At this very moment, in the Sheng Gu Immortal Kingdom.
Zhou Sheng Gu looked at the sky in the distance, in the direction of the Demon Realm, and sighed, "Why on earth did you seek the truth? Alas! After all this time, I've grown some feelings for you, and it's truly unbearable. It seems I need to withdraw for a bit and report to the young lady. I wonder if the young lady knows what's happening in the Metaverse."
As he finished speaking, Zhou Sheng Gu's body suddenly froze, as if stuck.
Concurrently, in the outside world, an unknown realm, inside a 3D cockpit-like game pod, an elderly man opened his eyes. This elderly man bore a striking resemblance to Zhou Sheng Gu, but he was not in ancient attire. Instead, he wore modern clothing, a Chinese Zhongshan suit.
The man immediately stood up from the game pod, as if he had just emerged from a vast, hyper-realistic VR world.
On the wall of the room, an electronic calendar displayed the date: March 2nd, 2523.
The man who closely resembled Zhou Sheng Gu walked out of the room and into another. In this room, a girl of unparalleled beauty and ethereal temperament sat by the window, lost in thought.
"Young lady!" the man who resembled Zhou Sheng Gu called out urgently as he entered.
The girl of unparalleled beauty immediately snapped back to attention and asked with confusion, "Uncle Fu, why did you withdraw? You must not let him discover it. Such cruel truths, if he knew, he would surely be heartbroken. You must play the role of his grandfather well and not reveal any flaws."
"Young lady, I have been playing the role of Zhou Sheng Gu according to your settings in the Metaverse. I thought he would live a good life for 100 billion years in the Metaverse. Although the time inside is vastly different from the real world, for him, it would be as if he had truly lived for 100 billion years. However, after he reached the Demon Emperor realm, he did not live a life of carefree bliss. He wants to seek the truth of the world, and I cannot stop him...!"
"Why does he seek the truth of the world?"
"He believes that everyone in the Metaverse is living in a higher-level realm, perhaps in a sub-world of a god in the God Realm. Furthermore, he speculates that the girl he loved in his past life... which is you, entered from the outside and is not from the Metaverse. He has now gone to the Demon Realm to find the two original Demon Emperors there, who are your two cousins...!"
"They shouldn't say anything then!"
The man who resembled Zhou Sheng Gu shook his head, "I'm not sure. You can go ask your two cousins and tell them not to speak too much."
"Alright, all I hope now is that he can live his life peacefully."
"Young lady, I saw you spacing out earlier. You haven't moved on from this virtual, misguided love, have you? If you continue like this, the family will truly be enraged and erase his consciousness from the Metaverse."
The beautiful girl's eyes immediately welled up with tears. She shook her head and said tearfully, "Uncle Fu, I can't forget. It's too real. I just went in to play a role casually, but I never expected it to be so real, just like a true world. And although he is a character generated by the Metaverse system, for some reason, he is no different from a real person. He and I truly fell in love in the virtual Metaverse. This is my first love... I really can't forget it." The beautiful girl began to cry, appearing to be a deeply devoted girl.
"The Metaverse is a hyper-realistic game launched by our family's company. Besides the players who enter, there are many more system-generated characters. These characters are generated from the consciousness of people who have died in reality. They possess high intelligence, and their intelligence is no different from real people, or even real people. If a player doesn't know how to regulate themselves, any player could become ensnared, eventually unable to distinguish between reality and virtuality. Young lady, it is precisely because you fell in love with the character Zhou Qing that the company had to revise the character settings and destroy his family. If it weren't for your secret interference, unwilling to delete his character and let him live anew in the smallest world, Earth, he would have ceased to exist. But that's all water under the bridge. Seeing that his life on Earth was not going well, you revised his settings again and had me appear as his grandfather to help him grow. What is the point of all this? Do you know that you are only harming him? Once the family discovers that you are still grieving and lost over a virtual character, they will surely erase everything about him." Su Dan Novel Network
"Uncle Fu, I know what I should do. You should return to the Metaverse quickly, lest he discover something. In any case, you must stop him from pursuing the truth and make him believe that the Immortal Realm is the highest world. Let him live there peacefully until this game is shut down in the real world."
"Alright." The man who closely resembled Zhou Sheng Gu walked out of the room and returned to the previously mentioned 3D game pod. The next second, a wave of light enveloped him.
In the Sheng Gu Immortal Kingdom, Zhou Sheng Gu, who had been frozen, suddenly came back to life.
"Alas!" Zhou Sheng Gu sighed.
At this moment, Zhou Hong was returning from the Demon Realm to the Immortal Realm.
About a day later, Zhou Hong returned to the Sheng Gu Immortal Kingdom.
"Grandpa, I'm back," Zhou Hong called out.
"Zhou Hong, how was it? Did you gain anything from your trip to the Demon Realm?" Zhou Sheng Gu quickly went out to ask.
"Yes, but I don't know how to say it." Zhou Hong looked at his grandfather from his past life, filled with complexity.
"Haha, then take your time and tell me."
Zhou Hong nodded and recounted all the information he had obtained from the Supreme Demon Emperor in the Demon Realm to his grandfather.
Hearing Zhou Hong's words, Zhou Sheng Gu sighed inwardly and cursed the Supreme Demon Emperor in his heart for revealing so much, and for even mentioning the word Metaverse.
"Grandpa, you are knowledgeable. What is the Metaverse? Have you ever heard of it?" Zhou Hong asked.
"No. Perhaps that Supreme Demon Emperor was just trying to trick you. Don't take it too seriously. For now, you should just live your life well. You possess such great power now, enjoy your life to the fullest and don't overthink things," Zhou Sheng Gu quickly advised.
"Grandpa, I always feel like a bird trapped in a cage. Although this cage is very large, I always want to fly out. If I didn't know there was a bigger sky outside the cage, I might have lived like this forever. But now, I am certain that there are higher realms outside. How can you ask me to live a carefree life here? I must find a way to get out."
"Zhou Hong, listen to your grandfather and don't mess around." Zhou Sheng Gu sighed deeply, appearing somewhat distressed. After all, he and Zhou Hong had interacted as grandfather and grandson in the Metaverse for so long, and he had developed feelings for him. How could he bear to let him know such a cruel truth, to tell him that in reality, he was just a string of code.