The other party had just finished speaking when the computer fortune‑telling system spat out today’s dial‑in number: 1423221.
They saw this, and the others all dashed toward an iron rod nearby.
They grabbed onto the rod together, like dialing a telephone, turning the disc on the ceiling as a team.
“Wow—so it works like this?” Zhang Wenda ran over to help too.
After they finished dialing, everyone scattered in an instant, yet nothing around them had changed.
Just as Zhang Wenda thought the Taoist priest was a fraud, he retraced his steps and saw a shocking sight that he hadn’t expected.
Compared to the dilapidated street before, now a chaotic and spectacular scene unfolded before Zhang Wenda.
As far as the eye could see, the sky was a mosaic of chaos, various characters and code floating in mid‑air, even some flying worms.
Below, there was no longer ground—only an endless sea of black “soil” formed by a torrent of densely packed zeroes and ones, binary code.
Following the binary soil to the horizon, Zhang Wenda saw a hill that looked like an enormous, bloated “Recycle Bin” icon, its surface cracking and shedding broken icons and file fragments.“Holy—” Zhang Wenda was stunned. The weirdness of the network world rivaled that of the adult world.
Thankfully, Zhang Wenda was no novice—after steadying himself, he looked at Aunt Flo.
“Thanks, Aunt Flo. I need to find something to boost my strength. Where should I go? Whether it’s a special ability or qigong, either works.”
Hearing this, Aunt Flo didn’t lead the way immediately; instead, she said seriously, “Kid, I can take you, but there are some rules in the network world you must follow.”
“Go ahead.”
“First, there are many hostile people here. Avoid contact with others if possible. If you approach someone recklessly, they might have unspeakable secrets.”
“I understand. Didn’t you already tell me that? I wrote it down. Now I just want to ask—if we die here, is it real death?”
Hearing that, Aunt Flo immediately grew serious and solemn.
When she slowly nodded, Zhang Wenda instantly sharpened his focus. High reward did indeed mean high risk.
“Remembered everything? Then, let’s go this way.” Aunt Flo headed toward several progress bars on the binary soil not far away.
Following her lead, Zhang Wenda grabbed a progress bar too, and as it moved rapidly, he felt like he was on a high‑speed train, the surroundings rushing past in reverse.
“It works like this too?!” he shouted in surprise over the gale.
Aunt Flo pulled Song Jianguo behind her with her body, snorting with pride. “Underestimate me? Humph. I’ve spilled more blood than you’ve eaten rice.”
This was completely unfamiliar territory. Zhang Wenda couldn’t do much but scan the surroundings, trying to get used to the environment.
As the progress bar zoomed forward, one bizarre scene after another flashed by—cities, rivers, mountains, even ruins.
When they passed near the ruins, Zhang Wenda saw a sign. In the split second it was visible, he made out the words: “Ancient Northern people’s ruins from hunting Southern people.”
“What the heck?” The flood of information stunned him.
Before he could fully process it, they emerged onto a digital green prairie, where Zhang Wenda saw another sign: “Welcome to the Republic of Aminos.”
There stood the Taoist priest Tao, tilting his hat and performing hip‑hop rap on the Aminos prairie.
“Yo yo—you’re not even a QQ member, how dare you challenge me…”
“This… what is this?” Zhang Wenda accepted the chaotic barrage of knowledge in a daze.
But very soon, he had to stop. It was just too much, far too chaotic. His mind couldn’t absorb it all.
Seeing this, Aunt Flo and Song Jianguo couldn’t help laughing quietly by the side. “Kid, you can’t see everything in the network world. Just focus on your own goals—or you’ll never keep up.”
“Why didn’t you say that earlier?” Zhang Wenda shook his head, trying to shake out the useless information.
“As punishment—for bullying Mimi.”
“Where are we going now?” Zhang Wenda continued to ask.
“To a city. There should be an inquiry station there where you can search for what you want!”
But before Zhang Wenda could open his mouth again, the progress bar underfoot suddenly slammed on the brakes, and he and the others were flung off.
Upside‑down, he saw a giant neon sign: “MD Duomei Body Center.” He was sure he hadn’t misread—it was definitely Mei, beauty.
“What’s going on?” Zhang Wenda had just struggled to his feet when his surroundings suddenly darkened.
When he looked up, he saw a character for “Mom” larger than two of him crashing down.
“Danger!” Zhang Wenda kicked off the ground with both feet and threw himself forward.
Right after dodging the massive “Mom” character, a “Got” character smashed down behind it.
Reaching cover behind a pixelated barricade, Zhang Wenda cautiously peeked out and saw a scene that made him feel the entire city had descended into chaos.
All sorts of people opened their mouths, cursing at one another.
The foul language they spewed turned into tangible words and hurled toward their enemies.
Words thick with maternal profanity flew through the air and crashed into everything.
What had been a beautiful neon city was now riddled with gaping holes.
Skyscrapers collapsed all over the place, turning this area into a fierce battlefield.
“Are you sure this is the place we’re supposed to be?” Zhang Wenda asked in shock.
But Aunt Flo clearly hadn’t expected this either. “It wasn’t like this when Mimi and I came before.”
Hearing that made Zhang Wenda angry. “Can you be a little more reliable?!”
Aunt Flo immediately deflected. “How would I know it would turn out like this? Blame me? I’ve only been here once!”
“Watch out!” Song Jianguo pointed upward.
Two curse-words collided above them, and their shattered fragments rained down like a meteor shower.
The black cats quickly transformed into a large black umbrella, shielding the three of them from the barrage of vulgarity.
Peeking out cautiously from behind the umbrella, Zhang Wenda sighed in relief upon seeing it was a false alarm.
Too lazy to argue further, he briefly got his bearings and said to the others, “Let’s move. We’ve got to get out of this city—it’s way too dangerous!”
“Kid, I forgot to mention—some things in the network world can’t be judged by real-world rules.”
“You think I need you to tell me that?! I’m not blind! Nothing in this place could surprise me anymore!”
Just as Zhang Wenda said that, he slipped and kicked a ceramic tea jar at his feet.
With a puff of black smoke, a man emerged from the jar.
He wore a Zhongshan suit and tortoiseshell glasses, looking like an old-time leader.
His lower body was made of mist, and he held a white ceramic tea jar in his hands.
Floating in the air, he looked down at the stunned Zhang Wenda, took a sip of tea, and solemnly said, “Young man, greetings! I am the Lamp Spirit!”
“Huh?! I actually met the Lamp Spirit?!”
Zhang Wenda froze, then quickly became ecstatic.
The Lamp Spirit!
He already knew what would happen next—the Lamp Spirit was going to grant him three wishes!
As Zhang Wenda looked on with hopeful eyes, the Lamp Spirit spoke.
“Young man, since you’ve released me, very good—so now you must fulfill three wishes for me.”