Chapter 203: The Ones Who Can’t Be Shaken Off (22)
After hearing Rong Rong’s words, Yu Wu lowered her eyes, hiding her broken expression. The beautiful top star, who had always wrapped herself up tightly, afraid of being recognized by fans on the street, was now using her disguise as a shield to protect her fragile form. If it was lifted even slightly, she would wither and shatter in the air, piece by piece.
Yu Wu stood there without moving, not paying attention to what Tang Yiyi and Po Er were doing. She only stayed in place, watching those men in black, who were pretending to be in a standoff, actually charge toward Rong Rong and the exceptionally beautiful person next to her, who would definitely be a strong competitor if she entered the entertainment industry.
Before she was surrounded by that group of men in black and fell into a dark abyss, and before her vision was blocked, Rong Rong was still asking her, “So, top star Yu, can you please not come looking for me again?”
Yu Wu was silent, not knowing if she was silently mourning her dead love.
“Then I’ll take that as a yes. Thank you very much for your cooperation.”
The moment Rong Rong’s cheerful voice rang out, the men in black who had swarmed toward the two of them had barely touched the hem of her clothes when they were pushed back by an invisible force. And Rong Rong, who was surrounded by this force, heard that exceptionally loud voice in her mind:
[Congratulations, player, on your successful breakup! Would you like to choose to leave this game? Please think carefully about this question. If the player chooses to stay, you will never be able to leave this game again. You will never be able to return to the real world, and even death will only turn you into data that will dissipate.]
[You have ten seconds to think. If you haven’t made a choice after ten seconds, and you haven’t decided to stay, the system will automatically send you back to your original world.]
A white light burst out—
Rong Rong was surrounded by it. She looked up and saw the endless darkness of this fake sky. The stars were moving. The sky was a thousand times more natural and beautiful than the sky that was covered by smog and pollution in the real world. It was magnificent and majestic.
[Ten.]
The system’s urging voice rang out in her ears. At this moment, Rong Rong suddenly felt that time around her had stopped. Even the sound of the wind in her ears had disappeared.
The surprise and anger on the faces of the bodyguards had been frozen, including Po Er, who was holding an umbrella at night, and Tang Yiyi, who seemed calm. Her gaze was directed into the distance, and she discovered that she could even see Wei Shang, who was leading her dogs, preparing to come out from the forest.
If it had been just a little bit later, a group of dogs would have probably joined the battle tonight.
[Nine.]
Rong Rong retracted her gaze and looked at Su Mingxiu, who was right next to her. She had thought that Su Mingxiu would also be frozen in place like these people. But she didn’t expect that the other person’s stillness was because she was too lazy to move. At this moment, it was as if she had also heard the voice in her ear. She even very slightly raised her chin at her.
Even the trajectory of the stars had been frozen. The sky suddenly seemed as if it had been broken by Gonggong hitting Mount Buzhou. A black hole vortex that could swallow everything suddenly appeared. The vortex first swallowed two or three stars around it, and then it slowly expanded. After tearing open a large enough hole, it stopped right above Rong Rong’s head.
“It seems like you’ve already finished everything that you needed to do. You can go to the place that you want to go to now.” Su Mingxiu said to her with a smile.
[Eight.]
Rong Rong felt that the black hole above her head was probably something that was invisible to the naked eye, or perhaps it was a bug that the game system had accidentally set up.
So it had a terrifying pull on her. Although her body was still standing firmly on the ground, her internal organs had been dislocated by the black hole that had enveloped them.
She didn’t know what kind of look she was giving the other person. She only said in a murmur, “I won’t be able to treat you to a beer again.”
[Seven.]
“It’s okay.”
The woman, who was still full of charm even when there wasn’t any wind and whose hair was still curled in a seductive way, looked at her with a smile. The beauty mark at the corner of her eye was faintly illuminated by the mist from the fountain that was suspended in mid-air, “I’m very happy that I was able to meet you and help you with this.”
[Six.]
But I’m not happy.
Rong Rong even subconsciously wanted to grab Su Mingxiu’s clothes. She had just taken a deep breath when she heard the system’s annoying mechanical voice take away another second, and just as the word [Five] came out, tears started to well up in her eyes.
Why, why did separating from Su Mingxiu make her feel so painful and afraid? It was as if, if she didn’t grab the other woman’s sleeve at this moment, the other person would turn into a breeze. Even if she could often brush against her face from then on, she would never be able to touch the other person again.
And this fact not only made her internal organs churn into a mess, but other pain also surged from her limbs. She finally couldn’t hold back and, as the system mercilessly reduced the seconds again, she endured the trembling of her teeth and asked the woman in front of her, “Have we… have we met before?”
