Old days in the box

Chapter 429: Where should the road lead?

The sudden storm hit the coast without warning, bringing unexpected heavy rain, covering the tall buildings on the shore in a white haze.

Real world, Jinghai City.

With the sudden arrival of heavy rain, traffic along the coastal areas quickly became worse. The weather forecast originally broadcast on major weather software was no longer accurate. Unprepared pedestrians crossed the streets cursing, and the overpasses were full of red car lights.

In such extremely bad weather, only one person could move freely at an altitude of 3,000 meters above the ground.

Zhou Xiao's figure passed through the clouds at an incredible speed, quickly descended to the rooftop of a hospital, and landed again.

He walked along the railing to the gate and went back to the hospital down the stairs. Frightening flashes of lightning appeared outside the windows along the way. It was as dark as the deep night. He heard the hurried footsteps of doctors and nurses all around him. Life and death might be taking place behind every door.

Like the end of the world.

Zhou Xiao strolled in the corridor of the inpatient department. His super senses allowed him to easily hear the voices and conversations of everyone in the entire hospital.

The hospital's electrical box lost some of its functions due to the thunderstorm, and half of the floors had power supply problems. The conditions of some critically ill patients who were extremely dependent on medical equipment deteriorated again, and painful groans could be heard everywhere in the hospital...

But he remained indifferent and just walked to the ordinary ward at the end of the corridor and turned the doorknob.

"Busty, how are you?"

Zhou Xiao spoke in a gentle voice, and the person who was half-lying in the room playing with his phone was startled and sat up to look towards the door.

The person lying on the hospital bed turned out to be the long-missed guy with a buzz cut.

"Why are you here? What time is it now?" The guy with a crew cut put down his phone and said to the uninvited guest with some surprise.

Zhou Xiao had lost contact with him for nearly sixty days since their last meeting. Moreover, it was the middle of the night and he never expected Zhou Xiao to appear here.

"I heard that you were in trouble, so I came to see you." Zhou Xiao said with a smile as he walked into the ward.

The last time Zhou Xiao escaped from the box, he used his supreme divine power to sink the island to the bottom of the sea near the coast of Japan. The huge tide caused at that time seriously affected the coastal weather in Asia.

Jinghai City was the first to be hit, with a brief flood caused by the excess seawater. At that time, the guy with a crew cut was on his way home after working overtime. He was accidentally swept to the ground and his leg was hit by a railing that was scraped down from a residential building. He was in the hospital for more than half a month.

"Something happened to me? I think it's you! I haven't been able to contact you since the last meal. How long has it been? My injury has almost healed and you only said you wanted to see me."

The guy with the crew cut looked at his friend whom he hadn't seen for a long time with suspicion. Ever since he suddenly resigned, Zhou Xiao's behavior has been abnormal.

"Hey, you picked such a time to come and see me. Did you really get into trouble? Are you planning to borrow money from me and run away?"

"What are you thinking about? I told you not to watch so many Hong Kong dramas."

There was no suspicious expression on Zhou Xiao's face, so the guy with the crew cut felt relieved and no longer doubted him.

Sometimes things between friends are just that simple. You say it's okay and I won't ask any more questions.

"You weren't going on a trip or something, were you? We suddenly couldn't contact you and everyone was worried about you." The guy with a crew cut moved his almost healed foot aside and continued talking to himself.

"There's no such thing as a big group. It's just you, right?" Zhou Xiao picked up the apple and fruit knife on the table and began to peel the apple steadily.

"There are so many old colleagues in our company, aren't they all..." The guy with a crew cut answered vaguely.

"Really?"

Zhou Xiao glanced at him, and the guy with a crew cut had no choice but to keep silent.

In fact, Zhou Xiao knew very well that he had hardly made any friends since he graduated and moved to the big city to work. Everyone said that this age was the golden period for men to struggle, but he had struggled for so long and his salary had not increased, he could not learn the ways of the world, and even his social life had become almost blank.

In Jinghai City, the only one who cares about him is his good friend Cuntou.

