Chapter 3: Is This Your First Time?

With a guilty conscience, Yun Li could only hear threats and coldness from these words. 

This was what it felt like: I’m going to kill you now, but the knife in my hand isn’t sharp enough. But no worries! I still got a gun.

What do you mean it is possible with a straight handle???

How does he know?

Could he have tried it…

Various detailed and terrifying thoughts kept pouring up, and at the same time, the man got up strangely and walked in her direction. Yun Li didn’t know the reason and took a step back subconsciously.

The man didn’t look at her. He passed by her, moved on, and picked up the remote control on the desk.

He turned the air conditioner back to 30 degrees.

Then he put the remote down and walked to the bar to get himself some water.

Realizing she was overthinking again, Yun Li wanted to say something as soon as possible to alleviate the atmosphere, but she had no time to think, “Then straight handle, what kind should I buy, to kill…”

Yun Li got stuck and realized that there was something wrong.

The man did not lift his eyes and just drank his water quietly. 

“Uh…” Yun Li changed her words, “What kind are they usually like? I just want to know which ones not to buy… So that… I can avoid accidentally killing someone.”

Hearing this, the man looked at her. His eyes dropped and stopped on her thin wrist. Like an emotionless machine, he gave the most intuitive answer after analyzing her, “You are not strong enough.”

 “Ok?”

“It doesn’t matter which ones you buy.”

……

Back at the club, Yun Li was still stuck in the situation from earlier.

After she thought about the conversation again, it became far more frightening.

Like a novice who was just getting started, she was not afraid of the consequences and blatantly asked the habitual offender what kind of umbrella was the right kind to kill.

One dared to ask.

And the other one dared to teach.

Before leaving, she even said “Thank you for your advice” very stupidly. At that moment, she really wished to fly out of Nanwu immediately.

The wind from the air conditioner failed to cool off the summer heat. Yun Li covered her face, but even her hands were boiling hot, as if they were repeatedly reminding her of the shameful moment just now.

Not far away, He Jiameng found her and shouted, “Miss Lazy Cloud.”

Yun Li withdrew from her thoughts.

Then she found out that the originally scattered people were now gathered in a small rest area in the center of the second floor. A group of people sitting on it chatting, and a few others were standing nearby.

The overall atmosphere was very lively.

After she walked over, He Jiameng asked her, “Wow you came up so quickly, is it charged already?”

“Almost done,” After thinking about it, Yun Li said again, “Someone is sleeping in the lounge.”

“Who? I didn’t see it when I went with you just now.”

“The person who picked me up yesterday.”

“Huh?” He Jiameng turned her head, “Boss, who did you find to pick up her up last night?”

Yun Li followed her gaze.

In the very center of the sofa, sat a strange and eye-catching man.

He was wearing a light-colored shirt and casual trousers. With a smile in his eyes, and leaned back completely on the sofa. He seemed decorous and gentle, and even his temperament was written with the word “Noble Childe” all over it.

The “noble childe” raised his eyebrows, and he seemed to just remember, “I’ll go down real quick.”

After a few polite parting words with others, he got up and left. When passing by Yun Li, he stopped and politely stretched out his hand to her, “Nice to meet you, I’m Xu Qingsong.”

Yun Li was taken aback, and then also raised her hand, “Hello.”

Xu Qingsong shook her hand for half a second, then let go, “Sorry for the inconvenience we brought you yesterday, please forgive us..”

Yun Li replied dryly, “It’s okay.”

It seemed as if everyone had come to have a fan meeting. Once Xu Qingsong left, the rest of the people also soon scattered and left.

The four of them who came together met again, and He Jiameng’s excitement remained unabated. Almost all she talked about was Xu Qingsong, and it felt really close to a brainwashed MLM scheme.

After their chit-chat, they did not wait until Xu Qingsong’s return, and the group went back to the hotel.

When they approached the hotel, He Jiameng and Yun Li mentioned the return air ticket. Originally, she should have booked the round-trip air ticket directly, but Yun Li said that she wanted to spend a few more days in Nanwu as an excuse, and so she has not yet given He Jiameng the date she decided to return.

He Jiameng didn’t urge her either and told her to just let her know after she has decided.

Now that they were mentioning it, Yun Li’s heart became heavy.

She came from Xifu this time and said that it was because of work. In fact, the more important reason was that she had a fight with her father: Yun Yongchang. The fuss was that she was admitted to the graduate school of Nanwu Institute of Technology and she did not even tell Yun Yongchang.

Since a long time ago, Yun Yongchang was particularly opposed to Yun Li going to another city to study university.

