Chapter 171: Chapter 160: Commemoration Chapter 171: Chapter 160: Commemoration (The plot in the story eerily coincides with reality, so I thought, why not insert a little extra story? Remember the field agent from the “Dark Realm” mission who was sacrificed?)

“From the earth you came, and to the earth you shall return. The body chooses the earth, the soul resides in the heart.”

…

K City cemetery area…

Moonlight spilled onto the ground, a silent expanse, leaves were incomplete, falling with the wind, their rustling clear to the ear.

The gate to the cemetery was pushed open, a tall and lanky figure quietly walked in.

He was thin, and due to somewhat narrow shoulders, looked like a “telephone pole,” currently draped in a very ordinary trench coat, through the gap of the collar one could see a black suit underneath.

Few people visit graves at night, let alone on a cold day like today…

But he had just completed a task this morning, while not too tricky, returning was still somewhat delayed.

The tall and thin man arrived at a standing gravestone…

This gravestone was exceedingly simple, it even lacked a name.

But he knew the name of the person to whom the gravestone belonged

A guy who once told him the meaning of life.

…

Almost two months have passed since that strange mission, now reflecting upon it, what it left in him, aside from that giant flesh egg and the blood that flew…

Was the news about his death.

The man built like a telephone pole let out a wry smile, knowing that everyone dies, he would too, nearly every day in his job he faced death. But when the news of that man’s death came, he still couldn’t quite believe it.

That man… had truly died.

…

…

Life and death?

These are two experiences that all life will encounter, if someone were to ask about them, then I could tell you quite clearly, you wouldn’t receive a satisfactory answer.

Because it’s an ultimate philosophical question.

Just like people always ask, what’s the meaning of life.

Everyone could only respond with cliches like “to live with significance is to live well, and to live well is to live with significance,” encouraging you to cherish the present, live earnestly, and so on.

Each time “Telephone Pole” heard such things, he would smile silently to himself, because he knew his heart wasn’t yet persuaded.

Indeed, people can have a splendid life. But where are those people? Can he hear the praise and curses of the generations after him, see his own name in history books with his own eyes, can his statue wink at the crowd admiring him? In the end, none of it relates to you.

That said, so-called significance is all a joke.

After that, he joined the field team of the Order Foundation…

Thus began experiencing countless bizarre tasks, or the transitions between life and death, yet after all these.

He felt… his heart was still empty.

Alcohol, blood, gunsmoke, women

He tried nearly everything he could imagine.

But still, was never satisfied.

He didn’t know what he was chasing…

If life is so void of meaning, what is the point of it all?

…

…

But he eventually found the answer to his question.

And the one who provided the answer was this individual before him whose complete corpse no longer existed.

He was a strange person, always setting his mind on things that differed from what normal men would think about.

I remember once, Wang Billy and I coincidentally were assigned to the same task, and during a waiting period in the mission, we discussed “the meaning of life”.

Of course, the meaning they discussed that day was not what others frequently mention, such as getting up early to go to school, studying diligently, helping an old lady cross the street after school, or bringing a tub of water for their parents to wash their feet after arriving home—a day full of purpose like that.

Just as it was said in the beginning, it is a philosophical question.

And as is the case with philosophical questions, they are naturally difficult to clearly express in words.

…

That night, within the stillness of the silence, my breathing became increasingly discernible, and I slowly closed my eyes. My senses calmed, and my body underwent a transformation. The sensation of the bed beneath me disappeared, I sunk into the darkness, all connection with the world was completely severed, I felt… no longer empty.

And when I tried to understand this feeling, to savor the agony, I also came to comprehend the existence of meaning.

The telephone pole looked at the empty tombstone before it… “Heh, perhaps even God wants to have a wrestle…”

——————

——————

The view returns to the story…

Last time Chen Xiao participated in the “Elite Competition” in District D, after selecting the type of competition, the number of players and waiting times should have immediately appeared, but this time was different. As soon as he tapped on the screen of his phone, an electronic map that usually guided him to the task locations popped up directly, and this map undeniably indicated the venue for this competition.

“Wow~,” Chen Xiao sighed lightly but wasn’t too surprised, because after all, this was a “branch” of the Foundation, which was bound to have a much larger population than the research institute he used to stay at, and there would definitely be no shortage of participants in such a competition.

So he just chuckled and followed the directions indicated on the map.

After passing through several corridors and winding around a few turns, Chen Xiao arrived in front of an elevator, beside which, on the wall, there was a small plaque… it read “Elite Competition Exclusive Elevator”.

Chen Xiao slightly raised his eyebrows. It seemed that the competition was quite valued here. With that thought, he stepped into the elevator.

However, just as his feet entered the elevator, the doors immediately closed, and the next second, a “click” sounded from above, and a beam of fan-shaped red light shone down from the top of the elevator. A rapid synthesized voice followed.

“Confirming contestant identity—C-level Field Operative, Chen Xiao.”

This message was played in just one second, followed by a slight pause, after which the electronic voice continued, “Timer starts!”

At the same time, the elevator jostled slightly and began to move.

Chen Xiao was taken aback by this series of rapid actions.

“What’s going on?” he muttered under his breath.

Right after, his phone in his pocket began to vibrate.

Caught up in the frantic atmosphere, Chen Xiao immediately took out his phone.

The very top of the phone screen now displayed a string of numbers.

4:59

And the last digit was changing with the seconds, in an instant it became

4:58

Even a fool could see that this indicated some kind of countdown. It was set for 5 minutes!

And beneath this progressively decreasing time

…