I Will Never Submit to Miss Grim Reaper - Chapter 426

Chapter 426: Super Metaverse?

 

Su Yunjin is considered quite prominent in our small circle.

 

If it weren’t for the chance late-night chat I had with Pipi from the author group before, where we got to know each other, and then “coincidentally” through Pipi and Jiang Wei, an old author friend, I got to know “Jituto”.

 

When the Yae-Do Novel Network suddenly ran into trouble, our group of authors conspired to demand royalties. I really didn’t have any “connections” to know such a person as Su Yunjin.

 

In addition to his father being the big boss of Tongmeng, he also has an uncle working in the provincial procuratorate.

 

This time, Su Yunjin brought this “Uncle Lin” and referred to him as “a leader from the province”. Just by looking at his expression, I knew this person was not simple.

 

At least Su Yunjin looked very respectful towards him, which is enough to prove that he should be at least on the same level as Su Yunjin’s uncle, if not higher.

 

However, none of this matters much to me. I don’t plan to join the government, nor do I aspire to become great in the future. As for this “Lin Yidong”, I just gave him the respect due to an elder, without going overboard like they show in TV dramas or movies… nodding and bowing or currying favor once I learned he was a provincial leader.

 

Stay calm, stay calm.

 

“I came over this time with both personal intentions and… let’s consider it official business,” said the leader from the city, bringing us to the lounge on the first floor. After Chef Wang finished preparing the white-cut duck, he invited me to sit opposite him.

 

“Before we discuss official matters, I’d like to get acquainted a bit,” he said, taking out tea utensils from his bag and pouring hot water from the nearby kettle. He brewed tea for both me and Xiao Mo, then gestured towards me.

 

“This is Nuo’er, Yin Nuo’er, right?”

 

“Yes, Yin Nuo’er, and this is my best friend, Yin Xiamo.”

 

I nodded and took the tea cup. “Thank you, Uncle Lin.”

 

“You have a very nice demeanor, young lady,” he commented upon seeing my composed demeanor. Then he turned to Xiao Mo. “Yin Xiamo, a very pleasant name.”

 

“Hello,” Xiao Mo responded calmly. Compared to me, who showed respect as a junior to a provincial leader, Xiao Mo spoke as if addressing an equal. “Yin Xiamo, I am Nuo’er’s friend… more precisely, her partner.”

 

For Xiao Mo, treating “Lin Yidong” as an equal in conversation was already giving him plenty of face.

 

Xiao Mo had lived for thousands of years. Forget about city-level or provincial-level officials, in her world, she had seen everything from city lords to the Archbishops of the Sacred Heaven Cathedral. Perhaps she had even encountered beings similar to “Creator Gods” in that “Void” before. Treating a middle-aged man she met for the first time as an ordinary person was already Xiao Mo’s utmost respect.

 

“Hehe, you young people are quite open-minded nowadays,” “Lin Yidong” chuckled, seemingly not minding Xiao Mo’s calm demeanor.

 

“Although I may not fully understand these novel ideas, I respect everyone’s choices and support you. As long as one lives a happy life, that’s what matters.”

 

I glanced quietly at Su Yunjin beside me.

 

He just silently sipped his tea without saying a word.

 

Normally, if it were a more formal “meeting with a provincial leader,” Su Yunjin would have definitely informed us beforehand.

 

For an unexpected visit like this, Su Yunjin didn’t even call me and Xiao Mo. It could be either at Lin Yidong’s request to keep it discreet or that this matter wasn’t particularly formal, perhaps more of a private discussion.

 

“I took a brief look at your backgrounds before coming here, Yin Xiamo, Yin Nuo’er. Both of you came from an orphanage, and Nuo’er, you had a brother once, right?”

 

“Hmm.”

 

I nodded. “In May, my brother… he passed away.”

 

“Due to some vascular issues, he suffered a sudden cerebral hemorrhage and passed away. I saw the related reports from the unit. All I can say is… child, my condolences.”

 

Lin Yidong sighed lightly. “Recently, reports in our province indicate a trend of cardiovascular diseases affecting younger people. Once vascular problems arise, if not detected early, it can indeed be fatal.”

