A gentle breeze constantly caressed the roses on the wall, and their delicate fragrance surged towards Lu Shizhen like waves.
It felt as if falling petals were gently caressing her face, soothing her silently.
Lu Shizhen lowered her eyes, her calm voice masking a deep sorrow that suffocated her, making it hard to breathe.
Xu Shiyue sat down and simply asked herself, "What is this?" She suddenly felt that she had a place to express her grief.
For the first time, I didn't have to keep these things to myself. At night, when I was all alone, I hid under the covers and cried secretly.
“Actually, Qiuqiu wasn’t the first friend to leave me.” Lu Shizhen pursed her lips, her dry lips meeting softly as she recounted her past to Xu Shiyue, “My first friend coughed up blood in front of me and never woke up again. The second one secretly left at night. The third one… the third one had already been discharged from the hospital, but was brought back the next day. By the time she was brought back, it was too late; she passed away before even getting into surgery…”
Lu Shizhen recounted these details to Xu Shiyue.
Her language was so calm, so utterly unadorned, simply listing death one by one.
"The sixth one..."
But when she got to the sixth one, Lu Shizhen suddenly paused.
She felt there should be a sixth one, but why couldn't she remember it?
Just like she couldn't remember why, after a certain day, she suddenly didn't want to make friends with any new patients.
However, this matter had nothing to do with what she said, so Lu Shizhen didn't think about it in detail, or perhaps she didn't have the energy to think about it anymore. She let out a soft sigh and then said, "But so what? Life goes on. I can't just be so dejected because a friend left. If I did, the other person would be even more worried about leaving."
At this point, Lu Shizhen turned to look at Xu Shiyue.
Too many tears washed over her eyes, and the sunlight falling around her eyes stained crimson.
But those dark eyes were smiling, curved like slits, and even the slightly pursed corners of their lips were smiling.
Xu Shiyue saw that Lu Shizhen was no longer so fragile; her bright eyes were full of a heart-wrenching strength.
The person she likes.
But he also hoped that she could throw herself into his arms and cry her heart out, so that he could untangle this knot in her heart.
But no.
She leaned against the box of thawed starch sausages and calmly recounted everything.
Xu Shiyue had no idea how many times Lu Shizhen had endured such cruelty during her childhood, a period in which she had no involvement, before she could accept death so calmly.
Her composure is heartbreaking.
“This illness has taken away many of my friends in the past, so I’ve been fighting against it all these years. This time, God took Qiuqiu away, and I won’t let her be at ease.” Lu Shizhen continued, her eyes full of stubbornness. “I’m going to settle accounts with her, and I’d like to drag her off that chair.”
If you were to call it hatred, you could see it in Lu Shizhen's eyes.
But hatred alone seems insufficient. Perhaps Lu Shizhen herself did not realize that Xu Shiyue was not the only person in the world who was unwilling to be controlled by fate.
And herself.
Xu Shiyue raised her hand and placed it on Lu Shizhen's hand, then found between her fingers and intertwined them. She said, using the words Lu Shizhen had said to her last time, "Take me with you."
Aunt Sun noticed that Lu Shizhen was acting strangely after returning home, and quietly prepared a large and sumptuous lunch for her.
Lu Shizhen missed Aunt Sun's cooking. After regaining her strength, she had a big appetite and ate two bowls of rice in a row. Just as she was about to ask for a third bowl, she suddenly heard the sound of electrical current connecting to the system.
[Tasker 20251127, we have detected that you have unbound yourself from your previous system. If you have a specific system in mind, please enter its code below. If you do not have one, please click Next, and we will re-match you with a new auxiliary system.]
As a host without a system, the internal system quickly presented a selection box in Lu Shizhen's mind.
Xu Shiyue silently put down her chopsticks, and Lu Shizhen looked up and asked, "Did you hear that?"
"Yes." Xu Shiyue nodded, then asked, "Do you want to match the new system?"
Lu Shizhen hesitated for a moment, then said to Xu Shiyue, "Actually, I have a bold idea."
Xu Shiyue seemed to understand what Lu Shizhen was thinking and said, "You want the main system to be your system?"
“That’s right.” Lu Shizhen nodded vigorously.
She was pleasantly surprised and pleased that Xu Shiyue understood her so well, and that they had such a tacit understanding with each other.
Rarely having something happy to share, Lu Shizhen became more talkative: "Qiuqiu once told me that the main system is also a member of the system. It is even a system under the control of the main god, just like me and Qiuqiu. Moreover, the main system also intends to connect with us, so I think if I want it, I shouldn't be refuted by the system internally, nor will it refute me."
"So you know the code for the main system?" Xu Shiyue asked the crucial question.
Lu Shizhen shook her head, troubled by this.
“Could it be 0?” Xu Shiyue said. “Generally speaking, important secrets are marked with the number 0, and the main system may also be named in this way.”
“I wouldn’t dare take the risk.” Lu Shizhen shook her head as she looked at the small print “One-time Only” below the input code. “After all, the entire system is not a product of this world. In terms of modern society’s logic, this naming is feasible. But what about in a fantasy world? I feel that a system that can accommodate all needs wouldn’t follow this logic.”
Xu Shiyue nodded slightly, acknowledging that she had indeed limited herself.
She paused for a moment, as if she had thought of something, and then continued, "I remembered something. Lu Shi'en once boasted to Shen Yanxing about how she could tell Qiuqiu was sending signals."
