There was a smell in the air.

Before I woke up, I suddenly realized this.

The air that enters the nasal cavity contains a lot of information. The aroma of flowers. The smell of green grass. The smell of trees that cleanses the heart. The breath of water that stimulates the thirsty throat.

Consciousness shifted to hearing, and a flood of sound was heard. Countless notes of leaves rubbing against each other. The energetic singing of the birds. and the sound of insect feathers that stay under the tree like a sonata. and the faint gurgling of the creek in the distance.

Where exactly is this? Obviously, though, this is not in your own room. On a normal day, you would wake up to the smell of the sun on the dry sheets, the faint chime of the dry air conditioner, and the sound of cars on the nearby Kawagoe Road, but none of that is there now. And—the irregular green glow that I had been caressing my eyelids since just now was not the bedside light that I had forgotten to turn off, but the sunlight that shone through the trees.

I wanted to sleep a little longer, and the desire to be enveloped by the afterglow of deep sleep continued to recede, and I finally opened my eyes.

The flickering myriad of light shot straight into my eyes and made me blink a few times. I raised my right hand and used the back of my hand to wipe away the tears that remained in the corners of my eyes while slowly sitting up.

「…… Where is this ......?"

I couldn't help but blurt out.

The first thing that catches your eye is the pale green grass. And small white and yellow flowers everywhere, glittering water *** flying among the flowers. The meadow blanket disappeared in front of it about five meters, and on the opposite side was a deep forest of unnamed giant trees about a few decades old.

I gazed into the darkness between the trunks of the trees, and it seemed that the trees continued as far as the light could reach. The rough bark and ground are covered in thick moss, and the sunlight leaking through the leaves gives a golden green sheen.

I turned my eyes to the right, then turned around and saw that I was greeted by an all-round trunk of an ancient tree. That is, I was lying on a small circular lawn in the middle of the forest. Finally, I looked up, and from the treetops stretching in all directions, I could see the blue sky with crushed clouds floating.

"This is ...... Where?"

I blurted out again. However, no one answered.

I came here to take a nap, and I had no of these memories in my head. Is sleepwalking? Memory loss? How could these disturbing words that flashed through my mind, I hurriedly dismissed the thought.

I'm — my name is, Qin Huai. Twenty years old. and his mother and sister live together, Lingshi District, C City.

Being able to say things about me was a little more reassuring, and I started to work on deeper memories.

Shi Wenxin

I couldn't help but say this, both as a lover and as a college classmate, these memories are vivid, I looked around many times to find her, but whether it was in this small meadow, or in the deep jungle, there was no figure at all.

I struggled with the loneliness that suddenly came over me, and I returned to the memory again.

By the time I left the station, the rain had stopped. As we walked along the road paved with refining tiles and discussed the start of the school year, she smiled gently and sunnyly as usual, and then ————

This is where the memory is interrupted.

Can't remember. How we were separated, did I get back to the station, what time did I get home, what time did I go to sleep, I can't remember at all.

Slightly stunned, while desperately searching for memories.

However, Wenxin's smiling face seemed to disappear into the water, and the following picture was nowhere to be found. He closed his eyes, frowned, and desperately unearthed the gray and bitter void.

A flashing red glow.

My breath became disturbed and I couldn't breathe.

Small bubbles poured up, and there were only these two images. I couldn't help but take a sharp breath of fragrant air. I have forgotten the thirsty throat at the back of my head, and it has strongly stimulated my consciousness.

I was undoubtedly home yesterday evening. But why would I be alone in this strange forest?

Wait, was that really yesterday? The breeze on my skin makes me feel comfortable. The heat of late June is completely absent in this forest. This time, a real shiver swirled down his spine.

I don't know how many times I stroked my cheeks, pulled my hair, and looked carefully at my drooping hands. As I remember, a scar on the thumb of my right hand made me touch my chest slightly.

At this point, I finally realized how delicate I was dressed.

It's not the T-shirt I usually wear, it's not the school uniform, it's not the clothes I have on hand. This outfit doesn't look like a market-ready garment no matter how you look at it.

The upper body is dyed light blue, like a linen half-sleeved shirt made of coarse kapok. The texture of the cloth is irregular, giving it a rough touch. The silk threads at the cuffs are also not machines, but are sewn by hand. There is no collar, a V-shaped opening up to the chest, and brown buttons are sewn on. Touching it with my fingers, the buttons were not made of fibers either, but of finely cut leather.

