The setting sun outside the window dyed the azure sky red, and Qiuqiu's voice sounded both real and somewhat ethereal.
Lu Shizhen stared at Qiuqiu floating in front of her, hardly believing her ears: "Us?"
“Yes, the host and Xu Shiyue.” Qiuqiu nodded and repeated.
Lu Shizhen frowned upon hearing this.
She certainly didn't have a good impression of the main system and the main god, but she had never been so wary before. Subconsciously, she shielded Xu Shiyue behind her and asked, "What, isn't it afraid that if Xu Shiyue finds out about your system's existence, she'll destroy the whole world?"
"I don't know how the main system made its judgment." Qiuqiu knew that Lu Shizhen would react this way when she heard her words, so she honestly told Lu Shizhen what happened in the system space. "After I arrived, the main system asked me how I had been doing lately. I just talked to it about what I had seen and heard recently, and my feelings. Then it suddenly told me that it wanted to meet with you."
"What have you seen and heard recently?" Lu Shizhen frowned even more deeply upon hearing Qiuqiu's words.
Just as she was about to say something, Xu Shiyue behind her spoke first.
Her voice was very calm, as if she had sensed something, and she said calmly, "This is not necessarily a bad thing."
"The behavior of your main system is clearly no longer in accordance with the rules of your world. If something hadn't happened within your system, it wouldn't be doing this."
Upon hearing Xu Shiyue's words, Lu Shizhen's guard eased, and her trust in Qiuqiu returned. Her voice regained its former quality: "Qiuqiu, have any of the hosts you've managed in the past experienced a similar situation?"
When Qiuqiu heard Lu Shizhen's question, it was like a program that suddenly stopped working, and she fell silent for a moment.
But it only lasted half a second before he replied while recalling the events: "Hmm... Although I have hosted quite a few people in the past, nothing like this has ever happened before... The main system has never contacted me like this before."
At this point, Qiuqiu paused for a moment, looked at Xu Shiyue and said, "However, based on what you just said, I have thought of something."
"When I went back this time, I ran into some senior students and we chatted. They all said that they felt the rules of the world were getting narrower and narrower, and the limitations were much greater than in the past. It seems that the world's freedom has also declined somewhat."
"Have you done any data comparison?" Xu Shiyue asked astutely.
“It’s impossible.” Qiuqiu shook her head. “To prevent the underlying systems from tampering with the massive amounts of data, the data of our low-level systems is not allowed to be interconnected. A completely needle-in-a-haystack statistical comparison is too troublesome. Everyone has their own host and doesn’t have time to do these things.”
Although it wasn't a very good answer, Xu Shiyue nodded nonetheless.
Lu Shizhen also sensed that something was wrong with the system, and then brought the topic back to where it started: "So how should we meet? I can go to the system space with you, but how will Xu Shiyue get there?"
"The main system said that we can use the technological equipment from Xu Shiyue's company," Qiuqiu said immediately.
Upon hearing this, Xu Shiyue lowered her eyes slightly and seemed to smile: "It seems that your main system has been observing me for a long time."
Even though the person's voice was exactly the same as before, Qiuqiu felt a chill for some reason.
It was somewhat puzzled as to how it could feel the temperature in its current state, but it gave more of its emotions to Xu Shiyue in front of it.
I was terrified and filled with fear.
Qiuqiu was afraid that her words had offended the exceptionally intelligent woman in front of her, and the feeling of being hooked on the tail returned to her.
Qiuqiu stared at the person in front of her, whose emotions she couldn't decipher at all, and sheepishly tried to salvage the situation, saying, "Well, actually..."
"Ta-da!"
Just then, the knocking sound was like a savior descending from heaven, breaking the trembling that Xu Shiyue's last words had left Qiuqiu feeling.
Aunt Sun gently pushed open the door and said, "Miss Xu, dinner is ready. Would you like to come down for dinner now?"
Xu Shiyue slowly withdrew her gaze from Qiuqiu and nodded, saying, "I'll go down now."
"Okay." Aunt Sun nodded, but she didn't finish her sentence. "Also, I saw that Miss Sixteen came. I wonder if her cat came with her this time. I just made some cat food for her with some leftover ingredients from dinner. If she didn't come, I'll add some dog food for Yuanzi."
In Qiuqiu's life cycle, aside from its host, the most important thing is eating.
It could even be said that eating is far more important than anything else.
Upon hearing Aunt Sun's words, the little ball automatically transmitted Aunt Sun's past culinary skills to it.
And so, that little face, as red as a coal miner's, emerged from under the bed with the dangling sheet, tail held high, and with a long, trembling cry, hurried toward Aunt Sun: "Meow—! (I'm here! I'm here! I'm here!!)"
Others couldn't understand Qiuqiu's cries; they just thought it was being affectionate. But Lu Shizhen understood perfectly.
