Hello, How Long Has This Been Going On?

Chapter 24

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At two o'clock in the morning, Tao Zhiyue, the self-heating pancake maker, had changed twenty sleeping positions and counted thousands of sheep, but the sleepiness was still not here.

After struggling for a long time, Tao Zhiyue told himself that he should get up and go to the bathroom.

Then I glanced at the time on my phone, just to check the time.

In the dark room, Tao Zhiyue picked up his phone nonchalantly. The screen lit up, and there were no unread messages.

A faint sense of loss spread in my heart.

Tao Zhiyue unlocked the phone without giving up, opened the page, and refreshed it a few times, but the dialog box remained motionless, and it was still the message he replied to six hours ago.

[Tao: I’ll go online and take a look.]

After making pancakes for several hours, Tao Zhiyue gradually calmed down and regretted his previous rashness.

Why did he press the power button with his backhand

He suddenly went offline without any explanation. Would the HR think he was very impolite

Maybe the HR didn't have any other intention, he just mentioned it casually when he saw he was on the phone.

Older people are usually accustomed to communicating via voice or phone. Their typing speed is not as fast as that of young people, so it is normal that they don’t like to communicate in text.

Asking him if he has a boyfriend may be just out of curiosity. HR has been single for so many years, and it is rare for him to have a lover. This is his first time experiencing this wonderful feeling, so it is normal for him to be curious about the emotional status of the people around him.

As for Zhengzhong... it probably means "this is more in line with the character's image."

After "figuring out" the problems that had troubled him for half the night, Tao Zhiyue felt very ashamed of himself.

Love novels are not deceiving him. It turns out that people who are secretly in love are really fools who like to be sentimental.

After standing at the bathroom door for a long time, Tao Zhiyue had completely lost the desire to sleep. He put on his clothes, turned on the light, and sat back at his desk.

Turn on the computer and log in to Animal Island.

It was also late at night in the game. The brown bear that waved at him on the island next door had disappeared. It must have gone offline.

The shadows of the trees swayed, and the sound of insects chirping softly could be heard in the silent night.

The hedgehog got on the small wooden boat and sailed to the territory of his new neighbor.

This was the first time Tao Zhiyue used this visiting function. The driving time was determined by the distance between the coordinates of different islands. The HR island was far away from him before, so it took five minutes to get here.

Now the two islands are within easy reach and can be reached in ten seconds.

The little hedgehog jumped off the boat, trotted onto the island, and soon heard snoring coming from the cabin in the center of the island.

It turns out that brown bears snore so loudly.

There is a very cute little setting in Animal Island. When players exit the game, they have two options to choose from: [Bye] and [See you later].

It is said that if you select [Bye Bye], the character will disappear on the spot, making it impossible for others to determine whether the player is online.

Choosing [See you later] will put the character into a sleeping state. If it is night, he will go back to the house to sleep. During the day, he will take a nap in the sun on a lounge chair or hammock in front of the cabin.

Tao Zhiyue always clicked goodbye directly. This was the first time he saw a player character sleeping soundly after choosing [See you later].

In reality, HR should have fallen asleep as well.

Amidst the somewhat funny snoring sound effects, the little hedgehog strolled around the brown bear island.

Unlike many players who would build beautiful gardens full of flowers, HR planted large areas of fruit trees on the open space of the island. Each tree was heavy with colorful fruits that were plump and beautiful.

Next to the largest fruit tree, there was a small wooden sign with four big words written on it: "No stealing allowed."

Thinking of the big bunch of fruit that the brown bear brought during his first visit, Tao Zhiyue, who was feeling nervous in front of the screen, suddenly felt his heart soften.

It's obviously a very ordinary little thing, but when it happens to this person, there is always a kind of inexplicable cuteness.

The little hedgehog returned to his island and picked different kinds of flowers from the garden and tied them into bunches with ribbons.

Then it held the bouquet of warm and bright flowers in its little paws, came over by boat, and carefully placed it at the door of the cabin where the snoring was deafening.

[A Hedgehog: The network failed and the connection was suddenly disconnected.]

Tao Zhiyue thought that his brain network had indeed malfunctioned before, so it wasn't a lie.

