Chapter 9 Gossip
Shoutout to nyanmaru for the commission!
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“Sigh—!”
Regulator D silently ate breakfast at the table, suddenly exclaiming.
ABC looked up at him. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s not… I… that…” D glanced at X out of the corner of his eye, seeming to have something he didn’t dare say in front of X.
X silently picked up the completed soft-boiled egg and wheeled back to his room.
D made a gesture, and Regulators ABC quickly leaned in, their four heads coming together. D said, “Quick, quick, quick, go to the player forum!”
“What’s with all the secrecy? If you have something to say, just say it.” A casually opened the player forum.
“Whoa—?! X has gossip thread!!”
B and C swiftly opened the forum. At the top of the player forum, there was a highly pinned post with over a hundred thousand replies:
“Oh my god! My cousin actually added X god, on WeChat!”
God is so indulgent~
Chat log:
Little trickster.
—X
Crash. The boiled egg in B’s hand smashed directly onto the table.
“Whoa, X is usually silent, forgetful, and uninterested in anyone, but I never knew he could chat like this!” exclaimed B.
“Wait! Isn’t this player… the one who blew him up in the game?” A was shocked. “He not only didn’t get angry, but he also added him on WeChat and had a happy chat?”
C and D chimed in unison, “There’s something wrong here!”
Nothing gets people more excited than hearing gossip early in the morning, and ABCD were wide awake now.
Creak—
After finishing breakfast, X opened the door and came out, wheeling his chair, ready to go to the game room for routine training.
Regulator A nudged D frantically, whispering, “Hey! Quick, go and find out…”
“Why do I have to go…”
“The gossip you discovered! Aren’t you going to explore it?” B and C nodded repeatedly, looking at D with hopeful eyes.
“Um, X!” Regulator D spoke up, “What happened with… that player from last time?”
X feigned ignorance. “What player?”
“The one from last time in the game… who wasn’t very nice to you. Didn’t he insist on signing documents?”
“I gave them to him,” X replied.
“What?!” B was so shocked that he choked on the egg yolk in his mouth. “You… you just gave it to him like that? You… didn’t ask for anything in return?”
X furrowed his brow slightly. “I didn’t take a bribe.”
“Who said anything about a bribe!” A was frustrated.
“Just now, B was praising your chatting skills, but look at you. As soon as you gave him the signature, you two lost contact, didn’t you? He’s not even responding to you! Couldn’t you have at least asked him out for a meal or a movie?”
X asked, “How do you know I chatted with him?”
“…”
ABCD: “Player forum.”
X opened it, scrolled through, but found nothing.
“Wow, these administrators work fast!” exclaimed B.
—The post involved top regulator secrets and was deleted by the forum administrator.
Now, the top post on the forum was a fan argument thread. X was about to close the forum when he saw a new post being bumped up:
“Unbelievable! I finally saw what X god, looks like!”
X paused and clicked on that post:
First comment:
So excited, so excited! Child died again!!!
Second comment:
So where’s the picture??
Third comment:
When I have money, I will definitely buy a host that can post pictures.
Fourth comment:
Didn’t the guys above see the pinned post? Over 500 replies on the argument thread, X’s old fans leaked his photo!
Fifth comment:
Can someone repost it?
Sixth comment:
Please call me Lei Feng*
* selfless model citizen
[X_God.jpg], [Zoomed in eyes.jpg]
Seventh comment:
Waaahhh thank you so much sixth poster omg I’m dead those eyes are so beautiful!
…
X looked at the photo of himself that was leaked on the forum, and then refreshed:
“This post has been deleted by the administrator.”
“Did my chat logs get leaked before?” X asked.
ABCD thought to themselves, no wonder it’s X, with such strong intuition.
A said, “There was a post from a user claiming that their cousin added you on WeChat. There were tens of thousands of replies below questioning if it was true, but…”
But they all knew, it was probably true.
“So, X, did you really just… give him the signature like that?”
