When Luo Binhan walked out of the parking lot, it happened to be raining lightly on the street. He was a little worried about his clothes, so he turned on his phone and checked the weather. It only said that it was cloudy and overcast, and there was probably no sudden thunderstorm. He hesitated for a moment, but continued walking along the shops. The weather was a bit sultry, and a little rain was comforting. With the decoration of lights, the streets at night always look very different from those during the day. There is also a heady scent of osmanthus, which makes people want to find a place to sit down, add a few ice cubes to the sparkling alcoholic drinks, and listen to them clinking in the glass.
It is not difficult at all to satisfy this desire in the downtown area at ten o'clock at night. It's just that Luo Binhan didn't want to squeeze into the crowd. He had seen too many faces that concealed their true emotions today, but if he suddenly faced another group of people who didn't conceal anything at all and witnessed the most straightforward animalistic indulgence, he would feel bored after all. There was only one place where he could sit quietly at the moment, and that was if it hadn't already closed down.
"Guns N' Roses" is indeed still where it came from. Luo Binhan once confused the nature of this store, but now, after surfing the Internet for more than a month, he has re-graduated into a modern person with a passing degree of fashion, and can smoothly say the words "day coffee and night wine". This word so fully demonstrates the contradictions and involutions of modernity, yet the store that adheres to such a business philosophy is actually in such a bad state, is exactly the magical color that Luo Binhan urgently needs at this moment.
He slipped in through the narrow facade hidden behind the street trees. The decoration inside was still the same, but no one could be seen. The employee lounge was locked. He pressed the bell on the counter, and the lingering sound echoed in the dim light.
Luo Binhan thought that either the public security in Lihai City had reached the level of staying open at night in the past two years, or everything in the store had a vicious curse against thieves. He prefers the latter, because it is obviously easier to cover a store with magic than to cover a city, at least this is supported by the common sense he accepts. The wishing machine is another matter. The wishing machine has nothing to do with this land. He got himself a can of stout and took out a box of ice cubes from the freezer. He couldn't help but feel ridiculously stupid as the bubbles bubbled up. First he went to Regenberg to eat hot pot, then drank beer in Lihai City; on the Silence he was worried about Luo Jiaotian's college entrance examination aspirations, and now he started to wonder where Momolo had gone.
He still didn't feel particularly worried, or particularly angry. The store smells of coffee beans and pine wood, making everything look a lazy brown color. The red origami roses that decorate the walls are a little damp, but their unfaded appearance reveals a weakened spirit. There are fewer imitation bullet casings than last time. Maybe the shop owner finds it inconvenient to clean them. All poetic and artistic conception must eventually give way to the convenience of reality. While drinking beer, Luo Binhan looked around and felt that the climate in the store was already out of touch with the outside world, and that it had entered the bleak and declining autumn ahead of schedule.
Maybe it's not the store's problem. He reflected on his thoughts, maybe it was just because he was not in a good mood at the moment. But it wasn't pure resentment, it was just a rather plain sense of loss, and a little joy and peace welled up in the huge fall. The future is vague and scary, and the fate is destined to be tragic, but at least at this moment, sitting alone in a dream that belongs to others, a person can escape his own limitations. Only at this moment can he start thinking wildly without any worries about the future, about life, and what will happen in the end? How should he deal with his own affairs if the days go by and nothing transcendent comes to him?
It was easy to imagine that everyone he knew would die before him. But his own "death date" is even earlier. Before the aging speed reveals obvious abnormalities, his social identity must die. In a society where network information is becoming increasingly dense, it is not something that can be achieved by hiding in the mountains and forests and working hard, or living as an anonymous person in the city for hundreds of years. Unless he also knows how to hypnotize and brainwash others.
