Chapter 68
On this day, Chongyu was editing vlog when his friend came back with a cart and took out a special flat cardboard box from a pile of scattered express parcels.
Not one box, but four.
Because the "Incomplete Person" manga has also learned the usual publishing practices since the third and fourth volumes, although the accompanying peripherals are still numerous and cute, there are two different sets. Chongyu and his friends said "I want them all" after reading the promotion, and ended up buying two copies, or four volumes each.
But they thought it was okay, they only bought two sets, one for collection and one for reading, taking notes, or even tearing apart books and pasting clippings. Adult wallets can afford this little freedom.
The two adults quickly divided the books, opened their respective book covers, sat side by side on the sofa in the comfortable air-conditioned environment of the fearless summer, and started flipping through the comics.
As expected, the cover of the third volume is Lazarus - as if it was an ordinary moment in those two months, a lich in a long robe was standing in the woods, next to him were thick tree roots covered with moss nearly knee-high and moist brown soil. There was a large section of fresh white plants on the ground, and the dense shade of the trees properly blocked most of the scorching sunlight, casting deep and shallow green marks.
He acted alone, so he did not cover up the face of the deceased, which would cause the creatures of that world to instinctively resist, and appeared in a familiar appearance to the readers.
As if influenced by the remaining blood and flesh of the Siren, or as if just wanting to collect fresh ingredients, the notorious lich knelt on one knee by the stream, leaned over and reached out to touch the water, causing the ends of his dark red hair to almost fall into the water.
The stream water was so clear that it looked like a large, slightly raised transparent gem, with only tiny algae fronds dotted around the edges. The color of the reflection in the water was affected by the environment, and the dark red was no longer shocking. The traces of branches and vines growing higher up were reflected behind him, subtly resembling the pair of antlers that were once as beautiful as a tree.
"Absolutely." Chong Yu admired and sighed.
She saw her friend, who was less talkative than her, take out her phone whenever she was excited, create a new status and quickly type: The teacher's cover is full of beauty and is as vivid as the movement of celestial bodies. I am thankful that T is still alive because I can see such beautiful works in my life...
It appeared! The arrhythmic celestial body is moving! Chong Yu said in his heart. It seems that he really likes it. This is the recognition from a character chef.
Chongyu waited for his friend to finish posting the status, took three deep breaths in succession, and then continued to turn the page.
The difference between them is that the best friend still likes Lazarus for his appearance, and is at the moment of excitement when her heart is struck by a cover that is more beautiful than expected during the mysterious reader ceremony that tries to maintain her expectations. Therefore, she chooses to read the third volume, i.e. chapters 7-9, again on paper, while Chongyu goes straight to the extras after admiring the cover.
Unlike the cover of the single volume with a small picture in the promotion, the extra volume is a real mysterious feast. Chongyu, who doesn't want to be criticized but wants to see self-promotion, has been praying for a long time, hoping that there will be an extra volume with a modern setting that can have the best of both worlds.
It turned out that the feedback the author gave her was better than she expected.
The third volume is not only about the modern times, but from the beginning it even seems to be a special show for Su Mei.
Chong Yu was puzzled for a moment as to why such a happy thing could actually happen, when he heard a loud sob from his friend beside him. He glanced over and saw the scene where Su Mei died in the 7th chapter of the same book.
——Oh, it turns out that it is to give the poor character chef who was stabbed in the cover of the second volume, the second volume extra, and the third volume a little motivation to live. He must be so kind to us because he must have felt guilty after stabbing us too many times! It must be like this!
So Chongyu calmed down and continued to read the extra chapters calmly.
This extra story begins on a bright morning. The perspectives of the protagonist and the supporting characters are temporarily reversed. Su Mei prepares breakfast and goes out to bring it to Xiao Man, leaving a portion for Xiao Man's mother. Then they go to school together.
The sharp-eyed Chongyu noticed the difference in treatment - although all three breakfasts were small and fluffy red bean paste steamed buns with fresh bottled milk, only Xiaoman's bag had more steamed buns, and each one was specially made with small pointed ears of a fox and a simple smiling expression, which made it fuller and cuter.
"I accidentally did too much..." Su Mei said.
