Later, Jing Jiu's behavior confirmed Zong Lizi's conjecture.
Standing by the window and looking at the river of stars in the night sky, Jing Jiu suddenly said, "I'd like to sleep for a while."
Even a person made of iron would be tired after playing the game for nine days without any rest.
As Zong Lizi was thinking of this, she was surprised to find that Jing Jiu had walked into the bedroom and lay on the bed.
The reason she was surprised was not because it was her bed, but because Jing Jiu had always been lying on the chair on the deck and hadn't come into the bedroom.
What surprised her the most was that Jing Jiu had fallen asleep not long after he lay on the bed.
Though he didn't snore or grind his teeth, she knew he was truly asleep.
It was different from when he closed his eyes in the apartment in the underground neighborhood and on the deck.
What had happened?
Zong Lizi opened the gaming compartment and was glad to find that Jing Jiu hadn't quit the interactive system yet.
She followed the instruction manual and chose the third person experience mode to connect to the system, starting the playback.
A brand-new world appeared in front of her eyes.
The green mountain peaks, the endless ocean of clouds, the ocean in the twilight; all of these looked so real and yet so unreal.
The reason it was unreal was because it was more beautiful than she had imagined.
The reason it was real was because the Xianxia world in the imagination of humans should be like this.
It was easy to imagine how much resources the Twirling Rain Company had invested in the game "The Path Toward Heaven".
Zong Lizi had read the original work of course. She looked at the scene in front of her curiously, trying to guess which place it was in the book.
Gradually, the unfamiliar sceneries matched the names of the places in the book.
It turned out that this was the peaks of Aoyama.
It turned out that this was Zhaoge City.
It turned out that this was the Guocheng Temple.
It turned out that this was the Three-Thousand Nunnery.
Was the vast expanse of white in the distance the snowland? Why couldn't she see that lone peak?
In addition to the sceneries, the most important factor was the people.
Zong Lizi followed the character of Jing Jiu to many places and saw many people.
It was then that she discovered that Jing Jiu had chosen the single-player mode and didn't have any interaction with the players of the internal testing.
The people he saw in those places were all the characters in the game.
Moreover, he did not speak to those characters.
According to the design of the closed beta, if the player did not actively interact with the game character, the game character would only look at the player in Silence and ignore the player.
Jing Jiu didn't seem to care about this.
He just wanted to find those people in this world and sit beside them for a while.
That's good.
He listened to the zither in the Three Thousand Nunnery.
He listened to the bell in the Guocheng Temple.
He spent the whole night in Aoyama listening to the monkeys.
When he did these things, he would have different people by his side.
The blood-red flying sword dyed the sky red.
The emerald green bamboo made the cave quiet.
Above the sea of clouds, a pair of long legs kept swinging.
The wind and snow did not stop. The windows of the Taoist hall were open.
Purple flowers also bloomed in Taichang Temple.
The sound of the bone flute could be heard.
During these times, there were also people around him.
Zong Lizi looked at those people with wide eyes.
She knew who those people were.
She had some bad thoughts.
At this time, the morning light illuminated the Three Thousand Academy.
…
…
The door to the gaming pod opened.
The morning sunlight shone on the distant ocean and the windows of the hotel.
Zong Lizi rubbed her eyes, feeling a bit red.
She spent the whole night watching the replays of the nine days. She felt a bit tired, but also a bit emotional.
The light screen popped out after the bracelet vibrated slightly. It was an email from the Twirling Rain Company, signed and signed by the president.
Having read the email, she walked back to the suite and found that Jing Jiu had already woken up.
As usual, he was lying on the chair on the deck, as if nothing had happened, and he had not slept in the bedroom.
"The Twirling Rain Company said that your initial design was perfect, and the players in the closed beta were very excited. They asked if you were willing to give them the authorization," she asked softly.
Jing Jiu thought that he should ask those people if the right of portrait was involved.
Some of them had died, but more of them were still alive. However … it had been more than one hundred years since they left Chaotian; it was unclear how many of them had died.