However, for the first forty years in Lihai City, it might be possible to forge a legal identity for yourself. After that, when the network of connections he can draw on gradually disintegrates, he must leave here and go to countries with backward household registration systems. If Ondy had been around at that time, she would have been able to help a lot. As for money? Maybe he could learn some trade that was useful in the backcountry, such as carpentry or weaving. He could also transfer part of the value-preserving assets to Zhou Yu while "Luo Binhan" was still alive, and come back from time to time in the following hundreds of years to visit Zhou Yu's descendants and get some operating capital from them. At that time, he could still talk to them about Zhou Yu, and it would become a mysterious ancestor legend. When he thought of this, he suddenly woke up and noticed the biggest loophole in this daydream. What if Zhou Yu had no descendants at all?
Maybe it's time to pay attention to Luo Jiaotian's love life. When he was thinking this, someone walked in from the door of the store. Luo Binhan looked up. Both sides were stunned.
"You?" Anthony Kent said.
Luo Binhan's hand slowly let go of the wine glass, and the smile that had just appeared on his face disappeared. "It's me," he looked at the other person, "What's the matter with you?"
Standing in front of him was the red-haired foreign youth, the mysterious friend he met in this store. Although more than half a month has passed, Anthony may not be tired of this city yet. When Luo Binhan came to "Guns N' Roses", he was vaguely looking forward to meeting this person, or the shopkeeper who had never shown up before. However, the old friend reunited in front of him was completely different from what Luo Binhan expected.
In just about three weeks of separation, this man had lost weight dramatically. He was already thin enough and not tall for his own race, but now he was even more emaciated and emaciated. The two deep-set and black eye sockets make the eyeballs more protruding, and the hair is dry and messy. Perhaps due to psychological factors, Luo Binhan even felt that his hairline was higher than before, and a tiny and dense red rash appeared on his forehead.
Anthony Kent hesitated for a moment, and finally walked towards Luo Binhan and sat down on the chair opposite him. His dark blue eyes had completely lost their agility, and they were frighteningly empty, but also showed a morbid excitement, just like the state Luo Jiayang was in when he was finally caught by Luo Binhan after playing in an Internet cafe for two days and two nights.
"I didn't expect you to come again," Anthony said. He immediately lowered his head and grabbed a handful of his tangled hair with both hands, as if trying to wake himself up. Luo Binhan observed him, wondering whether the other party had taken certain drugs during this period.
"You seem to be sick." He said calmly, "What's wrong? Are you acclimated?"
Anthony raised his head and smiled hastily. "I haven't slept well these days," he said almost helplessly. "I didn't pay attention to my sleep schedule. There was someone smoking in the restaurant two days ago."
He rubbed his forehead painfully. Luo Binhan then remembered that this person was severely allergic to nicotine. He didn't find a pinprick on Anthony's exposed arm or smell any pungent odor. So he softened his tone: "You should rest for a few days and have a good sleep."
Anthony forced out another stiff smile, which seemed almost painful in Luo Binhan's eyes. "I encountered something that I can't understand." He said dryly, "I...I can't understand what is going on."
He stood up unsteadily and went to the bar to get a can of heavy sparkling wine. Luo Binhan couldn't help but frown, feeling that he seemed to have an obligation to stop this behavior. He wasn't actually very familiar with the other party, but there was something really wrong about the other party's appearance. Even if this person died suddenly in front of his eyes, it wouldn't be a surprise.
"Are you in trouble?"
Anthony shook his head, making it clear that he didn't want to go into details. He took a swig of wine, and blood quickly filled his face. But that's not a sign. I'm afraid he hasn't eaten in several hours.
"How are you?" he asked Luo Binhan, "I remember you said before you left last time that you wanted to go abroad to see relatives."
"Indeed." Luo Binhan followed his words, "It's just that there was an accident and it was delayed for a few more days."
"I thought you had forgotten this place." Anthony said, the smile he forced out finally showed some sincerity, "Leave your 'dream memories' behind and live a real life."
"Real life?"
"Go to work, have a drink, play some games." Anthony said tiredly, "Whatever you like or need to do, in short, stay away from this random daydream."