[A hedgehog: I brought a small gift to apologize to you^-^]

This time when exiting the game, Tao Zhiyue hesitated for a moment and gently clicked [See you later].

After lying back on the bed, Tao Zhiyue felt much calmer.

He closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep again.

For some reason, the somewhat unfamiliar self from the past slowly emerged in Tao Zhiyue's mind.

I start work at 9 o'clock on weekdays and rarely leave my workstation except to eat or go to the toilet. It is common for me to be busy until 11 or 12 o'clock in the middle of the night. There is no overtime pay, and the only consolation is that the taxi fare can be reimbursed.

Weekends are usually the only day off for him, and he would often stay at home and waste the whole day. Because he and his friends whom he had known for many years were separated by a long distance, they could only get together in the gaming room.

At that time, he was immersed in the blind passion of pursuing his dreams and never noticed that his life was so monotonous.

During his commute every morning, Tao Zhiyue would cling to the handrail and sway with the crowd in the crowded subway. He was squeezed so hard that he could hardly breathe, and he would occasionally think that something seemed to be missing in his life.

During countless late nights when he was waiting for a bus to go home alone, in a small rental house that he only used for taking a shower and sleeping, Tao Zhiyue would sometimes take time to think about this problem to relieve the fatigue of his brain carrying too many code instructions, but he never figured it out.

Until that day, the gas bill for the rental house was used up, and a roommate in the tenant group said he wanted to cook at noon, and this time it was Tao Zhiyue's turn to pay the bill.

It would be too late to pay the fee during lunch break, so Tao Zhiyue had to make an exception, put down his always busy work, sneak out during work break, ride a public bicycle, and rush to the bank in a staggering manner.

It was a very good day. The autumn breeze caressed his cheeks and blew away the complicated strings of thoughts in his head. He hadn't ridden a bike for a long time, and his whole body was shaking. He held the handlebars nervously, and passed by pedestrians and vehicles beside him.

The wind is warm, the light golden sun hangs high in the sky, the air is sparkling with rich light, and burnt yellow autumn leaves are falling from the branches.

A slight tenderness suddenly surged in his heart.

This accident that disrupted his work rhythm brought him a real and warm sense of life.

When he arrived at the bank and inserted his card to pay at the self-service terminal, Tao Zhiyue always had a smile in his eyes. He really wanted to tell someone about this trivial matter and share with that person the joy that was about to overflow from his heart.

But he looked through his friend list and couldn't find a suitable person to talk to.

At that moment, Tao Zhiyue finally understood what was missing in his life.

But he had long been like a clockwork working machine, with no time, no opportunity, and no fate to meet someone.

Even though he knew that life was empty and boring, he still didn't have the courage to change anything.

Not long after, at the moment of cardiac arrest, Tao Zhiyue did not recall any distant past events, but only vaguely remembered the autumn day that was engraved in his heart.

He hopes he can be braver in his next life.

Also, I hope to meet someone with whom I can share the trivialities of life.

However, the fear of death made the reborn Tao Zhiyue forget his little wish before his death. For a long time, he thought he had no regrets.

But those subtle desires and longings quietly awakened in the process of contact with HR.

Love is a wonderful feeling that sharpens your senses and brightens your vision, allowing you to touch the little things that are missed in the cracks of life.

Even a seemingly hopeless unrequited love can make people have a soft and sensitive heart, and everything will be dyed with colorful colors.

The summer night is quiet and beautiful, the chirping of insects is melodious, and even the fruit trees swaying gently in the wind are lovely.

Before logging off, Tao Zhiyue hesitated for a long time, and finally added a few words from his heart that he had been too embarrassed to say in the past.

[A hedgehog: The flowers you planted for me the day before yesterday have bloomed, so I picked the most beautiful ones and gave them to you.]

In the peaceful and beautiful virtual world, the most beautiful bouquet of flowers lies at the door of the cabin, waiting to be seen by the waking brown bear.

Why is hr

The memories were soothing and long. As the morning light was dim outside the window, Tao Zhiyue was gradually overcome by sleepiness.

Maybe it was because of that night full of surprises.

When they first met, the man said to him with certainty: You are so brave.