Chen Yang walked into the bathroom with his cell phone, and sat on the toilet with his head down. He bent his waist, pressed his elbows on his stiff legs, and looked at the wet floor tiles.
After the mission at the train station was completed, Chen Yang came to a conclusion based on his investigation that all the taskers were from Qingcheng. At that time, he was already thinking that if the mission had no end, sooner or later the city of Qingcheng would become a city with only the taskers. Then the taskers stopped walking, and Qingcheng became an empty city.
Later, every time Chen Yang returned to the real world after completing a mission, his sense of belonging would weaken. As time went by, there were more and more incongruous phenomena around him, and the strangeness that Sanlian Bridge and Qingcheng brought to him became stronger and stronger. The seeds of doubt took root and sprouted unconsciously, turning into a small sapling.
Until just now!
The sapling that he had deliberately left undisturbed and denied nutrients suddenly grew into a towering tree and instantly pierced his heart. The pain was so severe that he lost all feeling.
In fact, Chen Yang had anticipated this result deep in his heart. He did not lie to Chao Jian and he was indeed mentally prepared. But when it really came to this, he still couldn't accept it.
This is the essential difference between the thoughts in your mind and the facts in front of you.
Qingcheng is fake, it is indeed fake.
No wonder it's unreal.
It turned out to be fake, no wonder...
The phone was damp and hot from being held in Chen Yang's hand. He changed his hand to hold it and found that hand was also covered in cold sweat.
Chen Yang wiped the sweat from his hands on his trousers. He stood up, walked to the door and called Chao Jian without saying anything.
Chao Jian outside didn't say anything either.
A door blocked their sight and breath, but failed to separate their souls.
Chen Yang said in a hoarse voice: "Go ahead."
"I said it would be easy." Chao Jian's nonchalant voice came from the phone, "I came back from the finish line to find you."
This sentence may seem to have only a few words, but in fact it has opened up all the nodes of doubt.
1: The mission has a terminal.
2. The black household is the one who is tasked with clearing the customs. When the customs is cleared, the identity number will be untied.
3: The reason why Chao Jian reached the end and returned along the same route was because Chen Yang was still on the road.
Chen Yang leaned against the door: "Tell me more details."
"My brain is a little dull from the medicine I took, so I don't know when to start," Chao Jian said, "You ask questions and I answer you." At the end, he reminded, "I will only talk about a little tonight."
"Okay." Chen Yang felt that there were numerous suspicious points rushing around, and everyone wanted to attract his attention and be turned over by him. He randomly picked a suspicious point and said, "This real world is fake, so where is the real real world?"
Chen Yang couldn't help but say: "Could it be the mission world?"
There was no sound outside the door. Chen Yang had already gotten the answer from Chao Jian's silence. He could not stand and squatted down. The two worlds were actually the opposite!
"The mission world is a fragment of the real world." Chao Jian said.
"Fragments?" Chen Yang's face was full of astonishment. That is to say, the entire real world has become pieces of independent parts to serve as the background of the mission
For some reason, the word "fragment" gave Chen Yang a terrible premonition.
Fragments, shattered... Chen Yang didn't dare to think further.
The door was opened by Chao Jian. He hung up the phone and picked up Chen Yang: "Okay, that's all for tonight. You need time to calm yourself down."
"I don't need it." Chen Yang's face was pale and he said stubbornly, "I have been warning you for a long time. You told me that Qingcheng was fake, and I just felt that it was just as I expected." He stuffed his phone into his pocket and said incoherently, "I just feel uncomfortable. The place where I was born and raised is not real. I feel too uncomfortable. This is a normal reaction. I can't help but face it. I'll take a nap and everything will be fine when I wake up."
"Yeah." Chao Jian picked him up. Not like a princess, but like a child.
Chen Yang's arm was hanging on Chao Jian's shoulder. The cream in his stomach was rising up, and he swallowed it forcefully. A long time ago, Wu Yu told him to control his curiosity, and said that usually, between the two choices of digging hard and playing dumb, the latter was the right choice. When she said that, she must have known something, so she gave a kind warning.
Chen Yang thought again of Chao Jian emphasizing to him time and again that everything has a beginning and an end, and that what is meant to come will eventually come, so don't be anxious, just let nature take its course. While he was puzzled, he told himself to listen to Chao Jian.
