The United States, Washington, Prince Virtual Arena, Box 250.
There was a burly blond man lying in the virtual sneak cabin. The man was wearing a short-sleeved tights. His exposed left arm had clear muscles, but there was only half an arm on the right side of his body.
The blond man was asleep and suddenly opened his eyes at a certain moment.
... ...
When Thomas woke up from virtual stealth, he immediately felt a strong sense of hunger in his stomach. His body was extremely stiff, and he made a "crunching" sound when he twisted his neck slightly.
He glanced sideways at the timetable on the dive cabin and couldn't help but smile bitterly.
"Twenty hours."
Even though the one-minute pre-battle preparation time was canceled very early through the owner's settings, after more than a thousand battles and a long period of "reprimanding" the little guy, it still took a full twenty hours. Hours.
This was the first time that Thomas had been sneaking continuously in the virtual world for twenty hours. He was exhausted both physically and mentally, but for some reason power kept coming from his chest.
"Shi Xiaobai, with this name, he seems to be from Xia country."
Thomas muttered to himself and climbed out of the submersible cabin. The food had been prepared on the table for a long time and was almost cold. But after being hungry for twenty hours, he was not in the mood to be picky. He picked up a fork in his left hand and tore up a piece of steak. He bit it into his mouth and chewed it quickly.
Putting down the fork, he poured a glass of valuable red wine with his only left hand and took a sip. The taste was mellow and slightly astringent, but this time it felt a little bitter for no reason.
"This bottle of red wine is worth a head."
Thomas sighed.
The bounty that can be exchanged for an F-level criminal's head can only buy a bottle of red wine like this.
Those heroes who claim to be righteous but are unwilling to risk their lives to fight the Disaster Beast use the hero salary they receive every month to support their families, so the money to buy alcohol is naturally exchanged for the heads of these criminals. .
Putting bounties on criminals is evil.
Destroy evil and drink a few bottles of red wine. This is... very heroic.
"It turns out that red wine tastes bitter."
Thomas put down his wine glass and suddenly took out his mobile phone. After a few clicks on the screen, he entered the address book page and gently hovered his finger over a certain name.
After hesitating for a moment, he pressed hard.
It was a number that had not been called in twenty years, and he thought he would never try to dial it again in his life.
"Du...du...du..."
The regular ringtone was very much like his heartbeat at the moment.
"Hey, who's there?"
The next second after the call was connected, a magnetic voice that was more mature than before but still gentle reached his ears, and Thomas' breathing paused slightly.
"It's me, Thomas."
Thomas's voice was suddenly dry, and his throat, which had been moistened with red wine, made such an almost hoarse sound.
"Ha, it turns out it's my junior brother. I haven't contacted you for a long time. It's been twenty years, right?"
There was a hint of surprise and pleasure in the voice on the other end of the phone.
"Well, twenty years, Senior Aris."
Thomas murmured in his mind, to be precise, twenty years, one month, plus seven days.
... ...
Once, he and Yaris attended the same school.
At that time, Yaris was just a funny senior who was laughed at by his classmates for practicing the crab walk, and he was an innocent junior who followed behind Yaris.
One day, he said to Yaris: "Senior, one day, I will surpass you."
Yaris replied with a smile: "Then I have to run faster. It will be very humiliating to be caught up by a junior!"
Thomas thought to himself that if Aris continued to use the crab step stubbornly, he would be able to surpass Aris sooner or later.
After graduation, the two of them joined different hero organizations and started their own lives, but their deep friendship allowed them to keep in touch, meet frequently, compare current situations, and then catch up with each other.
However, the two intertwined lines finally separated one day twenty years ago and no longer intersected.
That day, twenty-five-year-old Thomas lost his right hand during a meteor shower rescue, losing his proud right hand that held a gun.
However, the 27-year-old Yaris elevated the crab walk to a "unparalleled" level during the meteor shower rescue, and was praised as a genius who shocked the world.
After that day, Thomas could no longer catch up with Aris, and soon, he couldn't even see his back.
... ..
"You're having a good time, are you okay?"
Aris's soft greeting brought Thomas back from his memories, and he couldn't help but smile bitterly. Having lost his right hand, he could only rely on the remaining power of the seventh level of the spiritual realm to kill some low-level bounty prisoners, so he could only experience having his right hand in the virtual world. False satisfaction, will he live well like this
"Well, it's going well." Thomas replied softly.
The other end of the phone groaned and fell into silence.
Thomas let out a breath and suddenly said: "I called you this time because I met a little guy... He is very similar to you."
"Oh? Tell me."
"Well, that's a Xia man named Shi Xiaobai. He uses crab steps like you. Ha, that funny look reminds me of... reminds me of..."
Thomas seemed to have a fish bone stuck in his throat, and his words were stuck for a moment before he continued: "He uses crab steps like you, and he said what you once said, he said he likes to fail... "
"Then Heroes Unparalleled, seniors must have heard of it, well, it's just a... boring game... I met him in that game..."
