He would take out the notebook that Lin Xiao left for him from time to time and look through it. Now, he looked through it again, but still couldn’t see anything special.
Even the system’s perception of this notebook is as simple as an ordinary prop [Notebook X1].
Without any clues, Bai Lixin closed the notebook, put it back in his backpack, and left the magnificent castle.
By the 930th floor, players enjoy the exclusive treatment of one person per floor, and the elevator was made of luxurious gold and gems to suit the status of this floor.
Escape System: [Master Bai Lixin, where are you going?]
Bai Lixin: [To visit a friend.]
He pressed the button for the 450th floor. The floor indicator quickly jumped to the designated level, but Bai Lixin felt no sense of weightlessness.
“Ding dong!” The elevator chimed crisply, and the doors opened. In the blink of an eye, the outside had changed from a serene and magnificent castle to a bustling commercial street.
Bai Lixin walked into a cafe with ease and pushed open the door. When the glass door was opened, the wind chimes hanging by the door made a pleasant sound, “ding ding dang dang”, which sounded sweet and melodious.
“Welcome to Wonder Cafe, please come inside,” an attendant wearing a cat mask said as he walked over. “How many guests, please?”
Bai Lixin quickly scanned the surroundings. It was evening, and the cafe was occupied with several customers. “One person. Do you have seating on the second floor?”
The cat-masked attendant showed professional courtesy. “Certainly, please follow me.”
As they ascended the stairs, Bai Lixin glanced again at the bar before proceeding up.
“Here’s the menu, guest. May I take your drink order? Our cappuccino and iced coffee are quite popular. For snacks, we recommend chicken nuggets and French fries.”
Bai Lixin took the menu from the cat-masked attendant and flipped through it. “Where is your rabbit-masked attendant?”
“Oh, the guest would like Mr. Rabbit to serve him? Please wait a moment, I’ll call him over.”
Bai Lixin: “Alright, thank you.”
His slender white fingers flipped through the menu, and soon Bai Lixin heard footsteps. He turned his head to look at the stairs and found that an NPC dressed like an attendant wearing a rabbit mask was walking towards him.
The rabbit-masked attendant quietly came to Bai Lixin and said humbly, “Sir, I heard that you asked for me by name. I am very happy to serve you.”
“…” Bai Lixin said ‘hmm’, “You’re welcome.”
After saying that, he lowered his head again and looked carefully at the menu in his hand.
A minute later, the young man slowly said, “I’ll have a cappuccino.”
Rabbit-masked attendant: “Okay, guest, is there anything else you need?”
Bai Lixin lowered his head again, his eyes scanning the tempting food options. “What do you recommend for snacks?”
Rabbit-masked attendant: “For snacks, our popular items are the chicken nuggets and French fries.”
Young man: “Does a hit product taste good? How long have you worked in this store? Are you sure it tastes good?”
Rabbit-masked attendant: “Guest, I just came to this store half a month ago, but according to customer feedback and repurchase rate, these two models are very popular with customers.”
“Okay,” Bai Lixin nodded. “So you are new here? Is the shop busy enough to need extra staff?”
“Yes, I’ve only been here for half a month,” explained the rabbit-masked attendant. “I was sent to replace the previous attendant who couldn’t continue due to certain issues.”
The young man became interested. He raised his head and looked up at the rabbit masked attendant curiously: “Isn’t the NPC an AI program in the game? NPCs aren’t supposed to have issues that prevent them from doing their jobs, right?”
Rabbit masked attendant: “There is a very small chance that the AI program will make mistakes. My predecessor was deleted due to some mistakes he made.”
“It turns out that NPCs aren’t 100% perfect either,” the young man grew even more curious. “So what kind of mistakes did he make?”
“I’m sorry, I wasn’t informed about that,” apologized the rabbit-masked attendant.
“That’s okay,” the young man waved his hand casually. “I was just curious. I’ll have some French fries, thank you.”
Rabbit masked attendant: “Okay, please wait a moment, I’ll prepare your order.”
As the rabbit-masked attendant walked away, Bai Lixin’s mood sank slightly.
S419M: [Lord Host, you seem a bit down.]
Bai Lixin: [I’m afraid Chi Yan has disappeared along with Dijia.]
S419M: [Chi Yan? The player who came out of Eternal Diamond Mountain with you? Wasn’t he transformed into a game NPC after he failed in the copy? I remember he was assigned to work in this cafe, oh, he was wearing a rabbit mask before.]
[The Lord God is missing, Chi Yan is also missing, could it be that their plan has been discovered by the game’s main brain??]
Bai Lixin: [I don’t know.]
As he waited for his food, he opened the friends channel and easily found Xia Chi.
The color of the avatar could show the friend’s current status: white meant they were in the game lobby, red indicated they were in a game copy, and gray meant they were in a state of death.
Xia Chi’s avatar showed white, indicating he was currently in the game lobby.
Looking at Xia Chi’s calm avatar, Bai Lixin felt somewhat complicated. [It seems Tan Yue might be in trouble too.]
S419M: [How did you come to this conclusion?]
