The night was deep and dark, and the dim light from the streetlights cast the shadows of the people standing side by side on the ground.
The snow piled up on one side melted the boundary of the shadows, thus overlapping them obliquely.
The winter wind grew even more biting in the deserted corner, suddenly blowing the hood off the person standing by the wall, and the girl's chin-length hair fluttered in the wind.
Lu Shizhen's eyes were silently immersed in the darkness, watching Xu Shiyue and Shen Yanxing's backs together from afar, never realizing that the night could be so blinding.
The emotions in my heart are like waves surging in the dark night; no one can see what they are really like.
Lu Shizhen knew from the beginning that this was how the story was supposed to be, that this was the best possible outcome for Xu Shiyue's fate, and that she should be happy for Xu Shiyue. But for some reason, she couldn't feel happy.
Qiuqiu wagged its little tail and floated beside Lu Shizhen, looking like a bystander, commenting on the scene between Xu Shiyue and Shen Yanxing: "It seems that Xu Shiyue and Shen Yanxing's relationship is progressing smoothly."
"Yes," Lu Shizhen replied in a very calm voice.
Some things are hard to say, but she said them anyway: "After all, they were a match made in heaven."
It's like retelling the ending of a story.
It was as if he was admonishing himself.
Qiuqiu turned to look at Lu Shizhen, then floated up and sat on her head: "Host, you don't seem very happy. We've finally become free, aren't you happy?"
Lu Shizhen listened to the voice that floated down from above her head, and her lowered eyes curved into a smile.
She casually raised her hand and touched Qiuqiu's belly, forcibly raising the corners of her lips: "Of course I'm happy. I finally have this healthy body, how could I not be happy?"
Qiuqiu leaned down slightly and glanced at Lu Shizhen below.
It didn't think its host was in a good mood as she claimed.
Another gust of wind blew into this dead corner, the biting cold wind blowing back into the girl's loose sweatshirt collar.
The hoodie, slightly fluttering in the breeze, shifted position on the shoulder, revealing the thick gauze underneath.
—That was on the day she left, not wanting innocent people to be dragged into this disaster that was destined to leave no trace of their bodies. When she pushed the dessert shop owner out, she was hit by a falling beam.
The flames, like a ferocious and raging beast, caught her off guard and reached out with their claws to hook onto her slender shoulder.
Beneath the carbonized clothing lay a gruesome scene, a mixture of charred black and fresh blood.
In an instant, Lu Shizhen felt herself fall into thin air. Pain tore at her body, and the pungent smell of burning filled her nostrils. The surroundings were chaotic and shaky. She fell backward and into the system space that Qiuqiu had opened behind her.
The flow rate of time differs between each world, and the flow rate of time between the system and the world is even more different.
Lu Shizhen woke up seven days later, this morning. The wound on her shoulder had been bandaged up by Qiuqiu in an extremely ugly way, looking like a small mountain, which she could admire while lying down.
"Qiuqiu, you won't get any food in the human world with this kind of technique." Lu Shizhen disdainfully unwrapped her shoulder, which was wrapped up like a big bandage, and re-bandaged it as if teaching it a lesson.
"Why don't you tell me how much you weigh, host? I'm already being very kind by applying medicine and bandaging you!" Qiuqiu said, flapping its wings several times in dissatisfaction.
Although the area on Lu Shizhen's shoulder licked by the flames was quite large, the medicine provided by the system was still very effective, and the wound had begun to scab over.
Based on Lu Shizhen's experience of learning from her long illness, she might have a scar, but it shouldn't be large, especially since the shoulder blade is not a place that is usually exposed.
The main god imposes many restrictions on the host who is task taker, one of which is that the host is not allowed to stay in the system space for too long.
When Lu Shizhen woke up, more than half of the twelve-hour countdown had already passed. Just as she was relieved that the mission was completed, she hurriedly began to exchange for her new body and the world she would be settling into.
For some reason, Lu Shizhen's mission points haven't been updated yet. The extra 5,000 points, supposedly a reward, are actually just a safety net for every host, barely enough to redeem the most basic body and world.
