Chapter 57
Strangely, the instant the thought that this deserted island might not be real suddenly arose—
Shen Jinfeng seemed to gain a certain understanding in his mind.
It was as if a voice had been constantly tempting him to make a judgment: Everything on this deserted island, all your sensory perceptions, your companions, and the experiences of these days are all real and beautiful. How could they be fake?
But at the same time, deep within him, his mind grew increasingly clear.
Everything around him definitely had a problem.
He simply had not yet figured out exactly what kind of operating model this deserted island followed. Was it completely virtual, or was it many real things pieced together?
Was it a virtual scene created by advanced technology or fantasy-like methods?
Was he participating in some kind of volunteer experiment?
Or was it a genuinely generated instance mode?
Or perhaps a holographic world acting on his senses?
Shen Jinfeng felt a headache coming on and wanted to give up thinking.
These were several relatively plausible guesses he had made based on past experience…
Surely he hadn’t failed to transmigrate into his retirement world and instead been thrown by 888 into some strange place, right?
That should not be the case. When he woke up, he had checked the world coordinates. They were correct.
If this was a real instance, then it would be normal for patched-together things to have bugs everywhere. In that case, they would need to find the key to clearing the instance, unlock the clearance mission, and leave.
But the problem was that in the memories he had received, there was no such thing as an instance mission. It was not some escape-and-fight-monsters mode either, and the others in the team had never mentioned anything like that.
Could it be the kind of mission where one had to discover the mission on one’s own?
If it was a virtual scene, then his headache would be even worse.
Without question, he had not chosen a retirement world with fantasy elements, which left only the route of technology.
Could it be that these days, he had been performing The Truman Show?
Fatal. The moment Shen Jinfeng thought of this possibility, his scalp went numb.
Although he had not done anything shameful, every action and movement of his might have been watched by others, and under circumstances where he himself did not know about it… just destroy everything!!!
As for how to get out of that, it was hard to say.
There were also the final two possibilities, which could actually be classified as the same type of thing.
A holographic world or holographic game. It might be some pioneering instance, some survival game…
It might also be another technology similar to those.
For example, in one small world he had once been to, someone had developed a dream world. As long as one was equipped with the related equipment, one could live in dreams as if awake.
The world one saw in the dream was as clear as real life.
All senses in the dream—hearing, smell, taste, sight, touch—could be perceived through brain responses, no different from reality.
People could even pay to enter a certain dream. A dream cost a certain amount of money and might carry a fixed number of people. You would meet others who had also paid to enter the same dream, and then you would have teammates.
The human body remained conscious in the dream, and after waking, one fully possessed all memories from the dream.
Therefore, as the dream world became explosively popular—
Some people even started businesses and companies in dreams.
For example, providing dreams. Any random person in the world might suddenly have the opportunity to interact face-to-face, and social circles were completely broken through.
It was practically an internet social networking plus version.
Making friends in dreams without leaving the house. “Dream romance” had once been popular for a time too.
Good grief, in that world, people’s twenty-four hours a day were arranged perfectly clearly.
It could truly be said that there was not a single moment of unconsciousness.
Moreover, staying conscious and working in dreams did not affect the body’s ability to rest through sleep or absorb the nutrients needed by the body. People truly achieved a doubled lifespan experience while still having enough “sleep” time, and their bodies were incredibly healthy.
But it was too heartbreaking. When he had been in that world, he had to work while awake, and he had to work in his dreams too. He worked all day long.
Perhaps because he had not been born in that world and was not a native resident, he could not get used to that way of life. He only felt as though he was naturally born to toil like an ox or horse.
A faint sadness rose naturally in Shen Jinfeng. Could he be inside an invention like a holographic world or dream world?
Or perhaps it was some other method similar to those technologies.
Holographic technology and dream worlds were both epoch-making inventions.
Because this deserted island was not very reliable, the more one looked at it with scrutiny, the more bugs one could discover.
Therefore, he suspected this place was an experimental product.
Perhaps he himself was some volunteer who had taken the lead to experience it.
If that was the case, then how to leave this deserted island would be hard to say.
Because that would require the outside world to observe whether he had explored enough of the technology’s needs.
It would require the outside world to terminate it.
Thinking this way also made sense.