"Well, you are right, I have been a bitch for a while... Okay, I admit, I have been a bitch for many times..."
"Senior, this is not the point. The point is that the little guy was shot in the head by me... Now, I admit that it's not fun to torture vegetables, so you don't have to laugh so exaggeratedly..."
"And the point is not a headshot, but that he didn't quit the game... What? You said he was stupid? Yes, he is just a fool, but he is not an ordinary fool... "
"..."
Time passed by little by little, and before they knew it, the phone call between the two of them had lasted for more than an hour.
Because of Aris's various troubles, Thomas struggled to tell the story of his encounters in Heroes Unparalleled. He finally concluded: "In short, I feel that he is very similar to you. Of course, this may just be because of the 'World of War'" "It's just as silly as a joke," hence the misunderstanding."
On the other end of the phone, Yaris suddenly fell silent after hearing this harmless joke.
"Senior, after I've been talking for so long, you must have some thoughts, right?"
Thomas complained in a natural tone. Although he had been virtual sneaking for twenty hours and should be mentally exhausted, Thomas felt strangely awake and inexplicably uplifted.
"You mean, that little guy named Shi Xiaobai has failed more than a thousand times and is still full of fighting spirit?" Yaris said suddenly.
"Yeah!" Thomas showed a smile.
"How can you persist after being scolded hundreds of times by your vicious tongue?" Yaris continued to ask.
"Yeah!" Thomas emphasized slightly.
"Having been misled by your deceptive theory, you can still understand the essence of the Crab of God?" Yaris' voice had a hint of disbelief.
"Hmm... hat? What is a cheating theory? Okay... I admit that my theory doesn't sound very realistic... but practice is the only criterion for testing truth. Shi Xiaobai proved that I am correct. ." Thomas could no longer hide the smile in his voice.
"Haha... You said it's true that he realized the crab phantom?"
"Um!"
"Is it true that you are forced to use the ghost gun?"
"Um!"
"Is that arrogant monologue at the end also true?"
"Um!"
"Alien Thomas, is 'um' the universal language of your planet?"
"Um!"
As soon as Thomas finished speaking, he immediately realized something was wrong. His head was filled with black lines and he said speechlessly: "Senior, do you know how old you are now?"
Aris chuckled and suddenly fell silent again. After a moment, he said: "Thomas, you said that child is very similar to me, right?"
Thomas whispered: "Yes, he reminds me of you once."
"You're wrong, Thomas."
Thomas was stunned, wrong? So that was just wishful thinking on his part
Yaris suddenly said: "Do you know how many times I have failed in challenging the teacher?"
When Thomas was stunned, he only remembered many, many, many times, but he didn't know how many times Aris had been defeated miserably at the hands of the teacher.
"Fifty-one times! Only fifty-one times!"
Aris himself told the answer.
Only fifty-one times? Compared with that guy's more than a thousand times, it seems...
wrong!
"No, that's different. Every time you fail to challenge the teacher, you will be seriously injured, but that little guy can fail almost every tens of seconds, and in the virtual world, he doesn't have to endure physical pain... He... "
Thomas quickly tried to analyze the difference between the virtual world and reality. He wanted to explain that simple numbers cannot represent the weight of failure.
"I gave up on my own! Thomas, on the fifty-first time, I chose to give up on my own!"
Yaris suddenly interrupted Thomas and said loudly: "I have always regretted that I chose to give up. If I continue to challenge, I will fail another hundred or two hundred times. If I can continue to endure failure, then I can do it earlier." After practicing the Crab Step to a "world of difference", I might have been able to protect your right hand on that day twenty years ago... But I didn't... The reality is that when I failed fifty-one times I chose to give up!”
"Aris!"
"Thomas! I said I like failure... that's not true, I hate failure more than anyone else... I can endure fifty-one failures just because I... want success more than anyone else. However, I The limit is only... only fifty-one times!"
"Aris..."
"Do you understand? Thomas, that little guy is not like me. He... is clearly much better than me."
"Aris... Aris..."
"Thomas, do you hate me?"
"Ya..."
Thomas was choked with sobs and couldn't say the three words completely. His left hand trembled and he put the phone to his ear. Therefore, without his right hand, he no longer had another hand to wipe the tears on his cheeks.
"Thomas, come sit down at my house when you have time. Well, just tonight. Your sister-in-law's cooking skills are really impressive. I'll ask her to prepare your favorite braised pork."
"Um... ... "
"Haha, Thomas, you are indeed a planetary from the planet."
"Um."
(ps: The author: "Vote for recommendation", everyone: "Yeah."
Author: "Reward the leader", everyone: "Yeah"
Author: "One, two, three, four, do it again." Everyone: "Yeah, yeah, you're numb.")