Shen Zhong had been to Gu Ruchao's room door more than once.
The fan was spinning, making a constant sound amid the noisy cicadas of the summer. Gu Ruochao fell back on the bed covered with blue and white striped sheets, his eyes following the fan above his head, turning round and round.
Shen Zhong lowered his head and looked at the model airplane in the door of his room.
"That one." Although he didn't seem to be looking at the corner where Shen Zhong was, Gu Ruchao knew which model Shen Zhong was looking at. "It's the Blue Sky ship, which was assembled two months ago. The one next to it is the F-12. Don't touch that. The components of the turbine engine are not very strong and can fall off easily."
Anyway, if he doesn't say anything, Shen Zhong won't touch him.
They spent their summer afternoons in the same room. Gu Ruchao sat cross-legged in a daze, searching for the next interesting idea in his vast mental inventory. Shen Zhong didn't want to go home and disturb the parent-child time of his uncle, aunt and cousin.
The chirping of cicadas, summer, clean blue and white sheets, silence... all of this once formed Shen Zhong's impression of Gu Ruchao's room door.
But it wasn’t Xie Ziyu’s.
"He basically stays inside and doesn't go out. When the hotel staff delivers food, they just deliver it to the door. After an hour, they take away the empty plates at the door." Lan Hua said, "I don't know what might be inside..."
"Cockroach, I guess." Yu Rongshi said.
Yi Wan, who was sandwiched between them, didn't say anything... Lan Hua screamed, "Why did you open the door directly?"
"If he didn't want us to see it, he would have taken the room card away." Yi Wan said, "Since he left the room card, it means that he has been looking forward to the moment when we enter his room."
Lan Hua said: "How do you know..."
A good performance must have an audience, right
Gu Ruchao once said that a person's room door can reflect the world that person lives in. Shen Zhongzeng deeply agrees with this.
And now... Yi Wan opened up the world of "Gray Palace".
To Yi Wan's surprise, there was no dusty and stuffy air inside the room, but the sun was blowing in his face - in the open window, the orange-red sun was hanging in the gray sky, the light hurt everyone's eyes, and there was also the wind blowing in his face, and the curtains were blown up by the wind.
"This sun..." Lan Hua was caught off guard and covered his eyes.
Yi Wan suddenly had a strange premonition. Could it be that Huigong had planned this for him to see such a scene when he opened the door
"Gray Palace" has always liked such symbolic things.
Gu Ruchao's room door always had the mess of a teenager. Hui Gong's room door was mostly neat, even the bed was made meticulously... Yu Rongshi said, "Look at the desk."
There were piles of books, newspapers and magazines on the desk, and the walls were covered with all kinds of reports, and a computer screen that was dimly flickering with a cold light.
"There is a password." Yu Rongshi said.
Lan Hua hesitated at the door and didn't dare to go in. He saw Yi Wan standing in front of the table, looking at the reports on the wall. He bent down to check the reports.
Most of the report magazines were about the entertainment industry, with a few about finance, sports, and technology... Yu Rongshi read them one by one. These newspapers and magazines had one thing in common: they included the deeds of different "protagonists".
Based on this workload... Huigong should have collected all the information about all the "protagonists" that have appeared in this world here.
He looked at Yi Wan and said, "Are the reports posted on the wall also different?"
Yi Wan said: "No..."
"Um?"
"The ones on the wall are the best in each field." Yi Wan said softly, "There are 'protagonists' in every field, but the ones on the wall can be summarized as the most outstanding 'protagonists' in that field."
The similarity of thinking styles, or perhaps the pursuit of a higher level of thinking - this was Yu Rongshi's first feeling.
In such a short time, he could understand the intention of the Gray Palace. He lowered his eyes.
"Is there anything in the computer?" Lan Hua said at the door, "Is there any virus in it? For example, once it is opened, it will be released to all networks..."
"The computer has a password." Yu Rongshi said.
The computer prompts that if you enter the wrong number three times, the data in the entire hard drive will be reset. Lan Hua said, "Or we can find a computer expert..."
But Yi Wan had already started. He quickly entered a string of numbers on the keyboard and pressed the enter key.
Lan Hua saw this and yelled, "You're crazy! What if you're wrong!"
He didn't finish his words because the computer had already calibrated the password and entered the "Logging in" page.
Yu Rongshi stood beside him, his eyelashes drooping. Finally, he said, "What password did you enter just now?"
"Gu Ruchao, the date of the day he jumped off the building." Yi Wan said, "If it's not this date, I will enter the date when the sign fell down."
