The unchanging light spread into the distance with each step, illuminating the system space step by step.
This place will remain forever clean and quiet, except for the addition of a fragrant aroma wafting from afar.
The girl's tall and slender figure was reflected on the shimmering ground. Lu Shizhen walked lightly through the system space, humming a little tune. The bag she was holding contained a few freshly fried starch sausages, which swayed with her movements.
"Host--"
Lu Shizhen had just stepped into the temple when she heard a familiar voice rushing toward her from afar.
A sphere shimmering with golden light flapped its large, lifelike wings and suddenly swooped down in front of her.
Qiuqiu had already smelled the aroma. She suddenly hovered in front of Lu Shizhen and excitedly exclaimed, "Host—how did you know I wanted to eat sausages with starch! So many!"
Looking at the small ball in front of her, which had grown to be about the size of her palm, Lu Shizhen made no attempt to hide her disdain and complained, "It's supposed to be the main system, how can you be so reckless? Even when the main god was making the main system, you weren't like this."
"Hmph, of course I can't compare to the Supreme God. The Supreme God is so powerful. I'm just a small system that was lucky enough to be saved by her."
Qiuqiu spoke with a confident and self-assured air, and there was an inexplicable sense of pride and relief about it.
As she spoke, the little ball with the beautifully carved pattern circled around to Lu Shizhen's side. Before Lu Shizhen could react, the little guy picked up a starch sausage.
Qiuqiu's mouth was still not big enough, and the fine spices on the starch sausage fell off with each bite.
Lu Shizhen looked at the spilled dipping sauce, reached out to catch it as usual, and couldn't help but remind her, "Then you have to gradually become more mature, because you have to take responsibility."
"These nests are all my own, I roll around in them every day to learn from the Supreme God Da Ren, host..." Qiuqiu's mouth was stuffed with starch sausages as it mumbled to Lu Shizhen. Then, as if realizing something, it turned to look at Lu Shizhen, "host, did you come to see me today for something?"
Lu Shizhen watched as Qiuqiu swallowed all the starch sausages she had given it, smiled, then scratched her nose and said, "So obvious?"
"Of course not," Qiuqiu said with a hint of pride. "It's because my analytical skills have improved significantly, allowing me to obtain accurate results!"
Upon hearing this, Lu Shizhen said directly, "Since that's the case, I'll just say it directly?"
"Go ahead and tell me. I'll do whatever I can to help you," Qiuqiu said, patting her chest. "But we can't break the rules."
“Of course I know that.” Lu Shizhen nodded, but was a little cautious, as if worried that the main god would hear her. “I just wanted to ask if you could pull up the world footage from the five years I was away.”
Qiuqiu paused for a moment.
Just as the main god had said, it had evolved some emotions unique to life forms, so it could also understand the meaning behind Lu Shizhen's words: "Host... do you want to see what happened to Xu Shiyue all those years ago? Are you still worried?"
Lu Shizhen didn't hide anything and nodded: "Shiyue never tells me the specifics, she only says that she's doing well. But I know that she's not doing as well as she says."
At this point, Lu Shizhen's eyes darkened slightly.
It wasn't because Xu Shiyue deliberately hid things from her that she had to find out her secret; she simply wanted to know how Xu Shiyue had been doing these past five years.
Perhaps realizing she had lowered the tone, Lu Shizhen changed the subject again, smiling brightly, and offered Qiuqiu the temptation she had prepared beforehand: "I'll bring you ten starch sausages every day, plus a whole grilled meat feast, and unlimited drinks."
Upon hearing Lu Shizhen's words, Qiuqiu immediately felt a sensation of fine carbon dioxide bubbles constantly bursting on the tip of her tongue.
As the saying goes, "He who eats another's food is bound to do so," and Qiuqiu is such a foodie.
After thinking for a moment, Qiuqiu used its tail to indicate to Lu Shizhen, "Then I'll grant the host just a tiny bit of access, just a tiny bit, only a very small segment!"
Lu Shizhen nodded immediately, saying, "Okay, I definitely won't tell anyone!"
