CHAPTER 60: CHAPTER 51: SPATIAL JUMP

(New week, first time posting at this time, dual updates long live, asking for likes and everything, an additional update if we get 50 likes today, over a hundred recommendations adds an update, rewards and detailed comments usually mean an additional update too. It’s not a popular story, and still in the newbie phase, interaction is very important to Fu Zi, everyone’s support is my motivation to write more characters!! During the dual update period, updates usually happen at midnight and afternoon—although I’m not always punctual.)

*********

Upon hearing Major Lin say he needed to deliver documents to Xia You, Mo Xixi immediately volunteered to go. Mo Xixi had no trouble finding Xia You’s house; it only took a slight flick of her fingers to locate Xia You’s residence.

As Xia You came downstairs, she saw Mo Xixi, who seemed very familiar, chatting with her mother. Mo Xixi was wearing ordinary office attire instead of military uniform, which made Xia You also sigh with relief.

"Xiao You, you should bring colleagues home more often," Xia Yun made space and went to the kitchen to cut fruits, feeling her daughter was good in every aspect but just had a few friends.

"What have you been whispering to my mom?" Xia You looked at Xia Yun’s expression, guessing that Mo Xixi had not told her mother about her current job in Rand.

"I, a senior white-collar at an IT company, am also in charge of your new development project. I came to inform your mother that you have been selected to participate in the company’s project and specifically requested a month off for you," Mo Xixi, sharp-witted and astute, had sized up Xia Yun’s temperament the moment she entered. She then engaged Xia Yun in conversation to confirm that Xia You had not disclosed anything about the military region to her family.

While delivering the documents, Mo Xixi also took the opportunity to make a home visit, which one could tell from her glancing about with rollicking eyes.

"You don’t quite resemble your mother," Mo Xixi suddenly blurted out. Her voice was crisp and loud, reminding one of a chatty mynah. The sound reached the kitchen where Xia Yun paused her fruit cutting.

Xia You didn’t pay much attention as she, Simon, and Maggie had been told something similar by their neighbors when they first moved in. She had gotten used to such comments.

"It’s not about appearance, but more about temperament or eyes. Xia You, do you know that your eyes look very clean? But sometimes they change and become...very sharp, even scaring someone like me who has been in juvenile detention," Mo Xixi leaned closer to Xia You’s face, staring into her eyes.

"Sister, your new phone is so fun," just like any school-age child, Maggie found new gadgets like mobile phones fascinating. She sneaked into Xia You’s room, grabbed the three-in-one mobile phone, and hopped out excitedly. Maggie was scared. She had never seen Sister You as agitated as she was today. In two strides, Sister You snatched the phone from her hands, her face turning pale.

The phone was still warm from the child’s touch, slightly hot. Xia You’s biggest worry was that Maggie might accidentally touch the "Military Road" icon. She looked down and thankfully the conspicuous game icon was still there on the home screen, without any sign of being accessed.

"Maggie, come play with Xixi Sister. Look at your sister, just a broken phone and she’s so distressed. Tomorrow you come over to my place, there are lots of fun and tasty things at my house," Mo Xixi always loved anything cute. Mixed-race Maggie, with her black hair, blue eyes, and chubby limbs, was so adorable to look at.

(Don’t worry, this is a game that recognizes military identities, and it’s also restricted to adults, kids can’t trigger it.) Little Eight’s voice entered her mind, and Xia You then put down the phone, her face wearing an awkward smile.

This unimpressive-looking phone, even Mo Xixi, who considered herself an IT whiz, hadn’t detected any trick.

Thanks to Maggie’s distraction, Mo Xixi didn’t continue to tease Xia You.

The two sat in the courtyard eating the fruits Xia Yun brought, listening to the bustling sounds from the street.

Mo Xixi saw the stores behind them also getting busy, knowing it was time to talk business. She pulled out the materials, "You’re going to Longzhi Academy, and after successfully completing the military special training, you’re set."

