Instance game: I signed a pact with the gods, and the gods accused me of cheating

……

Yanjing Railway Station, 08.

Today is the day the Shenlu server officially launches its open beta. Qin Shang remembers it clearly because he had seen the information Pei Ziqi had helped him with and remembered the date on it. For the entire country of China, today is an exceptionally special day. After all, a server with supernatural power will be spreading across the vast land today, selecting ordinary people to become its players and letting them experience one bizarre and complex dungeon after another.

The document I had seen before also contained very clear and detailed information about today.

When Qin Shang appeared at the train station, he was stunned for a moment, never expecting that he was also a "Beijing drifter" in 08.

He already knew the reason why his memories had been altered by Jiang Qiqi once.

Therefore, it is even clearer that the person I was in 2008 on this timeline was not the middle school student I remember, but a proper adult. In other words, the fact that I was at Yanjing Railway Station in 08, does it also mean something else? That is, in this world, on this timeline, the most authentic me was once a struggling artist in Beijing.

"However, in the memories that Jiang Qiqi modified, it seems that apart from erasing the years related to the Divine Path, she did not make too many changes to the specific memories. In other words, my memory of being forced to memorize and study in a cramped little room when I was a child is true, and it is also true that my family was so poor that my mother would specially choose to buy watermelons at night when they were cheapest. It's just that the timeline has been pushed back a lot. Jiang Qiqi has essentially erased these memories out of thin air."

Qin Shang smacked his lips, then suddenly shook his head; "Oh, no, that's not right."

"Actually, I can't say for sure that these memories are all real, because I am still a cartoon character in Jiang Qiqi's paintings. I was created by Jiang Qiqi. It's just a coincidence that Jiang Qiqi created a cartoon in another world, which just happened to influence my life."

"So, perhaps for me, there's no such concept as anything being real or fake anymore..."

He glanced at the Fuwa mascots hanging on the train station wall. In 08, during the Beijing Olympics, more and more people were going to Beijing to work. If it were in the 90s, the number of people going to Shenzhen to work would probably be about the same as the number going to Beijing at that time. After all, in the 90s, Shenzhen was known as a place where RMB was everywhere. As long as you had an idea, you could conjure up a gold mine. It was a magical place full of business opportunities. As for Beijing in 08, it was the closest place to the present where ordinary people could create a myth and turn their lives around in one step. Because of its special political and economic status, it was swept up in the storm of the Olympics. From then on, Beijing began its golden age.

At that time, the tourism industry and various investment opportunities were drawn to this political center.

The influx of people into the area has brought endless business opportunities and wealth.

Housing prices and land prices then experienced an explosive surge, skyrocketing to the point that even now, many young people who go to university in Beijing are asked if they would consider staying in Beijing after graduation, and the other person will shake their head frantically. What a joke! Everyone knows that housing prices in Beijing, even outside the Fifth Ring Road, start at seven figures per square meter. Is this a city where ordinary people like us have a chance to stay?

A Beijing hukou (household registration) became an unattainable symbol for many Chinese people of that generation. Even around 08 to 19, some matchmaking agencies would use a Beijing hukou as proof of a family's wealth when introducing potential partners to girls. Although most of the recommended partners were from ordinary middle-class families in Beijing with rather average living conditions, the fact that some women could obtain a Beijing hukou after marriage was enough to make countless people flock to them.

Because this household registration truly represents the maximum level of medical convenience, educational resources, and job opportunities that ordinary people can enjoy.

"call!"

"At this time, from the perspective of a small city in Jizhou in 24 years, Yanjing was nothing special. Of course, that would be a bit of a joke, since even the infrastructure of many cities in the five outer counties in 24 years was quite good. Apart from the possibility that the supporting buildings were built but not put into use due to tight land finances, in terms of appearance alone, some small county towns in 24 years were built to be more magnificent and developed than the capital in 08. This also shows the progress of society and the rapid development of the times."

Although Hebei Province is an economic powerhouse, Qin Shang's hometown, Jizhou, has a very troublesome problem: in recent years, with the tightening of land revenue, some national and rural roads have supporting lighting facilities, and streetlights can make driving safer at night. However, the streetlights in those places are like they are broken at night and are not even turned on.

“My name is Wang Ciniu. My son worked at a gold mine in southern Henan. He was falsely accused of stealing gold, and then the mine owner and the sheriff beat him to death without any evidence. The local judge colluded with the sheriff and the mine owner and actually acquitted them…”

"I just want to ask!"

"Is there still king's law? Is there still heavenly law?"

Just then, a mother's desperate cry rang out from not far away. Qin Shang raised an eyebrow and then noticed the human head that had been thrown on the table. He was stunned at first, and then his pupils suddenly contracted. He recalled the various stories he had heard in prison during his imprisonment about people bringing things in from the outside. It seemed that someone had talked about this case of bringing the head to the capital.

Did this case actually happen in 2008?

Qin Shang opened his dry lips and saw the woman over there who called herself Wang Ciniu. With her withered yellow hair and shriveled skin, she was clearly someone who had suffered half her life and worked as a farmer her whole life. She didn't even dare to make a loud noise in public. Her heart was filled with anger and another emotion called tension. Even though she was so angry, so furious, so sad, she deliberately kept her voice down. It was the inferiority complex ingrained in the bones of someone from a small town who was entering a big city for the first time. Xu Mingyang had said the same thing when he first called her after being admitted to the police academy.

