Chapter 78: Replication Experiment 2
Qing Gang walked by and asked, puzzled, “Why did you bring a thermos this time?”
Yi Ke showed an air of supreme nonchalance and answered with a light breeze, “Oh, my wife personally prepared it. He won’t let me drink beverages.”
Besides the fruit tea, there was also a box of tuna sandwiches with rich fillings and a small bag of sugar-free mint lozenges. It looked nice, but how could this little bit of food be enough? Qing Gang shook his head with a “tsk, tsk.” Love is enough to live on. Young people in love are really not practical. At lunchtime, he even specifically reminded his colleagues, “Remember to save a couple of buns for Xiao Yi.”
“There’s no work to do right now, why don’t you just call Xiao Yi over to eat?”
“Because he’s eating the meal his wife made for him. It’s just a small portion, probably not enough.”
Bringing him a meal even when he’s on a mission—what kind of perfect wife was this? Hearing this, everyone sighed with emotion. Xiao Yi’s smooth-sailing life was truly enviable.
When Zhuang Ningyu was making the sandwiches in the morning, he did indeed harbor a bit of tender love. But he had thought this love was only visible to Yi Ke. He never expected that just a few hours later, the entire internal group chat would be discussing “which direction should I pray to find a wife like Xiao Yi’s.” And the culprit was still feeling wronged, whining on the phone, “I just ate a sandwich, and I didn’t even eat it in front of them!”
“Was it good?” Zhuang Ningyu asked.
The person on the other end of the phone paused, then quickly switched to a normal voice, “It was delicious, and the tea was good too. Kisses, wifey.”
Zhuang Ningyu chuckled. “Go on and get busy. Remember to drink more water.”
Yi Ke hung up the phone, satisfied, and took another small sip of the apple tea from his thermos. As for why it was a small sip and not a big one, it was because it was unbearably sweet. But that was okay; his wife had put in too much honey, which meant his wife loved him! So he immediately sent another message with a flowery compliment before packing up and standing up. This was the second floor of the Zeus Grand Hotel. Below the railing was the giant statue. The hazy sun enveloped its mottled and peeling body, making this already inverted and chaotic world even more unreal.
Because of the iteration bug, the last digit of the original 120 became a power of zero, so this time the wedding couldn’t hire a formal banquet team. Dou Dekai might have realized this too. As the afterglow of the sun faded, he finally struggled to move down from the pedestal. “Thump, thump,” he began to wander restlessly and aimlessly through the hotel, moving his two heavy marble legs.
“Where’s… my… money…” he asked vaguely, mumbling, repeating it over and over, from dazed, to angry, until finally his voice almost burst out in a roar from the depths of his stone chest, “Where’s my money!”
The pillars of water on the dome rippled from the sound waves, causing the entire building to sway from side to side. Dou Dekai, entangled in flowering electric wires, reached out amidst a shower of blue and purple sparks. He madly lifted one heavy marble slab after another, stubbornly searching for his money—of course, to no avail. Later, Dou Dekai seemed to suddenly remember where the money was. He dragged his huge body and turned to walk hastily towards the warehouse.
The team members followed closely behind. Everyone knew very well that the three million had long been swapped by Ni Ruiling and had not been brought into the Zeus Grand Hotel, so Dou Dekai was destined not to find the money he longed for in the rule zone. But even without the money, when the warehouse door was slammed open with a “bang,” the monster still stopped in his tracks. He stopped shouting and a look of something close to shyness appeared on his face.
Because he had seen his bride.
In the empty warehouse, a dozen or so black rose vines hung down from the ceiling like a spider’s web, weaving a bed in mid-air. Tang Xiaoyuan was in a deep sleep. The wind swayed the swing bed, and also blew the huge skirt that hung down from it. She had already changed into her white wedding gown. She looked exceptionally holy and flawless. A black rose was pinned in her coiled black hair. Her features were delicate, her figure slender, like Sleeping Beauty from a fairy tale, waiting for a prince who could kiss her awake.
Dou Dekai swallowed excitedly. He grabbed the groom’s tuxedo that was folded nearby and tried to put it on without even looking. At the same time, a mechanical electric sound “hissed,” it was the wedding officiant—
“On this joyous day, welcome everyone to the wedding of Mr. Dou Dekai and Ms. Tang Xiaoyuan!”
Dou Dekai forcibly shoved his arm into the tuxedo. With a “rip,” the fabric was stretched and torn apart. The officiant obviously didn’t notice, or even if he did, he wouldn’t care about the groom’s predicament. He continued to introduce the bride on his own, but it didn’t seem to be the real bride.