It was another chessboard duel that belonged only to them.
The laptop was surprisingly clean, with only one disk and a folder on the desktop. The folder contained a folder of raw data, an Excel spreadsheet, and a Python algorithm file. Yi Wan opened it and found a string of results calculated by the algorithm in the Python file that was difficult for anyone to understand.
“Positive correlation coefficient, negative correlation coefficient…”
The fate-determining factors of high school, 0813.
"Academic Master", 0712.
Industries associated with “dominant bosses”: finance, investment 097… The lack of the technology industry 002: the technology industry focuses on social networks, not traditional manufacturing, etc…
The correlation coefficients of “Entertainment Circle”, 097, “Boy Group”, “Idol”, “Movie Actor”, “Music”, and “Classical Music” respectively…
There are a few words that sink to the bottom.
"Gentleness, 0013"
"Dedication, 0014"
"Self-Sacrifice, 0011"
"Altruism, 0005"
This is a huge computing network and spider web-like result that no one can understand. This scattered information is like a pond after rain, with small lotus leaves scattered in the middle, and no one can use them to form a perfect thinking network.
Lan Hua finally stepped into the room carefully. Yi Wan had been staring at the computer for an entire hour without speaking. Yu Rongshi stood beside him without saying a word, like a silent statue.
"Yi Wan," he said dryly, "did you find anything? What did it say?"
Yi Wan didn't say anything.
He closed the Excel file that took so long to load. There were two folders on the desktop that were not opened. He opened one of them.
It was still a similar table, with information about ten girls and nine boys...
"He actually found nine men." Lan Hua murmured, "Is this evidence enough to convict him?"
This was indeed an unexpected discovery. Even Yu Rongshi thought that he had only hurt those girls.
When Yi Wan opened those files, it was like stepping into a cold and dark world. In each of these files, he gave those "experimental subjects" different positive emotions, and then broke them one by one. Friendship, confidant feelings, gratitude between seniors and juniors, teacher-student feelings, family feelings, and seven different modes of "love" - because in this world, "love" always occupies the largest proportion.
Experiments, in fact, are all cold experiments. The tables still contain the so-called "correlation data". The words ranked highest in correlation are a few words.
"Self-realization".
"Self-moral justification".
"Brother".
And one last word.
"female".
These unknown words and tables were finally connected in Yi Wan's mind at that moment. And he suddenly realized something - this thing was something that Hui Gong had never realized, but it had been hovering in Yi Wan's mind for a long time.
He hugged his arms and suddenly began to tremble. Yu Rongshi saw him like this and reached out to touch his shoulder: "What's wrong..."
His hand was suddenly opened by Yi Wan.
Yi Wan looked straight at him. At that moment, he saw fear in Yi Wan's eyes—not fear for him, but fear for Yi Wan herself.
There is one more sentence.
"I know, but I don't want to... hurt you."
What happened to Yi Wan
Soon, Yi Wan looked away, as if everything just now was Yu Rongshi's illusion. The boy just said, "Let's continue looking... the last folder."
The last folder has no name and just sits there quietly like Pandora's box.
It is a txt file.
The file is named...
"My Friend Shen Zhong." Yu Rongshi said softly.
"… When we first met in the Children's Palace in the first grade of elementary school, I was very solitary because I didn't know what to say to others or what expressions to make. No matter what I said or did, even if I imitated others, it would look weird." Yi Wan said, "At that time, I didn't think Gu Ruchao was my friend, even though he always sat next to me."
"The teacher assigned us to write an essay that day, and the title was "My Friend". I had a fever that day, so I didn't go to the Children's Palace. But I was also thankful because I didn't have to write about who my friends were. The week after I came back, the teacher read the model essay, and before he read, I saw Gu Ruchao winking at me. He said, 'You're quite interesting, do you want to be friends?'"
"His composition is, 'My Friend Shen Zhong'."
Looking back, all the stories started from then.
Gu Ruchao's composition "pulled Shen Zhong out" from the world that was like a background board. At that moment, he became the person who seemed "different" from others.
A few years later, Yi Wan used the same topic to kill "Shen Zhong".
The file was blank. Yi Wan turned off the computer and sat in front of the chair for a long time - just like Shen Zhong when he wrote the last stroke of the composition in the Children's Palace.
Lan Hua looked at them with his mouth open, glanced at Yi Wan and then at Yu Rong, having no idea what the two riddlers were doing.