She bent down and scooped Qiuqiu, who was walking towards Aunt Sun, into her arms, complaining, "You greedy cat, you're the perfect example of this kind of behavior."
Upon hearing this, Qiuqiu wagged its tail in Lu Shizhen's arms: "Meow~ (But I am a cat, after all.)"
"But I've never seen a cat like to eat starch sausages." Xu Shiyue walked to Lu Shizhen's side and casually remarked.
Qiuqiu actually wanted to refute this, if this person wasn't Xu Shiyue.
The tail that had been wagging proudly immediately curled up obediently. Seeing this, Lu Shizhen, rarely taking advantage of her power, raised her chin and agreed, "That's right."
As the sun dipped below the horizon, its light faded considerably, filling the somewhat empty room with a soft, golden glow.
Lu Shizhen stood side by side with Xu Shiyue, the light orange light streaming through the window, gently enveloping them and warmly outlining their appearance. Even the icy coldness in Xu Shiyue's eyes over the years had disappeared.
There weren't many mushy words, just a few simple sentences, yet they made them seem like a perfect match.
Aunt Sun stood at the door watching, and it felt like she was looking at a family.
She thought she should be happy that Xu Shiyue had finally come out of this, but she was still regretful that the person standing next to her was her young lady.
The next day, the weather was almost too good.
Lu Shizhen reasonably suspected that the main system had deliberately given them such a rare sunny day in order to curry favor.
Because connecting to the system space required the help of Lu Shi'en, the main brain, everyone arrived at the company early in the morning to accommodate her schedule.
Just like all tech companies have to have a sci-fi vibe, Xu Shiyue's company lobby gave Lu Shizhen the feeling that she might be traveling through interstellar space at any moment.
After putting on sterile gowns, the group arrived at Lu Shien's research system room.
It's less of a room and more of a sophisticated space assembled from countless large computer screens.
Looking at the crowd, Lu Shi'en noticed Qiuqiu beside Lu Shizhen and frowned slightly: "Why did you bring a cat? My equipment here is so sophisticated."
Upon hearing this, Lu Shizhen immediately picked up Qiuqiu, who was wearing a special sterile coat, and assured her, "It won't shed! If it does shed, I'll have it pick it up one by one."
Lu Shi'en didn't quite believe Lu Shizhen's words, but when she looked down, she saw Qiuqiu sitting obediently at her feet, looking at her with her two bright black eyes, and her heart softened immediately.
Lu Shi'en thought that Xu Shiyue was only borrowing the host computer and wouldn't do anything in the main area, so he raised his head arrogantly as always and nodded, saying, "Then keep an eye on things."
"Okay!" Lu Shizhen agreed very readily.
Xu Shiyue handed Lu Shien the USB drive that Qiuqiu had brought from the main system yesterday, and then said to him, "I gave something to Shen Yanxing. Go and ask for it after this is over."
Lu Shi'en didn't like being kept in suspense, so he asked directly, "What is it?"
Xu Shiyue refused to tell her, saying only, "You'll find out when the time comes. Let's get started."
Lu Shi'en glanced at Xu Shiyue but did not ask any further questions.
Although, just like the sentence said, she was very puzzled as to why Xu Shiyue wanted her to start this not-yet-complete program, she still said the same thing: if she could understand this person's thinking, she would be close to going crazy. So she took the USB drive that Xu Shiyue handed her and started debugging.
The data began to slowly load and connect on the huge screen, and the flashing indigo light was exactly the same as the system notification that Lu Shizhen had seen in her mind.
The overwhelming sense of familiarity intertwined with the unfamiliarity brought about by the enormous screen in front of her, giving Lu Shizhen a feeling of having her eyes opened.
It's hard to imagine that a world whose technological development is far behind that of the system space, which Qiuqiu repeatedly emphasizes, already has technology on par with it.
All of this was achieved because of Xu Shiyue and Lu Shien's unwavering efforts and repeated, costly attempts over the past five years.
Lu Shizhen wanted to wait until everything was over before she could explain the whole story to Lu Shien, Cheng Meiyan, and Lu Shize.
That was her most cherished home and family...
Just then, Lu Shizhen suddenly felt something approaching from behind, something cold and unfamiliar.
She instinctively turned her head to look back, and then saw Qiuqiu rushing towards Lu Shien behind her.
The little girl's hand, which she had just raised, suddenly fell down, and she staggered to support herself.
The indigo light from the screen reflected in Lu Shi'en's eyes, completely changing the look in the little girl's dark pupils.
It was a completely unfamiliar gaze, one that had never appeared in her eyes before.
It was sinister and disdainful, its dark surface filled with a sickly atmosphere.
She watched as the cat pounced on her, and the beast, as if pondering, uttered a single word: "Get lost!"
"You inferior programs dare to approach me?!"
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