The original owner was someone with rich wilderness exploration experience. If he had led a team consisting of a student, a middle-aged unemployed person, a social elite, and a wealthy young master from a rich family as volunteers, that would also make sense.
So, which possibility was the truth?
Shen Jinfeng lay against the branch, looking at the moon that had remained unchanged through the ages and even looked the same in most worlds. He sighed deeply.
Tired.
Oh, why were the moons different in some worlds?
Those would have to be mythological worlds, where the moon could be shot down.
Or apocalyptic worlds, where the moon turned red.
Judging from the sky, he had been out for almost an hour. It was time to go back.
At this moment, outside the screen, the staff members who had watched Shen Jinfeng’s movements and had even witnessed him sigh all yawned in unison. They did not understand, but they were sleepy.
“Why did he suddenly stop moving and start sighing? It made me sleepy too.”
“What is Big Boss Shen doing? Why did he become depressed after playing that tune? Was he assaulted by how bad his own tune sounded?”
“Hahaha, you’re really too savage! I strongly suggest the director broadcast that part just now and let the netizens also experience how awful it sounded!”
“Although, honestly, it’s also because we cleared the wolf pack too quickly. Big Boss probably can’t figure out where those wolves went now.”
“You scared the hell out of me. Earlier, I thought Big Boss was about to speak beast language again! To call the wolves back.”
This staff member did not know that he had accidentally spoken the truth.
Shen Jinfeng had not spoken beast language, but he had played a beast-controlling tune.
He had not only wanted to call the wolves back, but also wanted to call over all the wild beasts in this forest.
Only, the beast-controlling tune had been mistaken for an awful improvisation.
And not a single wild beast had been summoned.
At this moment, these staff members, including probably the entire production team, would never have imagined that they had not been exposed yet not because the reality of the deserted island had not been suspected.
But because Shen Jinfeng’s experiences were too rich, his guesses too abundant, and there were too many possibilities.
For the time being, he still could not determine it.
“Eh, he moved, he moved. He finally moved! Big Boss Shen finally stood up from the tree.”
The young man, who had been sitting in the tree for more than half an hour as if pondering life, finally moved.
He shifted his feet slightly, seeming as if he wanted to jump directly down from the tree.
But after hesitating, he actually flung the leaf rope out from behind him again, looped it around the tree, and slowly climbed down to the ground.
“What’s going on? He didn’t seem to use that rope when getting down from trees last time.” Goat did not understand.
“Maybe he’s sleepy and afraid he’ll hit the ground too fast and be unable to stand steadily?”
In fact, Shen Jinfeng had only thought of that string of guesses in his mind. Just as he was about to jump down from the tree, a thought suddenly flashed through him.
Should he hide his abilities a little?
After all, this tree was over ten meters tall. It was rather frightening.
As for going back, he was too lazy to hide it.
How he had come was how he would return.
By the time he got back to the wooden cabin, the round trip had taken nearly an hour.
It was now nearly four in the morning at the small cabin.
According to his usual habit, in one more hour, it would be time for him to wake the others up to exercise.
Since he would not sleep after going back anyway, how about waking them up?
Shen Jinfeng walked out of the forest and chose to walk back on foot.
As he walked, he weighed the feasibility of this devilish idea in his mind.
Yes, regardless of what the truth was, before he left, daily habits could not be abandoned.
Only, just as he reached the doorway, he happened to run into a figure that looked sneaky in the night.
The dark figure stood by the water basin they had dug. Under the moonlight, he seemed to be holding a fire striker.
“Boss?” After Shen Jinfeng patted his shoulder, the dark figure was so frightened he almost screamed. Only when he turned around and saw Shen Jinfeng’s face faintly outlined by the moonlight did he recognize him.
It was He Erwang.
Shen Jinfeng looked him up and down. “What are you doing?”
Why did he look so suspicious, as if he were stealing something?
Goat and the others, whose attention had been on Shen Jinfeng the entire time, were also confused. “Little purple-hair couldn’t sleep in the middle of the night either? Did he also notice flaws in our production team’s show?”
“Pfft, him?” A staff member laughed unkindly. “Sorry, sorry. I don’t mean to mock him, hahaha.”
