Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Picking up the sky blue pillow and cushioning it behind his back, Tang Hong clicked on the loneliness rating scale.
“Level 1: Go to the supermarket alone.”
“Level 2: Go to the restaurant alone.”
“Level 3: Drink coffee alone.”
“Level 4: Watch a movie alone.”
“Level 5: Eat hotpot alone.”
“Level 6: Sing karaoke alone.”
“Level Seven: Go to see the sea alone.”
“Level 8: Go to the amusement park alone.”
“Level 9: Move house alone.”
“Tenth level: Do surgery alone.”
…
‘So simple!’ Tang Hong was excited! After hurriedly getting out of bed, getting dressed, washing his face, washing his hair, and brushing his teeth, he rushed out of this dormitory building with his campus card.
He went to the nearest supermarket within the campus and strolled inside.
No prompt.
Tang Hong was reluctant to give up yet and walked around again. A full five minutes passed, and there were two girls that had even passed by him at least three times, but there was still no prompt.
“My inference was wrong?”
“This is unscientific!” Tang Hong could only come to one conclusion after thinking about it. It was too easy to go to the supermarket alone, so it was far from enough to trigger the minimum standard for increasing the individual value.
Of course, it may also be because the time threshold wasn’t enough.
Tang Hong was troubled. He couldn’t stroll inside the supermarket for an hour or two, right? This was an on-campus supermarket, there were only a few rows of shelves in total. However, he could try to mobilize his own emotions by whispering to himself that he was feeling lonely and empty. Perhaps the intense mood of being alone was more likely to increase the individual value.
He focused on his experiment, but from the surface, he looked like he was undecided on what to buy and was in a kink. He vaguely heard the people playing around behind the shelf one shelf apart from him. “Coconut, you are so charming, it’s so frightening.”
“Don’t play.”
“Just because I looked at you one more time, I can never forget your face ever again…” The playing sounds of two girls entered Tang Hong’s ears and were automatically filtered by him.
What’s the use of a girlfriend?
Being single was the most supreme and noble!
‘If this really doesn’t work…’ Tang Hong was thinking of this when a crisp sound echoed from both inside and outside of his body and mind.
[Ding Dong!]
[You sensed the nerve signals of physiological needs, ‘one hand can’t clap’ is activated, and hormones are frozen!]
“…”
‘What’s going on with this inexplicable weakness.’
Tang Hong swallowed. It was as if he had entered sage time and everything felt dull, only a touch of loneliness remained, haunting his mind.
Fortunately, his mentality was very strong determined. His head lowered, Tang Hong strolled inside for another 20 minutes.
The individual value didn’t increase.
He then went to the cafeteria.
He ordered a spicy fragrant pot and ate it for more than 40 minutes. The rice had even turned cold. He hung his head, but his eyes that were distinct in black and white weren’t fretful.
Whenever there was a big event, one should remain calm like the sages in ancient times. The more earth-shattering the thing encountered was, the more calm one should be and respond calmly.
With his thoughts moving, Tang Hong called up the information interface:
Mortal: Extremely small and weak creature.
Willpower: 33%
Strength: 29%
Realm: 0.00
Individual value: 2
Tang Hong fiddled with his chopsticks, gently inserting them into the grains of white rice. “The minimum standard for the increase in individual value is definitely not sitting in a train alone.”
He recalled: Experiencing a train journey for the first time, individual value increased by one.
Obviously.
It only worked for the first time, the next time he sat on a train alone again, it would probably be useless.
First-time experiences were priceless. Thinking of this, Tang Hongyi was amused. Then, he looked at the loneliness rating chart he set as the lock screen wallpaper. Looking down from the highest level, the highest level of loneliness that could be achieved today was:
Go to the amusement park alone.
“Amusement park?”
Tang Hong couldn’t help frowning. He vaguely remembered that the last time he went to the amusement park was when he was still in primary school.
This thing…
If he didn’t remember wrongly… only children would go there, right?
Tang Hong thought about it. Since going to the amusement park alone could make it into the list, it showed that many adults would also go to the amusement park.
After all, children didn’t have the right to speak online.
