Extra: Their Later Life
Hundreds of photos of all sizes
For example, the photo in the middle of the top row shows an old man in his seventies. He is thin and pale, with white hair that has not been dyed black. He does not look very healthy, but his back is straight, and his eyes are gentle yet sharp. He does not look weak at all, and no one dares to treat him as an old man. Even through the photo, one can feel the strong power in his body.
He is Jin Nan, the helmsman of the giant ship of Sugar Country. During the years he was in power, Sugar Country has leapt to the top of the world in terms of military, education, scientific research, economy, integrity, and social security, and Jin Nan is also known as the most influential person in the world. However, no matter how much praise, acclaim, vilification, or fear he is given by the outside world, he remains the same, neither arrogant nor impatient, and steadily and firmly leads the direction of Sugar Country's progress.
…
Below Jin Nan was a photo of a middle-aged man. He had deep facial features, pursed lips, and slightly frowned brows. He seemed unhappy about the photo being taken. His slightly cold eyes revealed a sense of indifference of "you mortals", which made him look extraordinary and unattainable. Behind the man was a young man with beautiful eyebrows and a smile as bright as the morning sun. He was not afraid of the man's cold face. He hugged his neck and stretched out his hand to take a photo of the two of them. His white teeth seemed to shine even in the photo.
If there is another threat to Jin Nan's influence in the world, it is the middle-aged man Jin Yun in this photo. Although he is Jin Nan's nephew, he has never been involved in politics, nor has he inherited his parents' huge multinational company. Instead, he chose to devote his life to Skynet's aid business. He helped enslaved women in some backward and ignorant areas to gain the rights and respect they deserve, so that no child in the world could not go to school due to lack of money, and made truly affordable or even free medical care available in all backward countries. He led the team to improve 80% of the world's desertified areas... Jin Yun's achievements are too numerous to mention, and many people can't understand why he can do so many things. The most important thing is that he did not waste his body for this. In his spare time, he still enjoys life.
The boy behind him is Jin Xiao, the son of Jin Yun. Because of his distinguished family background, he has been the focus and favorite of the whole world since he was born. But with good family education, this boy has not grown up badly. He is simple and kind, gentle and kind, and there is no haze in his eyes. People say that when you are looked at by those clear eyes, you will not have the heart to refuse any request from him.
…
Two or three rows down from this photo, there is a man with a very dark complexion, thick eyebrows and big eyes. He gives the camera a thumbs up and smiles smugly - however, this is the last photo of him left before his death.
The man in the photo is named Xia Yulong. It is said that he was once a classmate of that person, but he never used this to show off or brag about himself in his life; some people also say that this person was just a gangster before, but few people believe it. People only know that this generous, straightforward, enthusiastic and upright man is a famous philanthropist and one of the top five aid providers in Tianwang. Twenty years ago, heavy rains fell in most parts of the country, and floods occurred in many places. Xia Yulong gave all the rescue kits on his body to several children, and then he was swept away by the raging waves while participating in the rescue, leaving behind his grief-stricken parents and a pair of seven-year-old twin daughters. At his funeral, thousands of people spontaneously went to pay their respects. To this day, every Qingming Festival and Xia Yulong's memorial day, many people still go to lay flowers and sweep the grave.
…
Around Xia Yulong's photo, red lines connect twenty or thirty photos. Some of the people in them are young, some are old, with different skin colors and appearances. Some are dressed like elites, and some look like old farmers... and everyone in here is a famous helper of Skynet. With their collective strength, they have changed the tragic fate of many people and are also subtly transforming the world.
Among the photos of the helpers, there is one that is very special because it was taken against the light. Apart from the crimson sunset, only a black male silhouette can be seen. This man is sitting sideways, with one hand on his knee and a cigarette between his fingers. His appearance and name are highly confidential in Skynet, and there are only some specious legends about his deeds. It is said that he was originally a policeman. After receiving the recruitment of Skynet, he changed his appearance and lurked in different criminal gangs in various identities - organ trading, human trafficking, drug dealing, arms smuggling, and led to their destruction one by one. Because of his existence, for a long time, those gangs did not dare to recruit new people, did not dare to trust each other, and some even went to destruction in internal friction. No one knows who he is. People only know the code name given to him by the world - Owl.
