The night was deep and dark, and the dim light from the street lamps cast the shadows of people standing side by side on the ground.
The snow piled up on one side melted the boundaries of the shadows, causing them to overlap diagonally.
The winter wind became even more fierce in the deserted corner, suddenly blowing down the hood of the man standing against the wall, and the girl's chin-length hair fluttered in the wind.
Lu Shizhen's eyes were silently immersed in the darkness, just watching the backs of Xu Shiyue and Shen Yanxing from afar. He had never felt that the night could be so dazzling.
The emotions in my heart are like waves surging in the dark night, and no one can see what they are like.
Lu Shizhen knew from the beginning that this was how the story was supposed to be. This was the best solution for Xu Shiyue's fate. She should be happy for Xu Shiyue, but somehow she couldn't be happy.
Qiuqiu waved her little tail and floated beside Lu Shizhen, looking like a bystander. She commented on the picture of Xu Shiyue and Shen Yanxing: "It seems that Xu Shiyue and Shen Yanxing's relationship is progressing smoothly."
"Yes." Lu Shizhen responded in a faint voice.
Some words were hard to say, but she said it anyway: "After all, they are a match made in heaven."
It's like retelling the ending of a story.
It seems like he is warning himself.
Qiuqiu turned her head and glanced at Lu Shizhen, then floated up and sat on her head: "Host, you don't seem that happy. We are finally free people, aren't you happy?"
Lu Shizhen listened to the voice floating down from above her head, and her slightly drooped eyes curved.
She casually raised her hand and touched Qiuqiu's belly, and raised the corners of her lips artificially: "Of course I'm happy. I finally have this healthy body, how can I not be happy."
Qiuqiu bent down slightly and glanced at Lu Shizhen below.
It didn't feel that its host was in a good mood as she said.
The wind blew into this dead corner again, and the biting cold wind poured into the girl's loose collar of her sweatshirt.
The sweatshirt that was slightly blown changed its position on the shoulder, revealing the thick gauze underneath.
—That was the day she left. She didn’t want innocent people to be dragged into this disaster that was bound to result in death, so she pushed the dessert shop owner out and he was hit by a falling beam.
The flame was like a ferocious and mad beast. It caught the victim off guard and stretched out its claws to hook the delicate shoulder.
Under the carbonized clothes was a mixture of charred black and blood, it was simply horrible to look at.
All of a sudden, Lu Shizhen felt like she had stepped on empty air. Pain was tearing at her body, and the pungent smell of burning filled her nostrils. There was a shaky chaos all around her. She fell backwards and fell into the system space that Qiuqiu had opened behind her.
The world flow rate between each world is different, and the time flow rate between systems and worlds is even more different.
It was seven days later that Lu Shizhen woke up, which was this morning. The wound on his shoulder was bandaged by Qiuqiu in an extremely ugly way. It looked like a small hill that he could admire while lying down.
"Qiuqiu, you won't make a living in the human world with your skills." Lu Shizhen unwrapped his shoulder with disgust, which was wrapped into a big bag, and bandaged it again as if to teach it.
"Host, why don't you tell me how much you weigh? It's great that I can apply medicine and bandage you!" Qiuqiu said while flapping her wings several times in dissatisfaction.
Although a large area of Lu Shizhen's shoulder was licked by the flames, the medicine provided by the system was still very effective and the wound had begun to heal.
According to Lu Shizhen's experience as a doctor who has become a expert at treating illnesses over a long period of time, she might be left with a scar, but it is unlikely to be large, not to mention that the shoulder blade is an area that is rarely exposed.
The Lord God has set many restrictions on the host who is the tasker, one of which is that the host is not allowed to stay in the system space for a long time.
When Lu Shizhen woke up, the twelve-hour countdown had already passed for the most part. She had just rejoiced that the mission was completed, but now she began to hurriedly exchange for her new body and the world she would soon settle in.
For some reason, Lu Shizhen's mission points have not been updated. The 5,000 extra points are said to be a reward, but in fact they are a guarantee for each host. At most, they are only enough to exchange for the most basic body and world.
