Neverland

Although Xu Muzhou didn't want to admit it, but he was really a cup of tea.

——After all, even half a cup of 8.5-degree dry white can knock him down neatly.

Xu Muzhou no longer remembers how he staggered back to the bedroom afterwards, he only remembers Yan Cen sighing helplessly in his ear.

He slept on the bed until the sky was dark, and when he opened his eyes again, it was already dark outside.

Xu Muzhou originally thought that when he came back from the internship, he would have a night of upside-down nightmares like he did when he first came to Neverland. Unexpectedly, after fighting the poison with poison, he slept soundly.

The originally tired spirit was mostly soothed by a good sleep, Xu Muzhou yawned lazily, turned over on the bed, subconsciously reached out and fumbled for something on the bedside table.However, he took a moment to remember that his mobile phone had become a piece of scrap iron with no battery, and had already been thrown into the wardrobe to collect ashes.

Xu Muzhou grabbed a handful of hair, sat up from the bed, looked out the window and began to wake up.He wasn't quite sure if he slept from day to night, or if he had slept until the next evening.Without the evidence of dates, his conception of time is infinitely diluted.

Xu Muzhou thought that he would go to the supermarket to apply for a watch in a while, even if he didn't know the exact date, he still needed to know where the time passed day by day.

The dry baijiu is not very strong, even if you wake up, you won't have a headache.Xu Muzhou's previous work caused him to often turn upside down day and night, and when he woke up, he was prone to lack of blood, and it took a long time to wake up.

He sat on the bed for a while, then slowly moved out of bed, went to the bathroom to take a shower, changed into clean clothes and came out.

The living room was quiet, Yan Cen was not there.Several new clothes were neatly stacked on the coffee table in the living room, and a handwritten note was placed on top, pressed with a white magnetic card.

While wiping his hair, Xu Muzhou bent down and took out the note to take a look.

Yan Cen's note was as concise and clear as ever, saying that he went to Zhong Lu to hand in the mission report, the two sets of clothes on the coffee table were applied for him, and the magnetic card contained the points allocated at the end of this mission, which Xu Muzhou could use at will use.

It's quite thoughtful, Xu Muzhou thought.

He put the towel around his neck, bent down and picked up the two sets of clothes and looked through them.Yan Cen's aesthetics are not bad, the colors of these two clothes are more plain, and the style also focuses on casual wear, which is similar to what Xu Muzhou usually wears.

Xu Muzhou glanced at it, and felt that it was very suitable, so he took it back to the house and stuffed it into the wardrobe.He drank half a glass of wine since last night, and now he has pantothenic acid in his stomach.Xu Muzhou rubbed his stomach, threw the towel on the sink in the bathroom, and was about to go out to find something to eat.

The restaurant of Neverland is on the fourth floor, decorated quite elegantly, there are round tables in the hall near the door, booths and boxes further inside, and on the right hand side is a place similar to a hotel buffet table, with large and small tables on it. insulated food box.

But Xu Muzhou originally thought that he would see many colleagues who came out for dinner on the fourth floor, but who knew that he opened the door of the restaurant and found that he seemed to be the only one here.

"...Is the co-author's demand for food so low?" Xu Muzhou muttered in a low voice.

He picked up a plate from the dining table, and began to seriously consider whether Yan Cen had been lying to him all along, and there was no one else in Neverland except them.

There was something like a credit card machine at the end of the buffet table. Xu Muzhou put the plate aside, took out the magnetic card from his pocket and stuffed it into the slot.The screen on the machine lit up for a moment, showing that after fifteen points had been deducted, the magnetic card was returned.

Xu Muzhou took a plate and found a seat near the corner, and took a glass to pick up half a glass of juice before sitting down to eat.

Probably because he grew up in an orphanage, he eats very fast, but he doesn't seem to be wolfing down, which is an extremely gentle way of eating.

The door of the restaurant was also pushed open a few times, and some unfamiliar people came in to get meals and swipe their cards, but most of them walked in a hurry with their heads down, and took away the meals after they were done. Few people would sit down like Xu Muzhou. Take your time drinking juice at restaurants.

