Fleeting Clouds and Smoke

"Are you all here doing Wind Swallowing and Qi Consuming, feasting, and blowing suonas?"

Zhu Zhengwei watched the movements of these Immortal Herbs, his face darkening slightly as he couldn't help but complain.

You Mining Machines, even an Onlooker is this excited.

Zhu Zhengwei couldn't be bothered to deal with whatever chaos they wanted to stir up—they couldn't cause any waves anyway—and directly logged out of the "Rational World," letting out a sigh of relief.

Finally done!

He had to admit, every single word had felt like walking on thin ice.

He was afraid that if he slipped up somewhere, it might lead to some major problem, ruining the world's direction.

After all, he had no real experience handling this.

The pressure was immense!

"But looking at it now, I did a decent job."

Only then did he fully relax, a flood of emotions in his eyes. "My answers also gave that emperor, who spent his life toiling, a satisfactory conclusion to his life."

After all, this one had laid the foundation for the extraordinary in his world, with remarkable achievements.

He could be called the first emperor of the mining territory in the current Dream World.

Opening his eyes, it was already midnight.

Outside, the faint chirping of cicadas could be heard.

On the bed next to him, two idiots were sleeping with VR helmets on. These specially designed helmets doubled as pillows, making for a surprisingly comfortable sleep.

In fact, this pair of Crouching Dragon and Hidden Phoenix usually had the fine habits of one snoring and the other grinding their teeth. But ever since they got this hypnotic scenic game at night, they slept peacefully.

"I'm so thirsty."

He had been speaking in the dream, yet somehow felt thirsty in reality too. He walked to the nearby table, picked up a thermos, and took a sip of water.

As he raised the cup, he happened to glance out the dorm window at the starry night sky, the bright moon hanging high, an indescribable stillness in the air.

He couldn't help but sigh, "This life is like the rising and setting of the sun and moon—gone in a blink. Life is still too fragile!"

Even though he knew he had to get used to this, his mind was still unsettled.

He thought back to what he had just said. "I just promised that the entire world's territory is infinite, but truly reaching the scale of this starry sky is still an incredibly distant journey."

But why think about all that now?

At this moment, he only felt more exhausted than if he had finished a hundred exam papers.

"Ah! What a relief! Suddenly feeling no pressure, light as a feather!" He couldn't help but stretch, feeling that this ending was already quite perfect.

That man had chosen death.

He had helped the Stone Light Emperor Zhizheng complete his Daoist Canon, filling in the final "Divine Being" category, and then added various visions and expectations for the world's future. He had shown them one possible path forward.

Learning from history allows one to understand the rise and fall of dynasties.

Using modern twenty-first-century society as a reference wasn't a bad approach either.

Thinking of this, Zhu Zhengwei felt a strong sense of accomplishment. He had created a good beginning, lighting the way forward for the world as a Divine Being alongside the first Human Emperor.

But after all that work, he was truly exhausted!

Once the tension eased, fatigue washed over him. He turned on the fan, lay down on the bed, and buried his head under the covers, planning to sleep until the world turned upside down.

This wasn't entering a dream—this was real rest.

Whoosh!

The next morning.

A ray of bright sunlight streamed in. Zhu Zhengwei got up and saw the two idiots next to him eagerly tinkering with their computer, their faces flushed with excitement.

"It blew up!"

"The post we made a few days ago totally blew up!"

"Holy crap, this game is insane! The production quality is mind-blowing! And with last night's story summary—unbelievable!"

Their voices were grating, like squawking ducks.

Zhu Zhengwei climbed out of bed, turned off the fan at the headboard, and couldn't help asking, rubbing his sleepy eyes, "What blew up?"

"You didn't go in last night? Man, you missed out!" The two of them chattered nonstop, their faces red, their eyes bloodshot, as if two grown men had actually shown some raw emotion.

"We're going to make a post! Holy crap, hurry up!"

"The Divine Being, the Human Emperor—absolutely epic!"

"Too bad the game's built-in forum won't let us share videos or images from the game. Otherwise, it would blow up outside!"

"Hehehe! Even with just our text descriptions, those cloud players outside are stunned. They're so jealous of us!"

They were organizing materials, getting ready to post.

Zhu Zhengwei immediately caught on—this was probably about those Chives.

He could probably guess what had happened—after all, that scene last night was quite stunning, and there were bound to be plenty of analysts dissecting it.

Still, Zhu Zhengwei couldn't be bothered to pay them much attention. He'd check out what was happening online later, when he had time. Besides, it had only been one night.

But one night out here was a different story inside.

That single sleep meant four or five years had passed in that world.

Feeling refreshed and clear-headed, he decided to go in and take a look first—to see what the entire civilization had become in the years since the Stone Light Emperor Zhizheng's death.

He was more than a little curious.

Still, as an ordinary man, he had to fill his stomach first.

Leisurely, he started washing his face and brushing his teeth. He glanced at his messy hair in the mirror, washed it, dried it with a hairdryer, and used concealer to cover up the Tear Mole again.

"Are you heading to the cafeteria? Grab us some breakfast," Li Xiang shouted.

Zhu Zhengwei was speechless. "You want me to get breakfast for you two? Are you pigs?"

"We're busy with something way more intense—you'll be shocked when you see it!" Wang Jun said smugly.

Zhu Zhengwei headed downstairs.

Since exams were over, it was summer break, so there were no classes. He went to the school cafeteria and had breakfast.

By chance, he spotted that same chubby guy again, standing in line at the cafeteria, nodding off from exhaustion. He'd clearly been working odd jobs to earn money for his girlfriend's birthday.

Zhu Zhengwei felt that the guy was still the same, but for him, it felt like a lifetime had passed in the blink of an eye.

After breakfast, he grabbed two portions for the two beasts and returned to the dorm. Sitting on his bed, he closed his eyes and entered that world.

When he opened his eyes, he was once again in a desert.

The blazing sun hung overhead, as if the oppressive heat had never changed. The distant City of a Hundred Stones seemed the same, yet it had undergone new transformations—everything was already different, people and things long since changed.