Zhou Xiao put the peeled apple on the bedside of Cuntou. The sound of rain outside the window was getting louder and louder. Cuntou also turned on his phone and tried to check what was going on with this abnormal rainstorm, but he didn't get any substantial explanation. As for the extraordinary people, countries around the world have not disclosed any information to the public, so most people don't know Zhou Xiao's existence, let alone the Arabian Nights things like extraordinary powers.

If a person like him were really made public, it would probably only cause panic on a global scale.

Ever since the Extraordinary Power Risk Control Center was built, he has been staying there in accordance with the instructions from home, without any contact with the people in his previous life, and has maintained a half-month of recuperation and sedimentation.

Until a month ago, he once again received sporadic signals from that world.

In the past, the world over there had always been connected to him through supernatural powers. Ever since the box was buried deep, this connection had been completely severed and was no longer effective.

But this time, what appeared in Zhou Xiao’s mind again was not supernatural power, but "faith".

Countless beliefs, countless prayers, countless thoughts, all swept around him like an ocean entering the sea, as if an uncontrollable mysterious force that appeared and disappeared from time to time, confusing him.

Zhou Xiao felt something vaguely, but couldn't be sure; the sounds on Earth were too noisy, the whispers of billions of people, the spectrum signals that were invisible to the naked eye, and the supervision of the Extraordinary Power Risk Control Center, all made it impossible for him to concentrate on finding the connection of faith again.

So he made a bold decision. He flew out of the outer atmosphere 37,000 meters above the earth's surface and entered the completely vacuum space, trying to sense the illusory connection again.

After that, the Extraordinary Power Risk Control Center lost contact with the world's only extraordinary person for a month. During this month, he gradually heard the voices contained in those "beliefs" and what those "prayers" made to him were saying.

And now, he has returned to Earth and come to his only remaining friend.

"Actually, I came here this time because I do have something I want to talk to you about."

"What do you think? I told you that you would never come to me for no reason. Now you want me to help you make a new model?" The guy with a crew cut was still carefree.

"Not really, it's just that there are some things I can't figure out... Actually, it's related to that." Zhou Xiao scratched his head.

"What? They found out that you were stealing the salmon model? Are they going to sue you for infringement now?" The guy with the crew cut was stunned.

"It's not a copyright issue. How should I put it? That game... maybe someone wants to buy it." Zhou Xiao thought for a long time but couldn't come up with a suitable explanation, so he had to say this.

"Buy it, isn't this a good thing?"

"Maybe, I just can't make up my mind, so I came to ask you." He shrugged.

"The future of your game was uncertain in the first place, and now someone is buying it, which is a blessing. What are you still thinking about?" Compared to Zhou Xiao's concerns, the guy with the crew cut was more curious about who would buy his crazy hodgepodge game.

"Yes, the price they offered is very high. I will get a lot of benefits after selling it. This may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity... But if I sell it, I will never be able to participate in that game again, and I know they will definitely dismantle that game."

"You mean you don't want to give up your hard work?"

"But isn't this stupid? No matter how fun the game is, it's just something behind a screen. If I have the chance to use it to gain benefits in the real world, I shouldn't hesitate. At worst, I can just play another game. How can something behind a screen compare to the real world?"

Zhou Xiao laughed at himself. Although he said this, he was already confused in his heart.

After understanding what happened in the other world, he didn't know what to do.

——This opportunity to return to reality was something Sun Hao had fought for with great difficulty. It could be said that it was the only chance he had. Now that the authority of the gate had been shattered and disappeared, if he touched the box again and returned to the Nine Realms, it was almost certain that he would never have another chance to get rid of the box.

——But if he doesn't go back, the world over there, including all the followers and God's Chosen Champions he built, will face a catastrophe until all of them are extinct.

On one side is the real world where one has escaped and is invincible in the world.

On the other side is a virtual world that can only be seen through a screen and is full of unknown dangers.

What should I choose? Isn’t the answer obvious?
But Zhou Xiao still hesitated, so he came here and stood in front of Cuntou, because he wanted to find an answer and knew where he should go.

When people are confused, they will want to find friends to talk to, even gods on earth are no exception.

(End of this chapter)