Cyber Ghosts

“Aha? Here we go!” Xiao Hong followed Zhang Dalong’s car to turn around the corner and found that the car slowly drove into the underground garage of a hotel.

“New Lake Hotel?” Hao Ning looked at the name of the hotel and said with doubt, “Why are we here?”

“Because it’s Mr. Hu’s family business…” As Zhou Yuan guessed, he took out his mobile phone and checked it. “Sure enough, New Lake is also ‘Xin Hu’ in Chinese. This old man is really interesting. He gave it a homophonic name.”

“But aren’t they running a clinic?” Hao Ning took Zhou Yuan’s cell phone and understood after seeing it. “I thought that we would eat in the restaurant next to their clinic.”

“We are next to their clinic.” Liu Shuai patted Hao Ning on the shoulder and pointed to the building across the road. “Have a look.”

Hao Ning looked along the direction Liu Shuai pointed to and saw a tall building with seven big words on the top, “New Lake Hospital of Traditional Medicine of Celestial Empire”.

“Damn it! How could it be just a clinic? This is a hospital!” Hao Ning almost had a nervous breakdown when seeing this. “Is this Mr. Hu’s family business so big?”

I don’t know.” Xiao Hong also drove into the parking lot, following Zhang Dalong’s car. “After all, this is only a chain organization in H City, not their headquarters.”

“Is this just a chain store?” Hao Ning’s mouth was opened wider. “Then where is their headquarters?”

“Guess?” Zhou Yuan said with a smile, “Can’t you guess with the familiarity between Zhang Dalong and Mr. Hu?”

As expected, Mr. Hu was really somebody. As soon as several people got off the car, a few attendants took them into a special elevator. There was only one bottom for one floor in the elevator, the top floor.

As soon as the elevator door opened, Jienan had been waiting for Hao Ning and others at the door. After seeing all the people, Jienan smiled happily. At the same time, he was a little sorry. “Brother Hao Ning, Mr. Zhang hasn’t seen Mr. Hu for a long time. They are having an animated conversation, so he sent me here to wait for you.”

“Hey, why do we pay attention to these ceremonies?” Hao Ning smiled and patted Jienan on the shoulder. In a flash, he saw the whole scene. He swallowed his mouth stiffly at once. “Mr. Hu is so ceremonious…”

Hao Ning’s words were true because what they saw was not the normal scene on the top floor of a hotel. Indeed, it was the top floor of the 30-story hotel. However, it was not like the interior decoration of the top floor of an ordinary hotel, but an open-air garden. In the depth of the garden, there was a quiet quadrangle courtyard house.

Here was a small bridge over the flowing stream, and there was a pavilion, behind which there was a bamboo forest and even a vegetable field.

“Mr. Zhang said that Mr. Hu was getting old and started to like this kind of natural scenery.” As Jienan led the way, he explained. “There is no such a place in H City, so his younger generation built this place on their own hotel in order to honor him.”

Several people walked on the stone road on the top floor of the building. They crossed the small bridge and came to the quadrangle courtyard surrounded by a bamboo forest. Along the way, except Xiao Hong, others were looking back and forth, showing that they saw little of the world.

After several people entered the hall, they heard the voice of Mr. Hu behind the screen. “So, Brother Zhang has been upset about something recently?”

“Well, if it was just a common thing about business, it wouldn’t bother me naturally, but it’s very strange, and I have no clue.” These words were followed by Zhang Dalong’s voice. “What a coincidence! I was originally just taking a walk to relax today, but it was a coincidence that I met so many people. Maybe they have some solution for my problem.”

At this time, Hao Ning and others had gone around the screen and come to the hall. Although it was a little luxurious to build a small garden on the top floor of the hotel, there was not much decoration in the hall, which was very antique.

When Mr. Zhang and Mr. Hu saw that several people came here with Hao Ning, Mr. Hu said with a smile quickly, “Look! Our little talents with great abilities are here. Sorry, I haven’t seen Brother Zhang for a long time. I was so happy to talk to him that I really hated to leave him and go out to meet you guys.”

“Not at all.” Hao Ning and others replied immediately. This old man was really interesting. He actually used the words that he hated to leave him. It seemed that he really had a good relationship with Zhang Dalong. Otherwise, how could he “hate to leave him” in the conversation?

