The world seemed to have pressed the mute button and became quiet in an instant.
The slight sound of electric current seemed to be cut off, and suddenly it all stopped and disappeared. The loading progress bar on the computer screen was stuck at 99%, and the last small light blue area could not be filled up.
Several unfriendly encounters made almost everyone know that Lu Shien did not like the person who had the same name as her sister.
But with such a bad tone, it is obviously not the real Lu Shien.
"Qiuqiu!"
Lu Shizhen watched Qiuqiu being thrown harshly to the ground by this man, and frantically tried to pick her up from this dangerous man.
But before she could get close to Qiuqiu, the cat's fur stood up and low warning growls came out of its throat.
The hidden claws were hooked on the ground as the animal arched its body high, the sharp arc was full of sharpness, completely like the primitive offensive and defensive state of a cat against an enemy.
"No one can hurt my host! Not even the Lord God!" Qiuqiu shouted loudly, responding with firm will to the words of the person who just possessed Lu Shien.
"Lu Shien" narrowed his eyes slightly, looking at the kitten that was full of hostility towards him with interest, and the corners of his lips raised as if smiling: "Interesting, you little thing actually broke through the constraints of the program and gained subjective consciousness? I really want to go back and study you carefully."
Just saying this, she paused for a moment, raised her eyes and looked behind Qiuqiu: "But we still have to finish more important things first."
The little girl's originally round eyes were curved downwards, dark and filled with sinister intent.
"Lu Shien" stared deeply at Lu Shizhen and Xu Shiyue who were standing in the center of her sight, and said coldly: "You shouldn't meet again."
"But we still met." Lu Shizhen retorted.
She had long been disgusted with the Lord God's irreversible and paranoid rules, and her tone was blunt: "Rules cannot stop people who really want to meet. People who are supposed to meet will meet sooner or later."
"Ah."
A disdainful chuckle uttered from Lu Shien's throat.
Although Lu Shien was half a head shorter than Lu Shizhen, there was a sense of condescension in his eyes.
Facing Lu Shizhen's blunt provocation, she bluntly stated the purpose of her visit: "So you have met the person you are supposed to meet, and you can also be destroyed, Tasker No. 20251127."
"Don't worry, after you are destroyed, I will cleanse this world again, and Xu Shiyue will never be yours."
As he spoke, "Lu Shien" raised his hand to bring Lu Shizhen to his side.
Suddenly, Lu Shizhen felt a restraining force that was beyond her control, manipulating her body and asking her to walk to Lu Shien.
Her body had never been her own.
Just as Lu Shizhen was about to take the first step uncontrollably, she felt a chill on her wrist.
Cold, yet full of power.
Xu Shiyue quickly grabbed her wrist and suppressed all the anxiety with a calm voice: "Resist that power. I won't let you be taken away by her."
In an instant, the manipulated sadness turned into resistance.
Pain exploded in every rebellious nerve of Lu Shizhen, piling up densely in her heart, but she refused to let go.
She couldn't let Xu Shiyue suffer again.
They had only been reunited for less than a month.
"Lu Shien"'s eyes became clearer and clearer, and her dark pupils began to glow silver as she increased the strength of her manipulation.
Lu Shizhen suddenly felt as if her body was being torn apart. Her bones were rioting in her skin, struggling to leave.
Fine beads of sweat wet her bangs, and veins appeared on her hand that was tightly clasped with Xu Shiyue.
At the moment when the pain suddenly increased again, it was as if the current was cut off, and the riot that was being controlled in the body suddenly stopped.
A dazzling blue light flashed in Lu Shizhen's sight, and a hexagonal shield separated her from "Lu Shien".
Qiuqiu turned back into a system and used all her energy to open the barrier for Lu Shizhen, preventing "Lu Shien" from manipulating her.
The expression on Lu Shien's face was obviously unhappy: "Low-level system, do you think you can resist me?"
The barrier flashed with the light of voiceprints, and Qiuqiu's resolute voice came from all directions: "Resist as long as you can! I just want to protect my host!"
As if moved by Qiuqiu's loyalty, "Lu Shien" lowered his eyebrows slightly and said with emotion: "If only the main system could be half as loyal as you."