The pants and jackets are made of the same material, and they feel like they are made of burlap, and the shoes are made of burlap.

I've never seen clothes and shoes like this - in the real world, though.

「…… That's right."

I lifted my shoulders and sighed softly.

Looking at the scenery outside the window, and this outfit should be in the most popular Destiny game in 2046 created by the sky, but I remember to buy it and haven't started shipping yet, why have I already come in.

But I can't remember when or what kind of game I entered.

Anyway, just log out and take a look, and I waved my right hand at the thought of it.

After waiting for a few seconds and seeing no pop-ups, this time waving his left hand. The results were different.

Listening to the endless grinding of leaves and the chirping of birds, I tried desperately to dispel the disobedience of being entrenched near my waist and ready to spread upwards.

This is the virtual world. It should be like this, but why is there no exit screen and no login screen?

I said this with a glimmer of hope, but no response. I sat cross-legged on the grass and looked at my hand again.

Swirling fingerprints on the fingertips. There are also wrinkles in the joints. Light body hair. and cold sweat oozing from the tips of the hairs.

Wipe off the sweat with your jacket and carefully check the texture of the fabric again. It is made of thick thread and woven in the original way. Even the microfibers erected on the surface can be seen clearly.

If it's a virtual world, the machine that generates these is probably very powerful. I fixed my eyes on the trees in front of me, and with my right hand, I picked a clump of grass next to me at a rapid pace and brought it to my eyes.

The texture of the grass doesn't come into my eyes at all with my quick movements, but there is a slight delay. But the grass in front of me, whether it was the thin veins or jagged edges, and even the water droplets flowing from the incision, these ultra-fine details were reproduced in the moment I gazed.

In other words, everything that comes into view in this world can be realistically reproduced down to the millimeter level. If you change the capacity, this grass will probably occupy tens of meters of space. Is this kind of thing really possible?

I couldn't think any further, but this thought suppressed my thoughts, and I pushed away the grass between my feet and used my right hand as a shovel to dig up the soil.

The moist black soil is unexpectedly soft, and the image of many green grass roots intertwined comes into view. There were mesh-sized objects dangling in the gaps, so I pulled them out with my fingers.

It is an earthworm that is three centimeters in size. Dragged out of the cosy land, curled up in a desperate ball, but the sheen was green. New kind, just before I thought about that, the guy suddenly raised his head and let out a kyukyu-like low sound. Feeling dizzy, I put the earthworm back in its place and filled in the excavated soil. Then he looked at his right hand, and the palm was blackened, and the nails were filled with fine soil grains.

I was relieved for a few seconds, and though reluctantly, I made three inferences that could explain the current situation.

First of all, this may be a virtual world built on a completely technological extension of the past. The situation of waking up alone in the forest may be the starting pattern of this RPG game.

However, as far as I can remember, no supercomputer can produce such a high-resolution 3D model. That is, years, if not decades, have passed in the real world during the period of my memory loss.

Then, it could be somewhere in the real world. In other words, I became the object of some kind of crime, illegal experiment, or some kind of vicious incident, and I was thrown somewhere on the earth in such clothes, but there should be no earthworms in China that make a kyukyu-like metallic sound, and I don't remember any country in the world that has such creatures.

Finally, this is a real different dimension, a different world, or an afterlife. In manga, novels, and anime, it's all sparse and commonplace. According to the plot of Dragon Quest, I may have to listen to the village chief's commission to rescue the girl who was attacked by the monster and become the savior of the battle against the demon king. However, I don't have a "bronze sword" around my waist.

I said this unconsciously. At the very least, you should explain the details at the beginning of the game, and fulfill this minimum obligation.

Looking across the treetops at the sky, I said again:

"Hey, GM! Answer what you hear!!"

However, no matter how long they waited, there was no huge face or a figure in a rain hat. It is difficult to believe that after carefully investigating the nearby grass and every corner of my clothes, I still can't find anything like a rule manual.

It seems that the guy who threw me into this place didn't intend to answer my question for help. Maybe it was some kind of accident, and the situation shifted in this direction, but ......

Listening to the unhurried song of the birds, I desperately thought about what to do in the future.

If this is a real-world accident, the scope of the action should not be too broad. Now, there may be people rushing here for help.

However, what kind of accident can cause such a puzzling thing to happen?

