Chapter 669: Reality and Illusion
The next day.
“How was it?”
In the Sang family’s hall, Hua Jianglian just took off a device resembling an eye ring, and everyone immediately crowded around.
“How does it feel?” Bai Ming asked eagerly.
Hua Jianglian was silent for a while before finally squeezing out two words.
“…Awesome.”
It seemed like there were no other adjectives left.
The actual gameplay of “Rebellious Immortal Gate” was far better than expected.
That virtual immortal world felt just like another Abyss Realm.
Flowers and trees. Mountains and rivers.
Floating sects surrounded by mist. The desolate lands of the demon domain were constantly swept by winds and sand.
Bustling towns and markets filled with people. Majestic palaces and towering buildings.
Everything seemed so real, making one’s heart race with excitement.
“This game.”
“It really seems like it can change the world.” Finally, Hua Jianglian could only make this evaluation.
Hearing this, everyone cheered.
“We actually made it!” Si Jingzhu and Long Huan clapped excitedly.
“No wonder it’s the immortal world.” Bai Ming exclaimed, “The productivity is insane. A game of this scale couldn’t possibly be made in just a few months back on Earth, right?”
“Hold your horses.”
Sang Zhe quietly observed the screen on the Communication Device, pondering for a long time before simply shaking his head: “Next comes filling in the characters and script.”
“This world still feels a bit too empty; when the players and NPCs increase, then it will truly take shape.”
“Don’t be such a downer.”
Tang Yubbing laughed, “At least we achieved a milestone, right?”
“Speaking of which, as the main person in charge, don’t you want to check it out?”
Sang Zhe thought for a moment and nodded.
Then, under everyone’s gaze, he sat down, put on the eye ring.
What he didn’t notice was that as he began to wear the eye ring, everyone in the family quietly watched him.
Once he put it on, Zhang Xiaoying said, “Action,” and everyone immediately ran back to their rooms to put on their own matching eye rings.
——
——
When he opened his eyes, Sang Zhe rubbed them.
He thought he saw it wrong.
Because this place was nowhere near the game world.
…This was his home.
Not Sang residence.
It was his home back on Earth.
A messy rental apartment, to be precise. While Sang Zhe wasn’t exactly sloppy, living alone occasionally made him lazy, so the place didn’t look tidy.
There were scattered delivery bags and boxes everywhere, and on the computer desk alongside the mouse and keyboard were a nail clipper, half a bottle of a drink, and a box for stomach medicine, all piled together.
The blanket on the bed wasn’t folded, and laundry was hanging on the balcony, untouched.
Sang Zhe woke up in his own house.
In that moment, he felt a massive sense of confusion and emptiness. Everything around felt nostalgically familiar yet frightfully strange.
He felt as if he had been in a long dream.
In that dream, he had left this empty and lonely rental, left this body plagued by illness, and left this cold, unfamiliar world.
In the dream, he had incredible powers, lovely children, heartfelt friends, and many beloved companions.
But upon waking, everything turned to the coldness at his fingertips.
Sang Zhe sat on the bed in a daze for quite a while.
Maybe an hour or two. He couldn’t pull himself out of this overwhelming void and fear.
Was it really just a dream?
Was everything in that world just a hallucination after he got faint from pain?
Sang Zhe silently stared at his hands, instinctively trying to use his powers.
Unfortunately, nothing happened.
He also tried to find the exit button for the game but found nothing would appear no matter how he waved his hands in the air.
After sitting in dazed silence for a long time, Sang Zhe suddenly smiled bitterly.
“…Awesome.”
So it was real.
He had merely dreamed.
In the dream, he became the hero he always wanted to be.
But in reality, he was still stuck in this rental, silently enduring the agonizing, sudden pain that could strike at any moment.
…Outside, the rain was falling softly.
Fumbling around by the bed, Sang Zhe found his phone. This long-cracked phone still looked familiar, having accompanied him since college and into his job.
Flipping through WeChat, he found many messages.
Familiar yet strange names flashed by.
He saw his father’s profile picture. The last chat record was him subtly asking to borrow money over the past two years. His child was about to start elementary school, but they still short on the down payment for a home in a good school district.
Sang Zhe remembered that until the day he died, his father seemed unaware of his illness.
He had never told him.
He also saw records from coworkers, mostly asking why he hadn’t shown up to work these past few days.
Sang Zhe skimmed through, finding most things familiar.
Except for one person with a rose profile picture, who he had no memory of whatsoever.
Looking through the messages, it seemed he was quite familiar with this person. They chatted about mundane matters, talking two or three times a month.
But Sang Zhe couldn’t recall knowing such a person.
Finally, he put his phone away.
Taking a deep breath, he rubbed his face and got out of bed.
…Ha ha.
God was still as humorous as ever.
He gave me a grand dream yet woke me up just before it could be perfectly beautiful.
Aside from “awesome,” what else could he say?
Sang Zhe felt like his mindset was genuinely quite nice.
Whether it was when he learned about his stomach cancer or now realizing everything in the Abyss Realm was just a dream.
It seemed he always smiled and managed to move on.
Just then, Sang Zhe’s phone vibrated.
It was a WeChat message.
From that person with the unmemorable rose profile picture, sending a short message.
“I’m at the door, open up.”
Sang Zhe froze for a moment, then heard the sound of knocking at the door.
Who on earth could that be?
Do I have someone so familiar?
With confusion, Sang Zhe walked over to open the door.
Then, he just stood there in a daze.
“Why did it take you so long to open the door? It’s pouring outside.”
The visitor was putting away a soggy umbrella while shaking off the mud from her shoes on the welcome mat.
She carried two bags of vegetables and a fish.
“What are you dazing for? Here, take this, go wash the veggies. I’ll make you fish soup in a bit. Aren’t you craving it for ages?”
“The umbrella is outside the door, okay? Otherwise, you’d have to mop the floor if it gets dirty… Ah! What’s wrong with you?”
Seeing Sang Zhe tightly hugging her as if to crush her, the woman couldn’t help but worry and gently pat his head.
“What’s wrong? Did you get bullied at work?”
Sang Zhe didn’t speak.
He couldn’t say anything.
A massive tide washed over him, drowning him in emotions. All feelings collapsed into fragments in an instant, like debris flowing downstream after a dam breaks.
His body trembled violently.
Except for holding on tightly, he had no other thoughts.
“…Mom.”
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