Tang Xiaoyuan’s life had been thoroughly investigated by the police and the investigation team. She was a pretty girl from an ordinary, lower-class family with average grades. Because her school environment was not good, she appeared a bit vain. During her relationship with Bao Mingming, whether it was Bao Mingming’s initiative or Tang Xiaoyuan’s request, the investigation showed that she had taken nearly eight hundred thousand yuan in pocket money from her boyfriend, not including luxury goods, the flower shop, and her mother’s hospitalization fees.
But in the officiant’s mouth, Tang Xiaoyuan was a frugal, simple, and “uninterested in money” “low-desire good girl.” The more Dou Dekai listened, the brighter his eyes became. He simply couldn’t wait to kiss this perfect bride tailored for him, especially when the introduction reached “obedient to her husband” and “as chaste as the moonlight.” He was so excited his face flushed red.
Qing Gang: “I’m impressed.”
Outside the rule zone, Zhuang Ningyu was also watching all of this. Stone debris fell from Dou Dekai’s body with a “rustle.” He stretched out his arms, and just as he was about to embrace Tang Xiaoyuan on the flower bed, the officiant said, “But—”
But the bride’s mother was seriously ill and needed financial support from the groom.
Compared to the booming “introduction of merits” earlier, this “but” was as quiet as a mosquito’s buzz, and the speed was fast, as if afraid the groom would hear it clearly. But Dou Dekai still stopped in his tracks with keen senses, his gaze suspicious as he looked in the direction of the voice.
An awkward, dead silence fell over the place.
The wind poured in from the half-open window, lifting Tang Xiaoyuan’s skirt and revealing two fair, slender legs. Yao Qi took a few steps forward and slammed the window shut with a “bang.” But strangely, the wind didn’t stop. Her skirt still flew high. Zhuang Ningyu frowned and said, “Don’t you think the officiant is trying with all his might to make this marriage happen?”
Whether it was the exaggerated introduction of Tang Xiaoyuan, the concealment of her mother’s illness, or the display of her fine figure, the purpose was only one: to get Dou Dekai to accept this young and beautiful bride as soon as possible. It was just a pity that the officiant’s “good intentions” were not recognized by the groom. He still stood motionless, asking over and over, “What financial support?”
The officiant had no choice but to briefly introduce Tang Xiaoyuan’s mother’s illness: rare, difficult to treat, long-term, and requiring the help of foreign experts. The more Dou Dekai listened, the more he backed away, until finally, he simply threw the tuxedo to the ground. He had originally turned to leave, but his peripheral vision caught sight of Yao Qi. A look of pleasant surprise appeared on his face, and he rushed forward with fast steps. With a “thud,” he knelt on one knee before her amidst a splash of stone debris, completely ignoring his own “bride” hanging in mid-air.
Qing Gang: “…”
Zhuang Ningyu said in his headset, “Try to cooperate with him for now. See if the name on the invitation changes.”
Yao Qi obediently extended her hand, preparing to accept the pull-tab ring again. But Dou Dekai did not, as he had last time, pull a ring from his pocket. Instead, he bent down to kiss the back of her hand. Even kneeling on the ground, the tall statue still had a huge height difference with Yao Qi. So he had to bend his body forward as much as possible. Finally, due to the loss of balance, his whole body fell straight forward, landing face-first.
“Ask him where the ring went,” Zhuang Ningyu continued to direct. “See if it was iterated away.”
Yao Qi did as she was told and asked discontentedly, “You’re proposing, but you didn’t even prepare a ring?”
Reminded by her, Dou Dekai began to fumble around on his body. But after a long search, he couldn’t find the ring. A nervous sweat broke out on his forehead. He explained vaguely and haltingly, “No… no ring…”
“If you don’t have a ring, what kind of marriage are you getting into?” Yao Qi’s voice suddenly rose!
Dou Dekai’s face grew even redder. He frantically tried to appease her while also promising that he would definitely get her a ring. A ring, a ring, I really prepared a ring in advance. Where did the ring go?
Suddenly, as if he had remembered where the ring was, he abruptly turned and looked at the swing bed.
The others also followed his gaze and looked at Tang Xiaoyuan’s left index finger.
The ring was indeed there.
A look of joy appeared on Dou Dekai’s face. He ran forward in a few strides, grabbed Tang Xiaoyuan’s hand, and tried to take the ring back. But just like the last time it had grown into Yao Qi’s flesh, the pull-tab was now deeply embedded in Tang Xiaoyuan’s finger. No matter how much force he used, he couldn’t pry it off.
