I am weak and friendly

Chapter 257 Goodbye, My Touchpoint Internet Girl (3K)

Lin Jiaqiang and Zhao Wenjie, carrying several bags of food they had taken from the vending machine, quietly slipped out of the crowd.

The two looked at each other and saw the paleness on each other's faces.

And the lingering fear in his eyes.

Early in the morning, they quietly left Touchpoint Connect's network point.

They also left a note to express their gratitude.

Although there was still standing water everywhere outside, it was getting light, and they figured the other person would be back soon, so they should hurry up and leave to avoid causing trouble.

Before leaving, I cleaned up the puddles that had gotten in during the night's rain.

After leaving the Touchpoint Connect outlet, the two wanted to find something to eat, but found that there were people filming videos next to many vending machines. The two watched for a while and found that these people had no intention of leaving, and there were even many people queuing up next to them.

They didn't want to be on camera, so they had to keep looking for the next one.

As a result, the two of them drifted further and further apart.

After walking through several streets, I finally found a vending machine that wasn't on the map, and no one was filming nearby.

Even so, the two were still worried that someone might be taking pictures of them. Like stealing something, one of them kept watch while the other retrieved the food. They took enough food for two days and then ran away.

As a result, I accidentally ended up here.

Then you see the dead man being loaded onto a truck and taken away.

Upon hearing the whole story, the two were filled with lingering fear.

If the two of them hadn't woken up in time last night and left the area under the bridge sooner, they would probably be the ones who died.

This morning, along their journey, they encountered fallen billboards, broken tree branches, fallen trees, loose plaster, and even windows blown off...

I can't imagine what the consequences would have been if they hadn't found that Touchpoint Connect community service station last night.

Although modern humans have built enormous cities, even within these cities, humanity remains incredibly vulnerable to natural disasters like torrential rains.

The intense visual impact deeply shocked the two of them. They walked silently for a while, looking at each other several times, opening their mouths to speak, but not knowing what to say.

Although they had been living in poverty in this city for a long time, this was the first time they realized how close death was to them.

The two tacitly avoided this terrible topic and then looked at a vending machine on the side of the road.

"No, why are they filming here?" Zhao Wenjie asked, his tone tinged with resentment.

"It's all for the sake of traffic," Lin Jiaqiang said.

"What data traffic does this thing generate?"

"Who knows? As long as there's a little traffic, people will come."

The two of them stopped talking as they walked.

They saw a banner displayed in front of another vending machine ahead.

Someone set up a table in front of them with a sign that read: "Give us your love and support, free to take, not expired food, safe and guaranteed."

On top were brand-new bottles of mineral water and milk, bags of bread and sausages, and next to them was a pot containing something that smelled delicious.

In front of that table, there was a pretty young woman distributing things.

He was holding a phone and microphone, seemingly conducting an interview.

Upon seeing the fresh bread and sausages, Zhao Wenjie was so captivated that he swallowed hard.

"Are you going?" Lin Jiaqiang asked Zhao Wenjie.

Zhao Wenjie asked, "I don't want to go, what about you?"

"I don't want to either."

"Then let's go quickly," Zhao Wenjie said.

Then he walked quite a distance before turning back. He saw several elderly people from a nearby community walking together in that direction.

She was also carrying shopping bags.

For a fleeting moment, Zhao Wenjie seemed to be tempted. He turned around, took two steps, and then suddenly stopped.

Then he turned back, head down, and strode forward defiantly.

It seemed as if they were afraid of losing their willpower.

Lin Jiaqiang really wanted to go.

After such a cold, terrible rainy night, he longed for some proper, hot food to warm himself up a little.

But he really didn't want to be on camera; he didn't want his family, friends, classmates, and teachers to see him on short videos.

He hasn't dared to video chat with his family for many days. Every time he calls, he hangs up in a hurry, afraid that his family will find out about his current situation.

He dreamt last night that he was video chatting with his family, but they found out he was being cheated on, which scared him awake.

But as they traveled along, they discovered that this situation was very common.

Many people have placed items in front of the vending machines.

There are various merchants and online celebrities. Some people give away the food for free, while others exchange it for food from vending machines.

Some people were conducting interviews, some were filming, and others were popularizing food safety knowledge.

This left both of them with very complicated feelings, for reasons they didn't understand.

"Damn it!" Zhao Wenjie stopped and kicked the curb hard.

"No, what are they doing this for?" he said. "If you're just delivering something, why emphasize that it's not expired food and guarantees safety? And they're filming there too, what do they want from us!"

They are not actually ignorant. People of this age are basically digital natives who have experienced the era of massive data traffic explosions, and they instinctively know what this kind of thing means.

"They were just doing a good deed," Lin Jiaqiang said.

"But you can't do good deeds by stepping on OIFU's head!"

