It seemed that this place was the real world.

 

Xing Ye calmly got up and surveyed his surroundings, confirming that he was indeed sleeping on a park bench—there was no doubt about it, he had become a homeless man.

He counted the loose change in the box beside him: a total of 45.5 yuan. The income was not bad, all things considered.

Xing Ye could not stand the filth on his body. He found a public restroom in the park. The park’s facilities were fairly good—the restroom was clean and even had hand soap. Xing Ye scrubbed his face and hair several times with the soap. Standing in front of the mirror, he saw an emaciated face identical to his own, except that it looked at least ten kilograms lighter, with deeply sunken cheeks—he was so thin that he was practically unrecognizable.

To prevent anyone from breaking in unexpectedly, Xing Ye locked the door to the men’s restroom from the inside. He quickly cleaned his body as well and washed his tattered clothes. After cleaning them, he put the wet clothes back on, then picked up the mop and rag nearby and cleaned the sink area.

After finishing all this, Xing Ye stepped out of the restroom, and the cold wind hit him head-on. Xing Ye himself was capable of winter swimming; he exercised regularly and often swam in icy water during winter. But this body—so thin it seemed it might be blown away by the wind—was clearly unable to withstand the chill of an autumn night. What was worse, he was soaked from head to toe, inside and out, and the wind cut straight to the bone.

This wouldn’t do. If he caught a cold or developed a fever and his thinking became sluggish, passing the challenge would become very difficult.

Fortunately, Xing Ye was not hungry. Since this body had managed to beg 45.5 yuan, filling his stomach should not be a problem.

At the moment, the best way to resist the cold wind was to warm his body up. Xing Ye knew this method was far from ideal, but he had no other choice.

So he began jogging into the wind inside the park. This body’s physical condition was too poor—running fast would be fatal, and the shoes had no cushioning, which would severely damage his knees and ankles. Xing Ye could only jog briefly; once he felt warm, he would switch to brisk walking. When he started to feel cold again, he would jog once more. Repeating this cycle, he persisted for two to three hours until he was utterly exhausted. Still, his body was warmer now, and his wet clothes had mostly dried.

By then, dawn was approaching, and sanitation workers had begun their shifts. Xing Ye saw a cleaning lady sweeping fallen leaves by the roadside and stepped forward to ask where the nearest morning market was.

His clothes were badly worn, but at least clean and neat. Though extremely thin, he was polite and well-mannered. The cleaning lady looked him over and said, “Go three li east, there’s a dedicated morning market area. At this hour it’s for wholesale stocking—retail sales won’t start until over an hour later.”

“Then may I ask where the nearest police station is?” Xing Ye asked.

The cleaning lady hesitated, sized him up from head to toe, and held her broom horizontally in front of her chest, alert. “What do you want with that?”

Xing Ye gave a bitter smile and said, “I was robbed. Probably because I’m thin, I was not only robbed but also thrown into the river. I just crawled out not long ago—you can see my clothes are still wet.”

“Well, your clothes are indeed pretty torn,” the lady said.

Xing Ye was wearing ripped jeans and a shredded T-shirt that clearly came from some trash bin. His shoes were so broken that his toes were exposed.

Xing Ye gestured at himself and said, “Ah, Auntie, this is fashion. Everyone likes wearing ripped jeans these days—some people even cut them themselves.”

A person’s mental state, demeanour, and cleanliness largely determine how others perceive them. Xing Ye had been a homeless man earlier, but after tidying himself up—and with Xing Ye’s inherent presence—though thin, his eyes were bright and confident. His clothes were old, yes, but on someone else they would scream “beggar”; on him, they became a “fashionable beggar outfit.”

The cleaning aunt examined Xing Ye carefully from every angle, stroked her chin, and nodded. “He does look quite spirited, a young—”

She was about to say “young man,” but hesitated when she looked at his face again.

Xing Ye was already twenty-nine years old. This body looked to be around thirty as well, but extreme thinness made wrinkles more visible. Whether he still counted as a “young man” was genuinely hard to say.

“I’m twenty-nine,” Xing Ye said with a smile.

“Oh, young fellow,” the cleaning lady said warmly. “Go that way—there’s a police station not far off. It’s staffed 24 hours a day. If you’ve been robbed, you should report it quickly.”

Xing Ye thanked her, but did not go to the police station immediately. Instead, he strolled to the morning market. Once it was fully daylight, he spent 4 yuan of his 45.5 yuan on three fried dough sticks and a bowl of soy milk. After eating his fill, he spent another 9.9 yuan on a pair of pants, 9.9 yuan on a brand-new thick T-shirt, 5 yuan on underwear, 1 yuan on socks, and 15 yuan on shoes.

After buying everything with meticulous budgeting, Xing Ye’s remaining assets amounted to just 0.7 yuan—not even enough to buy a bottle of mineral water.