—The appearance of the host's original world, and the world where the mission takes place.
In the original world, Lu Shizhen did not receive the same meticulous care as the original owner, and her chronic illness made her complexion look weaker than that of a normal person.
Even though she had eyes almost identical to the original owner's, all her heroic spirit was suppressed by her pale, sickly aura.
Qiuqiu disliked Lu Shizhen's current state, but it also knew that it was the best solution at present.
When it came time to pay, it went to great lengths to get close to the mall system. The mall system was so pleased with itself that it gave Lu Shizhen a 200-point discount and only charged her 4,800 points.
The two gleaming gold coins collided with a crisp sound and fell into Lu Shizhen's hands one after the other.
She stared at the gold coins in her hand and suddenly realized that they were exactly the same as the gold coins that Xu Shiyue had given her in the rain of points during her dream.
The day before that dream, she experienced her first punishment from the main system.
Xu Shiyue grabbed her arm the moment she fell down the stairs.
That solid and reliable feeling clung to her wrist, and the unextinguished flames began to ignite on it.
The gold coins representing her performance in this mission were pressed against her palm; they were virtual, yet they felt slightly cool to the touch.
Lu Shizhen lowered her eyelashes slightly, her dark eyes swirling with regret.
However, what she seemed to regret was not that she couldn't see how many points she had accumulated or whether she had missed out on a large sum of money.
Instead, they couldn't see how much trust and affection Xu Shiyue had given them.
Xu Shiyue...
Why did she think of Xu Shiyue again?
"Qiuqiu, was your previous host also this poor?" Lu Shizhen buried her head in the black hoodie randomly given to her by the system, her eyes lowered, asking the little ball beside her as if changing the subject or trying to find humor in her misery.
“Of course not! My previous hosts were all incredibly powerful, accumulating points that they couldn’t possibly spend!” Qiuqiu said proudly, then sat on Lu Shizhen’s shoulder as they flew. “So I believe that once the host’s points can be settled, they will be just as powerful as them.”
The weightless ball emitted a faint glow in the darkness, like a dim light on a dark road.
Lu Shizhen smiled slightly upon hearing this, and chuckled softly in the breeze.
When Lu Shizhen returned to this world where Xu Shiyue was, it was already dark. She just wanted to find a hotel to stay in for the time being.
But the main system seemed to have done it on purpose, setting her arrival point in this world next to the Xu Group building. A cold wind blew, and the rustling snow fell from the branches and landed on the girl's shoulders.
"Ouch."
Suddenly, a clump of snow, clumped together, landed on Lu Shizhen's hair and rolled down.
The wind was so fierce that night that Qiuqiu's fluttering wings became the culprit that caused it to lose control of its body, and the whole ball drifted away uncontrollably with the wind.
"Host!" Qiuqiu called out to Lu Shizhen helplessly, her long tail swaying in the air, looking particularly helpless.
Seeing this, Lu Shizhen hurriedly reached out to pull Qiuqiu, her heavy boots stomping haphazardly in the thick snow, making a crunching sound in the empty world.
"Be careful, is the road too slippery..." Shen Yanxing was still helping Xu Shiyue to stand firm when he noticed that Xu Shiyue suddenly stopped.
She looked somewhat bewildered at the person beside her who seemed frozen in place, but following her gaze, she only saw passing vehicles and pedestrians walking in the snow.
"What's wrong?" Shen Yanxing asked, puzzled. Then he heard Xu Shiyue murmur, "Lu Shizhen..."
Upon hearing this name, Shen Yanxing was completely stunned: "What?"
Xu Shiyue stubbornly repeated to Shen Yanxing, "Lu Shizhen."
As if not wanting to waste time, Xu Shiyue shook off Shen Yanxing's hand that was supporting her.
The sound of high heels clicking on the ground was chaotic and hurried as she walked without pausing in the direction she had just been looking.
The wind wasn't cooperating, and Lu Shizhen had to use a lot of effort to pull Qiuqiu back.
Just as she was about to complain about how Qiuqiu could still be blown away by the wind, Qiuqiu's tail suddenly stood up: "Host, run!"
