared this link last time, he hadn’t paid much attention, thinking it was just an advertisement.
Here he was, five-year-old Little Shiyu had just died, and X was inviting him to a dance party.
—It’s just too inappropriate. Chu Feng sighed tiredly and typed with one hand:
[Sorry, not in the mood lately…]
After typing “not in the mood”, Chu Feng deleted each character one by one. He knew that if he said he wasn’t in the mood, the other person would definitely ask: Why? Is everything okay??
Chu Feng was exhausted now, and any form of social interaction was overdrawing for him. Tap, tap, tap. Chu Feng pressed the keys on the keypad:
[Sorry, I’ve been busy with real-life matters lately.]
As soon as he sent it, he heard Lin Lan, who was sitting beside him, scream:
“Oh my god—!!!! Hudson Castle rooftop party??!!!!”
Chu Feng suddenly felt like Lin Lan was like that gopher from the meme, screaming.
“Oh my god, Cousin, you absolutely have to go to this!! Tickets for this event are sold out, and you can’t get them at any price! It’s a global limit of a hundred invitations, Cousin! It’s like Charlie’s Chocolate Factory!”
Chu Feng: “I really am not in the mood.”
“No, no, no, Cousin, you don’t understand Hudson Castle. It’s the most top-tier and luxurious public spot in our game, especially the rooftop. You can get lots of free stuff there! You can put them in Dream City for Little Shiyu to use, like those limited edition skins, decorative sets, dragon mounts, and…”
Chu Feng: “Not interested.”
“You’re not interested in dragons either! That’s impossible; no boy doesn’t like dragons! You can get dragon eggs in the castle and raise them to ride dragons. Don’t you want Little Shiyu to ride a dragon? Riding one would be so cool!”
Chu Feng listened to Lin Lan’s long speech with little interest, even if he did get a dragon, what if it spewed fire all over his Little Shiyu later? What would he do then?
“No dragons.” Chu Feng thought for a moment and asked, “Are there any practical items in the castle?”
Lin Lan thought for a moment and then slapped his head. “There are, there are!! I remember there are many five-star rare items. They’re extremely rare, once-in-a-lifetime items! Maybe Little Shiyu could use them. Wait a moment, let me find some pictures for you…”
Five-star rare items…
Chu Feng pondered.
Before Lin Lan could find the pictures, X popped up with another message, and it happened to be an image:
Event Introduction — Hudson Castle Rooftop Party, Photo Raffle:
[Take a photo toward the sky of the castle rooftop to participate in the raffle. You might draw a five-star rare item!]
“Cousin, you really have to go to this party! Knowing Dream City’s style, these kinds of top-tier items can’t be bought with money, nor can they be obtained from any previous or future events. They can only be obtained through anniversary celebrations like this, relying solely on luck. If you miss it, you’ll never have it!”
This was also a major feature of Dream City. After all, it was a world-class game. If everything could be bought with money, the game would be too boring for Dubai’s wealthy players.
Chu Feng continued to read the text and images below the event. Possible five-star items included:
- Lucky Buff: No danger for a period of time~
- Regret Medicine: Change one of your choices after entering Dream City.
- Time Machine: Go back to the last time you entered Dream City.
Chu Feng: !
Bzzz—
X sent another message:
Do you want to go now?
Chu Feng: …
“Lin Lan, send me some kitten pictures.”
After a while, Chu Feng sent out an emoticon. It was a snow-white kitten extending its pink paw:
Let’s go together~
X: Real-life isn’t busy anymore?
Chu Feng sent another one, a kitten with fluffy rabbit ears, a cute kitten’s head resting on the table: I can’t explain this to you because I’m just a little kitten~
Lin Lan: “Huh! Cousin, you’re really cheesy.”
Chu Feng gave him a glance.
Not long after, X sent a new message, an image:
Two little kittens high-fiving, with heart stickers on their palms.
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