"Goodbye, teacher!"
A group of young boys, carrying their school bags and holding their water cups, waved their chubby hands and skipped out of the classroom.
Chen Yang listened to the carefree laughter of the children, raised his hand, and a small piece of chalk was pushed by the force and fell steadily into the groove of the blackboard.
One year and ten months after he and Chao Jian returned, Chaoyang Island merged with Ping'an Town.
In the fifth year, another piece of the world fragment floated over.
That is the science and technology park in the southern suburbs.
From a1-a10 in area a to b1-b10 in area b, with the park, Starbucks, restaurants, and coffee shops in between...it's a whole huge science and technology park.
There are hundreds of taskers there, and the big family has grown a little bit. Everything is getting better and better, and more and more stable.
But the next year there were seven cemeteries.
Those seven people saw off countless teammates, stepped on the blood along the way, and came out with difficulty and pain, but they still died, died of suicide, died of mental trauma.
We have come through the most difficult times, how can we not go on? This is so sad.
The first person to get into trouble was a female college student who had just been out for less than a year. She seemed to be very lively and cheerful. She hanged herself in her home, right at the door, facing the dead leaves on the ground. Before she died, she told her story to everyone.
When she was a tasker, her ID number was four digits, and she was in the same batch as Chao Jian.
She, who had a relatively high ID number, was once accidentally assigned to a small group. Later, she tried to bring in other relatives and task participants around her, and they formed a small team.
Later, all her teammates died, one after another in front of her, in various bloody and cruel ways.
She was the only one alive, and then she died. Her points were reset a second time, and she continued on the road with the modified memory, and teamed up with relatives and friends in her new social relationship, and sent them off one by one.
In the end, she returned home. What she faced was the long years after the disaster, a dull life, abundant supplies, and the bright light of hope, but she still went to find them.
It was late autumn then, and Chen Yang rushed over from the island upon hearing the news. There was nothing he could do but add a handful of soil for her.
The cemetery is located in the southwest of the waterfall. The land has been turned into a cemetery, Changning Cemetery. Rest in peace. Living there, you can see the trickling stream and the mountains full of flowers.
Chen Yang had never expected that unfortunate incident. He had never thought that someone who returned home would give up his life. Such a farewell broke the tranquility of the fragmented world and also brought him a strong shock.
Chen Yang was very worried about Chao Jian. He stared at him nervously every day, fearing that he was lying when he said he would recover slowly, and that he was actually suffering from the illness.
Less than half a month later, the second such incident happened. Chen Yang's anxiety reached the highest level since he came back. He was more like a patient than Chao Jian. Insomnia caused him to lose a lot of weight. He was in a very bad mood. He was chopping wood and fell on his leg. With one blow of the axe, his calf was broken.
On the night that Chen Yang was injured, Chao Jian went crazy and mutilated himself. His head was hit and bloody, his body was covered in blood, and he squatted in front of the bed, trembling and crying.
Chao Jian felt that he had not taken good care of Chen Yang, and he was in pain and scared.
During that time, Chen Yang seemed to have returned to the virtual world. His nerve endings were tense, and he tried his best to heal himself while taking care of Chao Jian, who had collapsed again and could not leave him for a moment.
The third to the seventh accidents all occurred in the same year, very close in time. Everyone was very nervous, afraid that someone else would be influenced by that way of relief, be tempted, and follow in their footsteps.
The silent uneasiness was like a big net, tightly covering the three integrated yet lonely fragments of the world, and it was not removed until a year or two later.
Chen Yang moved the leg that had been stitched. After so many years, Chao Jian's condition had not been cured, nor had it gotten any worse. The number of times he had lost control could be counted on one hand.
Chen Yang was content. He knew that it was not easy for Chao Jian to achieve that by his own will without any medicine.
There were footsteps outside the classroom. Chen Yang knew who it was just by the voice. He put away the textbook on the podium and looked up.
A tall figure appeared at the door with an ice cream in his hand.
Chen Yang asked politely, "Sir, who are you looking for?"
"I'm here to take my wife home."
Chen Yang raised his eyebrows: "Who is your wife? Tell me if I know her."
Chao Jian leaned against the door frame. He had just come from the Science and Technology Park and bought ice cream on the way. The cold air condensed into water droplets and dripped on his hand: "My wife is the most beautiful person in the world."
