Category: After I Abandoned the Protagonist [Quick Transmigration]

Chapter 202: The Ones Who Can’t Be Shaken Off (21)

The shadows of the trees in the park swayed. At first glance, it made people think that their shadows, as they merged with the darkness, would be swallowed up. It was only when figures emerged from under the trees that it made people realize—

It was never the shadows that ate people, but their own kind.

Those figures in black suits had all gathered around Po Er, waiting for her command. Then, they would be able to move toward the target that she had ordered them to.

Although their boss had ordered them not to harm anyone, according to the investigation, this person named Rong Rong didn’t pose any threat. She could be subdued very easily.

She was still smiling very faintly, but Tang Yiyi, who had been facing her, frowned, “I already know what you’ve been doing. I don’t think Rong Rong will be able to live a normal life with you. I suggest that you go to a psychiatrist first, Po Er, and then think about trying to compete with me for her.”

As she spoke, people with the same attire walked up behind her. But compared to the black suits that Po Er had temporarily found, Tang Yiyi had clearly used people from a security company. Just by looking at those people’s large builds and the suspicious bulges under their clothes, it made people wonder if all of them were equipped with something that couldn’t pass through a subway security check.

“Tang Yiyi, I usually call you President Tang to give the Tang family some face. It doesn’t mean that I’m actually afraid of you—it’s not up to you to teach me about love.”

As she spoke, she chuckled very lightly. When she thought about the experiences that Rong Rong had had with Tang Yiyi that she had found out about in this short period of time, her gaze became particularly sarcastic.

“What are you competing with me for? What you want, President Tang, is someone who will come whenever you beckon. You don’t want them to appear in front of you at other times, so that they don’t interfere with your career.

And they also shouldn’t require you to go to great lengths to maintain the relationship. You shouldn’t be looking for someone like that in a plaza. You should go to the countryside. Those starving wild dogs are a perfect match for you.”

She was mocking the fact that Tang Yiyi was domineering and extremely controlling in love.

But Rong Rong, who was the central figure in their topic, only calmly looked away. It was probably because her interactions with these people were not in the form of a memory dump, but through phone chat logs and the system’s strategy guide.

So she hadn’t had to endure and lie to them for a long time, and she wouldn’t get the pleasure of toying with them either. She had even less interest in watching them fight each other like dogs now.

The waves that were created by the musical fountain were cresting one after another, piling up at the end and breaking into a mist of fine rain. The light that was projected on them created a dazzling effect. All of this was illuminating half of Rong Rong’s face at this moment.

The person who was surrounded by two sides that were on the verge of drawing swords. Tang Yiyi and Po Er were both distracted by Rong Rong’s expression for a brief moment.

But soon, they realized that the person who was showing such a unique charm at this moment wasn’t looking at them.

She was looking at…

That celebrity.

Yu Wu.

Tang Yiyi’s company also had businesses in the entertainment industry. So she also knew a little bit. This top star, Yu, also had a very strong background.

She had been smooth sailing ever since she had entered the industry. Now, she was not only firmly in the first-tier of the entertainment industry, but she was also someone who had very few scandals and black material. She also had strong financial backing to protect her.

“What about you?”

They saw the light in Rong Rong’s eyes fade away. And that moment of amazement didn’t become ordinary because the light had disappeared. It was as if no matter if the world were to collapse or if the seas were to become desolate, it wouldn’t shake her anymore.

“Did you also bring so many people here because you want to use force against me, or did you think of some other way to make me yield?”

Yu Wu’s expression was very complicated.

Her identity had destined that she wouldn’t be able to be as unrestrained as Po Er and Tang Yiyi. But she just didn’t understand why she had lost.

“No.”

In the end, she only gave a pale answer like that. But her gaze was still fixed on Rong Rong. She said softly, “I just wanted an answer. After you said that you had recovered your memories, did you feel even a second of liking for me?”

She thought that Rong Rong would firmly refuse her.

She didn’t expect that the other person would think about it seriously for a while. Her gaze didn’t have any love or desire in it. But the heartless answer still came from her lips:

“No.”

She said, “I thought about it seriously. Not even for a second.”

While thinking about this question, Rong Rong couldn’t help but think about Su Mingxiu, who was by her side. When facing these characters, no matter what they were wearing or what they looked like, she had never shown even a hint of surprise.

Yu Wu quietly looked at her. Her eyes were like the tiny bubbles that rose from the depths of the ocean, hoping to touch the light of hope before they disappeared.

After a long time, she only said, “That President Tang is too controlling. You can’t get along with her. You don’t like that famous impressionist artist because she had some illegal thoughts about you. So what about me? Where did I lose?”

Actually, Rong Rong didn’t have many memories of interacting with her, and she had caused Rong Rong the least amount of shura field crises.

Logically speaking, Rong Rong shouldn’t hate her as much as she hated the others. But after thinking carefully, Rong Rong was actually able to say, “You’re too narcissistic. You think that your charm is invincible, and everyone should revolve around you. You can’t understand why other people wouldn’t like you. You also like to seek a certain kind of thrill, and you don’t even care about how the people around you feel…”

Even though they hadn’t met that often, Rong Rong was actually able to list several of her shortcomings in one breath.

Yu Wu’s expression changed from surprise to silence at the end.

She even vaguely started to doubt life.

“Woof, woof!”

Wei Shang, who was walking her dogs near the plaza, was attracted by the dogs’ movements. She held seven or eight leashes in one hand. They were long and short, released from the palm of her right hand. Because she was too leisurely, it attracted the attention of many passersby.

But she didn’t care at all. She only used her left hand to press down on her baseball cap, “Hmm? Is there someone familiar nearby? Then let’s go take a look.”

At the same time.

Rong Rong, in Yu Wu’s faltering gaze, tilted her head, “So you shouldn’t think like that, because—”

“Only the people who don’t like you will nitpick everything about you and think that this and that isn’t good enough. You don’t need to care about these so-called shortcomings at all, because they’re just my reasons for rejecting you.”

