The streets were brightly lit, with various neon signs flashing, and shops lined up on both sides, making it look like a bustling neighborhood.
Was this the place I came to yesterday?
It should be, but I can’t quite remember. At the time, all my attention was on that restaurant, and I was starving, so I just followed the aroma right to the door... That’s basically how it was. As for the other details of this street, I really hadn’t paid attention.
Reflecting on it like this, Gu Mo scratched his cheek, looking around as he walked forward.
Anyway, this must be the place, and it shouldn’t be too far. I just need to look for it. With this thought in mind, he paced back and forth on the street for quite a while, his brow tightening from relaxed to furrowed.
No, this isn’t right, where’s the restaurant, such a big restaurant?
It was clearly here yesterday, so why is it gone today?
This commercial street isn’t short of eateries, but none seemed to be that distinctive restaurant from his memory. He looked carefully, from the start of the street to the end, yet didn’t see a single familiar sign...
Ultimately, Gu Mo began to doubt his own sanity. He stood there with his fist under his chin, pondering deeply.
What’s wrong? He couldn’t figure out this question. It was such a simple thing, so why did it suddenly feel so complicated? Though he admittedly couldn’t remember the exact location, it still didn’t make sense.
After all, even if you count the neighborhood on the other side of the alley, it’s just a tiny spot, a little bigger than the Vatican, and might even require maximum zoom on a delivery app map to see the name... So, there’s no reason he couldn’t find the restaurant the next day.
No matter how confused he was at the time, logically, it should be near this area!
He scanned the surroundings and kept walking forward. He refused to believe the restaurant was just something imagined or made up in his head. He was more inclined to think it was a matter of misjudging the distance, maybe it was a bit further ahead?
Hmm, it’s not impossible...
After all, he had wandered over in a daze, unknowingly arriving at the doorstep; and when leaving, his mind was elsewhere, and somehow, he found himself back where the snack street was.
—The entire process was indeed quite a blur...
While characterizing this situation in his mind and attempting to rationalize it, Gu Mo continued searching forward.
With an unyielding spirit, he walked for quite some time. The shops on both sides became more sparse, and he peered around, then switched directions and walked over there... Moving from poverty to luxury is easy, but going from luxury back to poverty is hard; the threshold was raised to such a level by yesterday’s culinary assault that it was hard for him to accept ordinary food now.
Besides, it truly was affordable and of high quality; within the same price range, why not choose the best?
With this thought, he meticulously and carefully conducted a thorough search. Some time passed, but of course, he found nothing.
"Damn it!"
This scenario clearly doesn’t add up, Gu Mo halted his futile steps, his brows furrowed in distress. He seriously suspected whether he had been looking in the wrong direction from the start, or if he should have trusted his instincts and searched from the other side?
This thought was hard to evaluate, because he initially discovered there was no road over there, and hesitantly walked from the other side, eventually ending up here—
"Come to think of it... Where is this?"
He realized he seemed to be lost. After many twists and turns, he hadn’t found his destination and ended up getting himself lost. The city before him appeared extraordinarily unfamiliar to him... He had never wandered over here before, hence had no recollection.
Where did I come from? Where am I going?
Why does it feel like every direction isn’t the way I came from, yet every direction seems like the way I came?
Gu Mo looked around the unfamiliar surroundings, eventually shaking his head, not overly worried either. He picked up his phone and started searching; after all, with today’s advanced technology, as long as you carry a phone when you go out, you should be fine.
"Emmmmm..."
Sliding his fingers across the phone, probably because he usually doesn’t use navigation much, combined with the myriad of apps on the phone making his eyes dazzle, he couldn’t find the corresponding program for a while... Just as he was thinking of downloading a new one, his thumb suddenly paused on the screen.
Was the previous app he downloaded some kind of malicious navigation or something?
Has it been revamped now?
Looking at that icon, a simplified option labeled "Map (M)", Gu Mo felt something wasn’t right, and after a moment of silence, he quietly opened the program option.
The map quickly displayed; he swiped a few times to confirm his location and realized he didn’t recognize the surrounding place names either, then searched for the restaurant’s name but couldn’t find anything...