“I just think the difficulty level is too high. My Wang-ge probably doesn’t have that… uh, why does it sound like the same meaning no matter how I say it?”
“What was he doing just now? Let’s take a look.”
“Hm? What’s going on? It only shows him walking to the water basin, then a blob of mosaic appeared? Bathing in the middle of the night?”
He Erwang held up his pants and subconsciously adjusted his clothes, smoothing down the hem.
“I woke up in the middle of the night and came out to use the toilet.”
Shen Jinfeng fell into a strange silence for two seconds.
When he spoke again, his voice even changed slightly. “You relieved yourself into this water basin?”
Surely not?
He Erwang froze, then realized what he meant and quickly waved his hands. “No, no.”
He pointed at a nearby tree. “I was behind that tree just now.”
“Boss, did you also come out to pee?”
Shen Jinfeng nodded.
“Then how come I didn’t see you? If I’d known, I would’ve gone with you.” He Erwang expressed regret.
Shen Jinfeng: “…”
That was really duck unnecessary.
“Boss, where did you relieve yourself just now?” He Erwang pursued the question relentlessly.
Expressionless, Shen Jinfeng turned and pointed at the forest.
He Erwang exclaimed in admiration and raised a thumb. “Amazing. You can still go so far to release water in the middle of the night. Boss, your willpower really isn’t for show.”
?
Shen Jinfeng looked at him suspiciously. Wasn’t he forcing praise too hard while having nothing to say? Had this guy really done nothing guilty?
“You really didn’t do it into the water basin…?”
“You finished behind that tree, and you’re still holding up your pants here?”
He Erwang dropped the hand holding his pants with a whoosh. “No. How could I be that wicked?”
Shen Jinfeng barely believed him. “All right. Then go back and keep sleeping.”
He walked forward two steps, then his clothes were pulled again.
“Boss, can you help me with something?” He Erwang’s hesitant voice sounded from behind him.
Shen Jinfeng turned around as if he had expected it, his tone light. “Speak.”
“If you don’t say it now, I won’t help.”
He Erwang put his hand on his pants again. “Boss, can you help me look at my butt?”
“Huh?” Shen Jinfeng felt that his current expression was probably a Black man question-mark face.
What the hell?
“What happened to your butt? Was it bitten by something in the forest just now?” When he said this, a bit of anticipation actually lit in his expression. Were there still wild beasts here?
He Erwang embarrassedly rubbed his butt. “No. I fell from the last few meters of the tree this afternoon. It hurt like hell.”
“I want to see if my butt is swollen, but I can’t see it.”
He was too embarrassed to look in the room in front of so many people. Mainly, he also could not see his own butt.
He had woken up in the middle of the night, too itchy with curiosity, so he came out to check.
Shen Jinfeng: “…”
Case solved. No wonder he had been taking off his pants in front of a water basin and brought a fire striker. So just now, he had been using the water surface as a mirror?
Sure enough.
The more He Erwang spoke, the quieter he became. “The water surface is a little blurry, so I couldn’t see clearly. But I keep feeling that through my pants, after that fall this afternoon, my butt seems to have become swollen.”
“I heard girls nowadays like broad shoulders, narrow waist, and perky butt. Why do I feel like that fall worked better than my usual hard training?”
The way Shen Jinfeng looked at He Erwang gained a bit of horror.
No, what the hell?
He Erwang looked completely like a straight man. Did straight men nowadays care this much about their image?
Broad shoulders and narrow waist were one thing, but a perky butt too?
“What is your request?” Shen Jinfeng did not understand.
He Erwang scratched his purple hair and suddenly had trouble reacting.
Right, what was his request?
“Boss, can I maintain the way it looks now?”
Shen Jinfeng took a deep breath. “No need to look. I already know it’s not swollen.”
“If it were really swollen, you wouldn’t have the strength to stand here taking off your pants, putting them on, taking them off again, and grinning with your big teeth.”
“Boss, can you help me look?” He Erwang finally remembered his purpose.
Shen Jinfeng glanced at him and turned away mercilessly.
He Erwang’s eyes drooped in disappointment. He looked at the water basin again and sighed.
“Boss, wait for me.” He dejectedly prepared to follow.
Shen Jinfeng made a stop gesture toward him. “Don’t come in. Wait there.”
