Void Jigsaw Puzzle

Zhong Chenmu lay on the soft massage bed with his face stuck in the round hole at the head of the bed in a very comfortable position, allowing the massage technician to knead his back vigorously.

If it were someone else, they would have closed their eyes long ago and fallen into a deep sleep amid the faint fragrance and the leisurely music.

But Zhong Chenmu stared with his eyes wide open, staring at the green number in his mind.

"110111".

It has become six figures.

He suppressed his excitement and thought about what had just happened.

Just half an hour ago, Reyue brought him and three other "burdens" - as her three colleagues called them - to the pavilion hidden deep in the alley of Leyou Pavilion. They searched everywhere inside and out for several times, but could not find the "gray building" that Reyue mentioned.

"Are you remembering correctly?" he confirmed.

"Definitely not!" Retzel answered firmly, "If you don't believe me, you can ask the three of them."

"Indeed, we remember there was a small building here, and its facade was all gray. It seemed a bit out of place here, so it left a particularly deep impression on us."

The Fruit Moon rarely agrees with the Thermic Moon.

Mu Yue and Huo Yue also nodded frequently.

Zhong Chenmu suppressed his excitement and nodded calmly: "Okay, that's it, let's go find some fun."

Retsu couldn't help but ask, "That's it? Reality doesn't match memory, what does that mean?"

Zhong Chenmu shrugged. "I don't know either. Maybe everyone remembered it wrongly, or maybe this place has been renovated. After all, that was a few months ago."

"But..." Reyue was still a little unwilling.

Hearing Zhong Chenmu's tone just now, she felt that this matter was very important and there seemed to be a lot that could be done, but now... that's it?

Guo Yue interrupted her without hesitation: "I agree with Xiao Zhong. There are only these two possibilities. There's no need for us to worry about it anymore... It's a rare opportunity for the president to bring us to Leyou Pavilion to relax today. It's also thanks to Xiao Zhong. Now that even he suggested having some fun, why are we still hesitating? Let's go and have some fun!"

After that, she looked at Zhong Chenmu with a wicked smile: "What kind of fun do you want to have? Do you need help from the sisters?"

Zhong Chenmu blushed and whispered, "I don't know either... I just said that. This is my first time here..."

"Hehe, it's my first time, so I have to think about it carefully..." Guoyue licked his lips.

"Don't lead the young people astray!" Reyue came up and took Zhong Chenmu's hand: "Let's go! I know there's a massage parlor nearby, it's a formal and professional one!"

Then he dragged him away without saying anything.

"Hey, hey!" Guo Yue shouted exaggeratedly, "Where's his first time? Are you just going to throw it away like that?"

Mu Yue and Huo Yue watched the fun with a smile on their faces.

Reyue said, "Whether it was intentional or not, the president handed him over to us, so we certainly can't let anything go wrong. If we take him to those dangerous places on his first visit, what if he gets eaten up and the president blames us? We should let him get used to it first, and then he can come on his own."

Guo Yue thought about it, curled her lips and said, "Okay."

So, they came to this massage parlor called "Take Control of Everything" together.

Four people, each entered a private room, and officially started the night at Leyouting.

Zhong Chenmu stared at "110111", his mind as clear as his eyes. The understatement he had shown in front of the four women just now was simply to enjoy the moment of solitude as quickly as possible.

He felt himself bathed in a refreshing state, just like the morning he commuted during the summer vacation, when the bus broke down and he wanted to get angry after being bumped by people eager to get off, but he was melted away by this state and feeling.

It was also on that day that he saw the green numbers for the first time.

At that time, when he walked 5 kilometers to the entrance of the library, the three-digit number "110" appeared in his mind.

That same day, after he woke up, he almost forgot his own name for a moment.

On the same day, these numbers were consumed in an instant, a large river was cut in half, Guo Ling was saved, and a brief crack appeared above the river, allowing Pierce to sense the presence of external civilization.

That same day, he ran into Pierce in the library.

On the same day, his parents disappeared, and Guo Ling lost contact with all his close relatives, which directly led to his suicide by jumping into the river.

