Chen Jie furrowed his brow and said, "No, I still have family outside."
"Family? Whatās that? Is it like an enemy that you can eat?"
Mirage asked with a puzzled face.
Chen Jie explained, "Itās someone you start to miss when you havenāt seen them for a while."
"Missing someone when not seen? What is missing?"
Mirage asked again.
Chen Jie said, "Itās when you want to see someone, but you canāt."
Mirage frowned and said, "Someone I want to see but canāt?"
Mirage didnāt quite understand but still suggested, "Then you can bring them all in here, and we can all play together."
Chen Jie said, "No, I need to get out."
Mirageās face immediately turned sour and said, "Why, isnāt it nice here? Donāt you like it here?"
Chen Jie fell silent and then said, "I canāt say I donāt like it, in fact, there are memories of mine here, memories of civilization!"
Chen Jie looked at the amusement park rides filled with a modern vibe in front of him, and seeing these things always reminded him that he too was once part of civilization.
And the world outside now was so primitive.
Chen Jie had memories of all this, but he couldnāt part with the real world outside.
Because that was where his roots were.
He had his wife, Su Yunjin, Huang Wanāer, Ruirui, Hu Zi, his master, Uncle Zhong, Old Zhou, Si Xi...
All those people were waiting for him, he couldnāt get lost here, although the place was really nice and practically fulfilled all of Chen Jieās illusions.
Even Chen Jie wished he could build a fairy-tale-like modern civilization here.
But Chen Jie couldnāt get lost here.
Because he didnāt want to be the king in a virtual world here. He wanted to be the king of the real world, and his wife and friends were all waiting for him outside.
He must leave this place.
Thinking this, Chen Jie looked at Mirage and said, "I must leave here."
Mirage looked at Chen Jie and said, "What if I donāt let you leave?"
"I wonāt allow you to leave."
Mirage was like a proud little princess, pointing at Chen Jie. She liked Chen Jie, so she didnāt allow him to leave; she wanted him to stay with her forever.
She was now a little afraid of loneliness.
Indeed, she had never feared loneliness before, but after gaining human intelligence, she started to feel lonely.
She was becoming more and more human.
Hearing her words, Chen Jie looked at Mirage, knowing that she wasnāt joking, and if she really insisted on not letting Chen Jie leave, there was indeed nothing he could do.
After all, even though he had learned Spring Godās Fury, he had no power to confront Mirage.
Not to mention himself, even the experts from the court on the Heavenly List who were sent to hunt down Mirage ended up failing.
Those on the Heavenly List were existences beyond Chen Jieās reach.
But if they couldnāt do anything to Mirage, what could he do?
It was all because Mirage, with the intelligence of humans, feared loneliness. Wait!
Chen Jieās mind immediately thought of a way. Yes, because Mirage feared loneliness due to her human intelligence, she wanted to keep him around.
And he could use methods used on humans to communicate with her, for example.
Chen Jie looked at Mirage and asked, "Do you like it here?"
Chen Jie pointed at the amusement park rides in front of him, to which Mirage replied, "I love it, Iāve never liked anything so much."
Chen Jie said, "If you like it, then if I die, will all this disappear?"
Mirage answered, "Yes, but you wonāt die, I wonāt let you, so nothing will disappear."
Hearing this, Chen Jie looked at Mirage and laughed, "Really? But what if I kill myself?"
"Hmm?"
Mirage was stunned, looking at Chen Jie in confusion and said, "Why, why would you kill yourself?"
In Mirageās way of thinking, she found it hard to understand the act of killing oneself, because she had never considered it. Why?
Chen Jie said, "Because I want to leave, if you wonāt let me, then I will kill myself, and then the amusement park will disappear."
"No, donāt do that."
Mirage quickly spoke up to stop Chen Jie, who said, "If you donāt let me go, I will destroy everything."
"Why would you do that?" Mirage was baffled.
Chen Jie thought of many excuses and ways to explain, but in the end, he simply said bluntly, "Because I donāt like it."
"Donāt like it?"
Mirage was taken aback, looking at Chen Jie and asked, "Do you not like me?"
Seeing the tears brimming in Mirageās eyes, he said, "Itās... not that I donāt like you, itās that I canāt stay here forever."
Hearing this, Mirage suddenly burst into laughter, "Hehe, as long as you donāt dislike me, itās fine. If you donāt want to stay here forever, then, then you can go, but you must come to visit me often."
Chen Jie was taken aback and said, "Where would I find you?"
Mirage said, "Right here, Iāll be asleep at the bottom of this river. Whenever you want to see me, just come to the riverbed and call for me."
"With so many fun things, I probably wonāt fall asleep for a while."
Hearing this, Chen Jie said, "Well, I promise you that. Can you let me go now?"
Mirage replied, "Hmm, alright then, Iāll let you go."
...
At this moment outside, on the water surface, a group of people were waiting in a boat, Commandery Princess Zhao Ya, Yu Manāer, Zhong Liang, Ding Ying...
They all were looking at the Mirage, the size of an island.
Ah Da looked at the Commandery Princess and said, "Commandery Princess, itās getting dark, weād better leave, the rain is getting heavier, and it might flood tonight."
Zhao Ya heard this and said, "Wait, just a little longer, Chen Jiusi and the others should be coming out soon!"
Just as she spoke, they suddenly saw the Mirageās shells flutter, and the next moment, with a āpfftā, Chen Jiusi was ejected and fell into the water with a splash!