"That only works if you're a good person worthy of its assistance!" Lu Shizhen retorted, not caring at all about points as he exchanged various bonus items for Qiuqiu from the system mall to help it resist the main god.
"It's such a touching master-servant relationship."
Lu Shien sneered and sighed, a morbid smile flashed in his eyes, and the sigh disappeared in an instant.
The look just now was more like a mask than an expression. She was hypocritically envious, but soon the sinister look returned to her eyes.
She doesn't care about any of that.
She is paranoid and only wants everything to run according to her rules.
Xu Shiyue watched from the side, and said bluntly in a calm voice: "Even if you are the Lord God, you can't make everything go your way. Even if you cleanse everything, I will still remember Lu Shizhen. You can only make people forget, but you can't make people forget. As long as I exist in this world, I will never forget Lu Shizhen."
As if someone had hit his soft spot, Lu Shien's eyes suddenly became fierce.
She looked at Xu Shiyue gloomily, but suddenly smiled.
The data continued to accumulate in Lu Shien's hands, and it was unclear what it would become.
The girl's innocent round face was filled with exaggerated smiles, and her silver-white eyes were shining with a sickly light: "Then I will let Lu Shizhen live to see you forget her."
The moment the data was transformed into a blade, it immediately shattered the shield that Qiuqiu had supported with all her strength.
The broken blue spots of light floated in the air like misty dust, and the blade cut through it all and stabbed towards Xu Shiyue without any care.
But it stopped in a moment.
At this moment, Lu Shizhen reacted incredibly quickly and pulled Xu Shiyue behind him, standing straight in front of her.
The sharp knife was pressed against her neck, and blood beads were kissing the tip of the knife, a scarlet streak that seemed about to drip.
The computers around him suddenly flashed garbled characters, and "Lu Shien"'s movements were like a loading screen, stuck frame by frame.
No one knew what was going on with her, but her already sinister eyes suddenly turned furious at this moment. It was a flash, but it was clear enough for everyone to see.
"Lu Shizhen, we will see each other again."
The stuttering voice of "Lu Shien" sounded a bit funny.
As soon as he finished speaking, the knife that was against Lu Shizhen's neck fell to the ground, and Lu Shien fell straight down as if his bones had been pulled out.
Everything suddenly became quiet, as if nothing had happened.
But everything really happened. The pain of the blade cutting through the skin spread in Lu Shizhen's throat, and a long trail of blood slid down her collarbone.
"Qiuqiu!"
Lu Shizhen seemed to have just woken up from a dream, and immediately looked around for the system that had just been destroyed by the Lord God.
But she saw the kitten in the special protective suit lying on the ground not far away. Its small body rose and fell at an abnormal rate, and it called to her with difficulty: "Host, is the Lord God gone?"
"Let's go, we're safe now." Lu Shizhen nodded immediately and quickly opened the system mall. "I'll go get you some medicine, you'll get better soon."
Qiuqiu shook her head: "Host, my body is fine."
Lu Shizhen said otherwise: "How can it be okay? You clearly..."
But before she could finish her words, she was interrupted by Qiuqiu: "It's the system center... My system center has been shattered. It's like the human soul. There is nothing in the mall that can repair it."
Hearing Qiuqiu's words, Lu Shizhen suddenly felt his head buzzing and his whole body went empty.
It was as if something exploded without warning, and the smoke and dust that was raised instantly engulfed her entire world.
She didn't dare to believe what Qiuqiu told her, nor did she want to believe it. She shook her head desperately to deny what Qiuqiu said: "No, there are so many things in the mall, you must be dazzled. There must be a medicine to recover..."
"No." Qiuqiu's voice became more and more reluctant, and the tail that was stuck to the ground shook weakly, "We talked about this in the first class of our system... It can't be saved..."
Lu Shizhen was stunned for a moment, then shook his head in denial: "No, it's impossible."
"Don't be afraid to spend your points. I have a lot of points and I'm not afraid to spend them."
Shi Zhen had witnessed many deaths since she came to the mainland as a child, but she had never rejected the departure of a life like she did today.
