Chapter 130: Third Extra Part Complete
"Your ring is beautiful. It really suits you." After Ling He put on the ring, he showed no intention of leaving. Instead, he lifted Qi An's hand, "This one seems similar in style to the one you gave me."
[No, shameless!] This infuriating man—taking advantage of having a proper title, he's become completely bold!
"...Oh." Calmly pulling his hand back, Qi An stepped back a few paces, landing right in front of Mu Feng. "Let's leave the dungeon."
"Ah, yes, yes." Lost in thought, Mu Feng snapped back to attention, nodding under the youth's gaze. But just as he turned to leave, he felt an icy stare. Carefully glancing over his shoulder, Mu Feng discovered the source—Ling He.
The big boss of this world. When he withdrew his gaze, he caught Zhang He casting a peculiar look at him.
"W-What's wrong?" When the others weren't looking, Mu Feng whispered to Zhang He.
"You know why I told you not to get too close to Qi An?" Zhang He's expression was cold and indifferent. "The reason has nothing to do with Qi An himself. Qi An is actually a... very good person, as long as you don't cross his底线. He simply won't pay you any attention."
"You clearly know him. Who is Qi An really?" Mu Feng's gaze drifted casually toward the youth, who still appeared delicate. But if Zhang He wasn't lying, then from his description, Qi An seemed far from the harmless person he appeared to be.
"...You'll find out eventually." Zhang He showed no intention of explaining further and continued with what he hadn't finished saying. "The reason lies with a person standing behind him."
"Even though that person is holding back, it's obvious to anyone that he doesn't want anyone getting too close to this youth."
Realizing Zhang He had no intention of continuing, Mu Feng frowned slightly. Deep down, he actually trusted Zhang He's words quite a bit. After a moment of silence, he asked the emotionally detached youth, "What's your opinion on how to complete this task? What do we need to do?"
The youth's steps paused. He glanced at the youth walking ahead, then quickly looked away. "We don't need to do anything."
"What?" Mu Feng stared at him in shock.
"If I haven't guessed wrong, we just need to wait." Something else seemed to enter Zhang He's voice.
"Let's divide these task rewards as we agreed before." Huang Xiaodie spread the items on the ground, taking out a small portion and handing it to Mu Feng.
The agreed-upon matter was successfully completed. After adding each other as friends, the group parted ways. True to his word, Zhang He showed no intention of doing tasks in this world. He played the wandering hero of the game world with complete ease.
Leaving only Mu Feng growing increasingly confused.
He thought for a long time but couldn't figure out the meaning of Zhang He's words, and nothing strange happened in this world either.
Until one day, he finally managed to contact a programmer who had worked on the game's development. Although Zhang He said there was nothing to do, Mu Feng was still searching for a way to complete the task.
The place Mu Feng and the programmer agreed to meet was a private room.
Because this kind of technology was extremely complex, their conversation lasted a very long time.
Despite countless attempts and countless speculations, the programmer still gave Mu Feng a disappointing answer: "We cannot control it. Once it developed its own consciousness, we completely lost the ability to control it."
This conversation was finally interrupted by unexpected news. For some unknown reason, from a certain day onward, the game became inaccessible. People initially thought it was just a system malfunction that would be fixed in a few days. But gradually, they discovered something deeply unsettling.
Everyone who had entered the game, from that moment on, none of them came out.
The game world and the outside world completely lost all connection.
It was as if those who entered the game were trapped inside by something...
"What should we do now?" Mu Feng's brow tightly furrowed. Because of the long period of calm, he thought he had plenty of time. Although he had imagined countless solutions before, when the moment actually arrived, Mu Feng found himself completely helpless.
The situation in the real world became extremely urgent, but no matter how experts tried, they couldn't reconnect the game world with the real world.
Just as Mu Feng was at his wit's end, he suddenly received a transmission talisman.
This was something that shouldn't exist in this world, so it must have come from Zhang He. Remembering what the youth had said before, Mu Feng opened the talisman.
There was only one simple sentence on it:
Let Qi An try entering the game world.
No reason given.
Mu Feng froze. He had serious doubts about the message, but with no solutions coming to mind, he decided to give it a try. He proposed this request to the youth.
Unexpectedly, while people in the real world tried every method to enter this game but failed, the youth connected with just a slight effort and got in.
That barrier dissolved immediately.
Mu Feng followed closely and entered the game world.
A man stood before the youth. The moment Qi An's figure appeared in the game world, the man tightly embraced him.
It was... Ling He.
"I've looked for you for a long time, and... waited for you for a very long time." Ling He's voice was pleasant, but now it seemed somewhat aggrieved.
"...Mm."
"I know we're in two different worlds. You're real, and I'm just something imaginary. You can leave my world at any time..." The man's voice grew slightly hoarse.
"I didn't actually intend to harm those people. I know you don't like this. I just wanted to secretly get you out. Please don't be angry..." He seemed to be explaining.
"...Mm."
"The ring on your hand was actually something I deliberately gave you. The final task of that dungeon was something I specially modified. Although what I did was inexcusable, I want to tell you—I fell in love with you the moment I first saw you." It seemed he wanted to emphasize this point, as the man tightened his embrace on Qi An.
"When I saw you, I was happy, truly truly happy. But I don't know why, I always have a feeling that you would leave me. It's as if... you've left me many times before..." The man's gaze darkened.
"I want you to enter my world, and I also want... my world to have you in it..."
"...Okay." Unexpectedly, the youth who had been simply murmuring in agreement suddenly gave a different answer.
[Main Quest: Prevent the self-aware mainframe from destroying the world (Completed)
Number of Travelers: 2]
On his last glance leaving this world, Mu Feng saw that youth seem to freeze for a moment, then break into an especially bright and radiant smile.
"Haven't you been out of touch with recent developments for a long time?" The moment he returned to the rest hall, he saw Zhang He already seated.
"Yeah." Mu Feng nodded dazedly.
"Recently, two big shots went to the task world for a honeymoon. If you do tasks now, you'll easily encounter them. If you really do encounter them, remember one thing." Zhang He paused. "You don't need to do anything. Just don't disturb them... showing off their love is enough."