The white rose I picked up cried and said she liked me.

A few days later, one afternoon, a light drizzle fell.

The crisp raindrops pattered against the window, making a soft, pattering sound, and enveloped the entire city in a light mist.

In room 522 on the 5th floor of the male dormitory at Yuncheng University, Jiang Xun leaned against the windowsill, resting his chin on his hand, gazing at the drizzling rain outside, and a lyric unconsciously floated into his mind.

"The sky is the color of rain and mist, and I am waiting for you. Wisps of smoke rise from the chimneys, thousands of miles away across the river."

For children who grew up in the water towns of Jiangnan, the first time they hear these lyrics, they probably don't think of the blue and white porcelain Jay Chou is talking about, but rather the blue tiles and white walls, small bridges and flowing water of their hometown, and the smell of cooking smoke drifting in on rainy days.

A gentle breeze and drizzling rain, rippling waves—June in the South seems inseparable from the word "rain."

It rains for 28 out of 30 days in a month. The two rare sunny days are even more precious than the holidays that working people only get to rest on.

Even in September, the rain showed no signs of abating.

However, the autumn rain carries a hint of coolness, like a gentle mother, tenderly soothing away the heat of midsummer.

Jiang Xun made himself a cup of coffee, slowly sat down on the edge of the bed, and picked up a book of essays to read.

Under the other bed behind him, a completely different scene unfolded.

Xiao Chen held the game controller, his brows furrowed, completely focused on operating it.

On the screen, a monkey wearing golden armor and wielding a golden cudgel is standing in a dark and gloomy temple, fiercely battling a round-headed golden doll.

Sparks flew as the golden cudgel was swung, making for a very intense fight.

Xu Nian sat in the chair next to Xiao Chen, staring curiously at the computer screen, a hint of interest gradually appearing in her eyes.

These days, during breaks between classes, he would always go back to the dormitory with Jiang Xun and the others to kill time.

Firstly, it's close to the classroom, which is convenient and saves time. Secondly, his and Xu Xi's class schedules are not entirely the same. Sometimes when he finishes class, Xu Xi still has to continue attending class or go to the company to help Wen Yao with some trivial matters that she can't handle.

Rather than going home alone, it's much more fun to be with these energetic teenagers.

"I don't want this robe anymore, I don't want it anymore! Don't burn it, none of you!"

A short while later, the golden-headed doll on the screen let out a mournful cry, turned into a wisp of black smoke and vanished into thin air, and the battle ended smoothly.

"Xiao Chen, what game are you playing?" Xu Nian squinted, examining the monkey on the screen. It looked familiar, as if she had seen it somewhere before.

"This is *Black Myth: Wukong*!" Xiao Chen immediately put down the controller, pointing proudly at the screen, his tone full of pride. "Uncle Xu, this is the first AAA game produced in our country! Look at the graphics, the character details, and the fight effects—it's as realistic as a movie!"

Xu Nian didn't quite understand what "AAA game" meant, but she was quite familiar with the term "Wukong": "Is it Journey to the West?"

"Yes, yes, the story of this game is adapted from Journey to the West."

At this point, Xu Nian had some recollection of what was being said.

He remembered that when he was a child, before he became homeless, he would often hear an old man at the entrance of the village telling these myths to the village children.

Sun Wukong's intelligence and bravery, Zhu Bajie's honesty and gluttony, Sha Wujing's diligence and steadfastness, and the adventures and interesting stories on the journey to the West—you could listen to them for an entire afternoon.

In that era of limited information, these stories were full of novelty for the children at the time, and they are one of Xu Nian's few childhood memories.

"Uncle Xu, would you like to give it a try?" Xiao Chen noticed that Xu Nian was very interested in the game, so he handed the controller to him and invited him enthusiastically.

A flicker of joy flashed in Xu Nian's eyes, and she instinctively wanted to nod in agreement, but the smile on her face quickly froze, replaced by an undisguised disappointment.

He shook his head with a wry smile: "Never mind, it's not necessary."

He had never touched a computer in his entire life, let alone played computer games.

His impression of computers is still from his childhood, when computers were truly high-tech gadgets, and only a few families in the whole village owned one.

In the steel mill office in town, there seemed to be an old-fashioned computer with a large, heavy screen, bigger than the head of the golden-headed doll in the game.

Back then, a few of the bolder friends would sneak over the wall late at night, after the factory workers had finished get off work, and secretly play Solitaire and Minesweeper on that computer.

However, this clandestine operation did not last long.

In a chance accident, a boy accidentally broke the office window.

The noise attracted the night watchman, and all of them were caught red-handed. Later, their parents, who had rushed over after hearing the commotion, took them home and gave them a beating with a belt.

Back then, Xu Nian could only stand far away, listening enviously as her friends discussed how interesting computers were, but she never had the chance to experience it herself.

Nowadays, times have changed. Computers are no longer a rarity. The screens are becoming clearer, the sizes are getting thinner, and the functions are becoming more powerful, making them both high-end and convenient.

However, Xu Nian's understanding of computers remains stuck in that outdated era.

At this moment, the game controller was placed in front of him, and he could touch this cutting-edge technology that he had never experienced before with just one reach.

But his first reaction was not surprise, but embarrassment and fear.

Such high-tech equipment must be very complicated to operate, right?

He, a man swept away by the tides of time, is probably simply unable to control it.

Perhaps sensing Xu Nian's thoughts, Xiao Chen smiled憨厚ly and placed the handle in Xu Nian's hand: "It's alright, Uncle Xu, this thing is very easy to operate. I'll teach you; you'll learn in just a few minutes!"

As he pointed to the buttons on the controller, he explained to Xu Nian, "The left stick moves forward, backward, left, and right; the right stick moves the camera. This button attacks, and this button rolls to dodge. On the screen, this is your health bar; when it reaches zero, you die. This is the monster's health bar; when it reaches zero, you win."

He explained at length, and Xu Nian followed his steps clumsily, mimicking his movements.

Surprisingly, he was actually able to control the Chosen One on the screen to jump and slash, and even successfully killed several small monsters on the roadside.

"Alright, Uncle Xu, give it a try." Seeing that Xu Nian had mastered most of the controls, Xiao Chen opened a new save file with a beginner's tutorial and handed the controller to Xu Nian.