Chapter 13: Three Wishes Before Death
It was three in the afternoon, and Lu Li was sitting by the bed, peeling an apple for Chen Jianing. The TV was on, playing a nature documentary about jaguars. It explained how jaguars retract their claws when hunting, moving silently through the forest like assassins.
Peeling apples for patients was probably a universal law. Lu Li guessed that if there were parallel universes, there must be a custom of family members sitting by the bedside and peeling apples for patients in those worlds too. Peeling an apple was actually a skill. You had to preserve as much of the flesh as possible while keeping the peel intact. Only then would the apple convey sincerity and care. An Baili was a sickly girl with a sensitive stomach and was often hospitalized. Lu Li had honed his apple-peeling skills. To be honest, he didn’t like apples. He always found them too sour, and their texture was no different from chewing wood.
But the girls he knew seemed to like apples.
Chen Jianing was one of them. At least, the current Chen Jianing was munching on it happily. She was glued to the nature documentary, her breathing synchronizing with the movements of the big cat on screen. She held the apple in her small hand, occasionally taking a bite or two, mimicking the jaguar’s actions, as if putting herself in the big cat’s perspective.
Lu Li was relieved that she was able to cheer up. After all, RSA wasn’t a terminal illness. As long as she persevered, she might recover. Chu Xiaodong had recently told him about a case of spontaneous recovery from RSA, and Lu Li relayed it to Chen Jianing. The girl seemed quite moved.
“You stay here and watch TV, I’m going back to my room to work on the game.” Lu Li patted his thighs. He had been sitting for the whole afternoon, and his legs were numb.
“Lu Li, I’ve decided.” Chen Jianing spoke, but her eyes were still fixed on the TV screen. “I’ve decided to be reborn as a tiger in my next life, living alone in a big mountain, where no one dares to mess with me, eating and sleeping as I please, majestic and powerful.”
Lu Li was amused by her words. “A tigress?”
“No way, I don’t want to be female. Otherwise, I’ll be bullied by those stinky male tigers, just like being a woman. I want to be a dominant male tiger, claiming all the beautiful tigresses in the area.” Chen Jianing’s tone was a bit wistful. “It’s so good to be a tiger. No school, no exams, no nagging from parents…”
“Let’s talk about next life later. If reincarnation were democratic, I would definitely vote for you to be reborn as a tiger.” Lu Li said with a smile.
“Isn’t next life coming soon?” Chen Jianing turned her head and looked at Lu Li, asking rhetorically.
“…”
Chen Jianing pointed at herself. “I keep hearing a voice lately. It keeps saying that I’m going to die, that I’m seriously ill, the kind that can’t be cured. Lu Li, I really feel like I’m going to die, but I don’t dare tell my family. I can only tell you, because you’re the only one who knows I have RSA.”
Her words were both absurd and heavy.
“Don’t think too much. Didn’t you still believe you could recover last time?”
“I just have this premonition, and I’m telling you, my premonitions are very accurate.” Chen Jianing became increasingly depressed, putting down the apple in her hand. “A few days ago, I was scared to death. I hid under the blanket and cried at night, feeling so sorry for my parents. They would be devastated if I died. Especially my mom, she’s so good to me, her, sob, her osmanthus cake is so delicious… Sob…” She was crying, and in the end, only sobs could be heard.
Here we go again. Lu Li sighed inwardly. Why did this girl always think about the worst-case scenario?
“But I’m not sad at all now…” Chen Jianing wiped her tears and suppressed her sobs, her words unconvincing. “I’ve figured it out. Everyone dies eventually, some weightier than Mount Tai, some lighter than a feather. I’m that feather, it’s better to be lighter, so I won’t crush anyone with my death. Only, only those who can face death calmly are true warriors… But before I’m reborn as a tiger, I have three wishes… Lu Li, can I ask you to fulfill them?”
It was pitiful. At this critical moment, only Lu Li knew about Chen Jianing’s condition, and her only support was this familiar yet strange young man.
When a person is about to die, their words are kind. Even the always annoying Chen Jianing could speak kindly at times like this.
“Tell me.” Lu Li was no longer able to dispel her conviction that she was going to die. She had hypnotized herself, and nothing he said would change her mind.
“My first wish is for my game, Black Wolf’s Ring, to have an 80% positive rating.” After receiving Lu Li’s promise, Chen Jianing hesitated. “Well, if it’s too difficult, it’s okay… Anyway, anyway, my game is worthless. Getting an 80% positive rating must be very difficult…”
An 80% positive rating? It was indeed difficult, but if it was just to fulfill Chen Jianing’s wish, there were many ways to achieve it.
“What are your other wishes?”
“The other wishes, wait, wait until the first wish is fulfilled, okay?” Chen Jianing’s pleading eyes made it difficult for Lu Li to refuse. This was his weakness, his soft heart, easily swayed by women.
Lu Li stood up. Chen Jianing thought he was refusing and quickly pleaded, “Don’t go.”
“I’m going to get you those positive reviews. Send me your Valve account and password.” Lu Li left without looking back, quite dashing.
The most direct way to fulfill Chen Jianing’s first wish was to hire trolls to leave positive reviews, but that would be detected by the platform and her account would be banned. The second, slightly more roundabout way was to fake the data. Webpage data was all code. By modifying the backend code, he could create fake data locally without uploading it to the server.
But did he really want to show Chen Jianing fake data that only existed for her own amusement?
Lu Li logged into Chen Jianing’s account. The first thing he did was change her profile picture. He replaced the Orochimaru avatar with a slightly more aesthetically pleasing pink avatar and deleted the self-deprecating signature “Rat Rat is working hard today too.” Self-deprecation could be a form of online entertainment, but it should never be someone’s sole source of sustenance.
Chen Jianing’s inbox was overflowing, mostly filled with hateful messages. Thinking about Chen Jianing replying to each message one by one, Lu Li felt exhausted.
Lu Li turned on the message filter, and the chat window instantly became much cleaner. He then went to the Black Wolf’s Ring store page and typed a message in the latest announcement section: Black Wolf’s Ring is now offering refunds.
Yes.
This game was a complete failure. It was unrealistic to forcibly increase its positive rating. Respecting players and providing timely feedback was the only way to salvage its reputation. As for where the refund money would come from? How many copies of this broken game had been sold in total? How much money could be refunded? Besides the trolls and those looking for a laugh, were there any real players in the game’s comment section?
Lu Li closed his laptop, let out a long breath, and decided not to tell Chen Jianing about his actions until the refund plan yielded results.
Thinking about Chen Jianing’s comical dream of becoming a tiger, Lu Li couldn’t help but laugh, but there was also an inexplicable sadness in his heart. Why did this impulsive girl always make him feel distressed?
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