"Huh?" Lu Shizhen was taken aback for a moment, and subconsciously obeyed Qiuqiu's command, walking quickly in the direction she was currently in. "What's wrong?"
"Xu Shiyue is here!" Qiuqiu said nervously.
Lu Shizhen could hardly believe her ears: "Wh-what? How did she get here?"
“I don’t know. Logically speaking, the host’s figure has become much thinner than before, so it shouldn’t be noticeable…” Qiuqiu was also puzzled and distressed. “But when I analyze her route, it seems like she’s coming for us.”
As Lu Shizhen listened to Qiuqiu's analysis, she became more and more nervous.
But as she walked, her pace slowed, and she hesitated before asking, "But can't I see her now? I'm not the same person I used to be..."
Before Lu Shizhen could finish speaking, Qiuqiu interrupted her: "What are you thinking, host?"
In this urgent situation, Qiuqiu didn't bother to embellish its words and simply retorted, "Even if you met Xu Shiyue, what good would it do? What identity would you use to meet her? And who are you anyway?"
Lu Shizhen couldn't answer any of the three questions in a row.
The thought just popped into her head suddenly, like the inexplicable joy that flashed through her mind when she chose to return to this mission world in the system.
Lu Shizhen walked with Qiuqiu in this way, but her pace was still not very fast.
A hint of resentment struggled to emerge from the questions she couldn't answer.
She seemed to hear Xu Shiyue's footsteps following closely behind, as if she had anticipated their upcoming meeting.
So even if she doesn't have the right to reunite with Xu Shiyue now, does she not even have the right to brush past her and say a word of apology?
As if sensing Lu Shizhen's inner thoughts, Qiuqiu added, "Host, you need to think this through. If Xu Shiyue discovers what we've done, the world will collapse. We can escape then, but what about Xu Shiyue? She belongs to this world; she can't escape."
The winter wind at night was sharper than the bright flames, and it was forced into Lu Shizhen's throat with each breath, feeling as cold and sharp as a knife.
Before she could even understand why she so desperately wanted to see Xu Shiyue again, this unformed fantasy was shattered.
Lu Shizhen's heart sank completely in the night wind.
Her short, chin-length hair obscured most of her profile in the wind, and in the shadows, her eyes were filled with a gloomy look.
Lu Shizhen's heart was always a vast, uncultivated wilderness. Before she could figure out what this indescribable feeling in her heart was, this feeling ruthlessly cleaved the soil, and the whole earth seemed to tremble because of it, causing a corner of her whole heart to collapse.
Pain accompanied every breath; each exhale felt like torture.
there is none left.
That morning's farewell was the last time the two of them would see each other.
That will never happen again.
The pure white snow was pressed down by her black boots as Lu Shizhen walked briskly along the route Qiuqiu had planned for her.
The footsteps that were so close to my ears gradually receded into the distance, and were then drowned out by the lively sounds of the crowd in the square not far away.
She never imagined that an escape wouldn't be thrilling.
Instead, it's a situation where progress is extremely difficult.
There are always many activities at New Year's Square. The bright lights create a beautiful scene, attracting many people.
Xu Shiyue walked through the crowd, her calm steps never faltering. The small, glowing ball, tethered by a thread-like rope, was firmly embedded in her eye, like the only straw a dying person clutches.
The girl's breath grew heavier and heavier, and the thick white mist was quickly devoured by the cold wind before it could linger.
The past few days of running around had already taken a toll on her body; beneath her disheveled hair lay not only exhaustion but also an indescribable sense of wretchedness.
Xu Shiyue no longer cared about any of that; all she wanted was to find this person.
She only wants this person.
But that person's back always seemed to maintain an untouchable distance from her; whether he walked or ran, he was always just out of reach...
Finally, as if by divine intervention, the red light at the pedestrian crossing captured that silhouette.
Xu Shiyue disregarded everything, pushed through the crowd, and placed her hand directly on the man's shoulder.
The winter night was vast and desolate, with snow piled high. Hatred and love were intertwined in Xu Shiyue's panting voice: "Lu Shizhen, where else do you want to go?"
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