Hope

Hope

Mu Sichen did not enter the game pod inside the hotel.

If he failed to come back this time and a guest suddenly died in the hotel, it would affect the hotel's business for quite some time.

While He Fei was at work, he quietly took his suitcase back to the dorm, stuffed the octopus plushie into his backpack, and left.

He did not want to enter the game in the dorm either.

Mu Sichen had submitted an application to stay at school during the break. If something happened to him, the teacher who had approved his stay and the dorm supervisor would both be disciplined, and the school would be affected too.

He did not like causing trouble for other people.

So Mu Sichen carried his backpack to an artificial lake and sat down on a bench by the water.

If he did not return, the reason the System arranged for him should be drowning. That was the method Mu Sichen could think of with the smallest impact.

There were still five minutes left. Mu Sichen hugged the backpack to his chest, unzipped it, and revealed the octopus plushie's head.

Besides the octopus plushie, there was some food in the backpack.

He was clearly about to go adventuring in another world, with no idea whether he would live or die, yet he had packed cola, spicy snack strips, and other junk food into his backpack.

When Mu Sichen had been packing, the octopus plushie had lain motionless on top of the snacks. But when he picked up a bottle of cola to put into the suitcase, the octopus plushie's tentacle gently wrapped around another bottle.

Seeing that, Mu Sichen picked up the bottle the octopus plushie was holding.

He thought there would be a tug-of-war, that the plushie would cling tightly to the cola and refuse to let him take it away.

Unexpectedly, he met no resistance at all. He picked up the cola easily. The octopus's tentacle only rested limply on the bottle without applying any force.

"Don't you like cola? Why aren't you stopping me?" Mu Sichen asked.

The octopus plushie did not react.

But Mu Sichen had already guessed the reason.

Qin Zhou was the "Absolute Rational One." Even if he liked these snacks very much, rationality would prevail when he faced a choice.

It was not an unreasonable, tantrum-throwing octopus plushie.

And yet precisely because the octopus plushie did not fight, snatch, or fuss, Mu Sichen ended up bringing quite a few snacks it liked.

The snacks might not necessarily follow Mu Sichen into the otherworld. He also had no need to carry such a heavy bag of things. He did not even eat them himself, so why bring them?

The reason was simple. Mu Sichen wanted to verify whether he was being too rational.

Recently, he felt he was in a bit of danger. He knew perfectly well that the octopus plushie was Qin Zhou's power avatar, and its five senses might even be connected to Qin Zhou.

But Mu Sichen still could not control the feeling that the octopus plushie was cute. He liked taking advantage of moments when the plushie was not paying attention to stroke the octopus head and squeeze its tentacles. At night, when he slept, he would even deliberately jostle the octopus awake just to see the octopus plushie's aggrieved look as it got angry but suppressed its bad temper because it was too rational.

Mu Sichen suspected he might also have suffered Qin Zhou's mental contamination. Otherwise, how could he possibly think an Evil God Plushie was cute?

For that reason, Mu Sichen wanted to test whether he would do some insufficiently rational things, using that to verify whether he had been contaminated.

The truth, however, was that after doing some meaningless things and bringing along a bunch of burdensome snacks, he not only felt no regret, he was actually a little happy.

He had not been contaminated by Qin Zhou.

That made it even stranger. Since he had not been contaminated, why did he think this thing was cute? He was even thinking that the next time he returned to the real world, the octopus plushie would definitely remain in the otherworld, and when that happened, he would order a plushie of the same model.

Mu Sichen analyzed it for a long time and felt that he was still too lonely.

His parents had passed away, his relatives had grown distant, and although he got along well with his roommates, he never opened his heart to any of them.

When something as sudden as being transported to another world happened, and that world was also extremely terrifying, with death possible at any moment, anyone would want to talk to someone about it.

Like Chi Lian and Cheng Xubo. Even though they were thousands of miles apart and both had jobs, they still took leave to meet once. Apparently, they had even held each other and cried for a long time.

Mu Sichen understood them.

Their previous experience had overturned their entire worldview and shattered their peaceful lives. And this experience would not end there. They would be forced to go to that world again and again, each time facing the risk of death.

Anyone would want to talk about it.

But Mu Sichen was the kind of person who was unwilling to confide in others. He also did not want to meet those two in reality and disrupt his orderly life.

He chose to bear this enormous pressure alone, but that did not mean he had no desire to talk. It did not mean he was not lonely.

It just so happened that at that time, the octopus plushie was beside him.

