under fern mountain

The matter of renting a new house has finally been arranged.

The two of them ran around the third ring road many times, and finally settled on an apartment of more than 200 square meters, which is close to the CDB, so it is convenient for Shi Ran to go to the Cicada Room.The floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room face the sun, and there is a small park next to the apartment behind. There are all kinds of ecological facilities around, and the interior decoration is simple and warm.Because Shi Ran liked it very much, they made a decision without thinking too long, and the two of them will be able to move in next month.

The two paid a deposit and started packing things on the weekend.The succulents on the window sill, the laser stickers on the closet, the heart-shaped molds for baking, the Polaroid photos dropped under the bed board... the bits and pieces are all traces of the two people's lives in the past few years.

Shi Ran stood in the middle of the pile of luggage packed into boxes at the entrance, looking at the already somewhat empty room, feeling this kind of farewell belatedly.

"What are you thinking about?" Pei Haojie moved another box of shoes near him and put it down.

"I really can't bear it when it comes to the end." Shi Ran pointed in one direction, "We picked out the curtains together, and I helped Liuliu raise a cat for a while, and I got caught and hung silk... The carpet was bought second-hand, it was so beautiful at that time ...and the mirrorless camera that I broke, I kept saying to get it repaired but always forgot, it was just there—”

"There is always a new house, just change it." Pei Haojie put one hand on Shi Ran's shoulder, "And this time I can change it to a better one."

Just as Shi Ran was about to answer the call, the phone's ringtone interrupted him.Seeing the name on the screen, Shi Ran was a little surprised, it was Mr. Lin from Jinchuan.

Pei Haojie had already gone back to her room and continued to pack her things, she didn't pay attention to it, and didn't hear what Shi Ran called.

He took out the wet sheet and quilt cover from the washing machine and stuffed it into the dryer. When he turned around, he saw Shi Ran standing behind him.

"Scared me, what's the matter?" Pei Haojie rubbed his chest.

Shi Ran was holding the phone with one hand, and obviously hadn't hung up the phone yet, with a subtle expression on his face: "Well, have you put away all the games?"

"Some of the things you don't play are confiscated, and the rest are still confiscated for work needs. What's the matter?"

"Have you accepted "Messiah" too?" Shi Ran asked in a low voice.

This is the first time the two have brought up the game since their last quarrel.After the conflict at the end of the year, the two of them kept silent about the name as if they had a tacit understanding, especially Pei Haojie, who never let this game appear in Shi Ran's sight.

Sudden mention like now for no reason... Pei Haojie glanced at the phone in his hand, and immediately guessed who he was talking to.

"What's the matter? What are you doing?" Pei Haojie took the small box on the window sill, took out two detergent tablets and put them into the dryer.

"Mr. Lin wants to ask how you are doing..." Shi Ran pressed the phone's microphone and whispered, "It's Mr. Lin from Jinchuan!"

Pei Haojie pressed the operation button in a normal way, and the drum dryer started to work.

"Oh, then call me and I'll tell him!"

Shi Ran hid his hand back for a moment: "He still wants to ask you...he intends to take back "Messiah"."

"Recycling?" Pei Haojie looked at Shi Ran and frowned.

Shi Ran was also a little embarrassed: "Well, it seems that the situation is a bit complicated. After internal discussions, they decided to..."

Before Shi Ran finished speaking, Mr. Lin spoke again. His voice had a mechanical feeling after being isolated by the microphone: "Mr. Shi, are you with your lover now? Please put your voice out, I can Explain it more clearly."

Shi Ran clicked on the public release, and Mr. Lin's voice was clear this time: "Mr. Pei, I am also very embarrassed to say this... I am really sorry."

"You're welcome, I like "Messiah" very much." Pei Haojie said.

"It's like this. I don't know if Mr. Shi has mentioned it to you. The version of "Messiah" we gave Mr. Shi is an internal collection. It is said that it is a collection. In fact, everyone in the team is basically sure about this. The version will not pass the audit, let alone participate in the internal test. There are some settings that should not exist... You know the game industry well, and you probably know what I am talking about. The game will be subject to moral review, social hidden dangers or cultural supervision. The problem is restricted and cannot be promoted to the public. But the game itself should be free if it is separated from the product... The "Messiah" in your hand is actually another version made by the team in order not to release it to the public."

"I think I understand." Pei Haojie's voice sounded deeper than usual, and he took Shi Ran's phone naturally, "So you still think that the content of this version is not suitable for people outside the team to hold it? But It has been half a year since I got "Messiah", so you don't have to worry about this."

"Mr. Pei understands, but we still want to recycle it. In the early stage, because of repeated internal evaluations in the past six months, our team believed that this version of "Messiah" completely exceeded our expectations-it was out of control .”

Shi Ran listened blankly.The content of their conversation is not obscure, but it does sound a bit foggy.

out of control?

The game is just a dead thing, can it still get out of control?

"It's Mr. Lin like this." Pei Haojie changed her hand to hold the microphone, "Actually, we've been moving in the past two weeks, and we're packing up. The game is probably put in a box by me, and it will be hard to find for a while. How about this , I will leave your mobile phone number, and I will take the initiative to contact you later."

"No problem, no problem, take your time."

After exchanging a few polite words on the public phone call, the two finally hung up the phone.

"Have you put it away?" Shi Ran looked a little disappointed, "I don't know... I didn't expect Lin to always be like this."

"It's okay, I'll contact him again in the future, I don't want to think about it anymore." Pei Haojie waved his hands in twos and twos.