“Let’s congratulate the newlyweds!” Taking advantage of the moment the “groom” and “bride” were holding hands, the officiant suddenly shouted! Red ribbons shot out from all directions in the warehouse, and the “Wedding March” began to play without any warning—and perhaps to shorten the process as much as possible, it was played at triple speed, as frantic as if a ghost was chasing them. But Dou Dekai was clearly not satisfied with this arrangement. He randomly tried to stop it while still busy trying to get the ring. When he saw that the ring wouldn’t come off, he simply grabbed Tang Xiaoyuan with both hands, lifted her high, and looked as if he was about to slam her onto the ground!
And Tang Xiaoyuan finally opened her eyes at this moment.
After seeing her current situation, a look of clear hatred appeared on her face. She once again pulled out a dagger from somewhere and stabbed it deep into Dou Dekai’s eyes!
The statue version of Dou Dekai had a greater physical advantage than Tang Xiaoyuan, especially since the awakened Tang Xiaoyuan was not the one injected with a large amount of illegal drugs, but just an ordinary B-level evolver. So she was almost powerless to fight back and was thrown over by him. Ye Jiaoyue rushed out a couple of steps and grabbed Tang Xiaoyuan as she fell from a height.
“The wedding is complete.”
“Next, kill the damned kidnapper.”
“Kill him!”
Mechanical electronic sounds came from all directions, urging them on, a sharp whistle piercing their eardrums. All the action team members frowned and covered their ears. Even Zhuang Ningyu outside the rule zone slightly loosened his headset and said, “It’s gone mad.”
“Who’s gone mad?” the colleague beside him asked.
He Mo answered for him, “The rule zone has gone mad.”
If all the rule zones that had appeared globally before had descended with the posture of a high and mighty “god of justice,” then the infinitely iterated rule zone before them had clearly deviated from its original setting. Not only was the “game plot” full of bugs, but even the most basic “good and evil logic chain” was completely ignored. The program had produced two main characters, and both of them had unfulfilled wishes. So the rule zone, in a way that was so sloppy it was almost brutal, had simply thrown the two together, giving them both marriage and death.
The justice recognized by human society no longer existed. In its place was the “justice” defined by the rule zone.
“Kill the damned kidnapper!” the mechanical officiant was still screaming relentlessly. One could even hear a clear anxiety in his voice. This was the first time ever that a rule zone had appeared as a “deeply involved game participant,” and it was like a noisy loudspeaker. Just as Zhuang Ningyu had said, he had gone mad, and he seemed to know that the logic chain of this world was too fragile to withstand any scrutiny, so he could only use every means possible to quickly go through the process and end the “program.”
The hotel was constantly collapsing, rebuilding, collapsing again, and rebuilding again. The officiant’s voice became more and more piercing, circling crazily above the warehouse.
“Kill the damned kidnapper!”
“Otherwise, the mission will be considered a failure!”
“Countdown!”
“Ten!”
“Nine!”
“Eight!”
“Seven!”
“Team Leader Ren,” Ye Jiaoyue asked, “how are you guys doing?”
“Almost done,” Ren Bing replied.
Ye Jiaoyue didn’t wait any longer. She sidestepped one of Dou Dekai’s giant hands, raised her gun, and pulled the trigger along with the other team members.
The laser cut the statue to pieces.
The familiar white light rushed in. When everyone opened their eyes again, they were back in Chengnan Bookstore.
Qing Gang covered his ears with both hands, his face pale, as if he had just been rescued from an illegal cicada breeding farm. He was still dizzy and dazed from the noise. The other team members also showed signs of eardrum damage to varying degrees. Although Ye Jiaoyue had experience with many operations, she was still a little shaken—this was the first time in her life she had been threatened face-to-face by a rule zone.
If, according to the current model, rule zones were allowed to iterate infinitely, then the rule zone would evolve from a “game maker” to a “game participant,” and would completely override all logic chains.
“How’s the data collection?” He Mo asked.
Ren Bing nodded. “Almost there. Let’s go back and take a look first. If it doesn’t work, we can always continue to replicate, in an infinite loop.”
This was the advantage of having the state’s backing. It was open and aboveboard, with ample resources, and no need to worry. Ye Jiaoyue arranged for everyone to go for a routine medical check-up. Zhuang Ningyu took the backpack from Yi Ke’s hand and asked softly, “How are your ears?”
“I’m fine,” Yi Ke said, rubbing his own ear. “I didn’t expect to get out so quickly.”
Zhuang Ningyu glanced downstairs. “The car is already here. Let’s go for the check-up first.”
Yi Ke nodded and jogged a few steps to catch up with the main group. But as soon as he sat down in the minibus, he seemed to remember something, shot up as if his butt was on fire, and rushed back to the second floor.
But he was a step too late.
Zhuang Ningyu had already taken the thermos out of the backpack, unscrewed the lid, and was about to taste a bit of the delicious hot water he had carefully prepared himself.
