2:05 AM.
The pitch-black night sky was like ink.
Rain threads, without a visible source, fell from the sky, pattering down. A thick fog enveloped the entire Hua City, with two or three specks of light faintly visible through the gaps in the dense mist.
Perhaps it was because he had experienced too many things in one day.
Lu Yibei, who had originally planned to stay up all night to prevent Gu Qianqian from “causing trouble and harm,” eventually fell asleep unknowingly amidst the pattering rain.
Then...
A chill struck him, and he suddenly woke up.
He opened his eyes, his pupils contracting slightly, and was surprised to find himself standing barefoot on the rooftop of a tall building. The ground, smooth as a mirror, was wet, and a cool sensation ca from the soles of his feet as he stepped on it.
Overcast clouds filled the sky, and a dim, indistinct light filtered through the gaps in the clouds, making it impossible to tell if it was dawn or dusk.
The tall buildings in front, standing like a forest, seed to have been eroded by ti, their surfaces covered with a layer of dark red stains, exuding an air of dilapidation.
Clusters of dark red mist drifted through the city, like wandering ghosts, weaving and roaming between the buildings.
And the silhouettes of those dilapidated buildings were almost identical to Hua City.
Lu Yibei composed himself and suddenly saw the girl at the edge of the rooftop. He felt the blood in his entire body instantly turn cold, and he couldn't help but shiver.
The girl's figure was not clear, hazy and indistinct, like a bubble, but it made Lu Yibei feel both strange and inexplicably familiar and close.
That feeling was like looking in a mirror...
She wore a long cyan dress, standing at the edge of the rooftop, her silver-white long hair flowing behind her like silk in the wind.
Lu Yibei watched the girl's lips move rapidly and frowned.
Is it that Chatterbox Girl from the dream mory?
She seems to be trying to tell sothing very urgently... Lu Yibei thought.
When he pricked up his ears to listen carefully, only a ringing in his ears remained.
However, what exactly did this Chatterbox Girl do?
Surely she wasn't asking if I wanted cheats, power leveling, or manual gold farming?
Who sells those things in a dream? Lu Yibei thought.
Most of the mories he obtained from the dream were clear, basically forming a complete tiline and weaving a rough relationship network.
However, many important pieces of information and details seed to have been isolated and sealed by so force, shrouded in a thick layer of mist.
----
“Screech—!”
Accompanied by a harsh sound in his ears, Lu Yibei woke up from his bed.
Opening his eyes, the familiar ceiling lamp ca into view.
He lay quietly on the bed for a few seconds until his consciousness beca clearer. Only then did Lu Yibei notice that the sound was coming from the living room.
“Screech—!”
“Screech—!”
The sound was like sothing heavy being dragged across the floor, intermittent.
Each ti the sound occurred, it would pause for more than ten seconds before sounding again, sneaky and cautious.
What's going on? Is Gu Qianqian up to sothing?
Lu Yibei muttered to himself, tiptoed out of bed, went to the door, removed the glass cup from the doorknob, carefully moved the bedside table blocking the door, and then pressed his ear against the door, listening quietly to the movents in the living room. Only when the scraping sound occurred again, did he use the sound as cover to unlock the door.
After the door crack opened enough to see the situation in the living room, Lu Yibei leaned in, looking through the crack into the living room, his gaze deepening.
Oh, Gu Qianqian, you staying at my place really had ulterior motives!
The living room was pitch black as the lights weren't on, but for so reason, he could see exceptionally clearly.
In the darkness, Gu Qianqian's body, like an insect, wriggled with the chair tied to her, her posture twisted and bizarre, making one's scalp tingle.
Accompanied by a teeth-grinding scraping sound, she moved across half the living room and finally stopped on the living room balcony, looking out the window through the gap in the curtains.
She watched for nearly an hour.
And Lu Yibei also followed, observing in secret for an hour under a state of high nervous tension.
After a long while.
Lu Yibei realized sothing was a bit off, straightened his back, stretched his slightly stiff muscles, and carrying the toilet plunger, approached the living room balcony.
“...”
Maybe there's really sothing wrong with my brain.
Otherwise, why would I watch her for so long like an idiot?
What's the difference between this and staying up all night at an internet cafe watching soone play Minesweeper? Lu Yibei thought.
Little by little, he approached silently.
