Chapter 224 Chapter 219 The Water Is Warmer
“The master has gained mysterious powers. If you join, you will be among the first of the new era.”
Meng He seriously typed out a line: “Rega, if you get into a pyramid scheme, I will report you.”
Although Rega liked to stir things up in the gaming group, the outrageous things he had done included but were not limited to:
– During an ambush by a bandit group, he sensed it but said nothing.
– Stealing the giant sword from the female barbarian warrior while she was carrying it.
– Enchanting the new full-body armor he bought for the female barbarian warrior with a spell that automatically shouted “I’m an idiot” when there were more than twenty people around.
– “Driving” a camel at high speed during a march in the desert. A goblin guard in the carriage vomited halfway, and the female barbarian warrior had bad luck, rolling low on the dice, and ended up splattering vomit all over the goblin’s face.
Because of this, Rega, who was physically weaker, often found himself getting pummeled by the female barbarian warrior, with incidents of being pressed to the ground and spanked happening more than once or twice. (His strength attribute on the character panel was less than half of that of the female barbarian warrior.)
But Meng He had a kind heart and couldn’t stand to see people being deceived.
Rega sent a message: “No way, you still don’t know that times have changed, boss. Guess who the master is? You must know him; if you don’t, you haven’t been online.”
Meng He asked, “Is it that writer who was locked up in the police station writing perverted novels?”
“Yes, yes, yes.”
Meng He didn’t believe it at all. She was just an ordinary female college student.
After all, how could such a good thing like becoming part of the new era involve her? If it were true, she would have already reached enlightenment and ascended to immortality.
And to find her?
“Is the master the one who sold the blue pills before?”
“Yes, congratulations, you’re so smart.”
“If he’s the master, why can’t he escape from the police station?”
Rega replied:
“You’ll know soon enough, that’s just a trial from God for the master. I can reveal a bit of the truth to you. The master said he’s currently held in a secret base, chained with golden chains to prevent him from using his powers. There are at least five people watching him at all times, but he can still use his powers and communicate with us.”
At this moment.
In the so-called secret base.
“So good!”
“The donkey from the production team” was leisurely eating KFC fried chicken, grabbing a handful of fries, washing it down with a frozen cola.
After finishing his meal, he wiped his hands and, right in front of the guards, posted in the QQ group:
“This life is so bitter, but this is God’s trial for me. I firmly believe that heaven will bestow great responsibilities upon this person…”
These lenient treatment were earned by cooperating with work. Now, “the donkey from the production team” could boast that he participated in a national-level experimental project, surrounded by top personnel from various industries.
One needed to do pharmacological analysis, another needed to conduct experiments, each looking at him eagerly, unable to proceed without him.
Speaking of which, on the other side.
Meng He looked at the message from Rega and frowned as she replied:
“Did the master tell you this too?”
“Just answer me, will you agree?”
“I don’t believe it, unless you give me a blue pill to try, and you cover the shipping.”
Rega: “Sure, send me your address.”
Meng He was cautious and sent the address of a nearby Cainiao Station, as it was near multiple neighborhoods, reducing the risk of privacy exposure, even though the other party had access to her phone number.
The next day.
In the evening.
Meng He continued browsing forums at home, communicating with many anxious netizens, sharing information junk.
Excluding the magical brainstorm of buying real estate on alien planets, many were down to earth, speculating about where the new era’s supernatural ability training schools would open.
This way, they could buy houses in advance nearby and make a fortune.
“Knock knock knock.”
The anti-theft door rang.
Meng He yelled, “Who is it?”
“Police.”
Meng He felt a pang of panic, walked to the anti-theft door, and saw two uniformed police officers through the peephole, with a property management person she recognized standing behind them.
“How do I know if you’re real?”
“You can call 110 to verify; my badge number is…”
Meng He called 110 to confirm they were genuine police, and opened the door.
As soon as the door opened, the police walked in, directly confiscating Meng He’s phone and desktop computer, taking her to the police station for questioning.
Meng He answered truthfully one by one, delaying three hours, and was told she could go back.
Before leaving, they noted down the group leader of Meng He’s QQ gaming group.
One police officer handed Meng He her phone back, saying, “There’s still a message, you’d better not contact him anymore; it may involve terrorist crimes.”
Meng He nodded quickly, “Okay.”
The message on her phone was from Rega:
“Out of kindness, I’m telling you, never discuss or insult the person with the Zhihu ID: Huahua Qiu online.”
On her way home, holding the computer case, Meng He felt that Huahua Qiu sounded increasingly familiar. She suddenly remembered it was the recent “internet celebrity,” a newly minted top player of a forum, who claimed he could smash anyone from the forum to death with an axe.
The original quote was: “Your forum only has fifty thousand people; with an axe in my hand, if I smash for a day, I can kill all of you.”
She also enjoyed going under gaming streamers to criticize them for being bad at the games.
As for what happened next, Meng He didn’t quite understand.
After returning home, it was late, but she wasn’t in a hurry to sleep.
