Life Game In Other World

He Ao turned his gaze and looked towards the bakery beside him, then walked over directly.

The bakery owner was an elderly woman, currently sitting behind the counter.

When she saw He Ao approaching, she was slightly startled, then stood up slowly and said, "Young man, I paid this month’s protection fee. If you’re hungry, there’s bread in the store. You can take what you like."

"Grandma, it’s me, Loren. Do you remember me?" He Ao looked at her and quickly said, "I used to stay at the orphanage next door. You often gave me small bread."

"Loren?" The elderly woman raised her head and looked at He Ao, "You seem familiar. Have you grown this big? What are you back for?" 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

He Ao could tell from her perplexed eyes that she didn’t remember him.

However, he didn’t mind and directly asked, "Do you remember the orphanage next door? I came back this time, and I can’t find it."

"Oh dear," the elderly woman sighed, "don’t mention it. There was a big fire at the orphanage a few years ago. It all burned down."

"But after it burned, didn’t anything remain?" He Ao continued to ask, "Like ruins or something?"

"It burned clean," the elderly woman sighed once more. She turned around and took out a small box of bread from the counter behind her, "How have you been doing lately? Hungry? Take some bread back to eat?"

"No need, no need," He Ao quickly waved his hand and smiled, "I found a job, and the income is not bad,"

He brought the topic back to the original part, "Did the orphanage really leave nothing behind?"

"No, nothing, it all burned clean," the elderly woman lowered her gaze, "Don’t talk about it anymore. The scene that day was awful, and it’s probably for the best that it’s gone now."

"Okay, thank you, Grandma." He Ao nodded.

He raised his head and left the bakery.

He realized that the issue wasn’t with the elderly lady’s words, but with her ’cognition.’

In normal cognition, a building that burned down should leave behind ’ruins.’

But in the elderly lady’s cognition, the burned-down orphanage left ’nothing.’

No matter how he asked, he couldn’t get an answer.

In her cognition, the current situation seemed ’normal.’

He Ao looked up just in time to see Reid and the other two gathered in front of the ’shared’ wall of numbers 171 and 173, discussing something.

"We just asked around," the man with the mustache said as he looked at He Ao, who walked out, "The orphanage burned down in a fire six years ago, leaving nothing behind."

"We might have a problem with our approach," Chen, standing by, took out a cigarette box, instinctively pulled out a cigarette, and put it into his mouth, "They burned the orphanage clean six years ago. It’s a bit late for us to investigate now."

He Ao turned back and took a look at the shared wall, speaking softly, "Don’t you think there’s something strange about the buildings here?"

"What do you mean?" Chen turned his head in confusion and looked at the sparse crowd on the street, "Nothing seems wrong?"

He Ao shifted his gaze to the silent Reid, "I think we should leave here and discuss this."

Reid glanced around, took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth, returning his gaze to He Ao beside him, "Let’s leave here first."

Chen and the man with the mustache looked somewhat puzzled but nodded nonetheless.

The group returned to the side of the off-road vehicle, placing the rifle case on top of the car again and started the vehicle.

It wasn’t until they had driven two or three blocks away that Reid finished the cigarette in his mouth and then asked softly, "Did you notice something?"

"I’m afraid the orphanage formed an anomaly, and a very strong one at that," He Ao didn’t beat around the bush and said directly.

"What do you mean?" Chen, sitting behind He Ao, was somewhat at a loss, "Wasn’t the orphanage already burned down?"

The man with the mustache beside him also looked blankly at He Ao.

Upon hearing their questions, He Ao softly countered, "Under normal circumstances, what should remain after a building has burned down?"

"If it’s burned down, then nothing should be left, right," Chen rubbed his forehead and lit the cigarette hanging from his mouth, "No, my head hurts a bit."

"Ruins," Reid, in the driver’s seat, spoke slowly, "Don’t think about anything related to the orphanage. Remove the orphanage from your mind and then consider the pure common sense issue."

The two people in the back were slightly bewildered by this statement, then fell silent and slightly closed their eyes.

"When did you notice?" Reid turned his gaze to He Ao at this point.

"Even while we were there, I noticed. I felt something was off about your state," He Ao said directly, "This isn’t your first encounter with something similar?"

"Cognition cover-up, it’s my first encounter too, but I’ve seen it in association’s documents, and we receive corresponding training," Reid said hoarsely. He pulled out a cigarette box from his clothes again, looked at He Ao,

"You are the only child who escaped from that orphanage and may have a special connection with it, allowing you some immunity from this cover-up,"

He put the cigarette in his mouth, "Perhaps that’s why people must hunt you down."

"Five years ago, I returned to the orphanage and still saw the ruins," He Ao sighed softly and then looked at Reid, asking, "What about you? When did you realize the ’cognition cover-up’?"

"Realized something was amiss after your reminder, but didn’t fully comprehend it until just now,"

Reid raised his wrist to look at it, quickly operating it, then fished out another cigarette, lit it, and spoke hoarsely, "Once we get far enough from the anomaly zone, the anomaly’s effect diminishes. At this point, convincingly setting aside anything related to the anomaly so that normal common sense and cognition are not affected."

"So, being close to the anomaly still affects us?" The man with the mustache in the back seat rasped as he asked.

It seemed he had also realized it now.

"There’s a way to avoid it," Reid explained calmly, "This cover-up only impacts those unaware of the anomaly’s presence. Once you recognize an anomaly exists, you can bypass the cognition process and directly ’believe’ there’s an anomaly over there."

"Is it like a mathematical principle?" He Ao interjected, "You don’t need to understand why 1+1 equals 2; you just need to remember that 1+1 equals 2."

Reid was startled for a moment before he slowly nodded, saying, "Yes, that’s pretty much the idea."

"Still quick thinking of a high schooler." Chen, sitting behind He Ao, said jokingly, cigarette in mouth.

Obviously, he had realized it too.

He turned his gaze to Reid and asked the question everyone in the car wanted to know, "What level is the ’anomaly’ responsible for such a situation as stated in the documents?"

Reid took a deep drag of the cigarette, then removed it and placed it outside the window, watching the cold wind blow the embers. He rasped slowly, "Level 1."