“Are we interrupting your conversation?” After all, Xiao Hong use to be with Avalokitesvara, so he could talk and laugh freely and speak with dignity when seeing these scenes. “If there’s something you want to talk about, we can also see the scenery outside. It’s really unique.”

“No need for that.” Zhang Dalong said with a smile quickly. He knew Xiao Hong meant that he was afraid that he had something private to talk about with Mr. Hu. He said hurriedly, “Today, I’m here not to look for Mr. Hu. On the contrary, I want to have a good chat with you guys. As for Mr. Hu, today, he’s just a casual friend who provides food and accommodation.”

“Where are your manners? You really treat my place like a hotel. Then I have to charge you, ha-ha.” Mr. Hu didn’t get angry when he heard that. He said to the girl who had been following him with a smile, “Yun, you just go to prepare something. I’ll have dinner with these friends and have a chat.”

Yun nodded with a smile and walked out.

“Brother, I know you like to listen to some strange news and stories.” Zhang Dalong laughed and didn’t care that what he just said seemed to be disrespectful. “You must be interested in what I’m going to say today. Maybe you will itch, so it will be worth the meal.”

“Strange news and stories?” Hao Ning and Zhou Yuan look at each other. Wasn’t Zhang Dalong the chief of WeChat? Why was a senior member of a technology company going to talk about the strange news and stories instead of soaking himself in high technology every day?

“Is this your business?” Hao Ning asked Zhou Yuan in a low voice, which was not a random question. After all, the reason why Zhang Dalong came here last time was Zhou Yuan, the moment god.

“Maybe not.” Zhou Yuan thought about it carefully and shook his head. “Hasn’t there been no connection between us for a long time? Isn’t that what you told me?”

“It’s true.” Hao Ning said to himself. Since Liu Shuai broke off Zhou Yuan’s incense from Zhang Dalong, there should be no relationship between them.

“Eat first.” Mr. Hu smiled and invited them to sit down. Hao Ning and others made some polite remarks and then sat down.

As soon as they sat down, Yun came to serve with some waiters. After serving, Yun smiled at Mr. Hu. “Grandpa, you can enjoy the meal. I’m going to play in the hospital across the street.”

“Ah, my girl!” Mr. Hu said quickly, “Don’t you eat again? Jienan is already here…”

“Grandpa!” Yun blushed. “What are you talking about? I’m leaving.”

“This kid…” Mr. Hu shook his head with a smile and smiled at Zhang Dalong as well as Jienan apologetically. “I can’t do anything. Yun just likes to go to the hospital across the street to see if there is any difficult illness case and help the doctor. I’m really sorry.”

“No…, nothing.” Jienan was a little hesitant. He blushed and didn’t speak again.

Hao Ning and others looked at each other and smiled. Jienan’s performance at this moment was self-evident, which shows that the natural instincts of a human were the desire for food and sex.

“Brother Hu, Yun’s character is really like yours.” Zhang Dalong patted Jienan on the shoulder and said with a smile, “It’s good for her to be so interested in medical skills.”

“Yes.” Mr. Hu looked at Yun’s back and nodded meaningfully. “There are not many people like her now. When I was young, I didn’t think about food and tea in order to treat a patient. How could some doctors receive bribes and prescribe medicine for money nowadays? Besides, I have heard that there have been such things in my hospital recently. I’m so angry.”

After saying that, Mr. Hu was just like an old kid. He frothed at the mouth and glared with rage immediately as if he was about to swallow those bribed doctors.

Zhang Dalong knew the temperament of Mr. Hu. He persuaded and said with a smile, “There will be some people like this in every big enterprise. Don’t worry too much, brother. It’s painstaking to take care of the business of the enterprise. Just let the young men do it.”

“You’re right.” Mr. Hu smiled. “I wanted to give Clinic Hu to Yun after passing away, but I am worried about her… Alas, forget it. It’s all my family business. Don’t you have something to discuss with your young friends? Shall I go fishing outside?”

“Hey, brother, what are you talking about?” Zhang Dalong said with the fist in the other hand. “You really like joking. Since it’s a strange thing to deal with, so I want everyone to listen to it and see if there is any clue. Brother Hu, you’ve been to all the corners of the country over so many years, and you must have seen so many strange things. Maybe you can help me out, right?”

Once hearing that it was a strange thing, Mr. Hu became interested. “Oh? Tell me.”

