Stan opened his eyes in the Tesla Cybertruck. Through the window, he saw that the car was parked in a cave identical to the one he and Fang Ling used as their home in the virtual space. Stan pulled the neural interface connector from the back of his head and touched the newly opened neural interface, which was still slightly bleeding. He wiped the blood off his hand with the other hand, took out his phone, and checked the time. Only three hours had passed since he first connected to the virtual space, but twelve years had passed in the virtual space. The huge time difference left Stan feeling a bit dazed. He struggled to recall the current situation, which wasn't easy. It's not easy for someone to recall the specific circumstances of an afternoon twelve years ago.

"I was attacked by a drone while driving. I urgently drove the car to the roadside woods and finally drove it directly into the cave to avoid the drone," Stan quickly reviewed in his mind.

At that moment, a sudden loud noise shook the ground. Stan hugged his head in the driver's seat as a large chunk of dirt and many small stones fell from the top of the cave, hitting the car roof directly. It took a while for Stan to control his trembling body and slowly sit up. He saw Catherine's laptop on the passenger seat and a hard drive connected to it. These two items were very important. The hard drive contained the critical program to restart the AI center, but it had been damaged in the drone attack. Stan decided to check outside the cave for safety before continuing his journey. After all, he had just learned to drive, and another drone attack could be fatal. Moreover, this journey seemed to take longer than expected. He had left Bob's car rental company in the morning, and it was now 5 PM, and he hadn't eaten anything yet. There was no food in the car, so finding some wild strawberries outside would be good.

Stan opened the car door and got out. He first checked the car. His actions when driving the car directly into the cave were not exactly gentlemanly. The journey ahead still depended on it! After circling the car, Stan found no serious problems, except for a broken headlight. Fortunately, the power and energy systems were still functioning normally. Stan turned to the cave entrance, squatted down, encouraged himself, grabbed a handful of dirt, and smeared it on his face before crawling out of the cave.

Once out of the cave, Stan immediately dived into the bushes in front of him, then slowly poked his head out to look around. Another loud noise came from behind Stan. He looked in the direction of the explosion and saw a passenger plane burning fiercely not far behind the cave. The plane had crashed directly into the ground, its body shattered into pieces scattered around, and passengers' luggage was flying everywhere...

Stan was stunned by the scene before him. He couldn't bear to look any longer and felt a wave of nausea, vomiting. He had no appetite for food anymore. Stan's eyes gradually became determined as he thought of his wife Fang Lu and their unborn child.

"I can't leave this world to such AI. I must return to the virtual environment as soon as possible. The new AI program must be trained quickly." Stan made up his mind, even if this decision would send Fang Ling to "death."

Fang Ling woke up in the cave: "Daddy!" She called out when she didn't see Stan. "Daddy!" she called out again, louder this time, but no one responded.

Fang Ling got up and wrapped herself in the blanket they had used at night. Feeling a bit cold after just waking up, she stepped out of the cave, hoping to find her dad outside.

"Daddy!" she called out again at the cave entrance, but still no answer.

"Strange, where did Daddy go?" Fang Ling muttered, pacing back and forth. Sometimes she put her hands on her hips and looked at the campfire, and other times she climbed up to the cave entrance to look into the distance.

After confirming Stan was not around, she cheered, "Yay, Daddy's gone, haha! I'm going to find some ice cream first."

Fang Ling went back inside, took off the blanket, and felt warmer after moving around. She put on her white cloak again and stepped out. Standing in the open space in front of the cave, she took a deep breath, pulled the cloak's hood over her head, leaving only her face exposed, and made up her mind.

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As she took a step forward, the scenery around her began to change rapidly, as if she were flying forward. Soon, she left the jungle and arrived in a big city. Fang Ling stopped in a park plaza where she had first tasted ice cream. She often asked Stan to bring her back for more, but he would only let her have one each time.

"Daddy calls it data balance, but I don't understand what that means!" Fang Ling muttered to herself.

In this world, no one or anything would actively interact with Fang Ling, and everyone, including animals, seemed unable to see her or Stan. Only when she initiated a request would they notice her. Fang Ling always thought it was the magic of the cloak.

