Chapter 191 The Missing Story
Worried about disturbing the rest of the other people nearby, I followed Sheng silently to the cafe on the first floor.
After many days, I came here again and sat in the familiar spot. I watched as Sheng buried himself in the water dispenser for a while, and finally placed a cup of dark brown coffee on both my and his table.
Do you need milk?
He pulled out a chair and sat down. Sheng took a porcelain bottle from the plate on the side, poured milk into his cup, added sugar cubes, and stirred gently, muttering to himself, "This is a scarce commodity right now, the kind that's used up as little as you can."
"If it weren't for the short shelf life and the enormous amount of energy required to store it, it's hard to say whether we would be able to drink it now."
I inhaled the fragrance that lingered only at the tip of my nose, shook my head, and quietly watched Sheng's practiced movements.
"How have you been lately?" I asked.
"This is terrible."
Sheng Xiao took a sip of coffee and complained softly, "Although this isn't a topic you should discuss with a patient who has just woken up, I still have to say, it's really terrible."
He frowned and stuck out his tongue. The light-colored coffee, mixed with milk and sugar, stained his tongue with its own color, sliding down the surface of his tongue and leaving a winding trail.
Seemingly unable to bear the bitter taste, Sheng hesitated for a few seconds before finally moving his hand to the milk jug and adding a small amount of milky white liquid.
The tiny silver spoon stirred back and forth, striking the cup wall with a crisp sound.
He took another small sip, put down his teacup, and sprawled out on the chair like a limp pancake. Sheng continued his rambling: "I won't talk about those damn main quests. They were expected long ago, so there's not much to say. Although we often struggled due to unforeseen circumstances in the game, resulting in the loss of many people, we managed to hold on in the end."
"If we use the judgment method of tower defense games, I can give myself at least two and a half stars for this struggle... I have to keep the remaining half star, no, one star, to mourn those who should not have died because of my wrong decision."
He remained silent for a long while, then silently drank the bitter liquid. Although he was sitting right across from me, he seemed like an empty shell. His gaze and his soul seemed to be focused on the distant void, flying to the end of his thoughts.
The bottom of the cup collided with the bowl and plate, spilling a little liquid. The dim lamp used for illumination flickered for a moment, its light swaying.
In the dim light, I took another close look at the young boy I hadn't seen in a long time.
He was still dressed in that loose-fitting outfit. In the sunlight, his slightly yellowish-blue hair was haphazardly gathered into a short ponytail at the back of his head, barely held together by an elastic band. A blue ribbon was tied around his neck. His face still possessed an androgynous charm, but no longer concealed by a hat; it was directly exposed, just like his slender limbs peeking out from beneath his oversized shirt. His petite frame possessed a perfectly balanced fragility that evoked a protective instinct in others.
Perhaps it was because of this outfit that most of her skin was exposed to the air that Sheng looked more like a young girl than her previous tomboyish appearance. Even I had a moment of mistaken identity for her.
However, I observed even more beyond that.
The deep dark circles under his eyes, concealed by his shirt, and the scarred upper arms and torso only slightly exposed when he raised his hand, along with the ethereal, verdant vines that swayed behind him...
There is no doubt that Sheng's current state is not normal.
The fact that an elf who can heal everyone is unable to heal himself is undoubtedly a sign that his condition is very bad.
It's like a taut bowstring, already stretched to its limit; any further stretch and it risks snapping.
But I couldn't offer any clear comfort. I knew nothing about what he had been through in the past week or so, so I couldn't bring myself to sit here and spout some irrelevant yet condescending remarks.
That would undoubtedly be a denigration and disregard of the efforts he had made.
Even in a fictional world, I cannot act with such a lack of empathy.
I could only silently reach out and cover Sheng's hand, which was resting on the table, trying to offer silent comfort through touch and body heat.
The hand beneath the palm flinched for a moment, pulled back slightly, and then stopped in place.
The lush vines trembled wildly, their shadows, elongated by the light, forming a chaotic dance of demons behind him. Occasionally, tiny specks of light, emitting a shimmering glow, would emerge from them, only to explode upon touching nearby objects.
Sheng and I exchanged a glance, then Sheng suddenly turned his face away, coughed a few times, and then continued the conversation that had been interrupted.
"Where was I... Oh right, I haven't even started yet, my brain is acting up."
He muttered to himself for a moment, then slapped his forehead and resumed his earlier tone: "Let me start by telling you about the most troublesome thing I've encountered so far. Without a doubt, it's dealing with people!"
He slammed his hand on the table, then grinned and shook his hand: "After I managed to keep you and that guy in a good condition and bring you back to the safe zone, I was planning to find an empty house to rest and recuperate, and then direct the survivors to maintain the defenses so that I could get through the fourth mission."
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