Duosheng Danyuan

"You're finally back!"

I had barely stepped inside, and before I could even close the door, Lin Xu, who was sitting on the living room sofa, immediately stood up and rushed to the entryway, saying anxiously, "Why are you so late? It's already eight o'clock! What happened at Mingling Residence? I've been waiting since six o'clock. If you hadn't come back, I don't know how I would have faced the two imposter roommates who might have shown up!"

"Haha... Don't rush, don't rush, wait for me to come in, let's sit down and talk slowly." Faced with Lin Xu's concerned inquiry, my mind was actually still mostly on Zeng Yixi and Wen Guanmiao outside.

This isn't because I care so much about Zeng Yixi as a person, but rather because I have a great interest in Wen Guanmiao, a native of the Shengdan Academy with whom I can communicate normally. I believe that we can obtain a lot of information from her that is difficult to obtain from the elders.

The reason I was willing to risk being targeted by Wen Guanmiao to "protect" Zeng Yixi without breaking any rules was because I wanted to see more information firsthand. Wen Guanmiao's actions had to be done alone, and this information was truly unexpected.

As for what Zeng Yixi wanted to say to me but I interrupted her, it was probably because she wanted me to leave first.

Of course I have to leave. Although Wen Guanmiao can't harm Zeng Yixi if I'm there, if we both break the rules to help Zeng Yixi, then we'll both die. So, I definitely won't stay and fight Wen Guanmiao to the death.

However, instead of proactively revealing our weaknesses to Wen Guanmiao, it was better to test her again. And from the outcome, my test was successful—Wen Guanmiao's understanding of the rules in the "Disciple's Code" was incomplete; to be precise, it differed from the rules we were required to follow.

Actually, I noticed this a long time ago, but I wasn't sure. For example, when she sat down, ready to waste time with us, her tone was full of resentment, lacking any composure. Another example: why was she able to waste the whole night with us? Since she said she was alive because she followed the rules, she couldn't possibly have broken them intentionally. Therefore, given this conflict, there's only one possibility—her rules don't include the concept of a curfew.

Based on this, she naturally assumed that we, the newly initiated disciples, were like her and didn't have the concept of a curfew. This gave me the opportunity to bargain with her.

Back to the present, Lin Xu and I sat down and glanced at the clock on the wall. Judging that it wasn't too late, I started telling Lin Xu about what I had seen and heard that day. I also told him about some things I had learned from Elder Qingyue about Su Wanqing.

"I can't believe this happened..." After listening to my story, Lin Xu was clearly taken aback by the sheer volume of information. After a long pause, he asked me again, "Will Zeng Yixi be in trouble?"

"Based on the current clues, there shouldn't be any danger to my life," I replied after a moment's thought.

"That's good." Nodding, Lin Xu stood up, took out some cooked food from the kitchen, placed it in front of me, and said, "I was quite bored here by myself, so I looked around and found braised meat and cold dishes."

"This is a pleasant surprise." After a long day, seeing the cooked food and rice in front of me, my eyes lit up instantly, and I immediately picked up my bowl and started eating.

"This place isn't as bad as we imagined. At least, it won't be so easy for anyone to leave." Looking at me wolfing down my food, Lin Xu leaned back on the sofa and sighed.

"Hmm..." I chewed, gave Lin Xu a meaningful look as he instinctively sighed, and continued eating.

It must be said that after a person experiences extreme highs and lows between danger and safety, the extreme emotional contrast can indeed bring their physiological needs to a peak, which is an instinctive reaction ingrained in everyone's body.

I, who am not used to overeating at night, actually finished all the food that Lin Xu brought me, without leaving a single crumb.

Lin Xu just watched me eat quietly; clearly, he also needed the whole evening to digest the information I had just shared with him.

Time flies, and it's already 8:40, time for us to go back to our rooms.

Seeing that I had finally finished my meal, Lin Xu spoke again: "Yesterday, Su Wanqing was there, and we didn't say anything explicitly, but I think you must have noticed it. The fourth rule of Jingxi Lodge, regarding solitude..."

"Yeah, I sensed something was wrong back then." I burped, wiped my mouth, and said, "When do we feel lonely? When there are few people around, or even when we're all alone. So why don't we need to worry about feeling lonely? We don't need to worry about hunger because supplies respawn regularly, so by the same logic, we don't need to worry about loneliness because... well, it's probably what we're thinking—empty, undead roommates spawn here. But so far, the information I've gathered hasn't revealed any undead roommates."

