Song Yang was silent for a moment, then said, "It's not a particularly clear piece of news at the moment. We have to wait for further investigation, but—"
He told Xia Jing and the others about his conversation with another player in reality after he left Smiley Face City.
Ever since Song Yang entered Smiley City, he has been wondering about the origin of this hellish place, Smiley City.
What exactly is this place?
How did it come into being, and how did it select and attract players?
Many players have tried to investigate these issues from various angles, but have never reached any conclusion.
Song Yang accidentally found a new idea.
But to follow this line of thought and continue the investigation, he needs special help.
Some time ago, the real-life player forum was re-established, and he met that player while browsing posts. The other party's profession happened to be what Song Yang needed.
He contacted the other party, and the two hit it off and immediately took action.
This initial action is actually very simple - it is to trace the city coordinates of the earliest Smiley City player.
This was the first time Song Yang mentioned this matter to Feng Shi and Jia Qing, and they were stunned.
City coordinates?
Xia Jing said thoughtfully, "Do you think that the launch of Smiley City started from a certain city?"
"Yes. As you know, many people suspect that Smiley City was created by someone, or a group of people. There are also many theories among players about the identities of these people. But I always tend to believe that the person who created Smiley City is someone from our time."
Song Yang stated calmly, "Then where are they? When they first created Smiley City, who were the first players they chose?"
Following Song Yang's train of thought, Feng Shi and Jia Qing's expressions began to change.
Jia Qing exclaimed, "It's very likely that it's someone close to them!"
Song Yang nodded.
"This is just one of the possibilities. We assume that the birth of Smiley City wasn't a long-planned plan, but rather an accident. If it was really a long-planned plan, then they could have done it more carefully. However, we all agree that Smiley City isn't currently that sophisticated."
"If it's the latter, then the birth of Smiley City was accidental. The creator likely didn't consider the long-term impact when creating Smiley City. When selecting the first batch of players, they most likely chose the current city."
"This conjecture is unfounded and can easily be disproven. But if it's really as I suspect, then this would be a very clear starting point for investigation. So I told the player we could give it a try. It wouldn't be a loss anyway."
Song Yang poured a glass of water for himself and Xia Jing and said, "Some time ago, he and I did some analysis and research. Among the current players, the one with the longest qualifications in Smiley City should be Chai Feng."
Speaking of this person, Feng Shi and Jia Qing frowned, both feeling a little disgusted.
"And Chai Feng is from City A."
Song Yang and Feng Shi are both from S City. Jia Qing studies in S City, but his hometown is elsewhere.
City A and City S are in the same province, hundreds of kilometers apart.
Unlike City S, which is the provincial capital, City A is a small city.
The scenery is beautiful, the pace of life is slow, and there are many local specialties. It is a great place for a two-day or three-day trip.
"After initially confirming the coordinates of City A, he began the next step."
Retrospective investigation.
This is an investigation that requires a specific professional identity. Song Yang cannot help and can only wait patiently for the other party's investigation results.
It just so happened that today, the other party had some gains.
"The first message he gave me was that he happened to meet another veteran player yesterday, a player with even more experience than Chai Feng."
"That player has a very negative attitude towards Smiley City. He repeatedly enters and exits the one-star dungeon within the seven-day time limit. As a result, his points are very low, and he has never been noticed. In fact, he has been in Smiley City for over 230 days."
"And he's also from City A."
Xia Jing narrowed his eyes.
Feng Shi and Jia Qing became serious.
From this point of view, City A's goal is very clear.
"The second piece of news he gave me was that his investigation revealed that City A had experienced a period of frequent and bizarre accidental deaths four years ago."
Feng Shi and Jia Qing were stunned.
Song Yang said slowly, "You all know that players who die in the dungeon will die again in reality. This is Smiley City's cover-up in the real world."
"The methods of concealment can be roughly categorized as: sudden death from illness, car accidents, and suicide. Each of these is quite common when taken individually, but any experienced player can tell the difference between ordinary human death and player death in real life."
