ARIWLBBC Chapter 91

“Really, this is actually very confidential, but you’re my little master, the cutest human in the universe, so I have to tell you,” Scepter flattered, making Bo Ge feel somewhat embarrassed.

“You should stop talking,” Bo Ge said.

“No, a great super brain can’t leave things halfway,” Scepter insisted. “What I’m about to tell you might seem absurd, but it’s the result of exhausting effort to investigate and repeatedly verify!”

Bo Ge wanted to cover his ears.

“The master consciousness has existed for thousands of years, and I suspect that the master consciousness used to be a human.”

Bo Ge immediately covered his ears and dared not look at Scepter.

“I know this sounds far-fetched, but the facts are what they are. I even found ancient records,” Scepter said, projecting the records in front of Bo Ge’s eyes. Bo Ge tightly closed his eyes, fearing that even the slightest bit of information about himself would be revealed.

“Little master, just take a quick look. This is the evidence!” Scepter eagerly urged.

“I won’t look, I won’t look,” Bo Ge said, closing his eyes and covering his ears as he ran toward the bedroom. Turning around, he bumped into an unyielding wall, and his nose immediately tingled.

“Little master, are you okay?”

With his nose sore and his eyes filling with tears, Bo Ge opened his eyes and found that he had crashed into Nais. Scepter quickly followed and projected the evidence in front of Bo Ge’s eyes.

Bo Ge wanted to close his eyes, but it was too late. The familiar page format and colors in front of him resembled the countless times he had scrolled through a social media account.

What kind of evidence could there be on this account?

Bo Ge couldn’t help but take a closer look. After clearly reading the content in the middle of the page, Bo Ge furrowed his brows.

This account belonged to a user called “The Rice Lover’s Soul,” with a red V on the bottom right of the profile picture. It wasn’t an official account, but it had a lot of followers.

Bo Ge saw the username, but there was no year listed. However, Bo Ge could see the month and date.

[11-16 From Android]

[#The object startup crashed# What kind of crappy server is this? After finally experiencing the holographic game, the next day, it crashes when I log in again. A group of us is piled up at the loading screen, it’s more crowded than taking a bus!

What’s worse is that I can’t even see 460, and I can’t log out either. It took ages to restore normalcy! Object Startup Technology, seriously, if this goes on, sacrifice a programmer to the heavens tonight, so I can play properly tomorrow, alright? @ObjectStartupTech

Repost 361 Comments 1160 Likes 12K

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What kind of evidence is this?!

“Little master, did you see?” Scepter drew a red line under “Sacrifice a programmer to the heavens,” “Maybe, the master consciousness is that programmer who was sacrificed to the heavens a thousand years ago!”

Bo Ge twitched his lips.

Indeed, a joke from a thousand years ago was being analyzed like this. Surfing the web should be done cautiously, or else it might come back to haunt you a thousand years later.

“Really, little master!” Scepter noticed the skeptical look in Bo Ge’s eyes.

“Object Startup Technology can be considered the initial form of the universe. It’s like a fertilized egg in a mother’s womb. When the disaster occurred, Object Startup Technology was brought out from the ancestral star Earth. After continuous progress, it eventually developed into the second world.” Scepter called up the popular science information and showed it to Bo Ge. “What I’ve found is all based on evidence!”

Bo Ge glanced at Scepter opening the “Object Startup Technology” popular science page and unintentionally caught a familiar name.

“Object Startup Technology has another nickname, called ‘Pioneer’?” Bo Ge’s heart seemed to be struck hard.

“Yes.” Scepter continued, “In the beginning, Object Startup Technology wasn’t called this. It was called ‘Pioneer.’ Later, something happened, and it changed its name to Object Startup Technology.”

Bo Ge pressed his lips together. For a moment, he could hear his own heartbeat loudly.

The company that once claimed to have already realized holographic games, the one that electrocuted Gu Gu—was called “Pioneer!”

Bo Ge could still clearly remember everything from back then. He had filled out the forms and paid the money. The staff were all wearing uniforms with a planetary logo on their chests, underneath which were three artistic characters spelling “Pioneer!”

It was this company that ruined him! He was electrocuted, burnt inside and out!

At the beginning, everything was so beautiful. Free lemonade, snacks, the sci-fi vibe from all the equipment around, and the laughter coming from the experience hall. Bo Ge felt warm inside, like an ideal university was beckoning him, various bonuses from his parents and family, and a happy holiday with no summer homework to worry about.

Why did such a beautiful day end in death?

Life is fleeting, and he had left before fully enjoying it. He had just turned eighteen, and a huge accident occurred—one student was electrocuted to death right there. Why did the company survive, change its name, and end up becoming the predecessor of the second world, still celebrated to this day?

Bo Ge felt suffocated, and emotions like a tsunami hit the center of his rational thoughts.

He wanted to scream, curse, cry, throw things, and smash walls. He wanted to run until he was exhausted, smashing all the game pods into pieces.

Why?

Why did he become a test subject to be sacrificed without anyone telling him?

Did anyone ask Gu Gu?

Did anyone mourn for this just-adult student?

What would his parents have felt when they saw his body?

Everything in front of him blurred, and the sense of weightlessness made Bo Ge unsteady on his feet, his whole body felt like static, as if he would pass out at any moment.