Chen Yang said, "There's none in the school. You've come to the wrong place." He smiled ambiguously, "I think you look pretty attractive to me. Why don't we give it a try while your wife is not around?"
"Let me smell you first to see if you smell good." He opened his arms toward Jian.
Chen Yang walked down the stage with his briefcase and gave Chao Jian a hug: "Does it smell good?"
Chao Jian's sweat glands were underdeveloped, so he didn't sweat much even in the hot summer. He rubbed Chen Yang's smooth neck with his straight, dry nose, and his tongue tasted a little salty, with a faint smell of chalk dust.
"Delicious." Chao Jian took a bite.
After the Science and Technology Park merged with Chaoyang Island in Ping'an Town that year, no other world fragments appeared.
However, among the more than one hundred people, many have formed families and brought new life.
Family planning does not exist.
Supplies are overflowing and the population is very scarce, but there will be no such thing as reproduction without love, and it is even less likely that people will kill and burn people just because the new laws are not orthodox enough.
The people who passed the customs did not retreat back to the primitive society, abandoning propriety, morality, integrity and leaving only the instinct for survival. Instead, they moved forward. If there were no laws to restrain them, they would restrain themselves.
We held several meetings and agreed that education is more important than economic development.
Because the next generation will determine how far this patched-up and reborn world can go and how powerful it can become.
The school has kindergarten, elementary school, middle school and high school, and the teaching staff is very flexible. The oldest children are now in middle school. The system for further study is also being improved.
The parents of these children all have excellent genes that have survived the purgatory of the test of time. They have inherited their parents' strengths and weaknesses and have been very smart and clever since childhood. Some of them can even fight with Chen Yang.
They are growing, and the world is growing too.
In the hot summer, at the end of June, the school is about to close for the holidays. The two rows of camphor trees on the roadside are full of vitality, and the colorful flowers in the flower beds are fluttered by the hot wind.
Chen Yang took a breath of the hot air. Among the hundreds of taskers in the science and technology park that year, there were about ten teammates he had worked with before the reset. Those ten people all reset for the second time and seized the last chance.
To this day, among the teammates Chen Yang contacted after the reset, only Ayuan has returned home.
Wen Qing and Xiangdong and the others didn't know whether they had stopped, come out, or were still on the way.
Chen Yang knew very well that the taskers he had encountered were just the tip of the iceberg.
Regardless of other countries on Earth, China has a population of more than one billion. When the end of the world comes, all the dead people will live in the virtual Earth in the form of consciousness. Even if some inferior genes are directly eliminated during the gene selection process, the remaining ones should be half, 600 to 700 million.
It's impossible that there isn't even that number.
Half of the genetic consciousness is divided into NPCs, taskers, and reserve forces according to the passing line. The proportion of taskers above the passing line must be hundreds of millions.
It’s not even over 100 million, so what about half that, 50 million
It's impossible that after going through so many tests, there are only less than a thousand people left.
Where are all the people
Although the data in the virtual world is meaningless to those who pass the level, Chen Yang still hopes that more people can return home. This has always been his wish. A temple was built on the island, and he would burn incense on the first day of every month.
Pray for the missionaries known and unknown.
Other players who have completed the game often come to burn incense, and many of their teammates are still in the virtual world.
This year marks the eleventh year since Chen Yang and Chao Jian returned. Time flies quickly. They still live on Chaoyang Island and still only have each other.
Chen Yang took a bite of the ice cream from Chao Jian's hand. It had a fruity flavor and was created by Ayuan. She opened a shop and it was doing pretty well.
The glow of dusk sprinkled on the ground. Chen Yang turned his head, lowered his head towards Jian and kissed him.
The cool fruity aroma of the ice cream melted in their mouths and was warmed by their kisses.
Chen Yang sensed something, he grabbed Chao Jian's little nose and pulled it back. Chao Jian's head didn't tilt back, he didn't feel his scalp being pulled, and he still lowered his head. Chao Jian lingered and pecked Chen Yang's lips several times before pulling away.
His lips felt a little numb, so Chen Yang pursed them. His gaze passed Chao Jian and moved towards the outside of the school gate.
