Forty minutes passed in a flash.
Mu Qingxue drove Chen Xiaoyan to the Zhongzhou airport, looking at her reluctantly.
“Xiaoyan, you must come to Zhongzhou to visit me when you have time.”
“Okay.”
“No lying. I hate liars the most.”
Chen Xiaoyan nodded with a stiff expression. “Mhm.”
“Go on. It’s time.”
“Goodbye, Qingxue.” Chen Xiaoyan waved at her and quickly turned toward the boarding gate.
She was very excited.
She could finally go home.
She’d go back and have a beautiful sleep, then tomorrow she’d… wait, what was she supposed to do tomorrow?
Chen Xiaoyan suddenly remembered she was supposed to go to the hospital for a check-up tomorrow.
In that case, wouldn’t she be unable to log in tomorrow as well?
Wait? That’s not right. Why am I so keen on logging into the game?
Didn’t I decide not to go to the Immortal Realm for the time being?
She rubbed the back of her head in confusion and walked to the registration desk. No verification was needed; she passed security and boarded directly.
However, before the plane took off, Chen Xiaoyan sent a message to Mu Qingxue.
Chen Xiaoyan: Qingxue, forgot to tell you, I have things to do tomorrow. Won’t be logging in.
At this moment, Mu Qingxue had just gotten into her car when her phone chimed. She opened the app, and her brows furrowed immediately.
“Lingling, send someone to Qingzhou tomorrow. Buy the apartment building she lives in for me.”
Hearing her Young Miss’s cold voice, Qiu Xue didn’t ask further. She naturally knew who “she” was.
She was just a bit speechless.
Wasn’t everything fine just now?
Why the sudden change of face?
“Yes, Young Miss.”
Boss Xiaoyan, I wish you all the best. Hallelujah.
***
This was a gray, dilapidated world.
This was a world littered with corpses.
This was a world that had become a ruin.
This world had become a playground for monsters. They hunted humans and raised them like livestock.
The former rulers of Earth, humans, were now reduced to lambs waiting for slaughter.
The monsters hung humans up and disemboweled them. Fresh, stinking organs fell to the ground like running water.
A pack of mutated dogs scrambled to devour the organs.
They were kicked away by a monster, howling in pain.
Limbs were skewered on steel spikes for a delicious barbecue.
The torsos were chopped into pieces and thrown into a large iron pot to boil into soup.
A large group of massive monsters stood nearby, quietly and expectantly waiting for the food to be ready.
Corpses were everywhere, bones piled high. A crow flew onto a withered branch and croaked out the desolation of this world.
The moment Chen Xiaoyan opened her eyes.
All the monsters stopped what they were doing and stared at her intently.
Their eyes were filled with greed.
“AHHHH!!!”
Chen Xiaoyan had never seen such a scene. She screamed in terror on the spot.
The scattered bones on the ground actually assembled themselves out of thin air, turning into skeletons.
Some skeletons still had strands of meat attached, causing her sanity to plummet.
They reached out their hands and walked slowly toward Chen Xiaoyan.
They seemed to be calling for help.
“Get lost!!!”
Chen Xiaoyan roared. She sat up instantly and threw a punch, but it only hit the air.
She stared blankly at the familiar room around her, then looked down at her hands.
Like a deflated balloon, she fell back onto the bed.
Then, covering her forehead, she panted incessantly.
It was just a nightmare.
She hadn’t had a nightmare in a long time.
Chen Xiaoyan didn’t pay much attention to the dream. It wasn’t the first time she’d had a nightmare, so it wasn’t strange.
When she was a child, she had been so scared after watching a zombie movie that she dreamed about being chased by zombies for several days.
So, there was nothing to worry about.
After calming down, she got out of bed to wash up.
Fortunately, her body didn’t feel any discomfort today.
It seemed the idea of not playing the game was correct.
After washing up, she found her phone on the bed. When she opened it, there was no new message except for a question mark from Chongchong.
This cute girl was probably angry after being fooled last night.
Although there was only a question mark, Chen Xiaoyan could feel the endless resentment.
Chen Xiaoyan: Chongchong, help me tell Shen Qingqing that I’m feeling unwell.