"And if these player deaths are clustered in the same city, the characteristics will be more obvious."
When Song Yang said this, Feng Shi and Jia Qing's backs straightened slightly and their whole bodies tensed up.
Song Yang said word by word, "Four years ago in City A, there was a long period of time when there were frequent cases of ordinary people committing suicide in groups of two or three, or being hit by cars on separate streets."
Hearing this, Jia Qing and Feng Shi could no longer sit still.
Feng Shi frowned tightly: "Four years ago?!"
Jia Qing was stunned and said, "Suicide in groups of two or three? This is too obvious! Even if players who knew each other in real life entered the dungeon together and died together, when they returned to the real world, Smiley City would usually kill them separately, right?"
Xia Jing lowered his eyes and thought.
Four years ago, more than 1,400 days ago.
And Smiley City has only been operating for more than two hundred days.
Thinking of this, Xia Jing opened his lips slightly and said, "Smiling Face City may have been in operation and destroyed before. And its creator was still very young four years ago."
Feng Shi and Jia Qing stared at him in astonishment.
Song Yang said slowly: "Yes, this is also my guess."
A guess that popped up inadvertently.
A conjecture leads to a bigger and more terrifying mystery.
They seemed to have caught a glimpse of the Smiley City. If they went deeper, they might be able to truly touch the truth.
Jia Qing swallowed and was unable to speak.
After Feng Shi was shocked, he was silent for a while and looked at Xia Jing.
If Smiley City had ever been running and destroyed, why did it disappear and what was the fate of those players at that time?
When it was mentioned that Xia Jing might be a player who had reached 10,000 points, a thought actually flashed through Feng Shi's mind -
With everyone paying attention, if a player with full points ever appears in Smiley City, everyone should know about it.
But no, there is no such legend in the Smiley City.
But if Xia Jing was a player of Smiley City four years ago, then everything would be possible again.
Song Yang did not answer this question with certainty, but Feng Shi felt that Song Yang must have thought about it - ordinary players actually have no chance of touching the core of Smiley City, let alone being feared by Smiley City.
As the current number one in the points ranking, Song Yang has never had the opportunity to glimpse the truth behind Smile City.
How did Xia Jing become entangled with Smiley City?
There are indeed many reasons why Xia Jing has become what he is now, but this young man is smart, clever, calm and strong, and the dungeon is really like a game to him. Is there a possibility that he did reach 10,000 points... and then what happened?
All clues point to this young man with a mysterious identity.
But he lost the relevant memory.
An eerie silence fell around the long table, and the four people were silent for a long time.
Song Yang held Xia Jing's hand tightly and said, "Also, I have a guess about how the other party created the Smile City. Xia Jing, you should have thought of it too."
Xia Jing raised his eyes, raised his eyebrows, and said, "Are you talking about superpowers?"
Feng Shi and Jia Qing continued to be stunned.
"That's right, Smiley City really likes players with special abilities, right? Since special abilities exist in reality, and Smiley City is so unscientific, why couldn't this place itself have been created by a special ability player?" Song Yang said, "I've already told that player friend about this hypothesis. I told him to pay attention to related suspicious cases across the country. Maybe he can dig up some clues."
Jia Qing held his head in his hands. He felt a headache due to the excessive amount of information.
Feng Shi frowned and said, "I have a friend who should be able to help, but he's not a player, so I might need to think of some way to convert the information."
Having said that, Feng Shi seemed to be completely unable to sit still.
He chatted for a few more sentences and then said goodbye in a hurry, probably to go find his friends in real life.
Jia Qing was in a daze for a while, but when he saw that it was almost eight o'clock, he quickly logged off, saying that he still had some homework to finish tonight.
The topic was temporarily dropped, and soon, there were only two people and a dog left in the house.
Tuanzi lay on the beach, wagging his tail, looking very comfortable.
The sea breeze gently combs its long, smooth golden hair.
