Chapter 39

◎Gabe's Beloved◎

The night of Huaicheng in congratulations was left to Shaohui and the black Internet cafe where they had been surfing for many years.

Shaohui worked as a cashier in his relative's company during the day. This position does not require much technical skills except that he is a reliable and trustworthy person.

When there is an order, he will just glance at it as a routine, sign and stamp it. If there is no order, he will sit dryly at his workstation, playing Minesweeper and Spider Solitaire on the clumsy desktop computer without Internet access, or eating melon seeds, reading a few pages of story books, or playing poker with colleagues.

Just get through one day, and that's it.

If someone introduces him to a girl, he will meet her, but she will always despise him for not being motivated and looking listless and listless.

He still lives at home, and his parents will be annoyed when he goes home to turn on the computer, saying that he is not doing his job properly. They urge him to learn another skill and take an accounting certificate every day, but he is not interested.

So he still follows his past habits and stays in the Internet cafe until midnight every day before going back. In the Dreamwalking Universe, he is considered a well-known old player, still able to dominate the world, and a group of children are clamoring to "become a disciple".

It is rare for him to be recognized.

Tonight, his hand feeling is inexplicably bad. He input several moves incorrectly and was hacked and killed by the big boss. During the countdown to resurrection, Shaohui and Zhuhe chatted, "Has the stupid bull monster been upgraded now? I didn't feel it was so difficult to beat before."

Zhuhe curled his lips, and his hands moved lightly on the keyboard, and he knocked down the little goblins in a few strokes, "You are a rookie, a rookie. Don't be reckless later, just follow me."

Shaohui looked at Zhuhe's screen. His skills were still as good as before. He sighed, "It's really unfair. You don't play several times a week now, how come you are still so good? Oh, right, you are busy with your work in Shenzhen? I heard that there is always overtime there."

"Well, let's not talk about work," when it came to the next map level, Zhuhe flexibly clicked the mouse to change equipment, "Some maps have upgrades. If you have time, go to the forum to check the upgrade strategy. This is called tactics."

Before he finished speaking, he joined the battle again.

Shao Hui hesitated to speak. Compared with the past, the forum was very quiet now. Posts posted two weeks ago were still on the front page. Not only the forum, but also the number of friends who played games had visibly decreased. Some people came back occasionally, while others' avatars dimmed and never lit up again.

For example, Youshen, the system showed that she had not been online for more than 300 days.

The upgrade iteration in the Dreamwalking Universe was very fast, and her ranking dropped again and again, from the peak to the decline, and then to the world of no one, in just a blink of an eye.

New players also had no way of knowing that there was a legendary couple in the channel, Gabe and Youshen, who killed gods and Buddhas.

Zhuge's space was still visible to everyone, and it always kept her own album and signature, but it had not been updated for a long time, and the once most active and shining youthful memories were gradually covered with dust.

Last year, Zhuge made an exception and held an "online birthday party". Several good buddies chatted on video for a whole night, and Wu You did not show up as expected. Shao Hui thought they must have bluffed, so he did not mention this person again.

After all, they are in an online relationship, which is more vulnerable than dating in real life.

Zhu He moved the God of War into the bushes to hide and recover health, "Aliang is the best at operating this map. By the way, it seems like I haven't seen him for a while, have you played with him?"

"As for him, his father is old and broke his leg some time ago, so he took over the store and looks after it. I guess he will be fine after this busy period," Shaohui was resurrected and clicked on the map where Zhu He was, "I'm here, there will be no problem for us to play."

"Is his family still running that printing shop?" Zhu He asked, "No matter how busy they are, they should have time to play games, right?"

Shaohui smiled, "Young master, you don't know that the business of a printing shop is earned by perseverance. You can only make money if you can endure." "

Oh, I'll go buy some fruit later, and you can take the time to deliver it to him," Zhu He glanced at the time in the lower right corner of the screen. It was almost midnight, "I'm on the 7 o'clock bus back to Shenzhen tomorrow morning, so I won't have time to meet him."

Shaohui said, "Then we won't play after this game. It's too late and the fruit shop will be closed. You should go back and rest early."

"Okay," they worked together and quickly killed a big boss, and both of them were upgraded.

On the way to the fruit shop, Shaohui asked Zhu He what his future plans were.

After looking at the computer for a long time, his legs felt weak when he walked. Zhu He looked up, looked at the clouds and stars in the dark sky, and said honestly: "I don't know, let's take it one step at a time."

He didn't like his current job, it was boring and dull, his boss was mean, always making some unrealistic demands, and often used the first version after dozens of revisions. He

even earned more than half less than before.

He occasionally wondered if life was worth wasting in those cubicles and those subway cars for the five social insurances and one housing fund.

It's better to do something he likes. Even without Wu You, he should be able to do it well, right?

"What about you?" Zhu He asked Shaohui, "But your job now should be quite stable, not busy, and the salary is not too low."

At least it is not a problem to maintain the life of a local.

"There's not much of a future," Shaohui continued, "...working from nine to five, just eating and waiting to die."

"Don't say that, it's already better than many people," Zhuhe comforted him, "You don't know how hard it is to find a job outside nowadays."

"Actually, I've been thinking about something," Shaohui did not hide anything from Zhuhe, "I saw a recruitment information a few days ago, and I'm not over the age limit, so I thought about giving it a try."