Chongchong didn’t reply. It seemed she had already entered the game.
Whatever. I’ll have breakfast and then go to the hospital to check on my “little brother.”
This time, Chen Xiaoyan didn’t go in women’s clothing.
After all, she was going to the andrology department. Wearing women’s clothes would be weird.
She tied her long hair up and tucked it into a large baseball cap, then put on men’s clothes and a mask before heading out.
She had made an appointment online at the City Center Hospital for an andrology expert clinic.
She paid, took her number, and went straight in.
But even the expert couldn’t make a decision and asked her to get a reproductive ultrasound.
Chen Xiaoyan went.
But she was kicked out.
“What is a girl doing in the andrology department? Go next door!”
With a “clatter,” the door slammed shut.
Chen Xiaoyan stood outside, bewildered in the wind.
The doctor’s voice wasn’t quiet, and the patients waiting for check-ups nearby looked at her with strange eyes.
A couple even whispered and pointed at her.
No matter how thick-skinned Chen Xiaoyan was, she couldn’t take it. She scurried back to the expert.
In the end, she was taken for the check-up by the expert himself.
Looking at the report, the expert’s face was full of conflict.
Seeing him like this, Chen Xiaoyan immediately got nervous.
“Doctor, how is it?”
“Very strange. Extremely strange.”
“What’s strange?”
“The report says everything is normal, but your reproductive organs are changing. Tell me honestly, are you taking estrogen?”
Chen Xiaoyan was shocked and quickly denied it. “No, absolutely not!”
“Really?” The expert clearly didn’t believe her.
“Really, doctor. I wouldn’t gamble with my life,” Chen Xiaoyan said helplessly.
“Then that’s strange.”
“Doctor, is there a way to treat it?” Chen Xiaoyan asked cautiously.
She was afraid he would say something like, “There’s no cure, go home and wait for death.”
“It’s not that there’s no way to treat it, but there’s basically nothing wrong with your situation. I have nowhere to start.”
“But it has no feeling anymore.”
“I suggest you go to the Provincial People’s Hospital.”
“Uh…”
Chen Xiaoyan walked out of the City Center Hospital in a daze, holding the report.
Looking at the A4 paper of the report, where the results all said “Normal,” she was so angry she crumpled the report into a ball and threw it into the trash.
Normal?
Normal my ass.
Is this the behavior of a normal person?
What a crappy hospital.
Chen Xiaoyan grumbled for a bit and took out her phone to call a Didi.
She was ready to go home.
A moment later, a white Audi pulled up in front of her.
She checked the license plate; it was the one she called. She opened the door, ready to get in.
Suddenly, a piercing sound echoed through the entire street.
Chen Xiaoyan instinctively looked up and was scared out of her wits.
A black Laster car was speeding toward the hospital entrance, sparks flying.
It had already sent several pedestrians flying, and screams rang out everywhere.
More coincidentally, Chen Xiaoyan was in the car’s path.
She regained her senses and immediately turned to run, trying to escape the car’s trajectory.
However, her luck was very good. The Laster veered off course and didn’t hit her. Instead, it crashed headlong into a nearby street lamp.
Seeing this, Chen Xiaoyan slumped on the ground in terror, breathing a massive sigh of relief.
After a long time, a group of doctors in white coats ran out of the hospital. Only then did she slowly stand up and walk over to check.
The next moment, however, the street lamp fell toward her without any warning.
“Watch out for the pole!!!”
A bystander saw the lamp falling and shouted to warn her.
“Eh?” Chen Xiaoyan was stunned.
With a “clang,” her baseball cap fell off and hit the ground.
Her consciousness instantly sank into darkness.
***
City Center Hospital, Emergency Room.
Several chief physicians were ready.
This seriously injured person had a hole in the right side of the head, causing massive intracranial hemorrhage. Life was hanging by a thread.
“Where are the victim’s family members? Call them over to sign.”
“We don’t know.”
“Flip through her phone contacts.”
“Dr. Liu, Dr. Liu!” At this moment, a nurse who had stayed in the emergency room came running in, stumbling.
