Chapter 1563 - 1559: Ye Qiu's Sister

The lips of Cui, painted with light lipstick, recounted the story, revealing a faint bitter smile, while Ye Zhi watched her from the side.

"At that time, I was really shocked. Ye Qiu was only ten years old, you know. I wanted to keep this secret until Ye Zhi entered high school, but he noticed the erased record in the resident basic information network."

Although some part of this matter was also something Ye Zhi was hearing for the first time, she still shared a bitter smile with her mother rather than being surprised.

"That's really like something my brother would do."

"Feng Song wasn't very surprised, pretending not to know anything. Like fighting alongside Ye Qiu, but afterward, he reluctantly said, 'He really defeated me.'

Ahaha, the two laughed, then silently watched the sleeping Ye Qiu for a long time.

Brother Tong Valley Ye Qiu lived with Ye Zhi from a young age, to be precise, he should be considered Ye Zhi's 'cousin.'

Ye Fengsong, Cui and her husband's biological child is Ye Zhi, and Ye Qiu is Cui's sister's, that is, Ye Zhi's aunt's child. The two of them died in an accident before Ye Qiu turned one year old, the severely injured Ye Qiu barely survived and was adopted by Cui.

Ye Zhi learned about this in the winter two years ago, when her parents told her, at that time, Ye Qiu was already trapped in the illusory world called a VR game. Already devastated by her brother's coma incident, Ye Zhi became even more confused upon hearing this. At that time, she questioned her mother Cui about why she didn't tell her the truth sooner, why only now.

After two years, Ye Zhi still felt a strong sense of alienation because of not knowing about this. But after all this time, she could finally understand her parents' feelings at the time.

Originally, this matter was supposed to be disclosed after Ye Zhi entered high school, meaning if Ye Qiu hadn't ended up like this, they would have revealed everything. These were the decisions made by her parents. A month after the incident, two thousand people had already died.

This means both of them had to be ready to accept Ye Qiu's death at any time. All of this was to prevent Ye Zhi from regretting not knowing the whole truth after everything was over—this was how her parents thought.

Carrying some emotions, Ye Zhi frequently visited the room where Ye Qiu was kept and contemplated these matters. What would one truly lose if a brother wasn't really a brother?

Finally, the answer emerged.

Nothing would change. Nothing would be lost. Whether it was before knowing the truth or after, her wish remained the same, which was hoping for Ye Qiu's survival.

In these two years, Ye Zhi hadn't stopped praying for a single moment.

"Yes, Mom."

Ye Zhi said softly, gazing at the side of Ye Qiu's face.

"What?"

"Brother has been playing online games since he started middle school. Do you think there's any connection?"

Ye Qiu wasn't a child of the Ye Family, Ye Zhi omitted this; Cui, sitting beside her, shook her head.

"No, there's no connection at all. Because this child, at the age of six, assembled a machine using scrap parts in my room. You could say my PC enthusiast bloodline was inherited by him, spiritually."

Ye Zhi nudged her smiling mother's wrist with her elbow.

"If you say so, Mom must have loved playing games when she was young too. I heard from Grandma once."

"Yes, I started playing online games in elementary school. No different from Ye Qiu."

They both chuckled again, and during this time, Cui's loving gaze was fixed on the bed-ridden Ye Qiu.

"However, I've never become a top player in any of the games I've played. Probably due to a lack of patience and determination. In this aspect, I'm just like you. Because we share the same blood as you, who practiced Sword Dao for eight years, Ye Qiu lives like this. Maybe he'll suddenly come back during this time."

Slap, Cui placed her hand on Ye Zhi's head and stood up.

"Well, I'll head back first. You too, don't come back too late."

"Yes, I understand."

Ye Zhi nodded, and once again, Cui looked at Ye Qiu, softly saying "Happy Birthday." Then she quickly turned and left the ward.

Ye Zhi tugged on her skirt and uniform, took a deep breath, and glanced again at the LED indicator on her brother's helmet.

The status indicator connecting the network and the brain was continuously flashing.

Currently, the SAO servers on the network and Ye Qiu's consciousness were continuously exchanging information data through NerveGear.

Where could brother be now? Is he wandering in a dim maze, holding a map in one hand? Or perhaps he's appraising items in a shop. Or—fighting bravely and decisively wielding a sword against a powerful monster.

Ye Zhi once again extended both hands, tightly wrapping them around Ye Qiu's pale, thin hand.

Ye Qiu's real-world skin sensation and all spinal conduction were now blocked by NerveGear, thus feelings could not reach his brain. However, Ye Zhi still believed that her encouragement could certainly be conveyed to him.

Why? Because Ye Zhi could feel it. The intense heat radiating from the soul of her brother—or rather, her cousin's—is clearly palpable. It's as if it's telling others, he will surely come back alive, return to the real world once more.

The golden light that filtered through the white curtains had already turned deep red and continued to transition to purple; the ward was now shrouded in darkness, but Ye Zhi still remained there. She lay on the bed, listening to her brother's quiet breathing.

The urgent report of Ye Qiu waking up was received a month later, on November 7, 2024.

Yes, the current world is 2024, an era of super-advanced technology.

Ye Qiu had fully grasped this world, but it seemed this world did not have the calamity concept of a Demon King, so Ye Qiu was unsure of what exactly he should do. Could he just leisurely rest in this peaceful world?

Even though he hadn't found Fang Wushang yet, even though this was a small country, it had a population of 200,000,000, so finding someone wasn't that easy; yet Ye Qiu didn't stop.

Ye Qiu discovered he seemed to possess exceptionally strong computer manipulation abilities in this world, simply put, hacker skills. Ye Qiu quickly hacked into the national information database, searching for matters related to Fang Wushang, hoping to find Fang Wushang through this.

Soon, Ye Qiu discovered that Fang Wushang, like Ye Qiu, was caught up in the same VR game trapping incident in this world, so Fang Wushang should also be in some hospital like Ye Qiu.