When Xu Muzhou was down to the bottom of his glass of juice, the door of the restaurant was pushed open again, and a short-haired girl walked in in high-cut boots. When she saw Xu Muzhou, she was taken aback for a moment, then smiled , waved at him: "good evening."

Xu Muzhou remembered Song Yan, he put down his cup and nodded politely: "Hello."

Song Yan stuffed half of the meal card she had taken out into her pocket, walked towards Xu Muzhou without seeing anyone else, pulled out a chair and sat opposite him: "Just now when I saw Yan Cen in the office, I knew your work was over."

Song Yan blinked at him while talking, and asked with a smile: "How is it, are you happy to perform the cleaning task for the first time?"

"It's okay." Xu Muzhou smiled wryly, "It's quite exciting."

"I heard, what kind of midnight school horror incident happened?" Song Yan smiled and said, "You didn't scare me, did you?"

Song Yan's tone was very relaxed, as if colleagues with a good relationship gathered together to complain about the work content, but Xu Muzhou still couldn't regard those strong emotions and human lives as ordinary "work content", he pulled out With a forced smile, he vaguely agreed.

Song Yan noticed his discomfort, took out a pack of cigarettes from her pocket, and motioned to him: "Smoking is not allowed in the restaurant, let's go to the balcony outside to have a chat?"

With the opportunity to learn more information, Xu Muzhou naturally agreed. He politely declined the cigarette offered by Song Yan, stood up following her movements, and asked casually as she walked out, "Why, smoking is never home. Is it standard for employees?"

Walking a short distance from the restaurant, there is a wide terrace extending outwards. There are a few coffee tables made of rattan scattered in the terrace. Song Yan picked up an armchair and sat in front of the fence. He lowered his head and lit a cigarette.

"That's not true." Song Yan shook the match in her hand, then turned her head and said with a smile: "It's just that the work pressure is too great, and I can't drink too much, so I have to smoke."

Xu Muzhou leaned on the railing to digest food, and asked casually: "...Your guidance system is also under a lot of pressure?"

"Well, it's much better than cleaning up the system." Song Yan said: "After all, when we go to perform tasks, we can still get along with the people around us, so we feel alive anyway. If we talk about pressure, it must be your pressure to clean up the system." Bigger."

"Really?" Xu Muzhou said.His drooping hair was slightly lifted by the sea breeze, the deep blue sea stretched for thousands of miles, and the fine rivers of stars sprinkled on the sea surface, it was too beautiful to behold.

However, Xu Muzhou felt that the world was too quiet in the sea.It is true that the sound of waves crashing against the rocks can be heard all the time, but in this vast world, Xu Muzhou has not seen a single bird or fish.

This place is like a lost place in the gap of time. Apart from their staff, there is no other factor related to "time".

"Actually, I have a question I've been wanting to ask for a long time." Xu Muzhou said suddenly.

"Yes." Song Yan nodded generously and said, "As long as I know."

"Why are you looking for temporary employees?" Xu Muzhou said: "With Brother Yan's ability, he can complete such a difficult task by himself. What's more, taking me on this kind of dangerous task is purely to cause trouble for him .”

Xu Muzhou wasn't underestimating himself. If it wasn't for protecting him that night at school, Yan Cen wouldn't be so restrained that he even injured his ankle.Moreover, Xu Muzhou believed that he was far inferior to Yan Cen in terms of reaction and experience. Based on what he could think of, there was no way Yan Cen could not dream of it.

Song Yan smiled and asked back: "...Xiao Xu, do you know how many people clean up the system?"

Xu Muzhou didn't know why she suddenly asked this, and said cautiously: "Brother Yan told me, it's just the two of us."

"Don't be so nervous." Song Yan stood up funny, walked to his side, and looked at the sea while lying on the railing: "Actually, some time ago, the number of people cleaning the system and guiding the system was about the same... But now, only Get Yan Cen alone."