There could be a thousand reasons for not liking someone.

But if it was love…

Rong Rong, who had maintained a calm mask for the entire evening, while glancing at Su Mingxiu out of the corner of her eye, saw that she was actually watching the show with her arms crossed, and her lips were even curled in an interested smile. She couldn’t help but freeze for a moment.

She belatedly pulled herself out of the shura field atmosphere. Her heart was beating fast and guiltily.

Rong Rong completely didn’t dare to think about Su Mingxiu’s reaction after hearing her speak about her half-truths and half-lies when she had been facing those people earlier. She also didn’t dare to face the “scumbag” persona that the game had created for her and that was now completely exposed in front of Su Mingxiu.

The three people who had been paying close attention to her quickly noticed her stiffness and also looked at the person who had been standing next to her since the beginning.

It was as if, when they focused their gaze on her, they would suddenly realize how dazzling of an existence she was.

Not only did she have an incomparable appearance, but even her temperament… was unique.

Was the person that Rong Rong liked…

Her?

Just as they were calming down, and were preparing to figure out Su Mingxiu’s background, Yu Wu, who had been talking with Rong Rong, asked very softly:

“Then, what about the person you like? What’s your reason for her?”

There were too many.

Every time Rong Rong had listed one of Yu Wu’s shortcomings, she had found that she could think of one of Su Mingxiu’s advantages in her heart. Even at the end, when she had finished talking about everything about Yu Wu, she found that her book about Su Mingxiu in her heart had only just been opened to a few dazzling pages.

There were still too many…

She pursed her lips, but only said, “There’s no reason.”

Rong Rong said, “If I like someone one day, maybe it’ll be love at first sight, or maybe it’ll be love that develops over time. But no matter what the moment that makes my heart flutter is like—”

“There’s no need for a reason.”

When she had been scared, fearful, lonely, and wavering, her heart had actually already made a choice in secret. It had paused for half a beat for the other person at their first meeting.

Chapter 201: The Ones Who Can’t Be Shaken Off (20)

Rong Rong was still carefully fiddling with her phone as she walked out of the hotel. After uninstalling the app that had been unexpectedly installed, she had originally wanted to check her phone to see if anyone else had planted any monitoring devices inside.

But after thinking about it, she didn’t understand anything about electronics. She wouldn’t be able to see anything with just her eyes—

So she had to give up on that idea.

After walking out of the hotel, Rong Rong looked at the map on her phone. She didn’t pay attention to how far away those people were from her anymore, and instead headed straight toward the park at night.

At the same time, she was sending a message to Yu Wu.

“I’ve thought about it for a long time. Let’s not see each other in the future, okay? The relationship between a celebrity and a fan should be kept at a distance. You don’t need to take the risk of being discovered by others and being on the headlines about your love life for my sake. I also feel that my previous crazy fan mentality was wrong and I’ve decided to correct it.”

Yu Wu, who had just gotten off the plane, was planning to give her a surprise and tell her that she had arrived in this city. But when she had regained her signal, she had seen this. She immediately stopped typing and directly made a call.

“Where are you?”

While crossing the road, Rong Rong was watching the green light and was about to take a step, but Su Mingxiu, who was next to her, raised her hand and pulled her back. She took a step back in shock. She realized that she had almost brushed up against a speeding truck. She was startled. Only after the sound of the horn had disappeared for a long time did she regain her senses and answer, “Have you arrived?”

“Send me the address, Rong Rong. I don’t believe what you’re saying—besides, have you ever seen a couple that only talks about breaking up online?”

“Breaking up is a one-sided thing,” Rong Rong was now proficient in the rhetoric of a scumbag. She was speaking those unreasonable words, “Even if I meet with you, it won’t change the established facts. You don’t need to keep pestering me.”

When Yu Wu heard her cold voice like this, to be honest, if she hadn’t been sure that this voice was familiar to her, she would have suspected that another person was talking to her.

Because before, this person had only ever shown her passionate and obsessed emotions. So Yu Wu had gotten used to receiving all kinds of praise from her, and her unreserved love… instead of this cold and indifferent attitude that was like that of an ordinary couple.

She couldn’t help but wonder, “Have you been angry because I’ve been busy with work recently and haven’t been able to accompany you? Or have you misunderstood my feelings because we haven’t gone public with our relationship for so long? I’ve brought you a gift. Let me meet with you, okay?”

“No, it’s not okay.”

Perhaps it was because Su Mingxiu was by her side. Rong Rong was eager to get rid of the intimate relationships that the game had forced upon her. She didn’t have any feelings for these women anyway. She was just being a bit impatient, but they were indeed the most honest words in her heart.

“If you don’t have anything else to say, I’m going to hang up. I wish you a bright future.”

A cool breeze blew through the park at night.

Rong Rong knew that the people who were using their phones to track her location would definitely come looking for her. But before that, she pulled Su Mingxiu to the center of the plaza. Tonight, there happened to be a musical fountain performance.

Clusters of water that were higher than the last were illuminated by colorful lights, giving people a dazzling and mesmerizing feeling. Many children felt that it was novel, and after coming out for a walk with their parents, they stopped nearby and didn’t want to leave. They had to walk over the tiles with holes in them and guess when the water would come out and if it would get them wet.

They were playing hide-and-seek with the fountain.

And the mist that scattered everywhere, as it was being pushed by the wind, landed on people’s faces. Rong Rong knew that she could also request a song here, so she asked Su Mingxiu, “What song do you want to listen to?”

Su Mingxiu, who had just heard her breakup speech to someone else, “?”

The woman chuckled lightly. Just as she was about to tease her while looking at her, a voice suddenly interrupted their conversation, “Did you break up with me to be with her?”

That voice—

Rong Rong’s expression changed slightly. When she turned her head, a somewhat exaggerated parasol came into view. The edges were all lace, and the person holding the umbrella was wearing gorgeous gloves and had changed from a pretty dress to an even more luxurious style, like a princess who had stepped out of a palace painting.

