Chapter 128: A Subtle, Ambiguous Atmosphere and a Strange Development of Relationships
Time seemed to stand still.
Shi Wan felt as if she could hear her own heart beating, one beat after another, very fast.
She opened her mouth as if to say something, but found her throat tight and unable to make a sound.
Just then, the glutinous rice ball at her feet suddenly arched its back, its fur bristled, and it hissed alertly.
The mountain wind also lowered its body, emitting a low, warning sound from its throat.
They don't know this person.
Shi Wan then seemed to suddenly realize that the little animals on the farm had never seen Xing Lin before.
In their eyes, this was just a strange human who had suddenly appeared.
Even though in her mind, Xinglin was a companion who had been with her for a long time.
She quickly knelt down and gently patted Tangyuan's back, "Don't be afraid, he's not a bad person."
Tangyuan remained wary of the person under the tree, her heterochromatic eyes gleaming in the darkness. "Wanwan, don't be afraid, Mimi will protect you!"
Shanfeng also looked at Shi Wan, as if waiting for instructions.
Xing Lin's gaze followed Shi Wan's movements and shifted slightly downwards, landing on the ruffled Tangyuan. Then he paused for a moment.
So he stopped and looked at Shi Wan again, a slight smile in his eyes.
His gaze was so focused and tender, as if he had been watching her like that for a very long time.
“Shi Wan,” he said, his voice a little hoarse, but with a gentle relief, “I’m back.”
Four simple words.
Shi Wan suddenly felt very emotional.
She blinked, trying to suppress the sudden surge of emotion. "Welcome back. About you..."
The words were stuck in my throat, and I didn't know how to say them.
She really wanted to know, and had many questions to ask.
How did things go?
Is this considered a complete end?
Are you injured?
Is there anything else we need her to do?
She really wanted to ask.
But all the words stuck in my throat, and in the end, they all came out as, "Welcome back, how are you?"
Xinglin looked at her, his eyes softening as if they could melt, "I'm fine, it's you who's..."
He reached out, seemingly wanting to touch her face, but stopped in mid-air and instead gently placed his hand on her shoulder. "You look thinner, but you have more energy and spirit. You seem like a powerful boss."
His palms were warm, and the temperature was clearly felt through the thin fabric of his clothes.
Shi Wan was finally certain that Xing Lin had truly returned, appearing before her once again in his physical form, openly and honestly, carrying the weariness and relaxation of battle.
Perhaps this in itself is a sign of good news.
"The farm..." Shi Wan took a deep breath, trying to make her voice sound calm. "The farm is doing very well now. The pre-sales around the area are very successful, new collaborations are being negotiated, and the catnip, cat grass, and other vegetables are growing very well. Cat Planet is also continuously placing orders. There are new domesticated cats on the farm. Although Cat Dad is an unofficial member, he is quite diligent and comes over every week. He even half-brought his owner in as well. Tangyuan is also managing the clan very well..."
She spoke incoherently, as if she wanted to tell him everything that had accumulated over the past few months.
Xinglin listened quietly, his eyes never leaving her, a faint smile on his lips.
After she finally finished speaking, he said softly, "I know, thank you for your hard work."
Shi Wan was taken aback, somewhat surprised, "You knew?"
“Yes, the energy you’ve accumulated is warm and plentiful. Just that energy alone tells me how well you’ve done,” Xinglin nodded, his gaze falling on the cat-head bracelet on her wrist. “You’ve done very well, even better than I imagined.”
His tone contained pride, gentleness, and an emotion that Shi Wan couldn't decipher.
Tangyuan still kept a wary eye on Xinglin, but her body relaxed a little.
He sniffed the air, tilted his head, and said, "Wanwan, he's so strange, he has no smell, meow."
The mountain breeze also took a few steps closer, sniffed carefully, and then looked up at Shi Wan with a questioning look in its eyes.
Shi Wan patted Shan Feng's head and said softly, "He is Xing Lin, our friend. He left for a while and is back now. Although he smells different from us, he is a very nice person."