The last time he had been this miserable was in Puppet City. Back then, he at least had the Little Mirror with him. Now, Xing Ye had only himself.

He found another public restroom and changed clothes. Feeling somewhat more comfortable, and having endured the cold wind all night, he decided it was time to find somewhere to rest—so he went to the police station the cleaning lady had mentioned.

“What can we help you with?” It was a little after six in the morning. The police officer appeared to have just finished the night shift and was waiting for the day-shift staff to take over; he looked extremely tired.

“I want to report a case,” Xing Ye said. “I have amnesia. I crawled out of the river in the park, had nothing on me, don’t remember who I am, and only had 45.5 yuan. I even went to the morning market specifically to buy new clothes so I wouldn’t freeze to death.”

Police officer: “……”

Police stations deal with all kinds of people every day, but this was the most bizarre one yet.

Xing Ye knew his story was hard to believe, and he wasn’t in a hurry. He continued, “All I have in my head are countless QR codes. I don’t know why. If you don’t believe me, could you lend me paper and a pen? I can draw one for you.”

The station had plenty of paper and pens, so lending them was no issue. Although the officer didn’t really believe Xing Ye, he was curious—could someone really memorize QR codes and draw them by hand? So he brought paper and pen, and even rummaged around to find a ruler for Xing Ye.

Xing Ye drew a square grid on an A4 sheet and began filling in black squares at lightning speed. The pen provided was a black ballpoint pen; Xing Ye had specifically asked for a thicker one to make filling easier. Compared to the “Redrawing Brush,” it was much slower—but even so, within two minutes, Xing Ye had completed a QR code.

“I remember many QR codes, but I don’t know what they’re for. Maybe they’re my family’s WeChat accounts?” Xing Ye looked up at the officer pleadingly. “Could I borrow your phone to scan it? If I really were a scammer, I wouldn’t come to a police station to scam people, right?”

That made sense. The officer hesitated. After witnessing Xing Ye’s hand-drawn QR code, he was starting to believe him—but not fully, and he didn’t dare lend out his phone.

At that moment, the colleague coming to take over the shift arrived. During the handover, important matters had to be explained clearly, so the night-shift officer told the day-shift officer about Xing Ye.

After looking at the QR code Xing Ye had drawn, the day-shift officer said, “Does something as legendary as amnesia really happen?”

The two officers looked at Xing Ye’s thin figure. He strongly resembled a type of person in society who experienced hallucinations due to certain substances. Even if he could draw a QR code, it might just be random scribbling—his credibility was not high.

However, they possessed strong professional ethics and did not voice their doubts aloud. Instead, they actively tried to find ways to resolve Xing Ye’s predicament.

Xing Ye said, “I know you suspect that I may have some kind of mental illness, and I also understand that my current situation is indeed hard for people to believe. But at the very least, I can prove that my logic is clear, that I am not experiencing hallucinations, that my brain functions normally, and that my psychological condition is stable. Moreover, I am willing to go with you for blood and urine tests to prove that I am not currently under the influence of drugs or alcohol.”

“How would you prove that?” the day-shift officer asked. “Sir, it’s not that we don’t believe you. Rather, within the bounds of common sense, what you’ve described is difficult to accept. However, since you came to the police station for help, we are obligated to assist you in resolving your difficulties. As you yourself said, to ensure that everything about you is normal, we still need to conduct some tests. As for this QR code, I remember the station has a dedicated barcode scanner—it’s more professional and safer than a mobile phone. Shall we try using that?”

This outcome was already far better than Xing Ye had expected. The QR code he had drawn was the one he obtained when he first entered the game; borrowing a phone was merely to confirm whether the QR code was functional. A barcode scanner would work just as well.

He nodded in agreement and said to the officer on duty, “Do you have any books on policies or laws here? I’d like to prove to you that my intelligence is normal.”

The night-shift officer went to look for the barcode scanner, while the day-shift officer took out two books: one was Basic Legal Knowledge for Citizens, and the other was a thin booklet containing the latest speech by a senior leader.

Xing Ye picked up the booklet first and flipped through it. He had asked for policy and legal materials partly to confirm whether the world he was in differed in any way from the real world.

After quickly reading through the booklet, Xing Ye fell into deep thought. The leaders of this world, the content of the speech, and even the timing were exactly the same as in the real world.

He had entered the game at 1:30 a.m. Based on the time he had experienced in this world and the 7:40 a.m. time currently displayed at the police station, the moment he woke up in the park should also have been around 1:30 a.m. The date, too, matched the real world.

Xing Ye had always paid close attention to the country’s latest policies and regulations, and whenever a new policy was released, he would read through it. He had read this very booklet just two days ago.

This place seemed to be the real world.

 

Translator : DarNan