Hello to everyone who is still reading this. I hope you have been well, especially after the two challenging years of pandemic. Let's continue to take care.
It has been a long time since I last updated the story, and I find it difficult to update regularly due to work. If you are still reading, I hope you would enjoy this chapter. Happy reading.
O O O
Mei Ling is a girl who wished to be a boy. She felt envious towards Zheng, the popular captain of the football team at her university. With the help of her nerdy childhood friend, Suai, she managed to turn into an ordinary-looking male gamer in Second Life. She chose to be called as 'Hei_Psycho'.
Unfortunately, Mei Ling's avatar met an ice warlock, Wen Zi, who endlessly followed her whenever she went in the game. She could not help but to feel attracted to the handsome warlock, but she understood that falling in love with him would lead to him discovering her true gender in real life. Furthermore, Wen Zi was already engaged a beautiful fiancée by his side in real life.
Perhaps Wen Zi was just fooling around, and eventually, he would forget about Hei_Psycho.
Mei Ling would have never thought that Wen Zi's appearance in her life was more than just a coincidence.
Her father supposedly had died in real life, but he had strangely returned to life. His soul had taken over Wen Zi's body.
Mei Ling wanted to ask her good friend, Suai for help again. However, he had disappeared without any good reason. Her own mother, who seemed to dislike Wen Zi, had disowned her.
What happened to Wen Zi? Did he really choose to live in Second Life?
O O O
Chapter 72 – My Father
"Pizza's here!"
Wen Zi (or my father, more accurately) excitedly rushed into the house, holding a pizza box with his hands, "Let's have a pizza party! I want to eat it while it's hot!"
Dad placed the pizza box carefully onto the dining table in Zheng's house. He flipped the lid open, snatched a slice of Hawaiian pizza with his right hand, and chewed it with a blissful, satisfied face. I slapped my own forehead.
"Didn't you always teach me to wash hands first before eating? You got to lead by example, Dad."
"So good!" My dad exclaimed with a mouth full of bread, cheese and pineapples, "I want to watch some football! Where's the TV?"
"What year is it now, old geezer?" Zheng grabbed his own slice of pizza from the warm box, "No one's watching TV anymore. My pop sold our TV years ago."
"What? How boring!" Dad's saliva sputtered all over the old disfigured table, "What a lousy house!"
"Well," Zheng shrugged and stared at my dad, "If you don't like my house, why are you still here?"
"I dare you to chase me out, you ugly baboon!" Dad barked with fierce eyes.
"Hey, dad! Stop! Stop! Can we talk for a bit?"
I waved my hands wildly in front of my father, whose soul was strangely stuck in Wen Zi's body. I had to extinguish their fiery fight before it started.
I quickly approached Wen Zi (or my dad) and whispered to his ear.
"If we're out of here, we won't have a place to stay for the night."
"What are you afraid of?" Dad responded openly, forgetting that he should whisper too, "We'll go back to our place! What's the worry?"
Speechless at my father's response, I was laughing nervously. I could see Zheng's nasty smirk that was mocking me from the other side of the table.
"She got disowned by her family," Zheng declared proudly, "Be prepared to sleep on the streets with Mickey mice then."
"What?" Wen Zi (or dad)'s face contorted when my dad questioned, "What did you do to make hippo that upset? Did you get pregnant or something?"
"Do I look like I'm pregnant to you?" I sighed.
"You are!" My dad pointed down at my tummy, "Look! What is this?"
"This is fat, not a baby," I replied tiredly.
"What baby?" I heard another deep tired voice.
I nervously turned to look at Zheng's father, who just came out from the washroom. The loud flushing sound made the whole situation felt uncomfortable. Feeling embarrassed, I quickly grabbed a slice of pizza from the box and placed it onto a clean plate.
"Nothing, sir! No one's baby! Haha!" I laughed anxiously, "Chi!" (Eat!)
"Da jia chi! Chi!" (Let's eat, everyone! Eat!) Wen Zi's (or dad's) teeth sunk into his cheesy pizza. I grimaced.
As soon as Mr. Chen joined us, our supper felt like a reunion dinner. It felt as though I had met Zheng and his family many times in the past. I knew that Mr. Chen and my father were close buddies, but I just could not get myself to remember those moments that my family had created together with Zheng's family. Maybe Zheng's mother was alive when I visited his family. Unfortunately, I couldn't even remember her face or figure. I heard from Mom that Zheng's late mother was very pretty like an angel.
"Friend, don't mind me asking you this," Mr. Chen asked after gulping down his food, "Why are you in Bai Wen Zi's body?"
"To tell you the truth, Ah-Tut…" Dad paused dramatically, "You asked the wrong person."
"What? You're kidding me, Dad!" I almost choked on my bread.
"Do I look like I know everything?" Dad waved his arms, sprinkling some cheese flakes onto us. He looked frustrated.
"I went for that beta test of Second Life, which was so much fun! Oh God, it was so realistic I swear it felt like it was the real thing! When I woke up, I was already stuck in this body," My father sighed, "What a bummer. I want to play it again."