Zong Lizi uttered "hmm" faintly when she saw him absent-minded.
Jing Jiu came back to his senses and said, "Feel free to use it. Don't blame me if you encounter any trouble in the future."
Zong Lizi wondered if there would be any trouble and that he had been acting strangely lately … "Are you okay?" she asked after some hesitation.
Jing Jiu uttered "hmm" while looking at the morning sun that was about to jump out of the earth's crust.
Zong Lizi summoned up her courage and said, "I know you wrote the story and you have a deep affection for the characters in it; but … you shouldn't be too attached to the story and get too involved in it."
Jing Jiu turned his head around and shot her a glance, asking, "What are you trying to say?"
"I'm worried that you can't tell the difference between reality and illusion."
Zong Lizi rubbed her hands nervously as she went on, "Even if they are real and affectionate, those people are merely imagined by you; they are not real."
The gaming pods were getting better and better, especially the new gaming pods, which could provide a more realistic experience. Those who were mentally handicapped would be unable to tell the difference between reality and illusion if they stayed in the game for too long.
"I'm not a lunatic," said Jing Jiu expressionlessly.
"But you didn't talk to those characters in the game; it looked weird," said Zong Lizi in a low voice.
Jing Jiu said, "Maybe they are not real in this world, but they are real in other worlds."
Zong Lizi didn't understand what he meant, so she asked curiously, "You sat with the late emperor, Liu Ci, Yuan Qijing, Taiping Zhenren, Zen Master for half a day, the disciples of Shenmo Peak and Zhuo Rusui for half a day, and an unknown old monk for a while. In the end, you sat with Lian Sanyue for three days … But the relationship between Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue in the book is the closest. Why didn't you sit with her for a while?"
Jing Jiu thought that the Little Layue would come out sooner or later, and they would meet in this world; there was no need to be anxious.
Seeing Jing Jiu fall silent again, Zong Lizi thought that she had said something wrong. She turned around and went to the washroom to wash up.
The steam caused by the hot water blurred her beautiful face again.
She looked at herself in the mirror as she brushed her teeth. She had finally made up her mind and turned around to leave the room.
"I'll go to the Main Planet in a few days."
Her speech when she brushed her teeth was rather vague, so it was hard for others to hear her clearly.
It was evident that she intended to conceal her emotions by doing so.
Her nervousness and uneasiness in the last few days had something to do with this.
If they parted ways like this, it was hard to say when they would meet again.
I want to ask you about your future plans, but you're playing a game. Alas!
"Together," said Jing Jiu.
Zong Lizi came back to her senses after being taken aback. She was sure that she had heard it right, her eyes full of surprise and delight. "Are you going to the Main Planet as well?" she asked while holding the toothbrush in her hand.
Jing Jiu uttered "hmm".
Zong Lizi was fully aware that he would not go to the Main Planet just to keep her company … at least not all of it. "What are you going to do there?" she asked curiously.
"I'm looking for a person," said Jing Jiu.
Zong Lizi knew whom he was looking for. "That person is on the Main Planet? Have you found him? What should we do next? "
Thinking of the spear thrust in the square and the assassination attempt in front of the praying hall, Jing Jiu said without hesitation, "Kill him."
Thinking of the conversation nine days ago, Zong Lizi had almost spat out the foam in her mouth.
"No," said Jing Jiu in time.
Zong Lizi shut her mouth hastily, swallowing the foam back into her stomach.
…
…
The museums and art galleries in Shou 'er City were suddenly closed that day. All the visitors were politely asked to leave the place, but they couldn't refuse.
It was said that a department of the Administrative Bureau was going to conduct a fire drill, so they didn't inform the visitors in advance.
Seeing the feeble foam in the square, the visitors who were driven out shook their heads resentfully, thinking that an important figure must have come.
Hearing the complaints around them, someone said, "They used the fire drill as a cover, indicating that they knew it was inappropriate. What else can we complain about?"
