Avatar Received as a Gift

A mysterious, enormous human face made of clouds hung high above the entire city, gazing down upon the earth with majesty. This bizarre "celestial phenomenon" immediately caused a stir.

From Lin Tuo's perspective, he had only just managed to bury his face in the clouds when he discovered that the ant-sized humans in the Sandbox city were all looking up, as though they had noticed him.

They looked utterly astonished, stopping in their tracks, pointing and talking, or taking photos and videos with their phones.

They can see me? Lin Tuo was startled. He instinctively straightened up, took several steps back, and left the Sandbox's range, observing it only from outside.

As he "left," the densely packed, sesame-seed-sized little people in the city gradually dispersed as well.

Inside the Old House, Lin Tuo's eyes were anything but calm.

"Beep beep." Suddenly, he heard his phone notification sound. Taking it from his pocket, he found that it was the Company Group Chat.

Since he had only just resigned, he had not left the group chat yet. At that moment, his former department's chat group had completely exploded.

Messages rolled past like a flood across the screen.

"Did everyone see that just now? The clouds over the city formed a human face!"

"I saw it! I even took pictures! Look!" A young woman from the department hurriedly uploaded a photo, along with a video several seconds long.

"What? My delivery arrived, so I didn't go outside. What happened?"

"...Sigh, you missed it."

The department atmosphere was pretty good, and it was lunchtime, so everyone discussed it without much restraint. Even the department manager joined in, and they all gathered around to feast on the gossip.

Lin Tuo said nothing, silently lurking in the chat. Yet his expression kept changing.

He opened the several-second video and watched it over and over again. At last, he confirmed that it was all real.

This Sandbox doesn't merely provide a viewing perspective... What I do to it actually manifests in reality at the same time...

It's just that my body seems to be transparent.

The video clearly showed the result of his earlier gaze over the city. However, his "skin" did not appear in the footage. Even where his eye sockets should have been, there was only hollow emptiness.

The entire so-called face had been "imprinted" by his features pressing into the clouds, and some parts were incomplete.

Therefore, no one could possibly recognize him from it.

I need to confirm this. After thinking for a while, Lin Tuo's eyes became interested. He returned above the Sandbox, gently puffed out his cheeks, and slowly blew.

At once, the dark clouds above the city center gradually parted.

Because he moved carefully, it did not draw much attention.

Only then did Lin Tuo extend a finger, lowering it from that cloudless region until it hovered above the city streets.

Yang City's central district.

A bustling commercial street.

At that moment, people came and went, and the area was lively. A man in a suit tugged at his collar as he walked into a nearby outdoor parking lot, took out his keys, and prepared to leave.

Just then, he suddenly felt a sweltering gust blow down from overhead. Dust on the parking lot ground spread outward in rings beneath the wind pressure.

"Hm?" The man froze for a moment and looked up, but saw only the blazing sky. "How strange."

After muttering that, he shook his head and ignored it.

Inside the Old House.

Lin Tuo observed the humans' reactions in the Sandbox city and silently withdrew his hand.

It seems that when my limbs enter the Sandbox, they become transparent. I was only discovered earlier because of the clouds.

Then what about other matter? If I put an apple inside, would it be transparent too? Once he calmed down, Lin Tuo's imagination ran wild, but after some thought, he ultimately did not experiment immediately.

Although my limbs are invisible, the force they exert on the city is real. If I recklessly put an object in there, even an apple could cause an earthquake from the impact... and that would manifest in reality.

Lin Tuo swallowed. Thinking that one careless, overly forceful movement might destroy Yang City, he unconsciously softened even his breathing.

Right. If this Sandbox is the real Yang City, then does a version of me exist inside it?

A bold idea suddenly surfaced in Lin Tuo's mind.

He slowly walked around the Sandbox and soon arrived at the outskirts of Yang City. There, he discovered that Li Mountain, where he was located, was also within the Sandbox's boundaries.

He even saw his family's Martial Arts Hall atop the "miniature Li Mountain."

There really is one? Lin Tuo's heart skipped a beat, and immense curiosity surged within him. He immediately waved his hand, dispersing the clouds over Li Mountain.

Then he bent down and carefully brought his face close to the Martial Arts Hall in the Sandbox, locating the rear courtyard where he was currently situated.

Then, he saw the hole in the dilapidated roof and pressed his eye close to it.

Lin Tuo was astonished to discover that inside the matchbox-sized house was also a table, and another him was lying over it, looking at something.

Lin Tuo's breath caught. He abruptly stood up and turned to look toward the hole overhead, but where was there any "eyeball"?