So he endured and endured until the moment the truth erupted like a volcano. He watched helplessly as the magma sprayed towards him, with no way to retreat.
Now Chen Yang watched the cloth covering the truth being unveiled bit by bit. He became nervous and regretful. He even wanted to push the corners back and pretend nothing had happened.
But it's impossible. Once it's opened, you can't press it back.
"Actually, my psychological quality is better than I thought. I can handle the truth that 'the world is fake', so I have no problem with other things." Chen Yang touched the little chick on Chao Jian's head.
Chao Jian carried him into the room: "Yeah."
"And I had expected it. I also guessed a lot of things." Chen Yang leaned on Chao Jian's shoulder.
"Yeah." Chao Jian walked to the closet on the left side of the room. He supported Chen Yang with one hand and opened the closet with the other hand. He took out two sets of pajamas and went to the bathroom.
When Chen Yang came to his senses, Chao Jian had already poured out the hot water and was flipping through the toiletries on the shelf with one hand.
"Why are we here?" Chen Yang looked confused. "You want to take a shower? Then put me down and I'll go out."
Chao Jian put him on the table and said, "Didn't you say you wanted to check?"
Chen Yang: "..." His eyes followed Chao Jian, "So tonight we are going to..."
Chao Jian was looking for toothpaste, so he interrupted and said, "If you don't buy the supplies you need for foreplay, you won't be able to do it."
Chen Yang: “I bought it.”
Just as Chao Jian tore open the toothpaste package, his fingertips shook and the toothpaste fell to the ground.
Seeing Chao Jian standing there in a daze, Chen Yang slid down from the table, bent over, picked up the toothpaste and put it in his hand: "Do it?"
Chao Jian continued to tear the toothpaste packaging: "You are not in good condition now."
"That's right. Right now my mind is full of these five words 'The world is fake'. They keep floating around and giving me a headache." Chen Yang paused for a second or two and looked straight at Chao Jian. "Can you help me get rid of them?"
Chao Jian frowned at him: "Are you sure?"
At first glance, he seems very rational and calm, but in reality, he is about to break the toothpaste.
Chen Yang bit Chao Jian's chin: "Can you do it?"
"Of course." Chao Jian smiled, he lowered his head slightly, letting Chen Yang's kiss fall on his lips.
Chen Yang kissed Chao Jian and, imitating the time when he was drunk, stretched out his little finger: "Then it's a deal, pinky promise."
Chao Jian hooked his little finger and shook it.
However, it was not done.
It wasn’t because Chen Yang suddenly changed his mind and didn’t want to do it anymore, nor was it because Chao Jian was afraid that something might happen to his threshold and didn’t dare to touch him, but because... the raincoat was too small.
Well, it’s too small.
Life is often like this. When you are ready, it makes you understand one thing: it is useless to be prepared.
Chen Yang's hair was very short and was almost dry after he took a shower, so there was no need to blow dry it. He found a hair dryer and knelt on the bed to blow Chao Jian's hair.
Chao Jian sat facing Chen Yang, his dark eyes slightly closed.
"I don't want that small box anymore." Chen Yang's voice was caught in the whistling wind. "I'll buy a large box tomorrow."
Chao Jian's eyelids moved: "No need."
Chen Yang thought Chao Jian was blaming him for not paying enough attention to the wrong size. Before he could explain, he heard the other party say, "I have already placed the order."
Chen Yang: “…”
Chao Jian frowned and said, "I should buy it on the way back."
The corner of Chen Yang's mouth twitched. I don't blame you. You didn't expect that your brother could still do it even after being in this state.
"One more night won't make a difference." Chen Yang stroked his soft hair and coaxed him.
Chao Jian grabbed Chen Yang's pajamas.
Chen Yang hesitated: "Um, can I ask you something? It has nothing to do with the mission."
Chao Jian's hand on his pajamas suddenly tightened: "You volunteered."
Chen Yang was pushed into Jian's arms by the force. He turned off the hair dryer and asked with a complicated expression, "How do you know what I'm going to ask?"
Chao Jian's eyebrows were covered by wet hair, and his outline had a somewhat messy beauty: "When you and I..." His eyebrows gathered a shadow, his head tilted to one side, and his ears were stained with a thin layer of red, "You asked me to do it to you, I didn't know how, so you taught me."