She just casually gave Qiuqiu an excuse, muttering "no" continuously, and refreshing the interface of the system mall frantically. She exchanged everything that might be of some use.
But…
But Qiuqiu still didn't seem to be getting any better.
Bright sunlight poured into the room from the small window on the door. Lu Shizhen sat on the brightly painted floor tiles, looking dazed.
She had a feeling of being suddenly thrown into an endless wilderness. She could see the gravel that was hot from the fire and the white clouds in the clear blue sky, but she could not use any of them.
She needs water.
The clear water gathered together and fell to the ground with a plop.
Lu Shizhen herself didn't realize that her eyes had been filled with tears since just now.
The eye sockets could no longer provide a container for the tears, and they fell one by one.
It hit Qiuqiu hard.
At some point, the beautiful ivory-white hair began to be slowly swallowed by the burnt chocolate color, and it fell to the ground as if it was burnt.
Qiuqiu raised her head with great effort and looked at the host who was sitting next to her. She rubbed her head against her powerless hands and said, "Host, don't cry. I... I don't deserve you. I actually, actually lied to you..."
"I'm not... I'm not an old, old system that has had several hosts... I, I was just a... a new system that had just been successfully debugged, and you were my first host..."
Lu Shizhen was stunned for a moment. All the doubts she had in the past had been answered.
No wonder it hesitates every time I ask it about its past work experience.
No wonder many things are always explained after the fact.
No wonder it has never eaten human food.
No wonder…
Lu Shizhen's eyes suddenly filled with tears. She just looked at the cat lying in her hands and forced herself to speak in the same tone they used to talk: "You pretended quite well and fooled me."
When Qiuqiu heard Lu Shizhen say this, her voice rose slightly: "Really... Host?"
"Really." Lu Shizhen nodded, and then asked again: "So you lied to me, you have to atone for your sins, you can't just leave me like this, understand?"
Hearing this, Qiuqiu looked up at Lu Shien with difficulty, and in a broken voice, she presented her most precious treasure to Lu Shizhen: "Then...then can I use all of my... starch sausage... to pay off the debt?"
Lu Shizhen gritted her teeth, shook her head in a paranoid manner, and after a long pause, she refused without crying: "No, no."
But despite being rejected, Qiuqiu's eyelids gradually became heavy.
It leaned against Lu Shizhen's hand and shrank its body, its long tail slowly wrapped around it: "Host, it's so cold..."
Lu Shizhen's brain froze in an instant.
The midday sunlight fell directly into the constant temperature operating room and into her eyes, bright and dazzling.
The tears fell on my lips, as if they weighed a thousand pounds.
Lu Shizhen slowly retracted his gaze, moved his lips with difficulty, and said in a suppressed voice with a hoarse voice: "Yes, it's getting colder outside, and you're lying on the ground, of course you're cold, wrap yourself up and it will be better."
As he spoke, Lu Shizhen picked Qiuqiu up from the ground and held her tightly in his arms.
She seemed to be hugging a weak little life, trying her best to warm it with her body temperature: "Look, is it getting better?"
Warmth is always particularly clear in a cold world. Qiuqiu just leaned in Lu Shizhen's arms, just like every winter in the past, and asked her: "Host... Can I lean on you... for a little longer? Just a little while..."
"It doesn't matter how long it takes." For the first time ever, Lu Shizhen was more generous this time than any other winter.
She tried her best to give her warmth to Qiuqiu, hoping to restore its gradually cooling body to its original temperature.
But fate often plays tricks on us, and what we want is always contrary to our wishes.
Qiuqiu put her ear to Lu Shizhen's chest, listening to her heartbeat, and whispered to her: "Host..."
It really didn't have much strength left, and it really wanted to stay in its host's arms for a while longer.
But it was not winter now, and it was impossible for it to fall asleep in her arms and wake up again.
Qiuqiu didn’t know whether this was the independent consciousness that the Lord God had just mentioned. It just felt sad.
I am sad that I am leaving this world with starch intestines, and I am sad that I am leaving its host.
"I'm really glad... to have met a host like you."
"You are my first host in this world, and the only one..."
It really loves its host.
So I don’t feel at all how scary death, which humans fear, is.
(End of this chapter)