Nausea, a headache, sweat pouring down in an instant, and everything in front of him turned pitch black. Bo Ge vaguely heard complaining voices around him, as well as the keyboard tapping sound typical of his time.

“What’s going on? Why is it still not working? Where’s the problem?”

“I’ve checked everything and I’m about to throw up, why isn’t it working?”

“I haven’t slept for three days, please, make it work!”

“Is this some kind of metaphysics issue?”

“Have you heard? A child died in this project before, it was terrible.”

“Then how did the project continue?”

“Of course, they used money to settle it. I heard the child’s parents were planning for a second child because of the high school exam, and the child had some issues with their sexual orientation, always being pointed at by relatives, quite pitiful…”

“So they settled it privately? They probably had to pay millions, right?”

“So, what should we do now?”

“What else? Get a Taoist priest?”

“Why don’t we set up a case, put some flowers and fruits, light incense, and pay our respects to the child?”

“You’re too superstitious.”

“You don’t understand, the end of science is theology, don’t you know?”

…

“Wow, you actually set it up?”

“You really lit incense? So devout, man.”

“Holy crap! It actually worked! It’s running!”

“My God, I’m praying too!”

…

“The public test is tomorrow, please, little deity, bless us for a smooth run.”

“Oh my god, we got five million new players on the first day! We’re amazing!”

“Quick, pray some more!”

“What are you guys doing? Doing superstitions in the company?”

“Don’t touch that, that’s the incense altar for the little deity!”

The sound of metal hitting the ground was incredibly crisp, and everyone gasped.

“Praying to a dead child, you guys are insane.”

…

“The server crashed.”

“Hurry up! Thousands of players are stuck at the loading screen, check the logs, the disks, and the code! Don’t you even know the exact cause?!”

“At this rate, the holographic brain modulator will cause brain damage for the players. Thousands of people, my kid is also in there, please, I’m begging you!”

“We’ve done our best. You may need to apologize to the little deity.”

“Who is the little deity?”

“The child who was killed by this project.”

“Ridiculous! President, don’t listen to them, this is superstition!”

…

“I am the GM of Object Startup Technology, also known as Pioneer. If you can hear me, I want to say I’m truly sorry. At the time, the technology wasn’t mature enough. In order to seize the market for holographic games, I deliberately ignored the potential risks and rushed the project to market, which led to your death.”

“If anyone needs to be punished, please punish me. My child is also stuck at the loading screen right now. He’s only sixteen. He’s innocent. Please, I beg you.”

“I will offer you anything you want, please spare them. They are players just like you. I beg you!”

“Look, the arrow on the screen, it moved on its own!”

“What does this mean?”

“It drew an incense altar. Yesterday, Director Zhong threw down the incense altar of the little deity!”

“I… I just…”

“Shut up! Pack your things and leave my company immediately!”

“It’s working! It’s restored! The players have safely left!”

A voice full of joy echoed around Bo Ge, and a middle-aged man seemed to make some kind of promise. Bo Ge couldn’t hear it clearly, but the familiar voice kept calling out to him, growing closer, forcing Bo Ge to open his eyes.

“Little master!” A golden sphere floated before Bo Ge. With Nais’s help, Bo Ge straightened his body. His face felt itchy, and when he touched it, he realized his face was covered in tears.

“Little master, you just passed out!” Scepter was almost frantic, “Nais and I scanned everything and couldn’t find the cause. You must get a thorough check-up!”

“I…” Bo Ge’s throat was hoarse, and he couldn’t speak for a moment. Tears continued to fall, like an uncontrollable faucet.

“Roar!” The roar of the black leopard sounded not far away. The leopard, who had previously snapped its rope and was coming for the boy, stopped in its tracks when it saw Bo Ge crying and his eyes slightly swollen.

Why is he crying?

Who hurt you?!

The leopard charged toward him, and Bo Ge tightly hugged its neck, unable to speak through his sobs.

It truly felt like a different world.

For a moment, Bo Ge thought he had returned, but fortunately, he was still here.

There was leopard, there were friends, there was love.

A love that would never abandon him, no matter the cost.

“Little master, your emotions are unstable. Do you need a calming spray?” Nais pulled out the spray, but the leopard turned its head suspiciously, tripping Nais with a swift leg. It grabbed Bo Ge by the back of his neck and tossed him onto its back, speeding away.

“Master! Little master needs treatment!” Scepter’s voice was left far behind. The leopard didn’t go through the door but charged directly toward the large floor-to-ceiling window. The smart window shattered upon impact, and Bo Ge tightly clung to the panther’s neck, lying on its back. He saw countless transparent shards slowly floating by in front of him, reflecting the setting sun. Each fragment seemed to hold a piece of the sky.

“Roar!” The leopard raced across the lawn, leaping over the gate, the scenery of the deserted area flying past. Bo Ge didn’t want to look, only wishing to bury himself on the big cat’s back, closing his eyes.

Though the wind howled in his ears, beneath him was the leopard’s warm body, and the scent in his nose reassured him.

Warm, like sunshine.

Just like those golden eyes, blazing like the sun, never to fall.

“I love you.”

Bo Ge heard his own voice, small and soon lost in the wind.

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