In big cities, it feels like there are countless surveillance cameras surrounding you. You get nervous in crowded places, and you stutter when you see beautiful female classmates dressed in designer brands. You can't even speak clearly. You are afraid that if you are not careful, you will accidentally expose your ordinary and simple background to these gorgeous and sophisticated urban ladies and celebrities. You are worried that they will laugh at you.

"Hey!"

Qin Shang sighed, pursing his thin lips as he pondered whether he should take action to disrupt the timeline. If he remembered correctly, he had heard from a fellow inmate about 20 years ago that a mother named Wang Ciniu was still going to Beijing to petition for justice for her son.

"An elderly mother has persisted in petitioning for ten years, probably because the promises and justice she received this time were not thorough, and she was not satisfied with how the matter was handled. Perhaps the bad guys have not received the punishment they deserve, which is why kind and simple people continue to demand justice day after day!"

Qin Shang's mind was once again filled with Yin Shisan's words.

Some people say things that are really ahead of their time, like textbooks from our school days. People gradually realize the lag in education, like that text... 'Fan Jin passed the imperial examination'.

It's probably only when you graduate and enter society, finding it difficult to do anything, and your edges have been worn down by society and the times, that you just want to settle down in a corner and find a stable job, that you realize the true value of "Fan Jin passing the imperial examination." And it's only when you're discussing marriage that you finally understand "The Peacock Flies Southeast."

And the phrase that teachers said most often back then...

"You'll understand when you grow up..."

Countless years later, it was as if he had found a pistol in his childhood and fired a bullet without any sense of awe, hitting him right between the eyebrows.

Perhaps one day, when you witness the darkness of humanity, when your grievances go unaddressed, when the weak are lambs to the slaughter, when justice is suppressed by the powerful, when rules and systems serve only the privileged and not treat everyone equally!

Some things truly require the passage of time and the experience of life to truly understand.

An emotion called anger slowly rose in Qin Shang's heart. He knew the outcome of the first trial of the case, and he also knew that what the old lady said was true.

Qin Shang was about to set off.

Just then, a man dressed as a train station staff member walked over.

“Grandma, let’s… We live in a society governed by the rule of law. What you’re doing isn’t called going to Beijing to appeal to the emperor; it’s called petitioning the emperor.”

Speaking with a very abrupt Beijing accent, with an extremely strong retroflex ending, it was inexplicably easy to brainwash Chinese people. This voice barged into Qin Shang's ears like a robber. He looked at the chivalrous man who had stepped forward with a serious expression, revealing a hint of curiosity.

"I'll take you there!"

The next moment, the young man's energetic face was exposed to Qin Shang.

The latter was struck dumb.

Holy crap, how come you're a con artist, you dog, a non-mainstream bastard?

Qin Shang's impression of Lao Qian had always been lukewarm. He didn't particularly like him, but he certainly didn't dislike him either. He just didn't like Lao Qian's style of doing things. Lao Qian was arrogant, always talking about rules and laws, but his actions were all based on his own self-interest. In private, he didn't follow the rules and protected wanted players. In Jizhou, someone like that would be sent to a mental hospital to have his brain checked, because it was very difficult to figure out what he wanted or liked from his behavior...

"But now I think I understand a bit. What he wants is a reason, a sense of justice!"

Qin Shang understands the old hands of Beijing. He didn't understand before, but as he gained more experience, he remembered the books and news he read in prison, and then he understood. The old Beijing circle is very interesting.

Helping the old lady is considered reasonable, and being willing to help is considered because you feel a sense of justice because of this matter.

I need to calm down.

Regardless of whether it holds water in the eyes of others, what they recognize as reason is not legal reason, but the rules in their own hearts. If this reason holds water, they will go to the trouble of reasoning for it. This is what old Beijingers are like.

...Why does the conman's tone of voice have a bit of a Nantong accent?

"So later, although Lao Qian opened a casino in the 'gambling world' and acted like a businessman, he also helped those wanted players who he believed should be rescued. This was all reasonable. He believed that those wanted players should not be executed. Everyone had grievances and injustices. So this was Lao Qian's reason. He believed that these people should not be executed or harmed!"

"As expected of a professional con artist, his behavior is indeed quite schizophrenic..."

Qin Shang quickly cleared his mind of all other thoughts and then focused his gaze on the old swindler and the old woman, wanting to see how things would develop.

"I'll go to the police station with her. She's there to report a crime. Don't be afraid!"

"Don't cause a disturbance, after all..."

"A momentous national event is about to begin!"

The swindler then smiled at his other colleagues.

"Alright, I'll be right back, don't worry!"

"Come on up, I'll carry you..."

Immediately afterwards, the conman squatted down and gave the old lady a gentle, boyish look, as if to say, "I do good deeds anonymously, just call me a Young Pioneer."

In that instant, Qin Shang felt as if he were bathed in a spring breeze, warmed by his smile. In the cold winter months, not long after the Spring Festival, he was like a plum blossom in full bloom, charming and radiant.