It was Po Er.

“Of course not,” Rong Rong looked at her calmly, “The moment that you chose to drug me and imprison me after having an argument with me, it became impossible for us to be together.”

“I’ll change. I won’t do that again in the future. We can erase everything that happened before. Come back to my side. Everything that you want, I can give you. Okay?”

Po Er negotiated with her, her expression unchanged and still gentle.

But Rong Rong didn’t take even one step in her direction. She was still persistent and firm as she said, “No. I don’t believe you. You won’t change. You don’t know what respect is, what liking is, or what love is.”

“What about me?”

On the other side that was opposite Po Er, a figure in a suit had also condescended to come to this free plaza that had no class and was very crowded.

Rong Rong knew that they had definitely found out about what the original owner had done when she saw them appear at the same time.

But at this moment, she wasn’t flustered at all. She only looked at Tang Yiyi, “It’s even more pointless for President Tang to ask this question. You only have money, benefits, and yourself in your eyes. I think you’re angry and are chasing after me because you can’t stand the fact that I’ve offended you, that I didn’t accept your humble attempts to please me. That’s why you’re so angry, right?”

A hint of anger naturally appeared on Tang Yiyi’s face, “I’m angry about your betrayal.”

She explained the results of her investigation over the past few days, “It seems like I underestimated you. You actually have the ability to be in relationships with so many people. Besides me and Po Er, you even dared to seduce that person from the Wei family at the underground fighting ring… Oh right, and your favorite top star. After reaching this point, you still dare to put on such an innocent act and accuse us?”

Although her personality wasn’t great, what Tang Yiyi cared about more was that Rong Rong had actually dared to maintain relationships with other people behind her back. That was what she couldn’t tolerate the most.

Especially—

Now that she had a new person by her side.

Rong Rong felt that her guess had been conservative. After all, this insane game system had even included the distant relative, Rong Si.

But she didn’t answer directly and instead, very presciently looked around left and right, “Besides the two of you, who else has come? Let’s ask all at once. It’ll save me some time.”

Tang Yiyi, Po Er: “?”

They chuckled in anger.

They had never expected that the girlfriend who had been so obedient and compliant in front of them would dare to speak to them in such a fearless tone after exposing her true colors. Perhaps it was because she felt that she didn’t have to pretend anymore… that was why she dared to be so presumptuous.

The sound of rolling luggage wheels scraped against the stone pavement.

Just as the brilliant spray of water shot into the sky and then fell back down, a figure walked toward them from the other side of the musical fountain. She took off her sunglasses.

Although she was still wearing a mask and a baseball cap, based on those beautiful eyes that were like peach blossoms, that was enough for people to determine her identity.

“And me. Are you satisfied?”

The person who had been trying to salvage their relationship with her earlier was actually able to come to this park so quickly. It was probably because Tang Yiyi and the others had shared their information and location.

Oh, then that was good.

As long as the mad dog, Wei Shang, hadn’t come.

Rong Rong’s gaze swept over them one by one. Then, she lowered her head to take out her phone, sending a file to the people who were still her friends, and sending a multimedia message to the others. Then she put away her phone, “I just sent a medical record to everyone. Please take a look.”

It was the relevant records and expenses for her previous mental health treatment, complete with everything. It could prove that she had had mental problems during that time.

“I’ve had an illness since before. It caused me to forget what I had done during certain periods of time. But after I went to college, this illness became more and more serious. I was losing more and more memories. It was having a major impact on my normal life.”

“Later, I had to take a leave of absence for a while to receive psychological treatment. But when I had just recovered, those lost memories didn’t merge with me. It was only later that I gradually found out… that I had developed a performance personality during that time, and that I had established a romantic relationship with so many people—”

“I’m very sorry. After I recovered and understood this, I tried to end the relationships with everyone who was innocent. I wanted to minimize the damage as much as possible.”

“But after I understood my previous interactions with you all, I felt that none of you were a good match for me. And you’ve all had a huge impact on my personal safety and my studies, which is why I finally chose to end things using these methods. Now, do you all have any other questions?”

Su Mingxiu didn’t know how Po Er, Tang Yiyi, and Yu Wu were feeling after reading the files and hearing this.

But she found that this kid had become a bit reckless after getting her promise.

It was probably because she had already guessed the story’s outline and had already confirmed Rong Rong’s choice. Su Mingxiu was actually watching the show with great interest.

“Do you think that I’ll just let this go?”

Yu Wu said, “Regarding your betrayal and deception of me.”

“What kind of compensation do you want?” Rong Rong asked her very rationally, “Besides continuing our relationship, as long as it’s within my ability, I will consider it in terms of finances.”

This was already the biggest concession that she had made in order to escape the world—

After all.

She wasn’t the one who was being a scumbag. She was just an innocent and unlucky player.

After speaking up at the start, Po Er had been very quiet on the side. She seemed like she didn’t care, but in reality, no one knew what she was planning in her heart. At this moment, she said slowly, “It seems that negotiations have failed.”

If Rong Rong had criticized her like this before, she would have felt a bit troubled. But now, Po Er didn’t feel any burden at all, because the person who was being naughty was Rong Rong…

Since she was naughty and had also betrayed her,

Then after she was caught, nothing she did would be considered excessive, right?

Chapter 200: The Ones Who Can’t Be Shaken Off (19)

Su Mingxiu picked Rong Rong up. She didn’t stay in the restaurant for long. When the waiter came to ask if they needed any help, she only shook her head and left, carrying the person in her arms.

But when she was paying the bill, the other customers frequently cast confused glances at her arms, as if they suspected that Su Mingxiu was someone who had ill intentions toward others. But after those gazes landed on Su Mingxiu’s overly detached face—

The suspicion immediately dissipated.

These NPCs were following the setting that humans were visual animals, and they felt that someone as beautiful as her couldn’t possibly be a criminal, let alone do anything to a beautiful girl in such a public place.

