Press F to Use...

The next day arrived, at midnight.

Gu Mo stood by the window after waking up, wearing a deeply contemplative expression as he looked at the city's nightscape outside, his eyes unusually complicated.

The street not far outside the residential complex was a night market, and at this hour, it was at its liveliest and most bustling. Steam rose from one snack stall after another, and the vendors' cries, along with the noisy flow of pedestrians, drifted over with the fragrance of food.

Going out at night in China was dangerous, because it was all too easy to gain weight.

But Gu Mo had no mind for that right now. His brow twitched as he stared at the pedestrians across the street with a subtle expression. What he was seeing was simply too surreal. After waking up this time, the world in his eyes had undergone a complete, earth-shattering change.

—The kind that utterly shattered one's worldview.

Simply put, whenever Gu Mo's gaze swept across the night market street and his focus passed over each pedestrian across the road, strange things would quietly appear above their heads.

They were several symbols followed by a red bar, with a percentage value displayed in the middle of the red bar.

"??? (91%)."

"??? (99%)."

"??? (86%)."

"??? (89%)."

Something like that.

On such a bustling night market street, a single glance revealed densely packed red bars and symbols that nearly overlapped. Even from far away, those symbols and icons seemed to enlarge themselves just enough within his field of vision for him to clearly make out every detail and distinguish each symbol and its corresponding number.

So—

No matter how he looked at it, this resembled something that would only appear in a game. Gu Mo looked at those people, at the "IDs" and "Health Bars" floating above their heads... Was it because he did not know their names, so their "IDs" were all displayed as question marks?

Come to think of it, was that what he had seen floating above the taxi driver's head when he came back yesterday? The man had driven away too quickly, and it had flashed past in an instant, so he had not seen it clearly.

Wait! This was utterly ridiculous!

"Mm, I must have opened it wrong."

Muttering to himself, Gu Mo tried to convince himself as he rubbed his eyes. He felt that things were becoming more and more wrong. How had a week of seeing doctors not solved his problems, but instead given him even more?

His auditory hallucinations had not been resolved, and now he was having visual hallucinations too?

Was this a sign that his account was about to be deleted from "Earth Online"?

With his mind in chaos, he left the window and instinctively returned to sit on the edge of his bed, his gaze casually sweeping over the computer desk beside him.

Within Gu Mo's field of vision, information boxes resembling in-game prompts appeared one after another, flickering with a faint glow. The effects were not glaring, yet they reinforced their own presence just enough to draw his attention.

"Press F Key to open." —This prompt had appeared on the handle of the computer desk drawer.

"Press F Key to pick up." —This information appeared above the ballpoint pen lying on the desk.

"Press F Key to use." —Floating boxes displaying this appeared over both the computer and the hardcover notebook on the desk.

With just one glance at a space no larger than a desk, seven or eight prompt boxes had already appeared in his vision. Every one of them flickered with a faint glow.

Wasn't this a little too absurd? And where the hell was the F Key?

Gu Mo's expression was complicated as he withdrew his gaze and seriously thought things over. He felt that pulling an all-nighter gaming more than a week ago had damaged his health, leading to this result. It had to be a manifestation of gaming addiction... Although the guess was incredibly unreliable, those were currently the only two related events.

It was not as though he had not entertained other fantasies, but the more someone liked to fantasize, the more they often understood what "reality" was—

The world was neither gentle nor fair. Miracles and magic did not exist.

When people encountered similar problems, how many of them would truly first think they were the chosen one, rather than worry that there was something wrong with their body or mind? More importantly, the only thing wrong with Gu Mo right now was what he was seeing.

As for some further cheat ability or something like that, he had neither seen nor gained one. There was not even an F Key, nor had some "system" popped up... Naturally, he became even more convinced that something was wrong with his brain.

"Forget it. I should go get something to eat first..."

The scent of food outside continuously drifted in with the night breeze. Even Gu Mo, despite being preoccupied with worries, could not help having his appetite stirred. Hunger rose in his stomach, and his empty belly voiced its protest at just the right moment.

There was nothing he could do about it. His eating habits had been extremely irregular lately, because he only had eight waking hours each day to move around, while he spent the remaining sixteen hours asleep.

Because of that, he was always especially hungry after waking up. Thus, over the past week, the street across from him had gained a ravenous customer who arrived punctually at midnight to forage for food, eating from one end of the street to the other... Though it was understandable, since he had to eat an entire day's worth of food in one meal.

And speaking of which, despite such unhealthy eating and sleeping habits, the doctors had still said he was perfectly healthy. What the hell.

He took a shower first. Once he felt a little more refreshed, he changed clothes, grabbed his keys and phone, then finally left home and hurried downstairs toward the exit of the residential complex.

When he reached the gate at the complex entrance, he looked toward the street across the road. As he tried to shut out the hallucinations that were making him restless and pretend he could not see them, he began considering what to eat when a hearty laugh reached his ears.

"Little Gu, heading out for supper again tonight? I'm telling you, you can't keep doing this every day..."

