Shi Jinzhe had his own plans, and his words were earnest and sincere, drawing up a beautiful blueprint for the system.

"You want the players to go further, and so do I. Our goal is to help those butterflies go further. Wouldn't it be better if Shekh and I helped you advance the players' progress?"

This is not in accordance with regulations...

“Rules are rigid, but people are flexible. You have to be adaptable. If we help you, Dad can relax a bit and focus his energy on other things. You benefit, and I can also rest assured. It’s a win-win situation for us.”

The suggestion put forward by Shi Jinzhe was unheard of by the system, allowing players to replace the original dungeon resident as bosses...

It hesitated, yet felt somewhat tempted.

Give me ten minutes, I need to think about it…

"Of course, take your time to think about it."

If the system says it will consider it, then it's pretty much a done deal.

Shi Jinzhe reached out to Shehe, beckoning her over and pulling her along. "This world is my second home. I also want to help my father reduce his stress and help the vitality recover faster. When this place becomes better, it will be more suitable for Shehe to live here. This is my true thought. You don't need to worry that I have ulterior motives."

He was speaking earnestly, unaware that Mu Bai's gaze towards him was somewhat strange.

It's amazing that this child has actually grown up safely.

While I was doing my best to maintain the balance of this world, that fragile little sapling that was once too fragile to survive was now able to stand on its own in another world.

Mu Bai's gaze was too eager, and Shi Jinzhe turned his head back uncertainly.

"…What's wrong?"

"I'm somewhat relieved." Mu Bai waded through the water toward the center of the lake. "You two should discuss it and let me know. I'll go check on your mother first."

Before anyone could stop him, he let go of her hand and walked into the water.

The fallen leaves on the lake were gently parted by the current as Mu Bai walked. Shi Jinzhe watched his back and was deeply moved.

"I don't know how he got through these past twenty years. I don't even dare to imagine that I would break up with you. I can't accept that outcome at all, and I don't even want to think about it."

"You're just burying your head in the sand."

The way Shi Jinzhe said that, as if things wouldn't happen if he didn't think about them, was a bit self-deceptive.

Despite these thoughts, Shekh still held onto his arm, saying, "If I die, I'll take you with me."

"You won't die as long as I'm here."

Shi Jinzhe was amused by her words and took out the item "Cursed Red Thread" from her system inventory.

Item: [Cursed Red Rope] (Permanent Item)

Effect: A two-player item. If one player enters a near-death state, a life-absorbing mechanism will be passively triggered until the near-death player is out of danger. (The absorption cannot be paused once it begins; please use with caution.)

Shekh remembers this: "This is an item we got in the 'Deceased Wife' instance."

"Yes, would you like to use it with me?"

“I have a feeling this prop is unlucky.” Sheh placed his other hand on Shi Jinzhe’s chest. “And why is your heart racing?”

“When people are looking forward to something, their heart beats faster.” Shi Jinzhe glanced down at her hand, then looked up at Shehe’s ribbon.

He tugged at the ribbon slightly. "If you're not going to wear this, then give me three seconds to look into your eyes again."

Shekh acquiesced, letting him untie his ribbon.

The loose black ribbon slid down the bridge of his nose. Shekh blinked, and in the midst of a gaze exchanged with Shi Jinzhe, he was unexpectedly kissed through the ribbon.

...

She looked past Shi Jinzhe's bent shoulder and saw Mu Bai, who had turned back at a very inopportune time. Her expression was slightly complicated.

“Your father saw it.”

"So what if she sees it?" Shi Jinzhe tied the ribbon back for Shehe before she felt uncomfortable, then changed the subject and asked the system, "Have you thought it through?"

Three days.

“Too short,” Shekh rejected the suggestion first. “Ten days.”

"Seven days is fine too. Three days are for my parents, and four days we'll help you torture the players. You don't need to think about it anymore. There's no better choice than us. You want more people to successfully complete the game, right?"

The system was slow and inefficient, so we chose seven days over ten days.

Just this once, for seven days.

“Okay.” Shekh suddenly remembered a crucial question and asked the system, “Does the seven days we’ve spent here count as rest time?”

No, that doesn't count.

"Okay, you can go now."

After dismissing the system, Sheh rolled up his sleeves and placed his wrist in front of Shi Jinzhe. "Put it on."

Shi Jin stopped putting away the props, saying, "I thought you didn't want to wear them."

"I'm willing, but I already have a ring and a red string on my hand, so it's a bit too much to carry around, and I find it troublesome."

Shi Jinzhe held Shehe's fingers tightly. There were quite a lot of these things, especially outside of the game. In addition to the two item rings, she would sometimes wear pearls or other jewelry.

He took the red rope back first, saying, "Let me think of a solution."

I wonder what material this red rope is made of. I wish I could reshape it.

Remembering Mu Bai's ability to make a garment from a handful of flowers he had just gathered, Shi Jinzhe pulled Shehe into the water, saying, "Let me go find a teacher for further training."

Two months later, Shi Jinzhe returned to the giant tree in the lake.

Before they even reached the gap, he and Shekh saw blue fireflies, which had been living inside the tree hole, land on the outside of the ice coffin, illuminating the white frost lying on it.

Mu Bai was bent over, with an orange firefly resting on his left hand.

His fingers gently traced the side of Bai Weishuang's face. As his fingers moved, orange light illuminated a portion of it, like the passing of time at sunset on her face, from her eyebrows to her lips. It was a short distance, yet it seemed to have traversed many years.

Mu Bai placed his hand on the face frozen in time twenty-seven years ago, as if speaking to someone unsure of who he was talking to, "You haven't changed at all."

His words were hidden in the sound of wind chimes, fluttering before my eyes along with the drifting phrase "year after year, we will not betray each other."

"It would be best if you didn't change, because that would give you twenty-seven more years of time. When you wake up, you can spend another twenty-seven years with me."

"However, my lifespan is also not long now. I will probably grow old with you. You were worried before that your life would only be a fleeting moment for me and then it would not exist."

Mu Bai wanted to say more to Bai Weishuang, but he had been stagnant all these years and seemed to have nothing more to say.

Bai Weishuang knew about his past, and she knew it when they were together. His life had long since stopped on the day she would never wake up again.

As she recited the words, Mu Bai remembered that she had broken off her branches.

When Shi Jinzhe listened to what he said, he felt that it was strange for his actions to be relayed by an elder, so he simply retreated away from Shehe.

Before they had walked two meters, Mu Bai said again, "And the little snake you brought back that year, she should... no longer be able to call you 'sister'."