Although the octopus plushie rarely responded to him, it knew everything that had happened over there. It also seemed so harmless, and it even stole food. That made Mu Sichen unable to stop himself from placing part of his emotions onto the octopus plushie.

Mu Sichen knew this was nothing more than emotional dependency born from the suspension bridge effect. Besides, his emotions were projected onto the octopus plushie, not onto the evil god Qin Zhou.

He distinguished the two very clearly.

Mu Sichen poked the octopus plushie's head and smiled a little forlornly. "Once we go to the Town of the Eye, you'll turn back into a totem and be tattooed on my chest again, won't you?"

The octopus plushie gazed at him with its huge, glossy eyes.

"This is the last time we'll meet." Mu Sichen rubbed its head.

He hoped he could survive. He hoped Qin Zhou could obtain what He wanted. He hoped there would be no conflict between him and Qin Zhou.

After all, he and the octopus plushie got along pretty well. He did not want his relationship with Qin Zhou to become too stiff.

Mu Sichen made three wishes in a row in his heart, but did not say them aloud.

Once the appointed time arrived, he shouldered the heavy backpack, tapped the Game Pod app right on time, and entered the game.

The process of crossing over went much more smoothly than the first time. The first time, Mu Sichen had been dizzy and nauseated, with a discomfort far stronger than seasickness.

This time, however, it felt as if he had merely stood quietly for a little while before appearing in the first-floor lobby of the sanatorium.

Last time, he had logged out in the safe house. This time, he also logged into the game inside the safe house.

It seemed that login and logout operations could only be performed inside a safe house.

[Welcome back to the game, player.]

A system prompt sounded by his ear.

"System, do you really think we've come into a game?" Mu Sichen said.

The System said nothing.

Entering the sanatorium at the same time as Mu Sichen were Chi Lian and Cheng Xubo.

"Captain Mu!" Chi Lian's eyes lit up when she saw Mu Sichen, shining as if she had met her idol. She rushed to Mu Sichen in one stride.

Cheng Xubo expressed himself more reservedly than Chi Lian, but he was also quite happy to see Mu Sichen. He gave a restrained smile.

Mu Sichen only nodded faintly.

What he cared about more was how much time had passed in the otherworld, whether, like the real world, no time had flowed; what had happened to the sanatorium now that it had become his Pillar; whether the sanatorium, located in Big Eye's Town of the Eye, had been contaminated by Big Eye a second time; and... whether the octopus plushie had returned to his chest.

Mu Sichen felt a heaviness on his back. He reached back and touched it, only to find that the backpack was still there. Not only that, his pile of snacks had come along too.

He hurriedly opened the backpack and saw the octopus plushie's tentacle pressed against a bottle of cola. Half of the cola was already gone.

Qin Zhou's Totem had not returned to his chest.

Mu Sichen felt puzzled, inconvenienced, but also a little happy.

He was puzzled as to why the plushie had not changed back. It was inconvenient because he would have to run around carrying this thing. As for what he was happy about, Mu Sichen did not know.

Mu Sichen picked up the plushie's tentacle and looked at it. He saw that countless tiny spines had grown on its suction cups.

It was these tiny spines that had pierced the cola bottle, allowing the plushie to drink the cola from outside the bottle.

In the real world, there had been no tiny spines on its suction cups. After entering the game, the octopus plushie seemed to have undergone some changes too.

Mu Sichen reached out and poked the octopus head and tentacles. Good. The springy texture was still there. Its suction cups had merely grown spines. The octopus had merely become stronger. It was nothing serious.

"If you're going to drink it, finish it. Don't spill cola in my backpack," Mu Sichen reminded it.

The octopus plushie blinked.

"Also, you're not allowed to blow bubbles in my bag," Mu Sichen said.

The octopus plushie blinked again.

Mu Sichen took that as agreement on both counts.

At that moment, Chi Lian and Cheng Xubo came over. They looked curiously into the backpack, saw the octopus plushie, and their expressions immediately became too awful to look at.

Chi Lian quickly covered her eyes and turned her head, saying miserably, "I saw something filthy!"

Cheng Xubo also turned his face away. "It's hideous. Uglier than the Feather-Eyed Apostle!"

Expressionless, Mu Sichen zipped up the backpack and said to them, "Let's not waste time. We'll go see what the sanatorium has become and whether it's still dangerous."

"It's definitely not dangerous!" Chi Lian immediately said. "The moment I entered, even the air felt fresher. Our world is good in every way, but environmental pollution is a little severe. There's too much smog."