Otherwise, why had you been helping me ever since we had first met, and even helped me so resolutely until now? And why does your gaze always make me feel confused, and contain too much… making me feel that it’s overflowing with indulgence and love?
[Three.]
After the system had said this number, for some unknown reason, while Rong Rong was still feeling sad because of Su Mingxiu, many memories suddenly popped into her mind.
Those memories were all of her family in the real world. And ever since she had entered this game, those thoughts and feelings seemed to have been unilaterally cut off by the system, and it was only now that they were being returned to her. She was submerged by the surging memories and emotions. She stood there blankly, with only tears constantly streaming from her eyes.
The system had just finished reciting the second to last number in a very brazen manner.
Until the bell of judgment rang out:
[One.]
[Player Rong Rong has successfully cleared the ‘Breakup’ ending, and has obtained the title ‘The Most Affectionate of the Heartless.’ Thank you for your cooperation with the game. This game has now ended. The player is being transported back to your original world—]
Then Rong Rong’s body, which had been covered by the light, also started to emit light.
It was as if she was about to dissipate, to be broken down into data, and then swallowed by the black hole above her that had no end in sight.
And Su Mingxiu, who had been watching with her arms crossed, had originally had no intention of stopping her, but after seeing the person who was emitting white light open and close her lips several times unconsciously, she suddenly raised her eyebrows.
In the next second!
The white light that had already been decomposed and was dissipating was like it had been stopped by something. They all shook in mid-air.
And under Rong Rong’s feet, a formation that had been engraved with unidentifiable words and symbols, but clearly shouldn’t be in this game world, had appeared out of nowhere.
[Su Mingxiu!]
The system’s voice enveloped the entire world. It was finally not just confined to Rong Rong’s body. It seemed to be terrified by Su Mingxiu’s soul power, which had completely awakened, but it also felt annoyed. Because this woman shouldn’t have had this power.
Or rather, she shouldn’t have had it so quickly.
“What, do you miss what it felt like to be imprisoned?” Su Mingxiu slightly raised her eyelids, but she didn’t look at the sky. She only said slowly, “If you could use your power to trap me in my consciousness back then, then breaking the mere illusion that you set up now, even if it’s disguised as some kind of high-tech game, can’t hide the fact that the origin of your power is the same as mine—the power that you’re using is probably from the same source as me, right?”
“If that’s the case, then why is it so surprising that I was able to break through your shackles?”
The system was silent for a moment and then stopped speaking.
It seemed to have realized that it didn’t need to overreact like this. Because Su Mingxiu would ultimately be unable to watch the protagonist leave in front of her, so she would also do the same thing.
As expected.
Where in this world was there so much selfless love? There were only the base lies of predators.
But Su Mingxiu didn’t pay attention to it. Instead, she looked at the person who was already half-light and whose appearance was exceptionally beautiful, and asked with a smile, “What did you want to say just now?”
Rong Rong, who had barely pulled herself out of the emotions that the system had instilled in her, had lost the pain and confusion that had been in her eyes before. She hadn’t even reacted to the fact that she hadn’t left this game world yet. When she was reminded by Su Mingxiu, her first reaction was to blank out.
…She had been suddenly hit by decades of overly intense memories, which easily canceled out the time and hesitation that she had spent in this game.
She opened her lips, only realizing that she had been wanting to say something all along. But when she had realized this, the task that her body had given her lips and teeth had suddenly failed. Rong Rong couldn’t say a single word.
Even if Su Mingxiu could keep her for a moment, she wouldn’t be able to keep her forever. The system was, after all, the one who had created this world. Even if her main soul could infiltrate a bit, it was already the limit.
And the rules that the system had written were set in stone—
If Rong Rong didn’t want to stay herself, then she wouldn’t be able to force her to stay. But realizing that this might be the last time that the two of them would meet, and that it would probably be a permanent separation, Su Mingxiu still didn’t show the panic that the system wanted to see.
She only very patiently asked again, “Did you want to say something just now?”
Besides asking if they had met before, then what was it?
Su Mingxiu had a hunch that it was a very important sentence.
But she didn’t urge her or force her. She only felt that the edges of the formation that had been trapping Rong Rong were gradually breaking because of the game world’s rules. The light was fading, like glass that had been cracked in the sky, breaking inch by inch.
“I forgot.”
And the woman, who was already half-light and whose data was about to be transported out of this world, only showed a painful and empty expression as she mumbled these words.
She hadn’t even realized how much she was struggling.
But.
She had really forgotten what she had wanted to ask Su Mingxiu just now.
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