Chapter 302: Chapter 299: [Rules]
Chapter 299 [Rules]
The swimming pool at the Ba International Division was open to the public, so there were a few shops along its edge, including a cold drink and dessert store.
Chen Nuo remembered visiting it once when he accompanied Sun Keke and her classmates for a swim.
Although it was a weekday, there was still some business at the store around noon—after all, it was right outside the Ba International Division campus, and those students were known for not lacking money.
When Chen Nuo arrived at the cold drink shop, he saw a few girls from the Ba International Division lining up to make purchases.
These girls, upon seeing the Ba International Division’s infamous "school bully" arrive, showed no fear. Instead, some of them even dared to send flirtatious glances his way, and one even greeted him proactively.
A bunch of beauty chasers...
If Chen Xiaoguo looked like Brother Lei, he might have been treated differently at this moment.
Having humored these teenage girls obsessed with looks, Chen Nuo chose not to sit inside the shop.
Outside, under the open sky, there were several parasols with rattan chairs and tables placed around them. Chen Nuo picked a spot sheltered from the wind and sat down under one of the outdoor umbrellas, lit a cigarette, and pretended to look at the laminated menu placed on the table.
The server quickly came out, stood in front of Chen Nuo, and thoughtfully placed an ashtray on his table.
"Cookies, cola, um... what flavors do the ice creams here come in? Uh... never mind, one scoop of every flavor, but skip the matcha. And waffles, cake, donuts, red bean pies, milkshakes, plus a milk tea, with full sugar..."
The server, holding a notepad, wore a slightly embarrassed expression, "You... ordering so much by yourself, you might not be able to finish it all."
"It’s fine, I can eat it," Chen Nuo waved his hand dismissively, not bothering to explain further.
"We don’t have red bean pies, milkshakes, or milk tea."
Chen Nuo thought for a moment, then took out a hundred yuan bill and handed it to the server with a smile, "I remember there’s a KFC down the next street, could you help me buy some..."
"Er..." The server seemed troubled.
Chen Nuo smiled, "In a little while, school will start again for the afternoon; you won’t be doing much business then. Plus... this hundred is for you to buy the stuff, and whatever’s left is your errand fee."
The server was a young girl, her face showing a hint of temptation.
In 2001, working in this kind of dessert shop, the monthly salary was only a few hundred yuan.
The hundred yuan that Chen Nuo was offering to buy a red bean pie, a milk tea, and a milkshake... would at most cost less than fifty.
Meaning she would be left with... over fifty yuan in errand fees!
Over fifty yuan could cover two days’ wages for her.
And it was only a matter of spending fifteen minutes or so...
Moreover, the customer in front of her looked quite like a young, handsome guy.
Well, looks equate to justice.
If you add money to that.
That’s double justice.
The server finally took the hundred yuan from Chen Nuo, then turned the sign on the shop door to "Temporarily Closed," and ran off.
She had some sense of caution, locking the door behind her as she left.
With the server gone and no one else nearby, Chen Nuo leaned back in the wicker chair, silently smoking, not bothering to start another conversation with that mysterious voice, just quietly waiting.
Finally, a minute after he stubbed out his cigarette butt, that voice rang out again.
"Tobacco will damage the functions of your body."
Chen Nuo chuckled, "Excessive sugar intake is equally bad."
"..."
Chen Nuo pondered for a moment, "What’s the matter, you can’t come out to meet me? Do you need to wait for the food to be served before you show yourself? That wouldn’t be very polite."
Seeing that the other party remained silent, Chen Nuo stood up and walked to the shop’s entrance.
With a light push, the locked glass door swung open.
"They had locked the door," the voice said from behind him.
Chen Nuo, without turning back, walked into the store, "I’m not going to steal anything."
As he spoke, he went over to the counter and turned on a stereo that was sitting there.
In this era, digital audio products were far from as developed as in later times. The typical store would have a sound system that played either tapes or CDs.
But more often than not, for convenience, they would just play the radio, tuning into any music station just to have some background music. Chen Nuo casually tuned to a local radio station’s music channel, then walked back outside to his seat.
The station was playing a popular folk song.
In this age, the previous generation of popular folk singers were nearing the end of their heyday, but a new wave was already emerging.
Chen Nuo didn’t recognize the folk song being played, but it sounded somewhat familiar to him.
Back at his seat, he listened quietly for a minute...
