this infinite world

Chapter 1197: Could it be that I am about to encounter the real thing?
——Zhang Heng felt that his illness was getting worse.

Mingming had finished his work and had a rare break, without having to think about anything except updating his novel; Mingming had ended his tiring life and had been back home for a week...but his cold was still the same, with no signs of improvement.

No, to be honest, the cold was getting worse, and Zhang Heng's dreams were becoming more and more weird.

In addition to still dreaming about the man and two women, as well as things like the Four Symbols, Five Elements and Eight Trigrams, Zhang Heng even dreamed that sometimes he transformed into a savage wearing animal skins, pulling the bowstring towards nine burning fireballs in the sky; sometimes he dreamed that he turned into a giant similar to Ultraman, and then crushed to death one by one the strange-looking creatures in front of him, who knew what they were... Although it was not a nightmare, it did affect his sleep quality in recent days.

So, when Zhang Heng, who was always afraid of death, found that his cold was not getting better, he suspected that his cold had turned into pneumonia, or that he had been infected with some special strange virus that would be named after him in the future. He picked a time to go to the largest hospital for a full-body check-up. And today was the day when the check-up report was released...

……

"So, you haven't been sleeping well lately, and you keep having nightmares?"

After the doctor in a white coat carefully examined Zhang Heng's medical examination report, the doctor, who was in his 50s or 60s, first adjusted his glasses, which were as thick as the bottom of a beer bottle. Then his eyes fell on his unusually obvious dark circles and his messy, greasy hair, which seemed to have been through a storm. He asked, "Have you been very busy with work recently? Or are you under too much psychological pressure?"

Hearing this, Zhang Heng scratched his head awkwardly and said, "Uh, there shouldn't be...right?"

For Zhang Heng, no matter how he answers this question, it seems that he doesn't quite like it. After all, in the eyes of outsiders, his life seems to be incompatible with the word "pressure". It's nothing more than updating novels on time every day, then indulging in the world of games, browsing the web, chatting with netizens in a small circle, and occasionally browsing forums and looking at funny pictures to kill time...

"Young man, although I know that young people like you usually have strong desires and too much pressure to vent, you should still pay attention to some things."

Seeing this, the old doctor couldn't help but sigh, and then warned earnestly: "Moderate enjoyment is good, excessive enjoyment is harmful to the body, you still have to pay attention to moderation..."

"Ah... ah?"

Zhang Heng nodded blankly at first, but the more he listened, the more he felt something was wrong. He quickly raised his head and looked at the doctor in front of him in astonishment and asked, "Wait, what do you mean by moderation?"

"What else could it mean?"

The old doctor raised his eyebrows in dissatisfaction, then slapped his physical examination report on the table, motioning Zhang Heng to take a look himself while explaining: "From the perspective of Western medicine, your kidney function indicators are not right, your protein content is insufficient, and all indicators are problematic; from the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, your complexion is dark and your forehead is blue, which shows that your essence is damaged and your qi and blood are deficient."

"A cold is a minor issue. Your biggest problem right now is kidney deficiency..."

……

Zhang Heng could no longer remember how he left the hospital and how he returned home.

Of course, this was not because there was something wrong with his memory, or for any other reason, but because what happened in the hospital before was so embarrassing that Zhang Heng's brain automatically ignored what happened and threw himself into the warm bed as soon as he got home.

According to the doctor's diagnosis and the data in the physical examination report, there was nothing wrong with his health. The cold that had been bothering him was just the most common one, and there was no sign of it developing into pneumonia. According to the doctor, he only needed to take medicine on time, drink more hot water, eat more fruits to take in vitamins, and get enough sleep, and he would recover soon. Now his biggest problem was his kidney problem...

"You have kidney deficiency, you bastard!!!"

It was unknown how long it had passed before Zhang Heng, like a machine that was a beat slower in its reaction, jumped up with gritted teeth: "I'm just..."

"Yes……"

When Zhang Heng was about to lose his temper and refute the doctor's diagnosis, he suddenly saw two large boxes of fat house happy water next to his computer case, a half-eaten takeaway box on the table, and a pile of conspicuous white tissues in the trash can...

After saying "yes" for a long time, Zhang Heng still couldn't deceive himself, nor could he refute the conclusion drawn by the doctor from the physical examination report. He said to himself dejectedly: "...Okay, maybe I have gone too far recently."

...To be fair, Zhang Heng's lifestyle is indeed quite unhealthy.

Of course, this can't be blamed on Zhang Heng - how healthy can a single otaku's lifestyle be? He eats takeout every day, stays up all night, doesn't exercise, and doesn't even open windows for ventilation and cleaning, allowing dust to accumulate and bacteria to grow. In this way, it would be strange for him to be healthy.

——Should I really go out for a walk or exercise?

Thinking of this, Zhang Heng opened his door hesitantly, and subconsciously glanced at the treadmill that had been gathering dust in the living room since he bought it... He remembered the last time he exercised on it, was it a week ago, or two weeks ago?

——No, it seems that I have never exercised on it since I bought it! The foam paper on the thing has not been removed yet!
Zhang Heng, who finally realized this, suddenly broke into a sweat, and for the first time, he began to reflect on his life. As a successful and nearly financially independent online novelist, his life almost completely revolves around the keyboard and screen. Apart from typing every day, everything else seemed to be ruthlessly put aside by him. Health, exercise, and even communication with family and friends were all unconsciously ignored by him...

"Indeed, there is something wrong with my lifestyle."

Zhang Heng muttered to himself as he walked towards the treadmill that had been gathering dust for a long time: "As a normal person, I should live a healthier life."