Gu Mo looked up and, unsurprisingly, discovered that it was the security guard. The man sat in the guard booth, looking out through the window with a cheerful smile.

"Uncle Ding, you're on duty tonight..."

Gu Mo forced a smile and greeted him, but his gaze could not help lingering above the security guard's head—

"Ding Hongxuan (76%)."

Was it because he knew Uncle Ding's name that his imagined world displayed it clearly?

And not only that, beneath the ID and Health Bar was a neat row of additional options, all clearly flickering with faint light.

—"View Profile."

—"Add Friend."

—"Send Message."

—"Invite to Party."

—"Trade Request."

Well, so much for trying to ignore it. There was simply no way to pretend he could not see it.

Gu Mo narrowed his eyes slightly and looked more carefully. The scene before him was still perfectly clear.

The IDs and Health Bars above the people across the street were displayed as well, but without so many details. Maybe it was because of the distance? He instinctively considered this, only for his mind to become even more confused.

It seemed as though both the world in his eyes and the worldview in his mind were gradually collapsing at the same time. Yet he had no way to correct either of them and could only watch helplessly.

"What is it, Little Gu? Is there something on my head?"

The security guard had begun to feel unnerved under Gu Mo's gaze. He instinctively raised a hand to touch the top of his head, then looked upward. All he saw was the ceiling of the guard booth, with the hanging lamp above shining brightly.

There was obviously nothing there. Why did this young man keep staring at his head?

The security guard, who had just been feeling bored while working the night shift alone, instinctively glanced at the phone on the desk before him. It displayed a paused scene from a horror movie. Normally it would have been nothing, but at this moment, his imagination began running wild, and he felt a little creeped out.

"It's nothing..."

Gu Mo slowly shook his head while trying to focus his attention on the first interaction option beneath the security guard's ID—the one labeled "View Profile."

In a world only he could see, ripples spread through the air like water. A new interface unfolded, and rows of simple information were neatly listed downward. From the most basic "identity information," including "Blood Type," "height," and "weight," to extended entries such as "personal hobbies," everything was listed.

However, most of them were merely rows of "???," rather than displaying every last detail about the security guard.

Only a few pieces of information resembling game stats were clearly displayed—

"Race: Human."

"Life Level: Level 1."

"Profession: Civilian."

"Profession Level: Level 2."

It was over. It was over.

Staying up late gaming had really damaged his body and messed up his brain.

Gu Mo suddenly looked tense, unaware that the security guard had seen his expression and could not help becoming nervous as well.

The security guard truly began to feel creeped out. The hairs on his back were practically standing up. Was Little Gu playing a prank on him? But why did his expression look so real? He was staring at the top of his head with such alarm, as though he had genuinely seen a ghost.

"Little Gu, what exactly is wrong? If something's up, just tell your uncle..." He forced out a laugh and spoke as calmly as he could.

"...It's nothing."

Gu Mo shook his head again. Naturally, there was no way he could tell anyone about this. Otherwise, they would only think he was mentally ill.

But perhaps he could probe indirectly and test whether he was really the one with the problem?

Nothing? Was it really nothing? The security guard found that explanation extremely perfunctory. Why did he feel that something was obviously going on? Young people were too young—this kid was making it far too obvious. He could not hide anything at all.

"Uncle Ding, have you run into anything lately... I mean, have you had any health issues or felt unwell?"

Gu Mo had no idea that his behavior had caused the security guard to misunderstand. He was still choosing his words, trying to probe indirectly. In the end, he chose to approach the matter by asking about the man's health. After all, the security guard's "Health Bar" showed only 76%, not a full 100%.

There was also a portion of the maximum bar at the end displayed in yellow...

So Gu Mo guessed that, if all of this was real, it should mean that Uncle Ding was in poor health. After all, a "Health Bar" could, in a sense, be seen as a "health value," right? And if someone had lost a quarter of their health, there was no way they could be considered well.

That was why he asked, wanting to see whether the man had been ill recently, so that he could verify whether this was merely a delusion or whether he truly possessed some kind of "special ability."

"How could that be! What could possibly have happened to me? Little Gu, don't talk nonsense! I'm perfectly healthy. What was that saying again? Fit as a fiddle, eating like a horse!"

Here it came! So he really was asking this! He was probing to see if he had encountered something eerie recently! That thought flashed through the security guard's mind. He gave a dry laugh and repeatedly waved his hands, firmly refusing to admit such a thing, though his tone was not particularly resolute.

He really had fallen ill recently, and his energy had not been as good as before. But at this moment, he did not want to admit it... Even though he felt uneasy, reason still prevailed. So he instinctively resisted the topic and atmosphere, unwilling to be led along so easily.

"I see... Then Uncle Ding, get some rest early. The wind is strong at night, so don't sit out for too long."

Receiving that answer, Gu Mo squeezed out a somewhat disappointed smile. Sure enough, all of this was just his own delusion and hallucinations. It was not realistic at all.

But...

After thinking it over, still slightly unwilling to give up, he instinctively looked again at the option displayed beneath the security guard's ID.

—"Send Message."

Should he try one more time?