Heavens have mercy, he's never slept this well before!
But this certainly isn't a good thing, and Gu Mo doesn't think it's acceptable, especially now that he's decided to save himself, thinking he still has a chance to correct things.
He still knows this isn't normal, which is his biggest advantage, and also proof that his condition is still quite mild. If he was like that mental patient he saw, who had completely accepted his new persona, adapted to a brand-new distorted worldview, and believed he wielded a fruit knife as the supreme ruler of the martial arts world, a treasure blade to slay dragons...
—Then perhaps there really would be no hope.
"Ten, nine, eight, seven..."
Counting silently in his heart, Gu Mo braced himself, widened his eyes, and repeatedly reminded himself—I'm fine, it's still early, I'm normal, and I don't feel that there's anything wrong with me... I can't sleep, I can't sleep, I don't want to sleep...
Four, three, two, one, time is up.
Accompanied by an ear-piercing hallucination that seemed to be mixed with electric currents, his vision went dark, and his consciousness quickly blurred, the reality connected through sensory perception rapidly drifting away.
"Buzz buzz...%￥#@&... buzz buzz...$#%&@..."
"Scene: Xingping Restaurant... buzz buzz...$#%&..."
"Difficulty: Easy."
"Current scene exploration... buzz buzz...$#%&..."
"Buzz buzz... scene...$#%&... mode: Peaceful."
"Tasks triggered: 0."
"Tasks completed... buzz buzz...$#%&..."
"Overall rating: F- (lowest rating)."
The chaotic noises are meaningless, like electric currents running through nerves, but within the fragmented and disorderly sounds, there are occasional fragments of clear or blurred information, repeating over and over, barely discernible.
However, for the person who has been "forcibly logged out," these things don't exist.
"Achievement unlocked... buzz buzz...$#%&... obtained title 'Beginner (Bronze)', title badge boost effect auto-activated..."
"Your...$#%&... mission level has increased, now level 1, you have received 1 free attribute point, please choose carefully where to invest your points..."
"%￥#@&... users under 18 will be affected by anti-addiction syste... buzz buzz... online time has reached 8 hours, forced logout will occur... please complete as soon as possible... buzz buzz...%￥#@&... real-name verification..."
In the ear-piercing noise, crackling sounds akin to a malfunctioning old TV, accompanied by strange sounds from a snowy screen, but after the last fragment of information played out, everything stopped, and nothing moved anymore, only the steady, quiet breath of the young man on the bed remained.
As if he's sleeping in a beautiful dream.
...
...
No one knows how much time has passed.
It's still that familiar sensation of electric currents running through nerves, auditory sense first to awaken and feel the piercing torment, followed closely by the full return of sensory perception.
It is not the gradual recovery of bodily functions from sleep, the process of waking from a dream, consciousness gathering bit by bit, awareness gradually returning to clarity, but rather a very abrupt kind... hmm, how to describe it?
Anyway, one moment you're deeply asleep, and the next you're suddenly awake—
And completely awake, with all grogginess vanished, the whole self full of energy, vibrant and in peak condition. This feeling is really eerie, and hard to describe.
"Think positively, at least I don't have the habit of staying in bed..." Sitting up straight in bed, Gu Mo blinked, seeing the glow of the digital clock on the bedside table in the dim room, the displayed time telling him that today he also woke up exactly at midnight.
He shook his head and got straight out of bed to put on his shoes; before, staying in bed was mainly because he couldn't wake up or sleep enough, so when waking up he still felt tired and wished to nap a little more, willing to risk deploying 'Substitute: Waste Time' for that...
But now every time he wakes up, he's wide awake, without a trace of sleepiness, so naturally, he doesn't think about sleeping a bit more, thus having neither the inclination nor necessity to stay in bed.
This is probably the only benefit Gu Mo has found from his strange symptoms...
It seems yesterday's effort failed, the psychological construction didn't succeed, when the time came he still fell asleep. Thinking this, he came to the bedside table, picked up the digital clock and looked at it, today he also woke up precisely to the second, judging by the looks of it he should have fallen asleep precisely to the second yesterday morning too.
Although it's true that with normal exercise and routine, the biological clock can be controlled, more precise than humans imagine; it's said that jockeys even have a biological clock measured to tenths of a second... but Gu Mo doesn't think he has that ability under normal circumstances.
Why is it that in a state of illness, his biological clock can instead be calculated to the second?
—Hmm, the world of a mentally ill person is indeed unimaginable.
He put down the digital clock, turned around and picked up the clothes hanging on the chair at the computer desk from the side, which he had prepared before he was about to succumb to sleep yesterday morning, since he would need them the next day.
Walking into the bathroom, Gu Mo quickly brushed his teeth, washed his face, handled personal matters, then had a good shower.
Coming out afterward, with hair still damp, he didn't even glance at the hairdryer but decisively grabbed his keys, phone, and wallet, and rushed downstairs.
After all, he didn't know how late the restaurant would be open; it was said to be relatively late last night, and today rushing over, he didn't know if he could still make it... this gave him a sense of urgency. If possible, he didn't even want to wash up, he wanted to go there as soon as he got up.
"Xiao Gu, going out so late?"
At the entrance of the community, a middle-aged man in the duty room heard the noise, nervously lifted his head to see outside, and relaxed only after seeing it was Gu Mo.
"Yes, I've recently taken up a night job..." Gu Mo, despite being in a hurry, still stopped to explain patiently to maintain his normal person persona, then oddly looked at the middle-aged man, "But Uncle Zhang, why are you on duty tonight? Isn't it Old Ding on duty this week?"
"... Oh, Mr. Ding, he has some personal matters these days, so I'm covering for him." The middle-aged man's expression immediately became somewhat peculiar, squeezing a smile, and replied in a slightly stiff tone.
"I see, well, take care of yourself, the wind is strong at night, don't catch a chill..."
Gu Mo nodded, casually asked a question so didn't think much more, waved and quickly walked out.
Watching the young man's figure disappear outside the window, the middle-aged man nervously peeked outside several times, then sat back down looking slightly suspicious. He didn't believe Old Ding's nonsense, but undeniably those statements indeed made him feel uneasy now.
...
...
Two minutes later.
"How can this be? I remember it was right here..."
Walking back and forth several times on the road near the end of the food street, Gu Mo ignored the enthusiastic solicitations from the shop or stall owners on both sides, widening his eyes and looking back and forth.
Impossible! How could this happen?
In his impression, the alley leading to the other commercial street was right here. But now what appears in front of him is a dead end, filled with various clutter, and a rusted iron door locked tight, looking like it has been this way for some time.
Could it be he remembered wrong? With a complex mood, he glanced back, then turned and walked in that direction.
Reaching the other side of the street, he looked around, and then his eyes lit up.
Dim alley...
Light at the end...
It turns out he really remembered it wrong, it wasn't over there but here. He instantly felt relieved, decisively stepped inside, and frowned in the piercing hum and noise that rose again, eventually passing through the dim and flickering alley to the other side.