"Well, Dad," I stared at him, "What did you do in the game?"
"You know, hamster, I was bashing up slimes with my hammer…" My father did some childish fighting poses, "I counted, and counted, and finally, I squashed fifty pitiful slimes, all by myself!"
"Wow! Bravo, dad, bravo!" I tried to show my sparkling eyes of admiration, "What happened after that?"
"After that, I was so ready to fight King Slime, and I went to its cave..." My father's eyes were shining bright.
"Oh my God! Then, what happened?" I responded with exaggerated enthusiasm.
"After that…" My father (or Wen Zi) frowned, "I can't remember a thing, hamster. Was it weird or what?"
"Woi, old geezer!" Zheng snarked at him, "Are you even serious?"
"What?" Dad pointed his pizza dangerously at Zheng, "Do you think that I'm lying, you smelly monkey's backside? If I have my hammer with me, I will beat you into a pulp!"
"Hah! Don't act all cocky and tough, you stupid old man!" Zheng stood up and towered over my father, "When Wen Zi and I met you in Second Life, you were begging him to marry your daughter."
"What? I retorted, "Zheng, that's not funny, you know."
"I wasn't trying to be funny, Mei Mei! That's what happened. We met an NPC who talks like him!" Zheng pointed at my father, whose expressions looked hilarious on Wen Zi's youthful face.
"Oh, now I remember… Not!" My father stood up on his toes, attempting to be taller than Zheng, but he failed miserably. Zheng was taller than Wen Zi.
"If you spit out more crap," Dad shouted and sprinkled his saliva onto Zheng's face, "I will eat all your pizzas-"
"Ah-Yang, wait, wait, wait!" Zheng's father placed a hand on Dad's shoulder.
"Don't get offended by my son's bluntness but…" Mr. Chen sighed regretfully, "We suspected that the developer of Second Life experimented on humans for his own benefit."
"Experiment? What are you talking about, Ah-Tut?" Dad looked down at his own (or Wen Zi's) body, "Is that why I'm in this body and not in my own body?"
"That's a high possibility. Before the official release of Second Life, many men and women were reported missing. Some bodies were recovered but they were reported as accidental work-related deaths."
Mr. Chen ended his explanation with another apologetic sigh. For the first time, my father's face looked worried and grave.
"What happened to my body? Hamster!" My father turned to me, "Do you know where's my body?"
"Actually, Dad," I blurted out before processing what I had said, "We have cremated your body."
A piece of cheesy pizza plopped onto the cold floor. The silence felt long and painful to me. My father was staring hard at me, totally forgetting about his favourite food. Perhaps eating favourite food wasn't important anymore after knowing that he had…
"I died?" were what he managed to say after that.
"Dad, it's okay-"
"Okay? What nonsense is that? Hamster, what the hell is wrong with you?"
Dad grabbed my shoulders and shook me hard. My mouth was open, but I was unable to find the right words to say. I was perplexed to see the teary hazel eyes looking forlornly at me.
"Are you really Dad, or is Wen Zi still in front of me? I'm becoming so confused right now."
"You didn't say that I died! I want my old body back! I don't want this body!" Dad shouted, almost like a lunatic.
"Calm down, you old git!" Zheng grabbed Dad's arm, "Who cares what happened to your rotten old body anyway? You're still alive, aren't you?"
"Yes!" Dad suddenly grabbed Zheng's shoulders and smiled, "You're right, my man! I can sell my looks or body for money…"
Zheng looked stunned at Dad's sudden change of expression. Mr. Chen crossed his arms on his chest and shook his head.
"Never trust him, my boy. He was trolling you."
Dad went giggling like a boy who had tricked his friend to step on cat poo. Zheng's face darkened, as though he had eaten cat poo. I couldn't help but to smirk at the funny scene.
"Do you think it's funny?" Zheng scoffed and glared at Dad, "Did you know that Wen Zi went bats*it crazy when you disappeared? Now you're here, and Wen Zi's there in Second Life. What else do you want?"
Before Dad could even speak a word, Zheng left and walked past us. We were speechless, as we observed him walking up the creaking stairs. Without another word, he went into his room with a loud slam of the poor door. Someone was having a bad mood.
Mr. Chen was the first to break the awkward silence.
"Don't you mind him, Ah-Yang," Mr. Chen patted gently onto Dad's shoulder, "Kids are being kids."
"Your boy's not a kid anymore. Did you tell him about Wen Zi's father?" Dad asked.
"Nope, but he did some digging," Mr. Chen scratched his head, before turning to me.
I put my hands up and smiled anxiously. I did not want to hear more about unnecessary things that would complicate my life further.
"No problem, sir. I can excuse myself-"
"Can she know?" Dad asked his cop friend.
"No harm in her knowing. Maybe it's better that she knows," Mr. Chen gave me a rueful smile, and my heart grew uneasy and restless to see that smile.
"Wen Zi and that ugly buffoon are half-brothers. Mrs. Chen gave birth to Wen Zi before she passed on."
