Young King Yama looked around, “So this is where you live. How about taking me out for a walk?”
Bai Lixin: “Of course.”
“Before I turned back into a karma fruit, I had a dream. In the dream, a figure shrouded in black mist appeared before me, saying that I would soon regress into a karma fruit without consciousness. But it’s only temporary; afterward, you will take me away. He told me to give the blue crystal to you.” The two figures walked side by side outside the castle. Young King Yama was expressionless, displaying a calm and wise demeanor beyond his age. “The tone and outline of that figure in the black mist reminded me of Father Yama.”
“Did something happen to him? Otherwise, I wouldn’t revert to karma fruit.”
“I’m not sure either. It’s quite complicated, and I don’t know how to describe it to you right now. But I can’t find him either.”
As they approached the elevator, Bai Lixin asked Young King Yama, “Where do you want to go?”
“Let’s just wander around. I don’t know where I want to go.”
“Then let’s go to the first floor.”
“Okay.”
It only took the blink of an eye to get from more than 900 floors to the first floor.
The lobby on the first floor was bustling with people, and they moved about the grand and beautiful hall.
Nothing had changed since Bai Lixin’s last visit—it was the same shops, the same NPCs.
Bai Lixin took Young King Yama to the café they used to frequent and ordered two drinks.
While waiting for their drinks, Young King Yama stared at the massive blue screen above the lobby curiously.
The screen constantly scrolled various information— sometimes player floor rankings, sometimes score rankings, and occasionally names of copies that were opening.
The blue colors flickered in Young King Yama’s eyes. The six or seven-year-old child stared intently, as if fascinated.
A cup of milk tea with pearls and coconut flakes was placed in front of Young King Yama.
Only then did he shift his gaze from the screen and pointed to a circular wall in the distance. “How do we get out of here? What’s it like outside? I want to see.”
“Outside?” Bai Lixin chuckled wryly. “We can’t go out for now. The activity range for everyone is confined to this building. We can only explore here vertically.”
Young King Yama suddenly frowned and his expression became serious. He scrutinized Bai Lixin from head to toe before saying softly, “Father, it’s okay. Everyone makes mistakes. I understand.”
“?”
Young King Yama took a big sip of milk tea. The large black pearls rolled down the straw into his mouth and his cheeks puffed up.
Surprise flashed in Young King Yama’s eyes. He looked down at the milk tea in his hand, his cheeks moving back and forth as he chewed the pearls in his mouth vigorously.
After swallowing all the pearls, Young King Yama asked, “What’s this drink called, Father?”
“It’s called Pearl Coconut Milk Tea.”
“Pearl Coconut Milk Tea…” Young King Yama murmured softly, repeating it again before taking another sip eagerly.
“Father?!”
A scream came from beside Bai Lixin. Turning, he saw Sun Ning holding two cups of milk tea, her face showing a look of shock as she glanced between Bai Lixin and Young King Yama. It was as if she had just discovered the biggest news of the year.
Bai Lixin: “…”
‘No, let me explain.’
Young King Yama raised his eyebrows and looked at Sun Ning. “Your name is Sun Ning.”
Sun Ning’s eyes widened even more. “You know me?”
Still wearing his cold expression of a little adult, Young King Yama replied, “I’ve seen you.”
Sun Ning stared at Young King Yama for a moment. “Why do you seem familiar to me?”
“He is…”
“I remember now!”
“Aren’t you the Young King Yama from the copy who called Bai Lixin ‘Papa’? You almost smashed Bai Lixin with merit tokens in Yanwang Town.”
Young King Yama’s cool face had a slight crack.
Sun Ning’s expression was complicated as she glanced back and forth between Young King Yama and Bai Lixin.
[Ding!]
A private chat notification rang out in Bai Lixin’s mind.
Bai Lixin opened the private chat window and found that it was Sun Ning who had sent it.
Sun Ning: [God Xin, is this the intelligent AI assigned to you by the system?]
Bai Lixin: [Yes.]
Sun Ning: [This thing isn’t reliable, right? I deleted all the AIs on the first day.]
Bai Lixin: [I think he’s okay, I’ll keep it for now. I deleted all the others and only kept him.]
Sun Ning’s eyes became even more complicated.
Could it be that God Xin has a liking for being a male mother?
Ah, she had discovered a shocking secret.
Bai Lixin glanced at the milk tea in Sun Ning’s hand, which was obviously takeaway: “Did you make a date?”
Sun Ning: “Oh, didn’t we drink too much yesterday? I brought it for Cancan.”
Bai Lixin waved at Young King Yama, who was seriously chewing pearls, signaling him to follow, “I’m going upstairs too, let’s go together.”
Sun Ning: “…”
‘Is this appropriate?’