I want to eat this too! I want to eat this too!!! Liandong Restaurant please! Chongyu shouted in her heart at the food that she didn’t like at first.
Then, students wearing light mint summer clothes gathered together and walked into the school. From their conversations and the special atmosphere, it was clear that today was the day for the final exams.
Lazarus briefly appeared in the picture, wearing a slightly fresher but still tightly wrapped outfit. In addition to the usual right-hand glove, he also wore a wide-brimmed hat for sun protection, and his long hair was tied into a high ponytail. Compared with the somewhat classical and gloomy look he had shown indoors that time, he looked much more energetic.
The music teacher who was in charge of checking outside the examination room checked the admission tickets, confirmed that the examination room was correct, and allowed familiar students to enter the classroom.
Su Mei and Xiao Man were not in the same examination room. Instead, Xiao Man separated from Su Mei before entering the examination room and walked far away with another reader who had a familiar messy brown hair. Chong Yu thought, so this is probably based on grades... How cruel! Damn school, can't you see that I push him to another examination room and feel lonely? Although I also think that everyone should have their own lives and there is no need to force them to stick together, but anyway, give it to him quickly!
Love can make people lose their principles. Chongyu understands this but she doesn't change.
The exam scene was briefly mentioned. When the papers were collected, Xiaoman watched Lielie, who had been sleeping soundly on the desk, being patted by the invigilator. Then Xiaoman picked up his stationery and schoolbag that were left outside and walked down the stairs.
In fact, only Xiaoman "walked". Lielie walked down the stairs handrail upside down with his hands, still strong and dramatic in the small grid.
"Since we've finished the last exam and are having a holiday, do you want to accept your senior's invitation to go out and play together?" Elly Ratna, who was also wearing a school uniform, suddenly appeared and handed Lielie a bag of egg yolk pies.
"No, thank you. See you at the beginning of the school year." Xiaoman refused the three requests decisively.
She walked out of the door and saw Su Mei, who had handed in her papers early and was waiting outside with two bicycles. Everything was compressed into one page. The trivial and bustling daily life seemed ordinary but precious.
"Wow, you parked your car here in advance and went out to play right after the test! You guys are so cunning!" A student shouted beside him. Chong Yu spent a while to recall that this boy with a flat nose and freckles was also a passerby character in the main story.
Su Mei smiled and watched Xiaoman put the schoolbag into the bicycle basket and secure it, then they pushed the bicycle out of the school gate together.
Then something shiny and golden whizzed by - it turned out to be Bernardus, driving a super cool black and silver motorcycle, with a friend sitting on the back seat, silently holding a helmet that he had not had time to put on, but his expression was not too panicked. He rode away in a dusty and unrestrained manner with an arrogant sound, leaving the middle school students' envious eyes on the asphalt road that had returned to calm.
"I also want to buy one when I grow up." Xiaoman said to her friend.
She seemed to be thinking about something.
"Can you give me a ride?" he asked.
"Yeah." Xiaoman's face showed an expression that this was his original intention.
Ah, what a beautiful and stable official daily life! This is what I want! Chong Yu also began to sob, and it seemed that the cartilage of the greater nose wing was about to melt.
After leaving the school, they rode through the winding streets at a slow speed. On the way, they received a gift from a coffee shop owner who hurried out of the store and called them.
Chen Xing, who is living in the hypothetical modern world, finally revealed her true face. Her beautiful face looks great with a cooking towel and an ordinary dark brown apron. Her curly pink and purple long hair is tied into a wide braid for convenience, and she exudes a virtuous aura.
He put a bag of assorted handmade frosted cookies wrapped in transparent paper into Xiaoman's cart, patted them carefully to make them stable, and then took out a bag of four cupcakes under Xiaoman's silent gaze. He then turned back into the store and turned the sign on the glass door to the "close" side.
"I just think he shouldn't treat you like this on purpose." Xiaoman said facing the gentle breeze.
"It doesn't matter. I can see that the owner probably just wants you to use your power to command him." Su Mei said calmly.
"..." Xiaoman showed a subtle expression as if he had encountered a strange person. After stopping his bicycle, he took out the bag of biscuits and handed it to his friend for safekeeping.
