Chapter 117 The Hunchbacked Shadow (4)
After the game screen went black, the terminal was forced to restart.
When I reopened the game, all the information was gone. Her death CG in the character encyclopedia and the information of the supporting characters modeled after her were all blank, turning it into a completely real dating sim.
The brief buzzing sound from the terminal brought her back to her senses. She pulled the chip out of the terminal—this ordinary gaming chip seemed to be of no use to her anymore.
Shu Ningmiao put the chip in her pocket, planning to open it when she had some free time someday.
She didn't take the elevator, but slowly walked up the stairs via the emergency exit.
The dozens of steps were just a warm-up for her, and most importantly, no one else would be foolish enough to climb a hundred-story staircase. The stairwell was empty and quiet enough for her to think things through.
She walked up the stairs slowly, one step at a time. In the dimly lit corridor, a loud bang sounded overhead. She looked up in the direction of the sound and saw dust swirling down from the ceiling.
Her accumulated experience and intuition came into play in an instant. Shu Ningmiao quickly shook off the dust that had been shaken off from the gap in the flat roof and took two big steps forward.
The next second, from where she had been standing, something shot through the roof of the emergency exit like a cannonball, and a blood-covered figure fell down from where a deafeningly loud impact had sent something flying.
The figure staggered to his feet from the billowing dust. He was tall and slender, with a sturdy stance, and didn't seem to be in any danger. He was probably a superhuman.
Not wanting to meddle, she quickly looked away and walked upstairs without turning her head.
The man remained where he was, panting, without moving, seemingly unaware of her presence.
Back in the operatives' lounge, only Zhao was lying on the sofa with his legs crossed. Blank work report papers were scattered everywhere. Apart from footprints, there were no other human marks on the snow-white papers. Pine's future went black.
The silver-haired young man elegantly raised his glass to her, the purplish-red liquid shimmering in the clear glass: "Would you like a drink?"
She shook her head slightly, her feelings toward this person quite complicated.
"Oh, is that so? You're still a kid." Zhao tilted his head mischievously, resting his chin on his other hand and looking at her meaningfully. "If you're not in a hurry, how about you finish this drink with me?"
Shu Ningmiao didn't refuse and sat down on the sofa next to him without hesitation. Zhao ran his fingertips over his chin, took out a stack of cards from his pocket, and tossed them to her.
A stack of cards is spread out on the table from left to right. They are his maximalist rose-effect photos, a 45-degree close-up selfie, a close-up of his incredibly sharp jawline, and a melancholic, atmospheric, far-focused back view.
"As a gift—my latest photocard, a special signed edition, only for you." Zhao shook his finger, the gemstone in the ring on his hand reflecting a dazzling light under the lamp.
Faced with this stack of psychological attacks, she couldn't say thank you. Silently, she turned each card over and changed the subject, asking, "Aren't you uncomfortable wearing so many rings?"
Zhao twisted the ring on one of her fingers, looking intrigued: "Then why don't you guess why I wear these fussy pieces of jewelry?"
It wasn't hard to guess. When Zhao gave her the sapphire as a superpower tool last time, she already had a guess: "Because all of these are superpower tools."
In her memory, Zhao could use his superpower to stop her body from moving, which seemed to be a superpower involving time. However, if classified in this way, his ability to completely cut off the main control system during the attack on Cornunos would seem unreasonable.
Combined with the unique, reusable supernatural items he created.
Shu Ningmiao quickly guessed that his special ability was actually "property", giving anything a new "property".
He endowed her body with the property of 'stillness,' the power source of the machine with the property of 'stopping,' and the ring with the property of 'element.'
A powerful and versatile superpower, truly deserving of being the No.1 superpower currently recorded by Pinheit.
If there's any drawback to this superpower—Shu Ning thought—it's probably only that it's incompatible with the fragile vessel of the body. No matter how many Pandora's box a normal person has, it can't exceed the limits of the body. Zhao's ability to freeze her when she was on the verge of death was already her limit.
"How clever," Zhao sighed, swirling his wine glass. "However, I only guessed one thing: they are still the only legacy I inherited."
"Although I don't have a surname, I was still a young master before."
Zhao shrugged, casually sipping his drink: "Have you heard of it? — Arad."
"The ghost family that disappeared a few years ago." Shu Ningmiao shuffled his small cards like playing cards, then stacked them on the table. She was quite knowledgeable about these high-society gossips: "There are rumors that it was a curse brought by Jin Changrui that infected the whole family, causing them to commit suicide one after another."
Jin Changrui, a famous land of desire, is a decadent entertainment country on the entire planet. Deserts, casinos, underground trading, shopping malls, erotic performances, mysterious ancient witchcraft, magnificent and spectacular, mysterious and exciting—it is a resort destination with a much higher number of visitors than Pingyi. This holiday, half of her classmates are vacationing there, including Chris.
"More or less." Zhao put down his wine glass, and the smile in his eyes gradually became somewhat unreal: "My useless uncle lost all his wealth in Jin Changrui, went home and tricked my mother into eloping with him, and then used the scandal to blackmail my father, who values the family reputation more than anything else, for money."
Shu Ningmiao was glad she hadn't accepted the drink he offered, otherwise she would definitely be choking right now.
