The world seemed to have been muted, and instantly fell silent.
The faint electrical hum suddenly stopped and disappeared, as if it had been cut off. The loading progress bar on the computer screen was stuck at 99%, and that last small light blue area could not be filled.
Several unfriendly encounters made it clear to almost everyone that Lu Shien didn't like this person who shared the same name as her sister.
But such a harsh tone is clearly not from the real Lu Shien.
"Qiuqiu!"
Lu Shizhen watched as Qiuqiu was violently thrown to the ground by this person, and hurriedly tried to pick it up from this dangerous person.
Before she could even get close to Qiuqiu, the cat's fur stood on end, and it let out a series of warning growls.
Its hidden claws hooked onto the ground as it arched its body high, their sharp curves conveying a sense of ruthlessness, perfectly embodying the primal offensive and defensive posture of a feline facing an enemy.
"No one can harm my host! Not even the Supreme God!" Qiuqiu shouted, responding firmly to the words of the person who had possessed Lu Shien.
Lu Shien narrowed his eyes, looking at the kitten that was full of hostility towards him with great interest. The corners of his lips curled up as if in a smile: "Interesting. You little thing actually broke through the constraints of the program and have subjective consciousness? I really want to go back and study you properly."
She paused for a moment, then looked up at Qiuqiu's back: "But we still need to finish the more important things first."
The little girl's originally round eyes were now slightly narrowed, filled with a sinister darkness.
Lu Shi'en stared intently at Lu Shizhen and Xu Shiyue, who were standing in the center of her vision, and said coldly, "You two should not meet again."
“But we still met,” Lu Shizhen retorted.
She had long been disgusted by the inflexible and obstinate rules of the Supreme God, and her tone was equally blunt: "Rules cannot stop people who truly want to meet; those who are meant to meet will meet sooner or later."
"Oh."
A disdainful chuckle escaped from Lu Shi'en's throat.
Although Lu Shi'en was half a head shorter than Lu Shizhen, his gaze had a condescending quality.
Faced with Lu Shizhen's blatant provocation, she bluntly stated the purpose of her trip: "So you've met the people you were supposed to meet, and you can be destroyed now, Mission Taker No. 20251127."
"Don't worry, after you are destroyed, I will cleanse this world again, and Xu Shiyue will never be yours."
As he spoke, "Lu Shi'en" raised his hand to bring Lu Shizhen to his side.
Suddenly, Lu Shizhen felt a binding force beyond her control, manipulating her body and compelling her to walk to Lu Shien's side.
Her body never truly belonged to her.
Just as Lu Shizhen was about to take her first step uncontrollably, a cool sensation covered her wrist.
It was cool, yet full of power.
Xu Shiyue swiftly grabbed her wrist, her calm voice suppressing all unease: "Resist that force, I won't let her take you away."
In an instant, that feeling of being manipulated and desolate transformed into resistance.
Pain exploded in every rebellious nerve of Lu Shizhen's body, densely piling up in her heart, yet she refused to let go.
She couldn't let Xu Shiyue suffer again.
They had only been reunited for less than a month.
Lu Shi'en's eyes grew lighter and lighter, and her dark pupils began to gleam with silver light as she increased the intensity of her manipulation.
Lu Shizhen suddenly felt as if her body was being torn apart, her bones throbbing violently within her skin, struggling to break free.
Fine beads of sweat dampened the bangs on her forehead, and the veins on her hands, which were tightly clasped with Xu Shiyue's, stood out.
Just as the pain suddenly intensified again, it was as if an electric current had been cut off, and the manipulated riot within the body abruptly stopped.
A dazzling blue light flashed in Lu Shizhen's vision, and a hexagonal shield separated her from "Lu Shien".
Qiuqiu reverted to her system form and used all her energy to open a barrier for Lu Shizhen, preventing "Lu Shien" from manipulating her.
Lu Shi'en's expression clearly turned displeased: "Low-level system, do you think you can resist me?"
The barrier flashed with the light of voiceprints, and Qiuqiu's resolute voice came from all directions: "Resist for as long as we can! I only want to protect my host!"
Seemingly moved by Qiuqiu's loyalty, "Lu Shien" lowered his eyes slightly and sighed, "If only the main system had half your loyalty."