“Well…” Zhang Dalong looked at Jienan. “How about you tell the story?”

“Oh? OK!” Jienan was looking in the direction Yun had left, and listening to Zhang Dalong’s words, he was very sorry and laughed. “Here’s the thing. Do you know the game, King of Glory?”

“Sure.” Hao Ning and others nodded. “Isn’t this the most popular mobile game in Celestial Empire now? Both amateur and professional competitions are involved. Isn’t this one of your Penguin’s favorite works? Speaking of this, do you have any cooperation with WeChat?”

“Yes.” Jienan said, who just wanted to go on when speaking of this. He looked at Mr. Hu and paused for a while. Then he explained and said, “Grandpa Hu, King of Glory is a game that young people like to play on their mobile phones…”

“Do you think I’m out of time?” Mr. Hu pretended to blow his beard angrily. “Which hero do you like to use? I like Dakki.”

“Poof…” Hao Ning almost spat out the tea in his mouth. He didn’t expect that this 80-year-old man would play King of Glory and use the role, Dakki. Thinking that the 80-year-old Dakki was in the team, he felt so funny that he kept smiling. Then he nodded hurriedly and boasted, “Grandpa Hu, you’re so amazing. You’re advancing with the times.”

“What’s the matter with this?” Mr. Hu smiled like a kidult and said, “I also had a live broadcast the other day, trying to treat patients online.”

“…” Liu Shuai opened his eyes wide with a look of admiration on his face. “You are really an example for our young people to follow.”

“What are you talking about?” Mr. Hu said with a smile, “I’m still young, too. Jienan, go on. What’s wrong with the game?”

“Oh, well!” Jienan said. Seeing that the old man knew so much, there would be no obstacle for him to explain. “You know that since this game is too hot, many young people are too devoted to it. Public opinion is not good for us, so we will have more work on the anti-addiction system recently.”

Hao Ning knew that there were many reports recently indeed, mainly focusing on the controversy caused by the game’s over attraction to young people. However, according to Hao Ning, it had nothing to do with Zhang Dalong’s team, so he said with doubt, “But these things can’t affect Mr. Zhang’s Department, right? After all, your relationship with the game should be not close at all.”

“It didn’t have anything to do with us originally.” Jienan continued to say, “But we also helped them design and develop the anti-addiction system. There’s something wrong with it now, so Mr. Zhang is having a headache about it.”

“Oh?” Hao Ning could imagine that the so-called anti-addiction system of the game, just as the name suggested, was to make some special strategies in the game to prevent teenagers from being too addicted to the game, such as forcing them to go offline after playing for more than a few hours. However, this system required strong R&D strength, and Zhang Dalong’s team’s R&D strength should be very strong, so they should do internal research and development resources from the company level. Thinking of this, Hao Ning could not help asking, “What’s going on? Is this anti-addiction system too difficult?”

“No, we can make it no matter how difficult it is.” Jienan shook his head. “And our anti-addiction system should be very strict. It is not only for minors but also takes the recent public opinion into account. We even control the daily game length of adults. Adults can’t play the game for more than ten hours. Otherwise, there will be no game revenue.”

“Well, that’s a good idea as well as a fundamental solution.” Zhou Yuan took the dish and nodded. “I support you in this matter. Adults are only older than minors. As for their own self-control… Ten hours should be a lot. Besides the professional team, ordinary people can’t play for so long indeed. ”

“Yes, this one is put forward by Mr. Zhang.” Jienan stood up to pour tea for others and continued to say, “Mr. Zhang has the same thoughts as you. Even if you are an adult, you can’t always soak yourself in your mobile phone every day. But the strange thing is that we have recently seen from the backstage of the anti-addiction system that more and more people, even after playing for more than 10 hours, are still playing the game without any revenue. And many people’s game length of one day is actually…”

At that time, Jienan stopped and looked at Zhang Dalong. He didn’t seem to be confident and did not dare to go on.

“Say it.” Zhang Dalong nodded. “Just say what you have seen.”

“24 hours.” After hearing Zhang Dalong’s words, Jienan turned to the crowd and continued to say, “24 hours! And they have played the game for four or five days in succession and 24 hours a day.”

Hao Ning and others looked at each other. Obviously, they saw fear in each other’s eyes.

