Zhang Chenyang's current behavior was that of an ordinary teenager—eager to show off his achievements and hopeful for the future. He appeared content, even happy, while carefully probing for information and providing reasonable excuses for his curiosity, balancing between exploration and reassurance.
He was treading carefully, aware that his understanding of Fanglong was still very limited, relying only on the brief notes left by his "previous self." He guessed that perhaps his "real self" knew much more about Fanglong, but with his current memory altered by Fanglong, he couldn't recall the things he should know.
In truth, if it weren't for those notes, he might never have noticed the world's falsehoods and inconsistencies. To him, he was just an ordinary student, with dreams of a happy family, living his daily life, worrying about holiday homework, and listening to his mother's nagging...
Everything seemed perfectly normal.
Fanglong was very satisfied with Zhang Chenyang's behavior—or rather, it was satisfied with Zhang Chenyang's feedback.
What Fanglong was most satisfied with, after all, was itself. All the settings, all the "gifts," were its achievements.
Zhang Chenyang woke up, and sunlight was already streaming through the window. Even though his eyes were open, he still felt extremely tired. The damp and cold sensation seemed to have seeped into his bones, and even though the warm sunlight bathed his bed, covering him, he couldn't escape that loathsome feeling.
Was this Fanglong's way of teaching him a lesson? Zhang Chenyang found it amusing.
Fanglong seemed to be suspicious of him, maybe even warning him.
Thinking back to that world, trying to connect the two, Zhang Chenyang began to ponder. If that world was the real world, would he want to go back?
What were his parents like in that world? Were they with him?
If that world was real, then what had happened to make it the way it was?
These questions were difficult to unravel, even to articulate.
Zhang Chenyang felt as though he were lost in a fog, unable to see the road ahead, unable to return to the past. Everything around him was shrouded in confusion. He would clear one layer of fog only to find another; he was trapped in a maze with no escape.
"Awake now? If your dad hadn't stopped me, I would've woken you up earlier," Xie Han said as she entered the room, her usual nagging tone softening when she saw Zhang Chenyang drenched in cold sweat. "What's wrong? Did you have a nightmare? You used to have nightmares often when you were little because you weren't in good health, but you've grown up healthy, so why would you have a nightmare now?"
Hearing Xie Han's concerned words, Zhang Chenyang smiled. "It's not something I can control; maybe it's just the pressure getting to me."
"Yeah, with your homework unfinished, how could you not be stressed?" Xie Han retorted, but then her tone softened again, "Just lie in bed and relax for a while, no need to rush to get up. I'll reheat the food once you're ready. After you eat, take a shower. You're all sweaty and must feel uncomfortable."
Zhang Chenyang smiled and nodded without saying much.
Since discovering that this world was fake, his feelings toward his parents had grown complicated. But even now, Zhang Chenyang didn't feel any fear toward them.
Yes, as long as they looked like his parents, as long as they had those faces, he would feel a sense of warmth. Moreover, they were vibrant and caring here, too.
Zhang Chenyang sighed and reflected. Perhaps because he had been behaving well, or perhaps because his body had not been invaded again, Fanglong didn't detect any abnormalities. As a result, his memory hadn't been erased this time. He got up, found the notes he had written earlier, and reviewed them against his records, finding nothing unusual.
Zhang Chenyang lay back down, burying himself under the covers, feeling his body gradually warm up and his heartbeat slowly return to normal.
When he got up again, Zhang Chenyang acted as if nothing had happened, continuing his daily routine at home.
But today, Zhang Chenyang was unusually well-behaved. After finishing his meal, he washed the dishes without needing to be reminded by Xie Han and then returned to his room to start his homework.
His father was a bit puzzled. "Why does he suddenly seem more responsible?"
"I've always been responsible, okay?" Zhang Chenyang pretended to complain. "When you weren't home, I always did the dishes. As for the homework...well, I have to do it now. School's starting soon, and I don't want to be standing on the playground on the first day."
"Standing on the playground? I thought you'd just stand at the back of the class," his father asked, confused.
"Our school is special. They say it's to make us learn a lesson, so they make everyone who hasn't done their holiday homework stand on the playground," Zhang Chenyang recalled the scene, then laughed. "But I don't think it's very effective. When school starts, a whole group will be out there. With so many 'brothers in arms,' there's no shame—some even make close friends while standing there since they're all in the same boat."
Zhang Chenyang finished his explanation smoothly and then realized that these things seemed to have been imprinted in his mind. He had spoken so naturally, with corresponding images in his head, and this time, he could clearly see his classmates' faces. When he tried to recall, he could even remember some of their names. As for the questions he had before—about his classmates, teachers, and the principal—he could now remember all their names.
Zhang Chenyang suddenly realized that his memory had been altered, but this time it wasn't reduced; it was increased.
This made him even more certain that the being he encountered in the "dream" last night was Fanglong.
"Focus on your homework. I'm going to the mall with your mom. Do you want us to bring anything back for you?" his father asked, not noticing Zhang Chenyang's internal turmoil.
Zhang Chenyang shook his head. "Didn't we agree we're on a budget now? Why are you still going shopping?"
