While James was having a headache, Wei Chen was having a blast.
This was the first time he had access to the internet, and after doing his homework by researching this world, he had discovered that it shared the same history as his own world.
He decided to spend the remaining time enjoying some mindless entertainment. Whether it was a viral clip or some stupid people whining online, only to get a reality check when they realized that other people were not nearly as sympathetic to their complaints as they expected, these sorts of things brought a smile to his face.
Some people would complain about problems that were, at most, minor inconveniences, and the internet would quickly remind them that their lives were not nearly as difficult as they thought.
This sort of content brought a smile to his face because it reminded him of his previous life.
Yeah... speaking of his previous life...
He wondered if Cindy was still alright. He wondered if she was okay.
His parents too. Were they having a hard time after he was gone?
They shouldn’t be. At least the insurance would pay them millions, and they would be set for life.
Wei Chen could not help but type something into the search engine.
"Zane Boombox."
That was the name he had used when he was a nuisance streamer.
The search results appeared.
There was a list of his old content on the platform he had worked on. All of his content had already been deleted from the platform, but some backups still remained thanks to people who had watched him back in the day.
Wei Chen was curious and began reading the comments on a blog written by a guy who had backed up all of his videos.
User_911: "Holy crap, I completely forgot about this guy."
DankMemer69: "Wait, Zane Boombox? Wasn’t this dude dead?"
Roadkill: "Pretty sure he’s six feet under now. His last video was that Texas incident. We got a small news story about it back then, remember? Dude got shot and then just disappeared."
OldInternetEnjoyer: "Yeah! The guy got shot on livestream. I happened to see it live. I gotta say, I closed my door and celebrated like I’d gotten an early Christmas present!"
Roadkill: "Yeah, okay, fair enough."
TexasRanger: "Honestly, I’m surprised he lasted that long."
NormalHumanBeing: "Good riddance. That guy was annoying as hell."
Throwaway123: "Imagine watching this guy’s videos and thinking, ’Yeah, I want more of this.’"
ChaosEnjoyer: "I did."
Throwaway123: "You need help, man...."
ChaosEnjoyer: "Maybe. But you have to admit, nobody else made videos this insane."
OldManInternet: "He literally trespassed, harassed random people, started fights, and ran toward dangerous situations just for views!"
ChaosEnjoyer: "Yeah! That’s why I like him! He’s so hardcore!"
OldManInternet: "Kid... trust me, it’s not worth worshipping him. And don’t you dare be like him."
MemeArchivist: "Still can’t believe the Texas video was real."
ViewerSince2019: "I remember watching it live. When the gunshots happened, I thought it was some stupid sound effect."
ViewerSince2019: "Then the stream cut out. And he never uploaded again."
HandsomeGuyOnline: "The bastard finally got what was coming to him, huh?"
LegalEagleNot: "Pretty sure that’s what happens when you repeatedly ignore every warning sign imaginable. Also, why Texas!? People there are like... always shooting at everything!"
MemeArchivist: "Bro had plot armor for years."
ChaosEnjoyer: "I think it was just his stupid luck mixed with other people’s kindness that kept him from getting a bullet in the face."
HandsomeGuyOnline: "Can’t say I’ll miss the bastard."
ChaosEnjoyer: "I will miss the videos."
HandsomeGuyOnline: "Oh please... not Zane Boombox Two. One of them is enough!"
InternetHistorian: "Looking through these old videos feels weird now. Back then, everyone hated this guy, but everyone still watched him. I wonder why...."
MemeLord: "Because watching someone else do stupid things was fun. As long as they don’t do it themselves, it’s guilt-free chaos without consequences."
ViewerSince2019: "Did anyone ever find out what happened to him after the shooting?"
MemeArchivist: "No official update. No new videos. No social media posts. Zero movement. The guy was pretty much six feet under by now."
HandsomeGuyOnline: "Yeah, the bastard is probably dead."