He waved his hand violently, as if he wanted to slap the entire store away. Luo Binhan noticed an inexplicable resentment from his words and deeds. He realized that this was his breakthrough.
"I quite like daydreaming," he immediately said, pretending to be relaxed, "Why don't you come? I was just delayed by other things for a while."
"What about your relatives?"
"All kinds of accidents. Traveling abroad, getting seriously ill, and some matters related to my own business - after all, I have to eat before daydreaming."
"You don't seem to be short of money."
"This is not just about money." Luo Binhan raised his hands, trying to grab something that didn't exist on his chest, "Every family has its own problems that are difficult to recite! I also have other social roles to play... in I can't leave my other responsibilities aside from our daydreams. But to be honest, this is where I escaped today for some peace and quiet. Real life has made me a little tired of it."
"So," Anthony took another sip of wine, "I came at a bad time?"
"You came at just the right time!" Luo Binhan said, "I have just finished dealing with real life matters - not completely, but I have a general idea. Now is a good time for me to come here every week to fool around. . Come on, let’s play music and dance.”
"You might as well go find a lively dance club to play. I think you look like the type who likes to blend in with the crowd and stand out."
"What nonsense is this?" Luo Binhan said dissatisfiedly, "Just because I look like an unstable person? I just like to have fun in places where no one knows, can't I?"
Anthony smiled weakly, and his strong shoulders suddenly relaxed. These small talk seemed to drain his energy and prevent him from maintaining the boundaries he should have. Luo Binhan also felt it. There was a strange atmosphere in this store tonight. The decadent autumn mood lingered in the darkness outside the light. The crystal clusters growing in the surrounding paper flower caves gradually forced it into people move closer. Anthony Kent was in such a mood that a hole would be knocked out at any time.
"I've been having a bad few days," the foreigner said. "I've even thought about leaving. But..."
He didn't continue. Luo Binhan suggested: "You should have something to eat."
"There's nothing to eat in the store these days."
"Where's the owner?"
"Never showed up. Something happened to him this week."
"He's really not afraid of others vacating the store." Luo Binhan muttered. In the end, he stood up and went to the bakery outside to buy some toast and a bag of peanuts for himself. He returned to "Guns N' Roses" and threw the toast in front of Anthony.
"A relative of mine died at the wine table." He said before Anthony spoke. "I drank half a catty of liquor on an empty stomach and then died of acidosis. I don't want to be involved in a murder case."
Anthony no longer objected. He swallowed the bread rather numbly. Luo Binhan peeled the peanuts out of boredom and speculated on what happened to this person.
"Do you believe in ghosts?" the other party suddenly asked.
Luo Binhan glanced at him. "The kind who stands on the bedside in the middle of the night and looks at you?"
"Have you encountered it?"
"That's not true. But if you look for a supernatural video online, the comments below will all tell such stories."
Anthony's cheeks puffed up, looking somewhat disappointed. "What about the people around you?" he asked still hesitantly, "Anyone you can trust who won't lie to you? Have any of them seen ghosts?"
"I don't remember anyone seeing it." Luo Binhan said. He realized that the question was not groundless. "What's wrong? Did you see a ghost?"
Anthony looked undecided. "You won't believe it...even I don't believe it."
"There were a lot of things I didn't believe in before." Luo Binhan said indifferently, "Now I can accept anything. It doesn't matter if you tell me that you were kidnapped by a group of fly people."
"Not much difference."
Luo Binhan was really surprised now. He looked carefully at the red-haired foreigner, trying to see what reason he had for being called out by the cosmic police. "Were you really kidnapped?"
"My program was hijacked," Anthony said.
Luo Binhan's hand rubbing the peanut seed coat paused. He and the other party stared at each other for a few seconds. “How about getting an anti-virus software?”
"No, that's not the case." Anthony said anxiously, as if he didn't know how to explain. Luo Binhan looked at his fingers and found that although the man's nails were short, the edges were very uneven. He might have a habit of chewing his nails. And this time he showed up with nothing in his hands.
