In May, the weather became stuffy. In the evening, Zhong Yue walked into the stairs in a sweat while wearing a vest and shorts, carrying a few bags, and greeted the old man who was going downstairs.

"Xiao Zhong, go shopping alone, where is your girlfriend?" the old man asked with a smile.

"I'm on a business trip. The uncle is going to take a walk."

After a few casual greetings, Zhong Yue went upstairs.

The place he rented is on the third floor, with two bedrooms and one living room, and the decoration is very new. It is not far from his company, so it is very convenient. Of course, the rent is not cheap, and it is a bit difficult to pay with his salary.

After entering the house, he changed into slippers, walked to the kitchen with the purchased vegetables, and started working hard.

An hour later, it became completely dark.

In the house, a table of steaming dishes has been arranged, four dishes and one soup.

Zhong Yue lowered the air conditioner twice, took off his apron, and then sat at the table. He did not rush to get on his chopsticks, but took out a small cake that he had bought in advance, and the cake was written with 26 numbers written in black chocolate sauce.

He took out a small candle, inserted it in the center of the cake, and lit it.

Looking at the fire, his eyes felt a little sad.

Today is his 26th birthday.

Two years after graduation, he worked in a small company, earning several thousand yuan, without a car, and no trace of the house.

And my girlfriend had already broken up.

The ambitions when I first graduated were wiped out by reality bit by bit by bit through several years of hard work.

When he went home for the New Year last year, his father said that he would pay several thousand yuan to work, so he might as well go back to inherit the stationery store at home.

Thinking about his future, he felt a little confused. After a while, he calmed down. At least, he would celebrate his birthday first.

"Happy birthday."

He whispered to himself, blowing out the candle and starting to eat.

.........

It was late at night, and Zhong Yue was lying on the lounge chair on the balcony, looking like a night sky covered with haze, siping beer in small sips. He was very light in alcohol, and he was a little drunk after less than half of his drink.

Recalling every bit of the past few years, he felt sad, "I don't seek wealth and honor, I just want to gain a foothold in this city. Is it that difficult?"

He had something in his heart, but he couldn't control himself when he was drinking. After listening to the third time, he touched his hands and felt empty. He muttered, stood up staggeringly on the chair, and went back to get the wine.

When he passed by the room, he tripped up by something, and staggered, his shoulder hit the bookshelf beside him. With a bang, something fell to the ground.

"Hiss—"

The shoulders were so painful that he rubbed them for a while before he recovered. He looked down and saw that the culprit who tripped him was a hair dryer. He immediately got angry and kicked the wall, and it broke up with a bang.

When he turned around, he saw a square mooncake box on the ground, and the things inside were scattered all over the ground. He couldn't help but be stunned, and slowly squatted down, feeling his feet a little soft, so he simply sat on the ground.

There is a thick layer of dust on the mooncake box, and I don’t know how long it will take to put it on the bookshelf.

Several white envelopes, inside which were letters from his girlfriend when she was in high school.

The stack of black and white photos were given to each other by the classmates before graduation in the sixth grade.

Several address books, primary school graduation photos, middle school graduation photos, high school graduation photos...

The box contains all his memories of his student days.

After a while, he carefully packed the items and put them back into the box. Before he knew it, his mood calmed down and he woke up a little bit of wine.

“Huh?”

Suddenly, he saw a black metal block, which suddenly brought back a long memory.

This piece of metal is a cube, five centimeters long. It was picked by a stream in his hometown when he was five or six years old. He thought it was a natural stone and always regarded it as a treasure. He even had a quarrel with his friends for this.

Until he studied physics after going to junior high school, he realized the strangeness of metal blocks. Once he took it out and weighed it, he found that its density was very low and it didn't look like metal at all. He judged that it should be hollow.

However, its surface is very smooth and there is no gap.

Later, he used violent means, smashed with hammers, acetylene welding, and drilled with electric drills. Not to mention smashing them open, he could not even leave any trace.

From then on, he realized that this metal block is not an ordinary thing. No matter how hard the metal is, it cannot be as hard as it is.

He had countless fantasies about the things in the metal block. Will it be a treasure map, or, like the Aladdin magic lamp, there is a god who can satisfy all his wishes. Or, it is a secret to practice peerless magic skills...

It can be said that this metal block embodies many of his childhood wonderful fantasies.

As I get older, I have fewer ideas. I just think that if I sell it to the Institute of Science and Technology, I might be able to sell it for some money. Of course, I just think about it.

Later, after a long time, I forgot it and it turned out that it had been kept here.

He had long forgotten about taking the wine, so he reached out to hold the metal block in his hand, pinched it hard, and a light sound was very clear in the room late at night.

"Well.."

He looked at the open gap and his head was a little bit muted, wondering if he had drunk too much and had hallucinations. The metal box that he had tried countless ways before but could not be opened. Now he opened it with a light break?

"What will be inside?"

As soon as this thought came, his heart pounding. This question has puzzled him for more than 20 years, and now the answer is about to be revealed.

He subconsciously held his breath and slowly opened the lid.

The box is empty and nothing is there.

He opened his mouth, feeling a little disappointed. Soon, he smiled bitterly and said self-deprecatingly, "I actually have such unrealistic fantasies, it's really..."

At this moment, a blue light lit up in the metal box, forming a square blue light curtain. A sound rang out in his ears, "The universal children's growth assistance system serves you. This system has one-to-one guidance from top educational experts to develop the most suitable learning plan for your children..."

What's going on?

Zhong Yue opened his mouth slightly, his eyes a little confused.

"Beep—" Suddenly, a sharp alarm sounded, "Warning, an unknown error occurred in the system, and self-test began..."

"The self-test failed, the system data was lost..."

"Factory reset failed..."

"The connection to the server failed, the reason is unknown..."

A series of rapid warnings made him look at the blue screen in front of him flashing quickly, as if he would collapse at any time. His heart suddenly rose to his throat.

"Bei—The system will restart in 3 seconds..."

"Restart is completed, scanning..."
Chapter completed!