Chapter 12 Going to Work

Bai Xiao reached for her phone by the pillow and checked it. The lock screen showed July 1, 2092, 7:30 AM. The weather was cloudy, and the temperature was 29°C.

After getting up, she drew back the curtains and looked at the street scene outside. The sun wasn't out today, so the perceived temperature shouldn't be too hot, unlike the previous two days of clear skies where the temperature once soared to 34°C or 35°C.

At this time, those who started work early had already left. The apartment Bai Xiao lived in was right by the street, and her rented room was on the 23rd floor. Standing at such a height, she could actually hear car horns clearly, as if they were honking right behind her.

A black car downstairs was honking its horn incessantly, making her head ache. Bai Xiao couldn't help but focus her gaze on the black car. Lin-A: 58U32. Bai Xiao's eyes widened in surprise; from such a distance, she could see the license plate number clearly! Her vision had also improved.

This feeling became even more apparent when she entered the subway station. She could clearly see the facial features of people on the furthest platform, read the text, and even hear the contents of conversations from that far away.

Bai Xiao felt very uncomfortable with this sensation for a while. Her vision was manageable—as long as she didn't focus or try deliberately, she could ignore things—but her hearing was different. Suddenly being able to hear from so far away meant a massive influx of information into her head. The world felt magnified, noisy, and irritating.

She tried to control herself, attempting to filter out useless information. It wasn't until she got off the train forty minutes later that her control began to show results.

Bai Xiao worked at a large game company called Qidian. She had joined the company after graduating from university and had been working there for over a year.

Her profession was game planner, and she was currently involved in a game project related to survival during a doomsday natural disaster.

The project was now in the closed beta stage. When testing first began, she was so busy she barely went home, but now that it was in the middle of testing, the game ran relatively smoothly, the workload had significantly decreased, and the pace of work had returned to normal.

Entering the company, she greeted the colleagues she encountered from time to time, feeling an inexplicable sense of it being like another lifetime.

Taking the elevator into the familiar office, Bai Xiao walked to her workstation to find that some colleagues had already arrived.

"Xiao, we haven't seen each other for a night, how has your skin improved so much?"

Speaking to her was Xiao Yu from the neighboring workstation. Xiao Yu's eyes were like a minesweeper, scanning her up and down. "Did you go for a skincare treatment after work yesterday? The effect is so good, recommend it to me!"

Bai Xiao passed her, walked inside to put down her bag, and sat at her workstation. Unable to tell the truth, she had no choice but to follow along and say casually, "No, maybe it's because I suddenly didn't have to work overtime. I had a good night's sleep last night and recovered my energy."

Xiao Yu's gaze followed her movement, her body turning as well.

Bai Xiao, who had been observing her closely, now saw clearly that neither of Xiao Yu's wrists had a butterfly mark like hers.

After finding nothing, she glanced at the other colleagues around her. Thanks to it being summer, everyone was wearing short sleeves, making it easy to observe. However, after a quick scan, she didn't find anyone with a butterfly on their wrist.

"What are you looking for?" Xiao Yu looked at Bai Xiao's searching gaze with confusion.

"Nothing. By the way, last time you asked me what brand of hand cream I use, I just happened to run out. I saw a buy-one-get-one-free promotion, so I'll give you one." Bai Xiao took a tube of hand cream out of her bag and deliberately handed it to her with her left hand turned up.

"Wow, Xiao, you're too kind!" Xiao Yu took it with surprise, not caring that Bai Xiao hadn't answered her previous question.

"I'll go wash my hands and apply it now." Xiao Yu skipped away happily.

Bai Xiao had intentionally revealed the butterfly just now, and she was certain that Xiao Yu had seen her wrist when she looked down to take the hand cream, yet she had no reaction at all.

If it were someone who had participated in the game, they wouldn't be so calm seeing someone else with a butterfly. Even if they weren't a participant, seeing a colleague they spent so much time with suddenly having something like a tattoo on their wrist, they definitely wouldn't be able to resist asking about it.

The only explanation was that Xiao Yu simply couldn't see the black butterfly on the inside of her wrist!

After a while, Xiao Yu returned from the restroom. Bai Xiao thought for a moment and decided to test her directly: "Do you know about ******"

She was actually unable to speak any information regarding the game?!

"Do you know what?" Xiao Yu looked at Bai Xiao, finding it strange. Why was she just opening her mouth without making a sound? What kind of riddle was she playing?

"It's nothing."

Bai Xiao hurriedly responded, her gaze quickly returning to the computer. She wanted to try searching for related information online, only to find that the words she typed were completely different from what she was thinking.

This game truly could not transmit information to the outside world!

Before long, a notification in the main group called for several departments to hold a meeting. This meeting lasted the entire morning, and Bai Xiao took the opportunity to observe colleagues from other departments. None had the butterfly mark on their wrists, and no one saw hers.

Now she was finally certain that she was likely just an isolated case or one of a few people, or perhaps the black butterfly mark was invisible even between players, just like how a light screen appeared before everyone in the game but they couldn't see each other's.

This was barely a good thing. Although she couldn't find others like her, it also protected the players themselves; otherwise, the marks being visible to each other might invite trouble.

Soon, it was noon. Bai Xiao politely declined her colleagues' invitations, having no appetite to eat. She was contemplating her next move.

As she was thinking, a call from an unknown number suddenly came in.

"Hello, is this Miss Bai, Bai Xiao?"

"It's me. Who are you?"

"Hello, I am the property manager for Binjiang Mansion. You haven't paid this year's property fees in time. If you pay this month, there's a promotion for a quarterly gym card for the Ledong Gym near the neighborhood. I'm calling to inform you."

"Thank you, I'll pay it promptly." Hanging up the phone, Bai Xiao patted her head. The game had come so suddenly that she had almost forgotten about moving.

Her parents had divorced when she was very young. Her father had been on long-term business trips in Antai City, and after a job transfer, he started a new family there.

Her mother was a strong-willed woman. After the divorce, she left Bai Xiao with her grandmother and went far away to the US, where she remarried five years ago.

It wasn't until her grandmother passed away two years ago that the mother and daughter met again after several years. They were very much like strangers to each other. Perhaps out of guilt, her mother gave her a house in the city center before returning to the US. This house was in the neighborhood called Binjiang Mansion.

The house in the old city area where she had lived with her grandmother was too far from the company, so Bai Xiao simply sold it.

Yunzhou City, where she lived, was considered one of the more developed cities in the country. Housing prices were neither low nor very high. Even the house in the old city area had sold for over 1.5 million.

Renovating the new house cost nearly 300,000. The renovation had been finished eight months ago, and by now it had been aired out enough to move in at any time.

The lease on her current rented apartment was due to expire at the end of the month, so she had been planning to move slowly this month.

The apartment was too small; she couldn't even manage to exercise properly. Bai Xiao thought she couldn't afford to move slowly anymore; she had to move as soon as possible.

Seeing that there was nothing unusual in the company, she could no longer bear to stay. The next game, which had yet to arrive, was like a sword hanging over her head, and she didn't know when it would fall. This feeling was very unsettling.

She wanted to take leave. Today was Wednesday, and there were only two days until the weekend. She would take the rest of this week off first and see how things went for next week.