Xu Nian was a man of his word and never went back on his promises, so he indeed came to pick up Chen Zhou the next day.
Xu Nian carried Wang Linlin and Chen Zhou away in a car he had borrowed from the town, and Chen Zhou also informed Li Jia’s parents about his arrangements.
The summer temperature was frighteningly high. The air seemed to be distorted by the excessive heat, and everything was devoid of life, except for the tireless cicadas and the people toiling away. Chen Zhou only recovered once he got into the car, closing his eyes to pretend he was sleeping while calling 126 in his mind.
[126, what should I do when I get to town? Find Cao Ying? Then what about myself?]
Chen Zhou had the money left by the original owner, but it would only last for a while.
[The host can decide freely, as long as the task completion is guaranteed. Once you reach the required points, you can do whatever you want.]
According to the information received, the protagonist gong and shou were both teachers in the town, and they slowly fell in love this way. As for the original owner Li Jia, he was a genuine cannon fodder character. Although he silently sacrificed a lot for the protagonist gong, he eventually discovered the protagonist’s romance while in town and gave up with quiet heartbreak.
Chen Zhou found that this information was all given around the protagonists; as for what Li Jia himself was like, it wasn’t mentioned at all.
That meant Chen Zhou would have to improvise on his own. Chen Zhou thought to himself that the original owner used to teach at an inconspicuous primary school in town, but the primary school later ceased to exist due to various reasons, leaving Li Jia unemployed as well.
Actually, there were many choices. Chen Zhou could choose to trick his parents into giving him money, or borrow some. Anyway, once the gong and shou got together, his task would be completed, and 126 told him that this virtual world would then be recycled, so none of this would continue to exist.
126 even offered to provide money for Chen Zhou, but Chen Zhou refused. Since he had come here, he wanted to live well for the original owner’s sake.
He had many doubts in his heart, such as whether everyone else in this world was virtual, and what the purpose of this world was. However, 126 did not give a direct answer to any of them.
Chen Zhou stopped asking further. Besides completing the tasks, he needed to live a good life now. Chen Zhou pondered that the original owner had teaching experience, but it would be somewhat difficult to become a teacher again now. Otherwise, it would be a tiring odd job, and Li Jia wouldn’t have gone back to his hometown in the first place.
Aside from the original owner’s skills, Chen Zhou wondered what else he could do. He suddenly remembered that Xu Nian ran a restaurant in town, a small business, but overall quite decent. Chen Zhou knew how to cook, and his culinary skills were very good. Why not give it a try?
Having planned all this out, the moment Chen Zhou opened his eyes again, he found that they had arrived.
The environment in the town was somewhat better than that in the village. At this moment, small vendors were still shouting out their wares, and the scorching sun baked the earth, yet people were still tirelessly striving for a living.
Following Xu Nian, Chen Zhou first dropped Wang Linlin off at the hospital, and after getting everything settled, Xu Nian headed to the restaurant. He needed to stay here to work while taking care of his mother.
“Bro, drop me off wherever you get off,” Chen Zhou proposed.
He planned to use his remaining money to find a hotel first, and then talk about working with Xu Nian later.
“Where are you staying?” Xu Nian said. “I’ll drop you off.”
Sitting in the back seat, Chen Zhou calculated, “I figured I’d find a hotel first, and then figure it out.”
After a brief silence, Xu Nian frowned without speaking, wondering what he was thinking.
Chen Zhou didn’t speak again. Who would have thought that after a moment, Xu Nian suddenly said in a low voice, “There is a spare room above my restaurant.”
Hearing this, Chen Zhou didn’t react for a moment. Pondering for a bit, he said, “Bro, you live at the restaurant? That’s pretty good too, very convenient.”
Xu Nian fell silent, finally squeezing out a sentence from between his teeth, “Are you an idiot?”
Chen Zhou stared at Xu Nian’s profile in the driver’s seat, cautiously confirming, “Bro, can, can I live there?”
“Yeah.”
[126! He actually let me stay! Is he this nice? Why is he suddenly helping me?]
126: It certainly seemed unusual.
However, before 126 could reply, Chen Zhou muttered to himself again, [Not normal for sure. But whatever.]
“Thanks, bro!” Chen Zhou smiled and said to him.
Looking through the rearview mirror, Xu Nian saw the radiant person whose smile actually looked quite nice, making his whole demeanor seem sunny. He also curved the corners of his mouth pleasurably.
Soon they arrived at the restaurant. This small diner wasn’t very grand; it had two floors, with the upper floor for living and the lower floor for business.
“Boss!” Seeing Xu Nian arrive, someone ran out to greet him.
It was a crew-cut young man, looking about the same age as Chen Zhou, smiling brightly with a patch of tattoos on his arm. Chen Zhou didn’t know his name, so he temporarily referred to him as Luodan.
“The boss is finally back.” Luodan helped him carry his luggage, catching sight of Chen Zhou lowering his head behind him. “Hey, boss, who is this?”
“A friend, staying here,” Xu Nian stated concisely.
Luodan gave an oh and led them inside.
The first floor was spacious and bright. Without looking back, Xu Nian headed straight up to the second floor, only remembering halfway up that there was still someone behind him.
Lowering his head to look, he saw the young man looking around curiously with wide-open eyes, his hair curled from sleeping in the car, and a red imprint still on his face.
Finding his look amusing, he tapped the stair railing with his hand. Chen Zhou turned his head and saw Xu Nian standing on the stairs. The sunlight slanted in through the window, with Xu Nian right in the middle of it, a trace of unretracted smile still lingering on his face, making his whole appearance soften up.
