The bright sunlight shines on the balcony, covering the ground with the morning sun of spring.
Lu Shizhen admitted to Qiuqiu in a firm voice, and suddenly she felt something pulling on her body, and she gasped in pain.
"I… "
Lu Shizhen opened his mouth, but his throat seemed to be blocked by something.
It was as if some force was stopping her from having these thoughts and trying to pull her back to her original position.
But Lu Shizhen refused to do so, still struggling to say what she wanted to say: "I just realized that I seem to be trapped in a cocoon that I have woven for myself. Instead of living in fear under the control of the system just to keep this body, it is better to give it a try. I have already lived healthily for a while, so it is not... a loss."
With a click, it was as if the needle stuck in my heart suddenly broke apart.
The piercing pain split into two, piercing straight into Shi Zhen's heart. It could no longer be simply described by the word "pain".
Unable to hold on any longer, Lu Shizhen clasped his hands over his chest, with hideous blue veins bulging on the back of his hands.
Qiuqiu's tail was wagging nervously. She quickly jumped onto the platform and said, "Host, please stop talking. The system page just showed that there were low-level warnings."
"Fuck, it hurts." Lu Shizhen couldn't help but spit out a curse while taking a breath, "Why doesn't the system allow me to say I like it... Do you like it?"
"It is the Lord God who does not allow the tasker, that is, the host, to develop feelings for the protagonist." Qiuqiu said.
Lu Shizhen sneered upon hearing this, and his disdain for the Lord God was written in his calmness: "But I still like her."
"Even though I knew from the beginning that I would pay the price of my body for this love, I still fell in love with her."
"Host..." Qiuqiu looked at Lu Shizhen's miserable expression and felt a little bit sorry for her. She even regretted having given Lu Shizhen such an opportunity to expose her thoughts.
"We have to find a way. This world cannot collapse, and I can't let Xu Shiyue and Shen Yanxing be together." Lu Shizhen said, propping himself up and sitting on a small stool beside him.
"This is difficult, host." Qiuqiu said, "If the protagonist deviates from the main plot, how can the world not collapse?"
"But didn't you notice? Xu Shiyue has deviated from the main plot." Lu Shizhen took a breath and told Qiuqiu what he had been thinking about all night yesterday. "The world must have a reasonable reason for its collapse. It's impossible for it to be broken just because it was good."
Qiuqiu had never thought deeply about this rule that was written into the system manual by the main system as the first one. She couldn't help but pause for a moment, and then she heard Lu Shizhen say: "Is it possible that the reason why the protagonist is the protagonist is because some of her behaviors will cause the world to collapse in the future?"
"Just like Xu Shiyue turned evil in the later period. If she is not controlled, the world will be destroyed by her." Lu Shizhen raised both hands and gestured to Qiuqiu, "The world will not collapse unless Xu Shiyue collapses."
"But... if what the host said is true, then Shen Yanxing obviously doesn't have this ability now..." Qiuqiu fell into deep doubt, but with its highly developed system algorithm, it quickly came up with a paradoxical answer: "Host, you don't mean that you want to replace Shen Yanxing?!"
"Is it okay?" Lu Shizhen did not deny, "In this case, I think Xu Shiyue and this world will still be safe."
"The host's inference is correct, and the logic is closed enough." Qiuqiu nodded first, but then changed the subject, "But all this can only be done without being noticed by the Lord God."
"Host, you are not the first person to question the Lord God. In the past, there were many hosts who tried to modify the plot, and some were even included as negative examples. They all died, just like fixing a bug, and they were all fixed by the main system."
He is clearly a living person, but in the Lord God's world he has become a piece of data.
The sunlight was mostly blocked by the clouds, and a huge system beyond cognition loomed in front of Lu Shizhen. This powerless insignificance nourished fear: "How cruel..."
"so… "
"Then, let's blindfold the Lord God!"
Qiuqiu opened her mouth to persuade Lu Shizhen to think about it carefully, but was interrupted by this person's tone, which was completely different from the low tone just now.
The terrifying sight of the giant monster didn't seem to scare Lu Shizhen away. She thought quickly, "Do you think it's possible for us to create a shielding program, like a sleight of hand, to create an illusion for the main system's monitoring of this world. For example, we can swap the signal sources of Shen Yanxing and me to some extent."
"Host, if our behavior is discovered, we will be completely wiped out." Qiuqiu reminded seriously, "Don't you want to enjoy life with this healthy body?"
Lu Shizhen did not answer Qiuqiu's question, and looked at Qiuqiu with the same serious tone: "But you can do it, right?"
A light breeze blew over, ruffling the hair on the side of Zhen's face as she landed.
She just looked at the endless green in the distance and whispered: "I have been avoiding her for five years. In these five years, there has not been a single day that I didn't miss her."
"One more day with her is one more day earned. If the world doesn't collapse and I can still be with her, it will be the luckiest thing that has ever happened to me in my life."
As Lu Shizhen spoke, she raised her hand and grabbed the hem of her skirt that was blown up by the wind on the hanger, as if the Lord God was pinching her soft spot: "I still remember that in the past I was always resentful, resentful of why I didn't have a good body, why I didn't have a pair of legs that could move freely. If I didn't clamor to go out, would my physical condition be much better? If I had been more careful after a certain operation, would I be able to stand up..."
The not-so-good past unfolded in her mind as Lu Shizhen spoke, and every sentence confirmed how much she longed for her current healthy body.
But there is always a sword in the world that can cut off a snake covered with blood.
The snake's head, with its fangs sticking out and its tongue sticking out, was chopped off and dropped desolately under a dead tree. No matter how much it bared its fangs and claws, it was of no use.