“The money was spent one after another, without end. That guy did all sorts of shameful things just to squeeze money out of his family.” Zhao shrugged. “My father… was a rigid and upright man, or rather, a pedant. His sense of responsibility towards the family was so pedantic that it bordered on foolish. In order to protect the family’s reputation, he repeatedly satisfied his younger brother’s greedy demands, but he never expected that greed would lead to such a vicious cycle. When I came back from school, I received the news that my uncle had gone mad and shot and killed the whole family.”
“He transferred all the family’s property and cracked open everyone’s skulls.” He could still say it in an extremely relaxed tone: “My father was tough. He was in the emergency room four times. His last words were that I should not have the surname Arad anymore, the surname that he had tainted with his ignorance and protection.”
“I don’t have any immediate family members. I was brought here by the military to live here.” Zhao shook his hand resting on the sofa. “These twelve rings are the keepsakes I took from each of them.”
He really has a talent for telling ghost stories. His plain and unremarkable tone makes it impossible for people to tell whether it's a joke or a real story, leaving only a chill.
"Where is your uncle?" Shu Ningmiao's reaction was calmer than he had expected. No, Zhao thought, she was indifferent to everything that didn't concern her.
"He died before he could even escape the country, when he was shot by a patrolling army soldier."
Zhao casually put his hands behind his head: "I'm sorry, it's not a pleasant story—little sister, why am I telling you this? You should know that I stole your brother's credit this time, right?"
Shu Ningmiao pondered for a moment before realizing that it was thanks to dealing with Achini that he had taken credit, or more accurately, it wasn't Shu Changyan's credit that he had stolen.
This guy seems so unreliable, yet he's worried about what his colleagues and their families think.
“I’m not like Shu Changyan.” He pressed down on the small cards she had folded, picked up the top card, and held it to his face, laughing like a glamorous male model on a billboard: “That guy Shu Changyan doesn’t care about Phineas or achievements. He doesn’t care as long as he can make you happy. But I’m willing to take these boring photos, to be a clown on a billboard, to become the most ridiculous big star in the war.”
"After this war with Intori ends, I will live up to the name of a hero and let the world see the vanished ghost family, Arad, once again."
He smiled and said, "Death is not the misfortune of the dead, but the misfortune of the living... I always feel like there are dead people watching me from heaven."
Shu Ningmiao stood up and turned to look at him: "That day was too crowded."
Zhao did not refute, and finished the last sip of wine.
"If you're looking for Shu Changyan, he's resting in the inner room. It seems he hasn't slept for two days."
Zhao stared at her retreating figure, which she didn't even turn her head to look back, and was slightly taken aback. Then he realized, "It seems that I only managed to get a drink because someone closed their eyes."
Shu Ningmiao pushed open the folding door to the inner room and retrieved the memories of being trapped in the String Flow, flipping through them again. She remembered that two years later, Erici seemed to have said that the wielder had already—
All personnel were killed in action.
With a "whoosh".
She casually closed the folding door. The inner suite was a single room partitioned off from the lounge, neatly furnished with a light-colored sofa bed, carpet, and sunflowers in a vase. It was a warm, clean, and bright showroom, just the right size.
The tall, muscular young man lay sprawled on the sofa, making the originally soft and spacious sofa appear even more cramped. His eyelashes fell, forming a quiet, faint shadow, as if he were asleep. His expression was blank, and his innate bone structure revealed a coldness.
Shu Changyan's breathing was even, carrying a fresh warmth and genuine weariness. He hadn't slept a wink while she was having nightmares.
Shu Ningmiao quietly sat down beside him, leaning slightly forward. Her soft hair fell down with the movement, with a few strands tangled together. She reached out and brushed aside the tangled hair between them, looking steadily at him: "Shu Changyan."
Shu Changyan raised his hand and pressed it against the back of her hand. His blue eyes, which opened slowly, were spotless, open and clear, a translucent blue that was closer to the young sky than anything else.
He gazed at her intently for a long while, then slowly nestled half his face in her palm, his voice still slightly hoarse from waking up: "What's wrong?"
She did not answer.
Her dark eyes were reflected in his clear blue pupils. Shu Changyan silently reached out his other hand and gently wrapped it around her body.
His slender fingers gently touched her shoulders and neck, making her lean against him.
He gently stroked the back of her neck and her long hair in a soothing manner. Shu Ningmiao's forehead rested against his chest, and her body temperature was transmitted through the soft fabric of his shirt. She could hear his heartbeat and breathing.
A heartbeat carries more authority than any words.
He listened to her heartbeat and felt her emotions.
She listened to his heartbeat and felt his emotions.
If all the problems were laid bare before her, Shu Changyan would be like the syrup she had poured too much of when she was a child—at least she could tolerate the pungent sweetness.
“I have,” she said, without revealing the truth, “stop having nightmares.”
Shu Changyan smiled, his voice clear and cheerful, his breath brushing against her palm: "Really?"
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Author's Note: Bro: I have my own rhythm.
He'll figure it out himself, no need to worry.
I've changed the title; this part will focus on the actor first.
Happy New Year! I still have some JJ coins to give away as red envelopes! [Panda head emoji]
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