“Xing Lin?” Tang Yuan repeated the name, her heterochromatic eyes full of doubt. “But we’ve never seen him before.”
"We'll know each other from now on." Shi Wan looked at Xing Lin, her eyes smiling. "Right?"
Xinglin nodded, then squatted down so that his line of sight was level with Tangyuan's.
Xinglin gazed into Tangyuan's beautiful yet puzzled eyes, his tone gentle and indulgent, as if chatting with a long-lost friend, "Hello, Tangyuan, I'm Xinglin, it's nice to meet you."
Tangyuan scrutinized him carefully, its tail swaying gently.
After a while, it cautiously took a few steps closer, stopped half a meter away from Xinglin, and sniffed carefully again.
"You don't smell at all, but you also seem to have Wanwan's scent," Tangyuan concluded, puzzled. "It's a very warm scent, so strange, meow~"
Xinglin was amused by him, "That must be because Shi Wan and I are friends, right? Will we become friends in the future?"
Tangyuan thought for a few seconds, then puffed out her chest and said, "Then you have to be good to Wanwan. Wanwan is our family. If you're not good to her, we won't forgive you."
These words were spoken with utmost seriousness, carrying the unique authority of the Meow Meow Clan Chief.
Xinglin also took it seriously, his expression turning earnest. "I promise you, I will definitely treat her well."
He spoke this promise with great weight, as if he were saying it to Tangyuan (a type of rice ball), but even more so, as if he were saying it to himself.
The mountain breeze also came over, circled around Xinglin, sniffed his trouser leg carefully, and then sat down, its tail swaying gently.
This is the mountain wind's gesture of approval.
Shi Wan stood aside watching this scene, and the corners of her mouth unconsciously turned up.
Xing Lin stood up and looked at Shi Wan again.
In the darkness, his eyes were deep and bright. "I'm sorry for making you worry for so long."
Shi Wan shook her head, "As long as you're back, that's all that matters."
The two stared at each other, something quietly brewing in the air.
Xing Lin's gaze was too focused, and Shi Wan looked away uncomfortably, but noticed his pale face.
"You..." she hesitated for a moment, "You don't look well, should you rest first?"
Xinglin did not refuse, "Okay."
"So... are you going back to the system to rest?" Shi Wan was a little unsure of what to do. "Or are you already able to live a normal life in the three-dimensional world?"
Xinglin tilted her head. "Anything is fine, but it would be best if we could rest at the farm tonight."
He took a deep breath, looked at the beautiful scenery around him, felt the gentle night breeze and the extra-soothing chirping of insects in the grass. This beautiful world was truly delightful.
"Then you can rest in the guest room. We specially reserved the room, and it's perfect for you to use now." Shi Wan quickly made the decision.
So the two of them went into the main house together.
Shi Wan poured Xing Lin a glass of warm water, watched him drink it, and then asked, "How have you been lately? Is everything completely over now? What about the main system...?"
Xinglin held the water glass and remained silent for a moment.
The moonlight streamed in through the window, casting a faint shadow on his profile.
“It should be over, but there are still many things to deal with.” He finally said this, his voice calm, but Shi Wan could hear the heavy weight in it. “These things are a long story, it goes back a long time, I will tell you everything slowly.”
Shi Wan did not press the matter further.
Looking at the bluish shadows in Xinglin's eyes, and at the slightly white knuckles of his fingers as he held the water glass, she suddenly realized that he must have had a very difficult time these past two months.
"Don't rush, take your time," she said softly. "Rest when you're tired."
Xinglin looked up at her, his eyes gentle yet firm. "I will, and from now on... I will always be here."
He emphasized the word "always".
Shi Wan's heart skipped a beat.
"Then...you should rest first." She stood up. "I've been cleaning the guest room, the sheets and blankets are all clean..."
"Shi Wan," Xing Lin called out to her.
She turned around.
Xinglin sat on the sofa, looking up at her.
Moonlight streamed in through the window, casting a soft glow upon him.
His gaze was so deep and earnest, as if he were looking at someone he cherished deeply.
“Thank you,” he said. “Thank you for being here all this time, and thank you for your help.”