He clicked on the Meituan app and unprecedentedly clicked on the icon of leisure and entertainment. As he flipped through it casually, he saw the unusually popular Disneyland which was right in Yunhai City. Tang Hong focused his eyes on it again.
“Hiss.”
Such an expensive ticket: 400 Hua dollars!
Tang Hong gritted his teeth. His monthly living expenses only amounted to 2,500 Hua dollars. From the beginning of March this year when he broke up with his ex-girlfriend, he could save about 900 Hua dollars every month. “It’s indeed a little expensive, but I have never been to Disneyland. This will be the first time I am playing it and coupled with the mood factor, it can be said that the success rate is 100%. It’s even possible to get two or more individual values.”
In an instant, he made the decision.
“It’s too expensive, too expensive.” Tang Hong placed an order while mumbling, and the order was generated. He was about to pay with WeChat but for some inexplicable reason, he moved out of Meituan and clicked on Taobao, searched for Disneyland tickets, and then clicked the price descending order.
As expected!
There was a half-day ticket!
Only 218 Hua dollars!
Meituan really tricked its customers. Tang Hong curled his lips. “The half-day ticket is good, I can go just after the professional course. The round-trip distance adds up to about three hours including the time to take the subway. There should be no problem getting back to the dormitory before 11 PM.”
…
About 4 PM plus in the afternoon, Tang Hong finally arrived at Yunhai Disneyland.
Outside the subway station, the place was surrounded by green woods, small lakes, and fountains. Even the air was fresher too.
At first glance, it was very clean.
Following the signs, he walked across a long bridge. There were many people on the bridge, most of them children. Most of them were also heading towards the entrance of Disneyland. Tang Hong glanced around and saw only a few tourists leaving the park.
Arriving at the ticket gate, there was a queue. Tang Hong looked around and noticed the tourists here were mostly couples and families.
“At this timing, there are still so many people?”
He was really quite surprised. He was usually used to being alone. Although he went to school in Yunhai City, he seldom went out to play, was too lazy to move, plus he was also poor.
Poor was the main reason.
“Sigh.”
The cool breeze blew across his face, and Tang Hong remembered his first love that gradually ended two months ago.
There was no strange reason, just that in the second semester of the third uni-year, the two of them began their internships, and started to drift apart bit by bit until they broke up normally and she went to the Imperial Capital.
At first, Tang Hong was even very happy, like a bird that had escaped its cage and flew into the blue sky. With any burdens now, he felt light. It was the fragrance of freedom, it was the boundless world that was free for him to roam now.
But after a week, he felt a little sad.
After a month, he missed their relationship more and more.
Until today.
When he passed the ticket gate alone, wandering around alone, queued up for an attraction alone, Tang Hong felt happy, sad, and lonely altogether. He couldn’t really tell what his mentality was.
‘Just wait in line normally, don’t stick your mouths to each other!’
‘This can’t do!’
‘There are too many people waiting for this attraction.’
‘Are there any attractions with fewer people?’
‘Where did such a large number of people come from?’
Tang Hong’s face was as usual, but his inner activities were quite turbulent. The loneliness rating scale checked on the Internet seemed like a joke at first glance, but when he experienced it personally, he had to say that it made sense.
It was too cruel!
Why didn’t individual value increase yet!
Tang Hong saw a building with a sense of advanced technology from a distance and walked closer. “Tron Lightcycle Power Run—Tomorrowland.”
It seemed quite interesting.
The 218 Hua dollars mustn’t be spent in vain, since he had already come in, he had to at least experience one attraction. But when Tang Hong looked at the entrance fence of the Tron Lightcycle Power Run, the queue was looping in rounds and rounds, like the old mobile game Snake. It was really crazy.
“Crazy.”
“You are all crazy.” Tang Hong felt a little daunted. Then from the corner of his eye, he glanced at the workbench at the entrance, which was marked with a few words: Single passage ticket collection point.
Surprise!
Tang Hong hurried over to get the ticket!
He came here not only to verify the prerequisites for increasing the individual value but also to reward himself!
Who said that a person couldn’t go to the amusement park alone, couldn’t eat hotpot alone, couldn’t have fun everywhere alone. A person could also live very well alone. Loneliness wasn’t depression, but tranquility and peace.