Chen Yang was stunned. God knows he was just curious as to why he was the one on the bottom between him and his girlfriend, and there seemed to be no obstacles at all, just very natural.
I didn’t expect to hear so... Chen Yang couldn’t find the right adjective to describe his mood.
"If you don't believe it, you can try it. You can use the small box." Chao Jian pursed his lips.
Chen Yang imagined the scene, but it didn't work. He couldn't get excited, and he didn't feel anything. He sighed inexplicably, "I'm a gay, and an O. I just found out tonight."
"When I was with you, I was the experienced older brother, and you were the young fresh meat?" Chen Yang asked a question with difficulty.
Chao Jian's face darkened: "You are a giant in ideals, but a short melon in reality."
Chen Yang: “?”
She glanced at Jian, then looked away: "You only taught me how to get in, you don't know anything else. You are just trying to save face by pretending to know a lot, saying that you should not be afraid and go for it, I will teach you. In fact, you only know some theoretical knowledge. I am your first experimental subject, and also the last one. Because you said I am very good, you still..."
"Okay, okay, I get it." Chen Yang covered Chao Jian's mouth. Sweat broke out on his back, and he felt dry.
The room became quiet.
Chen Yang looked at himself in Chao Jian's pupils, and he felt a little dizzy: "You told me everything, but I still can't remember anything."
"It's okay." Chao Jian said.
Chen Yang said helplessly: "What if I can never remember it?"
"It's okay." Chao Jian kissed the palm of his hand.
Chen Yang thought he would have to stay awake until dawn tonight, but he fell asleep not long after he lay down.
Chao Jian pulled his arm away from behind Chen Yang's head. He got out of bed to take medicine and looked at the message from Jin Xiaochang on his phone.
Jin Xiaochang: Is it going well
Chao Jian twisted the cap off the gray medicine bottle.
Director Jin Xiao: Take two pills at a time, don’t take more than that.
There were five pills lying in Chao Jian's palm.
Director Jin Xiao: I will tell Qingqing your dosage and then ask him to tell Chen Yang.
Chao Jian slammed his phone on the table. He looked at the five pills in his hand, then looked at the person sleeping on the bed. After a moment of silence, he put three pills back into the bottle.
The second time Chen Yang and Chao Jian talked about the mission was two days later.
The two-day interval was Chao Jian's idea. Although Chen Yang's condition was already very suitable, he was still very cautious.
Chen Yang sat cross-legged on the sofa, holding his book "The Relationship between Consciousness and the World in Quantum Theory" in his hand. He patted the book on the legs of Chao Jian who was sitting opposite him.
"This book is mine." Chen Yang began with a firm attitude.
Chao Jian peeled melon seeds and said, "Yeah."
"019 is my own ID number." Chen Yang said again.
Chao Jian still said the same syllable: "Yeah."
"That Li Yue is a person I imagined." Chen Yang's tone was calm.
Chao Jian said: "Li Yue is real, he is you."
Chen Yang was stunned. In the past two days, he sorted out all the doubts he had in the past, and basically cleared them up. He thought that no matter what he heard, it would be ok, but in the end, he was still caught off guard.
"You used the name 'Li Yue' when you were on missions." Chao Jian handed him the peeled melon seeds. "Only a few old teammates know your real name."
Chen Yang looked at the melon seeds in his hand and spoke after a while: "What is my first task?"
"I don't know about your first mission. When I met you, you were already an experienced missioner, and I was a newcomer." Chao Jian grabbed another handful of melon seeds and began to peel them. "You taught me how to do the mission and took me with you all the way."
Chen Yang raised his eyebrows: "We are not related, why should I be so nice to you?"
"You said I look like your wife." Chao Jian said slowly.
Chen Yang's face turned red: "Wasn't that just being a hooligan?"
Chao Jian said: "If I don't have feelings for you, you'd be a hooligan if you did that. But it doesn't count if I like you too."
Chen Yang ate a few melon seeds and rice: "What's that?"
"You're teasing me." Chao Jian said.
Chen Yang looked at him blankly: "Chao Jian, why would I forget you?"
Chao Jian stopped peeling melon seeds, his eyelids drooped and he couldn't see clearly what was in his eyes.
Chen Yang had actually guessed a possibility.