Song Yang and Xia Jing also returned to the beach.
Xia Jing turned around and asked, "Don't you need to go back to reality to be with your family?"
Song Yang was startled and said softly, "I can accompany my family anytime, but you, after today, Monday, you still don't know whether you can use the key to come to my place, right?"
Xia Jing chuckled: "After midnight, we can wait and see."
Xia Jing was imprisoned in Smiley City, in a safe house. This confinement did not mean that he could not step out of the safe house, but that except for Mondays, he had no way to control the direction of the safe house, and the safe house naturally could not float to the game hall.
But if after Monday, he can still use Song Yang's key to come to Song Yang's space - then there is a private login room in Song Yang's space, so he will no longer be restricted and can log in to the copy at any time?
He can even come and go to the game hall at will through the space key.
"I tried to buy a personal space in an official supermarket before, but when I walked to the checkout counter with the key, the NPC became unresponsive and I couldn't check out," said Xia Jing.
After hearing this, Song Yang whispered, "You are a bug in Smiley City. Maybe this time, my space key will also become a bug for you."
Xia Jing raised his lips: "I'll wait and see, Doctor Song."
Song Yang pulled Xia Jing to sit down by the waves.
This is not the real sea, there are no tides.
As they sat there, the waves hit their toes again and again.
To be honest, the closer Song Yang got to the truth of Smile City and the truth of Xia Jing, the more he couldn't suppress his imagination of what this young man looked like in reality.
Where is he from? Where has he lived before? Is he a college student? What major is he studying?
At the same time, when Song Yang realized that Smiley City had been destroyed and Xia Jing's body was neither human nor monster, he also thought - even if Xia Jing could leave Smiley City now, could he really return to the real world?
Song Yang is not a timid person. He is never afraid to challenge those seemingly extremely difficult problems.
But when he faced a question for the first time, he didn't know how to start.
He just held Xia Jing's hand tightly and fell into silence.
Fortunately, the two of them have always been a pair of soul mates.
Xia Jing suddenly said, "Song Yang, I know your concerns, so I want to give you something first, and you keep it."
Song Yang was stunned: "What is it?"
Xia Jing threw a space bag to him. Song Yang opened the small space bag, took a peek inside, and was stunned.
Xia Jing supported his hands behind his back, looked up at the starry sky, and said, "I asked Tuanzi what would happen if he could never leave this place."
Song Yang suddenly raised his eyes to look at him.
"But I'm just teasing it. I still don't think there's any problem in this world that you and I can't solve together." Xia Jing turned his head, his voice gentle and calm, "So, be prepared and take it step by step. I will always get what I want, how about you?"
Song Yang's eyes calmed down.
He laughed and finally returned to his usual lazy self.
He said, "What a coincidence, me too."
The sea breeze caressed them gently.
Song Yang looked at Xia Jing and said, "I like you, so no matter what, I will drag you away from this hellhole and let you live like a normal person."
Xia Jing jokingly said, "If I really live like an ordinary person, it might be a bit boring."
"Then we can find other excitement. It's more interesting than being locked up in this place, right?" Song Yang said.
Xia Jing nodded: "That's right."
Song Yang smiled, and a piece of bright moonlight shattered in his peach blossom eyes.
Xia Jing suddenly moved closer.
Song Yang froze, frozen in place, holding his breath. With his heart beating rapidly, he asked cautiously, "...What?"
Xia Jing looked into his eyes thoughtfully.
Song Yang has been told since childhood that his peach blossom eyes are beautiful and attractive enough, but Song Yang feels that Xia Jing's eyes are truly beautiful.
Long and narrow, with slightly curved corners and dark pupils, these eyes are captivating enough when they look at someone closely and intently.
Song Yang's heart was about to jump out of his chest. He even felt that at this moment, Xia Jing must have heard his heartbeat.
He opened his mouth and his throat became dry.
Xia Jing laughed happily and said with a sigh, "Song Yang, you are really worthy of being me."