Logical conflict detected. Repairing...

The host's spiritual will within the Sandbox has been stripped away and taken over by the real host.

In a daze, information once again surfaced in his mind. Lin Tuo shook his head and looked back into the Sandbox, only to find that the ant-sized "him" inside stood there blankly, like a soulless puppet.

At the same time, Lin Tuo suddenly developed a strange feeling. Almost instinctively, he tried to control this miniature version of himself, making him push open the door, leave the house, walk out of the Martial Arts Hall, and arrive on the mountain path.

Then Lin Tuo inserted his right hand into the Sandbox, hovering it at the foot of the mountain without touching the ground.

He then controlled the miniature version of himself to leap into his palm.

Slowly, he carried it out of the Sandbox.

It really works? Inside the Old House, Lin Tuo stared at the "miniature Lin Tuo" standing in his palm in surprise. Is it because two versions of me can't exist in the same spacetime, so a conflict occurred? Has that bug been fixed?

Now the "little me" in the Sandbox has become something like an Avatar?

Lin Tuo looked down at his "Avatar" with complicated eyes. Suddenly, an idea struck him, and he tried to shift his perspective.

The next second, Lin Tuo switched his consciousness into the Avatar's body.

In his field of vision, he stood upon a vast expanse of crisscrossing "land." Space had become incomparably broad. When he looked up, he could see that colossal "main body," like a god towering above him.

However, because of the switch, the "main body" now had vacant eyes and looked like a puppet as well.

With a thought.

Lin Tuo switched his consciousness back to his main body. Looking at the Avatar in his palm again, his heart pounded wildly.

The experience was simply too exhilarating.

Someone with a weak heart probably would not have been able to endure it...

Letting out a breath, Lin Tuo tried hard to calm himself.

It seems... this Sandbox really can affect reality. Or rather, what it displays is reality itself...

A flash of understanding passed through Lin Tuo's eyes, followed by a restless stirring in his heart.

In that case, can I use the Avatar to enter Yang City from the Sandbox's dimension?

The moment he thought of it, he acted. Lin Tuo immediately placed the "Avatar" back at the foot of Li Mountain in the Sandbox, beside a secluded stretch of national highway.

Then he withdrew his hand and attempted a "switch."

"Whoosh..."

The light and shadows before his eyes shifted. In a daze, when he opened his eyes again, Lin Tuo discovered that he had already "left" the old Martial Arts Hall house.

He was now standing beside a national highway.

Looking up, he found the world incomparably real. He started walking, then jogged into the town below the mountain, only to see that everything along the way was exactly the same as reality.

No, this was reality.

Through the switch, he had simply "teleported" from the Martial Arts Hall to the town below the mountain!

"Xiao Tuo? When did you come back?"

Without realizing it, Lin Tuo had walked near his old middle school. He saw an auntie who had watched him grow up come out of a shop and greet him in surprise.

"Ah, I just got back..." Lin Tuo pulled himself together and chatted with her briefly. He did not mention reopening the Martial Arts Hall, only saying that he had returned to his hometown for a look.

Then he bought himself a lunch nearby before running toward Li Mountain beneath the midday sun.

It took nearly half an hour before Lin Tuo finally returned to the entrance of his family's Martial Arts Hall.

Throughout that process, in order to conduct the experiment, he did not switch back to his "main body."

When he pushed open the gates for the second time and stepped into the weed-choked Training Ground, Lin Tuo carried a bag of steaming rice noodles and, with complicated feelings, pushed open the Old House's door. There, he saw his puppet-like "main body" standing beside the Sandbox.

The next second, his body abruptly shrank. The takeout fell to the ground with a smack, and his consciousness automatically returned from the Avatar to his main body.

Half a minute later.

Lin Tuo picked up the takeout that had fallen to the ground, along with the ant-sized "Avatar." With a thought, the Avatar turned into a streak of light and entered his palm.

He could vaguely sense its existence and summon it at any time.

It seemed this was also an ability granted by the Evolution Sandbox after it fixed the bug.

"Slurp." Sitting on the Old House's threshold, Lin Tuo ate the steaming rice noodles and forced himself not to look at the Sandbox city inside the house for the time being.

After finishing lunch, he sat in the cool breeze, sensing the quiet presence of the home where he had lived for more than a decade. At last, Lin Tuo's heart gradually calmed.

After spacing out for several minutes, Lin Tuo suddenly rubbed his face hard. Light gleamed in his eyes as he cleared his throat and examined the Virtual Panel on his retina.

In a serious tone, he said, "So, what exactly are you?"