When filling in the application for the college entrance examination, Yun Yongchang was very firm in his decision and insisted on applying for a local university. After several unsuccessful fights, Yun Li had no choice but to verbally agree and secretly put her primary choice as NIT1.

At that time, Yun Li was naive and felt that she was officially admitted, and Yun Yongchang would have no way to stop her from going. Looking at his current attitude, even if she was admitted, he would definitely be equally cruel and not let her go.

So she didn’t know whether it was good or bad luck.

She was off by one point from getting in.

In the end, Yun Li stayed in Xifu as Yun Yongchang wanted for her college education.

Because of how close she was back then, her dream college for graduate school has always been NIT.

But Yun Yongchang’s attitude was the same as four years ago.

His claim was that he had watched her grow up, and would be worried about her if she went to a distant city alone.

The older generations didn’t have much knowledge about the system and how universities operated. They thought that Xifu had some decent universities as well, and that applying for a local college wouldn’t be much of a difference.

So, Yun Li could only use the same method as at the time: she pretended to prepare for the postgraduate entrance examination of the school her father wanted, but in fact, actually submitted for NIT as well.

After she received the news that she was accepted, she hasn’t got the chance to let her father know yet. Every time she wanted to mention it, she swallowed her words back.

Her mother, Yang Fang, and her younger brother, Yun Ye were aware of the situation, but they didn’t want to get involved. They just stood aside and watched this situation like a play.

The time when she must let her father know was approaching day by day. And with this in her mind, Yun Li couldn’t eat nor sleep peacefully.

Occasionally she felt pissed. She was already in her early twenties, why must she ask her parents for permission to go study elsewhere like a three-year-old asking for candy?

When she received an invitation from EAW some time ago, because the location was also in Nanwu, Yun Li texted Deng Chuqi, who had been in Nanwu for four years, and asked if she knew about this VR Center.

It happened that Deng Chuqi’s roommate had relatives who worked at EAW. After understanding the situation, Yun Li felt that this matter should be pretty much set. In addition, the conditions provided by the other party were very good, and so she decided that it was about time to test the waters.

One day, Yun Li casually brought this topic up at the dinner table. Seeing that Yun Yongchang had a very little reaction at the time, she felt that the time had come, and took advantage of this opportunity to confess carefully.

However, Yun Yongchang immediately changed his face when he heard this. He also said that she should either go directly to find a job, or re-register as a local graduate student.

Yun Li’s guilty conscience had all turned into a cloud of smoke because of his authoritarian attitude, and the emotions that have been accumulated for a long time also exploded.

She couldn’t understand, feeling as if she had been wronged, she couldn’t help but reply, “This is my business, I will decide what I want to do.”

The fuse was lit.

It was also because of this that Yun Li stopped caring and replied to EAW that she would accept this opportunity.

Her flashbacks were interrupted by a ringtone. Yun Li entered her hotel room and glanced at the caller ID. It was Yun Ye. She picked it up and put it on speakers and threw the phone on the bed. Holding the elder sister’s attitude, she spoke first: “Report your identity.”

The boy seemed to be taken aback, “What?”

“Are you my mom using my brother’s phone or my little brother?”

After a few seconds of silence, Yun Ye was a little speechless, “Your brother?”

Yun Li, “Oh okay, go ahead, what is it?”

“When will you go home? Bring me some Nanwu specialties by the way.”

“What do you want? I’ll mail them over.”

“What are you doing; running away from home? Sis, isn’t this kind of naive?” Yun Ye said, “When you are old, will you not be embarrassed to tell people that you ran away after a fight with your parents?”

Yun Li didn’t eat his set, “Who will know it if you don’t tell anyone?”

Due to the sullen atmosphere at home, Yun Ye became a punching bag on both sides for no reason. He didn’t want to wade into this muddy water, and asked helplessly, “Then when will you come back?”

There was still more than half a month before school will start, and Yun Li didn’t want to go back so soon, lest another quarrel Yun Yongchang again.

Yun Li told the truth, “Probably never.”

Yun Ye, “Huh?”

“School is about to start anyway, I’m too lazy to run back and forth, so I should come over and get used to it for a while.” Yun Li began to reason, “And Deng Chuqi is here too, I can also play with her for a few days as well.”

“Are you serious?”

“Of course,” the more she said, the more Yun Li felt that there was no need to go back, “Okay, not probably anymore. I’m sure I won’t go back.”

Yun Ye couldn’t believe his ears, “Aren’t you afraid of being beaten to death by dad?”

“What are you talking about,” Yun Li tried to explain, “I will be killed if I do go back.”

