Less than two minutes after leaving the game, Mu Chen sent a message: "[I'm downstairs.]"

Mingmei, still immersed in the excruciating pain of overusing her powers in the game, saw the message and, unusually, ignored Muchen, immediately fell asleep in the game pod.

When I woke up again, the sunset outside the window had turned into a sky full of stars.

Regaining her composure, Mingmei glanced at her personal terminal again, only to find a message from Mu Chen that had appeared five minutes earlier: "[I'm still downstairs.]"

"Oh dear, it's been several hours already?"

Upon seeing this, Mingmei hurriedly climbed out of the game pod, quickly changed her clothes, and went downstairs. Just as she stepped out of the dormitory building, her vision blurred and she was suddenly pulled into Mu Chen's arms.

This position lasted for about five minutes, during which neither of them spoke.

Do you know how devastated I was when I went back and saw your body?

Mu Chen's deep voice made Mingmei realize that she might have really frightened him this time. She quickly explained, "I... I calculated it all, I can survive until the mission ends..."

"Yeah?"

"Um."

"The mission is over, is that all? Then... have you thought about me?"

"I've thought about it." Mingmei answered without hesitation, looked up to meet Mu Chen's eyes, and said earnestly, "I waited for your news. Only when I knew you were safe and sound, and that everyone had successfully overcome this disaster... did I feel relieved enough to come out."

When she spoke last, Mingmei subconsciously avoided Mu Chen's eyes again; she didn't tell the truth about that one sentence.

She wasn't relieved; she was in real pain.

She couldn't bear that kind of pain while fully conscious.

"Don't do that again in the future."

He had witnessed too many partings and deaths in the outer city, and he never expected to be "stabbed in the back" just before leaving the game.

"I'm afraid I'll go crazy next time..."

Mu Chen's embrace grew stronger, and his slightly trembling body uttered these words with difficulty, which made Mingmei's heart soften instantly, just like how she had endured a year of suffering to survive and was still persevering.

She persevered until someone told her that the battle in the outer city had been successful.

She seemed relieved only after hearing that Mu Chen was safe.

Mu Chen must have come to find me with a heart full of joy back then, right?

"I'm a little hungry and want to have a late-night snack."

The young couple cuddled together for a while, but Mingmei didn't want to go back to her dorm just like that. Looking at Muchen, she remembered that he had been waiting for her downstairs since evening, so she said she wanted to eat something.

Mu Chen would naturally agree.

The two went to the cafeteria together, but they didn't expect that there would still be quite a few people there in the middle of the night.

Although this cafeteria can only accommodate a maximum of 30 to 40 people, there are only a few scattered people in it now, but considering that this is still a quarter of the total number of people in this eight-school exchange program.

Mingmei was also very surprised. She had fallen asleep after leaving the game and only came to eat then. Where were all these people?

"Good evening."

Less than two minutes after Mingmei and the others entered, Lu Xiaoyao suddenly appeared silently from behind her, startling Mingmei.

She glanced at Lu Gui standing next to Lu Xiaoyao; at that moment, the atmosphere between the two siblings was somewhat stiff.

Mingmei, carrying her late-night snack, nudged Mu Chen with her elbow and gestured with her chin that she wanted to go find Lu Xiaoyao. Mu Chen smiled helplessly, nodded, and sat down next to Lu Gui.

Lu Gui sensed someone approaching, looked up and saw it was Mu Chen, and calmly accepted it.

If it weren't for that year in the game, he and Mu Chen might still be exchanging sarcastic remarks now.

"What happened?"

Mu Chen looked toward Mingmei and Lu Xiaoyao, who were sitting not far from them, and Lu Gui naturally knew what he was asking.

"She was afraid of pain, and when the game was almost over, she wanted to die. I wouldn't let her die, so she was carried back for treatment and suffered a lot."

"And then what?"

Based on what Mu Chen knew about Lu Xiaoyao, even so, she wouldn't hold a grudge against Lu Gui for so long.

Sure enough, the next second Lu Gui said, "Later, the year of the game mission was up. I happened to be injured and being treated in the medical room at that time. Since she had already completed the mission and was in a lot of pain, I just removed her oxygen mask and sent her out of the game."

Mu Chen: "..."

He couldn't comment on this action.

Mingmei over there found Lu Xiaoyao's description indescribable.

After a long pause, she thought for a moment and then said, "He was thinking about your mission before, but after the mission ended, he saw how much pain you were in, so he didn't want you to suffer anymore."

"Waaaa~ That guy is such a nightmare! If I had just ended it all myself, or if I had been mentally prepared, this wouldn't have happened QAQ! I bravely endured so much pain, and then he just said 'That's enough' and pulled off my oxygen mask!"

The more she talked, the angrier Lu Xiaoyao became.

"So what do you plan to do?"

"We broke up overnight, he's not my brother today!"

I thought it was going to be a huge hit, but Lu Gui, who had already planned to take Lu Xiaoyao out for all sorts of food and shopping to make amends after the eight-school exchange ended, heard this and silently turned around, taking the empty plate to the cleaning robot.

The next morning, the students from each school changed into their fighting uniforms and met in the fighting classroom.

From early morning, Lu Xiaoyao kept muttering to Mingmei, "It's here, it's here, the time for a fight has finally come!" However, in the end, Lu Xiaoyao sighed with great melancholy, "But, I have no desire left."

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