Mr. and Mrs. Chu came to pick up their children from school and they greeted him.
Chen Yang waved his hand.
The bodily functions of those who have passed the level have been improved. Mrs. Chu is middle-aged among ordinary people, which is still a young person in the new society. She gave birth to two children, a son and a daughter. Mr. Chu was extremely happy.
The ice cream was almost melted, and Chen Yang ate it while walking, sharing today's interesting teaching experiences with Chao Jian. He was a science genius, and he enjoyed teaching mathematics to primary school students.
He gave the children knowledge, and the children gave him childlike fun.
Chen Yang was scraping the juice from the edge of the plastic bowl with a spoon. When his teammate Wang Xin, whom he had met before the reset, gave birth to her third child, she suggested that she give the child to him for adoption, but he refused.
There is no room for a third person between him and his partner, not even a small life.
"Brother Yang!"
Han Xing's shout interrupted Chen Yang's thoughts. He looked and saw Han Xing crossing the road towards him, followed by Zhao Shiyu.
Zhao Shiyu, like Wang Xin, is a resident of the Science and Technology Park. He is tall and thin, with a dull temper. When he looks at people with his pair of almond-shaped eyes, there is a hint of murderous intent, as if he is not easy to approach.
Chen Yang couldn't help but sigh. Over the years, Yan Zhi had been chasing after A Yuan, Han Xing was behind Yan Zhi, and Zhao Shiyu followed him.
The four of them formed a strange yet harmonious aura, which no one broke.
No bystander wants to give advice.
Chen Yang thought of Ayuan again. He originally thought that she had not reset and had walked out on the first trip.
Unexpectedly, during a group meeting one year, someone took the lead in talking about his own experience, and Chen Yang learned that Ayuan had also been reset. She and him had no intersection before the reset, so she had never mentioned it before, thinking it was unimportant.
So far, Chao Jian is still the only one who has completed the game without being reset a second time.
Han Xing pushed a brand new bicycle and stopped in front of Chen Yang, saying it was just out of the production line.
"Do you want to try it?" He pushed the bicycle towards Chen Yang.
Chen Yang still had ice cream in his mouth, and spoke without any dignity, like an easy-going brother: "Why ride a bicycle? Just walk this short distance."
"Since we have the resources to produce bicycles, it means that we will soon expand our map and need transportation." Han Xing brushed his natural curly hair and said, "This is what Zhao Shiyu told me."
After saying that, she glared at him unreasonably, as if to say, how come your IQ is higher than mine? On what grounds
Zhao Shiyu put his hands in his pockets, his dark eyes rolled in his eye sockets, and a look flowed from the slanted and upward corners of his eyes. He just glanced at Han Xing and then lowered his eyes. His temperament was sharp, beautiful, and noble.
"Brother Yang, go ahead and try it." Han Xing urged.
"Okay, I'll try." Chen Yang gave the unfinished ice cream to Chao Jian, got on the bicycle, put his hand on the handlebar, and rubbed it a few times.
"The brakes are fine." Han Xing thought he was worried about the brakes, "Brother Yang, let me help you."
Chen Yang said generously: "What do you need to hold on to? I can ride."
It took less than a minute to get slapped in the face.
Teacher Chen didn't fall off the bike, but he rode the bike in an "S" shape, which was quite embarrassing.
Chao Jian threw the ice cream bowl into a nearby trash can, then came back to pick up Chen Yang, who was still leaning on his bicycle. He said in a low and steady voice, "You ride, I'll hold you."
"Then hold on tight." Chen Yang stepped on the pedals again, and he did not forget to save face: "I used to be quite good at riding a bike, but I just haven't ridden it for a long time, so I'm not very familiar with it. I want to catch up."
"Yeah." Chao Jian supported him.
"Slow down, slow down, slow down." Chen Yang pedaled slowly, but spoke quickly and in large numbers. "There is a flower bed in front. Don't go there. The flower seeds in the flower bed are collected from the island. The flowers are in full bloom. Don't crush them!"
"Don't be anxious." Chao Jian didn't care about flowers and plants, he only cared about Chen Yang.
"I'm not anxious. I'm very calm." Chen Yang denied it. "Okay, no need to help me. I've finished talking to my bike and can ride it by myself."