"Okay, as long as you have your own ideas," Zhuhe patted Shaohui on the shoulder, "You're so handsome, soldier."

Shaohui shook his head, "But I haven't thought about it yet. Being a soldier is hard, and you definitely can't go online or play with your phone."

"It's okay, then we'll wait for you to come back. Anyway, the brothers are always here, and Dreamwalking Universe is always here."

Zhuhe walked to the stall, picked some seasonal fruits, and asked Shaohui to bring them to Aliang.

The two continued to walk along the old road until they reached the fork in the road. Shaohui stood under the streetlight, waved to Zhuhe, and asked with a silly smile: "When will you come back next time?"

"I will definitely come back during the Chinese New Year. It will be soon, just a few months."

"I will wait for you to come back and surf the Internet. Be well there."

"Next time we meet, bring a girl over for me to meet."

"Not interested."

"Is the girl not interested in you?"

"Get lost! Bye!"

"Are you angry out of shame?"

Shaohui gave Zhuhe the middle finger, walked backwards quickly, and his figure gradually disappeared into the dim night.

In the ever-changing virtual world, many farewells and last times are silent, just like their last wave under the streetlight.

-It

was already the beginning of January of the new year when I received my first full-time salary in my life.

The employment scope of oil painting is quite narrow. Apart from being a teacher and doing education and training, it is almost impossible to find a corresponding major. Du Ningyang was a little entangled at first, but later he simply let himself go and sent out resumes like a net, going to whichever company offered the highest salary.

So I was hired by an exhibition company and was responsible for various conference reception work.

It was quite busy, but fortunately the salary was acceptable and there was overtime pay for overtime work.

Leaving aside a minimum amount of food money, Du Ningyang rushed to a shopping mall near the company and bought the latest model of Apple 5C.

The rose-red shell was much lighter than the most popular 5 and 5S, and had an extra layer of plastic, but she didn't care. She was happy that she was different from other colleagues.

With the new phone in her hand, she was excited. She stepped on her small shoes that rubbed her feet and jumped into the subway. She followed the bustling crowd and took one, two, and three subways. After

walking out of the subway, she bought some cold dishes at the braised food shop, and went to the next door to pack two bowls of pork trotter rice. She happily walked into a building by the roadside.

She passed through two iron doors and waited for an elevator with dozens of people. They walked in shoulder to shoulder, one after another, without a single gap, and watched the elevator stop at almost all the floors that could be pressed.

When the button for the 21st floor was about to go out, she said "Oh no", pushed past the people blocking the way, squeezed out of the elevator, and turned a corner to a small apartment.

She first took out the key to open the iron door, then turned the round doorknob and pushed open the wooden door.

"I'm back."

The joy of payday dispelled the daily resentment. Du Ningyang turned on the light in the living room, and the small light bulb immediately lit up with a dim and weak cold white light.

"Zhu Zhu? Aren't you here?"

The door was ajar, and the fluorescent light from the computer screen could be vaguely seen. She walked in with a small white paper bag from the Apple Store hanging on her elbow.

He sat in front of the computer, half of his body leaning on the back of the chair, his hands hanging by his legs, looking a little frustrated and depressed.

"What's wrong?"

Du Ningyang walked closer and pulled Zhu Zhu in front of him. His face was pressed against her suit skirt, rubbing against the fabric, and he sighed.

"I have submitted my resignation..." Zhu He's voice was very weak, "I wanted to just put up with it, but he kept nagging... Later I thought I just couldn't put up with it anymore. Alas, I regretted it after I came back. I felt that it was okay to put up with it, it wasn't a big deal." "

I'm sorry, wife, I didn't discuss it with you."

He had been bullied all the time recently, for no reason. She knew him well, he was a very easy-going and easy-going person, he must have been bullied terribly.

"What's the matter?" Du Ningyang rubbed his cheek with her fingertips, "It's just right to take a break for a while, and then look for a job after the Chinese New Year. It's the golden third and fourth months, there's no problem finding a better one."

She raised the bag in her hand, "I got my salary today, and I rewarded myself with a new mobile phone. How about I give it to you first?"

Zhu He hugged Du Ningyang's waist tightly, rubbing her affectionately like a cat with long arms and legs.

"No, I don't like smartphones, you use them, honey."

He was one of the first people to accept the Internet and new things. He has been in the most technologically advanced city in the country for three years, but he seems to have become more nostalgic, unwilling to touch new things, and tightly guarding a piece of land in his heart.

"Then wash your hands and eat," Du Ningyang leaned over and kissed Zhu He's forehead, "I bought the braised dishes and pork trotter rice you like."

"I mean, how come you smell the fragrance," he smiled at her and got up to wash his hands in the bathroom.

The computer screen was still stuck on the interface of the sleepwalking universe, a green meadow in front of the valley, where he erected a small tombstone for Wu You.

It read: Gabe's beloved, rest here.

Du Ningyang stared at the picture in a daze. She knew about this. He often stared at this place in a daze, just like her at this moment.

But what can she be angry with someone who is no longer there?

"Wife, I'm done washing," Zhu He walked into the living room and began to remove the lid of the plastic packaging box, "It smells so good, it's still warm. Come on!"

"I'm coming."

She turned off the screen and turned to leave the bedroom.

Anyway, Wu You will never come back.