“……”

After the thoughts started to make sense in her mind, Yun Li’s mood suddenly became great. She would just simply not go home! Everything could be prevented!

Yun Li had a good night’s sleep and set off early the next morning.

The state of everyone today was different from yesterday. They held their cameras from the hotel lobby and took pictures from time to time. Yun Li was rather embarrassed to shoot in front of others, but Unknown and Fee Water took the initiative to come over and say hello to her.

Seeing this, Yun Li became less nervous and returned a warm smile.

Before entering, several people found a location where they could capture the scene of Haitian Commercial City, and started shooting as if no one was beside them.

Yun Li imitated them and quickly recorded her clip at a place further away from the others.

Compared to an experience center, EAW was more like a small theme park.

The decoration style of the entrance was cool, with a sense of fragmentation. The background board, which was flowing with the galaxy, was cut open by a row of white light, spreading to the ceiling. One seemed to be able to enter this illusory world along this gap.

On the top, it also wrote the full name of this technology city: Enjoy Another World.

Different from the desertedness and darkness of yesterday.

All the equipment in the center was turned on, and the bright and gorgeous scenes were rushed to make people immersed in it.

There were many types of projects, such as thrilling adventures, experience feelings, puzzle-solving, and online battles.

EAW invited nearly twenty people. After entering the venue, the guide first organized them to experience several multi-person projects, such as indoor virtual roller coasters, 5D movies, and various other immersive projects.

The free staff were all pulled in temporarily, and the best use of the material was used as a follow-up photo. Before putting on the VR glasses, Yun Li saw that there were several drones next to her, which were operated and filmed by people on the side.

It was her first time seeing such a big occasion.

After they finished with these projects, the group went to the second floor.

This layer mainly contained single and multiplayer projects, like space capsules, dark chariots, motion capture games, and so on. The other half of the area was closed private rooms for players who wanted to experience the game quietly.

Before she decided which one to play first, Yun Li heard someone enthusiastic greeting from behind.

Yun Li looked up, it was Xu Qingsong.

And also, the man she saw two days ago.

Although he wore a mask, he could be easily recognized.

In that short time since yesterday, Xu Qingsong already built a good relationship with many of the people. At this time, someone had taken the initiative to talk to him and say hello.

Inevitably, Yun Li remembered the embarrassment in the lounge again and didn’t want to run into the man head-on. She happened to see that one of the projects beside her was one that she had marked in her memo, called Extreme Bungee Jumping.

She turned her head and walked over.

The name and style of the project looked much more exciting than the others, but there was no guide by the side. After reading the instructions, Yun Li felt like it would be better if she waited for a staff member to come over and help her rather than attempting it on her own.

With nothing to do while she waited, Yun Li simply set up a tripod, put the DSLR camera on it, and adjusted the camera and ring light.

This project looked like a swing, but it was a lifting type and required safety equipment to be attached to the body. This maximized the feeling of bungee jumping.

It was advised to wear the safety rope. 

Several minutes passed, but Yun Li still did not see anyone in an employee’s uniform passing by. Just as she was thinking about whether to skip this one for now, Xu Qingsong’s voice came from behind, “What’s the matter?”

Yun Li turned back.

Before she knew it, two people had already come up to her. 

Yun Li was at a loss, and she subconsciously replied, “I want to try this.”

Xu Qingsong raised his eyebrows lightly, and patted the shoulder of the man next to him, “It’s time to work.”

The man’s eyebrows were tired and there was no immediate movement.

Xu Qingsong shrugged and explained, “It’s okay, he’ll help you out.”

“……”

What she was afraid of really came.

After a while, the man came over, picked up the safety rope hung on the shelf, and lowered his head to check. He did not wear a uniform like other staff, but a simple T-shirt and casual trousers.

Yun Li also couldn’t figure out his identity.

Because of this, there was another worry about whether he would do it properly. 

The man carried the safety rope and stood in front of her. Because of his height, he bent a little, and guided her quietly, “Put your feet into the black circle.”

This distance was very close between Yun Li and the man.

Yun Li inevitably felt nervous and did not have time to ask questions, so she just did what he said.

After passing both his left and right feet, the man took the rope upwards and asked Yun Li to put his hands into the corresponding circle, tightened it to her body, and then let her sit on the device.

She didn’t feel anything when she looked at it on the ground, but now that she sat on it, she felt uncomfortable and uneasy. Yun Li stared at the man’s actions. He was buckling the safety rope on her body to the corresponding position, slowly checking.

At this time, Xu Qingsong next to him was still involved. He just smiled and commented to the man, “Very good, especially for your first try.”