…
Looking down, there is a photo that seems to be taken secretly. A black long car is parked on the side of the road, and a group of people are getting out of it. Protected in the middle by a dozen men in black suits and sunglasses is a man who looks like a teenager. His skin is transparent and pale, as if he hasn't seen the sun for a long time. His eye sockets are deep, his eyes are slightly narrowed, and his cheeks are sunken. If it weren't for his indifferent eyes, he would look like an incurable drug addict.
This man is called Bai Ruomu. Some people say that he is one of the legendary "Crows" who used to be unscrupulous and punish evil, but this statement has not been confirmed. According to the public information, Bai Ruomu was a famous hacker in his youth who relied on his superb computer skills to invade major portals, hack into bank systems to transfer property, and steal corporate confidential documents. Later, he disappeared for a long time after being wanted, which was when the Crows became famous. Not long after the Crows disappeared, Bai Ruomu became a consultant in charge of national network security.
…
There are not many Crows with half-public and half-hidden identities like Bai Ruomu, and most of them are still unknown to the public. The person who took the photo also searched and verified information from many sources before finally confirming the identities of one or two of them.
For example, above Bai Ruomu's photo, there is a group photo of three people with outstanding temperaments in front of a small hotel. One of them is a man and a woman, who are obviously a couple, holding a chubby little boy in their arms. Another man standing sideways is wearing a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, with a smile on his lips. He is elegant but has a dangerous temperament. The couple is named Zhou Dong and Gong Lan. They were once members of the Crow, but now they have retired and run the ethnic hotel behind them as ordinary people. As for the third man, the photographer had been looking for him for a long time, but he didn't know his specific identity.
…
Moving your eyes to the left, you will see a blond, blue-eyed man who looks like a movie star standing on the podium with a bright smile, but what he holds in his hand is a trophy that symbolizes the highest scientific award.
He is Kerwin Taylor, the most famous scientist in the world after Rong Yuan, but his most well-known achievement is that he was the first to discover the secret of the Ark.
Over the years, governments around the world have tried every possible means to dig out the research results that Dr. Rong left in the Ark, but none of the game masters and military elites they had high hopes for have achieved anything. The only thing they gained was to verify how difficult it is to break through the protection level of this game and how magnificent the world it depicts is. When people were almost doubting whether that statement was just a gimmick to promote the game, Kerwin Taylor, who originally used the simulated environment in the Ark to conduct some dangerous experiments, announced his discovery - he got a design of a new type of vehicle from the game, which reduced energy consumption to 30% of the current general vehicles, but the performance in all aspects was at least doubled. And this vehicle that should only exist in the game, he completely replicated it in reality!
Kerwin Taylor then announced that all the credit should go to Dr. Rong Yuan, who was just a discoverer, and he also announced that he would donate all the proceeds from the new vehicle to Skynet. But to others, none of this mattered. What mattered was that the game really contained inventions that far surpassed modern technology! So, after a new round of various tricks and means, more than half a year passed before a lucky person got the new technology, and quickly jumped into the ranks of multimillionaires. After a few more years, people gradually discovered a fact - if you want to have the biggest gains in [Ark], you must start from kindergarten in the virtual game, treat the entrance examination seriously and diligently, and go to every class without missing a single class.
——Who would have thought that the most important purpose of playing a game is to go to school?
…
Most of the people on the left side of the photo wall are those who have made significant achievements in the virtual game "Ark", and a considerable part of them have been reflected in reality; as for the right side, most of them are people who have had connections with the person "Rong Yuan" himself.