 

“Also in May, there was a young man in a urban village in the central district who had a cerebral hemorrhage… Most cerebral hemorrhages initially present mild symptoms like numbness in the limbs, fatigue, or dizziness. People often dismiss these as common issues, not realizing the seriousness until it’s too late.”

 

“This also shows… the pressure on young people these days is increasing.”

 

I held the tea cup, blew on it gently, and nodded without speaking.

 

“Hehe, there’s no need to be too nervous,” Lin Yidong continued.

 

“As I mentioned earlier, I came here today firstly to taste your culinary skills. I spent twenty years in Shenzhen City and am very familiar with the Five-Colored Glutinous Rice, Sour Porridge, and White Cut Duck here. Once I left Shenzhen, no chef outside here could make them. Today, I came specifically to taste these childhood memories.”

 

Lin Yidong picked up a piece of duck meat, dipped it in some sour porridge. “Are you going to eat?”

 

“Oh…”

 

I set down my tea cup and also picked up a large piece of duck meat, first offering some to Xiao Mo beside me, then picking a smaller piece for myself and placing it in my bowl.

 

“Mmm! This taste, exactly!”

Lin Yidong exclaimed in delight after taking a bite. “Just like the flavor I had when I was young. Did you make this?”

 

I shook my head. “I didn’t make the duck.”

 

I wouldn’t know how to make white cut duck, I can’t even handle regular ducks. The white cut chicken and duck in the kitchen were sourced fresh by Chef Wang’s partners and brought to the cafe for slicing.

 

The kitchen knife feels heavy enough for me. I can manage cutting cucumbers and radishes, but chopping duck meat is beyond me.

 

“Not the duck, I meant this sour porridge,” Lin Yidong clarified, shaking his head and gesturing towards the various dipping sauces on the table.

 

“This soy sauce, and these chili and sour porridge, did you make these?”

 

“Yeah,” I nodded.

 

“Just like the Five-Colored Glutinous Rice, in response to customer demand, we provide these for free now. I usually come around 8 a.m., check on the cats, tidy up the house and the garden outside, and then we prepare the glutinous rice and dipping sauces together.”

 

Actually, I really wanted to pull Xiao Mo over to cook together, but this girl really can’t cook. So we divide the work: I handle the kitchen, and she takes care of the garden outside and the cleanliness inside the cafe.

 

“Your culinary skills are really excellent, I mean it,” Lin Yidong said sincerely. “Better than all the dipping sauces I’ve had in five-star hotels.”

 

“You probably have childhood nostalgia enhancing the flavors, right?” I felt a bit embarrassed by the praise. “Actually, the flavors of the dipping sauces are quite similar.”

 

“No, no, no, hardly anyone outside can make these things. To produce such authentic flavors, there are very few who can do it,” the middle-aged man in front of me quickly finished the food in his mouth.

 

“Before, Ye Yuqing told me she planned to promote this place as a tourist attraction. I was a bit skeptical at first, but now, it seems you really have what it takes. This sour porridge and glutinous rice, along with some of the special snacks in the shop, could indeed serve as the face of local snacks in our Shenzhen City.”

 

“Speaking of which, I heard you went directly to confront those who were smearing your shop online?”

 

Before I could respond, the provincial leader suddenly changed his tone. “Nothing serious happened, right? You two girls going offline to confront others… if the other party plays dirty, it could be dangerous.”

 

“No, nothing happened. He apologized as well.”

 

For a moment, I didn’t know what the man in front of me wanted to say.

 

“We investigated thoroughly before we went.”

 

“It’s still best to avoid such actions in the future. After all, you girls might face risks. If something were to happen… at least Su Yunjin wouldn’t be able to explain it to his uncle.”

 

Whatever happens to Xiao Mo and me, it’s more likely that the “Grumpy Old Dragon” will get into trouble.

 

“But we do have some responsibility in this matter. The current online environment is indeed very harsh. Today, I’m here partly because of this issue,” Lin Yidong said as he took out his phone, seemingly opening a small program.

 

“This is a small program that will be included in the upcoming 1.1 version update of ‘Age of Aquarius’. We plan to integrate it with Tongmeng Net, which is our biggest partner site. Once the new version is updated, having a Tongmeng Net account will allow for data sharing with ‘Age of Aquarius’, somewhat like the concept of the metaverse.”

 

Huh?

 

I tilted my head, giving Su Yunjin a puzzled look.