Xu Muzhou was puzzled and said, "Then the other—"

"It's all self-destructed." Song Yan said.

Xu Muzhou was taken aback.

The smile on the corner of Song Yan's lips faded, she flicked the cigarette ash, and said calmly: "You have only carried out the first mission, maybe you can't feel it. But other staff members are performing this work year after year, They come and go in infinite timelines, the previous timeline may be the ancient times, and the next one may be the future. Every time they return from a mission, the time of Neverland may only have passed for a few minutes."

"And as I said just now, the guidance system can intersect with the guided target. We can live in the real timeline and live some normal life, so there is room for breathing." Song Yan said: "But People who clean up the system are not good, they are out of tune with the world, and their only meaning of existence is to find the truth as a bystander."

"I can understand." Xu Muzhou said, "I have this feeling."

The moment Xu Muzhou woke up from the mission, he really felt a huge sense of gap.If it wasn't for that memory being too deep and special, Xu Muzhou would have wondered if it was a dream caused by his mental tension.

For humans, memory and time complement each other, and each node on the timeline is evidence of the existence of memory. If this reference is lost, then "memory" itself becomes an illusory thought.

The cigarette in Song Yan's hand burned to the bottom, she let go of her hand, and the cigarette butt fell straight to the surface of the sea, and was buried in the sea by a wave.

"Most people can't bear this unreal sense of dissociation in the end, so they choose to destroy themselves." Song Yan's tone was a little heavy, and she sighed softly: "Yan Cen is the last one... I don't know if he has I didn't tell you that dying in a mission will cause soul damage."

"He said it." Xu Muzhou nodded, "So?"

"In a certain mission a month ago, Yan Cen died during the mission." Song Yan said: "But in the mission report afterwards, he said that he died in a non-subjective sense."

"Non-subjective?" Xu Muzhou frowned: "That is to say, it was a danger that caused him to have an accident during the mission? But with Brother Yan's skill, what mission can be so dangerous that it will kill him?"

"This is the problem." Song Yan said: "Neverland has retrieved the mission background and information at that time. It was a normal mission world that was completely harmless."

"So..." Xu Muzhou swallowed, "You suspect that he died subjectively?"

Xu Muzhou thinks this is really absurd. Based on his understanding of Yan Cen, Yan Cen is calm, objective, strong, and will not even be affected by useless emotions. He is clearly not at all like the person Song Yan said who would seek death subjectively. Not next to each other.

"Yes, but Neverland can't judge whether he is subjective or passive." Song Yan nodded, and she said very simply: "Although death during the mission will not endanger life, it is still a very serious injury. Neverland Later, the work of cleaning up the system was temporarily stopped, and he was allowed to recuperate for a month until he went to interview you."

"So that's why you are looking for temporary employees?" Xu Muzhou asked.

"Yes, although it is said that Yan Cen is to protect you in the world, he also wants to use this method to make him feel the 'reality' itself. After all, it is much better to have someone to accompany you than to go alone." Song Yan said: "As for you, Neverland has calculated that ten worlds is a very safe task value. You don't have to worry about your mental state being affected later. When you leave Neverland, we will clean up your memory."

"Does Brother Yan know about this?" Xu Muzhou said, "I mean, 'Why are you looking for a temporary employee'?"

"He probably doesn't know, but he doesn't care." Song Yan shrugged: "He always doesn't care much about these things that have nothing to do with the mission."

"...So, you came to me today just to tell me these things." Xu Muzhou understood: "You came to me on purpose?"

Song Yan was stunned for a moment, then smiled: "Yes, it seems that Zhong Lu has found the right person, you are indeed very perceptive."

"But you don't need to have any psychological burden on this matter. I tell you this, I don't want you to do anything deliberately. For you, you just need to be yourself freely and treat him like an ordinary partner. "Song Yan smiled self-deprecatingly: "...Actually, to be honest, even though you have come, I still hope that this is an unnecessary and useless job, because Neverland is too nervous."

"Why?" Xu Muzhou asked.

"Because Neverland can't lose him." Song Yan said.