At this time, if it was Asuna, she would definitely be able to figure out how to distinguish the body of this world, and I couldn't help but sigh when I thought of this. Or, if it were her, she wouldn't be sitting here worrying, and she would definitely take some action.

The feeling of loneliness that came over again made me bite my lip.

It's just that because I can't get in touch with Wenxin, I feel like I've come to the end of the road, and I'm a little surprised by this, probably like this, I partially agreed. In the past two years, almost all of my decisions have been made after talking to her. Nowadays, without Wenxin's thinking circuit, my brain is like a CPU that can't function with a half-core.

But now, the size of the forest around me is probably measured in kilometers if you were in the real world. No, if the ridges of the mountains on the other side of the trees were real, this space should be tens or even hundreds of kilometers wide. So how much memory does this game need to run, and how strong does it need to be a CPU?

It's probably useless to rack your brains and think about it again. To gain a higher level of confidence, you have to risk other people, or gamers.

It's time to act.

First of all, I had to drink some water to moisten my thirsty throat. I stood in the middle of the grass and looked around. The direction of the slight sound of gurgling water, judging by the position of the sun, is probably the east side.

Before I started moving, I touched the back of my back with my right hand, and of course there was neither a sword nor a club on my back. I kicked away the uneasiness in my heart and strode forward, but I didn't stop after ten steps.

The forest floor, covered with velvety moss, is a bewitching and mysterious space. The lush foliage that towered high above largely blocked all the sunlight, and only the thin bands of gold hit the ground. Dragonflies and moth-like insects replaced the small butterflies that used to fly in the grass, flying smoothly in the air, and sometimes there was an unknown cry from somewhere. It is a scenery that is completely unimaginable on the earth in the real world.

Please, don't show up against big beasts, demons, monsters, or anything, I meditated on these for about fifteen minutes. It wasn't until there was a lot of sunlight pouring down in front of me that I breathed a sigh of relief. The sound of water can already be heard very clearly, and there is no doubt that there is a river ahead. The thirsty throat made me impatient, and naturally quickened my pace.

Leaving the lush forest, the water surface reflects a silvery sheen in the sunlight through the three-meter-wide grass.

"Water, water."

I let out an incoherent cry as I staggered across the last stretch of distance and leaped to the soft grass beside the river.

"Woo-ah......"

When I hit the grass on my belly, I couldn't help but make this sound.

What a beautiful river. Although the amplitude is not wide, the gentle serpentine water flow is very transparent. It's like painting on a pure colorless canvas with a drop of cyan paint, and through the crystal clear water, you can clearly see the white sand and stone at the bottom of the river.

Just a few seconds ago, I had only the possibility that this was the real world, so drinking raw water was dangerous. However, when he saw the crystal-like melt of water, he could not resist the temptation to stretch out his right hand towards the water. The cold sensation made me not only make a weird noise, but also put the liquid in my mouth.

This is nectar. The stream water, which has no impurities and a slightly sweet taste, is as delicious as if you don't have to spend money to buy mineral water at a convenience store. He kept holding the stream with both hands, and finally even touched his mouth directly to the surface of the water and drank greedily.

It can be regarded as the listed water of life, I am immersed in such a taste, and at the same time, in the corner of my heart, I can't help but secretly curse that this game is really real.

The river curves gently from north to south. Either way, it didn't enter the jungle of the giant trees in front of it, and it was impossible to see in the distance. However, judging by the beauty and coldness of the water, as well as the width of the river, it must be very close to the water source. If this is the case, then there is a high probability that an inhabited village should exist downstream.

If there is a boat, it will be able to go down the river, and while I am thinking about this, I will walk downstream, and it is at this time.

The breeze that changed the direction of the wind slightly, and a wonderful sound was heard.

It's the sound of striking a large, hard object. Not really. About once every four seconds, at some pace.

This is not produced by creatures such as birds and beasts. Ninety-nine percent of the distribution was done manually. Like, the sound of someone cutting down trees in the forest.

I half-turned, towards the upper reaches of the river, which made a crisp sound.

Suddenly, it was as if I had seen something incredible.

On the right is the bubbling river, on the left is a lush forest, and on the front is a green road that doesn't know where it leads.

There, there was a girl in a straw hat, her black hair fluttering in the wind, shining a brilliant golden luster as if she had nothing to reserve in the abundant midsummer sun.

Is this - ...... memory?