The change of mindset caused Tang Hong’s expression to reveal a relaxed and comfortable expression too.
It was completely different between having the mindset of playing and having the mindset of experiencing loneliness… Even though Tang Hong couldn’t change the fact that he waited bitterly for half an hour no matter how comfortable he felt. The long queue that looked like a dragon moved forward bit by bit… When he finally came to the entrance, Tang Hong didn’t find any benefit in the single-person passage.
However.
The next moment.
After he entered the door, left the fence, he witnessed what a real long queue looked like!
Outside the entrance just now, the queue that was looking here and there already made him frown. And inside the entrance, the wide and winding passages were crowded with people. It was truly terrifying, and Tang Hong’s expression changed.
“Thousands of people!?”
The dim passage caused him to look dumbfounded.
Fortunately, there was the single-person channel, which allowed Tang Hong to walk past the long crowd and to stand in the preparation area directly. The Tron Lightcycle Power Run could only accumulate a fixed number of people each run, and because most of the tourists were in groups and also participate in the activities in groups, this caused the fixed number of people on the Tron Lightcycle Power Run to be insufficient every time.
“So that’s the case.”
After waiting for two minutes, it was Tang Hong’s turn already.
In an instant, beams of eyes with different expressions focused on Tang Hong. There were envy, sympathy, and indifference. Basically, these people have been in line for more than two hours, and their faces were shiny from face oil.
[Ding Dong!]
[You tasted the benefit of being a maverick, and feel slightly lonely, individual value increased by one.]
Tang Hong exhaled, secretly looking forward to gaining more individual values, and continued to stroll for a few laps. According to his speculation, the first experience of the amusement park should also be able to increase the individual value.
The issue was…
Was this stuff stackable…
Tang Hong kept feeling like he was frantically probing on the edge of loneliness…
The sky was getting dark, but the number of people didn’t seem to lessen. Tang Hong was a little hungry. He wasn’t willing to buy food in the park due to the price, so he just bought a bottle of Coca-Cola, and took a few mouthfuls.
Tang Hong’s eyes stared when the cold Coke entered his throat.
[Ding Dong!]
[Experience going to an amusement park alone for the first time, individual value increased by one.]
…
The night breeze was very cooling. Tang Hong left the scenic spot and looked down at his mobile phone. It was now 7:50 PM.
Go back by subway?
He felt a little unwilling.
He had saved up to four points of individual value and verified the authenticity of the support system, he desperately desired more now.
He was young, energetic, courageous, and meticulous, Tang Hong felt that walking back to school should be a good idea.
A night journey alone, free and easy, how wonderful.
However, after checking the map, it would take about seven hours to walk back. Taking the subway would take more than one hour and thirty-plus minutes while riding a bicycle would take a bit more than two hours.
Tang Hong put away his phone. “Let’s just choose cycling.”
Yunhai was an international financial metropolis with excellent public security management, Tang Hong wasn’t worried about robbery or stuff like that. Those were all just movie plots. Normal people live a normal life and might never encounter a crime in their entire life.
What’s more, this land had the lowest crime rate in the world!
Though if he was a girl, he should indeed be cautious. Tang Hong looked at the route, found a small yellow bicycle, and started the ride leisurely.
Passing by the side of the scenic spot…
Passed by the magnetic levitation, the outer ring high-speed road, the landscape on both sides started becoming a little desolate… But the road that Tang Hong rode on still had quite a lot of traffic… After riding for about ten minutes, the cool evening May breeze blew him In his sportswear jacket, the street lights were dim, and the left and right sides were already indistinguishable. It was probably an abandoned factory zone.
Just at this moment.
While cycling leisurely and slowly, the corner of Tang Hong’s eyes seemed to glance a little brilliant light.
“What’s that!?”
Startled, his heart was beating wildly. That was absolutely something sacred.
‘Come.’
‘Come.’
‘Dedicate everything you have to me.’
In the next moment, a vast unnamed thunder-like whisper penetrating the air in all directions, carrying an irresistible and inviolable order, and exploded in Tang Hong’s mind!