People Change

Night fell. Under the virtual stars, by the side of the dimly lit street, a gentle breeze blew, making the leaves rustle and shadows sway.

Xu Xiaoyou arrived in front of the tavern; she didn't stop and walked inside.

The tavern was very quiet tonight, with few people to be seen; everyone was preparing for the evening banquet.

A small television, placed at some point, was broadcasting today's news, and a melodious violin piece played, adding a touch of aesthetic charm to the atmosphere.

The scent of fermenting malt and aged oak barrels wafted through the aisles.

Drunken patrons sat at the bar playing finger-guessing games, boasting about their heroic deeds in the battle.

A girl with a delicate face, wearing a service dress, carried a steaming apple pie past Xu Xiaoyou.

The NPC proprietress of the tavern cast an appreciative glance her way.

Xu Xiaoyou walked to a corner table and sat down naturally facing the girl, then she picked up the menu and ordered a few desserts.

"I thought you would come a bit earlier," Tang Xin chuckled.

"I thought you would be waiting for me at the abandoned church. I went there first but didn't find you, and then I thought of this place," Xu Xiaoyou said.

"Is that so?"

As they spoke, that little girl walked over briskly again, placed several pieces of cake in front of the two girls, gave them a meaningful look, and then turned and left.

The cake, sprinkled with powdered sugar, looked exceptionally inviting.

The cream on top was as soft as a cloud, and the wheaty aroma of the cake base was just right.

Tang Xin pricked a piece with a small fork and held it up to Xu Xiaoyou's face, resting her chin on her hand. "You take the first bite."

Xu Xiaoyou looked helpless; she closed her eyes and ate the cake the girl offered.

Looking at the other's chuckling face, her eyes filled with waves of thought; the scene before her made her feel momentarily as if she had returned to the time they used to spend together.

"What do you want to ask, Yuzu?" Tang Xin sent a piece of cake into her mouth. "Some things are written all over your face."

The other could always guess her thoughts; the girl's mind had always been very delicate.

Xu Xiaoyou shook her head and didn't speak; she wanted to hear the other's thoughts first, as she hadn't heard her voice in a long time.

"What you want to ask now is probably why I'm here, right?" Tang Xin asked.

"To be honest, I'm not very clear on the specific reason myself..."

Tang Xin recalled the scene at that time.

Just as she was moving away from Pangard, planning to head to the next city, that figure suddenly appeared out of thin air before her.

The figure was blurred and indistinct, drifting like an electronic ghost.

If the electronic ghost hadn't shown no malice, she would have thought it was a miracle of the badlands.

She couldn't see the other's exact face and could only vaguely distinguish female characteristics through the distorted voice.

"Flying bird... anchor..."

"Lonely whale... beacon..."

"Anchor, beacon?" Tang Xin frowned in confusion. "May I ask who you are?"

"It is time to return to the right track... The direction you are heading is not beneath your feet..."

"Nor is it in the distant far... and certainly not in the Eternal Garden..."

"It is on the back of reality... the junction of the virtual and the void..."

Leaving these words, the electronic ghost vanished into the air.

Mysteriously, she sensed that she had established a connection with a coordinate that didn't exist under the stars.

The chat box that had appeared before actually turned into a login interface.

She clicked it twice and arrived in this virtual world, having just completed the beginner tutorial not long ago.

"So, you just logged into Oasis like that, without a head-mounted immersion device, let alone an immersion pod?"

Xu Xiaoyou was surprised by the girl's description.

"Yes," Tang Xin nodded.

"However, this state can't last too long. Influenced by my psychic power, if my spirit is depleted, I expect I'll be forced to leave Oasis."

Tang Xin thought of the previous chat box, which also couldn't be maintained for long before disappearing.

"It's a consciousness sea offset," Xu Xiaoyou judged based on the girl's description.

Several doubts arose in her heart.

Why didn't the other need an immersion pod or even a head-mounted device to enter Oasis?

This represented that the claim of uploading consciousness to a virtual world via equipment was itself a lie.

The other said this coordinate didn't exist in this virtual world; was it really as virtual as Into the Night Dreams promised?

A coordinate not existing under the stars meant Oasis didn't exist in reality.

Not existing in the Eternal Garden meant it didn't exist in the 'mystery' domain.

It was somewhere between the virtual and the void...

Those who stayed in immersion pods for too long would never be able to escape Oasis due to symptoms of consciousness sea offset.

Their souls would be completely assimilated into the torrent of data, becoming binary nourishment and the foundation upon which the virtual buildings were constructed.

Dense thoughts were like bubbles rising from beneath the sea, churning up segments of murky reflection.

The crashing sound of waves on the shore pulled Xu Xiaoyou back from her thoughts.

She shook her head, putting aside the redundant data in her mind for the moment.

After a brief silence, she told the girl everything about her plan to compete in this year's league.

Tang Xin naturally wouldn't refuse; on the contrary, she was quite happy to do so.

After all, she had to start leveling up from scratch in Oasis as well, so being able to help was for the best.

"So Yuzu, the other three in the team are also your good friends, right?" Tang Xin asked with a smile.

Whether it was Xu Xiaoyou's imagination or not, the other seemed to place a subtle emphasis on the words "good friends."

Beneath the girl's angelic face, her eyes seemed clear at first glance, but if one stared too long, they felt like they held a terrifying vortex that would swallow a person whole.

Xu Xiaoyou coughed twice. "They are good friends. Why?"

Tang Xin shook her head. "Nothing."

She stood up. "Let's go. The moonlight is so beautiful tonight; we shouldn't let it go to waste."

"Maybe you should put the fork down first..." Xu Xiaoyou felt a cold sweat.

It was only then that she realized the other had finished the entire cake.

In her memory, due to the requirements of maintaining her figure, Tang Xin's pursuit of sweets was always limited to a small taste.

The girl indeed didn't like overly sweet food, preferring the natural sweetness of the ingredients themselves.

Yet, this cake, at her request, was at the maximum sweetness.

The street wasn't very bustling; people in groups were busy with the city's reconstruction, while solitary players hurried along with several commissions in hand.

Young couples walked hand-in-hand, chatting and laughing.

The two walked down the street; Tang Xin clasped her hands behind her back, walking slowly under the silvery moonlight.

Occasionally, she stopped to observe the details of the architecture or looked up at the stars on the horizon.

Occasionally, she turned her head slightly to look at the girl beside her, blinking to see who would look away first.

Although they could touch each other this time, they weren't as passionate as they had been during their last reunion.

Instead, they were somewhat unfamiliar and restrained.

It felt as if an invisible, untouchable barrier stood between them, always maintaining a certain distance.

This distance was smaller than social etiquette but far greater than being intimately close.