So no one stopped them along the way. Instead, there were many people who came up to her, offering their help and asking if they needed any assistance.

Su Mingxiu rejected all of them. After leaving the restaurant, she carried the unconscious Rong Rong around the corner and entered a hotel. She only said that the person in her arms had fallen asleep, and then she successfully booked a room.

Because she had booked it randomly, the place was inevitably cramped and narrow. There wasn’t even a window. Su Mingxiu glanced at the bed and, with some distaste, took off her coat, then sat down, carrying Rong Rong in her arms.

With her slender white fingertips pointed at the girl’s forehead, Su Mingxiu activated her soul power, which had been restored, and invaded Rong Rong’s mind—

[You’ve made me search for you for a long time, stepmother system.]

System: “…”

In order to stop Su Mingxiu from forcefully dragging it away from the protagonist’s body, the system activated its self-defense mechanism in a timely manner. As long as Su Mingxiu tried to pull it out of Rong Rong’s body, it would give Rong Rong a splitting headache and even trigger a lightning effect.

[Your methods are as monotonous as ever,] Su Mingxiu gave up after her consciousness touched the system and noticed that Rong Rong was showing a pained expression even while she was unconscious. She only communicated with the system from afar, “But do I need to remind you about what happened last time when you used lightning on us?”

The system didn’t say anything, acting as if it was barefoot and not afraid of wearing shoes.

Seeing how self-destructive it was acting, Su Mingxiu became even more certain that it was definitely feeling smug in this world and had dug a lot of pits for herself. That was why it was acting so fearlessly and putting on an act that it wasn’t afraid of being threatened by her.

Although Su Mingxiu couldn’t pull it out of Rong Rong’s body, it was still easy for her to make the system behave and not affect Rong Rong’s body.

“Do you miss the maze that I designed for you last time? Do you want to relive it?” The soul power that had invaded Rong Rong’s body gradually surrounded the system’s location, like thousands of soldiers surrounding a city, blocking all paths of escape. And the one who was trapped inside could only choose to slowly die.

System: “…”

Feeling that its will was being affected, Su Mingxiu felt that her guess was correct. At the same time, she had some guesses about the system’s origin.

If this thing was truly an artificial intelligence that had been created by humans, it wouldn’t be affected by the fact that she had used lightning and a maze to trap it before. Because data wouldn’t have any feelings after all.

But this thing that was calling itself a “system” wasn’t.

It was also afraid, and it was also annoyed by Su Mingxiu and the protagonist for resisting the fate that it had arranged for them time and time again.

Su Mingxiu quickly had a new idea, “Let’s play a game. Next, I’ll ask you questions. You can choose not to answer, but I can’t guarantee the consequences—”

[Before Rong Rong wakes up, please try your best to make me feel that you’re not so boring.]

“Buzz.”

The sound of her phone vibrating in her pocket repeatedly pulled Su Mingxiu’s attention away. She took out the phone and saw an app that she didn’t know when had been installed. The app looked like a map, and it showed two red dots. One location was the hotel that they were at right now, and the other one was rapidly flying in their direction.

At the same time.

There was also a message from an unknown number. The latest message read, “You dared to ask me for money back then. Now that I want to give it to you, why won’t you take it?”

In addition, there was also a pile of missed calls.

Su Mingxiu raised her eyebrows and glanced at them. She put the phone back in its original place and said, “Tell me, who are these people?”

[It’s useless. Even if you know now, so what? Rong Rong will soon be able to successfully leave this world. For her, no matter how powerful and dazzling you are here, you’re just a game character. You’ll never be able to set foot in the reality that she’s in—]

[Unless, you keep her here.]

And as long as Su Mingxiu did this, she was destined to follow in the footsteps of the characters that Rong Rong had strategized before. At that time, Su Mingxiu would never be able to complete the mission in this world.

…Not getting the protagonist’s love was her biggest failure.

Su Mingxiu hadn’t expected that the dog system’s ability to be annoying had become even more refined after not seeing it for the past few days. But the more mad it acted, the more it showed that it was at its wit’s end. As long as she could get through this hurdle, she would be able to solve the mystery of her shattered soul and her original world.

She already knew most of what she wanted to know anyway. Even if the system hadn’t given her the correct answers most of the time, she had already guessed what the other party’s plan was—

This time, the system was truly attacking her heart.

Even though people’s hearts were difficult to calculate, it was precisely because of this that it couldn’t calculate the protagonist’s thoughts. With Su Mingxiu’s identity in this world, where she couldn’t even participate in the plot, it was very difficult to get close to the protagonist Rong Rong.

And Rong Rong herself was someone who had never even been in a relationship and had suddenly been thrown into this chaotic shura field that was filled with all kinds of coercion. After facing a dangerous love where she could lose her life with just one wrong step, it was already a blessing that she didn’t have PTSD. How could she so easily jump into the grave of love?

It had even carefully calculated that, based on Su Mingxiu’s personality in the previous worlds, she was very assertive in love. When facing someone she liked, she wouldn’t mind using some harmless tricks… She even had a bit of a tendency for coercion.

If in this last world, facing the pressure of only being one step away from reshaping her soul, and the protagonist’s wavering heart that she couldn’t stabilize, would she be able to resist using the methods that she had used in the past on the protagonist?

[And this is the last world where you can return to the beginning and find all the answers.]

“Rong Rong.”

A nice voice calling her name woke the person whose consciousness had fallen into slumber. Rong Rong raised her hand to rub her eyes. She looked at the ceiling that wasn’t decorated like that of a restaurant, and belatedly remembered what had happened to her earlier.

But unexpectedly, her body didn’t have any of the aftereffects of feeling dizzy or unwell. Instead, she felt quite refreshed.

But…

Feeling that the position that she was in with Su Mingxiu wasn’t right, she blushed and hurriedly tried to get out of the other person’s arms. And the woman didn’t stop her either. She only remembered something and reminded her, “When you fainted earlier, many people were looking for you. There are messages on your phone.”

