After Pan Tian left, Gao Yi, who was once again living alone, sat at his desk, carefully examining the paper in his hand.
The black handwriting, as if written with ink, was delicate and elegant.
Even Gao Yi, an amateur in calligraphy, could tell at a glance that its quality was not low.
But the problem now was clearly not the handwriting, but its content.
“Noon, downstairs tea restaurant”
“Let’s talk about your “Mind Mist””
A simple dozen words, yet the amount of information was immense.
Clearly, what Gao Yi had been worried about before had still happened.
Although he did not know how the other party had found out, his “player” identity had obviously been discovered.
“To seek me out for a ‘chat’ like this, they should at least not be official personnel, otherwise they would have come directly to my door….”
“By the same token, it wouldn’t be some organized violent criminal gang either.”
Thinking, Gao Yi pulled out the notebook he carried with him and began to organize his thoughts.
It was not surprising that his player identity was discovered; although the video at the time was restricted, it was not unusual for someone with an agenda to find it.
The problem was, how did the other party know where Gao Yi lived, and how did they know the name of the instance, “Heart Demon Mist”?
“It can’t be because I’ve been wearing this ‘Investigator’ tag that I’ve actually attracted strange things, right….”
As he spoke, Gao Yi opened his phone again and checked the time.
“10:40 AM”
“Downstairs tea restaurant” should refer to the one next to his apartment; Gao Yi had eaten there once before.
To be honest, the taste was alright, but it really wasn’t to his liking, so he never went back as a repeat customer.
Sighing deeply, Gao Yi put down the note with the information.
In any case, the newcomer did not show obvious malice, and sought dialogue in a way that gave him some initiative.
For Gao Yi, who was in a situation of extreme lack of information, attempting communication was undoubtedly necessary.
Having made up his mind, Gao Yi began to consider what preparations he needed to make.
However, this meant he couldn’t sleep again…
…
By 11:40, Gao Yi went downstairs on time.
After greeting Grandma Landlord, who happened to be coming out to throw out the trash, he walked straight to the Gentleman Tea Restaurant next door.
With the mechanical “Welcome” of the electronic doorbell, Gao Yi entered the shop.
The entire restaurant was not large, barely fitting ten sets of tables and chairs, plus a hollow counter that allowed a full view of the kitchen, which constituted the entire interior layout.
The interior decoration was predominantly green, and objectively speaking, it was quite tasteful and beautiful.
But to be honest, the intuitive feeling made it seem less like a restaurant and more like a poorly managed art gallery.
Perhaps this was also the reason for the poor business.
Approaching mealtime, there were only two groups of customers in the entire shop.
Excluding the cloyingly affectionate couple by the door, Gao Yi’s gaze was quickly drawn to the man in the corner.
This was a kind of intuitive sensing, directly embedding the words “that person is a player” into Gao Yi’s mind.
Taking a deep breath, Gao Yi explained to the approaching waiter that he was looking for someone, and then slowly walked towards the corner.
On the way, with a slight thought, he changed his tag.
After a brief consideration, the tags he now wore became “Actor” and “Deadbeat”.
Both could provide subtle advantages in direct communication and interaction.
Only after sitting down opposite the other party did Gao Yi have time to examine this suddenly appearing player more closely.
His face looked quite young, only in his early twenties.
But inconsistent with this was his rather peculiar attire, a blend of “mature” and “trendy”.
Despite it being winter, he held a paper fan in his hand, sat with his legs crossed, and slowly fanned himself.
He wore a Chinese tunic suit, but it was a bright red color, with two black patterns drawn along the buttons.
He wore large round sunglasses that obscured his expression, paired with an immaculately slicked-back hair, making him look like a blind fortune teller.
And a noticeable black mole on the right side of his chin added a touch of mystery to him.
Of course, these were not the strangest things.
Looking closely, his fan was not fanning himself, but the seat next to him.
And there, a paper doll with blush painted on its cheeks was sitting—the kind often seen in funeral supplies.
Of course, compared to those crudely made funeral supplies, this paper doll’s clothing and face were much more exquisite.
Even more bizarrely, during the time Gao Yi approached and sat down, that paper doll clearly turned its head, watching him.
As if it had life.
Seeing Gao Yi seated opposite him, the man closed his fan, straightened up and said:
“Brother Gao Yi, I just knew you would be a very punctual person!”
“Since you already know my name, shouldn’t you introduce yourself first?”
Gao Yi didn’t ask any superfluous questions like “How do you know my name?”
The other party could find his home, so knowing his name was really nothing.
“Hahaha, my apologies, my humble name is Zhao Qian.”
The other party was not annoyed at all, laughing as he tapped his fan against his palm, introducing himself.
A moment later, Zhao Qian turned his right hand downwards to the side, pointing to the paper doll beside him:
“This is my daughter, Yi Yi… Come, Yi Yi, say ‘Gege’.”
Before Gao Yi could fully process these words, the paper doll beside him actually tilted its head and sweetly spoke:
“Ge—ge—”
Swallowing, Gao Yi still decided to accept the title of “Gege”.
“So, what do you want with me?”
Determined not to dwell on questions like “Why can a paper person talk?” or “How did he have such a daughter?”, Gao Yi returned to the main topic.
“Hey, what a thing to say. We are all ‘players’, so it’s only right that we communicate and help each other.”
Zhao Qian adjusted his sunglasses, his tone lighthearted.
Gao Yi did not believe a single word of this, literally.
Believing that a suddenly appearing stranger had good intentions was less plausible than believing Santa Claus would rob a bank for money to buy gifts for good children.
“Since you’re unwilling to say, why don’t I try to guess?”
Gao Yi propped his chin with one hand, leaning slightly forward, determined to seize control of the conversation.
“Oh? Then you try?”
Zhao Qian opposite him seemed to be intrigued as well, stroking the head of the paper doll beside him, leaning back and saying.
Seeing this, Gao Yi was not polite and began to state his deduction.
“It’s not strange that you know I’m a player, know where I live, and know my name. The question is, how do you know about the Heart Demon Mist?”
“The black-hooded player I met last night was so panicked, yet he still clutched that ticket tightly, because it was his only lifeline.”
“And you know that what he held was the Heart Demon Mist, and you know that someone who came out of that instance is worth meeting….”
Gao Yi looked directly at the other party, concluding with an unwavering tone:
“In other words, you know what difficulty of instance that ticket represents, and you know who has it.
“I guess, you were the one who gave out that ticket, right?”
“Heh…” Zhao Qian lowered his head slightly, letting his eyes peek over the top of his sunglasses, making direct eye contact with Gao Yi for the first time:
“Brother Gao Yi, as expected of someone who cleared the holy grail 5 instance.”
He paused slightly, then uttered the latter half of his sentence:
“But you guessed one thing wrong.”
“What thing?”
“I didn’t force the tickets on them; everyone who went in begged me to give them the tickets.”
….