 

“Ahem, Nuo’er, here’s the thing. As you know, the country has recently launched several initiatives to clean up the internet, and Tongmeng Net is a key project,” Su Yunjin explained, seeing my confusion.

 

“Although Tongmeng Net is primarily a video site focused on the second dimension, and its overall user quality is relatively high, there are still a lot of abusive, vulgar comments or bullet screens. Most websites tend to adopt a blanket approach to these issues, like adding a lot of sensitive or banned words, but this method addresses the symptoms rather than the root cause.”

 

“Currently, Tongmeng Net is undertaking a project to enable data interoperability among all our partner film, game, and anime companies. You know that many major game and anime companies are already on Tongmeng Net, right? We are preparing to collaborate with them.”

 

“This might be a bit hard to understand, so let me show you,” Su Yunjin said, placing his phone on the table and opening his personal account.

 

“This is a beta version of the small program, already linked with ‘Age of Aquarius’. When someone opens my account, they can directly see where I bought property in the game, which achievements I’ve earned, and what weapons I own.”

 

“Recently, on Tongmeng Net, there has been a frequent issue where some people enjoy stirring up trouble. For example, under videos related to ‘Age of Aquarius’, they might mock players using grappling hooks, or ridicule builders, claiming cold weapons are useless, and so on.”

 

“Now that Tongmeng Net and ‘Age of Aquarius’ have data interoperability, when encountering such people, you can directly check their game data—whether they’ve used a grappling hook, their experience with cold weapons, their online playtime, etc. This helps everyone identify whether the person is a genuine player or just a cloud player making baseless claims about the game.”

 

“Our investigation shows that a significant number of these people have never played ‘Age of Aquarius’, yet they inexplicably stir up trouble online, creating a chaotic network environment.”

 

“We are now working with major companies, such as car manufacturers. If someone buys a car, say a Mercedes-Benz, and gets certified by Mercedes, they can choose to make their purchase information public. They can show how many years they’ve driven this car. This way, when they discuss Mercedes cars with others, it can reduce a lot of arguments.”

 

“For a film, if someone has watched it, they can make their viewing history public, showing how many minutes they’ve watched or how many times they’ve rewatched it. When this person reviews the movie, their opinion will be seen as highly valuable.”

 

“Similarly, Nuo’er, we plan to sync data with your café. If someone with a Tongmeng Net account dines here and orders certain foods, they can choose to make this information public on their account. For example, if Uncle Lin and I recommend the sour porridge with white-cut duck we had today, others can click on our profiles to verify that we are genuine customers and not making things up. This increases credibility and reduces disputes.”

 

Is this the so-called “Metaverse” in real life? A kind of “background check”?

 

“But won’t this lead to comparisons?” I pondered.

 

“Real-life comparisons often revolve around money, but online comparisons focus more on a person’s dedication or passion.”

 

Su Yunjin explained, “Let me give you an example. ‘The Age of Aquarius’ has been online for less than a month, and many talented players have found their niche in the game. Some people have created over 300 face designs for others, with 278 of those designs being used. Such individuals can proudly give advice on face customization videos on Tongmeng Net.”

 

“Or take the use of the grappling hook. The undisputed top grappling hook user in ‘The Age of Aquarius’ is our classmate Gabriel. She has countless achievements using the grappling hook. If Gabriel’s Tongmeng Net account were linked to her game data, others could easily verify the authenticity of her advice by checking her achievements.”

 

“I personally believe that such comparisons have more advantages than disadvantages. Human society exists in this way. Back then, the United States and the Soviet Union landed on the moon because of competition. In today’s peaceful times, human interest in space has greatly diminished because the input and output of landing on the moon are completely disproportionate. If you don’t like comparisons, you can also turn off data display. If Tongmeng Network can achieve big data interconnection, it will definitely be beneficial to the current public opinion environment.”

 

Su Yunjin straightened up and looked at me.

 

“For the café, I think this kind of comparison would boost revenue. People would come to the café to check in, and when they order a dessert, their Tongmeng Net account would earn an achievement. When you launch a new product, those who try it first can proudly discuss it online, attracting more people to come here to eat, play with cats, and check in.”

 

“As for whether or not to connect with Tongmeng… Nuo’er, think about it.”

 

“……”

 

……