—The other party sent a cat emoji with an apologetic expression and said a few soft words, and you were bought just like that?!
X said, “Yeah.”
“No, no, this can’t just be left like this!” B gulped down his boiled egg in one go. “You’re our top regulator! How can you be played by a regular player like this! We have to set things right.”
“Yeah!” A agreed. “X, let me tell you, in the game, you’re the strongest, and everyone listens to you. But in real life, we have more experience, trust us!”
Their strongest regulator, X, was in a wheelchair in reality, with amnesia, not knowing where he came from or where he belonged, with no name, no family, going to the hospital alone for surgery. Now that he finally met someone he was interested in, he even added them on WeChat. They couldn’t just let this opportunity slip away!
Regulator D strategized, “I have experience in this area, X, listen to me. You need to keep in touch with that player. Next week is the fifth anniversary celebration of Dream City, with all sorts of luxurious activities. Why don’t you invite him to one?”
—Dream City’s game design is more “standalone”, with players staying in their own cities. As a result, the headquarters has developed many public attractions in the game and holds various events to attract players to interact. Players can click on the map in their backpacks to go directly.
“This year’s fifth-anniversary celebration will be held on the top floor of the famous [Hudson Castle]. The invitation cards are limited to only a hundred, and players from all over the world are scrambling for tickets.”
“I remember that our top regulators can attend the ball for free. Why don’t you invite him?” remarked B.
“Great idea! That castle is the most luxurious one among our public attractions. Many players have proposed in front of the castle. Plus, the ball is on the top floor, and it’s not something anyone can just enter! Now, the ticket price has been inflated by scalpers to who knows how much, and ordinary players can’t even get one. If you invite him, he’ll be thrilled!” added A.
X’s face showed a hint of confusion, unsure of how the conversation shifted from wanting to hold that player accountable to inviting him to the most luxurious castle ball.
“He… probably won’t come.”
“Aren’t you going to ask to make sure?” urged A.
“Yeah, you have to seize the opportunity,” added B.
“Come on, let me forward you the news about that castle ball,” said C, quickly sending the information to X to test the waters.
“X, remember to share any progress with us!” chimed in D.
X: …..
He felt like he had stumbled into a matchmaking center today.
***
In the afternoon, at four o’clock.
Chu Feng opened WeChat.
Lin Lan, with a small yellow chick avatar, had sent five messages:
Cousin, are you there?
Today in the afternoon, the Fisherman’s Sour Fish is at 50% off! Shall I get you a serving?
I’m coming over to your place to eat. You definitely haven’t cooked.
I’ll come over at five?
Are you there, are you there, are you there…
Chu Feng replied: I have something at five, come at six.
He added another message: Use your spare key to come in, I’m too lazy to open the door.
Lin Lan sent a peach-cat-okay emoji.
Chu Feng was about to exit WeChat when he noticed Lin Lan’s profile picture was ranked third.
The top chat on his WeChat was with Xie Shiyu. Although that avatar would no longer send him any messages.
Second was…
X.
He had set his messages to be muted, so X’s messages didn’t display as numbers but as a small red dot hanging behind the avatar.
Chu Feng thought for a moment and clicked it open. There was only one message, a link shared from the Dream City game public account:
[Five-Year Anniversary Celebration! Luxurious Ball on the Top floor of the Hudson Castle, Limited to 100 Invitations Globally]
Chu Feng: ?
What does this mean, an advertisement?
He closed WeChat without replying. It was already ten past four, time to finish work.
The company belonged to Xie Shiyu, now it belonged to him. Come to work whenever you want, leave whenever you want.
Chu Feng worked from ten in the morning until four in the afternoon, three days a week, with four days off.
Before five in the evening, Chu Feng would always return home and open the Dream City game.
In his city, there was a five-year-old little Shiyou, somewhat special, who only appeared at five in the evening: coming out of kindergarten to buy popsicles. If you missed it, you wouldn’t see him.
