The next day.
Rumble—
The roar of the mainframe. Warm air blew from the tower's exhaust vents, generating an irritable volume of noise.
Click click—Alain clicked the mouse, looking at the control center belonging to the residence on the screen, and clicked the button to close the window.
Subsequently, he picked up the phone. "Can you see if the windows outside are closed from your end?"
The sounds of crickets and forest leaves drifted from the telephone receiver, accompanied by the footsteps of someone walking...
"They're closed properly," the voice in the receiver sounded rather impatient. "I say, Mr. Alain. You left Miss Wanhua's room and actually didn't close the window?"
Alain smiled, "Wasn't I just looking to confirm with you? Alright, sorry to trouble you."
After speaking, Alain hung up the phone and reached his own conclusion:
No matter how far the distance, even with the separation between the urban area and the suburbs, this computer's control center could manipulate every aspect of the residence.
Just now, for the sake of an experiment, Alain had troubled the Uncle once, asking him to check if the residence's windows were closed.
Alain remembered that when he last left the residence, the windows were all in an open state. So, sitting in his own small home, he selected [Close Window].
Unsurprisingly, the Uncle, upholding the philosophy of "Customer First," inspected the residence and found the windows were indeed properly closed.
Alain looked at the computer screen before him; the network icon in the bottom right corner of the desktop displayed a state of not being connected to the internet.
In other words, this machine, without an internet connection, controlled a residence thirty kilometers away and made it close a window?
Satellite? Or Bluetooth? Alain couldn't fathom the principle at all. If it were the Alain of the past, he could have summarized it in one phrase: "Yang Wanhua's technical prowess."
However... the current him only felt it was eerie.
Click!
Alain clicked the shutdown button. The screen suddenly went dim, reflecting his face.
The reflection of him sighed. His warm breath coated the black screen with a layer of white mist.
Yesterday, the experience at the residence was still vivid in his mind: the greenery on the window glass, the steel forest outside the window... it was as if they had become a stone carving engraved upon his heart.
The whole world seemed to have betrayed him, becoming a quagmire that stalled Alain's time. With every step he took, he would sink three points deeper.
"It really is impossible to figure out," Alain held his head. The more he thought, the more he felt the possibility he derived yesterday was apt:
This reality is not simple. Perhaps, it is not his reality at all.
When he reached such a conclusion, everything experienced in the past became bizarre and full of holes.
First and foremost was the event of viruses appearing in reality.
Electronic Life forms appearing in reality—no matter how one looked at it, it was absurd. After all, one was a body composed of code, and the other was a body composed of flesh and blood... they were completely different dimensions.
But if this world was absolutely not reality, but rather an Electronic World, then it seemed it could be explained.
Alain stroked the wooden grain of the computer desk. The texture of the wood and the slight coldness seeping through his fingertips appeared incomparably real.
"Miss Miluo! Please teach me about idol matters!"
"Aiyaya, you are so annoying!"
Miluo and Cute Mita paced one after the other from the super-large bedroom to the game room, then to the study, the guest bedroom, and the kitchen. Their voices and footsteps were also incomparably real.
Alain still listed the so-called [Reality] being an [Electronic World] as a possibility.
Better to believe it exists than to believe it doesn't.
Then, there was the information point also derived from the residence: that string of passwords, which is [Your Reality].
This password string contains uppercase and lowercase letters and a space, adding up to exactly 12 characters.
It corresponds exactly to the digit count of the password for [monika.chr].
A mere 12-digit password wouldn't be worth Alain's excessive consideration.
But as it happened... the translation of this password was—Your Reality.
Monika's hint was practically shoved in his face.
Alain turned on his mobile phone, tapped open his email, scrolled down the screen, and soon saw that file he had bookmarked.
He hesitated whether to input the password and try to unlock the file directly...
But after thinking it over, he clicked on Monika's email address and sent her a message:
[Regarding that file, should I open it now?]
Beep~
He didn't know what she was doing, or if she was holding her phone every minute and second: Monika's instant reply.
[No need. That file is not for the current you to use.]
"..."
Alain looked at this message, feeling irritable.
Indeed, Monika had always been helping him with her highest permissions.
But those "Riddler" sentences were truly uncomfortable to read. Cloudy and foggy, insisting that he push aside the mist to explore the truth himself.
Fortunately... he also had a solution.
Alain closed the email and selected the shortcut for the Security Assistant.
"Yo, long time no see!" 2D Mita immediately popped out, jumping to the exact center of the screen to declare her presence.
Alain cracked a small joke, "What? Are you done charging?"
"Charging?" She froze for two seconds, then immediately understood what Alain meant. "Hey! How exactly do you see me?!"
"A bad Mita who looks at my photo album to charge," he answered without hesitation. Before 2D Mita could reply, he hurriedly asked,
"How is the cracking situation of the Unknown Port right now?"
"Changing the subject!" The electronic girl complained once, understanding this was serious business. "It's at 92%. The final stage is a bit difficult, but it will be done by today or tomorrow at the latest!"
"OK." Alain nodded. He would soon be able to crack open the box of the Unknown Port.
However... when the Unknown Port reached one hundred percent, that would likely be the day of his decisive battle at the Core.
"Where is it currently located?"
"Mn... I can already pinpoint it to the urban area, Alain." 2D Mita didn't say more. "You understand."
"...Mn." Alain did not feel surprised. Her meaning was...
The Unknown Port was located in the same city as him.
But forget it... regardless of whether Monika or Yang Wanhua was over there, neither would hinder his current goal.
"Open the portal for me."
2D Mita clearly already understood what he wanted to do; after all, she knew everything about Alain's trip to the residence.
He sat on the sofa, allowing his vision to gradually detach from his body.
Alain felt as if he were floating, drifting, flying toward the end of the world.
What exactly this world was like... Alain did not know.
There was too much fog, requiring him to push it aside with his own hands.
And on his inevitable path, there happened to be a friend who could clear the clouds and mist for him—
Core Mita.
Gradually, his eyes grew heavy, sinking into darkness.
"0.98"
This simple string of numbers was the goal of his journey.
____
New Story: Starting from Their Seventeen Years Old
🔥We're handing out that '30% bonus' that makes your wallet smile. 😄
✅ Get immediate access to 40 early chapters for all stories.
✅ Enjoy exclusive material and special announcements!
Help us unlock these community rewards:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 Bonus Chapter for everyone
🚀 140 MEMBERS = +5 extra chapters across ALL STORIES!
👻 P - Walnutchan