"Because you failed in the mission." Chao Jian put the unpeeled melon seeds on the coffee table and went to the bathroom barefoot.
The melon seeds in Chen Yang's mouth tasted a bit bitter, as expected...
"If the mission fails, you will die..." Chen Yang ran to Chao Jian. He was not wearing shoes, and his feet were on the cold floor tiles. A chill ran up from the soles of his feet. "Then why am I still alive?"
Chao Jian lowered his head to wash his face with cold water, his voice unclear: "Reset."
What Chen Yang could see was his slightly messy chestnut hair ends.
Reset, reset, this is not difficult to understand, for example, if a player in the game dies, he will be refreshed at the rebirth point.
Chen Yang spread out the melon seeds in his hand and picked up a seed to eat. At first, on the boat to Xiaoyin Island, Zhang Yan said, "If you die here, you die." Chen Yang felt it was bizarre and scary. After he finished the mission, he found that the attending doctor Li Yue did not exist, and the book with his ID number given to him became his own, which made him feel absurd.
Then, he learned a piece of information from Wu Yu's boyfriend: whoever dies during a mission, no one except the person who has done the same mission as him will remember that the other person has been in this world.
The traces left by a living person could actually be cleaned up, and all the friends and relatives in life, all people who knew each other would lose the relevant memories. Chen Yang thought it was too magical, so magical that he couldn't think about the reason behind it.
In fact, that beginning has already revealed the direction of development of all things.
If you can wipe out a person, you can certainly restore him.
Chen Yang thought of something, and his eyes suddenly opened: "Is it reset in the Ninth Rehabilitation Hospital?"
"Yes." Chao Jian reached for the towel to wipe the cold water off his face, "The rehabilitation center is the reset point."
Chen Yang didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He thought that he forgot the part of his accident because he didn't want to recall the painful experience, so he had selective amnesia.
Only now did he realize that such a thing had never happened in the first place.
Chen Yang's breathing gradually became steady. He had been eroded by all kinds of confusion and strange feelings for a long time, and he unknowingly developed antibodies, which resulted in his emotional fluctuations at this moment not being very intense, but more of a sudden enlightenment.
"Can all taskers be reset after death?" Chen Yang asked.
"There will be a passing line, which is judged by the rules of each task and the evil spirit NPCs." Chao Jian shook his head, "When a tasker dies, all the task points will be accumulated and exceed the line, and there will be a second chance to reset."
Somehow a pair of fox eyes appeared in Chen Yang's mind, and he subconsciously expressed his doubts about that night in the bar.
"That young man's name is Chen Xishuang. He is your teammate in the third mission after the reset." Chao Jian found that Chen Yang was barefoot, and his face suddenly darkened. He threw the other person back onto the blanket in the living room without even putting the towel away.
Before Chen Yang could even stand up, he ran into the room to get his notebook. He quickly flipped to the end, where he recorded all the tasks. His finger slid down along the first task and stopped at the third task.
There is no such person as Chen Xishuang among the taskers in Laoji Village.
Chao Jian's voice came from the door: "After the tasker is reset, he will have a brand new life and social relationship. He won't remember you, and you won't remember him."
Chen Yang slowly closed the thick notebook, just like he forgot about Chao Jian...
The next moment, Chen Yang looked at Chao Jian: "I reset it, but you still remember me. Is it because you are an illegal resident?"
"Brother, I have forgotten you too." Chao Jian's eyes were bloodshot.
Chen Yang was stunned. He lowered his eyes and put the notebook back into the drawer, then changed the subject: "Since Chen Xishuang can reset it twice, it means that his ability is quite good." The herbs for removing dampness are most likely related to the other party.
"Normally." Chao Jian said, "He was a new guy who couldn't be any newer, and he failed on his first mission."
Chen Yang looked puzzled: "Then how did he get the chance to reset?"
"The evil ghost Jiang from Laoji Village sent him out." Chao Jian pulled Chen Yang into his arms and lay on the bed side by side with him.
Chen Yang didn't remember Chen Xishuang, so naturally he had no idea about the other party's involvement with the evil ghost Jiang Ren.
However, Chen Xishuang was lucky and destined to get help from the evil spirit.
"Reset, new life..." Chen Yang murmured, and he suddenly sat up: "Then my sister..."
Chao Jian looked at him.
