Dying In Real Life Is Another Way To Play - Chapter 40 Intertwined Fate

After coming from the Central Military CommissionHQ in August 1st building at Beijing, the Minister of National Defense, Ye Qiang went back home.

He’s been out of the house for a week and was looking forward to a good rest at home. As soon as he arrived, his men stationed themselves in the Living room as he went to the dining area.

“Aunt Shi, have those two eaten dinner yet?” Ye Qiang asked their maid

“Not yet General Ye, I haven’t seen those two today, They didn’t seem to get out of their room today as usual.” Aunt Shi replied

“Never mind, I’ll go check on them, I told Ye Qing to stop playing that stupid game and get back on track with the military.”

Ye Qiang went to Ye Qing’s room and knocked.

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

“Ye Qing, open up…”

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

“I’m coming in, I hope your not naked like the last time…” Ye Qiang opened the room and saw the Capsule empty.

Although Ye Qiang was not familiar with how the capsule operates, that weird blinking red light which he never saw before he came the last time was lit up like an emergency. He went a bit closer noticed a paper taped on the glass and read the IFDVR Capsules interface which showed “User’s Vital Signs Null”.

He didn’t pay too much attention as Ye Qing may have forgotten to turn the damn machine off before leaving and read the paper. After reading through it for a while, his face turned serious and then rushed to Ye Qian’s room, as he opened it, he was greeted with the same scene.

He checked the room thoroughly before exiting and then took out his Smart phone and dialed a number. The call went through after a few rings as he said.

“Yes, it’s me… I’m sorry I had to call you abruptly,It seems we have a situation… Are you at home? … Great, Is yoir daugther Lso playing the Virtual Reality game called “ARC”?Yes, it seems she and Ye Qian are playing it, can you check and see if your daughter is in her room?”

After waiting for a while, the other party went back to answer his question.

“I see… Was the capsule blinking with red signal lights? Okay… I need you and your Wife to meet me at the Zhang’s… Try to set aside your issues for the moment… I’ll call them that we’ll be coming… Yes I’ll make a Flight arrangement for both of you, please come as soon as possible. Thank you.”

After the call, he made another one.

“Yes, it’s me, right… sorry about the sudden call… Me and the Lan’s will be coming over… Don’t worry about it… I talked to him already… I’ll tell you once I get there.”

After hanging up the call he made another one to contact the airport base in Hangzhou Jianqiao at Zhejiang Province to arrange a flight for the Lan’s. He then summoned his security details and went to board his car.

“General Ye, are you going out again?” asked Aunt Shi

“Yes.. Oh… Please make sure no one goes to Ye Qing and Ye Qian’s rooms until I get back, including you…” he said as he boarded the vehicle.

Aunt Shi bowed until the car left the premises.

Ye Qiang arrived at the Zhang Mansion in less than an hour, when he was at the car, he called a few more numbers to start covert operations on all HIVE NEURAL TECH branches.

Upon arriving Zhang Shao and Zhang Min received him, after hearingthat he hadn’t had dinner yet they had their cook prepare one for him as they talked for a while without divulging anything yet he said that it would be best as soon as the Lan’s arrive.

After more than 3 hours, the Lan’s arrived and went directly to the living room where the others are waiting. Ye Qiang nodded at Zhang Shao which in turn ordered everyone to vacate the area as they started to move to the garden, worry can be seen in the eyes of the ladies if the families.

As soon as they were at the garden. Ye Qiang did not sit down and started to speak while the others are seated, listening intently.

“First of all, I would like to thank everyone for coming here and giving this old man, face… I know that both of your families had some misunderstandings and I’m hoping we can set that aside for now…”

“Ever since my wife died, I have always followed her dying wish, which was to look after and be more lenient with Ye Qing and Ye Qian. Both of them were there when that happened, that is why, I know for a fact that Ye Qing and Ye Qian would never lie nor play tricks to me since we are the only ones left to stand by and look after each other…” General Ye said as he looked at both women who were his deceased wifes junior sisters.

“When I came home earlier this evening, i found that both of them were not in their rooms, as such, I called the Lan’s since I knew my daughter and son met with them by stroke of fate… Who knew that even after years of not meeting each other… Our children would meet again in a game?” General Ye continued

“General, do you think that they’re all together now that’s why you asked us to come? I don’t see any reason for us to meet here just because of that…” Lan Ruan asked

“That’s true, the last time we met like this was just recently, at Zhang Shao sons’, funeral…” General Ye looke at Zhang Shao who nodded.

“Before we begin, I want everyone to compose themselves. I will give the letter that Ye Qing wrote on top of his VR Capsule before he and Ye Qian went “missing”… the reason I say that they are missing is because I had my security team check and verify our CCTV at home… the last time he or Ye Qian went out was a day ago… there were no indications that they ever went out of their rooms and the house.”