When Lu Yibei reached the window and saw Gu Qianqian's eyes, he was montarily stunned.
Her pure and flawless eyes, like high-quality amber, stared intently out the window, her gaze flickering, filled with confusion and curiosity.
Then...
The confusion gradually turned into surprise, and {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} then from surprise to terror.
Consequently, her pupils contracted, and a scream erupted.
“Ah—!”
The scream echoed, and Lu Yibei's heart instantly skipped a beat. Holding the toilet plunger, he looked around in panic, wary of sothing terrible that might suddenly attack.
Then...
He realized that the “terrible” thing was probably, maybe, possibly him.
The silver-haired girl stood with a sword, her face like frost.
Gu Qianqian stared at his reflection in the glass, her pupils contracted, trembling, “Don't kill , don't kill . Reporting you to the Night Watch was the system's idea, it has nothing to do with !”
Although she genuinely felt that Lu Yibei was a friend, she was also genuinely afraid of the Disaster.
She had seen so carefully selected snippets about the Disaster from the system, and even those beautified and edited snippets had given her nightmares for several days.
“...”
What the hell is a system? Have you read too many web novels?
But...
I was wondering why I was on that darn wanted list in the dream mory, and I even suspected Gu Qianqian was up to no good. I didn't expect it was really her?
At this mont, Lu Yibei suddenly felt that his vigilance and caution towards Gu Qianqian were not unnecessary.
Even if she seed harmless, didn't she still poison and report ?
Bah, how despicable, I wonder who she learned that from!
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“What are you looking at?” Lu Yibei asked in a low voice.
“Hmm...” Gu Qianqian opened her mouth, glanced at Lu Yibei out of the corner of her eye, shook her head, and answered truthfully, “I don't know what I'm looking at, I just feel it's very strange.”
Lu Yibei tilted his head, puzzled, “Strange? What's strange?”
“Well, I can't really say...” Gu Qianqian thought for a mont, and said seriously, “This place is very much like Hua City, everything is similar, but I just feel it's very strange.”
“For example?”
“For example...” Gu Qianqian looked out the window and lifted her chin, “Do you see that cat?”
“It's about to leave, and it will co back in five minutes, stay under the street lamp for about ten minutes, and then leave for five minutes again, just like that, just like that. Don't you think it's strange?”
Lu Yibei didn't speak, but just stood on the balcony with Gu Qianqian, watching the tabby cat under the street lamp, watching it leave, return, and leave again.
Although the timing wasn't as precise as Gu Qianqian said, it really seed to hide a certain predetermined pattern.
Seeing Gu Qianqian gazing out the window, her eyes lost in thought, saying those words, and the glass reflecting her fair face but not her eyes, Lu Yibei felt the atmosphere was a little eerie.
“It should just be a coincidence. You're not a cat, how do you know what the cat is thinking?”
Gu Qianqian, “...”
“Alright, go to bed early, don't make any noise, and disturb my rest.”
Seeing that Gu Qianqian was no longer speaking, Lu Yibei coldly dropped a sentence and turned to leave the living room balcony and walk towards the bedroom.
“Oh, okay.” Gu Qianqian pouted and responded.
Only after the sound of the door closing and locking was heard, did she mutter in a voice only she could hear, “No, it's not a coincidence at all...”
This city is clearly very strange, and Lu Yibei can't even see it. When I find the system, I must tell it that the Disaster has gone silly. Gu Qianqian thought very seriously.
After arriving in this city with the sa na as Hua City and wandering for several days, she had discovered this strange phenonon more than once.
Right at the intersection where she found Lu Yibei.
In the morning, a chubby kid with a beef pancake would definitely appear.
At noon, a middle-aged woman would definitely be grazed by an electric bike, spilling the freshly made food she was holding.
In the evening, a young man dressed like an insurance salesman would definitely rush past. Gu Qianqian had never seen the food he had for dinner, but she only rembered it slled particularly good.
At that intersection with an astonishing flow of people every day, amidst the vast crowd, such details are easily overlooked by ordinary people, but Gu Qianqian wouldn't.
Beef pancakes, freshly made food, unknown delicacies, she rembered them all clearly.
Seeing them every day but being unable to eat them was simply hellish torture.