In the elevator, Sun Ning couldn’t help but glance at Young King Yama’s face.
After being stared at all the way, Young King Yama finally became impatient, “What are you looking at?”
Sun Ning: “…”
‘Of course, I’m looking at you!’
“Ahem.” Sun Ning coughed and looked away with embarrassment, “Sorry, I just feel like your face looks familiar.”
Young King Yama: “Didn’t you already know who I am?”
Sun Ning: “I know you’re Young King Yama, but I always feel like I’ve seen this expression and feeling on an adult’s face somewhere.”
Young King Yama: “We met at Gentle Village.”
Sun Ning: “Oh, that time at Gentle Village.”
“But it doesn’t seem right.” Sun Ning shook her head, “I mean, your current face doesn’t look like your grown-up face, but rather like another person, but I can’t recall who.”
Bai Lixin: “…”
He knew who Sun Ning was talking about.
She was probably referring to Dijia.
It seemed that although Sun Ning and the others couldn’t remember Dijia, they hadn’t completely forgotten.
……
The noisy guild from yesterday had been cleaned up, and those who had been too exhausted to walk and had to spend the night in the hall had all left.
Xia Chi probably didn’t drink much, and he was still sleeping in the meeting room.
Liang Xi and Zhou Guang were not in the guild and had gone out early in the morning.
Li Cancan was sitting alone on the sofa with an open book on her lap, but her attention was not on the book. She was staring blankly, lost in thought.
Bai Lixin glanced at the book on Li Cancan’s lap as he approached.
It was a coding reference book. The book was heavily annotated, with wrinkled and sloppy edges. It looked like it had been read countless times.
Sun Ning called out to Li Cancan, pulling her back from her daze, “You’re here, God Xin is here too, and this kid is… Young King Yama?!”
Bai Lixin: “…”
‘Does everyone have such a good memory?’
The [Yanwang Ghost Town] copy was from so long ago, but they could still recognize Young King Yama at a glance.
Young King Yama remained aloof. He raised his chin slightly, “Hello, Li Cancan. I deeply sympathize with you. But everyone makes mistakes, as long as you correct them and don’t do evil again.”
“This sentence is also for you, Sun Ning.”
Sun Ning and Li Cancan looked at each other, their eyes filled with confusion and doubt.
Both of them looked at Bai Lixin.
‘God Xin, what does he mean by that?’
‘God Xin, I understand every word, but together, I don’t get it?’
Bai Lixin indicated that he didn’t understand either.
He simply asked Young King Yama directly: “You just told me that everyone makes mistakes. What do you mean by that?”
Young King Yama raised an eyebrow slightly: “Aren’t you all prisoners being punished here?”
Sun Ning was shocked: “How did we become prisoners?”
Young King Yama frowned, seeming to realize he had made a mistake, “Is your activity range only this tower?”
Li Cancan: “Yes.”
Young King Yama: “Aren’t you also exiled to many different scenes for punishment?”
“You mean completing copy tasks?” Li Cancan said, “But you can also say it like that.”
Young King Yama: “Then what’s the difference between your situation and the evil spirits I imprisoned in the Eighteen Levels of Hell and repeatedly punished?”
The three exchanged glances, and no one refuted.
He was right!
Sun Ning: “When you put it that way, it’s true. We’re really no different from prisoners, but we’re innocent. If this is truly a prison, then we’re all wronged spirits.”
Young King Yama looked very puzzled: “If you’re not guilty, why are you imprisoned here?”
He looked at Bai Lixin: “Father, isn’t this your world? What happened to your world?”
It seemed Young King Yama really knew nothing about this game. Bai Lixin briefly explained how they came to be here.
Young King Yama’s eyes were dazed after hearing the explanation, and it took him a long time to digest the information, “So this place is not only a prison but also an arena.”
The three: “…”
Right to the point.
Young King Yama: “So you all want to leave here very much.”
[Ding!]
Bai Lixin’s private chat rang out twice.
Sun Ning and Li Cancan sent him the same message simultaneously.
Sun Ning & Li Cancan: [God Xin, is it really okay to tell him all this?! Isn’t he the system AI?!]
Bai Lixin: [It’s okay. Besides, this isn’t a secret.]
Sun Ning & Li Cancan: “…”
Indeed, it wasn’t really a secret.
But it’s strange, isn’t Young King Yama supposed to be the system AI? How could he not know that this is the horror game lobby?
“Father,” Young King Yama looked at Bai Lixin, “every domain has its own operating core.”
“What is the core of this game world?”
Sun Ning: “The operating core of the game world is, of course, the game rules.”
Young King Yama: “But from what I just heard you say, it doesn’t seem like game rules, but more like punishment mechanisms.”
“Is this really a game world?”
“Or is it a prison disguised as a game?”