“What is it?” Dr. Liu didn’t even look at her; his eyes were fixed on the injured person’s report.
“Gone.”
“What’s gone?” Dr. Liu frowned, his voice impatient.
“The seriously injured person who was just brought in is gone.”
Dr. Liu looked at the nurse in shock.
“Do you know what you’re saying?”
“I know. If you don’t believe me, go see for yourself, Dr. Liu.”
Dr. Liu put down the report and rushed to the emergency room.
On the operating table, except for the pool of blood on the floor, there was no one.
Dr. Liu gasped and immediately told everyone to check the surveillance.
A dying person couldn’t have left by themselves; someone must have carried them away.
No matter who it was, the person had disappeared from his hands.
When the family members arrived, not only he but the entire hospital would be in trouble.
But the surveillance showed that no one entered or left the emergency room.
So the question was, how did the victim disappear?
He had seen a ghost…
Qingzhou, in a certain residential area, 301 Apartment.
On the bed, a girl (boy) bathed in pink light lay quietly.
Her hands were folded over her abdomen, and her expression was peaceful.
One hour.
Two hours.
The pink light gradually faded and returned to the girl’s body.
“Hah—”
The girl suddenly opened her eyes, her body arching slightly like a bow.
After a sharp intake of breath, she slowly fell back, returning to normal.
Chen Xiaoyan stared blankly at the ceiling and turned her head to look around. Only then did she realize she was in her rented room.
She was confused.
Was this also a dream?
But when she touched the right side of her head, a heart-piercing… brain-piercing pain came.
“Hiss, it hurts. Damn, this isn’t a dream!” Chen Xiaoyan woke up immediately.
Her entire body was sore and weak, as if she had returned to her previous symptoms.
Not only that, she also smelled a strong scent of blood.
The hair on the right side of her head was hard. Blood had solidified on it, and the wound seemed to have scabbed over.
But none of that was the main point.
The question was, how did she get home alone?
She touched the large blood clot on her head. The amount of bleeding must have been significant.
As a normal person, she shouldn’t have been able to get home on her own. Did someone bring her back?
Chen Xiaoyan raised her head slightly and looked around the room. There was no one.
Keys? Where are my keys?
She felt her body. Her men’s clothes hadn’t been changed. Soon, she felt the keys hanging on the waist of her jeans.
This…
The keys hadn’t been moved?
Her phone was also in her pocket.
She quickly took out her phone and asked the landlord.
The landlady’s answer made the matter even more mysterious.
Landlady: No one came to see me today.
Chen Xiaoyan frowned; she was completely lost.
Clearly, she had just left the City Center Hospital and was about to get into a car when she was almost hit by an out-of-control Laster.
She was about to go save someone when her vision went black and she lost consciousness.
When she woke up, she was on her bed at home.
Apart from her neighbors, she didn’t have many friends in Qingzhou. How did she get back?
At this moment, Chen Xiaoyan’s mood was basically the same as those doctors.
Did I see a damn ghost?
After thinking for a long time without understanding, she simply gave up. Whatever, as long as she was still alive.
Her head was just buzzing a bit.
The wound on her right brain was mostly healed. If she didn’t touch it now, she wouldn’t feel pain.
There was even a bit of an itchy feeling.
Miraculously, with such a large amount of bleeding, it should have been a serious injury. But looking at the time on her phone, only two or three hours had passed, and it was already almost healed.
Such strong self-healing ability?
At this moment, Chen Xiaoyan suddenly remembered what Chongchong had said before.
When that girl cut her finger while chopping vegetables, it also healed quickly.
Could this be related to the Immortal Realm?
Both she and Chongchong were Celestial Fragrance players. They were healers in the game, born with powerful self-healing abilities.
Thinking of this, Chen Xiaoyan’s eyes widened in shock.
A world-shaking idea popped into her head.
That was: game characters in the Immortal Realm could reflect onto reality!!!
Although this idea was very fantastical, the facts were right there. The various strange behaviors in her and Chongchong were not something normal people possessed.
And these miracles only started happening after playing the Immortal Realm. If anyone said it had nothing to do with the game, she wouldn’t believe it even if she were beaten to death.