Rong Rong opened it and took a rough look, and her face turned pale.

She was done for.

It was a shura field situation that had a very high mortality rate—

And she hadn’t even managed to complete her breakup mission with Yu Wu yet. She was so close… How had all of these people found out? Why did it seem like they had all found out the truth at the same time?

Besides Wei Shang, whom she had comforted earlier and who had been out of contact since being plotted against, everyone else had come.

Oh no.

…According to Murphy’s law, the more you don’t want something to happen, the more likely it is to happen. Maybe she would have to face all five of them on the rooftop tonight.

“Your face looks terrible. Have you encountered any trouble?”

Su Mingxiu didn’t care about her coat, which had been crumpled with many creases, and simply got up, planning to take her out. She even leaned down to adjust the collar of Rong Rong’s clothes.

Actually, after waking up in a hotel like this, especially in this kind of homosexual love game setting, where the characters would mostly turn dark, Rong Rong should have suspected what had happened while she was unconscious.

But perhaps she had been flustered by these girlfriends who had surrounded her and had forgotten about this matter. Or perhaps… Su Mingxiu’s consistent performance had made her completely ignore those bad possibilities.

Even now, when the other person’s fingertips were wandering, adjusting her clothes while brushing against her skin, Rong Rong didn’t have any ambiguous thoughts. She only bit her lip and said with difficulty, “A little.”

“Do you need help?”

Su Mingxiu raised her eyebrows. Her question was as calm as always, as if as long as the other person nodded, she would be able to protect this person safely, even if the world was about to be flooded.

“You… don’t you really want anything?”

Rong Rong knew that she was very unusual. Not to mention anything else, the fact that she had been able to walk out of Wei Shang’s octagonal cage, unscathed after being surrounded by more than a dozen vicious dogs, showed that her fighting power was very unusual. Those yanderes and artists probably wouldn’t be able to withstand two punches from her.

So if she brought her along, Rong Rong felt that her chances of survival would be much higher.

“If you really have to thank me—” Su Mingxiu blinked her eyes, easily hiding the gloomy love that was as firm as a rock in her heart. Her acting was flawless, “Then treat me to a beer when you have time. Juice is also okay.”

…Would there be time?

Rong Rong thought about Yu Wu’s line that was left for her, and she was a bit afraid to agree. Even though she knew that she would be leaving this world soon, she should have felt happy. But her heart was in a mess now. Even something as simple as nodding her head had become difficult.

“Rong Rong.”

Su Mingxiu suddenly called her name very calmly. In her confused stupor, she continued, “You can’t be more timid than you were when I first met you. Once you’ve chosen a path, you should walk forward without hesitation.”

Even if it was a separation—

The you from before had never been afraid of it.

Even after being reincarnated so many times, her soul should be unchanging. That little rose had known that her time was running out, but she still wanted to have that love that was destined to end in separation with her. Now that Rong Rong had seen the light to escape hell, she should have grabbed it without any hesitation.

Chapter 199: The Ones Who Can’t Be Shaken Off (18)

Rong Rong carefully tasted the cold dish in front of her. Just as the other dishes in the restaurant hadn’t been served yet, she took the opportunity to quickly type a sentence on her phone:

“No, I’m not.”

After thinking about it, she casually replied again, “It’s just that I found a new idol, so I’ve temporarily shifted my passion there. Don’t worry, I’ll come back in the future.”

Yu Wu: “?”

New, idol?

She hadn’t believed it before when others said that it was difficult to retain fans, especially after seeing Rong Rong’s focused and passionate love for her. She thought that even if all her other fans left, Rong Rong would definitely stay by her side forever.

But what was she seeing now?

Yu Wu calmly thought about the possibility that Rong Rong’s account had been hacked. But after thinking about it again and again, just as her assistant came to tell her about her schedule for the next day, she suddenly switched out of her phone’s page, looked at the plane tickets, and then confirmed with her assistant, “My magazine shoot isn’t until the afternoon tomorrow, right? Then I need to buy a plane ticket for the four o’clock flight that evening. Help me book it.”

Assistant: ?

She looked at Yu Wu with a bewildered expression, not understanding why she had suddenly decided to take a red-eye flight in the middle of the night. At first, she thought that it was because the work pressure had been too high recently, which made Yu Wu want to go to a place with nice scenery to relax.

After all, even the celebrities who were currently working on set would give themselves some time to relax during their free time. But after seeing the destination of the flight, the assistant was even more amazed—

“This is…” Her expression changed again and again. Of course, she knew that Yu Wu had an extremely crazy fan who was studying in this city.

And every time the top star had a schedule in the other person’s city, she would arrive early. She would even specially take some time to accompany her if she wasn’t too busy. “Why are you in such a hurry all of a sudden?”

The assistant remembered that Yu Wu’s relationship with this person had been quite stable.

Especially since she could still see the works that the other person had created each time a business deal was officially announced, and even the flower edits for Yu Wu’s new drama hadn’t been missed.

It wasn’t surprising that the assistant felt strange. After all, Rong Rong, as a player, only needed to read the words to complete her homework in this world. Not to mention completing her daily tasks of supporting a celebrity, which was only a matter of minutes for her.

The reason why she had her current frequency was because Rong Rong had been deliberately lazy.

If she had really been diligent, she could have been even more crazy than what the original owner had set her up to be. Unfortunately, she wasn’t interested in Yu Wu.

“If I don’t hurry, she’ll run away.” After hearing her assistant’s words, Yu Wu replied faintly. But because her voice was too low, she wasn’t heard clearly.

But she didn’t care about that and instead gave a very calm order, “Alright, hurry up and book the ticket for me.”

On the other side.

Although Tang Yiyi hadn’t explained the situation to Po Er, based on Po Er’s understanding of her, she knew that she wasn’t the type of person who would waste time listening to gossip.