"But according to Elder Qingyue, Su Wanqing didn't encounter any mishap, right? Since there was no danger to her life, logically speaking, this rule of Jingxi Pavilion shouldn't have occurred."

"Yes, that's what I hope for too." I nodded to Lin Xu, then changed the subject, frowning, "But you have to know that Su Wanqing will definitely break the rule of returning to her room before nine o'clock tonight due to the elders' uncontrollable circumstances. Since Su Wanqing broke the rule first, we should be prepared for whatever happens next."

"......Um."

"It's getting late, let's go back to our room."

"it is good."

So, before nine o'clock, we all returned to our own rooms.

Closing the door and looking at the mess I'd made of searching, I felt a little disoriented.

Although I only left my room this afternoon, about three days have already passed in my seclusion room at Mingling Residence.

The discrepancy between perceived time and actual time gave me a headache, and I stood at the door of the room for a long time.

"Sigh..." I sighed deeply, shook my head, and began to take off my clothes.

The only good thing about my room being in a dorm is that at least it has a private bathroom and shower. Otherwise, after a long, tiring day, not being able to shower because of time constraints would definitely make me sleepless tonight.

In the bathroom, the water splashed loudly; in my heart, sorrow swirled like sand...

After taking a shower, I went straight to bed, thinking about Zeng Yixi and Su Wanqing, and slowly drifted into my dream.

......

"Hmm...uh." I murmured, my thoughts gradually returning.

With blurry eyes, I glanced at the alarm clock next to my head.

It was only six o'clock.

It seems my worries were completely unnecessary; I went to bed much earlier yesterday than the day before.

I quietly sat up, and by the light of the morning sun outside the window, I could vaguely see that there were people lying on the other three beds, and I could hear the secretary and the leader snoring softly.

"Tsk, is this illusion a regular feature? Oh well, it's fine." Thinking this, I quietly climbed down from the top bunk.

Standing in front of my bed, I looked around the entire dormitory. The dormitory, which had been incredibly messy yesterday, was now back to its original state.

"I wonder if it's because of the illusion, or if the refresh of the Tranquil Abode has been completed..." I muttered to myself as I tiptoed to the chairman's desk.

Zeng Yixi's words reminded me. She once said that the reason she was able to discover the secret of the cultivation technique hidden in Jingxi Lodge was because she found something different while searching through old objects in her room.

The statement itself is not problematic, but it gave me a line of thought. Since the Tranquil Abode is a one-to-one replica of our real-world room life, and all the objects in the room are perfectly replicated except for the lack of internet access, then what about in the illusion?

It's important to understand that the illusion in the Tranquil Abode is different from the illusion in the secluded meditation room of the Cicada Abode. Here, the flow of time is exactly the same as in reality. In fact, rather than saying that the present after waking up is an illusion, it's more like a parallel world? After all, it's so real here, so real that even if I examine it with the premise that this is a dream, it still feels real.

Even if it's an illusion, during this illusory window of time when my consciousness first awakens but my body hasn't, my consciousness is absolutely continuous. And only when I confirm that my consciousness is continuous will what I do next have meaning.

Due to various complex factors related to family, work, finances, and life, I have always lived a very frugal life. Therefore, I do not have any extra money to buy my own computer, and my three-year-old second-hand mobile phone is roughly equivalent to all my electronic possessions.

The leaders and secretaries all used laptops with built-in passwords. Because of some embarrassing secrets, they didn't tell me the passwords. In contrast, the Chairman's desktop computer was much more user-friendly. It had no concept of a password, and despite its extremely high specifications, it was completely wasted—the Chairman led a rich life and didn't use a computer at all.

Therefore, I can usually use the chairman's computer directly to help them with their homework and such.

I turned on the computer, held my breath, and stared nervously at the bottom right corner of the screen.

As the boot screen slowly fades out, the desktop launches, and the network icon appears in the lower right corner of the computer's status bar.

"Ding-dong!"

The sound indicating a successful network connection came through my headphones, and I instantly became excited, punching the air and letting out a long sigh of relief with a smile.

"The internet is truly the greatest invention in human history." Shaking my head, looking at the familiar webpage, I murmured with a hint of tears in my voice.