Chapter 335: 335 network signal

Zhang Yixuan seemed somewhat irritated but restrained himself, shaking his head, “I don’t know.”

Chen Xu decided not to beat around the bush anymore and said, “You should give her the cold shoulder for now, don’t contact her. Wait until she initiates a conversation; that’s the only way you have a chance.”

Zhang Yixuan frowned, “But what if she never contacts me?”

“Then it means you’re out of luck,” Chen Xu patted his shoulder and said, “You might as well give up now to avoid falling in deeper. With your qualifications, are you worried you won’t find a girlfriend?”

Zhang Yixuan’s eyes widened as he looked at him.

Chen Xu didn’t pay him any more attention, turned around, left the room, and casually closed the door behind him.

“How did it go?” Luo Xiyun asked as soon as he stepped out.

Chen Xu replied, “I’ve said my piece. Whether he can get past this is up to him.”

Luo Xiyun looked anxiously in the direction of the room.

“By the way, I need to make a trip to Beijing tomorrow,” Chen Xu brought up something important.

Luo Xiyun was a bit surprised, “Why so sudden?”

“There’s been an unexpected situation that requires my attention.”

“How many days will you be gone?”

“If it’s fast, three days, if not, maybe a week.”

“Come back early.”

…

The next day, the rain finally stopped, but the sky remained overcast.

Chen Xu said goodbye to Luo Xiyun, got in the car, and headed for the airport. This time, he and Secretary Wen took a plane. Secretary Jin had a lot of work and couldn’t leave.

Chen Xu had never been on a plane before, but in dreams, he had even been on a spaceship, so a plane was nothing special. Nonetheless, the experience still felt quite fresh.

They flew first class, and it was about a three-hour flight. Chen Xu took out his laptop and used this time to copy more code.

Secretary Wen naturally did not disturb him.

While copying code, Chen Xu had to use the playback feature of the Virtual Dream Device. Fortunately, the virtual interface in front of him didn’t have an auto-lock; otherwise, waking it up again and again would have been endlessly annoying.

Half an hour later, suddenly, a prompt appeared before Chen Xu, “Weak network signal detected, connecting, connection successful.”

When he saw this prompt, Chen Xu felt a chill down his spine and was startled.

He paused his activity, and after a moment, he closed his laptop and said to Secretary Wen in a steady voice, “I need to lie down for a while. Don’t wake me up until we land.”

“Of course, Mr. Chen,” Secretary Wen responded from beside him.

Chen Xu leaned his head back against the seat, closed his eyes, and pretended to rest. In reality, he had entered his private space within the Virtual Dream Device.

This was the second time the device had connected to the network. The last time, it was only for a few seconds, causing a system update that allowed him to participate in the Valentine’s Day special event, leading to all sorts of compensations later.

It’s fair to say that the last update had brought him huge benefits.

Now it was the second time. From the network connection alert to now, over ten seconds had passed, and it was still indicating an ongoing connection.

He naturally wanted to figure out what changes would occur in the device once connected to the network.

After entering the dream space, the first thing he saw was a new door on the wall.

The door looked ordinary, but it made his heart beat faster.

Before that, this had been a sealed space; what did this new door imply?

His complexion changed several times, and after a few minutes, he took a deep breath, walked to the door, grabbed the doorknob, and pushed the door open gently.

As he opened the door, his hand trembled slightly, and a beam of white light hit his retina. What he saw was a vast expanse of white.

Whoosh–

A surge of noise flooded in, causing his ears to ring.

A few seconds later, as his eyes adjusted to the light outside, he saw a vast plaza bustling with activity.

Bang!

A nearly ten-meter-tall giant passed in front of him, the ground seeming to shake with each step it took.

Next to the giant were various kinds of odd creatures, some half-human, half-beast, some with scales. But even more were humans.

“What… what is this place?”

Seeing the scene before him, Chen Xu found his mouth dry and his heart pounding fiercely.

He had a hunch about what was happening, but he found it hard to believe.

“What are you doing blocking the door?”

Suddenly, someone pushed him from behind. He stumbled, nearly falling over. Looking back, he saw a kid, short and small, dressed in a red jacket, slowly coming out. The kid glanced at him and muttered, “This game is really going downhill, even idiots can play…”

Chen Xu hardly noticed what he was saying, but rather was puzzled about how the kid had come out of the door he had just exited through.

Then, the door opened again, and a woman in a white dress came out. Seeing his stupefied look, she asked, “Waiting for someone?”

Chen Xu shook his head subconsciously.

“Looking to join a team?” she asked further.

Chen Xu continued to shake his head.

“Then why are you standing in the doorway? If you run into someone with a bad temper, you might get an earful,” the woman said and walked away.

At this point, Chen Xu began to understand. These people, like himself, were probably Virtual Dream Device players. This door was communal, linking many private spaces.

In other words, all the people in this square were players.

He turned to look at the plaza; just in his line of sight were perhaps tens of thousands of people, too many to count.

More importantly, those present could possibly be from an alien civilization.

At the thought, his heart raced.

While he was still dazed, people continued to come out of the door, men and women, all sorts of strange creatures. It was unclear whether these were their actual appearances or bought skins.

A young man came out and cheered, “Wow–Dream Game, here I come.”

Chen Xu’s mind raced. It seemed that this was a newcomer. He approached the man and said, “Excuse me, are you also new here?”

“Yeah, yeah. Are you?” The man looked at him with unrestrainable excitement, “Great, let’s form a team then. My name is Mu Shang, and you?”

“Chen Xu,” he replied, “It’s my first time at the plaza; I have no idea where to go.”

“Don’t worry, I got you. Before entering the game, I’ve studied all sorts of strategies. You can’t go wrong following me,” Mu Shang said confidently while patting his chest.

A prompt appeared in front of Chen Xu, “Mu Shang requests to add you as a friend, do you accept?”

In an instant, a swell of indescribable emotion rose in his chest.

He was the first person on Earth to interact with an intelligent alien life form. This could be said to be a historic moment.

He clicked yes.

From that moment on, he, representing humanity on Earth, established a connection with an alien civilization.