Chen Yangfei said quickly: "Just pretend I didn't ask..."
Chao Jian and he spoke at the same time: "You don't have a sister."
The whole world became dead silent.
Chen Yang jumped out of bed to look for his lighter and cigarette box, but he couldn't find them after searching for a long time. He looked helpless and confused.
Chao Jian picked up the cigarette box lying in front of him and asked: "Do you remember what your sister looks like?"
Chen Yang was speechless and couldn't remember anything. The fragments of his memory about his sister were very fragmentary. Not only did he forget his sister's face, he also forgot how the accident happened to her.
"You are just like the other reset taskers. Your entire social relationships are fake." Chao Jian pinched Chen Yang's tense jaw and put a cigarette between his teeth.
Chen Yang's teeth sank deep into the cigarette butt: "What about before I reset it?"
Chao Jian was silent for a moment: "Before the reset, you were an orphan."
The cigarette in Chen Yang's mouth fell onto the table. No matter before or after the reset, he had no sister.
No wonder Chao Jian had been talking to him about the reset for so long, but he only remembered to ask his sister about it now.
I don't have a sister...
Chen Yang's mind went blank, and his heart ached. "Then you are the one who likes to bite me, and always bites the same place, forces me to overcome my fear of ghost stories, likes to eat milk slices and pineapple buns, likes to peel melon seeds for me but not eat them yourself, likes shiny things, likes to collect small things, and likes to fold cardboard?"
Chao Jian picked up the cigarette on the table and put it in his mouth, then lowered his head and lit it: "The last three hobbies are not mine, they are yours."
"You subconsciously merged me with yourself," he said.
Chen Yang didn't move.
Chao Jian took a few puffs of cigarette, then he found some incense and lit it up, sweeping the smoke in the direction of Chen Yang: "You and I share the same ID number. The frequency of your missions is influenced by me. I am your variable."
"Including the fact that you met your old teammates, it was also because of me." Chao Jian said again.
Chen Yang's body was stiff, his head was swollen, and his vision was a little dazed: "Old teammate?"
"You can't understand why some taskers died in the mission world? You have never worked with them before, but you can remember them. They are your old teammates before the reset." Chao Jian stroked the scar on his left ear.
At that moment, several figures floated out of Chen Yang's mind. They were Xiangyue, the male nurse from the rehabilitation center, Wu Yu's boyfriend Ajing, and the little mute's cousin.
Chen Yang's breathing was a little fast. No, it was not just the three of them. There was also the uncle he met on the bus earlier. He had been staring at him since he got on the bus. He was most likely a teammate as well.
That □□Jane did not allow Chen Yang to receive any new information.
Chen Yang didn't go anywhere. He stayed in the room to clean up the world that had been badly damaged. Chao Jian shaved his beard for him and helped him brush his teeth and wash his face.
One mystery after another was revealed. Chen Yang tried his best to maintain his inner order. His mental state was exhausted to the extreme, which affected his body. He almost became a useless person who could not take care of himself.
After three or four days of buffer time, Chao Jian destroyed the world that Chen Yang had cleaned up with great difficulty.
The seeds in the flowerpot are fake, and the flower buds are fake too.
"It represents your threshold." Chao Jian said in a tone of "they're not bad" while eating the fried dough sticks.
The spoon in Chen Yang's hand trembled as he moved into the bowl. He went to the balcony with his hands and feet together, and returned to the living room holding the flowerpot in both hands.
"Is this fake?" Chen Yang grabbed Chao Jian's hand and touched the flower bud, and said in shock, "It feels so real, and you tell me it's fake?"
Chao Jian drank some soy milk and said, "Ding Huichun is the director of District B of the rehabilitation hospital. The seeds are her special benefit. She lent them to me because she doesn't need them for the time being. We have to return them to her after we use them. This is what she left for her relatives."
Chen Yang's attention shifted from the flower bud to other places: "Where is area B?"
"In the real world, that is also a mission point." Chao Jian said, "Those who pass the mission will sleep there and undergo a reset. After the reset is completed, they will be sent to area A or area C here according to their gender."
Chen Yang narrowed his bloodshot eyes. He had been unconscious for more than two years in area B. After waking up, he was sent to area A. He then underwent rehabilitation in area A for more than half a year and was discharged from the hospital. He started his mission again on the same day.