"It's time to go." Yi Wan stood up and said, "Let's put an end to everything about 'Gu Ruchao'."
He finally called him "Gu Ruchao" instead of "Hui Gong". This meant that he would eradicate everything related to him.
"… "
"You will always be with me, right? Rong Shi?"
Yu Rongshi raised his eyes. He realized that Yi Wan was looking at him, and his fingers trembled slightly. Yi Wan stared at him intently, and his eyes were like a raft drifting in the sea.
"I will." Yu Rongshi held his hand.
No matter where they are, he will be with him. So what if Gu Ruchao occupied Shen Zhong's first ten years? He will occupy more time and more than he did.
What he wants is not only Yi Wan's time, but also his life, soul, and everything more than that... How about having a childhood relationship with Gu Ruchao? The world is big, and there are still many things to explore. Yi Wan will have more "first times" in the future.
That's enough.
And it was with his company that Yi Wan had the courage to face the past.
So now.
"I want to work with him to kill everything that belongs to Gu Ruchao. If he can't do it, then I will do it..."
Yu Rongshi was stunned.
This was the first time he had such a dark thought.
The two of them didn't mention their thoughts. Yu Rongshi pressed Yi Wan's hand and said, "Shall we go to S City now?"
Yi Wan nodded.
They walked out of the room. Lan Hua gritted her teeth and followed them: "I'll book the return ticket! I have the highest VIP privileges of X Airlines! Damn, there are no flights today... It's okay, I have a private pilot and a plane!"
He followed the two and called the airline. There was still some distance to go downstairs when another person stood in front of them, panting.
His face was pale and his voice was trembling.
"Finally... I found you." He said, "Lily fainted."
…
"She fainted for no reason. It happened so suddenly, or maybe I should have noticed it earlier..." Shi Qiao sat on the bed, scratching his head in regret, "In fact, I noticed it a long time ago. She became more and more silent and slow, I should have..."
"How many times did she jump off the building?" Yu Rongshi said.
"Twice." Shi Qiao uttered the number with great difficulty.
Yi Wan looked at the girl's neck. The girl was lying flat on the bed, wearing a ventilator, with her eyes closed, as if she was asleep, her cheeks as pure as a lily. Only the gradually pale blue color of her neck symbolized her loss of vitality.
She is dying.
"But before!" Shi Qiao said with his neck stiff, "She was fine before! The power of heaven will heal her... right?"
He looked at the people around him desperately and confirmed again: "Heaven will always repair her, right? Isn't it?"
"… Take good care of her." These were the last words Yu Rongshi could say, "Don't leave her again."
What he actually wanted to say was that Lily was not the coward who was afraid of the blue light and chose to commit suicide many times. She was actually a true warrior who would rather die than fall into the clutches of the blue light thread.
And Shi Qiao, the man beside her who keeps saying that he will protect her, is the real coward.
Shi Qiao covered his head and cried silently. Was he thinking of the winter night a few years ago
He took the girl away from his hometown and boarded a train to City S. He held the girl's hand and told her.
"We will have a bright future, believe me."
Lan Hua also left Lily's ward. He leaned against the wall and said blankly, "But she shouldn't have died."
No one deserves to die.
"The power bestowed by Heaven on 'Blue Light' is being lost... It must be because of something done by Gray Palace." Yi Wan stood beside them, calmer than anyone else, "Let's go back to City S."
They hurried downstairs and got on the car to the airport, with heavy thoughts all the way. When they arrived at the airport, there were still ten minutes before the plane took off. The CCTV news was playing on the large display screen in the hall. Lan Hua bought a cup of coffee and sat next to the two of them, her fingers shaking.
Yu Rongshi asked him, "You are worried that something might happen to Lan Bai, right?"
In the empty airport hall, Lan Hua smiled.
"Lan Guang can't be saved. It doesn't matter. He has done so many wrong things, I wouldn't be surprised even if he becomes a vegetable." He said, "If he goes crazy, I will support him. If he becomes disabled, I will also support him!"
He was clearly doomed by the disaster, yet he still said such things. Yu Rongshi lowered his head and drank a cup of coffee, and stopped talking.
It was time to board the plane. The three of them were getting ready to board.
"Tear."
"Tear."
The screen on the large display made a harsh sound of electricity.
"What's going on... Circuit failure?"
Yi Wan felt something and turned back in shock. At this moment, a strange picture appeared on the big screen covered with snowflakes.
It was a grayish white scene, and in the middle of the picture was a cursive “x”.
