"Oh! Arthur, it's getting late. Can we talk about this tomorrow?"
Xia Linyin yawned, rubbed her eyes, and said, "I'm a little sleepy, Arthur, I'm going back to sleep now. Goodnight."
With that, Xia Linyin turned and walked towards the bed. She lifted the quilt, crawled into bed, covered herself with the quilt, and closed her eyes.
But his ears were perked up, listening intently to the sounds outside.
It was quiet around her. A minute later, Xia Linyin turned over and slightly opened her eyes. Arthur's tall figure was no longer outside the window. Xia Linyin breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that Arthur must have gone back to sleep.
Just as Xia Linyin closed her eyes in relief, a strange "click" sounded, and the door was suddenly pushed open.
A sudden tightness gripped her scalp, and Xia Linyin sat up abruptly in bed, her heart pounding as she looked toward the doorway.
Arthur stood at the door, holding an oil lamp in his left hand, the dim light illuminating his blank, handsome face.
Holding the metal doorknob he had broken off in his other hand, Arthur put the doorknob back into the hole in the door and strode toward Xia Linyin.
Unconsciously clutching the blanket to her chest, Xia Linyin stammered, "Arthur... what's wrong?"
Arthur sat down on the edge of the bed. His weight, which matched his strong and muscular build, caused the soft mattress to sag. He put the oil lamp aside and reached out to touch Xia Linyin's head.
Xia Linyin stood stiffly, wondering what Arthur was up to. He had come all this way in the middle of the night, even breaking the doorknob. Surely he wasn't just here to touch her head?
Every time Arthur patted her head like that, Xia Linyin felt like she was being petted on the head of a dog, and always felt that Arthur's next unspoken message was, "Be good, and you'll get some meat."
But she's really not a dog; she won't squint her eyes comfortably when her head is petted. Every stroke from Arthur only makes the hairs on her body stand on end.
Arthur Li did indeed show a special fondness for stroking Xia Linyin's head; he stroked it several times before finally withdrawing his large hand.
"I saw my father chop my mother into pieces. He was chopping her with an axe like a madman until she was unrecognizable and became a bloody mess of minced meat."
Xia Linyin looked at Arthur Li in surprise, not only because of the content of Arthur Li's words and the fact that he suddenly said these things to her, but also because this was the first time she had heard Arthur Li say so much, and say such a long thing at once.
Arthur's voice was devoid of much emotion; he spoke calmly. To be honest, his deep, magnetic voice, combined with his gentle tone, was very hypnotic and could easily lull people to sleep. However, Xia Linyin strained her ears to listen attentively, not missing a single word from Arthur's words.
"My mother's blood flowed like a river all the way to my feet; it was so red, so very red."
“My father told me not to scream or speak. He yelled at me, ‘Shut up!’ His eyes were so ferocious and terrifying, as if he would rush over at me the next second and swing the axe at me, killing me like he killed my mother.”
“I was terrified. I was afraid my father would chop me into pieces and eat me too, so I did whatever he told me to do. I put myself in a box and became a puppet in his hands, so that—”
Arthur placed his large hand on Xia Linyin's head again, "Then I won't be afraid anymore."
This time, Xia Linyin didn't stiffen her body. She took Arthur's hand off her head and held it. She wanted to tell Arthur that the game had put him in the box and made him a puppet in the game's hands. He and his father were both puppets of the game.
In the end, she just murmured something and said nothing, not only because she was afraid that revealing game information would lead to her being eliminated by the game, but also because such words would be too cruel.
Everything he experienced was given to him by the game. Perhaps he experienced nothing at all, but the game inserted a painful memory into his mind, setting what kind of person he should become and what role he should play in the game.
She didn't know that Arthur was unaware of these things because there was a bug in the game "Ogres," and Chad, as an NPC, knew his own identity and was even enjoying it.
Perhaps Arthur knew this, and Chad may have told him about it.
However, he was set up in the game to be a puppet in Chad's hands. He did whatever Chad told him to do, without his own thoughts or personality. He was dull and only knew how to obey orders. So even if he knew everything, he could not change anything, or he had no idea to change anything at all, because he was a puppet without thoughts.
Arthur opened Xia Linyin's palm and wrote on it: "You taught me to rebel, so don't leave me."
Xia Linyin was stunned, "I..."
She couldn't make any promises to Arthur because she wasn't qualified. She wasn't a free person; she was just a gamer caught in the middle of a horror game, struggling to survive and never knowing when she would board the train to hell.
It's true that Arthur saved her, and it's also true that she used Arthur. But no matter how sorry she feels, she has to leave the town and complete her mission, or she will be eliminated.
Arthur didn't speak again. He quietly looked at Xia Linyin, waiting for her reply.
"Okay, Arthur, I'll be with you..."
Xia Linyin bit her lip, lowered her eyes to look at her palm, and dared not look up to meet Arthur Li's eyes, feeling guilty that Arthur Li might see something in her eyes.
Arthur's handsome face remained expressionless, yet a hint of a smile seemed to have crept in. He flicked his finger and wrote on Xia Linyin's palm: "You promised to stay with me, forever."
Arthur wrote the last word very slowly, with a solemn, ceremonial feel, which made Xia Linyin's palm feel like it was being burned. She wanted to pull her hand back, but she held back.
#I feel like I've set myself a terrible goal, and I'll pay a heavy price for it.#
Arthur helped Xia Linyin close her hands, then patted her head before getting up and leaving.
After Arthur left, Xia Linyin lay back down in bed. She rubbed her hands together, but the lingering sensation of his fingers on her palms remained, like a brand etched on her palms, reminding her of the words Arthur had written to her.
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