—The appearance of the host’s original world and the world where the mission is located.
In the original world, Lu Shizhen was not taken care of as carefully as the original owner. Years of illness made her look weaker than a normal person.
Even though she had a pair of eyes that were almost identical to the original owner's, all her heroic spirit was suppressed by the pale sickly look.
Qiuqiu really disliked Lu Shizhen's condition, but it also knew that this was the best solution at the moment.
When checking out, it spared no effort to get close to the mall system. The mall system was so pleased with it that it sold it a 200-yuan face and only collected 4,800 points from Lu Shizhen.
The two gold coins shining with golden light collided with each other, making a crisp sound, and fell into Lu Shizhen's hands one after another.
She looked at the gold coins in her hand and suddenly realized that they were exactly the same as the gold coins in the points rain that Xu Shiyue had dropped on her during her dream.
And the day before that dream, she experienced the first punishment from the main system.
Xu Shiyue grabbed her arm the moment she fell down the stairs.
That solid and reliable feeling attached to her wrist, and the unextinguished sparks of fire were burning on it.
The gold coin representing the achievement of this mission was just placed on her palm. Although it was a virtual object, it was slightly cool.
Lu Shizhen lowered her eyelashes slightly, regret welling up in her dark eyes.
But her regret didn't seem to be that she couldn't see how many points she had accumulated, but whether she had missed out on a large sum of money.
But he couldn't see how much trust and goodwill Xu Shiyue had given him.
Xu Shiyue...
Why did she think of Xu Shiyue again
"Qiuqiu, was your previous host also so poor?" Lu Shizhen buried his head in the black sweatshirt randomly given by the system, lowered his eyes, and asked the little ball that followed him as if to change the subject, or as if to make fun of himself.
"Of course not. My past hosts were all very powerful. They had so many points that they couldn't spend them all!" Qiuqiu said proudly. She sat on Lu Shizhen's shoulder while flying. "So I believe that after the host's points can be settled, he will be as powerful as them."
The weightless body of the ball emits a faint light in the darkness, like a weak light on a dark road.
After hearing this, Lu Shizhen slightly raised the corners of his lips and chuckled in the wind blowing towards him.
It was already dark when Lu Shizhen returned from the system to this world where Xu Shiyue was. He just wanted to find a hotel to stay in temporarily.
But the main system seemed to have deliberately set the point where she came to this world next to the building of Xu Group. The cold wind blew, and the rustling snow fell from the branches and fell on the girl's shoulders.
"Ouch."
The wind that night was so fierce that Qiuqiu's shaking wings caused its body to lose control, and the whole ball floated away uncontrollably in the wind.
"Host!" Qiuqiu called out helplessly to Zhen when she landed. Her long tail was dangling in the air, making her look extremely helpless.
Seeing this, Lu Shizhen hurriedly reached out to pull Qiuqiu, and his heavy boots stomped carelessly in the thick snow, making a crackling sound in the empty world.
"Be careful, is the road too slippery..." Shen Yanxing was still helping Xu Shiyue to stand firmly, but noticed that Xu Shiyue suddenly stopped.
She looked at the person beside her who seemed to be frozen in place, somewhat at a loss. Following her line of sight, she only saw vehicles coming and going, and passers-by walking in the snow.
"What's wrong?" Shen Yanxing was puzzled, and then he heard Xu Shiyue mumbling: "Lu Shizhen..."
When Shen Yanxing heard the name, he was completely stunned: "What?"
Xu Shiyue still stubbornly repeated to Shen Yanxing: "Lu Shizhen."
As if not wanting to waste time, Xu Shiyue shook off Shen Yanxing's hand.
The sound of high heels tapping on the ground was messy and hurried, and she walked towards the direction she had just looked at without stopping.
The wind was not very cooperative, and Lu Shizhen had to use a lot of effort to catch Qiuqiu back.
Just when she wanted to complain about how Qiuqiu could be blown away by the wind, Qiuqiu's tail suddenly stood up: "Host, run!"