"Then you have to be a good person worthy of its assistance!" Lu Shizhen retorted, not caring about the points at all, and exchanged various boosting items for Qiuqiu from the system shop to help it resist the main god.
"What a touching bond between master and servant."
Lu Shi'en chuckled and sighed, a sickly smile flashing in his eyes, but the sentimentality vanished in an instant.
That expression just now was more like a mask; she feigned envy, but it quickly returned to the sinister look in her eyes.
She doesn't care about any of that.
She was obsessive and wanted everything to run according to her rules.
Xu Shiyue watched from the side, her calm voice bluntly revealing, "Even if you are the supreme god, you cannot make everything go your way. Even if you cleanse everything, I will still remember Lu Shizhen. You can only make people forget, but you cannot make people forget. As long as I have existed in this world, I will never forget Lu Shizhen."
As if someone had touched a nerve, Lu Shi'en's eyes suddenly turned fierce.
She looked at Xu Shiyue with a gloomy expression, but suddenly smiled.
The data kept accumulating in Lu Shien's hands, but it was impossible to tell what it would become.
The girl's innocent round face was filled with an exaggerated smile, and her silvery-white eyes gleamed with a sickly light: "Then I'll let Lu Shizhen live to see you forget her."
The moment the data transformed into a blade, it shattered the shield that Qiuqiu had erected with all her might.
The shattered blue light spots drifted in the air like wispy dust, while the blade pierced through them, recklessly stabbing towards Xu Shiyue.
But it froze for a moment.
In that instant, Lu Shizhen reacted incredibly quickly, pulling Xu Shiyue behind her and standing straight in front of her.
The sharp knife was pressed against her neck, and beads of blood clung to the tip of the blade, a scarlet smear that seemed ready to drip.
Suddenly, garbled text appeared on the surrounding computers, and "Lu Shi'en's" movements were like a video that couldn't load, proceeding in a choppy, frame-by-frame manner.
No one knew what was wrong with her, but her already sinister eyes suddenly turned furious in that instant, a fleeting glimpse that was clearly visible.
"Lu Shizhen, we will meet again."
The pauses in Lu Shien's voice were somewhat comical.
As soon as she finished speaking, the knife that was pressed against Lu Shizhen's neck fell to the ground with a thud, and Lu Shien instantly fell straight down as if his bones had been removed.
Everything suddenly fell silent, as if nothing had happened.
But it really happened. The pain of the blade cutting through her skin spread through Lu Shizhen's throat, and a long trail of blood slid down her collarbone.
Before Lu Shizhen could recover from what had just happened, she heard Qiuqiu's weak voice: "Host..."
"Qiuqiu!"
Lu Shizhen seemed to wake up from a dream and immediately looked around for the system that had just been destroyed by the main god.
But not far away, she saw the little cat in the special protective suit lying on the ground. Its small body was rising and falling abnormally, and it was struggling to call out to her, "Host, has the Supreme God left?"
"Let's go, we're safe now." Lu Shizhen nodded immediately and quickly opened the system shop. "I'll go get you some medicine right away, you'll get better soon."
Qiuqiu shook her head: "Host, my body is fine."
Lu Shizhen disagreed: "How could you be alright? You were clearly..."
But before she could finish speaking, Qiuqiu interrupted her: "It's the system's central processing unit... My system's central processing unit has been destroyed. It's like a human soul; there's nothing in the store that can repair it."
Upon hearing Qiuqiu's words, Lu Shizhen felt her head go blank, and her whole body went empty.
It was as if something had exploded without warning, and the resulting smoke and dust instantly engulfed her entire world.
She couldn't believe what Qiuqiu had told her, nor did she want to believe it. She shook her head desperately, denying it: "No way, there are so many things in the mall, you must be seeing things wrong. There must be a medicine to restore health..."
"No." Qiuqiu's voice grew increasingly strained, and its tail, which was pressed against the ground, wagged weakly. "Our system's first lesson covered this... It's beyond saving..."
Lu Shizhen paused for a moment, then shook her head in denial: "No, that's impossible."
"Don't be afraid to spend your points. I have plenty of points, so I'm not afraid to spend them at all."
Having witnessed many deaths since childhood, Zhen has never refused to accept the departure of a life as she has today.