Isn't the point to say that OIFU's food is unsafe?
Isn't it just about claiming to be better than OIFU?
Do you think I don't know whether the food provided by OIFU is safe or expired?

I'm not stupid, can't I make my own judgment?

Where were you all those nights when my stomach ached from hunger? Now you've come out.

You guys can come out now, but can you at least give me back my OIFU?

"Damn it," Zhao Wenjie said.

While passing through a small alley, they saw a sign that read "Love Breakfast" written on cardboard next to a breakfast stall. There were no cameras or onlookers, only a chubby uncle busy working at the food cart next to it.

But after watching for a while, the two of them left.

They were all quiet and didn't say a word.

It felt like something inside me had been punctured, leaving me with a profound sense of powerlessness.

I feel like I've lost all my spirit.

Actually, sometimes the reluctance to accept help from others isn't because of the external camera, but because of the internal camera. As they walked, Zhao Wenjie's expression suddenly changed.

"Oh no, I forgot my water bottle there."

"Service station?"

"Um……"

Lin Jiaqiang thought for a moment and said, "Let's go back and get it."

The two of them identified the direction and started walking back.

Then they arrived at the bridge where they had stayed for several days.

The two looked at each other but said nothing.

They walked from the bridge towards the roadside, and then the two looked toward the place they remembered.

"Wait, where did it go?"

They clearly remembered that the Touchpoint Connect Community Service Station was right here.

But why not?
"Wrong way?"

The two looked at each other, turned around, and walked along the road from the bridge again.

still none.

In the place they both remembered, there was an old man sitting there enjoying the cool air, fanning himself with a fan.

"Grandpa, is there a Touchpoint Connect service station around here?" they asked the old man who was taking a break in the shade.

"Service station? There's no service station here," said the old man enjoying the cool air. "I've never heard of any service station."

"It's just a red storefront with a big 'C' logo; it's a branch of a company," Zhao Wenjie said.

The old man thought hard for a moment and said, "I've never seen it before, and I've never heard of such a thing around here."

Seeing that the two men didn't quite believe him, the old man said, "Why don't you go ask someone else? Old Zhou, have you seen any service stations or outlets around here?"

The old man was very helpful and asked several people on their behalf, but none of them said they had seen him before.

The two men exchanged a glance, said nothing more, thanked the old man, and turned to leave.

When they reached the riverbank, the two of them looked back.

There's no mistake, they drove all the way from here last night to find that service station.

In that kind of heavy rain, they simply couldn't run very far.

However, everyone says no.

Both of them could see the confusion in each other's eyes.

I could also vaguely feel a chill down my spine.

Where exactly did we take shelter from the rain last night?

"Could we be stuck in a maze?"

Both of them felt a cold sweat break out on their backs.

I heard many similar stories when I was a child, such as being trapped in a maze by ghosts or fox spirits in the mountains.

As people grow up, they spend almost all their time studying and working in cities, and these absurd folk tales have long been forgotten.

But now, those memories have been awakened.

"But what does it want from us? Does it want us because we have no money, or because we don't bathe?"

If there really are fox spirits or ghosts trapped in a maze, they would brave the heavy rain in the middle of the night to open a door for us, save our lives, and then disappear, right?

This fox spirit deserves to be ranked among the top ten most touching fox spirits in China.

It would be excessive not to give them a ten-pound, gleaming gold medal.

“Those are the touchpoint interconnection network points,” Lin Jiaqiang said.

He didn't know what he was emphasizing. He had a vague idea, but he felt it was even less reliable than "fox spirits".

"You mean, the touchpoints have become sentient?" Zhao Wenjie got his idea.

The more I think about it, the stranger it seems.

This isn't even a track, it's not even a route.

How can Touchpoint Connect become sentient?
You've got the wrong channel!

"It would be great if it really became a spirit," Lin Jiaqiang said.

Then, for some inexplicable reason, the two of them felt a little melancholy.

OIFU has been taken over by someone else.

The shop where I took shelter from the rain last night is gone.

It seems that all connections to this city have been severed.

The two of them hung their heads, completely listless.

As they crossed the bridge, they looked back one last time.

On the street, in front of a red vending machine, an internet celebrity is talking to her phone.

Along the riverside street, a row of shops has gradually become busy.

But the door was gone.

Perhaps, the stunningly beautiful fox-eared woman who sat behind the door has also disappeared.

Goodbye, my fox spirit.

No, it's my Touchpoint Internet Girl.

They seemed to recall the bewilderment they felt on the day they were evicted by their landlord.

The city is so big, and standing on the bustling streets, they once again don't know where to go or what to do.

"Let's go," Lin Jiaqiang said.

He walked forward.

Even without a direction, you must keep moving forward.

This time, I'll have to rely on myself.

Even Tang... can't help us anymore.

Tang, please don't get into any trouble.

(End of this chapter)