So after briefly talking about her interactions with her girlfriend, Rong Rong, she hung up the phone. The more she thought about it, the more she felt that something was wrong. She simply started looking for Rong Rong’s whereabouts.

If there were any doubts—

It would be best to ask Rong Rong about them face-to-face.

And for Tang Yiyi, after listening to her “ex-girlfriend’s” interactions with Po Er, a very outrageous guess had formed in her heart. To confirm this, she flipped through the information that her assistant had collected again.

Sure enough, she found information about that distant relative in an inconspicuous place. It was indeed as Rong Rong had said, that she had psychological problems, but it wasn’t like what Rong Rong had said, that she wanted to “give her the best treatment.” This distant relative was receiving treatment at a public hospital in this city.

And the doctor wasn’t someone who was particularly famous.

Was this what she called the best?

Or was it that…

From the beginning, the relative’s illness, and her exorbitant request for money, were all just a disguised excuse? Then what was her real purpose?

Thinking of this, after the unpleasantness from last time, Tang Yiyi, for the first time, threw away her so-called pride and dignity and took the initiative to send Rong Rong a message. Even the content had been edited repeatedly so that it wouldn’t make her seem too fierce, but also wouldn’t make her seem too humble.

After going back and forth, the only sentence that she had typed when she had hit confirm was, “Do you have any time recently?”

But even this sentence, which didn’t have any orders or instructions and rarely wanted to listen to the other person’s opinion, wasn’t sent.

“You are not yet a friend of him/her. Please add him/her as a friend before sending a message.”

Tang Yiyi: “…”

Looking at this system reminder, she rarely revealed a smile on her face, but it didn’t have any gentleness to it. It was completely cold, and the coldness had even gathered in the depths of her eyes.

“Achoo.”

Rong Rong, who was eating spicy boiled fish, was completely unaware of all of this. She wouldn’t have even been able to predict the scene that she would face after leaving the restaurant tonight. After covering her mouth and sneezing quietly, she hastily grabbed some tissues, thinking that she had just been affected by the spiciness of the dish.

Su Mingxiu, who was across from her, was watching with great interest. She hadn’t ordered this dish in the first place. But after someone else at the table next to them had ordered it, Rong Rong had smelled it and thought it smelled particularly good. So she had asked the waiter to add one, and now she was eating it while wiping her nose and crying.

She still couldn’t handle spicy food.

She had indeed tasted this fish. The ingredients were very fresh, and the flavor all came from the chili peppers. Nothing like the particularly irritating capsaicin had been added. So she didn’t pay attention to Rong Rong’s appearance and instead thought about ordering some milk-based desserts.

Rong Rong was eating in a mess. In her heart, she regretted how she had suddenly had the idea of ordering this dish that would make her look foolish.

Especially in front of such a beautiful woman, she moved her chopsticks a few times and had to keep grabbing tissues. In the end, in order to save her precarious image, she could only say the words of surrender with her lips red, “I… I’ll just pack this fish to go. I’m full.”

Su Mingxiu rarely sensed her idol baggage and decided to tease her a bit, “It might not be so fresh after it’s packed up. It’s okay. You can eat slowly. I have plenty of time.”

Or rather, all of her time was revolving around Rong Rong.

Rong Rong: “qaq”

But she really didn’t want to eat anymore!

She stalled for a while, and after feeling that the spiciness and flushing on her face had dissipated a bit, Rong Rong, in order to not continue embarrassing herself in front of this goddess, changed the topic, “You… you weren’t able to appear next to me for too long before, right? Why are you…”

“Mm?”

When she was asked a question, Su Mingxiu didn’t insist on continuing to tease her. She propped up her cheek with one hand, picked up the teacup in front of her, and took a sip of the refreshing Longjing tea. Then, she replied slowly, “I was also very free before. It’s just that I saw that you looked very rushed, and I felt that you probably didn’t want to be bothered and disturbed too much, so I left quickly.”

The implication was that, because Rong Rong hadn’t shown any signs of impatience or of wanting her to leave today, she had stayed for so long.

Under the spherical lights, the girl who was sitting across from her was staring blankly. She hadn’t expected that answer. But after thinking about it carefully and remembering her first meeting with Su Mingxiu, it had been when she was bouncing between the various “girlfriends” that this broken game had set up for her. At that time, she had suffered a double kill. All of her attention had been on those difficult girlfriends. She hadn’t had any time to care about anyone else.

She had even been trying to bargain with the system when she had first seen the bug Su Mingxiu, trying to get more survival strategies for herself.

“I’m… I’m sorry…”

Rong Rong apologized subconsciously.

But Su Mingxiu raised her eyebrows, not knowing where her apology had come from. So she didn’t respond, and instead, she brought up another matter, “You’ve been looking at me very intently recently. Why? Has there been a change in my appearance?”

Oh right.

Now that she mentioned it, Rong Rong remembered the time that she had told her that her pixels were low. She had originally not planned to say much about it.

But under the gaze of those eyes that were as gentle as autumn water, she still subconsciously spoke the truth, “A little… your pixels aren’t low anymore. They’ve become very high definition.”

High definition?

Su Mingxiu chuckled at her accurate description, understanding where her changes had come from.

When it came to this, Rong Rong suddenly had an idea. While the system wasn’t stopping her, she very abruptly started talking about her thoughts on this world, “Have you ever thought about… well, about the essence of this world?”

As soon as she had started a topic, Rong Rong felt that her beginning was too philosophical. After almost biting her tongue, she tried to make up for it, but she didn’t know how to change it for a long time. Fortunately, Su Mingxiu gave her face and replied, “Oh? What is the essence of this world?”

“It’s just that, the encounters between people might not be accidental. They might be some kind of inevitable arrangement—like a large game.”

Rong Rong could probably guess that in this kind of interactive game, the players couldn’t reveal the truth of the world to the NPCs inside.