The back seat sank and Chao Jian sat on it.
The steering wheel of Chen Yang's car started twisting again, and the body of the car twisted as well. He and Chao Jian both had long legs, and they supported themselves on the ground, so they didn't fall flat on their faces.
"Why didn't you tell me before you came up?" Chen Yang turned around and scolded the person, very seriously.
The object put his arm around his waist and smiled at him. The outline of his facial features was as if drawn with one stroke, a unique piece in the world, which was amazing.
Chen Yang's face was stern: "The beauty trap doesn't work on me."
The broad hand on his waist suddenly exerted force, the palm pressed tightly against him, and the cold, slender fingers closed in, pinching his soft flesh.
Chen Yang hissed and heard Chao Jian whisper, "Please give me a ride, brother."
"… hold head high."
Chen Yang drove Chao Jian around outside the school gate.
The family members were sitting in the back seat, and Chen Yang rode very seriously and carefully, even though it was impossible for them to hit anything.
Not far away, Han Xing opened and closed her upturned red lips and said enviously, "The relationship between those two has remained the same for ten years."
Zhao Shiyu made no comment.
"You are too boring." Han Xing said dissatisfiedly.
Zhao Shiyu spoke at this time, squinting his eyes: "Is Yan Zhi bored?"
Han Xing didn't understand, and glared with her beautiful grey-blue eyes: "I'm talking about you, why did you drag him out for no reason? It's inexplicable!"
Zhao Shiyu smiled but didn't smile.
Han Xing's mixed-race, delicate face suddenly became red. He wiped off the sweat dripping from his fair chin with the back of his hand and walked away without looking back.
Zhao Shiyu stood where he was, his eyes fixed on Han Xing's slender back for a few seconds, then moved to the gay couple riding over, and then returned to Han Xing who had already run away.
Ten years like a day...
Who isn't
Chen Yang left his bicycle with Old Zhou at the inn and did not bring it back to the island as it was inconvenient.
The Yi tribe had not yet shown a third member, so Chen Yang and Chao Jian occupied the island alone. They walked along the beach on the other side of the island with their backs to the sunset.
Not only the island is close to the sea, but all the fragments of the world are there.
The only connected parts of each fragment are land, and the remaining few outer surfaces are still ocean, waiting for other fragments to float closer.
Chen Yang caught a hermit crab and squatted to warn it: "Hide well, if I catch you again next time, I will eat you." This was fake, hermit crabs smelled rotten, and he was not starving, why would he eat it? There was plenty of seafood and he could not eat it all.
Hermit crabs are fearless.
"It's not afraid of me." Chen Yang pretended to be sad, "No creature on the island is afraid of me."
Chao Jian glanced at the hermit crab flapping its wings in the sand. His pupils were dark and gloomy. When he was not smiling, there was no light in them, making him look sinister and terrifying.
The hermit crab immediately shrank back into its shell and never came out to show off again.
Chen Yang was so amused that he washed his hands in the sea, and the water drops fell on his clear eyebrows and eyes: "Are we considered parents with one playing the good cop and the other playing the bad cop?"
Chao Jian took his briefcase and coughed softly: "You have the final say."
"We are an old married couple, why should we be shy?" Chen Yang asked about Chao Jian's life in the Science and Technology Park.
The Science and Technology Park has computers and internet, and the Internet covers the Science and Technology Park, but that's the only place with it. There is none on the island or in the town, so they have to find a way to connect themselves.
Chao Jian had nothing interesting to tell Chen Yang. The science park was full of highly intelligent monsters doing research, and he didn't want to get involved and had no interest in it.
But Chen Yang hopes that he can integrate into the group.
Chao Jian had no choice but to go. He did it for three or four years and got used to it.
At present, many buildings and companies are empty. When you walk in, you can feel gusts of cold wind. If anyone has something to complain about, they can go in and get some fresh air and reminisce about the past. When they come out, their faces will be covered with snot and tears, and they will stagger home to cherish their present life.
Everyone is a little bit pretentious.
Chen Yang asked Chao Jian if he had found any information about fragments of other worlds on the Internet.
Chao Jian pinched his brow with his fingertips: "There is a spatial separation."
"I always forget about space." Chen Yang sighed, "Let's go home and cook."