It was true. Even the directors of the museums and the art galleries and all the staff members didn't dare express their dissatisfaction, to say nothing of the visitors who had wasted half a day's time. It was because they knew that the visitors that day were the female priests.
The museums and art galleries in Shou 'er City had an important status in the Human Federation of the Milky Way, as important as the Main Planet.
It was because the female priests of the Stargate were responsible for inheriting the arts.
These two galleries were still owned by the priest group.
"The power corresponds to the obligation. Many sages of the past said so."
Standing by Jing Jiu, the female priest said softly, "Sometimes I wonder why the female priests can't pass on all the knowledge of the distant ancient civilization they can remember. Is it a form of irresponsibility to the humans? In some people's eyes, the behavior of the female priests is more like a threat to maintain their status."
This topic was not profound, but it was profound. Many scholars in the human society had discussed and debated it for many years. The female priests were under a great moral pressure, but they had never given an explanation. It seemed that even the female priest herself didn't know the origin of this rule.
She was eager to get the instruction from god.
Jing Jiu wasn't interested in it. He pulled back his gaze from the oil painting of the sunflower and asked, "Is the original work on the Main Planet?"
"Yes." The female priest didn't inquire further, saying, "It should be in a relic of the distant ancient civilization. Only that one knows about it."
Regardless of whether it was the female priests of the Stargate or the female priests of any other planet, they all referred to the female priests on the Main Planet as "that one"; it sounded a bit odd.
Jing Jiu turned around and walked toward the museum.
…
…
The museum was even more secluded than the art galleries. It was probably because it was deep behind the thick walls of the warehouse.
The priestess' expression was calm as she looked at the ancient mech that was placed in a huge glass box and half of it was buried in the soil.
Of course, she knew that this was the most important collection in the museum, and she wasn't surprised that Jing Jiu could find it. She introduced it in a low voice, "Every priest's inheritance has an important ancient relic. This Mecha belongs to the Stargate Priest."
Jing Jiu looked at the Mecha in Silence for a long time.
He felt that this Mecha was like a flower that would bloom again after being planted in the mud and given some water someday.
On the contrary, the sunflower in the art galleries was more like a Mecha with a sense of carelessness.
"This Mecha was found in the relic of the distant ancient civilization in the Sanling Star Region. It was an industrial product at least two hundred and thirty thousand years ago. The surface of the Mecha was severely damaged, and the paint had all fallen off. Before there was a suitable way to preserve it, it had to be shielded along with its surroundings. That's the glass case you're looking at right now."
The female priest continued in a low voice.
"Only one Mecha was found?" asked Jing Jiu.
"The distant ancient civilization is too far away from us. Even the most corrosion-resistant alloy can't be preserved until now."
Looking at the sleeping Mecha in the huge glass case, the female priest revealed a sympathetic expression in her eyes.
Jing Jiu didn't quite understand. This Mecha was indeed severely damaged, but he could tell that the components inside were still intact. If it was a product from two hundred and thirty thousand years ago, how could it have survived until now? It was well known that even the bones of the big demons at the bottom of the Gathered-Soul Valley had turned into powder after such a long time.
"The relic of the distant ancient civilization in which this Mecha was found is a bit special," the female priest said. "It's supposed to be the tomb of an emperor. It's very large and deep in the ground, isolated from the outside world."
Looking at the Mecha in the glass case, Jing Jiu felt even more puzzled.
The technological level of the distant ancient civilization was much higher than that of the current Federation of the Milky Way, but this Mecha was very backward, using a turbulent multi-engine design.
Even the Federation of the Milky Way had given up this backward design two thousand years ago.
Why did the emperor of the distant ancient civilization let this backward Mecha be buried with him?
And why was this Mecha preserved by the branch of the female priest of the Stargate, who had inherited the art?
"She explained it to me when I was on the Main Planet. She said …"
The female priest noticed his puzzlement. Thinking of the event thirty years ago, she said in a low voice, "This Mecha itself is an art."
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