From the Ship of Fools to Earl of Wugang

Edmund picked up his coffee, took a sip, and said slowly:

"We both know what it means to put sensitive data on a third-party hosted machine. And private servers with a distributed architecture are not only related to security issues, but also to scalability."

Rebecca tilted her head slightly, signaling him to continue.

"If we need to run more complex things later—such as building a complete multi-user online environment—the advantages of distributed architecture are crucial."

After discussing his ideas for servers at length, Edmund put down his coffee cup.

"Especially for that MUD game we discussed back then, the server needs to handle dozens or even hundreds of concurrent connections at the same time, and maintain the world state, player data and event queues in real time—a private server cluster is the only reliable solution."

"MUD," Rebecca repeated the word, a slight smile playing on her lips. "You've always been very persistent about this."

"Online gaming is one of the most fascinating applications of the future of the internet," Edmund shrugged.

"People from different locations exist and interact in the same virtual world at the same time, which is closer to the concept of 'another world' than any single-player game."

Rebecca took an order form from the briefcase next to the sofa.

"It's quite a coincidence. I contacted the supplier the day before yesterday. A batch of high-performance workstations recently arrived, with excellent configurations, but the total number of components is quite large."

Edmund asked, "That sounds good. Where do you plan to deploy it?"

“My apartment in the city isn’t big enough,” Rebecca replied, “but I have a manor in the countryside that’s undisturbed and spacious enough to be a good place to store and debug the servers.”

She added, "Of course, once the server is up and running, we'll need to find an internet service provider to expand the dedicated line capacity."

Edmund's heart skipped a beat.

A spacious mansion far from the city—this was the location that "Pure Golden Light" had told him about in a private message, and he had already taken note of it when he received that message.

He needed a secluded place to raise the twenty birds and release them all at once during the ceremony seven days later.

A country house? This is practically a venue made for the ascension ceremony of the traveler's journey.

Edmund suppressed his excitement: "That sounds perfect. When would be a convenient time to move in?"

Rebecca glanced at her watch: "If there are no other plans, we can go over at noon today. In the afternoon, we can check out the environment and space of the mansion, and confirm the actual situation of the power supply and ventilation."

"I have no objection," Edmund said.

After leaving the café, Rebecca took Edmund on a short shopping trip to the market in the Silver Lake district.

This is the busiest time of day at the market, with open-air stalls along the coastal highway filled with all sorts of ingredients.

Rebecca was clearly very familiar with the place, moving with a relaxed pace between the stalls, as various ingredients were loaded into the trunk of the van.

Rebecca picked out a whole sea bass and a box of huge scallops, then bought a thick-cut beef rib and several sausages from the butcher shop nearby, and finally tomatoes, asparagus, lemons, a basket of figs and a bunch of grapes.

"Although there are some supplies at the mansion, we definitely need to bring our own fresh ingredients," Rebecca explained as she stuffed the last bag of vegetables into the trunk.

"Thomas is already working hard enough taking care of such a big house by himself, so we can't expect him to also handle the shopping."

"Thomas?"

"Oh, he's been our butler for many years; the maintenance of the mansion is all thanks to him." Rebecca closed the trunk. "I called him in advance to have him prepare."

Edmund nodded. "It seems you come from a respectable family."

Rebecca opened the driver's side door: "Strictly speaking, I only go back to stay there occasionally. Let's go, we still have an hour's drive."

After leaving Yinhu District, the van quickly entered the coastal highway.

On one side of the road is a patchwork of gravel beach, and occasionally a few small fishing boats can be seen on the sea, looking like glazed ornaments in the midday sun.

Edmund leaned back in the passenger seat, his gaze following the winding ascent of the road to the higher cliffs outside the window.

After a long journey, the van turned onto a country road.

The trees on both sides gradually grew denser, and the branches and leaves of oak and eucalyptus trees formed a green tunnel overhead, filtering the sunlight into dappled spots that fell on the hood of the car.

At the end of the path was a low stone wall and an wrought iron gate. Rebecca honked the horn twice, and the gate slowly slid open.

As the car entered, a gravel driveway gently sloped upwards, flanked by neatly trimmed holly hedges. At the end of the driveway, an elegant three-story building came into view. Ivy climbed the greyish-white stone walls of the mansion, and the roof was covered with greyish-blue slate tiles. The building was backed by a dense mixed forest, and the silvery-grey sea could be faintly seen in the distance from the driveway.

An elderly man dressed in a neat black suit was already waiting on the stone steps of the porch.

After the van came to a stop, the old man quickly stepped forward, first bowing slightly to Rebecca, and then turning to Edmund, who was getting out of the passenger seat.

He greeted the two in a magnetic voice: "Welcome, Miss Rebecca and Mr. Black. I am Thomas, your butler. Please hand over your luggage to me."

The butler naturally took Edmund's travel bag and, together with Rebecca, carried the groceries from the trunk into the house.

The interior of the mansion felt somewhat empty and gloomy, with black and white marble tiles paving the foyer floor and the air filled with the coolness of the stone walls themselves.

Thomas led Edmund through the hallway, explaining as he went, "Mr. Black's room is on the second floor, on the east side. The bathroom is inside the room. If you need extra blankets or pillows, please feel free to press the call bell by the bed."

The second-floor corridor was covered with a long, deep red carpet. Thomas pushed open a door on the east side, and Edmund went inside.

An old-fashioned yet respectable room that clearly balances aesthetics and comfort.

After Edmund settled in, lunch was served in the spacious restaurant on the first floor.

The long oak dining table, covered with a pristine white tablecloth, was set with only two sets of cutlery, but the dishes were surprisingly plentiful and exquisite to Edmund's surprise.

Sea bass is baked with herbs and lemon butter, and baked scallops are served in their own scallop-shaped dishes; beef short ribs are pan-fried to a perfect medium-rare, revealing an enticing pink cross-section when sliced. Side dishes include sautéed asparagus and a tomato and basil salad, served with fresh country sourdough bread.

Thomas also took out a bottle of red wine from the cellar, explaining as he poured it, "This is a 'Crest of the Stars' wine; it's perfect to drink now. Please let me know if you have any preferences, sir."

“Thomas has always been a great cook,” Rebecca said. “When my adoptive father was still a regular here, he practically took care of all the meals.”

"You flatter me, miss. It's just some simple home cooking."

During the meal, Edmund learned from Thomas that he had served the family of this mansion for more than 20 years, and had become the only permanent resident of the mansion since Rebecca's adoptive father was away for many years.

Rebecca briefly mentioned the origin of the mansion: "It was a property that my adoptive father inherited from his grandfather's generation, but he himself is a high-end wine traveler and spends most of the year traveling around. I only come back to stay for a while occasionally."

"That sounds like an interesting profession," Edmund said, "but why adoptive father...?"

The butler coughed lightly, and Rebecca stopped using her knife and fork, her gaze briefly falling on the plate.

"My biological parents passed away when I was young." There was no deliberate attempt to suppress her sadness in her tone. "Although my adoptive parents later divorced, they were both very good to me."

"I'm sorry to have brought this up."

"There's nothing to apologize for." Rebecca picked up her glass. "You have to keep looking forward."

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Note: MUD games (Multiple User Domain) are a general term for text-based online games, and are also the earliest form of online games. [Baidu Encyclopedia]