“That’s impossible! surely something must have happened! We’ll do our best to help you General Ye! just like how you helped us years ago…” Zhang Shao answered while Lan Ruan was silent.

“Lan Ruan, earlier when I called you, I asked you if Lan Ranyan was at home as well?” Ye Qiang asked as he did not immediately reply to Zhang Shao

“Yes, she wasn’t in her room, our butler also mentioned that she hasn’t been seen going out as well.” Lan Ruan answered, this time, Zhang Min was already holding Lan Jing’s hands preparing for the worst news.

“Alright, first, I’ll show this letter to your husbands, after they are done reading this, I will give it to you two ladies…” General Ye motioned the two men to come near him and read the letter.

The two were serious and silent for the first few seconds when Zhang Shao suddenly pulled back a bit, looked at his wife but remained silent and then continued reading. A bit later Lan Ruan also did the same but before he could say a word. General Ye made a “shushing” gesture with his fingers.

Seeing their actions, the two ladies were deeply concerned but did not utter a single word, seeing that General Ye wanted them to understand some things first.

After the two men were finished with the letter, they passed it back to General Ye.

In turn, General Ye smiled and nodded as he took the letter to the ladies, and moved back a bit.
for visiting.

Lan Jing and Zhang Min both held the letter and read it. It said:

“Dad, if you’re reading this, both me and Ye Qian are already “dead”… Well, not really dead though but will no longer be living on Earth… Me and Ye Qing have decided to accompany Lan Ranyan, She’s the heiress of the Lan Group of Companies, we need to stay with Zhang Shan at another place called Gaea… I know it may be hard to believe but this is the truth.”

“Some time ago, we met Zhang Shan inside the game called “ARC”. For some reason, he ended up disappearing right before the fire started in his capsule at his apartment, causing his body to transfer over inside the “game”. We just learned a few days earlier that Lan Ranyan’s theory that this is not really a “game” but a real world or planet was actually true.”

“We did see Zhang Shan in the end though and he’s stuck here… He installed something in his capsule which was sent by HIVE NEURAL TECH which caused his untimely departure on Earth, coincidentally saving him from the fire… Lan Ranyan was thinking now that the fire has something to do with his presumed “death”.”

“HIVE NEURAL TECH also sent the three of us the same package he recieved. I kept the boxes me and Ye Qian received inside my safety deposit box in this room, the code is mom’s birthday. I’m hoping that you could look into it until we find our way to get back. If you have someone to blame, blame Ye Qian for installing the device before consulting me.”

“Anyway, you might not believe me or know who Zhang Shan is, he was in the news a few weeks ago… he reportedly died in a VR capsule. You can look it up, I think he’s a sketchy character too, Lan Ranyan thinks he’s hiding so many secrets. For some reason, I think he and Lan Ranyan knew each other since she called him “Baobei” and he replied by calling her”Laopo” I’m not sure that would help though, but Lan Ranyan’s parents may know something about it if you consult them.”

“So, this is not exactly a farewell letter, I just want to let you know that me and Ye Qian are going to be okay. I’m not sure when or how we can comeback. I also think Zhang Shan still has a way to communicate to the outside world or back here at Earth, I’ll ask him a favor to send messages to you if everything goes well.”

“He seems to know this lewd guy called Leito Alcantara from Spain, were kind of being hunted right now but I think we can manage it. My next letter if ever it reaches you will contain the name of my favorite candies when I was young. That way you’d know it’s me. You could send messages back from the same messenger if ever Zhang Shan agrees to it.”

When reading the letter the ladies would stop every now and then to cry, specifically when they reached the part of Zhang Shan being alive, Zhang Min couldn’t hold back her tears as she cried so much while whimpering “Shan-er’s alive! He’s alive!”

After the two ladies composed themselves and stopped crying, they looked at each others eyes and started laughing saying things like how Lan Ranyan called Zhang Shan”Baobei” and he replied her with “Laopo”.

The men including General Ye were at loss as they didn’t know what it meant. Seeing their confused faces. The two looked at them.

Lan Jing wiped her tears from laughter as she said.

“When Lan Ranyan and Zhang Shan were young, before the “incident” happened, we overheard them saying these words… We thought they may have heard this from somewhere and started adapting it for playing house-”

Zhang Min added “That’s when we found out that they they were “lovers” for some time already, except that their idea was a bit twisted… Lan Ranyan told Zhang Shan that being lovers meant that he was her pet and she was his owner!”

After saying this, the two ladies laughed again.

When the two men heard this, they had a sour face while General Ye Qiang laughed as he teasingly looked at the two men and whispered.

“I think Lan Ranyan got that right, didn’t she?”

Hearing his comment the two men frowned a bit then laughed as well.