“I’ll go wake the others up to exercise.”
He was speechless at He Erwang’s “wild ideas.”
But when he turned around, he could not help smiling too.
Although he might have inexplicably gotten caught up in some high-tech thing, or virtual instance, the moment he arrived in his retirement world—
This group of teammates was actually rather cute.
At least every single one of them was real and vivid.
Shen Jinfeng felt his mood improve by a tiny bit.
Behind him, He Erwang looked at the sky, which still showed no trace of sunlight, and blinked in confusion.
“?” This early!
Was it already mao hour?
In the days without phones and watches, he could not tell time anyway.
Every day, what time it was depended entirely on Shen Jinfeng’s mouth.
Therefore, He Erwang had not the slightest doubt.
He obediently stood in place, secretly relieved.
“Good thing I looked quickly. Otherwise, if everyone came out and saw later, that would’ve been way too embarrassing.”
Outside the screen, the staff members who had heard the entire conversation had all laughed away their sleepiness.
“Hahahahaha, He Erwang really is worthy of being an idol. This body management is simply enough to make people feel ashamed and bow in worship.”
“Little purple-hair, seriously, you deserve to be popular!”
“Be thankful! Luckily the others didn’t hear you wanting to look at your butt and train a perky butt, right? Don’t worry. Soon, viewers across the whole country will hear it hahahaha!”
Based on Sun Xinping and the entire production team’s moral integrity, this segment would definitely be released.
And heavily promoted.
Because this season was airing too well, the prepared promotional funds had not been useful.
Now, weren’t they usable?
Actually, He Erwang’s concern for his body was completely caused by his own subconscious.
Although in his current memories, he had no impression that he was a top idol—
Body management was a professional subject carved into his bones as a top idol.
Who knew how many of his fans’ rainbow-fart compliments and little essays He Erwang had secretly read in daily life?
Only then had he learned that broad shoulders, a narrow waist, a perky butt, and thin muscles were the best medical beauty for a boy.
Before long, Shen Jinfeng woke the others up and started today’s exercise.
Today, they began exercising at four in the morning.
There was still one hour before mao hour!
Therefore, at five in the morning—
When a large group of viewers were woken by their alarms and massive traffic poured into the livestream room, they were somewhat confused.
[Eh-heh, today has already started? And why does it look like it’s been going on for a long time?]
[Exactly. This should be a continuation of yesterday’s moves, right? Why can’t I understand it? The review and consolidation stage is gone?]
[Why do I suddenly feel like I can’t keep up?]
[This doesn’t seem right. Gu Shengsheng’s forehead is already a little sweaty. I feel like usually, he has to exercise for at least more than half an hour before he sweats slightly.]
[I stayed up until now just to wait for them to appear. Let me tell you all, Big Boss Shen and the others started exercising today at 4:03! All right, now that I’ve notified you, I can peacefully go to sleep.]
[Huh? What the hell? Really?]
…
The technical team members, who had been frightened for hours in the middle of the night and had finally almost finished checking all the wild beast bugs, had just ended work. They should have dragged their exhausted bodies into their chairs and collapsed, waiting for colleagues to come take over.
However, after one person started—
The whole group followed Shen Jinfeng and the others on the livestream and began practicing.
As they practiced, perhaps because of psychological effects, they actually felt that most of the exhaustion from staying up all night had really eased.
Now, seeing large waves of bullet comments asking questions—
Goat tapped the keyboard, replied on the public screen, and pinned the message so it stayed visible.
[Big Boss Squad’s exercise start time today: 04:02:47.]
[!!! What? That early?]
[Wasn’t the earliest before only five? Didn’t Big Boss Shen say exercising at mao hour is best? I didn’t hear Big Boss Shen say last night that they’d start exercising early today.]
[Wuwuwu, today’s follow-along exercise actually lost one hour.]
Yes. Now, Shen Jinfeng’s morning exercise session with the others lasted two hours.
This wave of viewers who got up at five had at least followed along for one hour.
But those netizens who had set a goal for themselves to practice “only” one hour each day were even more completely baffled. What was going on?
Why did they wake up today and open the livestream—
Only to find that today’s exercise had already ended?
Fortunately, the production team showed rare mercy.
They released the full two-hour “guided training” video.