After all, it was such an intelligent game, and it had even produced a bug as big as Su Mingxiu, who could travel across the entire map and had such a beauty that far surpassed the other strategy targets.

If she was watching someone else play this game, Rong Rong would have definitely thought that Su Mingxiu was the final boss, and she would probably end up using the player—

But after knowing the other person for so long, and even being helped out of danger several times, now that she was about to say goodbye to her last strategy target, Rong Rong could no longer hold back her urge to confide in her.

And Su Mingxiu had also very seriously taken up this outrageous topic, “So in this game, what kind of roles do we play, and what kind of tasks do we have?”

Rong Rong was about to open her lips when the system, which had always been silent when she and Su Mingxiu had met, as if it was completely nonexistent and had a knack for reducing its presence, suddenly started shouting in her mind:

[Warning! Warning! Players are forbidden from revealing the essence of the world to the characters in this game!]

“Ah!”

She covered her head, and the sharp pain made her almost fall off her chair.

Su Mingxiu, who had been watching calmly from across the table, because of her sudden change, instantly got up and headed in her direction.

Before she could fall onto the ground, she pulled her into her arms. Looking at Rong Rong’s furrowed brows, she asked very gently, “What’s wrong?”

“My head… hurts…”

Su Mingxiu lowered her eyes, looking at the paleness of her face and the way that she was having difficulty speaking a complete sentence. The shadows of her eyelashes fell into her pupils, making her deep black eyes look like the sky over a sea that was about to give birth to a storm and a raging tide.

A headache?

—So the system that she had been searching for for so long was right in front of her.

Chapter 198: The Ones Who Can’t Be Shaken Off (17)

Bring you to see her, and then have you stab her?

Rong Rong felt a headache at the thought of that outrageous scene. What made her even more of a headache was that, she didn’t know if she had been messed with by these perverts for too long, but she actually had a bold idea: Why not invite all five of them to the rooftop at the same time and let them fight each other like dogs?

Anyway, no matter who lost in the end, she would be very happy.

But given how easy it would be for her to lose control of the situation by doing that and cause herself to be caught in the crossfire, Rong Rong decided that she wouldn’t use this plan B unless it was absolutely necessary.

Right now, it was most important to break up with these people peacefully—

[System,] she said to the system, “Since she’s still related to me as a relative, there’s definitely no such thing as a breakup. So Rong Si should also be counted according to the mechanism of Wei Shang, right?”

The system quickly gave her an answer, “Congratulations, player, you’re only one step away from your goal.”

Oh, and there was still that top star.

Rong Rong thought that she would be able to leave this perverted world soon and couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. She even forgot what the person in the wheelchair in front of her had said. It was only when she saw her slender neck turn and her pale face tilt that she belatedly replied, “Mm… okay, if there’s an opportunity.”

This sentence had left herself plenty of room to maneuver.

Not paying attention to Rong Si’s reaction, the woman happily hailed a car for her. When she helped her into the car, she was very careful to pay attention to the other person’s actions, so that she wouldn’t end up delivering another headshot to someone. Fortunately, until the taxi had disappeared from view, this distant cousin hadn’t shown any signs of doing anything.

She breathed a sigh of relief. When she turned around, she noticed that the night had already darkened. The streetlights around her had all turned on. The vendors who set up stalls at night were all pushing their carts around the side of the road. Especially the smell of roasted sweet potatoes was particularly tempting and could waft for ten blocks.

Rong Rong put her hand in her pocket. She belatedly remembered that it was time for dinner. And she hadn’t even left Rong Si to eat with her. This really didn’t fit her usual persona of being a gentle, kind, and understanding confidante.

But—

Who cared?

They weren’t her breakup targets anymore. What was the point of doing all of these superficial things?

Thinking about this so nonchalantly, Rong Rong’s gaze swept around, trying to find that familiar face. After a while, she suddenly remembered that Su Mingxiu’s pixels seemed to have stabilized. She wouldn’t be a pixelated person anymore. How could she be as easy to spot in a crowd as she had been before?

“Looking for me?”

A hand reached out from behind her and landed on her shoulder.

When Rong Rong suddenly turned around, she fell into her gaze. When she saw her own reflection in the other person’s eyes that were illuminated by the bright lights, she felt her breath catch in her throat.

…Rong Rong felt that her conclusion was a bit premature.

The reason why she hadn’t seen this dazzling woman earlier was probably because the other person wasn’t in her field of vision. Otherwise, how could she have not noticed someone so beautiful?

Even, in the time that they were looking at each other, many gazes from around them, whether they were obvious or hidden, were directed toward them. She didn’t know if they were looking at either of the two of them in particular… or at both of them.

“Were you… always nearby?”

“You could say that.”

Su Mingxiu actually didn’t want to follow her like this, but she didn’t know why. Since she had given Rong Rong that fruit tea that afternoon, when she tried to randomly click on a location on the map to leave, she found that all the white dots that had been on the map in front of her had disappeared.

She could still instantly go to any place on the map, but—

Su Mingxiu no longer had the ability to randomly transform into any passerby. The various passerby badges that had always appeared on her chest had also disappeared.

When Rong Rong had gone into the hospital earlier, and she had been planning to stroll around nearby, many passersby had taken the initiative to talk to her.

It was as if she had originally been a pearl covered in dust, and in one night, the dust had been wiped away, and the dazzling radiance she had been emitting had attracted everyone’s attention.

Her intuition told her that this matter was related to Rong Rong.

She could also clearly sense that Rong Rong’s gaze towards her recently had been a bit off… It was as if she hadn’t noticed how beautiful she was before. The time that she spent looking at her was getting longer and longer, and she needed a very strong sense of self-control to move her gaze away from her.

Although Su Mingxiu liked her reaction to her, she still had to ask her about it clearly, “Have you had dinner? I saw a restaurant nearby that was decorated quite nicely.”

Reason was constantly telling Rong Rong that she was only one step away from going home, so she had to hold on to herself and not give up now!

“Okay.”

But her mouth answered like that.

