"Who are you!? Why are you grabbing me?"
A flicker of surprise flashed in Victor's eyes.
The Xianzhou widely employs Grotto-Heaven technology; each one can accommodate over a hundred million people, with an area far greater than those in games.
Victor never would have thought that, even after avoiding the area with the mahjong parlor and despite the vastness of the Exalting Sanctum, he would still run into Qingque by sheer coincidence.
What rotten luck!
Just yesterday, in the simulation, he had subjected Qingque to all sorts of inhuman 'adjustments' and humiliations. It was safe to say she hated his guts.
Knowing Qingque retained her memories, he had deliberately avoided areas she might frequent, yet they still ran into each other. What a wretched fate!
Fortunately, Qingque only had memories and no tangible evidence. She probably couldn't do anything to him... probably.
"You... You did all that to me! And you're pretending you don't know me!?"
Qingque, exasperated and losing control of her emotions, grabbed Victor by the collar and began to shake him vigorously.
Don't be fooled by Qingque's shorter stature and petite frame; she was a genuine Pathstrider. Her body, enhanced by Imaginary energy, possessed physical qualities far exceeding those of an ordinary Xianzhou native.
She held Victor up as if he were a doll.
"You can eat whatever you want, but you can't just say whatever you want! I don't even know you, so what could I have possibly done to you?"
Victor exclaimed.
At this point, passersby noticed the commotion and began to gather around. After all, gawking is human nature, regardless of race, nation, or gender.
Seeing this, Victor suddenly had an idea.
"Everyone, be the judge! I don't even know this woman, and she just grabbed me and won't let go!"
Seeing Victor play dumb only made Qingque more furious.
"You dare pretend you don't know me!? After everything you did! You dare say you don't know me?"
A cunning glint flashed in Victor's eyes, the look of a scheme succeeding.
"Fine! Since you claim to know me, then what's my name? My home address? My date of birth? My place of birth?"
Qingque blurted out.
"Your name is Victor!..."
And then she immediately drew a blank.
The nightmarish memories had given her Victor's name, but nothing else.
A look of assured victory spread across Victor's face.
Even if Qingque's memory had revealed other details, he wasn't afraid. Aside from his name, he had a different identity in each simulation, and those identities were false ones that only existed within the simulation anyway.
"You don't even know where I live, and you say you know me? You must have met me in your dreams!"
"And another thing! You said I did something to you, so what was it? Go on, say it!"
Victor shouted.
He didn't know about other places, but in a street argument, whoever was loudest had the advantage and was deemed to be in the right.
Victor's words were like a bucket of cold water dumped on Qingque's head, shocking her back to her senses.
She had nothing but the memories from her nightmare, no evidence at all to prove he had harmed her. No matter where she reported it, she wouldn't have a case.
She couldn't possibly say that this guy had... in her dreams...
The onlookers saw that Victor's arguments were coherent and reasonable, while Qingque seemed to be at a loss for words and offered no rebuttal. The tide of opinion gradually turned in Victor's favor.
Many people began to point and whisper about Qingque. Some passersby even took out their Jade Abacuses to secretly record videos.
Seeing this, Victor grew even more boisterous.
"I see what this is! You're just trying to extort me!"
Looking at Victor's shameless face, Qingque wished she could shove an Imperial Jade Tile into his mouth.
Unfortunately, her reason told her that if she dared to harm him in public, things would only get worse.
"I'm sorry, I must have mistaken you for someone else."
Seeing the situation turning increasingly against her, Qingque quickly let go of Victor, lowered her head, and squeezed through the crowd.
"Trying to extort me? As if you're worthy!"
Victor triumphantly shook his fist at Qingque's retreating back.
The onlookers, seeing the drama was over, also began to disperse.
Victor blended in with the crowd. When no one was paying attention to him, his expression changed instantly, and he quickened his pace toward home.
Once he got home and shut the door, Victor slapped his chest, trying to calm his wildly pounding heart.
That was a close call today.
To think he'd actually run into his victim and get recognized. What terrible luck.
Thankfully, it was Qingque he ran into today.
Qingque is good-natured and relatively rational, which is why he was able to repel her with just his words.
If he'd run into that lunatic Jingliu, she would have just started hacking at him with her sword. There wouldn't be enough of him to chop.
It seems he'd better stay indoors as much as possible until his strength has improved.
And when choosing a script, it would be best to pick characters who aren't on the Luofu.
Mulling this over, Victor threw himself onto his bed.
The bed, suddenly taking his weight, made a slight creaking noise.
Meanwhile, Qingque, who had just lain down, suddenly sat bolt upright.
Unable to bear the gossip and dirty looks from the passersby, she had hastily fled the scene and returned home.
After she calmed down and thought back on Victor's behavior, a strange sense of familiarity washed over her.
Such a despicable, unscrupulous way of doing things... wasn't that one of the bastard's signature traits?
"And he said he didn't know me? He's really good at playing dumb..."
Once she made this connection, Qingque's disgust for Victor skyrocketed.
"I absolutely can't let this go!"
Qingque slammed her fist on the bed, then climbed out and went to her computer.
After turning on her computer, Qingque immediately accessed the Divination Commission's database to look up all of Victor's information.
Don't be fooled by the Divination Commission's ancient-sounding name, which might bring to mind mystical arts like fortune-telling or feng shui.
In reality, the divination arts used by the Divination Commission are purely scientific, based on computational analysis of massive amounts of data to derive the most probable outcomes—in other words, big data algorithms.
It is because of their supreme computing power and precise data that they can achieve results so accurate they seem like prophecies.
Soon, using the Divination Commission's internal network, Qingque easily obtained all of Victor's records—more detailed than even he himself knew. She even unearthed memories he had long forgotten.
"Just you wait. I'll never let you get away with this, Victor!"
Qingque's eyes seemed to breathe fire as she glared intently at Victor's photo on the screen...
"Achoo!"
Victor couldn't help but sneeze.
"Who could be talking about me this late at night?"
"Oh well, whatever. The simulation is more important."
After resting on his bed for a while, Victor prepared to start a new round of simulations.
Today's chance encounter with Qingque had served as a wake-up call.
If his strength was insufficient, he would be at the mercy of any future victims he happened to run into.
However, Victor's current course of action was akin to drinking poison to quench a thirst.
Continuing the simulations would surely offend more people.
But without simulating, he couldn't get stronger. The Luofu was set to become a major stage in the universe for a series of major events, and many ordinary Xianzhou natives would be killed or injured.
He had no intention of becoming one of the unlucky souls on the casualty list due to his lack of strength.
Every man for himself. He didn't want to die, so he would continue the simulations, even if it meant offending more people.
______
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