My Exclusive Dream World Adventures
Chapter 262 - Chapter 262 262 The Fifth Dream

Chapter 262: 262 The Fifth Dream Chapter 262: 262 The Fifth Dream Chen Xu took Cao Ningning to a nearby restaurant in her residential complex and ordered two bowls of noodle soup, one for each of them.

“Your parents, have they been gone for a long time?” Chen Xu didn’t like to pry into others’ affairs, but he was a bit worried about this girl who had made a deep impression on him.

Cao Ningning picked up a chopstick full of noodles, blowing on it before answering, “Almost a month now.”

“Didn’t they leave you any money for food?”

Cao Ningning glanced at him quickly, lowered her head, and said, “It’s all spent.”

“Oh.”

“Ever since I was little, they would often fight. Whenever they argued, my dad would leave home, and the next day, my mom would go out to find him.”

“My grandmother was still alive back then, so my mom would send me to stay with her. The year I turned ten, Grandma passed away. Since then, whenever they left, they would leave me at home by myself and leave me living expenses.”

“Back then, there was no mobile payment, so when I ran out of money, I would call them, and they would come back and bring me more money.”

“So, I would always spend the money quickly.”

“Later, once mobile payment became available, that trick didn’t work anymore. By the time I was in middle school, they pretty much stopped caring about me. Sometimes, they wouldn’t even answer their phone, always saying, ‘You’ve grown up; you need to take care of yourself.’

“They always leave like this for a month or two. Their jobs never last, they keep changing them and probably can’t find anything good, and the living allowance they give me keeps getting smaller.”

Chen Xu listened to her talk about her parents and herself, and her tone was always calm, without complaints or blame, revealing a kind of optimism that touched his heart a little.

He asked, “Why do they fight so often?”

“My mom is always suspicious that my dad has another woman outside, and she nags, repeating the same thing over and over. My dad has a short temper, and when provoked, he would leave home.”

Cao Ningning continued while eating, “When they come back home, they reconcile, then after a while, they start fighting again.”

Chen Xu shook his head inwardly, thinking that they really were a peculiar couple. The man was odd, and the woman too. It was one thing to fight and leave home, but to neglect their daughter was just too much.

“Can’t you contact them now?”

Cao Ningning shook her head, “They don’t answer calls, and they don’t reply to texts. I guess they might be out of credits.”

At this point, Chen Xu couldn’t hold back and said, “After we eat, I’ll accompany you to report it to the police. What if something happened to them?”

Cao Ningning hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, “Okay.”

Chen Xu didn’t say much more. After finishing a bowl of noodles, he took her to the nearest police station to report it.

……

“Thank you for today.”

It was almost nine o’clock by the time everything was done, and Chen Xu finally drove Cao Ningning home. Before getting out of the car, she thanked him.

“You’re welcome.”

After Chen Xu replied, he watched her get out of the car and walk into the complex before he turned around and left.

When he got home, both his mom and Chen Ziqi were waiting for him, “Why are you so late?”

He answered, “I ran into a friend on the road and went for a drink.”

“We’ve saved some dinner for you.”

“No need, I already ate.” Chen Xu had eaten with Old Tang and had a bowl of noodle soup with Cao Ningning; he really couldn’t eat any more. He inquired, “How’s dad doing?”

“If you want to know, why don’t you call him yourself?”

Chen Xu noticed a hint of irritation in his mother’s tone, which he could understand. Since his parents married, they had rarely spent time apart. Being separated for so many days now must have been challenging for them.

In some ways, his parents were similar to Cao Ningning’s, but he considered himself luckier than Ningning. At least when his parents were absent during his childhood, it was for the sake of earning money to support the family, not because of arguments that led to leaving home.

He suggested, “Mom, why don’t you go back in a couple of days? I’m completely fine now.”

“Are you sick of me and trying to send me away?”

“I’m just worried about Dad being alone at home and not accustomed to it.”

“Your dad is a grown man; he can take care of himself. What’s there to worry about? I’ll naturally go back once you’re well.”

“Fine, I’ll listen to you.”

Having said that, Chen Xu went to his room to get some clothes and entered the bathroom.

After his shower, he returned to his room, wiping his damp hair with a towel while sitting at his computer desk.

His room had completely transformed. Where there was empty space, there were now several server towers. He had to move some items out to make room for the towers, primarily because the room was too small.

Earlier, upon entering his room, he had noticed a significant increase in temperature. He had told his mother to keep the air conditioning on during the day when he was out to cool the servers, but she clearly had not heeded his advice, reluctant to spend on the electricity bill.

Before his shower, he’d turned on the air conditioner, which had made things much more comfortable.

He stored all his codes on these server towers, which were very important to him. He’d rather spend more money to buy them and keep them at home.

His hair nearly dry, he hung the towel over the back of his chair, flexed his fingers, and positioned them in front of the keyboard, ready to work.

He might have been the world’s most relaxed programmer. All he had to do was copy existing code. Beyond doubt, the software’s author could only be himself. When the time came, he would certainly reap endless praise.

He thought back to the shocked look in Liu Shanshan’s eyes that afternoon and felt somewhat guilty. He felt the need to spend more time actually learning programming to avoid raising suspicion if he couldn’t answer questions about the relevant knowledge one day.

Soon, he cast these thoughts aside and concentrated on copying the code.

At the moment, he was copying the translation module.

Translation software was a crucial component in the software documentation, deserving an entire section to itself. The code for this software was lengthy, easily one of the most voluminous.

Of course, he didn’t intend to copy it all; for now, he only needed a translation between Chinese and English at the level of everyday language. He could release more professional versions later.

Thus, he only needed to copy a small portion of the code at the start.

The most troublesome aspect of English lay in the specialized vocabulary, with some words so long they made you question your existence.

Honestly, he didn’t want to release overly specialized translations. There were no secrets in the world–some cutting-edge journals were incomprehensible even to those in the same field but not specializing in that topic. If a translation software could produce translations of those, it would be too conspicuous.

For a small company that hadn’t brought on specialists to assist, continually introducing such functions would definitely attract attention.

Engaging in such activities too often could arouse suspicion among observant individuals, and it was hard to predict what consequences that might bring.

Before he knew it, his thoughts had drifted again. Because he was just copying and didn’t need to think too hard, compounded by his lack of understanding, he found it easy to lose focus while working. Whenever he got distracted, he was prone to making mistakes and had to spend more time reviewing his work, correcting any errors.

Two hours passed in this way.

He yawned, admitting that this task was somewhat mentally exhausting and made him sleepy. He took a break and, with a cup in hand, went to the living room for water. His mother and Chen Ziqi had already gone to rest, and the living room lights were off.

Having gotten his water and returned, he glanced at the time; it was already midnight.

A thought struck him. He gulped down the cool boiled water and then lay on his bed, opening the dream device interface to enter the two-star virtual reality game “Explorers.”

“You are about to enter the two-star game ‘Explorers’. Note, your external device has not been detected. Would you like to enter?”

This time, he was not warned about his physical health, which initially pleased him. However, seeing this new prompt, he hesitated. What the heck was an external device?

PS: Since going online, I’ve never had a stockpile of written chapters. I write and then publish immediately, so everyone, don’t panic. It’s been two months, and I haven’t missed a day. It’s been very stable.