Neverland

Xu Muzhou woke up in Neverland's bedroom.

He opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling. The sound of the waves outside the window was clearly audible, and the sunlight was refracted by the water light more clearly, covering his body lightly.

The weather outside was fine, and the unique fragrance of water vapor from Neverland filled the entire bedroom. Xu Muzhou's eyes fell on a certain point in the air, feeling like he was on the top of the clouds and waves for a moment.

Those blood and anger are like an extremely clear dream, isolated by the quiet and gentle sunlight.It's a pity that Xu Muzhou clearly knew that everything that seemed absurd actually happened.He was shrouded in an indescribably dull emotion, and his whole body sank heavily in the soft bed, and he didn't even have the strength to get up.

On the other side, Yan Cen was already used to going back and forth between countless timelines. He recovered from the brief dizziness, and when he opened his eyes again, he could no longer see any emotions.

He turned over and got off the ground, took off his tattered coat and threw it into the corner.

It was quiet in the living room, Xu Muzhou's bedroom door was closed tightly, and he didn't know if he was awake or still asleep.Yan Cen walked out the door with bare feet, and found an unopened pack of cigarettes from the wine cabinet.

While unpacking, he walked towards the balcony. When he passed the bookshelf, he took out an old lighter from the corner.

Yan Cen's addiction to cigarettes is not small, although it doesn't matter if he didn't have any during the mission, but after returning to Neverland, most of the time he won't wrong himself.

The tongue of fire licked and climbed onto the cigarette, curling the shreds of tobacco. Yan Cen narrowed his eyes slightly, and climbed on the railing to look at the sunlight outside.

When the cigarette was half smoked, there was a light click behind Yan Cen. Hearing the sound, he turned around and found Xu Muzhou standing in front of the bedroom door, staring at him with complicated eyes.

"You..." Xu Muzhou's voice was sleepy hoarse, and sounded light and ethereal.

"What's the matter?" Yan Cen put the hand holding the cigarette outside the railing, and flicked the cigarette ash: "Can't you smell the smell of cigarettes?"

"No." Xu Muzhou said, "I have something to ask you."

Yan Cen was not surprised, the first cleaning task was over, if Xu Muzhou was quiet and there was no reaction, he would only be anxious.The old employee had already prepared a draft in his heart in advance, and then lowered his head and took a puff of cigarette.

"Yeah." Yan Cen nodded: "Ask."

"This mission is not an accident." Xu Muzhou stepped forward: "The fact that the dual systems are parallel is actually arranged by Neverland on purpose, right?"

Yan Cen seemed to be afraid of the smell of smoke drifting into the living room, so he leaned half his body on the railing and leaned out of the balcony.From Xu Muzhou's point of view, he could only see a small half of his side face, and the layer of pale gold that the sun had plated on his whole body.

Xu Muzhou heard that Yan Cen was silent for a moment, and fine ash fell from between his fingers. After a while, Yan Cen replied: "Yes."

His tone was very calm, so frank that Xu Muzhou didn't know whether to be angry or not.

Yan Cen lowered his eyes and took a breath of cigarette, exhaled soft white mist blurred his face, Xu Muzhou heard him pause, and then said again: "Sorry."

"When did you know about it?" Xu Muzhou asked, "Did you know it from the very beginning?"

"No." Yan Cen finished smoking the cigarette, crushed it into the small ashtray outside the railing, and looked at the white waves in the distance: "... I realized it later, probably not earlier than you How many."

"Then there is nothing to be sorry about." Xu Muzhou didn't vent his anger on him, maybe he was exhausted physically and mentally, and he didn't have any intention of venting his anger.He turned around, threw himself into the soft sofa, turned his head to look at Yan Cen's back: "When did you know?"

"When confirming that the player's task NPC is someone else." Yan Cen said.

Xu Muzhou pursed his lips, he stopped talking when he got the answer he wanted, and leaned on the sofa wondering what he was thinking.

Yan Cen stood on the balcony for a while, but finally couldn't hold back, he lowered his head and took out another cigarette from the cigarette case with the tip of his teeth.Yan Cen bit the cigarette holder, and folded his hands into a semi-closed circle. The flame jumped twice in the gap between his palms, and climbed up along the snow-white cigarette paper.

Yan Cen's smoking posture is very nice. Xu Muzhou found that his smoking habit was different from most people he had met. Yan Cen used to put the cigarette between the far knuckles of the index finger and middle finger of his right hand to flick the ash. When using the cigarette, I will temporarily pinch the cigarette holder with my thumb, and use my index finger to flick the seam of the inner cigarette holder.

This is a very comfortable posture, his movements are smooth and smooth, and it is quite pleasing to look at with that face.

"Until then, I didn't know that this 'accident' was intentional by the system, otherwise I would have told you in advance." Yan Cen bit his cigarette, his voice was slightly vague, but it was enough for Xu Muzhou to hear his words clearly.

