After an unknown amount of time, Chen Ling finally calmed down. He spoke coldly:
"Chief Han Meng, if your questioning is over... please leave my house."
Han Meng didn't say another word. He stood up silently and walked toward the door.
He pushed the door open, and scattered snowflakes drifted into the room. The black coat with four silver patterns fluttered slightly... He paused for a moment, then turned back to look at Chen Ling.
"Whether you believe me or not, I have always been fulfilling my duties... If you truly feel that this world lacks justice, why not become it yourself?"
"You passed the martial exam with the highest score in the preliminary round. You are now an official law enforcer. You can report to headquarters tomorrow."
"And..."
"The qualification to enter the Ancient Soldier's Path is also yours."
After saying this, he stepped into the heavy snow, his black coat gradually disappearing at the end of the street.
---
The mass grave.
Chen Ling carried the uncut cake and slowly sat down in the snow.
"A-Yan, I'm here," he said softly, looking at the uneven pit he had dug in front of him.
Snowflakes clung to the young man's temples, making him look as if his hair had turned white. He plucked the candles from the cake one by one and stuck them into the snow.
"You've already made your wish earlier, so I won't light the candles again... I'll cut the cake for you."
Chen Ling took out a plastic knife from the packaging and carefully cut the cake into two portions. One portion was neatly placed in front of the pit, while he picked up his own portion from the box.
Snow and ice covered the surface of the cake as Chen Ling took a bite, unsure whether he was tasting cream or ice shards.
He chewed as he spoke, his words muffled:
"A-Yan, do you know something?"
"This world is truly messed up... This cake is so bad, yet it costs two hundred copper coins. In my original world, two hundred bucks could buy a much bigger and tastier cake."
"If I had the chance, I'd really like to take you back. Even though your brother is just a corporate drone, I made enough money to keep you fed and clothed."
"But then again, if you came back with me, you'd definitely live better than me... You're good-looking, and your singing is amazing. You could easily become a short video influencer with millions of fans, a true inheritor of traditional culture."
Chen Ling's face was flushed red from the cold wind. He took a few more bites of the cake, then looked up at the sky.
"But there are some good things about this place too..."
"The auroras here are beautiful, whether it's day or night."
"But what's the point of beauty?"
"Just surviving takes everything I've got..."
"The path you gave me seems powerful, but it also seems to affect my mind... Is this what you meant by hardship?"
"Han Meng wants me to join the law enforcers, but the 'Apocalypse' Calamity inside me is a ticking time bomb. Once it explodes, I'll become everyone's target... So, wouldn't joining that so-called society be a direct solution?"
"Instead of letting them discover and capture me, wouldn't it be better to stand against them from the start?"
"A-Yan... What should I do next?"
Chen Ling murmured to the pit, lost in thought.
Clatter—
At that moment, something slipped out of his pocket and fell into the snow.
Chen Ling picked it up. It was the small silver cube Chu Muyun had given him earlier. In the biting cold wind, it felt icy to the touch.
Chen Ling remembered Chu Muyun saying that through this thing, he might understand them better... But how was he supposed to use it?
He fiddled with the silver cube for a while, then gently pushed it. A silver slider detached from the main body, revealing a silver metal piece with some square holes. It looked exactly like a standard...
"USB drive?!"
Chen Ling stared at the USB drive in his hand, utterly bewildered.
Since arriving in this world, Chen Ling had assumed its technological level was roughly equivalent to the early 20th century in his previous world—oil lamps, rickshaws, salt melting snow, old-fashioned pistols... But seeing this USB drive, Chen Ling was completely thrown off.
This thing... should it even exist in this world?
Where would he find a computer in this world?
Without a computer, where was he supposed to plug this USB drive?
One question after another flashed through Chen Ling's mind. Almost as if possessed, he picked up the USB drive and inserted it into the snow beneath him...
In the next moment, a string of dark green code automatically appeared on the snow!
[Code 129439]
[Reading...]
[Read complete]
Chen Ling's eyes rolled back, and he fainted on the spot.
---
Whoosh—
The sound of rushing water echoed in his ears.
Chen Ling's eyes snapped open, as if waking from a nightmare, his back drenched in cold sweat.
At some point, he had left the mass grave and arrived in a small, square space. The sound of a toilet flushing gradually faded, replaced by a series of urgent knocks on the door.
"Bro, are you done yet? I can't hold it anymore..."
Chen Ling came to his senses and quickly scanned his surroundings...
"...A restroom?"
Chen Ling's eyes widened in shock.
This wasn't the old, run-down restroom in his Frost Street home. Instead, it was a clean, bright, modern restroom. From the motion-sensor light above to the "TOTO" toilet behind him, everything felt intensely familiar.
"Did I... come back?" Chen Ling's eyes were filled with confusion.
"Bro, if you're done, hurry up and get dressed. I really can't hold it anymore..." The man's voice at the door was full of urgency.
Chen Ling immediately pushed the restroom door open. A man in a polo shirt looked relieved and squeezed past him into the stall, slamming the door shut. A moment later, a satisfied groan could be heard...
Chen Ling looked around and instinctively quickened his pace, walking out of the restroom.
The first thing that caught his eye was "Heytea."
Next to it were KFC, Muji, Zhou Hei Ya, and Auntie Dumplings...
Seeing these familiar brands and the people walking around the mall, Chen Ling's pupils contracted slightly... As if struck by a thought, he broke into a run, weaving through the crowd. Under countless strange gazes, he rushed out of the mall!
The moment he saw the skyscrapers with his own eyes, only one thought remained in Chen Ling's mind...
He had really come back.
"Was I... dreaming?" Chen Ling clutched his head, muttering to himself. "No, if it was a dream... why would I wake up in a restroom?"
"I was at the mass grave, talking to A-Yan... then I inserted the USB drive into the snow, and then..."
"Was it the USB drive??"
Just as Chen Ling was talking to himself, the large screen on the opposite building flickered.
"Now, an urgent news update."
"At 9 a.m. this morning, a crimson meteor grazed Earth. At the same time, minor earthquakes occurred in various regions across the country..."
"In just three minutes, over a hundred buildings cracked and collapsed, including the Meishang Grand Hotel, Jiangkou Stadium, and the Capital Grand Theater... According to incomplete statistics, the death toll has exceeded two thousand..."