"Ah?" Lu Shizhen was startled for a moment, and subconsciously followed Qiuqiu's order and walked quickly in her current direction, "What's wrong?"
"Xu Shiyue is here!" Qiuqiu said nervously.
Lu Shizhen couldn't believe her ears: "W-what? How did she get here?"
"I don't know. Logically, the host's figure is much thinner than before, so it shouldn't be noticeable..." Qiuqiu was also confused and distressed, "But when I analyzed her route, it seems like she was coming for us."
The more Lu Shizhen listened to Qiuqiu's analysis, the more nervous he became.
But as she walked, her steps slowed down, and she asked hesitantly: "But, can't I meet her now? I am no longer the same person as before..."
Before Lu Shizhen could finish her words, Qiuqiu interrupted her: "What are you thinking about, host?"
The situation was urgent, and Qiuqiu didn't bother to embellish her words, and only asked back: "Even if you meet Xu Shiyue, what's the point? What identity do you use to meet her? Who are you?"
Lu Shizhen couldn't answer three questions in a row.
This idea just suddenly popped up in her mind, just like when she just chose to return to this mission world in the system, an inexplicable joy flashed through her mind.
Lu Shizhen walked with Qiuqiu like this, but his steps were still not fast.
A bit of unwillingness emerged from these questions that she couldn't answer.
She seemed to hear Xu Shiyue's footsteps following closely, as if she had anticipated their meeting later.
So even if she doesn't have the identity to meet Xu Shiyue again now, doesn't she have the qualifications to even pass by her and say a word of apology to each other
As if she had sensed what was going on in Lu Shizhen's mind, Qiuqiu added, "Host, you have to think clearly. If Xu Shiyue finds out about what we have done, the world will collapse. We can escape then, but what about Xu Shiyue? She belongs to this world, and she can't escape."
The winter wind at night was sharper than the bright flames. It poured into Lu Shizhen's throat as she breathed, cold and astringent like a knife.
Before she could figure out why she wanted to see Xu Shiyue again so much, this unformed fantasy was shattered.
Lu Shizhen's heart sank completely in the night wind.
The short hair that reached her jaw covered most of her face in the wind. In the shadow, her eyes were filled with obscurity.
Lu Shizhen's heart has always been a vast, uncultivated wilderness. Before she could figure out what this indescribable feeling in her heart was, the soil was fiercely split by this feeling. The whole earth seemed to tremble because of it, and a corner of her intact heart collapsed.
The pain came with every breath, and every exhale felt like torture.
there is none left.
The farewell that morning was the last time the two of them met.
Never again.
The pure white snow was pressed under her feet by her black boots, and Lu Shizhen walked quickly according to the route instructions planned for her by Qiuqiu.
The footsteps that were so close to my ears gradually faded away, and were then covered by the bustling crowd in the square not far away.
She had never felt that an escape could not be thrilling.
But this time it's difficult to move forward.
There are always a lot of activities in the New Year Square. The bright lights weave into beautiful pictures, attracting many people.
Xu Shiyue walked through the crowd, her calm steps never faltering. The floating glowing ball tied by a lamp-like rope was firmly embedded in her eyes, like the only straw held by a dying person.
The breath from the girl's mouth became heavier and heavier, and the thick white mist was eaten up by the cold wind before it could linger.
The running around these days has already exhausted her body. Under her messy hair, she looked exhausted and indescribably disheveled.
But Xu Shiyue no longer cared about these things, she just wanted to find this person.
She only wants this person.
But that person's back seemed to always be at a distance from her that she couldn't touch him. No matter whether she walked or ran, she could never touch him...
Finally, as if God had mercy on him, the figure was captured under the red light on the sidewalk.
Xu Shiyue didn't care about anything else, pushed through the crowd and put his hand directly on the man's shoulder.
The winter night was bleak and covered with snow. Hate and love were all intertwined in Xu Shiyue's breathless voice: "Lu Shizhen, where else do you want to go?"
(End of this chapter)