"What's this? Is the signal wrong?" the staff in charge of the big screen said, "Try changing the channel?"
"I can't change the channel!" another staff member said, with fear in his voice, "Wait, my phone!"
He looked at his phone in shock. The same scene was displayed on his phone screen.
Televisions, projectors, mobile phones, tablets, computer screens... all of a sudden, the whole world was lit up by this scene. Countless technicians tried to decipher this scene in fear, but all attempts failed.
"What's this?"
"What is this?"
Different languages express different doubts and fears. This is because no hacker group can achieve such uniform intrusion technology. Compared with the technology after the Fourth Industrial Revolution, it is more like a "miracle" that has been passed down by word of mouth but has never been confirmed.
This night, the whole world is lit up by miracles.
At this moment, sound finally came from the TV.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen." The hoarse voice with a changed tone said, "Many people have heard my name, but more people have not heard my name - this is also unavoidable. Although I am destined to be a household name, I have not spent enough time to complete the path God has prepared for me, so I have to talk to you in this way -"
"You must be very curious about what kind of organization can hack into so many devices? No, I want to tell you. There is no organization behind this. The only person behind this is me. And the reason why I can hack into so many devices? Of course, it's only because of the favor of 'God'-"
"Speaking of God, what do you think of? The Hercules in ancient legends? Or the Thor in modern movies and TV dramas? No, none of them. Today I am here to tell you that God really exists. And I am God's agent - or, I am no different from you, but I am God's toy..."
"What crazy talk is he talking about?" someone in the hall said, "He must be crazy..."
"It's Huigong." Yi Wan said, "He's the one talking."
He stared at the screen intently. So did Lan Hua and Yu Rongshi.
"As for the consequences of invading these screens, how many people will die? Oh really, I don't care at all. Because in our world, life and death are always the final proposition. Speaking of this, should I present the evidence earlier to avoid you changing the channel? So, first of all, let me invite other gods in various fields of ours—"
The white screen turned and was cut into thirty-one pieces. Someone with sharp eyes saw the person in the video and screamed, "Oh my God..."
These people, all of them, are top bosses in their respective industries!
There are Hollywood triple-A actresses, top scorers in the college entrance exam, a prince from a foreign country, and even a rising political star from a neighboring country... Some people questioned: "Special effects actors?"
The person on the screen seemed to know his question and let out a "hiss" sound.
"Some people must think they are special effects actors I hired, right? It doesn't matter. Facts will prove their identities. Besides, some of them are walking on the busy streets..." He snapped his fingers, and sure enough, everyone saw the triple-award-winning actress walking on the noisy streets of a certain city. She looked dazed, like a puppet who had lost her mind, being controlled by silk strings and stumbling around. Various messages on Twitter also proved her authenticity at this moment.
"I guarantee it with my Porsche that she is real."
"What's going on? I tried to stop her, but was knocked back by an invisible wall of air!"
"Oh my god, what on earth is that!"
Gradually, more and more public opinions fermented on the Internet. The inability to touch was only the most basic abnormality. In addition, there were various abnormalities that occurred to different "top bosses". If people thought that the "people" on the screen were just playing a prank at the beginning, now, everything they saw made them unable to deny this fact.
This world is crazy!
"Do you feel like the world has gone crazy? Really? Haha, you discovered this too late... Shh, there are many more highlights to come." The person in the video said, "These people are all chosen by God in your eyes, right? Are they the children of destiny who are blessed with good fortune? They have talents, good luck, and opportunities that ordinary people cannot have... These have made their careers successful. You are very envious, right? But there are always people who are born to be so excellent and lucky, haha..."
He suddenly screamed, "Your ideas are all wrong! I tell you, if you want, you can become like them! This world is just a duck standing on the street! You can get it for money!"
"… "
"What is he talking about?"
"Oh my god... what on earth is going on..."
Yi Wan's fingers felt cold. He stared at the screen blankly, just like he had stared at Gu Ruchao in front of the game console many years ago. The screen continued to speak: "Now, let's move on to the first act. Let's see how tolerant God is of these people."
The next screen is.
“Ahh! Oh my god!!”
On the thirty-one small screens, some people jumped off buildings, some rushed towards speeding trains, and some crashed into high voltage electricity... The bloody scenes were enough to make everyone vomit and scream, whether it was everyone in front of the screen or everyone who witnessed it on the spot.
"I just tried to grab his neighbor to stop him... but I couldn't stop him at all."
"Oh my god! What was that? It bounced me off!"