Chao Jian put his arm around Chen Yang's shoulders and rubbed his face against his hair: "Someone stuck his butt out to me today."
Chen Yang didn't understand at first, and after a while he realized what it meant. His face turned cold: "All the kids in the kindergarten know that you belong to my family, and there are still people who want to die like this?"
"It's that ugly freak named what?" Chao Jian frowned.
Chen Yang: "... Please briefly describe the other person's appearance and gender."
"A resident of the Science and Technology Park, a man who seems to be just an adult. I didn't notice anything else." Chao Jian remembered something and added coldly, "He had dinner at our house, and you even gave him a bag of wild apples you planted."
"Xiao Jiang?" Chen Yang's eyes were sharp. "I'll go find him."
Chao Jian bit his earlobe and said, "Let's look for it tomorrow. Dinner is more important."
Chen Yang glanced at Chao Jian. Although most of the people who passed the level were good in skills, none of them could defeat Chao Jian.
Xiao Jiang must be able to see that Chao Jian is a paranoid, so how dare he provoke him
"He sat behind me." Chao Jian said disgustedly, "Draw me. Draw that kind of picture."
"That ugly guy said that you are old and it must be boring to sleep for a long time. He wanted me to try what he did. He also said that he would not tell anyone and you would not know." Chao Jian acted like an honest child and told everything to his parents.
Chen Yang's entire aura changed, and he sneered, "No, I have to go find him. I can't stand this."
"Look for it tomorrow." Chao Jian hugged Chen Yang, "He took off his pants."
Chen Yang was furious, his eyes turned red with anger, and all the muscles in his body swelled.
"But I closed my eyes and smashed his head." He lowered his eyes to Jian, "Go and help me get justice tomorrow and assert my sovereignty, okay?"
Chen Yang: “…”
Seeing that Chen Yang didn't respond, he raised his eyelids to Jian: "Not good?"
"Okay, okay, okay." Chen Yang patted his attractive face, "Why don't I just carve a few words on your forehead, Gui Yang, I belong to Chen Yang?"
Chao Jian's breathing became heavier, his tense back bent, and his dark eyes stared at Chen Yang, with restrained excitement and happiness in them.
"You are sick," Chen Yang said in an inaudible voice, carrying Chao Jian on his back and walking towards the beach.
"Not engraved?" Chao Jian was gloomy and in a bad mood again.
Chen Yang kept walking and said helplessly: "You are too beautiful, how can I do that to you?"
"Then engrave it on my wrist." Chao Jian said paranoidly, "Engrave it tonight."
Chen Yang was speechless and regretted teasing him.
When he was almost home, Chen Yang smelled blood in the wind. His first reaction was that the third member of the tribe had arrived!
Then he realized something and quickly said to Chao Jian, "Hurry up and go into the house and get my medicine box. Heihei's wife gave birth early. I'll go first..."
Before he could say anything, Chen Yang saw a baby bear.
It's not Heihei, it's Heihei's child, Xiaohei.
The fur in front of his body was covered in blood.
"Woo..."
The baby bear put its two front paws in front of it, its round body standing upright, and whimpered helplessly. It walked closer and looked at Chen Yang with its dark eyes.
"I know your mother is giving birth to a brother or sister. Don't shout. Lead the way. I'll go now." Chen Yang hurriedly gave Chao Jian a wink and followed the little bear.
Chao Jian carried the medicine box and walked through the vast forests, relying on his extraordinary sense of smell to find his destination.
Stone cave.
The female bear lay dying at the entrance of the cave, her blood soaking the dirt and wood chips beneath her.
"It's a difficult birth." Chen Yang said in the dark and nervous voice, "I can only do a cesarean section."
Chao Jian placed the heavy medicine box next to Chen Yang and stepped back, all the way to the entrance of the thorny path, to keep watch for him.
After Chen Yang came back, he had a lot of time to spare. He read various books and read about talents in different fields. He calmed down and learned a lot of skills.
He was the one who delivered Heihei's first baby.
I was really panicked and confused at that time, and I had to give orders to Jian the whole time.
The reason why Chao Jian was able to do this was because he learned whatever skills Chen Yang learned.
Now the female bear is having difficulty giving birth, which is another difficult issue that has never been dealt with before.