At the beginning of the new year, with the Lunar New Year just over, it's not yet time to take down the brand-new red lanterns.
The lanterns glowed red in the darkness, and the shadows of the bare branches, seen through the light, looked as if they were on fire.
This is the first year since Lu Shizhen left, and also Lu Shizhen's first New Year in this world.
As if it were specially arranged so that she could celebrate the New Year earlier, this year's Spring Festival was earlier than usual, and she celebrated the New Year in January.
But Lu Shizhen still didn't make it.
Although the days are slowly turning towards spring after the New Year, the world is still cold and windy.
The black car drove into the quiet courtyard in the night, and the winter wind rushed into the warm interior through the open car door.
Unmelted snow lay scattered on the withered yellow ground, turning the earth white. The slender heel of the shoe, unconcerned by the fragility of the snow, plunged straight into it.
Xu Shiyue got out of the car and walked steadily toward the villa that had nothing to do with her legally.
The motion-sensor light in the entryway hung dimly above her head, and her shoulders and back were reflected in the mirror, straight as if nothing could break them.
Xu Shiyue had just taken over the group, which hadn't been stable for long, when she was met with Lu Shize's angry pressure. Even though Xu Shiyue was in control and knew she wouldn't collapse, she still didn't get home until very late.
Exhaustion, tension, worry... none of the negative emotions ever appeared on her face.
Yet, not a single positive expression appeared on her face during any victory.
Why should we be happy?
What's there to be happy about?
Xu Shiyue was expressionless, her dark eyes casting a sense of oppressive repulsion in the night.
People were so terrified by the demonic aura she exuded that no one noticed the loneliness beneath her eyes.
The world is tasteless.
It's better to be in the days when we can't see each other.
The high heels clicked as they were placed in the shoe cabinet, breaking the silence in the entryway.
The fluffy slippers, which were completely out of Xu Shiyue's taste, covered her slightly reddened feet, which were squeezed by the slippers. The plush toy heads tilted up and smiled at her.
Xu Shiyue stared at the smiling faces for a while before stepping into the house.
As soon as she stepped into the living room, she heard someone waving enthusiastically at her from the sofa: "Shiyue, you're finally back."
Xu Shiyue looked up and saw Chen Miaomiao sitting in the living room.
Aunt Sun brought over tea and snacks and explained to her, "Miss Chen heard about what happened to Miss and came here to see you."
What about the young lady?
Miss, is there anything I can help you with...?
Xu Shiyue's usually shrewd mind suddenly stopped.
Then the thin plate stuck in the gear was twisted off, and she slowly remembered again.
Lu Shizhen is gone.
She even threw away all her ashes a couple of days ago.
It was only later that Xu Shiyue realized how slow she had become to the realization.
But then she subtly reverted to her usual composed demeanor, and seeing Chen Miaomiao's worried expression, she said to her, "Don't worry, I'm fine."
"How could I not be worried?" Chen Miaomiao immediately grasped Xu Shiyue's extremely thin hand. "Your current situation is well-known far and wide. Everyone knows that this newly appointed young lady of the Xu family is decisive and ruthless. She subdued a group of people with her thunderous methods right from the start."
Xu Shiyue pursed her lips slightly, then slowly picked up the teacup and took a sip.
Only when her pale lips were slightly tinged with crimson by the heat and water did she say, "It doesn't have to be like that."
"It's not that bad. The rumors about what you did are terrifying me." Chen Miaomiao's voice rose uncontrollably as she spoke, clutching her chest repeatedly. "These people, they must have read too many 'Dragon Aotian' novels."
Xu Shiyue did not agree with Chen Miaomiao's words, but simply maintained her smile calmly.
She thought that although what she did was not as terrible as those people said, it was far more numerous.
She's not in the mood to deal with these people right now; she wants peace and quiet as quickly as possible.
This world isn't worth her expending so much energy on. She hates this world, yet she has no choice but to make this damned world better for the sake of one person.
Otherwise, she might not be able to find her way back.
Chen Miaomiao spoke with righteous indignation, but she also noticed that Xu Shiyue's expression still held a smile, which made her feel a little more at ease: "I can tell from your smile that you don't take these things to heart."