They had no choice but to release it. Otherwise, they would be attacked by netizens.
Moreover, the General Administration of Sport had specifically notified the production team.
Every day, they had to hand over the complete two-hour video to them.
Around six in the morning, Sun Xinping was woken by his alarm.
He woke up groggily, feeling like he had slept better than ever before.
Only, the moment he opened his phone, his mood was not so beautiful.
Why were there so many missed calls?
And in the middle of the night too?
But they had continued for dozens of minutes, and then later there was no sound again?
Sun Xinping’s hair stood on end. He quickly called Goat back.
“What happened? Did something happen last night?”
Goat picked up the call, still panting slightly.
After all, he had followed along for two hours of exercise.
“Uh, I don’t know how to explain it. Maybe you should come and see for yourself?” He was afraid that if he explained it, Sun Xinping would get too emotional and have a car accident on the way. No, no.
Sun Xinping rushed to the control room in a panic. After listening to the whole story and fast-forwarding through the midnight replay, he fell into fearful silence.
“Why do I feel like he discovered something?”
“Goat, come look. Isn’t Shen Jinfeng’s expression here wrong?”
Perhaps people who worked with technology were not that sensitive.
Sun Xinping was pointing at the segment where Shen Jinfeng had been pondering and sighing.
Goat did not understand. “Wasn’t he assaulted by how awful his own tune sounded?”
This was the final conclusion the boys had reached last night.
Sun Xinping’s eyes widened. “Assaulted by how awful it sounded?”
“He went into the forest in the middle of the night just to play a tune?”
“I feel like this tune itself is wrong.”
Goat: “…Director, you’re thinking too much.”
“Maybe it was to express grief over the disappearance of the wolves?”
Sun Xinping took a deep breath.
He thought for a moment, and the uneasy feeling in his heart grew stronger.
He found a film director he was usually familiar with. “Eh, Old Zhao, didn’t you hire a psychologist at a high salary for your last movie, someone specialized in reading micro-expressions? Can you introduce me?”
After receiving the contact information, he hung up. After thinking for a moment, he asked a music industry big shot he knew from before.
“Mr. Yue, hello. I have a tune here. Would it be convenient for you to help me listen to it?”
After contacting several people, he paused for a moment.
Seeing the group of staff members surrounding him, he said irritably, “Go organize Shen Jinfeng’s physical data and brainwave state from that hour and see if there were any abnormalities.”
Goat and the others obediently accepted the order.
Then they could not help asking, “What if there are abnormalities?”
Sun Xinping froze.
Right. What if there were abnormalities?
It seemed there was nothing they could do anyway.
“Why so much nonsense? If I tell you to go, then go!” he roared incompetently at Goat.
When the cart reaches the mountain, there will be a road. When the willow darkens and the flowers brighten, another village appears.
If they really discovered an abnormality, they would talk about it then.
He felt that today’s buns had suddenly become especially unpleasant again.
On the screen, however, Shen Jinfeng no longer looked strange at all.
The guests, as usual, ate their fragrant breakfast.
After Qi Xiu washed the dishes, he came to Shen Jinfeng’s side. “Boss, what are we doing today?”
“The fishing net is done, but we haven’t tried it yet. Boss, can you teach me how to use the fishing net to catch fish?” Gu Shengsheng said excitedly from the side.
Mo Fan lazily leaned back. “As long as we don’t go into the forest, I’d be pretty comfortable lying on the beach sunbathing all day.”
He Erwang felt that made sense.
“Eh, Boss, can you fix that bed you hung from the tree on the first day? I feel like lying on that would be more comfortable. But can that bed bear the weight of all of us?”
Qin Ye offered a suggestion. “Little Captain, do you still need to make any formulas? I’ll sort the ingredients by category and grind medicine for you as an assistant.”
Shen Jinfeng listened to the group chattering around him.
He simply lay quietly on the recliner, not really wanting to move.
Right now, he wanted to know how much longer it would take before he could leave this deserted island.
But before leaving—
He suddenly remembered. “Didn’t I promise to make clothes for all of you?”
What else was there?
Before leaving, he had to fulfill his promises first.
After all, once they got out, perhaps when they opened their eyes, they would be separated across the ends of the earth.