Song Yang's Adam's apple rolled, and he wanted to ask why he had such an exclamation.
The next second, his brain, which had been stuck for a long time, finally resumed normal function.
He knew Xia Jing had discovered it.
Xia Jing raised his hand and gently stroked the corner of his left eye. He asked, "Did you move this number here on purpose?"
Song Yang grabbed Xia Jing's wrist and said with a smile, "Yes."
The player's score number.
This number is most often displayed on the surface of the body parts that are most important to the player.
Some parts are too obvious, so in order to prevent being targeted, players have to use tools to cover up the mark.
For a player, if the most important part of the body becomes another part, the location where the points are displayed will also change.
This also means that the location where the points appear can actually be controlled by the player.
Many people are not aware of this, and even if they do, it is difficult to actually do it, because the "most important part of the body" is judged by the heart, and it is not possible to actually make this change by simply thinking "from today on my belly is the most important part of my body".
But Song Yang is not an ordinary person after all.
His points appeared in his pupils.
These eyes meet the gaze of many people every day, but at the same time, the black numbers and dark brown eyes make it impossible to notice the numbers hidden in them unless you look closely and closely.
It's a fantastic location.
"At first, my points showed up on my hands. You know, I'm a medical student, and of course I hope to be able to stand on the operating table in the future. My hands are very important to me, but this position is too troublesome, isn't it?"
Song Yang curled his lips and said lazily, "Then I thought, no matter what I want to do in the future, only by continuous learning can I make continuous progress. Becoming a sponge is my real goal. Then my eyes are my most important part, the channel for me to input all knowledge."
"Once I was convinced of this, my points naturally shifted."
Xia Jing withdrew his hand, narrowed his eyes and smiled: "Very reasonable."
"You're the first person to discover my points. Even Feng Shi and Jia Qing don't know where my points are hidden," Song Yang asked inquiringly. "What about you? You should also have a way to transfer your points, right?"
"Doctor Song, don't you want to guess?" Xia Jing bent his knees and supported his cheeks with his hands, looking very cute.
Song Yang thought about it.
The sea breeze lifted Xia Jing's black hair.
In the night, the young man with his face tilted to the side, looking at him teasingly, looked like a curled-up, dangerous and alluring mermaid. His tail slapped the beach again and again, fully showing his interest.
Song Yang raised his hand to smooth Xia Jing's hair, and said in a low voice: "Your current body is not a human body. If your human body was destroyed along with the annihilation of Smiley City four years ago, then how did you achieve 'rebirth' later?"
Song Yang looked at him and said, "Xia Xia, I didn't believe in the existence of the soul before, but you made me think that maybe as long as a person's soul is not dead, he will not really die. Although Smiley Face City has done many evil things, it has also allowed this miracle to truly appear before us."
"As for you, anything in this world that can't kill your soul can never truly kill you."
"As long as your soul is still here, 'Xia Jing' will still be in this world, right?"
The summer scenery is special.
For this young man, the body cannot trap him, and no part of the body is indispensable to him.
Only the soul represents the real him.
Xia Jing chuckled when he heard the answer, "Unfortunately, the soul is invisible, so we can't verify this hypothesis."
Song Yang laughed: "So you're still not sure yourself?"
He thought about it and realized that even if Xia Jing knew where his points would appear, his soul was invisible and he really couldn't verify it himself.
Song Yang said: "That's good too. It's safe this way."
He patted Xia Jing's head.
Xia Jing said nonchalantly, "But if my soul could really be seen by someone someday, that person would only be you, right?"
He seemed to have imagined some funny scenes and laughed enthusiastically.
Song Yang paused.
He looked at Xia Jing and felt that this guy seemed to have nothing to do with love, but he could always say such amazing love words inadvertently.
It sounds strangely sweet.
At the same time, his heart was completely at peace.
He was willing to believe that the soul was immortal and the young man named Xia Jing would never die.
And he will protect the soul of this young man.
Until the day when the door to the real world opens again to this young man.