Chapter 102: Ting Yao

Ning Zhe put on a coat, transformed into a scruffy, decadent middle-aged man, brought cash, slipped into the streets and alleys of the old city of Yun City, and walked into an internet cafe.

There are not many places that still use the term 'internet cafe' now. Most have been replaced by more large-scale, high-end e-sports internet cafes. Only some black internet cafes hidden in the streets and alleys still insist on operating in the old mode. The main customer base of these small internet cafes is underage students who are rejected by regular internet cafes because they don't have ID cards.

And social idlers like Liu Hongzhi who have no proper job and no money.

Ning Zhe walked into the internet cafe and opened a machine. The internet cafe manager didn't even lift his head to accept the cash and silently gave change. Ning Zhe's greasy hair, messy stubble, deeply sunken dark circles, and sallow complexion didn't make him say a word. At this time, he was unremarkable.

Customers don't dislike the low configuration and poor environment of this broken internet cafe, and the manager naturally doesn't dislike the sloppy image of the customers.

Sitting in the chair, a faint smell of cigarette oil rushed to his face. Ning Zhe pressed the power button, and the win logo on the screen turned for several minutes before entering the desktop.

Following the memory he had just obtained, Ning Zhe created a new blank document in the file manager and skillfully typed a strange website address starting with s and ending with l on the keyboard covered with cigarette ash and potato chip crumbs.

This is the access address of the Gridder network known to Lan Shiwen.

Pressing enter, the address typed in the blank document automatically jumped without going through the browser. A standard 720×720 window expanded under the mouse pointer. The black and white monochrome interface was exceptionally simple, without any redundant information. The rigid text layout and default blackbody gave it a sense of an early internet community.

Logging into the network with the username and password in Yu Zi Qian's memory, a new pinned post appeared at the top of the window.

【Remnants of the Yin family appear in Yun City】

Ning Zhe moved the mouse pointer below the title and expanded the post content. The poster was Lan Shiwen. The post content was very short, listing the photos and personal information of several people confirmed to be descendants of the Yin family, reminding Gridders in the area near Yun City to pay more attention.

Lan Shiwen stated in the pinned post that any Gridder who encounters the Yin family members listed in the post can directly make a move to kill them. He will not ask what the Gridder who killed the Yin family descendants obtained, and he will contact a specialist to help with the aftermath.

He only needs to get the news that 'Yin family remnants are confirmed dead'. Besides that, nothing else is needed.

Although it was a pinned post, the replies below the post were still sparse, which shows that the willingness to communicate among Gridders is not very high.

Ning Zhe flipped the scroll wheel to the bottom and only saw some people discussing the situation after 'Wealth Wu Tong's' death, as well as some violent replies complaining about how these aristocratic descendants are like cockroaches, having been killed for decades without being wiped out.

Closing the pinned post, there was a striking dot on the blank avatar in the upper right corner of the forum interface. It seemed to be unread messages during the time Yu Zi Qian was not online.

Ning Zhe clicked on the unread messages. They were private messages sent to Yu Zi Qian by several other users.

【Fu Nie】: 【The folk customs in Qinzhou are fierce, be careful yourself】

【Duo A】: 【Do a favor for me. The vice president of the Yanzhou Merchants Association has intestinal cancer and hooked up with foreign forces to survive】

【Ting Yao】: 【Ning Zhe, please help me!】

"...?" Seeing the last private message, Ning Zhe's pupils contracted violently.

He repeatedly confirmed the content of the message. Every word was a proper Chinese character, clear and understandable simplified Chinese. There was no possibility of misreading. 'Ning Zhe' and 'Master Yeyao' were not homophonic words that were easy to misspell.

The message sent to Yu Zi Qian by this Gridder network user named 'Ting Yao' was indeed 'Ning Zhe, please help me!' in the literal sense. What's going on with this person? Was Tai Yi's identity exposed?

Ning Zhe quickly self-checked the relationships. Only two people knew about his relationship with Yu Zi Qian: one was Feng Yushu, and the other was Bai Zhi.

Among them, Feng Yushu was dominated by the Thought Steel Seal. She could never actively leak information about him to others. Bai Zhi was a homebody with almost zero social life. This girl was tortured by years of nightmares and was neurotic; she was not a normal person who could communicate smoothly. If someone could obtain information from her, that person probably had mind-reading skills.

... Does the rule of reading others' thoughts exist?

Possibly.

The Snake God can influence people's luck, Lan Shiwen can predict the future, Wealth Wu Tong can bring the dead back to life... Even a Thought Steel Seal that forces people to believe a thing can exist. What is there that a ghost cannot do?

Perhaps nothing. Rules might be omnipotent.

After thinking about it, Ning Zhe sent a private message reply to 'Ting Yao':

【Master Yeyao】: 【Who is Ning Zhe?】

Ning Zhe waited in front of the computer for more than ten minutes and did not receive a reply. Ting Yao might not be online now.

"I'll visit the Gridder network again at this time tomorrow to see if there is a reply..." Ning Zhe typed a mediocre reply that couldn't be faulted to 'Fu Nie' and 'Duo A' respectively, closed the window, deleted the document, and casually hung a World War II background fps game that Yu Zi Qian liked to play on the desktop.

Before he could even enter the game after opening it, Yu Zi Qian's phone rang. Looking at the caller ID: Zhang Hanying.

"Who is this person?" Ning Zhe scratched his head.

=9+Shu_Ba

Answering the phone in a daze, he only heard a voice with a crying tone from the speaker: "Zi Qian! You finally answered the phone... Woo woo..."

Ning Zhe then remembered that Zhang Hanying was the name of the older sister among the twin sisters beside Yu Zi Qian. Speaking of which, what was the younger sister's name... For these unimportant things, Ning Zhe never paid much attention.

The crying of the sisters soon turned into two. The sisters' tearful, aggrieved voices made Ning Zhe feel irritable. He really wanted to hang up the phone and directly blacklist Zhang Hanying's number, but Ning Zhe knew in his heart that this was meaningless. As long as the Thought Steel Seal that Yu Zi Qian imposed on the sisters was not lifted for a day, they would persistently pester him, trying to return to Yu Zi Qian's side.

"Why don't I kill them both." Ning Zhe thought.

"No, perhaps I can try to apply a 'I don't love Yu Zi Qian' Thought Steel Seal to Zhang Hanying, to hedge against the previous one... But would that be effective? Will two Thought Steel Seals with opposite contents cancel each other out, or will they drive people crazy alive?"

This idea appeared for only a few seconds before being rejected by Ning Zhe. Even if it were effective, the rules simulated by Tai Yi could not confront the real Thought Steel Seal. Fake is fake after all.

"Sure enough, it's more trouble-free to kill them?... No, indiscriminate killing of innocents is not Yu Zi Qian's style. Rashly killing two women who are close to him is also easy to attract the attention of other Gridders."

Ting Yao's private message indicated that his identity was suspected to have been exposed. Ning Zhe didn't want to add other risks to himself.

While thinking, the sisters on the other end of the phone were still sobbing and complaining, "Zi Qian, where are you? Ca... can we come find you? Was the marriage putting too much pressure on you? Then let's not get married, let's not get married, okay... Don't leave us..."

"So annoying." Ning Zhe hung up the phone and leaned on the chair of the internet cafe, looking at the flickering game interface in front of him, feeling hopeless.

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 103 =====