The information was simple. Xia You was enrolled under her real name, just her age was slightly altered—changed from twenty-two to eighteen, a fresh high school graduate from Bazhou Senior High School ascending directly into Longzhi Academy.

"I dressing up as a high school student, isn’t it a bit too much," Xia You had some objections to this arrangement.

"You got the chance to join the Special Task Department thanks to your youthful face, being a fresh face, you wouldn’t be suspected on assignments. I just spent a long time coaxing, and Maggie still wouldn’t call me sister, she only agrees to call me auntie. I’m only a year older than you," Mo Xixi complained, pinching Xia You’s face.

Xia You was not accustomed to overly intimate gestures between people, turning her face away. For some reason, she particularly disliked being touched by others. Except for Maggie, even her mother Xia Yun could trigger her aversion.

As for her own skin color, Xia You had never particularly paid attention. Previously due to marathon training, her complexion was not very fair. Lately, however, her skin had become unusually translucent. Xia You couldn’t help but wonder if it was related to the previous Blood pupa incident.

"Are you not curious about the military training at Longzhi Academy at all?" Mo Xixi thought Xia You would ask more after transmitting the message, but Xia You casually responded and dropped the topic.

"Knowing won’t make much difference," Xia You appeared gentle and was friendly to others, but aside from friendliness, she exhibited no other emotions. Mo Xixi pursed her lips and looked again at Maggie, who was being amused by customers in the shop, and Xia Yun smiling beside her, muttering once more, "They really don’t seem like a family."

After Mo Xixi left, Xia You busied herself in the shop for a while, and it was past nine in the evening when she finally stopped and sat in the courtyard. From the open window upstairs, the sound of Xia Yun coaxing Maggie to sleep floated down, still holding the tri-functional phone.

"Are you ready?" Xia You asked quietly, needing to test whether using the phone to operate the military game had the same effect.

(I am Sub-God Little Eight, I don’t need to do mundane things like you,) Little Eight replied disdainfully, she was always on standby.

Under the dark starry sky, the courtyard fell silent, the night cool, with July’s leftover night-blooming jasmine striving to emit its last waves of fragrance.

After Xia Yun had lulled Maggie to sleep, she poked her head out, seeing Xia You still sitting in the recliner outside, her phone still lit, like she was texting someone.

"Xiao You should have a boyfriend," Xia Yun initially wanted to call her daughter upstairs, but then thought it might be better to let her stay in the courtyard, better than being stuffy and hot in the room.

In the courtyard, the phone screen darkened, and the night had just begun.

The previous times logging into "Military Road" were during the day, but uniquely this time, upon logging into the game, she discovered her current location was not at the Tushan Tribe where she had last left, and even the winding Tu River had vanished.

(No need to look anymore, I tinkered a bit with the system map, did you really think like those ordinary players, walking days and nights on the road, fiercely killing wild beasts and tribal people?) Little Eight wasn’t surprised; although a few of her Special Skills were sealed, her mind was not sealed.

Having put much effort, Little Eight sought to find some inherent glitches in "Military Road." No matter how smart the program is, it could not change the possibility of existing system glitches.

During the times Xia You was offline, Little Eight had thoroughly checked the system map in her military bag and finally discovered some issues. There are always a few points in the system map unmarked by coordinates, known as system blind spots. At these points, whether it’s the players doing something or the existence of a system Sub-God like Little Eight, both are unsupervised by the system.

Little Eight had made an adjustment called spatial leap, based on system glitches on the map coordinates, which means finding a point not properly coordinated by the system, then moving to another uncoordinated blank spot. This not only makes them undetectable by the system but also saves a lot of travel distance.

(From now on, after one spatial leap, you can directly travel back and forth between those two points, if you collect any system blind spots in coordinates, remember to record them.) Regarding Little Eight’s unauthorized action this time, Xia You did not have much objection, she focused on her task at hand.