Bai Lixin: [Every time I’ve left a copy in the past, Xia Chi would message me immediately. Now I’ve been back in the game lobby for hours, and there’s been no word from Xia Chi.]
S419M: [Maybe he’s just resting? Or maybe he didn’t watch your live broadcast and doesn’t know you’re out?]
Bai Lixin shook his head: [No, that’s not it.]
S419M: [Why not?]
Bai Lixin: [Because he’s Xia Chi.]
Bai Lixin quickly typed a line in the chat box.
Bai Lixin: [Xia Chi, are you there?]
Almost immediately, Xia Chi’s chat box showed “Typing…”
“Ding!” Xia Chi sent a message.
Xia Chi: [Brother! I’m here! You’re out, and you’ve even reached the 930th floor. Congratulations!]
Bai Lixin: [Where are you now?]
Xia Chi: [Me? I’m at home, where else.]
Seeing the word “home,” Bai Lixin frowned.
Bai Lixin: [I’m at the Wonder Cafe on the 450th floor. Are you coming over?]
Xia Chi: [(#^.^#), I’m not coming over. I’m resting at home. I’m a bit tired. Let’s play another day, Brother.]
Bai Lixin: [Okay, rest up then.]
Just as he finished the chat with Xia Chi, the rabbit-masked attendant happened to bring Bai Lixin’s meal.
Bai Lixin: “Hello, could you please pack these for me to take away? Also, pack a cup of hot milk for me.”
Rabbit Mask: “Are you leaving now, guest?”
Bai Lixin stood up. “Yes, I have urgent matters.”
Rabbit Mask: “Alright, I’ll pack them for you right away.”
…
A few minutes later, Xia Chi, who was still laying on the sofa in a daze, suddenly got a system notification from his private chatbox.
He opened it and saw Bai Lixin’s message, which simply said: [I’m at your dormitory door, open up and let me in.]
Xia Chi jumped up from the sofa, rushed to the castle gate in three steps, red eyes wide with surprise. “Brother, why are you here?!”
Bai Lixin casually handed a cup of hot milk to Xia Chi. “I just came to see what’s wrong with my silly little brother.”
Xia Chi’s already red eyes turned even redder. He looked at Bai Lixin in front of him with grievance. As if he recalled something sad and upset, he burst into tears, “Brother, wuuuuu! I lost my system!”
Bai Lixin patted Xia Chi’s shoulder. Through Xia Chi’s arm, he could see the empty courtyard of the castle. “You’re just going to leave me standing at the door? Let me in and we talk.”
Xia Chi kept crying, sobbing like a small puppy. He made a “mm” sound and led Bai Lixin into the castle.
Xia Chi’s castle was modeled the same as Bai Lixin’s. It seems that in order to save trouble, the game system used the same modeling for player dormitories of the same type.
Like the outside, inside Xia Chi’s castle was empty, with no sign of any NPCs.
Perhaps Xia Chi was afraid of the dark, as the castle was brightly lit, shining brightly.
After Xia Chi brought Bai Lixin into the living room, he sat listlessly on the sofa and drank a big sip of the hot milk that Bai Lixin brought. He suddenly remembered something, put the hot milk aside and burst into tears again, sobbing loudly on the sofa.
Bai Lixin: “…”
S419M: [Lord Host, Xia Chi seems really upset.]
Bai Lixin: [I can see that.]
S419M: [He seems as upset as if he lost a husband. How about forming a “Widowers’ Alliance” with him?]
Bai Lixin rolled his eyes inwardly: [How about you say less?]
S419M chuckled awkwardly, [Lord Host, how about you say a few more words and comfort him a bit?]
Bai Lixin: [I’ll wait until he’s done crying. Right now, he won’t listen to anything I say.]
Xia Chi cried for more than ten minutes straight. When he finally cried enough, he rubbed his eyes, sat up, and continued to sip his hot milk.
Bai Lixin: “Your place seems quite empty. Did you dismiss all the NPCs?”
This question seemed to trigger another wave of memories for Xia Chi. He put down his hot milk again and started sobbing.
S419M: [Tsk tsk, Lord Host, maybe say few this time.]
Bai Lixin: “…”
A few minutes later, after Xia Chi had cried enough, he sat up again and resumed drinking his hot milk.
Bai Lixin opened his mouth, looked at Xia Chi’s reddened eyes and the dark circles underneath, and closed it again.
‘How can I start talking now? It feels like I’m bullying a puppy.’
“Brother.” While Bai Lixin was still struggling to organize his thoughts, Xia Chi spoke first, “I dismissed all the NPCs, they’re all fake, total scammers.”
“Then you…” Bai Lixin hesitated for a moment, “Forget it, you keep talking.”
With a voice still choked with sobs, Xia Chi leaned closer to Bai Lixin and whispered, “Brother, I’ll tell you a secret.”
Bai Lixin perked up his ears. “What secret?”
In a deliberately subdued voice tinged with sobs, Xia Chi looked extremely serious and mysterious. “I know you’ll think I’m crazy when I tell you this, but I have to say it.”
“I think… my system might be Tan Yue!”
Bai Lixin’s mouth opened slightly, his expression slightly blank.
Ah, this secret…
How should he show that this was his first time hearing it?