Still in a daze, he heard Xu Nian’s smiling voice, “Come up. What are you staring at for?”
[He is so good-looking, 126.]
126: [Ahem, host, don’t forget the task.]
Chen Zhou: [Oh, oh.]
Without missing a beat, Chen Zhou hurried up and followed Xu Nian upstairs.
“This room is yours, and the key is right here. Remember to lock up when you go out, and don’t forget to take the key,” Xu Nian instructed. “I’m right next door, so find me if anything comes up.”
“Got it.”
Xu Nian still had work to do, so he went off to busy himself right after speaking.
Entering the room, Chen Zhou saw that it was clean. He finally sat down on the bed to rest for a while, pondering how to bring up the matter of wanting to work here.
[Host, we’ve reached a task point. I need to transmit information to you.]
[More information? Alright, bring it on.]
Chen Zhou closed his eyes to receive the information.
The time to receive the information was actually very short, finishing up before long. However, Chen Zhou felt puzzled because the information he received consisted entirely of the protagonists’ details, complete even down to the ending. Yet why was there no information about anything else besides his task?
Not wanting to remain so clueless, Chen Zhou asked 126. At first, 126 beat around the bush, but later, having no other choice, it told Chen Zhou a part of the matter.
[The protagonists in this virtual world are our research subjects. We give them complete lives and memories to observe, but the system’s overall energy is limited, and there are always loopholes. These loopholes are the so-called cannon fodder roles that you play. They have connections to the protagonists, but we cannot control all of them, so we have no choice but to choose your consciousness to come in, play them, and carry out the required tasks.]
It wasn’t explained very clearly, but Chen Zhou felt this was probably as much as 126 could reveal. Chen Zhou didn’t inquire further about their specific purpose, choosing to temporarily push aside the doubts in his heart. After all, living a good life now and saving up enough points to leave was the priority.
[Fine, I get it.]
Knowing that he had to complete the task now, Chen Zhou still felt too lazy to move, knowing that going outside meant facing the blazing sun. He thought of the watermelon he had seen downstairs.
He really wanted to eat some.
[Host, don’t forget the task.]
Reluctantly, Chen Zhou still headed out. Xu Nian was not downstairs when he left, and not wanting to disturb him, Chen Zhou went out by himself.
In the village, Chen Zhou had already asked around for Cao Ying’s school, and he even feigned a pretext by bringing some things along for Cao Ying.
Deliberately walking very slowly, Chen Zhou dawdled for several dozen minutes before arriving at the destination. He went to the guard station to talk to the elderly gatekeeper, saying he was looking for Cao Ying and was his cousin.
Before long, Cao Ying appeared.
He had to admit that Cao Ying was indeed very good-looking, tall, handsome, wearing glasses, exuding a scholarly aura with a very gentle smile. Upon arriving, he looked quite surprised, pulling Chen Zhou over to catch up without any sense of estrangement despite their long separation. Chen Zhou could roughly understand why Li Jia had fallen for Cao Ying, but it was clear that Cao Ying truly only regarded him as a younger brother.
[I still think Xu Nian is more handsome. What do you think, 126?]
126 expressed that as long as the host was happy.
“It’s been so long since we last met. Would you like me to take you around for a tour?” Cao Ying invited with a smile. “The school has been renovated nicely, and the scenery is pretty good.”
Shyly smiling along, Chen Zhou said, “Okay.”
Along the way, Cao Ying kept introducing things to Chen Zhou. Finding the local environment novel, Chen Zhou soon immersed himself in the campus atmosphere, feeling a bit nostalgic for his own high school life.
Cao Ying went off to buy water midway, and when he returned, he saw Chen Zhou standing under a tree not far away.
He suddenly found himself unable to move forward. In his impression, the young man always seemed to keep his head down, being shy and disliking talk, often making himself look dusty and disheveled. But today was different; it was as if his temperament had changed.
Standing idly, Chen Zhou happened to spot a cat under the tree. Smiling, he teased it, watching it pounce on some fallen petals. He simply reached out and gently shook the tree branches, causing the petals to fall down like rain and covering his head entirely.
“Let’s go, Xiaojia.” Finally withdrawing his gaze, Cao Ying walked over.
Chen Zhou strolled around with Cao Ying for a while, finally finishing up towards evening. Cao Ying invited him to dinner.
However, Chen Zhou inexplicably thought of the food he had eaten at Xu Nian’s house that day, as it smelled so good. He shook his head and refused.
[Host, given the original owner’s personality, he wouldn’t refuse.] 126 sighed.
Chen Zhou didn’t care: [Anyway, I finished the task.]
Cao Ying dropped him off at the entrance. “Come find me if anything comes up, and watch out for your safety on the way back.”
“Okay, thanks, bro.”
Cao Ying pulled Chen Zhou in and patted him on the shoulder, but Chen Zhou’s gaze suddenly froze somewhere else.
The figure of a passerby outside the gate looked very familiar; it seemed to be Xu Nian.
“Bro, I’m heading out first.” Chen Zhou rushed out eagerly, leaving Cao Ying standing in place and wondering what to make of the departing figure.
Staring at that figure, Chen Zhou chased after him. Sure enough, it was Xu Nian, who was holding a bag of vegetables and fruits.
“Bro!” Chen Zhou approached him elatedly. “Why did you come here?”
Xu Nian paused his originally swift pace for a split second, then glanced at him feigning nonchalance. “Buying groceries.”
“Oh.” Chen Zhou glanced at the bag in his hand. “Didn’t you already buy some?”
Xu Nian ignored him.
“Bro.”
“Could it be that you came looking for me?”