She casually gave Qiuqiu a flimsy excuse, muttering "no" repeatedly as she frantically refreshed the system shop interface, redeeming everything that might be useful.
But……
But Qiuqiu showed no signs of improvement.
Bright sunlight streamed into the room through the small window in the door. Lu Shizhen sat on the gleaming floor tiles, her eyes filled with confusion.
She felt as if she had been suddenly thrown into a boundless wilderness. She could see the sand scorched by fire and the clear blue sky and white clouds, but none of these were things she could use.
She needs water.
The clear water gathered together, and one drop fell to the ground with a plop.
Lu Shizhen herself didn't realize that her eyes had been filled with tears since earlier.
Her eyes could no longer hold the tears, and one by one, the tears fell down with a pattering sound.
It slammed heavily onto Qiuqiu.
The beautiful ivory-white fur began to slowly be swallowed up by the charred chocolate color at some point, and lay sprawled on the ground as if it had been burnt.
Qiuqiu struggled to lift her head and look at her host sitting beside her, nuzzling her head against her limp hand: "Host, don't cry. I... I don't deserve this. I... I lied to you..."
"I'm not... I'm not some old system that's hosted several hosts... I was just a... newly debugged system, and you were my first host..."
Lu Shizhen was stunned for a moment, and many of her past doubts were now answered.
No wonder it hesitates every time I ask it about its past work experience.
No wonder it always provides hindsight explanations for so many things.
No wonder it has never eaten human food.
No wonder……
Suddenly, tears welled up in Lu Shizhen's eyes. She looked at the cat lying in her arms and forced herself to speak in the tone they used to use when they were together: "Well, you were quite good at pretending. You fooled me."
Upon hearing Lu Shizhen's words, Qiuqiu's voice rose slightly: "Really... Host?"
"Really." Lu Shizhen nodded, then added, "So you lied to me, you have to atone for it. You can't just leave me like this, understand?"
Upon hearing this, Qiuqiu looked up at Lu Shien with difficulty, her voice broken as she offered her most precious possession to Lu Shizhen: "Then...then can I use...all of my starch sausages...to pay off the debt?"
Lu Shizhen clenched her teeth, shook her head stubbornly, and after a long pause, refused without a sob in her voice, "No, you can't."
Despite being rejected, Qiuqiu's eyelids gradually became heavy.
It nestled closer to Lu Shizhen's hand, shrinking its body and its long tail sluggishly coiling around her side: "Host, it's so cold..."
Lu Shizhen's mind froze for a moment.
The midday sun shone directly into the temperature-controlled operating room, its light both bright and dazzling in her eyes.
Tears fell onto her lips, feeling as heavy as a thousand pounds.
Lu Shizhen slowly withdrew her gaze, her lips moved with difficulty, and her suppressed voice was hoarse: "Yes, it's getting colder outside, and you're lying on the ground, of course you're cold. Wrapping yourself up will make you feel better."
As she spoke, Lu Shizhen picked Qiuqiu up from the ground and held her tightly in her arms.
She was embracing a tiny, fragile life, trying her best to warm it with her body heat: "See, is it any better, even a little bit?"
In this cold world, warmth always seems especially clear. Qiuqiu nestled in Lu Shizhen's arms, just like every winter before, and pleaded with her, "Host... can I lean on you a little longer... just for a little while..."
“Any time is fine.” For the first time ever, Lu Shizhen was more generous than she had ever been in any winter before.
She desperately tried to give her warmth to Qiuqiu, hoping to restore its gradually cooling body to its former temperature.
But fate often plays tricks on people, and what they want is always contrary to their wishes.
Qiuqiu pressed her ear against Lu Shizhen's chest, listening to her heartbeat, and murmured softly, "Host..."
It really didn't have much strength left, and it really wanted to stay in its host's arms a little longer.
But it's not winter now, so it can't possibly fall asleep in her arms and wake up again.
Qiuqiu didn't know if this counted as having developed independent consciousness, as the main god had just mentioned; it just felt sad.
It's sad that I have to leave this world with starch sausages, and it's sad that I have to leave its host.
“I am truly glad... to have met a host like you.”
"You are the first host I came to this world, and the only one..."
It really loves its host.
Therefore, I don't find the death that humans fear to be terrifying at all.
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