Originally he was grateful to anonymous people for helping him with medical expenses, but who knew it was all fake.
"The third task is for the first half of this year. Chen Xishuang reset it so quickly, why does it take me so long to reset it?" Chen Yang sat down.
"When Chen Xishuang died, he was still a newcomer, so it would be easy to reset him. But you are different." Chao Jian brought the soy milk to Chen Yang. "You don't have the belief to go home. Doing missions is making friends for you, so you are always on the road and you have done a lot of missions."
Chen Yang continued: "I won't think of going to the end until I'm in love with you."
Chao Jian stroked Chen Yang's back.
Chen Yang thought of Wen Qing. He just didn’t want to reach the end.
"The mission world and the real world are connected?" Chen Yang suddenly asked.
Nodding towards Jane.
Chen Yang picked up the cup, tilted his head back and drank the soy milk in big gulps. No wonder it took only a moment to go in and out.
After drinking a cup of soy milk, Chen Yang pursed his lips and asked, "Can I reset it three times?"
Chao Jian: “No.”
Chen Yang thought that this was the last chance for him and Chao Jian.
In the afternoon, Chen Yang got a piece of information from Chao Jian that Sun Wenjun was the deputy district chief of District B, and his potted plants were also linked to the threshold.
If Chen Yang remembered correctly, Sun Wenjun's potted plant always had a branch with a small leaf, which meant that his threshold had reached a certain level and was stagnant.
It is very likely that Sun Wenjun went on that business trip to find a way to raise the threshold, but unfortunately he was unsuccessful, so he chose to take it one step at a time.
Chen Yang recalled Sun Wenjun's farewell to him and suspected that they were old teammates, or comrades-in-arms.
But he didn't remember. When he lost his memory, he also lost the emotion.
Chen Yang watched Chao Jian cleaning the room: "You said you were born in Sanlian Bridge, do you mean the real Sanlian Bridge?"
"Yes." Chao Jian threw the dog mat onto the balcony.
"What is your relationship with Chief Jin Xiao?" Chen Yang watched the puppy chasing the mat. "Don't say they are just ordinary doctor-patients. I don't believe it."
"He is my uncle." Chao Jian said neither fast nor slow.
Before Chen Yang could react, he heard Chao Jian say, "It has been reset."
Those three words revealed a sense of powerlessness and helplessness. When the uncle's memory was reset, the uncle and nephew became strangers. Even though their memories were restored, their emotions were not restored, so their relationship was both ordinary and subtle.
Chen Yang deduced an idea based on the appearance of Chao Jian and Jin Xiao. Even if social relationships have changed, genes will still be retained to varying degrees. He suspected that Uncle Wu and the tasker Wu Qing were once relatives.
Chen Yang took the broom from Chao Jian's hand: "When can I enter the last level?" Maybe after he passes all the levels, he will be able to remember everything.
"Wait a little longer." Chao Jian didn't say much.
"What is the last mission?" Chen Yang took out a milk tablet from his pocket and opened it. "You have done it before. Tell me about your experience so that I can prepare for it."
Chao Jian bit the milk slice on Chen Yang's fingertips and said, "My last mission is a solo mission. I will go in directly after you die."
Chen Yang was in a daze for a moment. Yes, he reset it because the mission failed.
At that time, he died in the mission world, and Chao Jian, who was still just a missioner, didn't know that he would be reset, so he thought he was really dead...
Chao Jian narrated his last mission in a storytelling tone. Chen Yang’s death was his dream, and the last mission was the continuation of his nightmare.
That was the beauty and fear in Chao Jian's heart, composed of one illusion after another. He witnessed Chen Yang turning from a lively person into a corpse time and time again. Soon he developed multiple personality disorder and went crazy.
In the end, Chao Jian didn't know how he got out. When he realized that Chen Yang was no longer in front of him, he was already standing at the finish line.
After listening to what Chao Jian said, Chen Yang was completely unaware that his face was full of tears: "How many times have I died in the illusion?"
"Seventeen times."
Chao Jian used his index finger to scrape some tears from Chen Yang's face and put them into his mouth. He kissed him the next second to share the bitterness with him.
"Brother, you died in front of me seventeen times." Chao Jian sighed as their lips touched.
Every time you tell me "I'll be back soon", and then you never come back.