"I don’t like this kind of music," said the voice gently.
"Oh? Don’t like it?"
"More precisely, I don’t like the Negative Emotion this music brings."
Chen Nuo was taken aback.
The folk song carried a pretentious air, rambling and infused with melancholy... So Chen Nuo nodded and said, "You’re right. But that’s just how folk songs are. Should I change it to something more upbeat?"
"No need to bother, occasionally experiencing it can be seen as an experience in itself."
"Experiencing music?"
"No, experiencing Negative Emotion." The response from the voice stirred something in Chen Nuo.
He nodded, a lazy smile on his face, "That’s an interesting way to put it, Negative Emotion. Pop music, after all, is all about selling emotions. Folk songs, even more so, are about sorrow. Actually, I don’t really like this kind of music either."
"Hmm, why is that?"
"These folk singers are just too pretentious," Chen Nuo shook his head. "No matter the song or lyrics, they iterate one thing over and over: they can’t sleep with the girl, so they’re sad.
"I want to sleep with a girl, and she won’t let me, I’m sad.
"I want to sleep with a girl, but she’s sleeping with someone else, I’m sad.
"I wanted to sleep with a girl, she let me before, but now we’ve broken up and I can’t anymore, I’m sad.
"Ninety-nine percent of folk pop songs just revolve around these things; it gets boring after a while."
"HAHAHA..." The voice laughed.
With the laughter, Chen Nuo’s eyes squinted instinctively!
He saw the other person!!
On the opposite wicker chair, a figure was slowly appearing, becoming clear from being semi-transparent.
The boy wasn’t old, seeming to be around ten years old.
Frail and short, with arms as skinny as reeds.
Black curly hair, shiny bright eyes.
Yet his skin was slightly dark.
His facial features were close to those of East Asians, but he was clearly not Chinese, and had a hint of exoticism...
Chen Nuo’s mind stirred; the boy’s facial features somewhat resembled those of the South American natives he had seen in Brazil.
The boy stared at Chen Nuo, not the least bit bothered by Chen Nuo’s scrutiny, and examined Chen Nuo with the same curious gaze.
"You’re quite interesting. And I regret that I didn’t realize before how interesting a person you are."
Chen Nuo’s heart skipped a beat, and he frowned, "Before? Have you... seen me?"
But the boy didn’t answer, instead glancing into the distance and smiling, "Your order has arrived."
The server ran back from afar, somewhat out of breath.
Upon returning, she glanced at Chen Nuo and the unfamiliar little boy sitting near the door, and not seeming too surprised, nodded.
However, she paused when she saw the door.
I... remember locking the door before I left...
Could I have remembered it wrong?
Her expression changed. The server entered the shop, glanced at the sound system still playing music, and suppressing the anxiety in her heart, checked the cash register at the counter. Thankfully, it was securely locked.
She opened it to check, and the money was all there, untouched.
There were no signs of the shop having been disturbed.
The server let out a sigh of relief, feeling self-reproach at the same time.
It seems I really did forget to lock the door before leaving—I can’t be so careless in the future!
She served the food she had bought on one of the shop’s plates and carried it out to Chen Nuo.
"Here’s your milkshake, red bean pie, and milk tea."
The server said hastily, "Please wait a moment for the other items you ordered; I’ll make them right away. It will take about ten minutes, is that okay?"
"No problem," Chen Nuo said with a smile.
As the server went back inside to get busy, Chen Nuo saw the little boy in front of him already reaching for the milkshake on the table. After inserting the straw, he took a big sip, his bright, sparkling eyes squinting in satisfaction as a content smile spread across his face.
Chen Nuo said nothing.
In fact, his state of alert had reached its peak!
The boy was sitting right in front of Chen Nuo, but Chen Nuo had discovered a fact that shocked even himself:
He was unable to sense the boy’s presence!
His eyes could see him, his ears could even hear the sound of him sucking vigorously on the straw...
But if he closed his eyes, Chen Nuo, an Ability User with exceedingly strong spiritual power, could not detect the boy’s presence on a spiritual level at all!
His Spiritual Force Tentacles scanned the area. Though his eyes could see the boy, in terms of perception, it was as if there were nothing but "air" in front of him!
This guy could completely shield his presence from spiritual detection!
Based on Chen Nuo’s estimation, to possess such a capability, one had to be at least at the level of a top-tier Controller!
But looking at his age...
A ten-year-old Controller?