GoodRiddance: "Probably? No, he’s definitely dead! D.E.A.D. Dead! 100% dead!"
ChaosEnjoyer: "Damn. Well, there goes the greatest source of stupid videos on the internet."
NormalHumanBeing: "’Greatest’ is doing a lot of work there."
ChaosEnjoyer: "You know I’m right."
OldInternetEnjoyer: "Whatever you think about him, nobody can deny that the guy was committed to being an absolute nuisance. To the point that I almost respect the guy’s commitment... almost."
OldInternetEnjoyer: "Rest in peace, Zane Boombox."
GoodRiddance: "Heh... rest in pieces, more like."
Wei Chen read until the end, and a lot of complicated feelings welled up inside him. He felt like a dead man who had returned from hell, only to discover what people had really thought about him.
But... well...
This was something he had prepared himself for a long time ago. He had never expected people to love him. Most of them would probably hate him, and they would surely say things like:
"Good riddance! This guy is finally dead!"
Or....
"Goddamn it! It took so long! He’s finally dead!"
Things like that.
But... reading those words with his own eyes still felt weird to him.
He had never expected to have a chance to read them. If he had truly died, he would never have been able to perceive any of this.
Yet somehow, fate seemed to have a rather dark sense of humor.
Wei Chen stood on the balcony, looking out over the estate as the dusk sun settled on the horizon, painting the sky a beautiful shade of red. A cool breeze brushed against his face.
Dream Butterfly, who was sipping a cup of Earl Grey tea, watched Wei Chen and noticed that her husband had clearly become quieter for some reason.
She noticed that he seemed to have been reading something on a gadget called a smartphone, and his mood seemed to have dropped afterward.
"Lord Husband, are you okay?" she asked, worried.
"Huh? Oh, it’s okay. Nothing you need to worry about." Wei Chen smiled and slipped the phone back into his pocket, pushing what he had just read to the back of his mind.
He had a new life now. Those people speaking about him behind their screens were of no consequence to him. They were just noise that he did not need to listen to.
There were only two things he was worried about.
His former parents... and Cindy Liu.
That girl...
Even though they had already broken up, he knew she had broken up with him because he was too stubborn. Back then, she had asked him to stop.
But... after securing around twenty million dollars in payments from the platform, who would easily stop?
Greed was a sin that had destroyed many lives, including his own.
He had told her...
"One last video."
He had said it many times.
One last video, then another one after that, and he had promised her that he would stop.
But he never did...
Until a bullet forced him to stop...
For good...
Yes... He was worried about her, but this worry was not born from love. It was born from guilt.
Because guilt was the strongest feeling driving him toward her right now, in the midst of those distant memories. Guilt was something that anchored him to his previous life.
Had she moved on?
He prayed that she had.
He was not worth crying over. He was not worth her wasting the best years of her life mourning him.
Thinking this, Wei Chen looked toward the east coast, more specifically, toward the northeast and New York. He wanted to check on Cindy and his parents while he was at it.
"Yu’er, give me a few hours. I’ll be back," Wei Chen said.
"Yes, Lord Husband. Please be safe." Dream Butterfly waved her hand. She did not know where her husband was going, but it was not her place to pry.
Wei Chen nodded at her with a smile before gently kissing her on the forehead.
He used his concealing technique and walked out of the main house. Once he was behind the house, he looked up at the sky, took out a flying sword, and stepped onto it.
With a simple command from his mind, it floated beneath his feet before quickly shooting up into the sky.
Its speed accelerated to a terrifying degree as it cruised through the red sky.
— Meanwhile —
At one of the military air bases, an alert signal was detected.
At first, the officer manning the monitoring radar took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes before looking at the screen again.
"What the hell is this...? A man-sized object... moving at... Mach three? And it’s heading toward New York!?"
The officer blurted out in disbelief.
He quickly printed out the radar readings and rushed toward his superior. This was far beyond something he had the authority to decide on his own.