Chapter 61: The Whole Family, Together as One

Guan Junyuan began with suspicion and resistance. One could not simply tell him to believe and expect immediate trust; naturally, he had to test things first. He didn’t want to finish an experiment only to add some special effects afterward—hair… oh, he had no hair…

Yet once he tried it, he couldn’t stop.

The first to awaken was taken away for further investigation; Fang Ju, after a medical check, was confirmed to be suffering from nothing more than ordinary dizziness and sent to the physiotherapy room at No. 3 High School… What happened next depended on Guan Junyuan’s opinion.

After all, he was the one who reported the case, orchestrated the raid, and both Ye Chao and Fang Ju were his students…

Ordinarily, people would be taken away to cooperate with the investigation, sometimes even placed under protective custody. But Ye Chao and Fang Ju were candidates, with only a handful of days left before the college entrance examination.

Despite the calamity, the atmosphere of national collaboration for the exam had not diminished; instead, it grew stronger. Before the disaster, top scorers were merely champions, but after the disaster, those who excelled were the seedlings of future masters destined for the Three Rankings of the Baixiaosheng Weapon List…

But Guan Junyuan was completely absorbed, waving off all inquiries with, "I don’t know," "Whatever," "Do as you see fit," "Just don’t touch my students"…

And with Ximen Qiong equally apathetic toward responsibility, everyone simply investigated "casually," dispersed "casually," the man in sunglasses was taken away, Ye Chao and Fang Ju stayed behind, Ximen Qiong fell asleep.

It wasn’t until hours later that Guan Junyuan reluctantly removed his virtual helmet.

Even offline, his emotions surged like the tide, rising and falling. Perhaps because he hadn’t logged off voluntarily, but had been kicked offline by Alpha Ji.

"Will you never be done? Even trials have a limit, okay?"

"Have you ever seen anyone sweep up all the samples in a supermarket? How many people stay in a hotel and pack away the toothpaste, toothbrush, and shampoo? Why do pizza chains cancel self-service fruit salad—don’t they know why?"

"Fang Ju is just a kid; if he gets addicted, so be it. But you, a greasy middle-aged man soaking goji berries in your thermos, aren’t you afraid of sudden death?"

In short, he was kicked out.

Still, he felt not a shred of dissatisfaction toward Alpha Ji; on the contrary, he was even more convinced.

To put it in classical terms, men and women are inherently perverse.

In modern terms, hunger marketing never goes out of style.

Of course, the most crucial factor was that he felt the efficacy—he sensed the loosening of his own limits.

Truthfully, Alpha Ji’s comment about a middle-aged crisis was spot-on; Guan Junyuan was indeed facing such a crisis.

Physically, after middle age, decline set in slowly and it was nearly impossible to return to one’s peak.

Relying on frenzied physical training to break through—what couldn’t be done in youth was even less possible now.

---

Mentally, he was essentially set; what needed to be understood had been understood, and even if there were gaps, he had formed his own methods for understanding the world and analyzing matters, categorizing everything as it came.

The positive spin would be maturity; the negative, that ripeness meant the loss of further growth, never becoming firmer—only beginning to sag…

At this stage, the only way to break through was—battle.

To walk the line between life and death, seeking breakthrough by courting death.

Post-traumatic stress disorder, troublesome for ordinary people, was an excellent way to distort a strong person’s mental world and push them to new heights.

As the saying goes: "No madness, no life."

But as the proverb warns: "For every victorious general, thousands perish." Those who break through are indeed formidable, but more never manage it.

It’s like online writers—millions of them, but fewer than a hundred earn a million a year, while more than a million earn less than a hundred per year…

Or those initial wars involving hundreds of millions; the winner was often just one, while many died in vain—by toilet paper, rubber sleeves, or careless words…

Although Guan Junyuan was no longer young, deep in a midlife crisis, he had not married or had children. To seek death like this—there remained a touch of unwillingness.

Yet, in the virtual space, after hours of brutal combat, he felt the surge of energy that only arises on the battlefield—even his once ossified mental world began to stir anew.

The effect was dazzling.

Once he finally shook off the thrill of slaughter and leveling up, Guan Junyuan cooled down and began to ponder—

How could one use such a marvelous thing long-term? What would it cost? How many slots were there?

Even though the world had lost its supermarkets, pizza chains, and almost all star hotels, Guan Junyuan understood what "trial" meant…

He was desperate for answers, but sadly, the flirtatious elder was not inclined to respond.

==========

"How can you use it all the time? I know that! One helmet requires three high-end digital devices with a quality rating of eight or above—like phones, tablets, computers, laptops."

"Or four digital cameras or camcorders."

"Or twenty set-top boxes, iPods, MP3s, MP4s, MP5s, large-capacity hard drives, or portable hard drives."

"Or fifty headphones, webcams, USB drives, memory cards, power banks…"

"Also, buy seven get one free…"

The answer came from Fang Ju, who had just woken up.

Rubbing his still-spongy head, Fang Ju counted on his fingers and quoted the prices in detail.

---

"Sigh, it’s a little expensive!" Fang Ju finished with a sheepish face and a sigh. "Too bad I passed out at the critical moment, otherwise I could have bargained further!"

You really know all the details…

But expensive?

Just a few pieces of used digital gear—how is that pricey? And you wanted to haggle more?

Guan Junyuan stared at Fang Ju speechless: You really are a person of fortune, aren’t you?

Do you realize how rare it is to use a virtual space for top-tier training, or a domain of time distortion to give endless stamina or temporary invincibility, or other methods that bend the laws of physics, allowing cultivators to train in nearly real—sometimes actually real—environments?

Yes, Guan Junyuan knew of such training methods.

He knew well that these were exclusive privileges for the favored elite or decorated soldiers, and he’d only had rare access in his youth.

Though the memory was vague, the feeling never lies…

Or does it!

In short, this flirtatious ancient predecessor truly possessed the power of awakened virtual space?

And her space could bypass physical location, pulling anyone in through a holographic helmet…

If she really belonged to the Yunzhou Alliance, or even just stood on humanity’s side, it would be… an earth-shattering event!

Dare to haggle with such a predecessor? And succeed?

That could only mean she was in a good mood, didn’t mind, or simply liked you…

With this thought, Guan Junyuan unconsciously touched his egg-shaped bald head, glanced at Fang Ju’s square embarrassed face, and wondered… could it be the elder likes square shapes?

Just as he was thinking this, the square-faced logistics supervisor of No. 3 High School, Fang Dashu, burst in wielding a kitchen knife, eyes red as blood.

"Dad, I wasn’t skipping class, I went to…" Seeing his father’s eyes, Fang Ju let out a wail, instinctively raising his arm to shield himself.

Unexpectedly, the next moment he was embraced: "Son, you’re finally awake! As long as you’re safe, as long as you’re home!" The voice trembled, and so did the body.

A second later, the equally square-faced Aunt Fang rushed in.

The whole family, neat and tidy—sometimes hugging in the shape of an "eye," sometimes in the shape of a "mouth."

Now it was clear why Fang Ju was so square; anything else would be impossible, anything else wouldn’t be biological.