Full of Doubts

Continuing the conversation with the two griefers, Dr. Neil learned another piece of information: before Johnny fell ill, he often went to a lighthouse on the cliff edge.

And Johnny built his house in such a remote place just to guard that lighthouse? Clearly, there was something going on here!

So Dong Zhen followed the two griefers toward the lighthouse.

On the way there, everyone chatted about all sorts of random topics, which made the boring journey a bit more interesting.

Griefer (male): "You play role-playing games too?"

Dr. Neil: "Uh... no, I don't..."

Griefer (female): "He's not cool enough to play them!"

Dr. Neil: "If I want to, there's nothing I can't do!"

As the words fell, the two griefers spotted a sleeping squirrel and let out excited cries.

"Look, a squirrel!"

But at that moment, Dr. Neil braced himself: "Oh no! A terrifying Squirrel Monster!"

What?

Dong Zhen, playing at his computer, was completely baffled.

The Next Moment, an intense BGM started playing. The squirrel, Dr. Neil, and the two kids faced off against each other, while a crude RPG turn-based UI appeared.

"Don't be afraid, kids, I'll protect you!"

The two griefers behind him glanced at each other, shrugged, and wore helpless expressions.

At the same time, attack and defense options appeared on the screen.

"This damn system too? Why does it feel so weird?!"

"Oh my god!"

Seeing the game's art style suddenly change, Dong Zhen was stunned.

He clicked the attack button, and four skills appeared.

"Volcanic Leap Kick, Whirlwind Palm, Fist of Final Battle, Shoes?"

Dong Zhen was dumbfounded and randomly picked one.

Then a new option appeared: Shout Volume.

There were three choices: Loud, Louder, Loudest.

What the hell is this?!

What are all these?

Dong Zhen was completely lost.

He decisively chose Loudest.

"Your turn is over, Squirrel Monster!"

Dr. Neil shouted at the loudest volume.

But at that moment, the two griefers behind him stepped forward.

"Stop right there! Or I'll tell Mom you're abusing animals!"

"Yeah, she'll call the cops to arrest you!"

The Next Moment, the RPG UI vanished. The squirrel gave Dr. Neil a look like he was an idiot, then turned and scurried away.

"What the hell kind of development is this? I was just getting into it! I got played!"

By now, Dong Zhen understood—this was clearly a parody of the RPG turn-based game trope.

Because most RPG games have a similar setup.

The livestream chat was flooding with comments.

'Whoa, I really thought it was a turn-based RPG game!'

'Just got into it and now I'm out!'

'Haha, I knew the art style changing was weird.'

'This damn got played!'

'Chen Xu is such a jerk!'

'23333333, I think it's pretty fun though. Is this a comedy game or what?'

'Haha, feels like it. It's been full of humor from the start!'

In the game, Dong Zhen progressed step by step and arrived at the lighthouse by the sea.

In front of the lighthouse stood a tombstone.

The name on the tombstone was: Liva.

"The old man's wife's grave."

Looking at the grave before him, Dong Zhen recalled what the nanny had said back at the house—that Johnny once had a wife, but she had passed away long ago.

Clearly, this was the old man's wife's grave, but why was it buried in front of the lighthouse?

Did this lighthouse hold some special meaning for the old man and his wife?

With a hint of confusion, Dong Zhen entered the lighthouse and climbed to the top.

There, he found paper rabbits similar to the ones in the basement earlier, but one was different.

It was folded from two different colors of paper mixed together, which took a long time and was harder to make than ordinary paper rabbits.

It could also be collected, and it seemed to be a key item.

But Dong Zhen's confusion only grew.

After going around in circles like this, it felt like none of his questions had been answered—instead, he had only gained more.

The lighthouse and the paper rabbits—what did they really mean?

Filled with doubts, he returned to Johnny's room, where Dr. Eva was already ready, and started the machine.

Johnny, the old man lying in bed—his entire life was about to unfold before everyone's eyes.

But just like before, to enter Johnny's memories, they needed a medium.

The goal was to reach the old man's childhood memories, so they could implant the dream of becoming an astronaut. Through the machine, this dream would become a persistent goal in Johnny's virtual memories.

In the end, the old man would fabricate a future—one where he became an astronaut and successfully landed on the moon. That would fulfill his dying wish.

So to achieve this, they needed to work backward from his recent memories, slowly pushing toward his childhood.

Before setting off, they found a sheet of music on the piano downstairs—"For Liva."

The composer was Johnny, clearly a piece he had written for his wife.

Behind the house, the two doctors found Johnny, but through their conversation, they discovered something very strange.

Dr. Neil asked Johnny curiously why he wanted to go to the moon.

But even Johnny himself seemed lost.

"I'm sorry, but I really don't know."

"I just... want to go."

Looking at the confused Johnny, Dong Zhen—along with the audience in the livestream—was also a bit stunned.

He didn't even know why he wanted to go to the moon?

Then why was he so fixated on it?

"Could it be the origin of an alien invasion? No, that doesn't fit either."

Dong Zhen looked puzzled. With growing curiosity, he continued pushing the game's story forward, using the rabbit he had obtained from the lighthouse to perform a memory jump, working backward through Johnny's earlier memories.

Time moved on. The memory in the game was Johnny's old age.

The room was filled with paper rabbits, and old Johnny just sat at the piano, playing the piece he had written for his wife, Liva, over and over again.

Clearly, by this time, Liva had already passed away.

"Paper rabbits... what deeper meaning do these paper rabbits have?"

At this moment, Dong Zhen was certain that the paper rabbits must have some connection to Johnny's wish to go to the moon.

But what exactly was the connection?

This part of the game was also very simple—just finding memory objects related to Johnny.

Once all were collected, a not-too-difficult puzzle game would allow them to push Johnny's memory further.

From what he had played so far, one thing was clear: "To the Moon" was not a game with rich gameplay.

It was a story-driven game.