Cheng Xubo touched the few remaining hairs on the top of his head. "This place really feels like a sanatorium. If I stayed here for a while longer, I feel like my hair might grow back quite a bit."

The two were filled with happiness. Judging by their expressions, they actually wanted to stay here and never leave. If this world were not dangerous, they probably would not even want to return to the real world.

Mu Sichen, however, felt differently from the two of them. Staying inside the sanatorium, he only felt a heaviness on his shoulders. It was not because there were too many drinks in his backpack, but because of a formless pressure.

It was as if he were shouldering the entire sanatorium, leaving him with a breathless feeling.

People passed through the first-floor lobby one after another. There were somewhat deformed volunteers, normal-looking patients and family members, and doctors and nurses in white coats.

Everyone's face brimmed with a happy smile. They looked full of vigor.

A volunteer with an eye growing on his cheek saw Mu Sichen and happily rushed over. "Director, it's been so long."

"Director?" Mu Sichen looked at him in confusion.

"Yes. It has already been three days since we last parted," the volunteer said. "We all missed you very much, Director, and we were very worried about you. Seeing you today puts our minds at ease."

Three days... The three players exchanged a look.

After they left, time in the game had actually flowed at about the same rate as the real world. Yet when they were in the game, time in the real world did not flow.

Why was the flow of time between the two worlds so uneven?

"How have you been?" Mu Sichen pressed down the doubts in his heart and asked.

"Very well. We are happy, prosperous, and keep hope in our hearts." The volunteer crossed both hands over his chest, his expression peaceful.

"That's right. If you're happy, then we're happy." Chi Lian did not mind the volunteer's deformity at all. She stepped forward and enthusiastically grasped his hand, her attitude as warm as if she had met a family member.

This was very wrong.

Mu Sichen continued asking, "When Daylight descended, did the Eye of the Sky hurt you?"

The volunteer's faith had changed, but he had not lost his memories, so of course he knew what "Daylight" and "Eye of the Sky" meant.

"During Daylight, there were a few earthquakes," the volunteer replied. "But the tremors were very small. At the time, everyone gathered together, united as one, and prayed to you, Director, with hearts full of hope. Then the earthquakes passed. It was the Director who protected us."

Mu Sichen: "..."

No. He, the director, had not answered everyone's prayers. He had not even heard these people's prayers. At the time, he had probably been secretly squeezing the octopus plushie's tentacles.

"Exactly! As long as we keep hope in our hearts, every problem will solve itself!" Chi Lian resonated strongly with the volunteer. The two were so close they were almost hugging.

Seeing how intimate and inseparable they looked, Mu Sichen only felt chilled to the bone.

This was the Pillar he had established. These were the people within his domain. Chi Lian and Cheng Xubo were his Followers.

If the people who believed in him turned into this, then what made everything he had done different from mental contamination? What made him different from Big Eye and Qin Zhou?

Was he going to become an evil god too?

Mu Sichen finally understood where the suffocating feeling he had after entering the sanatorium came from.

It came from the expectations of his Followers.

He was not a god. All he could do was help everyone break free from Big Eye's mental control, recognize the self, and return to one's original heart. He could not shoulder so many expectations.

Mu Sichen suddenly remembered the first My Ideal Town test game he had played.

At the beginning, he had used grass lawns to defeat zombies. In the second half of the game, he had rebuilt houses, planted vegetation, and built a home.

Mu Sichen felt as if he understood the meaning of the test game now.

Seize domains from zombies, which meant god-class monsters. But that was not the end.

He also had to help the town residents rebuild their home.

This was not a simple base-building game. It was spiritual reconstruction.

When Mu Sichen thought of this, the System also popped up with a prompt at just the right time.

[Player, please formulate a true town system, help the town residents address the needs of daily life, and establish psychological independence and autonomy.]

So that was it.

Mu Sichen faintly felt that if he continued leaving the town residents, Chi Lian, and Cheng Xubo like this, sooner or later he would be crushed by this enormous pressure and become a monster like Big Eye and Qin Zhou.

Those beings at least had tremendous power to support them. Mu Sichen, however, was only an ordinary person. He absolutely could not bear such a terrifying mental burden.

The mental pressure the town residents gave him was no lighter than Big Eye's mental contamination.

--------------------

Author's Note:

Qin Zhou (waving his tentacles around and showing off wildly): Let me tell you, Mu Sichen spoils me so much. He brought me so many tasty things.

Mu Sichen: I have no feelings for you. I just like the plushie.