What a joke!
In his previous life, Chen Yanluo was known for his extraordinary talents, rising to prominence at a young age and joining the ranks of the top figures in the Underground World.
His fame derived largely from his youth!
Youth meant infinite possibilities!
So, even though his record of achievements wasn’t as impressive or dazzling as those of more seasoned Controllers due to his shorter career, Chen Yanluo was still one of the most famous among them.
All because he was young enough!
But this little boy...
He was far too young, wasn’t he?
After a light sigh, watching the boy drink down most of the milkshake, Chen Nuo finally spoke unhurriedly, "Can we talk about something serious now?"
"Sure," the little boy said with a smile, "What do you want to talk about?"
"What have you done to the people around me? Surely it’s not just handing out free gift packs, right?"
The little boy paused, looked up at Chen Nuo, and said, "Oh?"
"Helping people break through, awakening them, even boosting their cultivation levels." Chen Nuo shook his head. "You couldn’t just be here to do good deeds, right?"
"These things..." The boy pondered for a bit, then started laughing, "It seems you still don’t understand, do you?"
Chen Nuo seemed to grasp something. "Myself?"
"Yeah, you could do these things easily, too."
He paused and then said softly, "Exchange."
Exchange!
Chen Nuo’s breath halted.
After scrutinizing the boy for a long time, Chen Nuo’s expression gradually changed.
"Exchange is originally an action that brings benefits to both parties after an energy exchange. Of course, especially for you, and for me."
"How does the enhancement come about?" asked Chen Nuo.
"No, you’re asking that question too early. You should ask, how did so many individuals come into existence at the beginning!"
Chen Nuo was visibly shocked!
Looking at Chen Nuo, the boy put down his milkshake cup and picked up the red bean pie from the table instead.
"In the beginning, we referred to ourselves as, well, let’s just say ’one.’"
Saying this, the boy casually gestured toward the busy server behind the glass window in the store.
"This is an ordinary individual, but since it lacks power, it is currently ’Zero.’"
He broke off a small piece of the red bean pie.
"Then, we interact with it. After the interaction... we grant it power, it takes on our energy characteristics, and it changes from Zero to ’one.’ You understand this, right?"
Chen Nuo nodded, "I understand."
The little boy nodded as well, "Then what about us? After the interaction, we are no longer ’one.’ We become ’two.’"
Chen Nuo’s expression changed, and he inhaled deeply, "And then?"
The boy looked at Chen Nuo with a smile, "After becoming ’two,’ naturally, we evolve towards ’three.’"
"Mm-hm," Chen Nuo nodded.
"But at this point, we can’t find another ordinary person to interact with, like her," the boy said, pointing at the server. "Because by then we’ve become ’two,’ and even if we interact, we can only create another ’two.’"
"Create a ’two,’ and then we ourselves are also ’two.’ After interaction, we become ’four.’ ’Four’ is better than ’three,’ isn’t it?"
"Indeed, it’s better," the little boy nodded. "It seems bigger, better...
"’Two’ interacts and creates another ’two,’ then we ourselves become ’four.’
"’Four’ interacts and creates another ’four,’ then we ourselves become ’eight.’...
"It looks like rapid growth..."
Chen Nuo was about to say something, but the boy’s tone suddenly became strange.
"...originally... it thought so, too. But then, there were problems."
"Why?" Chen Nuo asked.
"From ’two,’ you can’t just jump straight to ’four’! There has to be a ’three’!"
Feeling a surge of emotion inside, Chen Nuo asked in a low voice, "What went wrong?"
"Let’s take ’eight’ as an example. When we ourselves became ’eight’—how did that happen?
"We were ’one,’ interacted with a ’one,’ and we became ’two.’
"We were ’two,’ interacted with a ’two,’ and we became ’four.’
"We were ’four,’ interacted with a ’four,’ and we became ’eight.’
"Right?"
"Right," Chen Nuo affirmed.
"The problem lies here. We are ’eight’! But the ones we created through successive interactions... ’one,’ ’two,’ and ’four.’ These three entities...
"What’s their total?"
"One plus two plus four equals seven," Chen Nuo replied promptly.
"See? There’s the problem. We are ’eight,’ but the mirrors we’ve created total ’seven.’
"Seven does not equal eight...
"Energy is not conserved..."
The boy sighed, his tone becoming somber.
"The universe has rules... Breaking the rules will lead to backlash..."