It did not take Lu Mi long to find the building on the north side of the square.
He glanced at the warning on the electronic display, walked up to the entrance, and asked politely:
"Excuse me, has a man wearing a cloak been here?" After a moment's thought, he added, "About this tall, with beautiful eyes."
The guards at the entrance exchanged a glance and said gently, "Unauthorized entry is punishable by death."
"I'm not going in. I'm just asking whether he's been here..." Lu Mi was about to argue his case when a young man came out. He recognized him as 2044, the man who had taken Roman away.
2044 had clearly come out because he had seen him. He walked down the steps. "Roman is here. Don't worry. He'll be out soon. You can't just walk in here, so go sit over there and wait."
The man had no reason to lie. Lu Mi nodded and went over to a wooden bench beneath a nearby tree, only to discover, to his surprise, that 2044 had followed him.
He sat beside Lu Mi, leaving enough space between them for another person.
"Your first time here, right? I saw you in the service hall earlier."
Lu Mi murmured an assent. "Is Roman really all right?"
2044 studied him with a strange look for a while. "You care about him a lot?"
"Yes. After all..." Lu Mi considered his wording. "I suppose we're friends now. Friends should care about and help each other."
Hearing this, 2044 recalled adding the "friendship" element while implanting the program not long ago. He murmured, "You found a friend so quickly..."
"What?"
2044 briefly panicked and hurried to change the subject. "You don't know the rules of this game yet, do you? I'll give you a quick overview."
Their experiences in the instances would be made into shows for nonhuman audiences to watch.
Viewers could tip their favorite players with gold coins, which could be used to shop in the store.
"Points and gold coins can be exchanged at a rate of 1:100, but very few people exchange points for gold coins. Do you know why?"
Lu Mi blinked to show he was listening.
"Because you need to save up 1,000 points to leave for good."
Lu Mi asked, "Has anyone ever managed to leave?"
2044 fell silent for several seconds, then slowly shook his head.
"Then what's the point of this game?"
Unexpectedly, the question startled 2044. "Don't go asking about things like that."
He looked around and summoned a staff member. "Go to the monitoring room and delete that last segment. Make sure no one notices, understood?"
Lu Mi gave a brief acknowledgment. He did not seem to find it strange or unsettling and merely glanced toward the entrance of the Central Control Building again.
He did not notice that 2044 was watching him in silence, his expression deeply conflicted.
2044 suddenly asked, "Aren't you afraid to spend time with me? After all, in a way, our interests are opposed to those of you players."
Lu Mi looked back at him, perfectly calm. "I saw your name badges. You don't have names, and your behavior isn't entirely natural."
"I imagine you're much like the NPCs in the instances. You don't actually want to kill people and things like that, do you? The real culprit must be whoever created all of this."
"I see..." Somewhat moved, 2044 nodded, then turned and summoned someone else. "Delete that last segment too."
After staring at the number on his own badge for a while, 2044 asked, "Then could you give me a name?"
Lu Mi parted his lips slightly. Although he did not understand why the man wanted him to choose a name, he gave it serious thought. "How about Jiang Mu?"
Just then, the control building's doors opened from within, and the cloaked man emerged with a spring in his step.
When he spotted Lu Mi nearby, he quickened his pace.
"Look." He showed Lu Mi his newly acquired wristband as though showing off. "This one's real."
Lu Mi turned around, only to find a new line on the control building's electronic display. It practically radiated gritted-teeth fury:
Roman is forbidden from entering!!!
After a moment's thought, he understood. "Did you get into trouble, so now they're going to throw you into an instance as an ordinary player?"
Seeing that the two had reunited, 2044 took his leave.
Before leaving, he said, "Thank you for the name. I like it very much. Whenever I hear it from now on, I'll know you're calling me."
As they continued exploring the Public Rest Area, Roman stayed close to Lu Mi's side.
Whispers kept drifting into their ears:
"I've never seen that tall guy before. Why is he dressed so strangely? You can't even see his face. He doesn't look like someone from the twenty-first century."
"Maybe he just came out of some instance and is still wearing the clothes from there."
"But honestly, he's got quite a presence... He looks so good walking beside that cute guy."
"They can all see you. It looks like your player status has taken effect," Lu Mi reasoned, but the man beside him ignored him. "What's wrong? Are you unhappy?"
Roman sounded glum, and it was clear the question had been bothering him for a long time. "What's your relationship with that 2044?"
"Him? I think he's a little strange." Lu Mi paid no attention to the displeasure in Roman's voice. "I suspect he knows me and is hiding something from me. But I don't have any evidence yet. It's only a guess."
Following the directions on his wristband, he found his dormitory building, Building 5.
Men and women constantly came and went through the dormitory entrance, some carrying shopping bags.
"This place is just like an apartment complex in the real world."
One girl, who seemed to be here for the first time too, surveyed everything with fresh curiosity.
Her companion said, "The most incredible thing is that everyone's room is an exact replica of their bedroom in the real world. Pretty creepy when you think about it, right?"
"I heard people in the square saying that if you clear everything, you can choose whether to stay here or return to the real world."
"What if you don't choose either? The Public Rest Area is under constant surveillance, and if you break the rules, you risk being killed by the guards or something."
Another girl said mysteriously, "Apparently, there's a third option."
Her words immediately caught the attention of everyone else in the elevator.
"Ding-dong. Floor seven."
The elevator announcement sounded, and the girls stepped out.
Lu Mi followed. As it happened, his room was on the seventh floor too.
"The third option. Did you notice the slogan in the square? 'Cleanse your sins and enter a Utopia tailored to you.'"
"You mean a place all your own that meets your every need? Could something like that really exist?"
Their voices faded as they walked away, while Lu Mi stopped outside his own room, number 705, ready to enter using fingerprint authentication.
Remembering that someone was still beside him, he asked, "Where's your dorm room?"
Roman shook his head. "I don't know."
"Huh? It should be on your wristband." Lu Mi was surprised. "Or can't you read?"
The man nodded honestly, his eyes sincere, giving no sign of lying. "I want to live with you."
Before you continue