Blue brainwaves connected—
[Welcome to Dream City.]
As the sun set, Chu Feng walked towards the kindergarten in the west of the city.
There were several little Shiyus kept inside, cute and adorable. Chu Feng often came here to see them. Sometimes, if he didn’t go in, he would just listen to the laughter of the Shiyus outside the kindergarten.
On the left side of the kindergarten entrance, there was a small gravel path. Twenty meters down, there was a convenience store.
Chu Feng remembered the summer over twenty years ago, where the convenience store would sell popsicles for five cents each. The little Shiyu from kindergarten would buy a grape-flavored one, break it in half, and hand him the remaining half.
Half a purple popsicle was held in his hand, dripping with cool water droplets. They walked together on the gravel path, slurping the grape popsicle. Summer at five o’clock was still very hot, the sunlight wasn’t as white as at noon, but had a bit of orange-red golden hue, cicadas chirping on the old locust tree at the intersection—
He would always tell Xie Shiyu back then that he wanted to catch that noisy cicada.
But before that summer was over, little Shiyu dropped out of kindergarten.
That cicada, like the childhood summer, escaped from their grasp.
Another twenty meters, the gravel path ended, and little Chu Feng slurped the half popsicle, the thin plastic shell flattened by his sucking, he still didn’t want to throw it away, with grape purple ice water remaining in the cracks, he puffed out his cheeks, trying to suck out the last bit of ice sweetness.
“Feng Feng—!”
His mom rushed over from work to pick him up. Little Chu Feng quickly ran to the side and threw the empty popsicle into the roadside garbage truck.
Little Shiyu showed off, standing in place, casually tossing his popsicle, it was effortless, and the popsicle flew into the garbage truck like a leaping fish.
Little Chu Feng clicked his tongue.
“Chu Feng—?” came a shout from the intersection.
“My mom’s coming, I’m leaving!”
Little Shiyu turned around, seeming reluctant to see him go yet unwilling to show his own reluctance. He arrogantly turned his back to little Chu Feng and waved casually:
“Bye.”
—Chu Feng still remembered now, Xie Shiyu always used to go home alone, no one ever came to pick him up.
Little Chu Feng back then didn’t quite understand, he even asked Xie Shiyu once: Why doesn’t anyone come to pick you up?
Little Shiyu remained silent, not saying a word.
Five o’clock arrived.
Creak—
The small gate of the kindergarten opened, and a little Little Shiyu walked out.
Chu Feng waved to him.
He was already twenty-nine years old, over six feet tall, while the five-year-old Little Shiyu was barely up to his knees, small like a dumpling.
Little Shiyu didn’t like to talk much. He glanced at Chu Feng, nodded silently, and turned to walk towards the gravel path to buy popsicles.
Chu Feng recreated that convenience store in Dream City, stocking it with many delicious treats. Besides popsicles, there was also Häagen-Dazs ice cream, which he hadn’t even seen twenty years ago.
—But Little Shiyu would always only buy grape-flavored popsicles.
“For you.”
With a snap, Little Shiyu broke the popsicle in half and handed the latter half to Chu Feng.
Chu Feng lowered his head to take it, familiar and cold water droplets gathering on his fingertips. At twenty-nine years old, he walked with the five-year-old Little Shiyu on the gravel path, their shadows elongated by the setting sun.
Chu Feng slurped on that half popsicle, feeling a bit emotional.
—He couldn’t see what Xie Shiyu looked like at twenty-nine anymore.
Little Shiyu was taciturn, not saying much. His lines were always:
“Buy this.”
“For you.”
And
“Bye.”
But today, Little Shiyu said a few more words:
“I…I…feel a bit uncomfortable.”
Little Shiyu scratched his arm:
“Itchy.”
Chu Feng was startled, immediately squatting down and grabbing Little Shiyu’s arm to examine. He saw a large swollen lump on the back of Xie Shiyu’s arm.
“You got bitten by a mosquito?”
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