“I know.” Jienan said with a wry smile, “It’s too incredible. They have played the game for four or five days in a row and 24 hours a day, which means that we have a lot of users who are still playing this game without any game revenue. This doesn’t make any sense in any aspect. The simplest truth is that if there is no continuous incentive stimulation for a game, people’s interest in the game will decrease sharply. And it is impossible to play for such a long time even without any sleep or rest at all. In the long run, something bad will happen, which is Mr. Zhang’s biggest headache.”

“Didn’t you have any interviews with these users?” Hao Ning thought for a long time and then asked, “Ask them why they have played for so long on earth. You might find some reasons.”

“If we could find, we wouldn’t have to have such a headache.” Zhang Dalong replied. “We couldn’t contact any of these users. It seems that they don’t do anything except playing games. They don’t reply to emails or answer phone calls. We just can’t contact them in any way.”

“How many of them are there?” Xiao Hong asked then, “I mean the people who have played games for several days in succession without rest.”

“At least, there are millions of them.” Jienan continued to say, rubbing his forehead and not seeing the surprised eyes of Hao Ning and others. “If things go on in this way, the public opinion will put a lot of pressure on us. We also worry about the health of these users. In the long run, it will be unbearable.”

“Yes.” Mr. Hu said, frowning and putting down his chopsticks. “Everything needs to have a limit. I’m not against playing games, but these people don’t sleep or rest, and their bodies are in a big deficit. They can’t be saved even by some immortals.”

“I know that you certainly don’t believe such a thing.” Jienan and Zhang Dalong looked at each other and shook their heads. “How could there be such a person in the world, who doesn’t sleep for days and nights just to play a meaningless game?”

“We believe there should be.” Hao Ning looked at others beside him and said with a wry smile, “Not only do we believe, but also we have seen such a gamer.”

Hao Ning was not talking about others, but Wang Shi Ming. The situation which Jienan said was exactly the same as they just saw Wang Shi Ming that day. Except for the game in his hands, he was insensitive to everything, even his favorite Pixiu. Pixiu told them that Wang Shi Ming had been playing games 24 hours a day before he met Doctor Xue.

Thinking of this, Hao Ning suddenly thought of another thing. That was exactly what Pixiu said. The reason why Wang Shi Ming kept playing games was that if his soul was not in the state of playing games, it would be lost constantly. At that time, he thought it was because only Wang Shi Ming met some strange things on the plane. But now, according to what Jienan said, it was not only the case of Wang Shi Ming, but millions of people. What was going on?

“Have you met someone like this?” Zhang Dalong and Jienan naturally didn’t know that Hao Ning had thought so much. But when hearing that Hao Ning had seen such a player, they called out excitedly at the same time and stood up to hold Hao Ning’s hand. Then they said, “Can you take us to see him? Let’s go now.”

“Hey, brother, Jienan, don’t hurry!” Hao Ning took off their hands with a wry smile and said, “It won’t be impossible if you want to see him. But I don’t think I can take you to see him because I offended his man today…”

“Offend his man?” Jienan said curiously, “Who is it?”

“Wang Jun.” Hao Ning rubbed his forehead. “The person who we just talked about and have been playing games all the time is Wang Shi Ming. Wang Jun may be someone of Wang Family in his generation.”

“Mister of Wang Family?” Zhang Dalong said with doubt, “How could it be him? I really don’t have any contact with Wang Family. Jienan, find a way to contact their family tomorrow to see if we can go to visit them.”

“Yes, but…” Jienan thought for a moment and said with doubt, “When you were at the stone-gambling court, you said that the Mister of Wang Family always played games except sleeping now. In other words, he does not play games 24 hours a day, which is different from the people we are looking for…”

“Well, I didn’t make it clear…” Hao Ning didn’t know how to explain it for a while. When he was at the stone-gambling court, he did tell Zhou Yuan and others about Wang Shi Ming. At that time, he didn’t want to talk about the privacy of Wang Family. But now, according to what Zhang Dalong and others said, it was not necessary to take it as privacy. So, he took a sip of soup and said, looking at others. “This is what happened. We met Mister Wang before. He did play games 24 hours a day before just as you said, but later… Later, people around him told us that now he went to bed regularly every day and just did nothing but played games when he woke up.”

After saying that, Hao Ning was worried that he did not remember accurately and asked Xiao Hong, “Did that man say so at that time?”