She went online immediately to check on Huahua Qiu and see what had happened next.
Many people online were criticizing her, saying that after she was beaten up by a crowd, she posted gaming videos to prove her innocence but was accused of cheating.
“What’s with that 0.1s headshot?”
“Mouse speed five hundred kilometers per hour.”
“New era superhuman.”
It looked like some famous cheating streamer.
Meng He decided to search for the connection between “Huahua Qiu” and the seller of blue pills, “the donkey from the production team.”
Unfortunately, it was getting late, and thinking of her skin, Meng He decided to go to sleep.
In her dreams, she seemed to feel a cold virus crawling inside her body.
The next day, she took a day off and didn’t go to class.
After searching all day, Meng He found that the two had absolutely no connection.
No matter how she looked at it, “Huahua Qiu” seemed like a middle school teenager with cancer, the hopeless type, but he possessed a very strong human resource technique and constantly threatened to chop off others’ heads and display them on a throne.
This made everyone burst into laughter, saying, “Are you going to use your invincible human resource skills again?”
“Come on, this time it’s my turn, right? Please, human resource me, Huahua Qiu, I really like you.”
Meng He couldn’t help but laugh, but she remembered Rega’s warning and didn’t join in on mocking Huahua Qiu.
Later, Meng He went to Zhihu and searched for “Huahua Qiu.” Unsurprisingly, she found “How to evaluate the well-known top player of the forum, Huahua Qiu, being banned?”
Clicking on the question, she couldn’t help but smile.
“Top answer one: Since Huahua Qiu thinks he is number one in the world, superior to us common people, why was he banned?”
Under the answer was an attached image showing Huahua Qiu’s account homepage, indicating a twelve-day ban with a furious tone in the personal description:
“Dare to ban me, I’ll ban all of you; hurry up and lift the ban!”
The comments section erupted with ridicule.
“The Five Tiger Generals have failed on Zhihu (sad).”
“What impotent rage.”
Meng He laughed as she read, unable to help but give the answer a thumbs up. She looked at the next entry:
“Top answer two: Firstly, I want to clarify that human resources are wrong, it’s illegal.
“Human resources are wrong; it’s illegal.
“Human resources are wrong; it’s illegal.
“Important things said three times. It can now be confirmed that Huahua Qiu is a personal troll. Someone has analyzed his resume, and looking at his face, I can only say that he wears his heart on his sleeve, a thoroughly [harmonized] face.
“He’s still a programmer, working at a certain big company, and someone has already called his colleagues and supervisor for a proper conversation. No wonder he can pull so many people, I’ve heard he works in the security industry.
“I’ll say it again, human resources are illegal, and I’m just passing on the efforts of the big guys.”
The comments section:
“Ugh, ugh, ugh.”
“Ugh, ugh, ugh.”
“Answerer, you should fold it; you scared me in the middle of the night.”
“What a precious thing.”
Meng He felt that the Huahua Qiu in the photo was just an ordinary person, but she also believed that Huahua Qiu was just a personal troll.
Why did Rega tell her not to insult him?
Meng He thought about it but didn’t echo the crowd.
…
…
In the capital.
Near the Zhihu company headquarters.
Several Zhihu employees opened their mouths but could not make a sound.
“You mean this is already the third case?”
Among the Zhihu employees, the highest-ranking one nodded.
He was already considered high-level at Zhihu, the general manager.
“I see that you didn’t report it before; why not?”
The general manager gestured with his hands, writing on paper: “At first, we thought it was just too much pressure, leading to mental stress.”
Two police officers, one taking notes while the other nodded:
“How about this? We file a case first; it’s just that they can’t speak; there’s no impact for now.”
The general manager shook his head, continuing to write on the paper: “We’ve tested it; we can’t use computers or phones. We still have to find those who reported it at the same time.”
Now in Huaxia, the phone carries functions like a wallet.
The police officer showed a puzzled expression and turned to say: “Prepare for drug testing.”
The general manager was already prepared. He took out his phone, pressed it on the screen, but it didn’t respond at all.
The police officer took the phone, tried pressing it, and the phone screen responded very quickly.
They tested it with a computer and phone, finding it strange. They typed on the keyboard, clearly the keyboard was working, but the computer showed no response.
This matter was quickly reported. While reporting, the police accompanied the victims to the hospital. After a thorough examination by the doctors, it was found that the victims were very healthy, only mildly unhealthy, and theoretically, they should at least be able to make sounds.
But even if the victims opened their mouths and tried to speak, with enough force to feel their breath.
They still heard no sound at all.
Even for mute people, most mutes can still produce sounds.
The police were deep in thought and suddenly remembered to ask: “What do you usually do for work?”
The general manager wrote: “They are all little stewards, responsible for monitoring unhealthy comments on the platform.”
“Clap!”
At this moment, a little steward covered his flushed face, opening his mouth but unable to make a sound. He uncovered his hand, revealing a line of text on his face, “Still not unbanned, huh? Tomorrow, your entire company will be muted.”