They arrived at the seaside, which was a very ordinary, not so vast and deep, but a calm sea.
There were all kinds of stalls from the roadside to the beach. Su Mei suddenly grabbed Xiao Man and said, "Isn't that one cute?"
He was referring to a pair of third-prize mugs on display at the air/gun booth, one white and the other gray-blue, simple, with only embossed patterns of the moon and stars on the mugs.
"Yeah." Xiaoman agreed, then walked over to pay, picked up an air gun and aimed it at the balloon.
Unfortunately, there were too many third prizes, and the corresponding balloons were numerous and small, crowded together. It was easy to take away a third or fourth prize by randomly shooting, but it was not easy to specify a prize. The sea breeze also disturbed them, and even though Xiaoman and Sumei tried several times, they were unable to get the pair of mugs.
"It's okay. Take your time." Sumei said to Xiaoman who was counting the remaining bullets.
"Three more times."
The backs of the white-haired and gray-black-haired people in school uniforms suddenly moved away and appeared in the small aiming mirror.
"Bang, bang." The man behind the sniper rifle mouthed softly, "Bang——"
The first two shots were just jokes as he aimed at the back of his head and then moved away, but the third shot was a real, subtle sound of a gun after the silencer was removed.
At the same moment Xiaoman took aim and fired, the pink balloon exploded.
Live bullets penetrated through the simple cardboard and sank into the sand. The stall owner, who was unaware of anything, smiled and took the pair of mugs from the shelf and handed them to the two students who had finally got what they wanted after working so hard for a long time.
The unknown person on the top of the cliff disassembled the gun and put it into his backpack, then walked down the mountain along the nearby suspension bridge. He picked up a flying seagull, put on his sunglasses and asked the stunned seagull earnestly: "Hey, do you want some cupcakes?"
It is still unknown how Seagull will answer, but Chongyu has already guessed who the mysterious kind person is from the clues in the corners of the page.
As expected of you, Boss! You have such a magical and sweat-inducing mental state wherever you go. You almost pushed me and the little wolf cub to death just now, right? Absolutely!
This made Chongyu forget about her plan of how to get a mug of similar style. Even though she knew that this semi-villain character would never really do anything except for the main plot, she still broke into a cold sweat for the thought of herself walking on the brink of life and death.
Ah, speaking of which, Nirvana is designed to look like a figure, so—
As Chongyu was thinking this, he looked at Niebu who appeared at the beginning of the next page. He greeted him naturally while wearing sunglasses: "Good morning, cousin. What a coincidence."
Su Mei nodded calmly, and then Nie Bu, as a supporting character passing by in the extra story, took the two cupcakes and walked away.
Is it... the end? Chongyu watched the extra story continue to progress, and was finally infected by the calmness of the story. He felt that the modern setting should be peaceful and without hatred.
After relaxing at the beach, the two returned to the coffee shop where they had woken up, sat in familiar positions, and skillfully divided up their holiday homework.
"These are the knowledge points you already know, so you can just copy the answers. The teacher of this subject is a bit more serious and requires you to use a pen to copy. We will go buy ink later. You can do the practical assignments while traveling. I have prepared the information of three relatively simple scenic spots... I also need to buy medicine for my aunt. Have you brought everything? Or I can buy it tomorrow."
The white-haired boy spoke in an orderly manner.
"Yes," Xiaoman answered. Both of their schoolbags were next to Sumei, who had already used the sticky notes and ballpoint pen on the table in the cafe to draw a round Q-version Sumei with fox ears and a tail.
"Is this how Xiaoman sees me?" Su Mei quickly noticed the content of her painting and reached out to poke the pointed fox ears on his head in the painting.
Xiaoman admitted it a little embarrassedly.
"It's a great painting. Can you add a picture of you so he won't be lonely?" he said again.
Xiaoman followed her instructions and painted a simple doodle with her head down, while Sumei held her chin up to her hand and looked at her. The golden color in her eyes was clear and focused, as peaceful and beautiful as the sunlight shining through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows.
The extra chapter ends.
I'm fine, I couldn't be better! Chong Yu closed the book and pressed it against his chest, then fell back on the sofa with satisfaction, feeling that his life was complete.