Xiao Hong knew that Hao Ning was talking about Pixiu and nodded. “Yes, she said that Wang Shi Ming had a normal schedule but could not do anything without his mobile phone.”

“So, the time he spends on games is back to normal? It seems that it is just a period of crazy time for him to play games.” Jienan muttered to himself, “But he still has no self-control. Besides sleeping, he only plays games. It seems that we have to shorten the game time.”

Hao Ning wiped away the sweat. He knew that Jienan would have such a misunderstanding, but he didn’t elaborate on it because of his own consideration.

Mr. Hu shook his head without expressing an opinion and asked Hao Ning, “How was he cured?”

“Eh?” As soon as the old man said this, Hao Ning couldn’t help exclaiming that he was an expert. “Grandpa Hu, how do you know that he was cured by someone?”

“Aha, you are still too young. Those closely involved cannot see clearly.” Mr. Hu said with a smile. “I guess that when Jienan heard that Mister Wang played games like this, he would think that he was just addicted to the game and couldn’t let it go, right?”

“Exactly.” Jienan hesitated for a while and then nodded. “Don’t you think so, Grandpa Hu?”

“No matter how obsessed he was, he wouldn’t stay up for so many days in a row.” Mr. Hu said, shaking his head. “According to what you said, I feel that it is more like the symptom of losing the soul. When people lose the soul, some will be in a trance, and others will not be distracted. But in either case, there is a common situation, which is hyperactivity. It will be difficult for them to sleep. More likely, it is the symptom of endocrine disorders…”

“Grandpa Hu, some of these concepts you said are about traditional medicine of Celestial Empire, and some of them are about Western medicine…” Liu Shuai, after all, used to study a relevant major. He nodded and said, “I seldom hear of these two concepts together. After all… Well.”

Liu Shuai smiled when he said that, but he stopped.

“After all, there is a clear difference between traditional medicine of Celestial Empire and Western medicine today, isn’t there?” The old man laughed brightly. “You are afraid that I will get angry when you mention Western medicine in front of me, right? You really think about me, kid. But you are wrong.” The old man laughed again and patted Zhang Dalong on the shoulder. “If I were so pedantic, I would not have such a friendship between generations with Brother Zhang.”

“Grandpa Hu, but you are really amazing.” Hao Ning sighed secretly. Unexpectedly, in front of the wise eyes of this old man, he couldn’t hide what he was trying to hide. He could only say, “Only according to a few words of us, you just know that this man was cured.”

“I have a lot of practice in the medical science, so I am a little sensitive.” The old man shook his head and continued to ask, “Can you introduce this doctor to Brother Zhang? In this way, they may also get some information from the doctor, right?”

“Yes!” Jienan’s eyes brightened up. “Grandpa Hu really has a good idea. Maybe, it is a better way to ask the doctor about the patient’s situation.”

“Well…” Hao Ning was a little embarrassed. That was why he didn’t want to talk about the details. Because the so-called doctor who cured Wang Shi Ming was Doctor Xue. And Doctor Xue was a semi-robot parasite monster, who had been dealt with by him. But Hao Ning really didn’t want to recall Doctor Xue who was strange. Thinking of this, Hao Ning had to smile bitterly and said, “That doctor, in fact, is not a doctor. We don’t know what he is on earth, but he’s dead…”

“Dead?” Zhang Dalong and other people opened their eyes wide with surprise. “How did he die?”

“I don’t know…” Hao Ning had to admit that in front of so many people, it was really hard to make it clear. He just wanted to pass it off.

“So…” Zhang Dalong looked up at the ceiling and said after thinking for a while. “Do you know the name of this man? Or which hospital does he work in? We can try to get in touch and see if there are any other ways. ”

“Well, we really don’t know his name.” Seeing that he had already said so much, Hao Ning didn’t care at all. He said honestly, “But he has a strange nickname. People around him all seem to call him Doctor Xue.”

After Hao Ning finished his words, Liu Shuai and Zhou Yuan both shook their heads. Doctor Xue was a character in Mr. Jin’s novel. How could they take it seriously?

Unexpectedly, when Mr. Hu heard this name, the chopsticks in his hand shook and fell to the table. He pulled himself together and said, “My young friend, Hao Ning, how does Doctor Xue you just talked about look like?”