Shi Ran didn't know whether he cared or probed: "... Then when you were playing, did you feel something was wrong? Do you know what it means when Mr. Lin said he was out of control?"

"...I don't know." Pei Haojie had already turned her back and changed the subject, "Let's put away the trivial things at home, and don't forget anything then!"

"What are you doing?" Shi Ran looked at Pei Haojie who was walking towards the entrance.

"I'm so tired, go downstairs and smoke a cigarette!" Pei Haojie didn't look back, shook the cigarette case in his hand, opened the door and went out.

After closing the door, Pei Haojie paused against the wall for a few seconds.Instead of taking the elevator, he came to the safe passage, went down three floors in vain, and then stopped in front of the window.

Looking at the gray buildings in the cloudy sky, he dialed a series of numbers with his memory within 3 minutes.

"Hello? Mr. Lin, it's me, Pei Haojie."

The rest of the month passed quickly.On the second day of the housewarming, Shi Ran invited Tie Tou and Li Qing'er to his house as guests.

Pei Haojie bought fresh ingredients in the morning in advance, and bought flowers, goldfish and a bathtub at noon, and placed them in the new home, and immediately felt a breath of life, making it less empty.

Since Tietou entered the house, he has been looking at the interior space and decoration: "What a big change! I have never been to your house before, but I have seen photos, and it is completely different from now!"

"He picked out the new furniture and layout!" Shi Ran pulled Pei Haojie to sit on the sofa, and inserted toothpicks into the fruit plate one by one, "It's only been two days since we moved here, and the house is very messy, don't mind."

"You guys are too capable. You can cook so many dishes while moving house, amazing!" Li Qing'er also said.

"After all, Xiao Pei is good at cooking." Tietou said and turned to Pei Haojie, "Speaking of which, I introduced Mr. Lin from Jinchuan to Shi Ran before, did he tell you? Isn't their new game about to be pre-sold soon? ? Our company is very optimistic about the new game, so we want to talk about cooperation. At that time, I would like to recommend you to our two companies to do the evaluation together. Xiao Pei, you have experience in this field, what do you think?"

"Their boss is very generous with the money." Li Qing'er leaned over and said to Pei Haojie.

"Brother, I'm sorry to say that. But I can work happily with you, and I haven't had time to thank you! If you're sure, you can contact me at any time." Pei Haojie said with a smile.

Tietou was very happy when he heard this, and even drank two more glasses of beer on the table.When the dishes were almost finished, Li Qing'er insisted on washing with Shi Ran. The two gathered by the sink, discussing the topic of cicada room in a low voice, while Tietou pulled Pei Haojie to sit on the sofa and chatted with him about games .

Not surprisingly, Tietou is responsible for the cooperation with Jinchuan this time. Judging from what he said, the other party also has the intention to cooperate, but he is a little hesitant.

"I'm still looking for a way to make them open their hearts, but the leader of their team has a weird temper, and I really can't figure out a way out! Xiao Pei, you have a lot of experience in this field, and you have a lot of exchanges with people in the game industry. Is there anything wrong? Suggestion?" Iron Head asked.

Pei Haojie glanced at Shi Ran who was washing dishes in the kitchen from the corner of his eye, and took a sip of beer: "If you're connecting with Jinchuan, it shouldn't have much to do with them. The main thing is to communicate with Mr. Lin, the product manager, right?"

"Mr. Lin is even more difficult!" Tietou smiled wryly, "Mr. Lin looks polite and demeanor, but in fact he has a special sense of distance! I have known him for almost two years, and now we meet each other like 'Mr. 'you'!"

Pei Haojie recalled Boss Lin's polite and alienated voice on the phone that day, and laughed with empathy: "If that's the case, I suggest you let go and be sincere. Just say what you want, don't be too polite and superficial, say It might work out better.”

"Okay, but how do you know, have you been in contact with Mr. Lin?"

When Tietou said this, Shi Ran and Li Qing'er had already washed the dishes and brought melon seeds and cashew nuts on the coffee table.

Pei Haojie folded her arms and looked at Tie Tou, looking very engaged in the conversation: "It's just an intuition, a dead horse is a living horse doctor, go try it!"

At that time, Shi Ran hadn't figured out what was wrong with Pei Haojie, he just felt that his eyes were a little dodgy, and he was afraid that he was suspicious.After all, I didn't ask much, but lying on the bed before going to sleep, I couldn't help but be full of questions.

Tietou mentioned Mr. Lin twice successively, first he said that there was a possibility of cooperation and hoped that Pei Haojie could come to do the evaluation, and then he casually chatted with him about Jinchuan's team and asked him if he had contact with Mr. Lin... How did Pei Haojie answer? coming?In short, he seems to have cleverly bypassed the topic of Mr. Lin.

Why didn't he tell Mr. Tietou that Mr. Lin gave him a set of "Messiah"?Tie Tou and Shi Ran have a strong relationship, according to Pei Haojie's past personality, he shouldn't avoid suspicion.

After thinking about it for a while, Shi Ran made a special trip to call Mr. Lin when he went to the Cicada Room the next day.

"Mr. Shi, I'm very glad you can call. Regarding what you said about Mr. Pei, he did contact me later. He said that when he moved, things were too messy and he lost the "Messiah" CD-ROM. "

"Really? He said he lost it?" Shi Ran blinked.

"He said he was willing to send back the brain wave spectrum reader. But the sensor without the optical drive is just a game device, so I just let him keep it." Mr. Lin's voice paused, "he said, if later If you find the CD-ROM, you will contact me."