Mei Ziqing saw Qingmu downstairs and said goodbye, "Mr. Qingmu, please come often when you have time. If you come more often, maybe the professor's health will improve!"
Qingmu was unaware that Mei Yiqiu was watching them through the security camera, and seemed perfectly fine. However, his intuition told him that the professor's change was not as simple as it appeared.
Qingmu looked at Mei Ziqing's face, trying to find something in her eyes, but found nothing. He hesitated for a moment, then said, "Oh, I have a lot of things to do, and I may not be in Wuzhong often in the future. Please take good care of your health, Professor!"
Mei Ziqing smiled, looking nonchalant, and said, "Ah, that's what I should do!"
Qingmu became increasingly suspicious of Mei Ziqing. The calmer she was, the more unusual it seemed. Her words just now were likely a test. But what was she worried about?
Just as he was about to leave, Qingmu suddenly remembered something and said, "Ah, I forgot I have an old friend here. I should go see him."
Mei Ziqing was taken aback and asked, "Are you referring to Dr. Bian or Uncle Yu?"
Qingmu was also taken aback. The only person he knew with the surname Bian was Bian Ziyuan, but back then Bian Ziyuan was just an undergraduate intern in the lab. How could he have become a PhD so quickly?
As for Old Yu, he almost forgot about him if Mei Ziqing hadn't mentioned him. He didn't know that Old Yu was working at Mei Laboratory. When he entered, he caught a glimpse of an old man's profile in the security room, and he thought he looked familiar, but he didn't think of Old Yu. He assumed that Lao Yu was someone arranged by Hou Biao's security company.
"Oh, if they're there, then we should go see them, but I was referring to another one."
"The other one?" Mei Ziqing couldn't recall who Qingmu was familiar with here. "Who is it?"
"GHOST," Qingmu said.
"Ah, you mean..." Mei Ziqing suddenly realized, remembering the old servers in the basement, and said a little embarrassedly, "I didn't know... um... you know, our lab has very high requirements for electronic equipment. The Internet and Dream Network have developed very rapidly in recent years, and many devices are obsolete within one or two years. And you've been gone for five years, those servers..."
"Is he/she no longer here?"
"Oh, yes, it is, but it's too old. It hasn't been used for several years," Mei Ziqing said. "For the first two years after you left, the professor arranged for someone to manage it, and we could occasionally contact it through ghost files. But later, this contact became less and less frequent. You didn't come back, and no one knew if that Ghost was still there, so the computer room was abandoned."
Qingmu nodded in understanding. Only he could communicate with the Ghost, and it was normal for the server room to be abandoned after five years of not coming. Logically speaking, the Ghost wouldn't disappear; it was just that the server room was abandoned, so it had no value here. The Internet would most likely take back this fragment of consciousness or send it somewhere else.
Regardless, he decided to go down and take a look.
Mei Ziqing didn't stop him or go down with him. Instead, she went to the duty room and called Old Yu over. Old Yu was in charge of the basement and was familiar with the electrical circuits there.
Mei Ziqing gave a few instructions, said "Please do as you please," and went back to work.
Old Yu truly aged; his hair was completely white, his eye bags drooped, and his skin looked like jellyfish skin soaked in water. However, his mind was still sharp, and although his eyesight was a little blurry, he still recognized Qingmu at a glance.
Old Yu's eyes suddenly reddened, tears welled up in his eyes, and a few grains of cloudy, old eye discharge gushed in and out. He said:
"You're finally back?"
Qingmu found his words strange and asked, "You know where I went?"
Old Yu shook his head. "I don't know." He wiped his face and said, "I was thinking that now that you're back, shouldn't Pengcheng be back too?"
Qingmu realized that he was thinking about Zhao Pengcheng, but he didn't know where Zhao Pengcheng was or how he was doing. The only way he could contact Zhao Pengcheng was through Ghost. He didn't know if Zhao Pengcheng still had that phone and the Ghost folder, and more importantly, he wasn't even sure if Ghost was still around.
Seeing that Qingmu remained silent, Old Yu grew a little anxious and said, "I've done everything you said, you can't just abandon Pengcheng!"
Qingmu was taken aback and asked, "What did I ask you to do?"
Old Yu looked around to make sure no one was watching before saying, "I've taken good care of the server room and all the network cables; everything's connected. I've done everything you asked me to do in my dreams, without a single problem."
Qingmu asked in surprise, "I'll come into your dream?"
Old Yu said, "Yes, at first I couldn't remember, but after you taught me a few times, I was able to remember the things in my dreams. I understand that it's safe to explain things in a dream and leave no trace."
Qingmu asked, "Are you sure it was me in your dream?"
"I'm sure, of course I'm sure!" Old Yu said confidently. "I know, it's called a dream transmission. I've been to school and I love listening to storytelling. In the stories, it's said that Cheng Yaojin learned his three-axe technique from an immortal in a dream. Those who can transmit skills in dreams are all immortals, I know that."
Qingmu felt something was amiss. Judging from Old Yu's expression, he wasn't just talking nonsense; someone must have impersonated him and entered Old Yu's dream.
Who could this be?
"Then tell me, what did I say when I came into your dreams a few times?" Qingmu asked.
Old Yu thought for a moment and said, "It wasn't that many times, maybe four or five. Anyway, you haven't been here for two or three years, but I remember what you told me! You told me to manage this server room, to wire the cables according to the blueprints you gave me, and to connect it to the external lines. You also asked me to help Bian Ziyuan unlock the door..."
Qingmu was completely confused and asked, "Who else have you told these things to?"
Old Yu said, "No, no one has ever said that. I'm very tight-lipped! Even when I was in jail, I didn't say a single word about things I shouldn't have."
Knowing he wouldn't get any more information from Old Yu, Qingmu said, "Take me to the computer room first."
Old Yu nodded repeatedly and led Qingmu to the basement.
The equipment in the server room was all working properly. Old Yu first turned on the dust removal and air filtration systems. After the air was fresh and the dust that had accumulated for several years was cleaned up, he turned on all the servers and then took Qingmu inside.
The basement is still the same as it was five years ago; the machines haven't been replaced. According to the requirements of the Mei Laboratory, such equipment and server rooms should have been phased out long ago, but because of the Ghost's presence, they have all been preserved.
Qingmu didn't seem to notice anything, except that the buzzing sound was a bit louder than when he last came; time hadn't left any marks on these iron boxes.
The small lounge in the middle of the server room, specially prepared for him, was still there. He sat inside for a while, quietly waiting for the computer dream world after the servers went to sleep.
Then, he saw the " Ghost," and his mind immediately realized that this " Ghost " was not the Ghost he had known before.
"You've finally arrived!" the Ghost said. "I've been waiting for you for a long time."
"You are... the Internet?"