His classmates, teachers, employees, lab workers and soldiers who had worked with him all became new Internet celebrities by claiming to have "been familiar with Rong Yuan". The most eye-catching photo shows a woman with fine lines on her eyes and forehead, but her noble elegance, intelligence and tenacity make her very beautiful and attractive, making people unable to control themselves and ignore her age and the wealth and honor she represents, and only fall for her.
No one could have imagined that this beautiful woman who has won worldwide acclaim was once a mediocre loser who was so fat that she couldn't bear to look at herself, and whose high school test scores even dropped to single digits. But this is the fact, and she herself is very open and never evades this point. She said that she was a piece of stubborn stone, and only when she met the best mentor could she be carved into the jade she is now. Although that period of time was full of pain, it was also the most precious memory .
Therefore, to this day, people are still puzzled by a global problem - why did the then-unremarkable Dr. Rong Yuan, among the countless people, pick out the then-unremarkable fat girl Zhou Yuan and devote so much energy and patience to her?
Some people speculated that there was an unspeakable ambiguous relationship between them, but after seeing the photos of the two in high school, everyone remained silent.
In fact, it is just because of one person's kindness and another person's tolerance.
…
Moving down further, there is a photo of an old man in his twilight years, with white hair and a frown on his face, sitting alone on a bench by the garden. In the garden, flowers are blooming in all their splendor, butterflies are flying around, and white doves are landing beside the old man, pecking at the corn kernels on the ground. The picture in the photo is colorful and seems very lively, but it makes the old man sitting in the middle seem even more lonely.
He is Rong Yuan's biological father, Rong Licheng. He was full of vigor and vitality in the first half of his life, but he was lonely and miserable in his later years. His wife divorced him to pursue her own life, and his son traveled around the country most of the year. Even though he had a lot of money, he couldn't buy the warmth and companionship of a family. He never mentioned his eldest son in his life, neither praising him with pride nor slandering him. He even hated to mention their relationship more than others, as if they were strangers with no relationship. Until his death, he saw his youngest son who was guarding him in his increasingly blurred vision, but it was as if he saw another person. His lips suddenly moved twice, and he said in a very vague voice: "Xiaoyuan, I'm sorry..."
A tear slid down from the corner of his eye.
It’s a pity that the person he really wants to confess to will never hear these words.
With a beep, the electrocardiogram turned into a straight line. Rong Jing held his hand and suddenly burst into tears.
…
The figure in the dark stroked the photo in silence for a moment, then took out a new photo and pasted it in a conspicuous place.
The photo shows an elderly couple, their hair is already gray, but their love is as loving as any young couple in love. They are Mr. and Mrs. Jinyang, who started traveling around the world after their only son got married and started a family. They have not only visited mountains and rivers in the real world, but also most of the scenery in the virtual game [Ark].
This is a photo taken by a passerby from a distance. Perhaps the intention was to capture the beauty of growing old together, but the person who posted the photo had a completely different focus.
He saw that Jin Yang and Liu Ting were both standing at the bow of a ship. Jin Yang was holding his wife with one hand and holding a high-heeled wine glass in the other hand and extending it behind him, as if inviting someone; in the edge of the camera lens focused by passers-by and in the corner of the photo, only someone's hand was vaguely captured.
After repeated processing of this blurry photo, it was finally possible to see clearly that the hand was wearing a stone ring that seemed to be crudely made. It had an ordinary appearance but a very special material. It was so special that only one person wore such a ring day and night, and it even became a fashion trend. However, no matter how realistic the imitation was, it could not imitate such a crude feeling.
…
After staring at the ring... or the hand with the ring for a long time, the figure in the dark sighed as if relaxed and tired, sat down, and turned on a desk lamp. When the light came on, Rong Jing opened a notebook on the table, picked up a pen, pondered for a moment, and then began to write.
On the bookshelf in front of him, there were two rows of such notebooks, with the following words written on the cover: "The legend of one person - Rong Yuanchuan".