"My rise to power so quickly naturally gave them unlimited room for imagination."
Xu Shiyue took a small sip of tea, her voice utterly calm.
She saw it all clearly, but she didn't care about any of it.
Chen Miaomiao hadn't thought that far ahead. She just nodded in agreement when she heard Xu Shiyue say that: "Yes, people can say whatever they want, so of course we can't control them. You're not as domineering as they say. As long as we're comfortable with ourselves, that's all that matters."
"Mm." Xu Shiyue nodded.
The night grew even darker, making the world somewhat quiet.
Chen Miaomiao pursed her lips and looked at Xu Shiyue, who was acting perfectly normally, and said, "Shiyue, I'm going abroad next week. I received my admission notice from a music academy in France during the Chinese New Year."
“Clatter.”
The teacup that was put down hit the bone plate with a crisp yet jarring sound.
The lanterns welcoming the New Year have been hanging outside the window for almost half a month, burning bright red in Xu Shiyue's sight.
She looked at Chen Miaomiao, who was looking at her from the side, and then realized that a lot of time had actually passed.
Senior year of high school is really not a good time, as it means everyone is destined to go their separate ways.
Chen Miaomiao is about to leave this place.
She's leaving me too.
Perhaps realizing she had made the atmosphere too heavy, Chen Miaomiao placed a large bag she had brought on the table and said, "These are novels from my collection. I specially picked out system novels that you used to really like."
“I won’t be able to take you out anymore, but don’t make yourself so tired. When you have time, read these novels and relax.”
Ideally, you should be able to immerse yourself in the novel, whether it's crying or laughing, and vent all the emotions you don't usually show to others.
Chen Miaomiao looked at Xu Shiyue and secretly added to herself.
However, after hearing Chen Miaomiao's words, Xu Shiyue simply stared at the stack of novels in front of her, her gaze fixed.
The word "system" kept overlapping and reflecting in her eyes from the book, more dazzling than a burning flame.
After a pause, Xu Shiyue seemed to readjust herself, leaving Chen Miaomiao with gentleness and calmness: "Okay, thank you."
The next morning, Aunt Sun got up as usual to prepare breakfast in the kitchen, only to find that Xu Shiyue had already left the villa.
At first, she didn't think it was a big deal. After all, Xu Shiyue was busy with work and it was normal for her to leave early for many things.
But then she went to the pet room to put out breakfast for Yuanzi, and found that Yuanzi was gone too.
Aunt Sun's heart skipped a beat for no apparent reason.
Just then, the landline at home rang.
It was Shen Yanxing calling; she said she couldn't reach Xu Shiyue anymore.
Xu Shiyue is missing.
This family has just undergone a dramatic change and can no longer afford to lose a second person.
Aunt Sun immediately mobilized everyone to look for Xu Shiyue, but no one found her after a whole morning. Finally, Lu Shien thought of a place.
The elevator, which was supposed to go up, stopped on the hospital's basement level. Cold air blew in even before the tightly closed doors were opened.
The white light bathed the morgue, its incandescent glow tinged with a chilling coldness. At first glance, the place was eerily quiet.
The group followed the signs and walked forward. The light was calm and still, and every place looked as if it had been copied and pasted.
Just as they turned a corner and arrived at another room, the scene of copying and pasting finally changed.
The dog, with its white-gold velvet shimmering, lay on the ground with its thick tail curled up.
And sitting right next to it was Xu Shiyue, who had suddenly disappeared.
The surrounding cold seemed to seep into one's bones, and the cubicle where Lu Shizhen was originally parked was constantly emitting more and more cold air.
All that's left inside is the air conditioning.
Xu Shiyue opened the drawer where Lu Shizhen was originally stored, propped her arm on the drawer panel, and tilted her head to look inside.
Roses, seemingly from nowhere, covered the cabinet, their crimson petals curled with black edges, like drops of blood seeping from within.
Xu Shiyue lowered her eyelashes and her slender fingers indifferently rubbed the burning petals: "Lu Shizhen, the smell of burnt roses is not pleasant at all."
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