If it could reflect onto reality…
Chen Xiaoyan thought of something bad.
She hurried to take off her clothes and pants. She looked down, and her vision went black as she fainted again.
How big was the trauma of turning from a sausage into a toothpick?
The majestic brother of the past was gone. Now, it was shriveled and several times smaller.
Toothpick wasn’t a metaphor; it was literal.
“Hahahaha!”
“It’s gone. Just like that, it’s gone. Haha!” Chen Xiaoyan lay on the bed, laughing maniacally.
From time to time, she punched the bed beneath her to vent her anger.
Look!
Look at what? With this ghostly appearance, it’s useless even if there’s feeling.
Immortal Realm, damn you, you bastard.
For a moment, all sorts of foul language came out of her mouth.
Chen Xiaoyan cursed for a full half-hour before stopping.
There was some swelling and pain in her chest. It wasn’t a health problem; it was development.
In just three hours, it had already begun to take shape.
She was doomed.
Chen Xiaoyan had truly become Chen Xiaoyan.
Now the question was, how was she going to explain this to her family?
Should she say: Hello, your daughter has arrived, please sign for her?
Chen Xiaoyan couldn’t imagine the expressions on their faces when they saw their son turn into a daughter.
Sigh.
But the fact had already happened. No matter how much she blamed God or others, she couldn’t change it.
“Beep-beep.”
The chime of the app rang quietly.
Chen Xiaoyan fumbled on the bed for a long time before she found her phone. She opened it and saw a message from Chongchong.
A miserable smile couldn’t help but appear on her face.
It was already past twelve. This girl must have logged off for lunch.
Chongchong: You big liar! We agreed to play the game together today. Where are you?
Chongchong: I don’t care. You clearly promised me last night.
Chongchong: Now the Celestial Fragrance players have a lot of resentment toward you. They haven’t received the daily sect missions for two days.
Seeing this message, Chen Xiaoyan was stunned.
Because she didn’t log on, Shen Qingqing didn’t take care of the players’ missions?
She really threw everything onto me.
Chen Xiaoyan: Did you tell Shen Qingqing?
Chongchong: I just saw your message. I haven’t told her yet.
Chen Xiaoyan: Mhm. Tell her when you log in this afternoon.
Chongchong: Xiaoyan, when will you get on the game?
Chen Xiaoyan: We’ll see. I’m not in the mood right now.
Chongchong: Did something happen?
Chen Xiaoyan: No. I just feel like the world has abandoned me.
Chongchong: ???
Chongchong: Xiaoyan, since when did you learn to be so edgy?
Chen Xiaoyan: It’s not edgy. It’s something that actually happened.
Chen Xiaoyan: Maybe I was too stubborn, but my hope is gone.
Chongchong: Xiaoyan, what on earth are you talking about?
Chen Xiaoyan: Chongchong, have you ever experienced despair?
Chongchong: Xiaoyan, you… don’t scare me. I’m easily frightened.
Chen Xiaoyan: Just a joke. Don’t take it seriously.
Chongchong: Really a joke?
Chen Xiaoyan: Mhm. Really a joke.
Chongchong: Xiaoyan, can you give me your address?
Chen Xiaoyan: Is something wrong?
Chongchong: I made a little something and want to send it to you.
Chen Xiaoyan: No need. Be good to yourself and don’t care so much about others.
Chongchong: Xiaoyan, what are you saying? What do you mean by ‘others’? No, what is wrong with you today?
Chen Xiaoyan: I said I’m fine. Just like before.
Chongchong: I’m not stupid. I can tell.
Chen Xiaoyan: I’m tired. I want to sleep.
Chongchong: Wait! Xiaoyan, if something happened, please tell me, okay? Don’t keep it bottled up.
Chongchong: Did that woman Mu Qingxue do something to you?
Chongchong: Wait, I’ll go settle the score with her right now.
Chongchong: Where are you? Why aren’t you talking?
Chongchong: Xiaoyan?
However, Chongchong was destined not to get a reply from Chen Xiaoyan, because she really did put down her phone and fall asleep.
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