Everything seemed to happen on that day.

Since that day, in the past few months, from the first time he talked with Pierce, until just now when he went with the Thermidors to find the traces of the Prophet Society, and many moments in between, he had had the same feeling.

These feelings are converging more and more, pointing to the same conclusion.

Tonight, at Leyou Pavilion, the birthplace of the Prophet Society, he verified this again.

Although he could not claim that his conclusion was absolutely impeccable from an absolutely rigorous perspective, he could almost confirm it.

And it is related to the truth of the civilization of this nameless city where he is currently.

"According to the 'incomplete civilization' theory, our Wuming City civilization, as part of a distant Earth civilization long, long ago, spread digitally throughout the universe. By some strange coincidence, it was received and reproduced by the civilization currently outside of Wuming City—the civilization represented by Qing Ao and Qing Nian. Before the reproduction, we existed digitally and were static. After the reproduction, we regained our embodiment and began to evolve and develop dynamically against this static background... And the time of our reproduction was that day! That day can be said to be the 'singularity moment' of the reproduction of Earth civilization!"

Zhong Chenmu felt his entire body tremble. He controlled his breathing, lest his excitement be noticed by the hard-working technicians and cause any untoward incidents. But how could he completely control it? The questions that had been lingering in his mind for months finally received a preliminary answer today, though many questions remained unanswered, such as what the system in his mind truly represented, what Pierce's motives were, and whether Qing Ao and Qing Nian were friends or foes to them...

Just as he was immersed in the extreme excitement of breaking through the truth, a voice came from above his head: "Young man, are you not feeling very strong? Do you want me to be gentler? I see you are shaking all the time, and your muscles are very tense, not relaxing at all."

"..."

This sentence was like a bucket of cold water, which instantly made him lose all interest and feel sluggish.

Not long after, he fell into a deep sleep under the technician's manipulation.

After an unknown amount of time, he suddenly opened his eyes and found himself still lying on the massage bed, but no one was watching him. He thought the technician had gone out for something, so he waited for a while, but still didn't feel any movement.

Zhong Chenmu's heart tightened, and he quickly supported himself on the narrow bed with both hands, turned over quickly, sat up, and quickly scanned the single room.

Indeed, there was no technician in the private room, but a woman was sitting on the small bench at the door, staring at him. Her face could not be seen clearly in the dim light.

Zhong Chenmu was shocked and quickly covered his naked upper body with his hands and asked, "Who are you? What do you want to do?"

The woman first watched his actions expressionlessly, but her eyes were full of mischief and teasing.

Then, she seemed unable to hold it back any longer and burst into laughter: "Hahahaha! You're a grown man, are you still afraid of exposing yourself?"

As she spoke, she stood up.

Zhong Chenmu was still in shock. When he looked closely, he found that it was Fan Ting.

She had black hair draped over her shoulders and was wearing a tight sports outfit. Under the dim light, she looked both charming and enchanting.

Zhong Chenmu breathed a sigh of relief, but was still very surprised: "Sister, why are you here?"

"You're the only one allowed to come, but I'm not? Are you planning to do something bad? Is there a second round?"

“No, no, no…” Zhong Chenmu waved his hands quickly: “But, can you please hand me my clothes first?”

Fan Ting smiled, pulled his clothes from the hanger next to her and threw them to him.

"Put it on first, although I think it's fine if you don't."

"..."

Zhong Chenmu quickly put on his clothes, and almost put them on backwards.

Only then did he calm down, let out a long sigh, sat on the massage bed, and looked at Fan Ting: "Can you tell me now?"

Fan Ting smoothed her hair with her hand and was about to speak when she heard someone outside the room shout, "Someone jumped off the building!"

When Zhong Chenmu heard the sound, his whole body tensed up and he quickly turned his head towards the wall.

Although he was in a private room and could not see what was happening outside, he had noticed when he came in that his room was the one closest to the outer wall.

In other words, outside the wall is outside the building.

Accompanied by waves of dizziness, he saw the green numbers in his mind flashing rapidly again.