Do you really think you can get me with just a banana?

There was clearly a vast expanse of darkness in front of him, a void that stretched as far as the eye could see, but it seemed as if a breeze was blowing.

Guan Shanyu blinked blankly, his hand unconsciously loosening its grip on the screen. His brain seemed to buzz, and his palms were numb for a while before he slowly spoke: "He likes me?"

The engineer replied: "Yes, hasn't it told you many times?"

Guan Shanyu came back to his senses and sneered, "How is that possible? He knows who hurt him so badly, how could he possibly like me? You can't just believe what he said, right?"

The engineer chuckled softly, then spoke slowly after a moment, "Things like this are often more confusing to those involved than to those on the sidelines. Mr. Xu has always been dealing with him with a mixture of guilt and confusion, so of course there are things he can't see clearly."

Guan Shanyu questioned: "Did you modify the program? Otherwise, why would he do this? Wasn't it the program you set? Doesn't the program only run according to the established track? Why did he change?"

The faint sound of keyboard tapping could be heard from the other side of the screen. The engineer seemed to be working as he replied: "Teacher Xu, have you heard of the double-slit interference experiment?"

Guan Shanyu was stunned and asked, "What do you mean?"

The engineer explained as he typed on his keyboard, "Let's say my world is a five-dimensional space, and you are now time wormholes in a three-dimensional space. We are observing your trajectory changes. While we will insert you into this world to intervene and correct the plot, we will also release the restrictions of your OOC freeze, allowing you to play freely. This is because we want to prove that this world is not objective in nature, and the presence of observers will affect the results of the experiment. Even if everyone in this world has set their life plots according to the preset trajectory, will a certain variable cause the overall results to deviate? And in this process, we will not just be observers."

"So, even though the protagonist of this world now commits suicide and falls in love with someone they shouldn't, this is actually a good thing for our experimental conclusions. Because we have indeed confirmed that even characters with very standard and detailed trajectory will struggle to grow their own flesh and blood without the presence and intervention of an observer."

Guan Shanyu was a little dazed, and after a while he asked, "So, this world is actually your experiment?"

The engineer replied, “That’s right.”

Guan Shanyu asked in shock, "To you, is all this virtual? No, it's not like that. They are living people with their own ideas and goals. How can they be virtual?"

The engineer smiled and said, "Reality and virtuality are inherently difficult to distinguish. You might be friends with someone in the real world, but they might betray you in the blink of an eye, and then your once beautiful friendship might become an illusion. Meanwhile, if you fall in love with a character in a two-dimensional world, even if they don't exist in reality, the effort you pour into them, and the joy and touch you derive from them, are genuine and undeniable."

"Therefore, the material world is a product of consciousness and spirit. Consciousness and spirit are primary, while matter is secondary. Our experiment is precisely to verify this point."

"Teacher Xu, you've always believed that the character Yan Ruchen is fake, that his creation is limited by your settings. But you also know very well that he has broken free from your settings and, with the free growth of his own consciousness, has become a brand new person. So he can live for you and die for you."

Guan Shanyu was stunned for a long time, his head lowered as he pondered the engineer's words. The two of them fell into a brief silence. Suddenly, the engineer sighed and said, "For example...

Hearing this, Guan Shanyu suddenly raised his head and looked at him, listening to him continue: "In the new world, it committed suicide again."

"What?!" Guan Shanyu widened his eyes and asked quickly, "What do you mean?"

The engineer seemed to tap a few more times on the keyboard before replying, "It had just been reborn in a new world, and at only five years old, it had already committed suicide. As expected, its memory must be erased."

"Wait!" Guan Shanyu hurriedly stopped him, frowning and asking, "He...why did he commit suicide after going to the new world?"

The engineer replied: "Maybe it's for the reason it mentioned before, that it feels life is boring."

"Wait a moment."

Guan Shanyu's mind raced. After thinking for a while, he replied, "Do you want to enrich your experimental data?"

"Hmm?" The engineer asked with a hint of doubt in his voice, "What does Teacher Xu mean?"

Guan Shanyu replied, "If you created these worlds for experiments, then you must be able to observe the experimental data, right?"

The engineer replied, “That’s right.”

Guan Shanyu took a breath and quickly responded, "Your experimental data is vast and complex, but..." Guan Shanyu paused and continued, "But there must be only a handful of cases where the protagonist is reborn eight times, falls in love with the author, and ultimately commits suicide, right?"

The engineer asked, "What does Mr. Xu mean?"

Guan Shanyu said bluntly: "If I were you, I would let this experiment continue."

Upon hearing this, the engineer seemed to think for a moment, then smiled and said, "Teacher Xu, you want to see Yan Ruchen again, right?"

"Yes," Guan Shanyu admitted frankly. "To you, he may just be an experimental subject, but I'm just another experimental subject. I have many questions to ask him. If I can keep this world running, my goal will be achieved, and your experimental data will be richer, right?"

The other party was silent for a moment, as if weighing Guan Shanyu's suggestion, and then said: "Actually, I can answer your doubts directly. There is no need to see him again."

Guan Shanyu retorted, "What about your experimental data? In a world completely free of interference and observation, where the protagonist is resurrected and continues to live alongside the author, how would things develop? Don't you want to know? Such data is more attractive and valuable than ordinary data."

After the words were spoken, the other side fell into a long silence.