"It's not that bad. Sure, our lifestyle will have to change a bit, but people still need to live," his father said, ruffling Zhang Chenyang's hair. "Since you don't need anything, we'll head out now. If you need anything, just call us."
"No problem, I'll be here doing homework!" Zhang Chenyang replied cheerfully.
Not long after, his parents left. When Zhang Chenyang heard the door close, he sighed in relief.
He spent some time doing homework in his room. During this period, he didn't feel like he was being watched. Then he went out to refill his water, taking the opportunity to wander around the house. Everything seemed normal.
Finally, Zhang Chenyang began to shout around the house.
"Is anyone there? The person from my dream?"
"Was I really dreaming last night?"
"Can anyone hear me? Can you respond?"
If anyone had been there, they would have thought Zhang Chenyang was crazy, especially since this behavior didn't seem very smart.
But for the moment, Zhang Chenyang couldn't think of a better way to determine whether he was being monitored. After shouting, he waited a long time, but there was no response—just silence, as if he were the only one in the room, talking to himself.
Zhang Chenyang chuckled self-deprecatingly. Right now, he didn't have any particularly practical or useful methods for judging whether he was being monitored. If he had to guess, maybe it was his sixth sense? But that didn't have any scientific basis and certainly didn't qualify as a concrete or useful method.
Given the current situation, Zhang Chenyang had no choice but to gamble.
He needed to find a way to escape, then try his best to make it happen.
The best outcome would be successfully leaving this place. The worst outcome would be having his memory erased again.
Zhang Chenyang took out the small notes he had prepared earlier and updated his records. This time, he reminded himself to believe, no matter what happens, that this place is fake! Everything here is fake! He also wrote down the dream and used his notes as a verification method.
Since the previous verification method had been patched by Fanglong, Zhang Chenyang was worried his future self wouldn't believe him, so he had to change tactics.
This was a backup plan—a contingency for the worst-case scenario.
Now, he needed to figure out how to escape. Just like how he didn't know anything about the school before but remembered everything about the Aerospace Museum and his home, he believed this had something to do with whether he had been to those places.
If the school was a new map, then it might be a place he should have gone to as part of his growth, but in this fake world, he hadn't been there yet. So, he only had a vague memory of it and no clear concept until last night's conversation with Fanglong, which filled in the details.
"Loading," Zhang Chenyang thought as the word suddenly popped into his mind.
Yes, loading! This word was familiar; someone had told him about it before.
Zhang Chenyang quickly searched his mind—Loading: increasing the load capacity. Mostly used in computer-related fields, it refers to loading files or information when starting a program.
That means if he hasn't reached that area yet, the relevant information wouldn't automatically load. There are only two ways to load the information: one, like what Fanglong did before, forcefully implanting it into his mind, and the other, automatically loading it when he enters the trigger zone.
In other words, if this world is viewed as a large map, does that mean the map has boundaries? This world itself must have an information storage limit, although it might be a very high limit.
Zhang Chenyang suddenly realized that he needed to determine his current position on this world map—or more specifically, find the boundary of this world map.
Of course, there might be another method, which is to exploit a bug.
But that method didn't seem very practical. The voice that appeared in his mind before was probably using a bug, but this clearly raised Fanglong's suspicions, and it most likely patched the issue later, which is why the voice didn't reappear.
Zhang Chenyang was realistic—he knew he couldn't outsmart Fanglong in this area, so he had to approach it from another angle.
Zhang Chenyang closed his eyes and thought. He tried to recall the city's largest supermarket, the largest plaza, the buildings near his home... He mentally went over these places one by one and noticed that the closer they were to his home, the clearer his memory was, while the farther away they were, the less distinct they became.
Zhang Chenyang quickly searched the city map, realizing that when he searched for something through a computer, the response was almost immediate, as if there was a specialized program processing the requests, ensuring nothing was left blank.
Zhang Chenyang smiled to himself. Even if this was a scam, he couldn't help but admire its intricacy and precision.
He didn't dare imagine the massive data structure behind this. Setting aside other details, just the interactions with his parents must have required a significant amount of effort. Based on his recent interactions, he still couldn't believe his parents were purely artificial intelligence.
If it's technology, just how advanced is it? How much access does it have?
If it's magic...no, Zhang Chenyang didn't believe in magic. The books he read taught him to believe in science, not magic.
Zhang Chenyang studied the map and thought carefully. Logically, this should be the city where he grew up, so he should be very familiar with it. After all, based on his personality, he wasn't a bookworm; he would have gone out to explore. So the range of places he could think of now should be the areas he has accessed or is about to access since arriving in this fake world.
He was making this assumption to measure the initial information load of this world and to estimate its possible boundaries, thereby identifying the map's edge.
This was a one-time attempt; if he failed, Fanglong would undoubtedly tighten its surveillance, making it much more difficult to do anything in the future.
Zhang Chenyang recalled last night's dream—this was the world Fanglong created. In other words, Fanglong was the god of this world; it could do whatever it wanted here, depending on its whims.
Zhang Chenyang fully understood his current predicament—he was like a lab rat in a cage. Fanglong might not have the time to watch his every move constantly, but the moment something unexpected happened...