"She said that although the feedback codes she captured over the years were different, after careful analysis, she found a single, consistent code that almost all data sent pointed to. I think this must be Qiuqiu's code."
Lu Shizhen suddenly realized and continued, "So if we can analyze the USB drive code of the main system and search according to Xiao En's method, we can obtain the code of the main system!"
“That’s right.” Xu Shiyue nodded and immediately got to work. “I’ll contact Shen Yanxing and ask about Lu Shien’s situation.”
Before Xu Shiyue could call Lu Shien, Lu Shizhen stopped her: "Wait a minute."
Xu Shiyue thought Lu Shizhen had thought of something again, so she immediately stopped what she was doing and looked at her.
Unexpectedly, Lu Shizhen volunteered, saying to her, "Let me do it."
“I don’t want Xiao En to get involved anymore. She’s different from you and me; she’s just an ordinary person without any special privileges. I saw that the shop system allows me to exchange for computer-related cheat codes, so let me give it a try.”
Lu Shizhen's voice was sincere, and Xu Shiyue understood her concerns.
Admittedly, having Lu Shienlai was the quickest way. She had done similar projects before and was sure to be skilled and successful.
But compared to the emotionless Black Moonlight in the book, the current Xu Shiyue is much more humane. She nodded and agreed to Lu Shizhen's plan, which sounded a bit risky: "Okay."
The room fell eerily quiet, and Lu Shizhen remained motionless in the chair.
The system shop page kept refreshing, and soon she found the highest level cheat code in the computer series, spending ten quadrillion points without even blinking an eye.
Just as she was about to successfully redeem it, a pop-up window appeared in the system shop: "[This level of cheat is a high-tier S-class, and it is not a cheat originally provided to the host's body. Developing it carries a high risk factor. The development process will cause varying degrees of pain depending on the host's physical condition. Are you sure you want to redeem and install it? Yes/No]"
The system's voice was as pale and emotionless as ever, but this time it seemed to have a change of heart, marking every word with a bold red "Danger".
As for pain, thanks to the system, Lu Shizhen has experienced it many times these days, so experiencing it again doesn't seem so unbearable.
And what's the point of running away? The other party has already hit you in the face. If you don't fight back, are you just waiting to die?
I'm really not happy about it.
And this is just too pathetic.
She's supposed to be a creator of action-packed manga, how could she be so pathetic?
As Lu Shizhen thought this, she let out a deep breath.
It would be a lie to say she wasn't nervous. People always scare themselves. As soon as the trailer finished playing, the pain that lingered in Lu Shizhen's memory surged up again.
Amidst this intertwined illusion of pain, a cool sensation enveloped Lu Shizhen's hand.
As always, Xu Shiyue placed her hand in Lu Shizhen's hand and said softly, "If it hurts, hold my hand tightly and don't try to tough it out."
She knew what decision Lu Shizhen was going to make and was more willing to go through everything with her.
Even if it's just a tiny fraction, a mere one-thousandth, that comes from her, she doesn't want to keep it to herself.
"good."
It was as if she had found a source of power, which immediately made Lu Shizhen less afraid.
She nodded, closed the system warning, and clicked "Yes" when asked if she wanted to redeem.
[Host's physical assessment passed, development of the cheat system initiated. System operation required: No, Difficulty level: Level 5, Estimated development time: 15 minutes. Please do not interrupt the process and remain alert. Countdown: 00:14:59]
The system announcement sounded, and the progress bar for the development of the cheat system appeared in Lu Shizhen's mind along with the countdown.
At first, the pain was only slight, but it was like opening up her body's meridians, accompanied by waves of warmth flowing through her blood.
"It's nothing, it might be me..." Lu Shizhen looked at Xu Shiyue's nervous expression as she stood guard by the side, and was about to say something to comfort her, but the pain that suddenly rushed in interrupted her words.
She wasn't mistaken; the sensation she felt just now was truly opening up her body.
Then came the input that flooded into her brain.
For a moment, the world seemed to be spinning.
An uncontrollable dizziness lingered in Lu Shizhen's brain. She felt as if she was sitting, but her whole body was spinning around and swaying.
Without Qiuqiu's guidance and control over the data input, each wave of data surges pushed Lu Shizhen's pain threshold to the limit, causing her to tense up completely.
Lu Shizhen's notebook, already filled with marks of pain, was once again filled with a new kind of pain.
Pain and dizziness mingled together, and a constant, fine, pricking sensation came from my temples, as if someone were living inside, celebrating with drums and gongs.
Even so, Lu Shizhen still didn't firmly grasp Xu Shiyue's hand.
She didn't want to hurt her.
It's that simple, so simple it's almost silly.
Moreover, she has endured so many surgeries in the past, including indwelling needle insertion, punctures, and debridement, all by herself. Why would she need to go through all that trouble in just fifteen minutes...?
Before the words of comfort and encouragement could be fully repeated in Lu Shizhen's mind, she felt her body being pulled by a force.
She forgot that ever since she reunited with Xu Shiyue, she would never again have to face everything alone.
Xu Shiyue would never let her face it alone.
A delicate fragrance pierced through the tangled gloom and entered Lu Shizhen's world, gently yet firmly enveloping her.
The gentle warmth subdued the torment of hardness, and Lu Shizhen felt an immense tenderness emerge from this chaos, and thus she kissed her.
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