章 23: Fear Not, I Know What to Do.
"See, I told you. This is nothing but a waste—" Zhang Yongs words were cut short. More specifically, they died violently—stopped by instinct, almost. He felt, at first, the warm, windy breeze caressing his face. The light shone brightly in his eyes, giving him the urge to squint. When he smelled the sweet scent of flowers, Zhang Young knew there was something wrong.
He cleansed his eyes of the light by rubbing them furiously. His eyebrows shot up at the sight in front of him. The meadow which consisted of more grass than flower overwhelmed his senses, his brain, and the perceptive overload made his breath rapidly quicken.
"Thi—This cannot be real," Zhang Yong muttered with such astute astonishment, he felt his throat quiver restlessly. He did what one was taught to do whenever one could not discern between dream and reality; he pinched himself. He did so once more, and by the third time he realized it was not a dream. "Would this be another world then?"
Zhang Yong jumped up in fright. Another world! What a scary thought. And it wasn't correct either, because through his jumbled mind, he somehow managed to remember the young boss saying it was an illusory space. "Still," the man shook his head, "that doesn't make it any better. I've heard many legends of such mystical places, but the records described it as a foggy island, a space no bigger than a servants room. Is this not more like an ancient realm?"
Zhang Yong stopped talking. Not because he had nothing to say—in fact, he still had many words—but because he realized something which rattled him to his very core. "How can the Spiritual Energy in this place be so pure?" he yelled out in alarm.
He collected himself, and in the flower field, he sat down cross-legged, with his eyes shut tightly. His breathing started to stabilize, interchanging between quick, sporadic bursts and long, drawn out ones, soothing to the mind. A cheeky smile crept up his face.
The energy here was manifold purer and abundant than in the real world. It was an unfathomable experience for him. He knew for a certain extend the theory behind spiritual energy; a manifestation of the world, the cultivator takes the energy and refines it into Qi. But never had he heard of such pure energy. It entered him seamlessly, as if no need of any refining. Simply by living here one would progress in leaps and bounds—let alone cultivating in it.
That was the true use of this illusory world! He was sure about it!
15 crystals? What a joke, even for 150 crystals, it was worth it!
The energy nourished his meridians, and he felt a sense of oneness he hadn't felt in a long time. Previous problems that plagued him deep into the night, one after another, untied like a knot. It was like the whole world had began to support him. This was what life was about, this was justice!
Justice—Zhang Yong suddenly felt ashamed at the way he treated the shop-owner. The youth was not lying after all! Instead, it was him who behaved parochially. "Good, after I am done closing up, I will personally apologize to boss Shou!" He broke out into a self-satisfied smile. This was what an equitable person should do, after all.
"..." Shou watched the mans whole endeavor with mute silence. Especially Zhang Yongs grin plastered on the screen above the VAR core, caused his eye to twitch. "Fuck, I don't need an apology. Just do something. I'm bored to death! You are killing an imperishable, are you proud of yourself?" he shouted, but the man did not hear.
"I see," Si said and nodded, "We should incorporate a communication function between worlds for customers to ask the viewers, or vice versa. I think we should also add a private function, closing the screen when they don't want to be seen. Also, the customers seem to not realize the world is an instance, rather they believe it is a different world. Maybe we should add a window pop up just like you when you get a quest. What do you say Shou?"
"You're the expert, I will leave it to your judgement."
"That is what I wanted to hear [smile]. Wait here for me, I will give the thing an overhaul."
"Huh, are you going away," Shou asked, but Si didn't answer. He waited a few seconds for the crisp girl-voice to appear, and when it didn't, he breathed out in relief. He stretched his arms and neck and shouted, "Damn, Finally some alone time! I fear the relentless monitoring might drive me crazy. Hopefully she takes a while."
"I'm still here," she grumbled. "You're mean."
Shou almost jumped in fright. "Why did you say you were gone then?"
"It was only a figure of speech," she said sulkily.
"Lady, please use your figure of speeches more carefully, our friendship was about to enter a point with no return!" Shou said, reprimanding her and himself simultaneously. He noted to also say his words more wisely, as to properly foster a healthy relationship.
"[grits teeth] Shut up, I'm concentrating!" Si placed all her mind into refining the core and it's features, paying no more attention to Shou; She couldn't be bothered to do so. This time, she really remained silent.
Time passed rather fast, with nothing of much significance happening.
After a few hours, Si screamed out, "Done!"
"Huh, wha~" Shou yawned. He had unknowingly fallen asleep. At first, he was still watching Zhang Yong do something interesting, but nothing of that sort happened. Gradually, his sight turned blurry and he rested on the counter top. Hopefully, there were no new customers. Well, even if, they probably would have run due to the price.
Si looked at the screen. "Too bad, this customer seems to be about finished now, we can't test the new features on him."
And like a bell chiming accurately on midnight, the system voice resounded from the illusory world, through the screen. "Maximum time reached. Simulation shutting down."
Zhang Yong, who was like a piece of stone, meditating solemnly in the field, opened his eyes in confusion. Before the meaning of these words registered with him, his vision seamlessly changed from a warm flower-field to a hard, white ceiling. Zhang Yong abruptly jumped up, and he saw the brown-glowing core, the clean decor and the mysterious shop-owner. He had returned.
"No, this can't be it!" He clasped his hands together and sucked in a mouthful of air. "Damn, this spiritual energy is like breathing in dog-shit. Why am I back again, I don't want to be in this dumb world!" The man felt like crying. He looked at Shou. "Sir, I don't understand, why am I back?"
"Calling me Shou is fine. Your hours are up."
"My hours?" Zhang Yong tilted his head in bafflement. He didn't understand what Shou meant. He walked to the silently whizzing core and tried hovering his hand above it. He injected his Qi, but it didn't budge. Not until he expended almost all his Qi, did he realize a gleaming window hovering above it.
"Completion rate 1%?" He read the contents on the screen out loud. It was written big, and one couldn't miss it even of they tried to.
"Reentry costs 5 crystals. If you die 3 times, or have stayed longer than 5 hours, the simulation is canceled," Shou explained, "I can understand wishing to cultivate in this place, but to truly get your money's worth, I recommend you adventure through the world. If you reach a 100%, the world will reward you with a treasure from it."
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