Xu Muzhou looked at him in surprise. He originally thought that Yan Cen was the kind of person who was extremely egotistical. In addition, he was also kept in the dark about this matter. Xu Muzhou was surprised that he could apologize. He didn't expect him to Will also deliberately explain.

"Then what about you." Yan Cen turned to look at Xu Muzhou: "How did you find out?"

"I just wanted to understand one thing - why there are high-level players here." Xu Muzhou leaned back on the sofa back relaxedly, and whispered: "According to a perfect system setting, The game fields and difficulty of advanced players should be completely different from those of ordinary players. What's more, "advanced players" who earn points by killing people, if they are randomly grouped with ordinary players, it is tantamount to a wolf The sheepfold conflicts with the operational goals of the entire system."

"Yes." Yan Cen agreed, "Continue."

"And there's a question I couldn't figure out before." Xu Muzhou asked, "That's why the system has to do so much. From the perspective of difficulty, it doesn't take so many people to solve Sun Qian's obsession. Now think about it, high-level players The appearance is for the purpose of 'execution'."

"That's right." Yan Cen raised the corners of his lips, he was never stingy in admiring Xu Muzhou, and praised: "Very smart."

"But I still don't understand why." Xu Muzhou said: "Until now, I also feel that this is a lot of actions. Besides, these people not only didn't help, they almost stabbed someone."

"It's very simple, because you and I can't kill people." Yan Cen said: "The judge doesn't do execution, understand."

"As for high-level players...they can't leave Neverland. In other words, they have become slaves of Neverland. Therefore, the negative consequences that the staff cannot bear will be borne by them. High-level players never leave Neverland. What seems to be more rewards in the township is actually just a bargaining chip to enable them to do better." Yan Cen seemed to be afraid that he would have a psychological burden, and said: "But you don't have to worry, the cleaning system rarely needs to be seconded. This time is indeed an exception.”

Seeing that Xu Muzhou was still puzzled, and Yan Cen didn't show an expression of impatience, he chuckled lightly and smashed out the cigarette butt in his hand.

"Let me make an analogy... People have subjective preferences. In that scene, you are different from the player. You have obtained all the background information about the actual scene, so your attitude towards Sun Qian and the NPC is very mixed. Great subjective emotion." Yan Cen said: "But at the same time, when you are performing work tasks, you will inevitably have some intersection with the NPC himself. In the process, you have been placed in the perspective of a 'judge' Go up. In your eyes, NPCs are guilty."

"But he is indeed guilty." Xu Muzhou said: "Sun Qian's obsession also proves this."

"Indeed." Yan Cen said lightly: "You can assert that he is guilty, but can you determine whether his crimes resulted in death? There are many reasons why Sun Qian committed suicide in the end, besides the NPC who was killed, there is also Wang Zhigang, There are other people who have had an impact in this matter, so in your opinion, how should their crimes be judged? Or in other words, can you bear the follow-up responsibilities brought about by the 'trial'?"

Xu Muzhou was momentarily at a loss for words: "I..."

"You have subjective opinions, and of course Sun Qian also has them. The nodes of obsession can't prove anything, because human emotions are not rigorous." Yan Cen said: "This is why from ancient times to the present, the "judgment" Power is always given to the 'rules' themselves, not to a person."

"...I seem to understand." Xu Muzhou said hesitantly: "But if justice is powerless, and the victim has no power to fight back, you can only count on worse people to punish the wicked, don't you think it's ironic?"

"This is the reality...but both good and evil will eventually return to Neverland." Yan Cen walked towards the living room: "All the emotions and sins in this world will be captured by Neverland in the end. Calculate the ratio of good and evil, To collect malicious, and then intervene according to the critical point, to balance the world... This is the meaning of the existence of Neverland."

"So, can Wang Zhigang be sent to the trial system for reform?" Xu Muzhou asked sullenly.

"About this issue, I checked it after I came back...he didn't enter the judicial system." Yan Cen shrugged and replied directly: "Thanks to his blessing in his previous life, his crimes have been offset a lot. It’s not clear how lucky it is.”

Xu Muzhou snorted coldly and didn't express any further opinions.

"But you'd better get used to this." Yan Cen threw the lighter back on the bookshelf without looking back: "Although you also know that this incident is real, at least your subconscious mind will help you put it on the shelf. A label for a game to make you feel better."

He said, turning around and walking towards the wine cabinet: "But from the next job, I won't be so lucky."

"What do you mean?" Xu Muzhou said angrily.

"Because the next mission you are going to is the absolutely real world." Yan Cen took out a bottle of low-alcohol dry white from the wine cabinet, turned his head and said calmly: "In that timeline, the people around you The environment, all the stories that happened, and all the obsessions that occurred are all real."

As soon as he finished speaking, a wine glass fell on the tea table in front of Xu Muzhou.

Xu Muzhou looked at the wine glass, then at Yan Cen, and asked suspiciously, "What are you doing?"

"Celebrate." Yan Cen knelt down halfway, held another wine glass and touched him self-consciously: "Congratulations on officially becoming a temporary employee."