After the little intermission of the ladies laughter, everyone went back into silence as they looked at General Ye Qiang, waiting for his instruction. He was the one who called for this meeting after all. The tense mood earlier has at least turned lighter.

Seeing everyone looked at him, General Ye started speaking.

“Both of my children are trapped together with yours… Although I would want them to return safely as soon as possible, it seemed they made that decision to support each other. After taking a lot into consideration… I justfeel it quite distrubing that with so many years of being apart from each other, fate seemed to still bind our young ones together.”

Everyone nodded as they heard General Ye comment like this.

Lan Ruan spoke first and said, “Our company has been supplying and providing mass production of HIVE NEURAL TECH’s hardware. If you could provide us a copy of what package Ye Qing received, we might be able to look further into this. Besides, we still have the capsules to study and identify those devices further.”

“I don’t think it would be the same hardware you produce that could have made this possible. If my guess is correct, the additional device they added was produced only in small quantities and delivered only to pre-selected and specific individuals.” Zhang Shao added.

“Shouldn’t we just apprehend HIVE about this rather than working secretly behind the dark? Aside from what they have done to our children, I think what they did is going to shock the world.” Lan Jing added

“No, Jing-jing, that’s the last thing we want to do. Many things could happen, like the company being dissolved to smaller ones due to everyone trying to get a piece of their technology. That would possibly push their research to have our children back here with us to take a bit longer. With how corporate world and judiciary systems, including this world breaking research. I bet countries would make it harder for them to complete it.” Zhao Min answered her

General Ye nodded and said “I agree with Zhao Min, this is something that our families must deal with slowly and secretly. I have already made some military personnel to look into this and observe their assets and properties closely.”

“I will be speaking to a few military leaders about this after preparing a few evidence. I need all of your cooperation… We couldn’t just jump in to action just because of our emotions without identifying first what were really up against. We might not get our desired results in the long run.” General Ye added

“Thank you General Ye… Should you need other things, don’t hesitate to call us for assistance.” Lan Ruan said

General Ye nodded as he asked the ladies to give them some space to discuss a few things. General Ye asked Zhang Shao about his son before he left home a year ago, and how he lived before running away. Afterwards he asked Lan Ruan the same question about her daughter. He then told them that he had some people look into their childrens profiles and whereabouts for the last year to find out anything odd or what could have caused them to be selected by HIVE.

Zhang Shao mentioned that Zhang Shan was living a normal students life before he graduated. He did seem odd which started six or seven years ago, wherein he started being engrossed with economics, since his younger years all he ever did was play around with other kids his age and this behavior made it a bit strange.

He also mentioned that during those odd years he and his wife had to take Zhang Shan a few trips to the “facility” as he kept having nightmares about the “incident” that happened when they were young. There were times when Zhang Shan was recommended to take trips around the country and sometimes, abroad. Sometimes he or his wife would accompany him during those trips.

Lan Ruan mentioned that Lan Ranyan was normally fine, though she was also having occasional dreams which causes her childhood memories to relapse and they had to take her back to the “facility” every now and then which started roughly the same time Zhang Shai mentioned. Although she was not recommended to go on trips but rather to take some new medicine.

General Ye nodded in understanding. He mentioned that his daugther, Ye Qian did have a few visits in the “facility” as well but mostly for check-ups.

As they were discussing, General Ye’s phone suddenly rang and he answered it.

“Yes… I’m in the 2nd district at a friends house… Right, I did… there had been some few issues at home which gave me a reason to-…” General Ye was cut off as he went silent with just listening to the other person he was talking to.

“WHAT!?! H-how did that happen?….” he shouted and then calmed himself down afterwards.

“Yes, I believe in it and more so recently…”

“Okay, I see… I will pull out my men for that. I understand… I’ll focus on other things instead.”

After speaking on the phone, the two looked at him with worried looks as they overheard his responses.

“Don’t worry about that call, it’s not about what I asked my men to look into regarding HIVE….” General Ye Qiang assured the two

The two breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this.

“That was was the General Secretary…” he continued, which suprised the two.

“T-the P-president? W-why?” the two asked curiously.

“Zhang Shao, it seems you raised quite a unique son… The call earlier was about him… for some reason, a few leaders of different countries just started reaching out to the General Secretary a while ago asking for us to stop looking into the matter regarding Zhang Shan… ” General Ye Qiang said.

“Some of those leaders mentioned trade embargoes, some about a possible act of war while a few mentioned restricting our people in their countries among other things…” General Ye said seriously.

“H-how could that be?” Zhang Shao stuttered

Lan Ruan was surprised as well as he looked at Zhang Shao and then back at General Ye Qiang.

“What was intriguing is that the President asked me a question… ” General Ye Qiang said as he looked at the two.

“If I believe in “fate”…” he added as he paused

“I said Yes… ” he continued

And then General Ye finished his statement as he spoke.

“He then told me to avoid testing it…”