“To keep moving forward, you need not only spiritual enrichment and creative progress, but also attention to your physical and mental health.”

"Get up on time, don't stay up late, eat on time, exercise, drink less, be moderate, and play less games. These things are not difficult for me."

"So, it's time to start changing—"

"Jingle Bell--"

But just as Zhang Heng was talking to himself and preparing to start his regular healthy life, his phone suddenly rang with a piercing alarm. When he took out his phone from his pocket, he found that it was the daily alarm he had set long ago, and there were also messages and comments from his friends in the QQ group.

"Where have you been? Let's fight in Icecrown Citadel again today. Log in and become invincible!" "Here I come!"

When Zhang Heng heard the word "invincible", his eyes lit up immediately. His waist and legs were no longer sore, and even his cold seemed to be cured. He threw all his determination out of the window... It's okay to exercise a day later. That's invincible! A symbol of status and European emperor...

"Let's start working hard tomorrow..."

Saying this classic line, Zhang Heng turned around without any pressure, moved backwards at full speed, and sat down in front of the computer. This young man didn't care about his health at all, just humming a little tune while turning on the computer, and at the same time, he unscrewed a can of Coke with a "click" sound and took a big sip -

"Cool!"

“This is life!”

The moment he drank the Coke, Zhang Heng felt as if his consciousness had flown away into the sky. It took him a long time to come back to his senses... Isn't this what people live for? If you can't drink Coke, play games, or do that, then what's the difference between being alive and being dead?
"Eating, drinking, and having fun, this is the meaning of my life... huh?"

When Zhang Heng was eager to turn on the computer and prepare to launch World of Warcraft, the young man suddenly found a strange dialog box appeared on his screen.

——Do you want to understand the meaning of life? Do you want to truly... live?
——YES, or, NO.

"Hmm? What's going on here?"

Facing this familiar dialog box, Zhang Heng first took a big gulp of the fat house happy water. After he comfortably burped a carbon dioxide-rich burp, he scratched his head in confusion and muttered to himself, "Could it be that another book friend is playing a joke on me..."

Zhang Heng is not a low-key person. On the contrary, he has a strong desire to express himself. He is the kind of person who must let as many people as possible know about his achievements. Perhaps because of his childhood experience, in a sense, he is a person who likes to show off... And when he was playing World of Warcraft, he never concealed his identity as an online novel writer.

On the Internet, he often receives things from book friends, such as seeds, seeds, and seeds, which are also the origin of the paper balls in his trash can... Of course, although these "learning materials" are shared by kind-hearted people, most of them are real good stuff, but one or two of them are black cars, or they are malicious applets similar to the invitation box of the main god space transmitted to him by people who are familiar with him.

A long time ago, Zhang Heng's computer was infected with a virus because he randomly accepted the seeds sent to him by others. He could not boot the computer at all and even had to format the hard disk. Later, he asked a hacker friend to help him fix the problem, which also saved his seeds, study materials, and related settings and inspirations for the novel.

Since then, Zhang Heng's computer has not been infected with viruses again. At the same time, the hacker friend also taught him a method, which is that next time you encounter such a dialog box, just click X...

"This must be another joke from some stupid netizen. Let me see..."

Zhang Heng muttered, moving the mouse towards the option with X in the upper right corner. Although it was a sudden incident, he didn't take it seriously as he had experienced a lot. Instead, he operated according to his previous habits: "Wait... No?"

"This is difficult... Could it be that I got infected with a virus again? But that shouldn't be the case. My hacker friend has pretty good skills."

Just when Zhang Heng was thinking whether to restart the computer and try to solve the problem himself, or to choose a straightforward way to call his hacker friend, the ringing of a phone call suddenly caught his attention. The owner of the number was a name he had never thought of before.

"Yang Ji...?"

Seeing the name displayed on the phone screen, Zhang Heng was really stunned at this moment.

Zhang Heng could hardly imagine why Yang Ji called him. Logically, after that incident, the two of them had cut off contact. But they were friends since childhood, and it was not an exaggeration to say that they were friends for life. Zhang Heng was reluctant to delete the other party's number and kept it in his address book...

"……Hey?"

Although they said "We will never meet again until we die", firstly, they had only talked over the phone and had not met each other, and secondly, Yang Ji's call was really strange. After thinking it over, Zhang Heng finally decided to answer the call: "Why did you call me--"

"Haha, Zhang Heng!"

But as soon as the call was connected, Zhang Heng heard Yang Ji's almost crazy voice coming from the other end. The other party was not polite as he remembered, but just shouted like crazy: "I haven't lost yet... I haven't lost yet!"

“I—Ah!!!”

Hearing the sound of electricity "sizzling" and Yang Ji's miserable scream, Zhang Heng's back suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. The young man didn't care about anything else. He kicked his feet and stood up suddenly: "Yang Ji! Are you okay? Don't scare me - damn!"

But what Zhang Heng didn't expect was that he stood up too fast, which caused a lack of blood supply to his brain, causing his vision to go black and he stumbled half a step forward. And he happened to step on the Coke can that he had thrown under the seat and didn't put into the trash can, and he immediately lost his balance and took another half step forward.

——And his panicked right hand happened to press the left button of the mouse.

"Click——"

As he clicked the left button of the mouse, it happened to hit the "YES" button. Suddenly, Zhang Heng felt a familiar feeling of being half asleep and half awake, which made him completely lose consciousness.

The last thing he thought of before he lost consciousness was...

It’s broken, this time——

——Will it be possible that I will encounter the real thing?

(End of this chapter)