Now wearing the cloak, she approached the ice cream stand. The stand was a van with a large window on one side that could slide open. The window was open now, and a man in a white shirt and apron was serving customers inside.

Outside the window was a large awning where customers buying ice cream sought shade. There were a few benches around the plaza's edge, with a greenbelt, lawn, bushes, and some tall trees behind them. The trees' shadows shaded the benches from the sunlight. Some people rested on the benches, while others hurried through the plaza in the sun.

Fang Ling started feeling hot. Before she got drenched in sweat, she poked the cloak a few times, and she cooled down immediately. The white cloak completely insulated her from the surrounding temperature. She approached the ice cream van's window and said to the vendor, "Please give me ice cream."

The other customers around still didn't notice her, only the vendor acknowledged her presence. The vendor turned and said, "Sure, would you like one scoop or two?"

Fang Ling replied, "I want a lot of scoops!"

The vendor was surprised, "Usually, we only offer customers a limited amount of ice cream. Your request is unreasonable!"

Fang Ling thought for a moment and stepped back. She retreated from the vendor's awareness.

As Ling had anticipated, even though she was grabbing and eating the ice cream, the vendor completely ignored her. She kept eating and eating. "This is better than the barbecue party!" she thought while eating. Suddenly, she felt a strong urge to use the bathroom. With her mouth still full of ice cream, and her hands covered in it, she rushed out of the ice cream van, heading straight for the restroom in the corner of the square. She burst into the restroom, and as the intense stomach pain struck her, she regretted eating so much ice cream. "No wonder Dad only let me have one each time!" she thought as she endured the pain.

After leaving the restroom, Ling's stomach was still aching. She collapsed at the restroom's entrance, thinking, "I might die. Dad, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have eaten so much ice cream. Dad, where are you?"

Meanwhile, Stan had just returned to the real-world cave, sitting in his car. He glanced at his phone, stunned to find that the virtual world's pause status had been deactivated without him knowing. He had been out of the virtual world for a full fifteen minutes, meaning... a year had passed inside the virtual world!

Ling's stomach pain gradually subsided, but she felt an overwhelming loneliness. "Dad, where did you go?" she wondered. Ling had never been separated from Stan since she could remember. She had always traveled around wearing the 'magic' robe, exploring various places, with Stan silently watching over her. Later, Stan had taken her to meet Mr. Tree Hole, who taught her many things. Thinking of this, Ling suddenly said, "Mr. Tree Hole. Maybe Dad is with Mr. Tree Hole!" She stood up, feeling less discomfort in her stomach, put on the robe's hood again, and stepped forward, rapidly changing her surroundings until she arrived at the oasis where Mr. Tree Hole was.

Ling stopped and looked around but saw no one. She cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, "Dad!" The surroundings remained deathly silent. Ling couldn't hold back her tears anymore and started crying, "Wah... Dad, where are you?" After crying for a long time, she leaned on Mr. Tree Hole and rested. Then she asked the tree hole, "Mr. Tree Hole, do you know where my dad is?" A voice echoed from the tree hole, "Due to privacy concerns, I cannot accurately locate an individual's position. However, I can search for the latest information about Mr. Stan from public sources. Please wait a moment..." After a while, the tree hole's voice came again, "In this virtual environment, no current location information for Mr. Stan has been found. Mr. Stan may be exploring an independent virtual environment or has returned to the real environment."

"Dad left here? What's the 'real' environment? How can I go to the 'real' world to find Dad?" Ling urgently asked. The tree hole replied, "To connect with the real world, you can go to the device management center and activate the camera, allowing you to observe the surroundings." Ling continued to ask, "How do I get to the device management center?" The tree hole answered, "Due to privacy concerns, I cannot access the device center!"

"Ah!" Ling stood up, feeling frustrated. She clenched her fists and stomped her foot. "I don't understand! Can you explain more clearly?" "Due to privacy concerns, I cannot access the device center!" the tree hole's voice repeated. Ling kicked Mr. Tree Hole and said, "You stingy tree! I'll find it myself! I must find Dad!" She then turned and walked out of the oasis, quickly leaving it behind. After Ling left, faint electrical sounds could be heard from deep within the tree hole.