Chen Yang asked Heihei to keep an eye on Xiaohei and not let it be scared and cry or make trouble. He calmed himself and started to perform a caesarean section on the female bear.
When Erhei was carefully lifted out by Chen Yang, his hands were shaking.
Heihei rushed over, picked up its second child, and gently licked the blood off the child's body.
Chen Yang took a lot of effort to sew up the female bear's wound. He looked at the family of four snuggling together and said to the head of the family in a deep voice, "Heihei, your wife has been injured this time. She can't have a baby for two years. Take care of it."
The bear stood up holding his newborn baby in one paw, holding his older son with the other paw, and bowed awkwardly to Chen Yang.
"We have known each other for so many years, you're welcome." Chen Yang was used to their humane behavior. He packed up the medicine box and said, "I will ask the doctor to come to the island later to give your wife an IV. Please be kind to the doctor."
As he spoke, he picked up the medicine box with his bloody hands and walked towards Chao Jian tiredly: "You cook dinner, I'm exhausted."
Chen Yang didn't eat dinner. After delivering the baby of Heihei's wife, he ran to the town to find a doctor without stopping. He was so tired that he fell asleep without washing the blood from between his fingernails.
Chao Jian got a basin of water and squatted beside the bed to clean his nails.
Chen Yang was sleeping soundly and unconscious.
Chao Jian changed the water several times before he cleaned all his nails.
The light in the room was very soft. Chao Jian stroked Chen Yang's fingers, one by one.
After a moment, Chao Jian grabbed a handful of milk slices from the drawer, peeled three or five and put them into his mouth.
A crunching sound came from between his teeth.
The milk slices are produced by Chen Yang, several people in the town, and a group of people from the Science and Technology Park. They are different from the brand I ate before, and a little sweet, but better than nothing.
Chao Jian finished eating all the milk slices, lowered his head and pressed his lips against Chen Yang's slightly open lips, rubbed them gently for a while, sucked a few times, then got up and left.
Tonight the moon is high in the sky, and the sky is full of stars. The wind blows from the sea, bringing with it the damp, fishy smell, and penetrating into the island, passing through the mountains and forests.
There was a touch of coolness in the wind.
Chao Jian stood on a high point on the mountain and looked down. He saw scattered lights. He was carrying a basket with freshly picked red dates in it.
I am not here to enjoy the wind and see the lights, but...
A dark patch appeared faintly across the sea to the south.
There are fragments of the world coming.
Chao Jian pinched the caterpillar that had crawled onto his clothes when he was picking dates, crushed it to death and threw it away.
As more world fragments are added, there will be new friends, which will make his brother happy.
Chao Jian nonchalantly pulled the corner of his lips, smiled silently, and left here expressionlessly the next moment.
Go back and eat some more milk tablets.
That piece of debris, like the previous one, will create a huge wave in everyone's heart at first, but will gradually subside.
Summer passed, autumn came and went, a snow fell silently in the middle of the night, and the world was white after dawn.
The fourth fragment floated over that day.
Chen Yang stepped forward. He was sure that he had never experienced this mission point before or after the reset.
Many buses parked together.
Next to it is a vegetable market, a row of shops of different sizes, a residential area, and a wide asphalt road... The area is not small.
Chao Jian pinched Chen Yang's face and turned him to one direction.
"Look there."
Just as Chen Yang was about to ask, his pupils shrank violently, and his mind buzzed: "The person lying under the bus is... Xiangdong? Am I seeing things?"
Chao Jian: “No.”
"I didn't see anyone else, just him?" Chen Yang's throat tightened and his eyes looked around unwillingly.
"Just him." Chao Jian pinched the back of Chen Yang's neck.
Chen Yang's breath got stuck in his throat.
"I haven't searched other places here yet. Maybe there are other people who have passed the level..."
"Fuck—" An unbelievable roar came from under the car. Xiangdong came out with a dusty face and stared at Chen Yang and Chao Jian, "Fuck..."
Damn it, all the people who have passed the level on this fragment are like lunatics who escaped from a mental hospital, crying day and night, they are all PTSD patients. I'm so hairy and my brain is rotting after staying here that I'm ready to commit suicide.
Fortunately not.
Xiangdong ran towards them with red eyes and bared teeth.