Lu Shizhen exhaled lightly and loosened the hem of her skirt: "But it is precisely because of all this that I have met Xu Shiyue now. I don't want to think about "what if" at all."
I was not frightened by Qiuqiu's reminders again, nor did I desperately remind myself that "I am a straight woman" anymore.
Lu Shizhen just watched the skirt fluttering in the wind and said calmly: "Because if the past had changed even a little bit, I might not have met her, and forgetting her and missing her would be the saddest thing in my life."
"If living is just living, then earning a lot of points will only be boring."
As Lu Shizhen spoke, he turned and looked at the kitten squatting next to him.
Qiuqiu leaned silently in Lu Shizhen's arms, shaking her long, thin tail dully.
It thought it shouldn't be able to feel the emotions that Lu Shizhen was talking about, but for some reason, it seemed to understand the feeling that Lu Shizhen was talking about.
The constantly running program absorbs feedback from its surroundings, and the huge calculations are constantly evolving.
Nothing is absolutely top-notch, not even highly developed algorithms.
Lu Shizhen looked at the quiet cat in his arms, thought about it, and bribed: "Then I will give you a bouquet of starch sausage flowers, the kind with ninety-nine flowers, okay?"
"Meow! (Okay!)" This time Qiuqiu answered particularly readily.
Anyway, it is just a floating duckweed in the huge system. It was it that chose Lu Shizhen, and it was also Lu Shizhen who chose it.
It is the host's most reliable and loyal partner, and it is willing to fight for its host.
Just as Maomao was thinking this, she heard Lu Shizhen's reminder: "But before things are done, we can't let Xu Shiyue know about these things, do you understand? I'm afraid it will scare her."
"Meow~ (Of course, host, don't worry.)" Qiuqiu assured, and the tail that was wagging happily suddenly stopped.
Lu Shizhen thought Qiuqiu's reaction was a little strange, and then he felt as if there was a tiny human figure reflected on the glass next to him.
The huge glass reflected the scene in the living room vaguely. A tall and slender figure stopped beside the sofa that had just been made up.
Xu Shiyue came out of Lu Shizhen's room.
The shirt, which had been meticulously done, became loose, with the ribbon at the collar hanging casually, revealing half of his round shoulders as if unintentionally.
The seaweed-like long hair had lost its exaggerated and fluffy curvature of yesterday, and the shallow bend rested just right on Xu Shiyue's shoulder, with a bit of casual laziness of waking up in the morning under the smooth luster of satin.
Lu Shizhen stared at him with her eyes fixed on him. She even forgot to think whether this person had heard her conversation with Qiuqiu. She just said dully, "You're awake."
"Yeah." Xu Shiyue nodded lightly and walked towards the balcony where Lu Shizhen was leisurely.
Not sure if it was because his feelings had just become clear, but Lu Shizhen, who had been single for many years and had no experience, felt a little at a loss.
She wanted to express her concern for Xu Shiyue, but after thinking for a long time, she could only say a clumsy greeting: "Did you sleep well last night..."
Before he could finish his words, Xu Shiyue came over and interrupted him: "Your lips are so white."
Her eyes were serious and she moved quite close to Lu Shizhen.
Whether he felt guilty or was overwhelmed, Lu Shizhen's heart, which had just calmed down, started beating wildly again.
The reason why her lips turned white was not because of anything else, but because Lu Shizhen had just recovered from the punishment given to her by the system.
She didn't want Xu Shiyue to know this and worry about her, so she covered it up and said, "But, maybe I didn't rest well. I'll be fine after a good sleep."
"Then go to bed. I haven't folded the quilt yet." Xu Shiyue said, and hooked Lu Shizhen's hand.
Her tone was as gentle as a pool of spring water, soft and mesmerizing.
Before Lu Shizhen could react, she had already brought him to the bedroom.
After a night's absence, Lu Shizhen had never felt that her bed could be so soft.
Xu Shiyue covered her with a thin quilt, and a faint fragrance passed across her nose.
It's not just Xu Shiyue's hands.
It was the same quilt she had covered herself with last night.
The quilt that had never been folded accumulated the warmth of the previous person. Lu Shizhen was wrapped in this quilt, as if she was wrapped in Xu Shiyue's body temperature.
The fragrance slowly rolled into Lu Shizhen's nostrils, and she felt waves of heat slowly rising towards her face.
She somewhat liked this feeling, but then she saw Xu Shiyue, who had helped her tidy up the quilt, stood up and looked like he was about to leave.
Unwillingness was written all over Lu Shizhen's face, and she hurriedly asked: "Xu Shiyue, where are you going?"
Xu Shiyue stopped walking slowly after hearing this, and her calm voice helped Lu Shizhen recall what happened last night: "Didn't Teacher Shiliu tell me last night to leave as soon as I woke up in the morning? Now that I'm awake, it's time for me to leave."
Annoyed, regretful, and remorseful.
The gentle heat that was originally on Lu Shizhen's face suddenly changed, burning her fiercely and filled with regret.
Lu Shizhen, ah, Lu Shizhen, look at what you have done!
I felt awkward for a long time, but in the end I was the one who suffered the loss!
Lu Shizhen just watched Xu Shiyue leave, struggled for a while, opened the corner of the quilt, stretched out his hand that was curled up in the quilt, and tried to persuade her with innocent eyes: "In fact, the hotel can also provide room extension service."
As she spoke, those slender fingers hooked onto the hem of the skirt hanging by the bed, the white and black overlapping each other, looking clumsy and wanting to keep her.
Xu Shiyue half-closed her eyes and looked at Lu Shizhen, pursed her lips slightly and asked calmly: "What is the standard for Teacher Sixteen's renewal?"
(End of this chapter)