"Ugh... Ugh..."
But then, something happened that frightened everyone even more.
Those "people" crawled out of their pools of blood!
Broken limbs were reassembled... charred skin was repaired... even a body that had been shredded into minced meat could be split apart from the broken ends and restored to human form. Screams and panic filled every scene. Even the people watching from afar were watching all this stupidly.
"It's an illusion..."
"Special effects..."
"Think this is a special effect, huh?" The person on the screen laughed happily again. "People always use various reasons to convince themselves. It doesn't matter, so let's watch the third act... Hi? Russian hackers? I know you are looking for my traces, but you can't find them."
"Because this is God's world!"
"Act 3, let me see, here are a few pairs of the most perfect couples. At least the couples that Heaven loves the most. Now, let's have their reunion - this should be a reunion under the starry sky. By the way, everyone knows a common sense, right? The earth is round, so half of it faces the sun and the other half does not. Therefore, it is always half night and half day on the earth. But it doesn't matter, for their reunion..."
"Soon, we will see the stars all over the world twinkling for them!"
Lan Hua took a step back and fell into his chair. He said blankly: "How did he do that? He..."
This is not surprising. For a crazy "protagonist" like Hui Gong, nothing is surprising.
Starry sky.
The starry sky all over the world.
At this moment it began to flicker.
Just because of the crazy words on countless screens!
Yi Wan felt dizzy and took a step back, unable to contain his fear and nausea. A voice kept coming from the screen: "Now you understand, right? Do you understand what this world of ours is? Well, the third act is over. Next, I want to introduce my purpose to everyone..."
"I believe that we should live in a world where everyone is equal, like in a utopia! However, there are always people who are more equal than others, and there are always people who are freer than others. This is terrible, and I often wonder, how can this be? This absurd world gives us abilities, for what? And those lucky people who received this gift, what did they do for us?" The voice became hysterical, "They trampled on us to get resources, they used our trust to wage wars, and they played the protagonist and villain, cat and mouse games on our flesh and bones. In the past, we had class distinctions because of the differences in the control of the means of production. Now, we have distinctions because of the so-called "fate", that is, the golden finger... This is really terrible, isn't it?"
"I've had enough! I've had enough of this fucked up world. Today is midnight on the 31st of the month - according to the earliest time zone in the world. Before the New Year's bell rings, I want to give everyone an old year's gift. That is - let everyone have equal power to become the 'protagonist'. Next, I will teach you how to do it!"
"… "
Yi Wan began to lose hearing.
Lin Meng, Qin Xuexin, Lin Meng, Lin Meng’s father… Countless faces flashed before his eyes.
He took two steps back and pressed his chest hard with his hands. In addition to Huigong's crazy words, there was also a chaotic and desperate force that was born from Huigong's speech and collided in the airport hall... Perhaps not only the airport, but also the entire Anyang City... and even the whole world.
Everyone was infected by this madness, and was kidnapped by this strange "power". They stood under the same starry sky, gazing at the stars.
They said: They are crazy too.
"… In addition to this guide, I have a small gift." The person on the screen finally said, "On this website, there is a list - the list lists in detail the names and identities of all the protagonists who have used 'luck', as well as all the people who have been 'stepped on' by them."
He grinned: "It's time to start a new era! An era of equality, where everyone has the golden finger! An era without government! Finally..."
"!" he said, "I'm waiting for you!"
The live broadcast sound disappeared.
All that was left was an endless white screen, an "x", and silence.
It was not only the screen that was silent, but also everyone in the airport. Yi Wan knew that they had not only gained new knowledge, but also the crazy influence of the power that he had just felt, which seemed to come from the "sky".
Are the forces “above” encouraging the actions of the “Gray Palace”
Or... He also feels that it is time to despair and "end"
Lan Hua fell down beside him. His eyes were red and he was breathing heavily. Yi Wan knew that he was also affected by that power... No one could resist that power, just like...
There were cries and laughter coming from the airport.
“Haha, hahahaha…” someone said.
"interesting… "
"Dad, I don't understand. Can we go home quickly?" A child pulled his father's arm and said fearfully.
Trampling, chaos, screaming... Yi Wan didn't know what those people were doing, he only knew that maybe everyone wanted to rush to their stage. He lowered his head, gritted his teeth for a long time, and supported himself with his hands to stand up from the ground -
Until someone held his hand.
"Let's go." Yu Rongshi looked at him and said very firmly, "Let's go. Go to S City. Find Gu Ruchao, and then end all this."