"Where's your computer?" he asked.
"Send it to repair."
"It's broken? You can't fix it yourself?"
Perhaps for the sake of the bread, Anthony didn't frown at him and just said: "You understand that I'm just a code writer, right?"
"I sometimes ask people who work on the web page from the Information Department to help me repair my computer." Luo Binhan said sincerely, "I don't know if they only write code, but in the end the computer will be usable."
"They're going to hate you," Anthony said. "They're really going to hate you."
Luo Binhan disagreed. The hatred of the engineering students is certainly understandable, but the screwdriver from the finance staff is not bad either. Not to mention that he himself was secretly telling Zhou Yu jokes about property inheritance rights and brake failure.
"Let's talk about your haunted computer." He said openly. "A ghost face appears on the computer? Turn all your program icons into pandas?"
"That's a virus. I can tell if a problem is caused by a virus, okay?"
"Really? What if it's a particularly new virus?"
At this point in the conversation, Anthony Kent's face finally showed some energy, perhaps because he was annoyed by the stupid words of a layman. He silently grasped the bag of toast and rolled it into a solid ball.
"I have an ex-girlfriend." He took a deep breath and said, "I told you about it."
"Yeah. You broke up quite suddenly."
"I've been wondering why."
Luo Binhan shrugged. What he didn't say was that all breakups in the world are ultimately inappropriate. "The past is the past, what's the use of finding the reason?"
"I know, I know. But...there has to be a reason here, right? I didn't say I didn't accept the breakup, I just want to know what the real reason is."
Luo Binhan stopped refuting. He gave half of the peeled peanuts to the other party, and then poured himself beer calmly. He thought to himself that his dreamy night would end with listening to other people's emotional gossip. He was really full.
"I think about this question from time to time." Anthony said, "I asked her, text messages, phone calls, emails, account private messages, but she didn't reply to anything. If she just gave me a direct answer, I would be relieved -"
"She really didn't say anything?"
"She said we weren't a good fit."
"Oh." Luo Binhan said, "You still feel dissatisfied?"
"That's not a real reason."
Luo Binhan briefly lost his mind. He thought about the saying circulating on the Internet - the real love experts are those who have never been in love. This sentence may be pure nonsense, but he does feel a sense of detachment at this moment. He seemed to be an eminent monk who had seen through the worldly confusion of the down-and-out young man in front of him with his ruthless eyes.
"That's not the real reason!" Anthony repeated, as if he knew what he was thinking.
"Okay, okay." Luo Binhan said. A small mountain of peanut shells was piled up in front of his desk.
"I may have overlooked something for a while, so I compiled all our chat records to see if there were any clues. There were about a dozen Gs. We sent a lot of things to each other, pictures and Documents and the like. There are so many. I looked at them for two whole weeks, but I still feel like I can’t check them all without stopping..."
"Don't you think this is a bit too much?" Luo Binhan said. Place the cleanly peeled peanuts on top of the beer can.
"I put this information into an optimized search software." Anthony continued, and now he seemed to be unable to stop. "I tagged the different types and dates of the information so that I can recall it easily. I can always look for it. Then I thought, if I can't find an idea, maybe I should set the data to shuffle, and maybe one day I will stumble across something useful."
"Ah." Luo Binhan said slowly. He suddenly thought of Chen Wei. It was in this shop that the priest-like and solemn sword listened to his confession about his sister. He had to put down the peanuts he was rubbing.
"It's of no use." Anthony said selflessly, and the rash on his forehead became more obvious. "It's of no use. Then one day, I went to the forum to find a piece of open source code, and I saw someone asked a question about model training. He I wanted to use a ready-made vocabulary library on the Internet to do character dialogue in the game. At that time, I suddenly thought that I could do the same."
"How to do it?" Luo Binhan asked in confusion.
"Train an AI model that can talk to me." Anthony said, "I put all the data in the chat history into it."
(End of chapter)
