Chapter 1566 - 1562: The Sleeping Fang Wushang

At that time, Ye Zhi was in Ye Qiu's room; the two sat together while Ye Qiu held a coffee cup and carefully recounted the matter. If it were the former Ye Zhi, she wouldn't have believed that someone could fall in love with a person in a virtual world. But now, she somehow understood.

And—when mentioning that person, tears welled up in Ye Qiu's eyes—.

In the end, they were still together, Ye Qiu said. They were supposed to return to the real world together. But eventually, Ye Qiu's consciousness returned, while that person remained asleep. Nothing happened—or perhaps something did happen, but no one knew. Afterward, whenever Ye Qiu had the time, he would visit the hospital every three days to see the person still in slumber.

Ye Zhi could picture it. In front of the sleeping person she missed, just like she once held her brother's hand, constantly calling out to him in her heart. Thinking of these things, an indescribable feeling emerged in Ye Zhi's heart. Deep inside, she began to feel a piercing pain, and breathing became painful. She hugged herself with both hands and sat down just like that.

She deeply hoped that Ye Qiu could continue to be happy. After coming back from that world, Ye Qiu was much more cheerful than before. He conversed more with Ye Zhi and was gentler, with no unreasonable requests. It was as if—he had returned to how he was in childhood, Ye Zhi felt.

So, when she saw her brother's tears, she realized just how important that person was. At this moment, she spoke to herself.

—But, I also, I also know now.

When Ye Qiu bowed his head, missing that person, the pain in Ye Zhi's heart persisted, as if she were hiding another emotion.

Ye Zhi looked at Ye Qiu, who was drinking freshly poured milk by the table at the entrance, and her heart began to whisper secretly.

"—Brother. I, I already know."

What were once siblings by blood had become cousins now; Ye Zhi didn't know what it would turn into in the future.

But something changed. Although she had never seriously considered it until now, deep in her heart, there was a secret that continued to flicker.

That is, if that's the case, perhaps it's okay for me to like my brother.

After bathing, Ye Qiu changed clothes and rode a newly bought mountain bike from a month ago out of the house. He slowly headed south. The destination was the street fifteen kilometers ahead. Although it was somewhat of a distance to travel back and forth by bicycle, for me, who was in the recovery phase, this burden was just right.

The next destination is Sokaze City in Saitama Prefecture—the newly built modern comprehensive hospital in the suburbs. In the upper floor ward, she lay there quietly.

Two months ago, Ye Qiu defeated Long Yijian and came into this world, but she—my favorite person, my strategy partner, the "Flash" Finesse Sword Master Fang Wushang, did not return together.

It didn't take much effort to find out about her. After waking up in a Tokyo hospital, Ye Qiu confusedly searched the ward until a nurse found and brought him back. A few dozen minutes later, a man in a suit came to me. He claimed to be from a national team sent to deal with this matter.

This not insignificant organization was formed promptly after the events occurred but had not made any progress in the two years since. Or rather, they had no way to proceed.

No one could take responsibility for this.

Later, they regrouped and began investigating the victims' situation in the hospital—merely reviewing the players' data on the server was a huge task.

Even so, they found Ye Qiu's level and existence coordinates, knowing I was a high-ranking player in the "strategy group." That is, the moment players trapped in VR suddenly awoke last November, they rushed to Ye Qiu's hospital room to understand what happened.

Ye Qiu made a condition to the black-framed glasses civil servant. He would divulge everything he knew to the best of his ability, but they had to provide him with the information he wanted to know.

Ye Qiu wanted to know, of course, where Fang Wushang was. After a few minutes of phone conversation, the man in glasses, with an undisguised puzzled expression, told him.

"Miss Fang Wushang is also housed in this Sosaku Medical Institution. However, she has not woken up—not just her, but approximately three hundred people nationwide haven't seemed to wake up."

Initially, everyone thought it was due to a server bug phenomenon or something. But hours later, days later, the three hundred people including Fang Wushang still hadn't awoken.

He did indeed say that. He would release all the living. And back then, Long Yijian had no reason to lie. He must have erased that entire world himself, Ye Qiu deeply believed.

Yet, this unexpected accident occurred, or it was some other will that intruded into the completely initialized world and continued operating it.

Fang Wushang's situation was the same, she, along with her soul, was trapped inside. What happened internally, Ye Qiu couldn't understand at all. If, if only he could return to that world once more—.

If Ye Zhi knew about this, she might be furious. I once left a letter and then went to my room, put on that VR, but the moment I appeared, what I saw was the cold message "Unable to connect to server."

Once I completed recovery training and could move freely, I regularly went to Fang Wushang's ward to visit her.

It was a painful time. Like the pain caused by extremely important things being unreasonably taken by someone else, mental wounds cut deeper than physical ones. But for the current me, there was nothing I could do. Like a child, I had no ability at all.

I rode for forty minutes at this slow pace, passing the main road, traversing the hilly areas, and finally, a massive building appeared before my eyes. This could be said to be the highest-level medical institution operated by a private enterprise.

The guards at the main entrance, familiar with Ye Qiu, did not ask what he came to do here. Ye Qiu went straight in, parked his mountain bike at the corner of a vast parking lot, and went to the high-class hotel-like ground floor lobby reception to obtain a pass, which he pinned to his chest before entering the elevator.

A few seconds later, the elevator reached the top 18th floor, and the doors slowly opened. He walked down the empty corridor toward the south side. Many patients in this area were long-term inpatients, but they were rarely seen. A light green door appeared before him, with a dimly colored nameplate on it.