----
Lying on the bed in the master bedroom, Lu Yibei stared blankly at the ceiling, recalling the scene of the wild cat repeatedly disappearing and appearing, cycling back and forth.
As Gu Qianqian said, that scene was indeed very strange.
That cat was like it was stuck in so world bug, unable to ever leave.
That scene seed to be whispering to Lu Yibei that his past decade or so of life had been a dream with predetermined rules.
But he didn't want to believe it.
mory can deceive people, and people sotis deceive mory.
Although the Old Dad in the dream mory was very, very good, he couldn't bear to leave his childhood sweetheart Nanling Yaohua, and even less could he bear to leave Wang ili, who raised him alone.
----
After sitting on the bed and doubting life for a while, drowsiness struck.
Lu Yibei sighed silently, picked up the photo fra from the bedside table, and said to the woman in the photo fra, “Mom, what's so fun about Alaska King Crab?”
“Please co back quickly? If you don't co back soon, the next ti we et, I'm afraid it will be in the visiting room of a ntal hospital.”
After speaking, Lu Yibei put down the photo fra, lay down on the bed, reached out to turn off the light, plunging the room into darkness.
In the darkness, in the photo fra on the bedside table, on the half-torn photo, a woman seed to be holding soone's hand, a happy smile overflowing on her beautiful face.
----
Early morning, 6:55 AM.
A faint glimr of light faintly penetrated the sky. Early risers in the half-asleep city emitted sounds from another world.
The living room lights were off, the room was dark, and Gu Qianqian was forced to sit on the chair, her legs curled up.
She maintained this posture, looking out the window, and watched for almost the entire night.
Initially, she observed the strange cat walking back and forth, then observed the moths circling under the street lamp in a strange pattern.
And now, her attention was focused on the father and daughter passing through the community.
That father and daughter were not like the cat and moths; there was nothing strange about them. The father pedaled slowly on his bicycle, and the little girl on the back seat carried a small schoolbag and wrapped her arms around her dad's waist.
Watching them, Gu Qianqian couldn't help but think of the ti when her uncle took her to school early in the morning when she was a child, and a hint of bitterness arose in her heart.
Facts prove that foodies also have feelings, and sotis they are exceptionally rich.
Gu Qianqian felt that her family must be in this strange city.
Their sudden departure back then wasn't because they didn't want her anymore, but because, like her now, they accidentally entered this city and were trapped here.
Watching the figures of the father and daughter disappear from her sight, Gu Qianqian lowered her head to look at the wires tied around her body and pouted.
She felt it was about ti for her to leave.
Although she had initially planned to eat the Disaster into bankruptcy.
However, she said she would freeload a al and stay for one night, so she would only freeload one al and stay for one night.
I, Gu Qianqian, am honest and trustworthy!
Moreover, if I can't find the system or my uncle and the others, I should be able to co back and freeload als again, right?
Thinking this, Gu Qianqian stood up with the chair on her back, her feet slightly apart, her fists clenched, and her arms exerted force. The wires wrapped around her body instantly tightened, making a slight creaking sound.
Thus, after repeatedly trying several tis, the wires wrapped around her body snapped with a “crack.”
A few wires are enough to tie up most people, but not Gu Qianqian.
When under soone's roof, one has to bow one's head. She was worried that the Disaster would be unhappy, which was why she chose to cooperate.
Although after coming to this city, her Spiritual Energy fluctuation had also dropped to around D level.
However, as a Psychic with the Power of the Spirit Mark of Kuafu the Great, even just a little bit of the Spirit Mark's Power was enough to make her strength comparable to the world's top strongn.
Having broken free from her restraints, Gu Qianqian stretched her muscles and quietly left, and then...
Soon, she sheepishly ran back, carefully found paper and pen, and left a note for Lu Yibei.
“I've already told the Disaster where I'm going, so it doesn't count as leaving without saying goodbye, right? Hmm, that's right, this way, she shouldn't be angry. I'm really clever!”
As she spoke, she noticed the half-eaten bucket of fried chicken left over from last night. She hesitated for a mont, licked the corner of her mouth, picked up the packaging bag, and packed it up to take with her.
This was left over from yesterday, so it doesn't count as freeloading a second al!
Thinking this, Gu Qianqian successfully convinced herself and left Lu Yibei's house full of joy, pushing open the door and welcoming the bright morning sun...
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