Mobile Phone

Chapter 37: Mobile Phone

Under Yang Yiyi's urging, Bai Yanliang quickly got himself ready.

She seemed even more anxious than Bai Yanliang, excitedly insisting on heading to the affiliated hospital first.

However, Bai Yanliang took Yanren's card and went to the bank first, with Yang Yiyi following along reluctantly.

Fortunately, although ten years had passed, the operation of the ATM hadn't changed significantly. As for the PIN, he entered the birthday he shared with Yanren, 506603, and the system immediately displayed that it was correct.

Sure enough, he had put their birthday first.

Seeing the number on the bank card, Bai Yanliang was a bit curious; if he hadn't misread it, there was three hundred thousand in this account.

Three hundred thousand ten years ago wasn't a huge fortune, but it wasn't a small sum either.

Yet, the two brothers hadn't lived a very affluent life back then.

Bai Yanliang pondered for a moment and withdrew ten thousand first.

A stack of cash was quite conspicuous in his hand, but Yang Yiyi didn't have that self-awareness, and neither did Bai Yanliang.

"Hurry up, hurry up! There's a mobile phone store right over there!"

Seeing him finish the withdrawal, Yang Yiyi grabbed Bai Yanliang's sleeve and ran. Bai Yanliang smiled and helplessly followed her.

Although he constantly kept an eye on the changes in society over the past ten years, there were inevitably areas where he was out of touch.

For instance... the cardboard cutout standing at the entrance of the mobile phone store.

Bai Yanliang stopped in his tracks and quietly stared at the life-sized advertisement.

Seeing Bai Yanliang staring blankly at the cutout by the door, Yang Yiyi followed his gaze, suddenly realized something, and asked curiously, "Are you a fan of Feng Yiru too?"

"Feng Yiru?"

Bai Yanliang frowned slightly. He carefully recalled the names he had seen in the Mist Gathering, and there was no one named Feng Yiru. He was certain his memory hadn't failed him; if necessary, he could even recite the names of all forty-nine people. But... there was indeed a woman in the Mist Gathering who looked exactly like this Feng Yiru.

"Hehe... speaking of which, Feng Yiru is coming to our Ye City for an event tomorrow! I have to go see her!" Yang Yiyi was clearly a fan of this female celebrity; her eyes were glowing as she spoke.

Her words also gave Bai Yanliang food for thought. Zhou Li had mentioned this as well; it seemed Feng Yiru was likely her stage name.

Bai Yanliang looked at her image carefully. Feng Yiru appeared to be in her twenties, with long hair tied into a ponytail, looking full of vitality. She had an exquisite, heart-shaped face, wore little makeup, had light eyelashes, eyes as moving as the stars, and corners of her lips curled into a faint smile, her expression filled with gentleness.

A woman who could make people feel favorable toward her at first glance.

Bai Yanliang quickly gave his assessment.

While Yang Yiyi was still muttering about Feng Yiru's achievements, Bai Yanliang had already entered the store.

"I want to buy a mobile phone. It needs to be the sturdiest, most durable one with the longest battery life."

Bai Yanliang's request made the sales clerk pause, and she subconsciously took a second look at him.

Bai Yanliang smiled at her.

It had to be said that Bai Yanliang's appearance was the type very popular with women, but to men, it seemed a bit too soft, lacking in masculinity.

Yet, when he truly took action, he wouldn't show the slightest bit of mercy.

"O-okay, sir! Please wait a moment..."

The sales clerk was actually left flustered by his smile, her cheeks flushing red.

Yang Yiyi glared at Bai Yanliang and said, "Hey! You can't just go around smiling at people like that!"

"Why?" Bai Yanliang was genuinely puzzled this time. In his view, wasn't that just basic politeness for a normal person?

"First of all, it looks stupid! Second, people will think you're interested in them, get it?"

"Why are you acting like a space heater? You aren't a radiator."

"..."

Bai Yanliang was left speechless. He suddenly realized that he was no longer in the mental hospital... being a bit colder and maintaining a clear sense of distance between people was quite normal in today's society.

"I understand."

Bai Yanliang nodded earnestly.

Yang Yiyi proudly lifted her chin, feeling as though she had saved a scumbag who was turning into a "central air conditioner" (a flirt).

This was quite unreasonable, as Bai Yanliang hadn't even been in a relationship, and besides... he wasn't in a position to think about such things right now.

The clerk quickly brought over a mobile phone. It was solid black and basically met all of Bai Yanliang's requirements.

He counted out a stack of cash, paid for it directly, and even set up the SIM card while he was at it.

Yang Yiyi snatched it away and saved her own and Yang Wanlong's phone numbers into it.

After she gave it back, Bai Yanliang, under Yang Yiyi's strange gaze, tapped the touchscreen with one finger at a time to enter a string of numbers.

In a certain social app, a chat group of thirty-six people instantly appeared before his eyes.

Bai Yanliang clicked to join, writing his own name in the verification message.

Almost immediately, he was approved, and the total number of people in the social group became thirty-seven.

Bai Yanliang thought for a moment. It seemed that the number of people who died in the last Mist Gathering... was exactly twelve.

Clearly, the deceased had already been cleared out; otherwise... there might have been hundreds of gray avatars here that would never come online again.

When Bai Yanliang first joined, the group was in the middle of a discussion.

"So that's how it was. No wonder your casualties were so heavy..."

"Su Qian, you don't need to blame yourself too much. Who could have guessed that the curse would begin before even stepping into the Past World?"

"This serves as a reminder to us all: once a name turns red, one must be cautious in speech and action. The mission begins the very moment that happens..."

Bai Yanliang watched the messages popping up one after another and understood what they were discussing.

Right now, everyone was piecing together the situation involving Yu Hanzhou's group.

The curse had actually started the moment the names turned red. Bai Yanliang clearly remembered that someone from the Polytechnic Affiliated Hospital had called out Yu Hanzhou's name at the time, but she hadn't turned back; instead, it was the others who had turned to look at her.

"It's too terrifying... I'm thinking... if it were me... I might have turned back too."

After this message was sent, the group fell silent for a moment, until another person appeared.

"Qi Nian, you did great." The one who sent these five short words had a plain, ordinary man's avatar, but the name beside it was Li Mu.

"Right! Qi Nian is amazing! This is the first time we've managed to neutralize a malevolent spirit in a survival mission, isn't it?!"

"That's right. Who would have thought that an unsolvable malevolent spirit could actually be cleared?"

"I think... it's the rules. The rules of the Mist Gathering. Whether it's us or the malevolent spirits, we all have to abide by them."

"It wasn't us who got rid of it; it was the rules. We are still just ordinary people; we don't have any superpowers."

"..."

Messages popped up from time to time. Bai Yanliang scanned through them quickly without saying a word.

Until a friend request notification popped up.

The verification message contained only three simple characters.

Feng Xiuxue.