Shi Wan suddenly felt her cheeks burning. The atmosphere was too strange, and she seemed nervous and out of control.
She vaguely sensed something, but doubted whether she was overthinking it.
While secretly telling herself not to be driven by sexual desire, she also vaguely felt that Xinglin was indeed a bit strange.
She turned and walked quickly toward the storage room, trying to escape the strange atmosphere.
When she returned with a clean towel, Xinglin was already asleep on the sofa.
He was sleeping soundly, but his brows were slightly furrowed, as if he was still troubled by something in his dream.
Shi Wan slowed her pace, put the things aside, and then gently covered him with a thin blanket.
The room was quiet. Shi Wan squatted by the sofa and looked at him carefully by the moonlight.
Is this also a body simulated by data?
Is this what he originally looked like?
Would a body simulated by data be this realistic?
His paleness and exhaustion were impossible to hide; his poor condition was visibly due to a combination of lack of rest and a bad mood, making him look incredibly haggard.
Shi Wan reached out her hand, her fingertips stopping a few centimeters from his nose.
She could feel the warmth of his breath and see the tiny shadows cast by his eyelashes in the moonlight.
Everything felt so real, so real that she almost believed the person in front of her was a real person, not a body simulated by system data.
She withdrew her hand, stood up, and whispered, "Goodnight, Xinglin."
Then she turned and left, gently closing the door behind her.
On the sofa, Xinglin opened her eyes in the darkness.
He looked at the ceiling, a faint but genuine smile curving his lips.
Then he closed his eyes again, this time his brow relaxed.
He finally went home.
Back to the place where she is.
As night deepened, the farm slept peacefully.
In the guest room of the main house, Xing Lin's body glowed with a faint, almost invisible silvery-white light under the moonlight, a sign that the data entity was stably existing in reality.
Deep within the data space, Zhulong and Bailing huddled together, waiting to see if the data alarm left by Xinglin would sound.
Everything was quiet, the alarms were running silently until they exceeded their originally set timeframe.
Both of them breathed a sigh of relief.
It seems this method worked, using fragments of the main system combined with the energy provided by the stars to create a body that can exist in reality.
However, the probability of success is extremely low, and to maintain it, a constant injection of energy is required.
Currently, only Starfall has been able to succeed.
The other mission participants are currently unable to find a stable energy source.
“Feasibility is success,” Zhulong said softly. “At least it proves that we are heading in the right direction. Let’s work on the rest.”
Bai Ling agreed. She looked at the small data alarm and then hung it on Zhulong's body. "Let this little guy rest for a while. I never thought that after living for so long, he would be saved by a junior who is much younger than us."
Zhulong chuckled, feeling a bit like joking, "What? Feeling embarrassed?"
Bailing wasn't falling for his trap. "No way! I think it's great. Winning without lifting a finger is a kind of skill too. Alright, boss, stop chatting and get to work!"
Inside the activity room, Tangyuan was licking its fur by the window, pausing occasionally to space out.
“A strange fellow,” he muttered to himself, thinking of Starfall, “but not unpleasant.”
The mountain wind pressed against the doorway, its ears twitched, and then it closed its eyes again.
As dawn broke, Shi Wan was awakened by her biological clock at the familiar time, and she could vaguely smell a fragrance coming through the crack in the door.
After a three-second pause of confusion, I suddenly remembered that Xinglin had returned.
Shi Wan stretched comfortably in bed and suddenly stopped rushing to get up.
She felt that now that the head housekeeper was back, she could finally slack off a little.
I fiddled around on the bed for a bit, but couldn't find the glutinous rice ball. I wondered where it had gone. So I grabbed a cushion, hugged it, and started scrolling through my phone.
The tranquility was broken by a knock on the door, followed by the sound of Xinglin's footsteps as she went to open it.
There was a moment of silence after the door opened.
Shi Wan then remembered that Su Qing had said yesterday that she would come over this morning to have a meeting with her to discuss the future development direction of the farm's new products.
So now it should be...
"Uh...who are you...??"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com