34. A Very Peculiar Nonsense

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“Driver? What driver?” The young girl looked over in confusion, popping the last piece of apple from her bowl into her mouth.

Chen Sheng glanced at her blankly, then spoke in a heartfelt tone. “Your amnesia is getting pretty serious!”

Hearing his complaint, Yu Youxin finally remembered—it was the paper figure she’d casually folded yesterday. But that paper figure only lasted for a day; after that, it would disappear on its own.

She slipped into character in an instant, feigning a mournful expression. “Old Chen, do you really want me to leave? I thought we were quite close!”

Chen Sheng rolled his eyes.

“You can stay as long as you want, but I’m a single man, after all. If word gets out that you’re living with me, a single man, it’s you who’ll suffer.” With that, Chen Sheng headed to the kitchen.

He’d bought groceries after work and was now preparing to tidy up and start dinner.

His actions immediately caught the attention of the young girl, who ran barefoot into the kitchen, watching him with curiosity. “Old Chen, you can cook?”

“Not really. Just enough so I won’t starve.” Chen Sheng hinted that if she wanted a proper meal, she’d better look elsewhere.

“When did you learn?”

“When I was studying medicine for my graduate exams.”

“Old Chen, you went to college?”

Chen Sheng couldn’t help but glance at her. It was the first time he’d ever heard such an absurd question.

But the girl seemed oblivious to her own nonsense, lacking any awareness. She watched him with interest, occasionally sneaking slices of freshly cut tomato from the chopping board.

“These tomatoes aren’t for eating raw. If you want some, I’ll buy them for you tomorrow,” Chen Sheng said.

“Really?”

“These tomatoes have tough flesh and skin for easy transport, but the taste and texture are… well, let’s just say they’re barely tomatoes. The kind you can eat raw has been phased out of the market because they spoil easily and don’t transport well. Only some elderly folks in rural areas still grow them.”

Chen Sheng explained patiently.

The girl wasn’t particularly concerned; she’d only asked out of curiosity. She continued to distract Chen Sheng as he cooked, prompting him to abandon stir-frying and switch to boiling noodles instead.

“Old Chen, your cooking really is just enough to keep yourself alive. These noodles aren’t very good!” Sitting cross-legged on the sofa, she cradled a bowl bigger than her face, complaining between bites.

Chen Sheng rolled his eyes.

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How could he cook anything decent when all the side dishes had been eaten by a silly girl?

Has she never heard, “Even the cleverest cook can’t make something out of nothing”?

Besides, he wasn’t exactly a clever cook.

Ignoring her, Chen Sheng finished his noodles and took out a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, slipping them on as he prepared to enter the game.

After all, with a man and woman alone in the same room, the atmosphere could easily turn ambiguous. Better to find something to divert his attention.

“Old Chen, what are you doing?”

“Playing a game,” Chen Sheng replied matter-of-factly.

“Playing… a game?” Yu Youxin put down her bowl, her delicate face showing a strange expression. She could tell from his tone and manner that Chen Sheng wasn’t joking.

But it wasn’t a game at all!

“Old Chen, have you always played games like this?” she couldn’t help but ask.

“Yes,” Chen Sheng glanced at her, thinking that her amnesia was getting worse. Those glasses were clearly a gift from her!

Suppressing the urge to speak the truth, Yu Youxin said with a peculiar look, “Old Chen, why don’t we play together?”

“Sure!” Chen Sheng agreed without hesitation, even feeling a hint of anticipation.

He hadn’t found any upgrade quests, but that didn’t mean others hadn’t. He figured Yu Youxin might not be a great player, but she must have leveled up—unlike him, who’d played for days and was still “LV0”.

“So where are you now, Old Chen?”

“In Upper Sanjiang City, inside an old mansion—it’s a dungeon. I unlocked a new map called ‘Oblivion.’ Can you get here?” Chen Sheng deliberately said this to hide his status as a rookie.

Yu Youxin’s face went blank: “…”

She’d only just entered that world a few days ago, and “Old Chen” had already jumped into Oblivion?

Her gaze toward Chen Sheng grew increasingly odd. Though she’d chosen him, she hadn’t expected Old Chen to fit that world so well!

At least, she wouldn’t dare treat the old mansion in Upper Sanjiang as a dungeon, or see Oblivion as just another map.

And from his words, she was certain—Chen Sheng really thought that world was just a game.

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She said, “Upper Sanjiang is quite far. It’ll take me a long time to get there.”

“Isn’t there something like a teleportation circle in the game?” Chen Sheng asked.

“No,” Yu Youxin shook her head. It wasn’t a game world; where would a teleportation circle come from?

“So my instincts were right,” Chen Sheng nodded. That healing game was exactly as he expected. In the “game world,” his physical abilities and explosiveness matched perfectly with his real-life self. This level of realism, painstakingly replicated, was clearly the “official” attempt to pioneer a new type of gameplay.

With this thought, Chen Sheng stopped talking to the girl, as his vision began to shift.

It was time to “log in.”

Chen Sheng was long used to this change; those gold-rimmed glasses truly were black technology.

Meanwhile, the girl, still clutching her giant bowl, watched in bewilderment as Chen Sheng vanished from the room in an instant. She scratched her head. “Should I tell him the truth?”

After a moment’s thought, she shook her head and muttered, “Forget it. As long as Old Chen’s happy, I won’t say anything.”

If she told him the truth, she’d probably get scolded.

…

Looking at the luxurious surroundings and the somewhat outdated appliances, Chen Sheng knew he was in the Li family’s wealthy villa.

“But wasn’t I in Oblivion before I logged out? How did I end up here?”

He didn’t worry too much; in his previous games, whenever he logged out of a dungeon, he’d always reappear outside the dungeon upon logging back in.

He reached out and turned on the black-and-white television.

Soon, a pale little face appeared on the screen, hair disheveled, eyes fierce.

But Chen Sheng acted as if he hadn’t noticed, calling out, “Master, open the door!”

The little ghost girl in the TV: “…”

Don’t do this—I’m a ghost, and I have a reputation to maintain!