Guan Shanyu stared at the anime avatar on the screen, as if he was playing a silent game, with his fists clenched tightly and not daring to relax.

Time fell into a new period of stillness. It was unclear whether the person on the other side was considering or had concluded the conversation. But Guan Shanyu believed that if this world was just an observational experiment, then the core interests that could move them were precisely variables like himself.

The most important thing about an experiment is the results. While there are many ways to prove the results, the quality of the report often depends on the richness of the process data.

Guan Shanyu's throat moved and he swallowed.

He didn't believe that these five-dimensional creatures didn't need to write reports when doing experiments.

After a long time, a reply came from the other side: "That's not impossible."

Guan Shanyu finally let out the breath he had been holding for a long time.

Fortunately, they also have to write a report.

However, the engineer added, "Yan Ruchen in the alternate world is still a child. If we drag the timeline to make him grow up quickly, it's not feasible with the already broken servers. Furthermore, he's constantly committing suicide over there."

Guan Shanyu was shocked and said quickly, "Childhood is childhood. You bring him to this world and continue the story in my current world. Is this method okay?"

The engineer seemed slightly surprised, and after a moment he slowly asked, "Teacher Xu, I remember you used to work in marketing, right? I didn't expect you to be so quick to respond."

Guan Shanyu replied: "I participated in the debate club in college and worked as a game planner for two months after graduation, so I'm quick on the ball."

The engineer fell into deep thought and stopped talking. Seeing this, Guan Shanyu hurriedly continued, "You said you have two worlds, a main world and a backup world. Now the server has crashed, and you have to maintain the programs of both worlds at the same time. So if you connect the two worlds and send Yan Ruchen back to me, wouldn't you only need to maintain the server of one world in the future? It would save you a lot of trouble."

"Also," Guan Shanyu continued, "the future development of the plot is uncertain without the ability to predict the future. If you send someone who was originally dead in this world back, you will be very curious about what will happen, right?"

After saying that, the person opposite suddenly laughed.

Guan Shanyu was startled and quickly tried to recall if he had said something wrong. Unexpectedly, the other party laughed for a while before slowly saying, "Teacher Xu, you're quite interesting. Every word you say seems to be made with my consideration in mind, but in fact, it's ultimately to achieve your goals. Of course, your suggestions are very constructive, and I agree with them. But just now, I suddenly understood why it wanted to see you so much."

Guan Shanyu was slightly stunned when he heard this, his throat aching. He turned his head away without saying anything. The engineer smiled and continued, "Teacher Xu, do you know? The reason you're in this novel is largely because of your hero."

Guan Shanyu raised his eyes but did not answer.

The engineer spoke to himself, "Network anomalies have been causing server outages for over a day now. Of course, in your world, that could have been decades or even centuries. So, we can only rush to repair the servers for some of the biggest IP products. But while I was repairing them, I noticed your world was constantly sounding the alarm. I went to check, and guess what I found?"

Guan Shanyu's throat felt slightly dry, and he asked softly, "What did you find?"

The engineer continued, "I discovered that the protagonist of this world, instead of following the plot, was actually praying all the time. He prayed almost every moment, every second. He said he wanted to meet the person who created him. At first, I thought he was talking about us, but then I realized it was you."

He paused and continued, "So I thought, since you're already dead in your world, why not come to this world and experience it for yourself?"

It's just for the sake of experiment. I want to see what will happen if two people like this stay together.

Guan Shanyu was silent for a while, then said in a hoarse voice, "Thank you."

The engineer was a little surprised: "What?"

Guan Shanyu smiled. Although he knew that the engineer did not bring him into this world out of sympathy for Yan Ruchen, he was still grateful.

I am grateful that he brought me here so that I can meet the characters he created.

I am grateful to him for extending his life from another world to here.

I am also grateful to him for allowing me to experience what it is like to live without being alone.

He was eager to see Yan Ruchen now. He admitted that he was slow to react. Even though Yan Ruchen and the engineer had expressed their feelings many times, he was still skeptical. He needed to repeatedly confirm other people's intentions before he dared to believe them.

It's difficult for someone who grew up living under someone else's roof to trust others. Inferiority and sensitivity are like seeds, taking root and sprouting as they age. While everything may appear normal on the surface, deep down, there's a distrust of everyone, a distrust that's ingrained in their bones.

In this respect, Yan Ruchen was more open-minded than him. They had both experienced the days of living under someone else's roof and being looked down upon, but Yan Ruchen could face everything he had done with ease. However, Guan Shanyu was different. He was not completely bad, but he was not open-minded in his goodness either.

Sometimes, his thoughts would suddenly become clear. He suddenly understood that although he was afraid of Yan Ruchen and wanted to avoid him when he first came to this world, he ultimately chose to stay close to him instead of Song Ziye.

Because Song Ziye is a child of destiny, and that is the ideal growth model for him; and Yan Ruchen is the one who better suits his reality and satisfies his fantasy—a person who, after going through so many vicissitudes of life, can make everyone look at him with admiration and bow down to him in admiration.

"How long will it take for me to see him again?"

The engineer paused for a moment before speaking, "To connect the two worlds and bring him here, we need to execute command scripts. However, there are currently so many scripts running that from the time I write the instructions until they are completed, it will take at least a year in your world's time."

"During this period, we need to ensure that no other bugs or errors occur, so Mr. Xu, please be patient."