Su Mingxiu acted as if she hadn’t noticed her gaze that was fixed on her. After Rong Rong had agreed, she turned around and led the way forward. But when she passed by the roasted sweet potatoes, she stopped, looked at them, and then told the owner that she would buy one.

Rong Rong finally managed to move her gaze away from her face. With a small protest from her stomach, she looked at the sweet potatoes in the heated box. Under the thick cotton cloth, the outer skins of each sweet potato were all a charcoal black color. But from the glimpses of the golden yellow core, people could imagine the sweetness that would be released on their tongue.

She raised her hand and pointed at Su Mingxiu, then pointed at herself, and blinked her eyes, “One, two. There are two of us.”

Was it too stingy to only buy one?

But Su Mingxiu didn’t even look at her. She only replied lazily with an “mm,” “So I can share half with you.”

It was clearly such a stingy answer, but when Rong Rong actually saw that the sweet potato had been split in half and the small spoon had been handed to her along with it, she felt that this option was a bit more intimate than just buying two directly.

It gave her an unparalleled sense of sharing.

She felt that her brain had probably been polluted by this breakup game.

So in the time that followed, Rong Rong focused all of her attention on using the small spoon to try and scoop out more of the flesh from under the sweet potato slice, and didn’t look at the person next to her at all.

Until they were sitting face to face in the restaurant—

After placing the sweet potato peel and the plastic bag that she had finished eating in to the side, Rong Rong had just looked up when she saw Su Mingxiu handing her a wet wipe. It was perfect for her to wipe the marks that she had accidentally gotten on her fingers.

The other person flipped through the menu and asked her which dishes she wanted to choose. But in reality, it wasn’t up to Rong Rong to choose at all, because after hearing Su Mingxiu say a few dish names, she felt that they were all suitable.

“Do we have the same tastes? Or did you just remember what I liked after only seeing me once in the cafeteria?”

Su Mingxiu propped up her cheek with one hand. The way she was gazing at the menu with her eyes lowered made her profile fall into the range of the light that was hanging down from the booth. The hazy light didn’t make her face blurry. Instead, it had given her a soft focus, making her even more unforgettable.

“Mm…” The voice that had been so special when it was being projected on her ordinary pixel face had become even more charming under this stunning beauty, “Your tastes aren’t hard to guess.”

Rong Rong felt like her reason was going to be eroded by her beauty again.

Fortunately, her phone’s timely vibration diverted her attention.

When she looked down and saw who the message was from, Rong Rong completely sobered up.

It was Yu Wu.

The other person was asking her why she hadn’t seen her on her recent flight schedules.

Rong Rong looked at her phone and focused on typing on the screen. She replied, “Because your radiance is too dazzling, and it’s attracting many, many people. There are many people who like you now. I’m just an insignificant one. You don’t need me anymore.”

Yu Wu sent her a “?”.

Then, she sent her an emoticon that was made with her own expression. She didn’t know where the screenshot had come from, whether it was a program or an interview, “What kind of nonsense are you talking about.jpg”

“You will always be the brightest star in the sky for me.”

Rong Rong: “…”

No way.

She carefully flipped through the chat logs, and after confirming that the split-personality original owner had just been attracted by Yu Wu’s face and her status, she thought for a moment and continued to reply perfunctorily, “But I’ve been seriously reflecting on things recently. As a qualified fan, I should stay away from my idol’s life. I can’t let myself become an obstacle on your flower path.”

Yu Wu was worthy of being a celebrity. She probably spent most of her time in her own fan forums, and she wasn’t even embarrassed when she talked about love. She was miles ahead of the other players in the same field, “How could you be an obstacle? You’re the flower that adds to my glorious crown, and you’re an indispensable existence in my life.”

Rong Rong: “…”

Crap, was she going to be caught here?

She started frowning as she looked at her phone. Su Mingxiu, who had taken in her expression changes, appropriately added some tea for her and reminded her, “The cold dishes have arrived. Try them if you have time.”

“Oh, okay!”

When Rong Rong heard her voice, she felt a bit embarrassed, as if she had been reminded that she wasn’t being respectful enough to the other person while they were eating. After all, she was the only one who was playing on her phone.

But if she explained… this matter would become very troublesome.

So she opened her mouth several times, but she couldn’t find a suitable reason. She could only focus on picking up the dishes. Just at that time, she caught a glimpse of Yu Wu’s new message on her phone, “Has something happened recently? Why do I feel like you’re not enthusiastic towards me anymore? Has my charm decreased?”

That wasn’t it.

Rong Rong glanced at Su Mingxiu across from her and thought very empathetically. It was just that she had seen a woman who was more beautiful and more charming than you.

Chapter 197: The Ones Who Can’t Be Shaken Off (16)

The sound of her heartbeat was thumping in her ears—

Rong Rong heard Su Mingxiu’s gentle, flowing voice trickle into her ears. In this pleasant evening, with the golden rain of osmanthus flowers fluttering in the wind, she slowly opened her mouth and said her answer in a curt tone, “No.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, her heart pounded even more fiercely, as if it was accusing her of betraying her heart. But on her face, not even a hint of crimson, symbolizing shyness, had spread across her cheeks.

And Su Mingxiu, who had heard her answer, only smiled faintly. She couldn’t tell if she believed it or not and lazily replied, “Is that so?”

Rong Rong’s throat moved slightly. She saw that her image quality had jumped a few times, as if her computer had finally installed a graphics card with the highest configuration. Every inch of the person’s figure and features in front of her was incredibly clear, including the area that had looked like a dirty smudge when it had been a color block. It turned out that it was just a small mole under her left eye.

Paired with her captivating and deep eyes that were perfectly shaped and unlike anything that could be found on a human face, for a moment, Rong Rong thought she was being embraced by the night sky. Every strand of air that surrounded her had instantly been melted by the other person’s gaze.

…She was really very beautiful.

Her image quality had finally stabilized. Rong Rong could barely move her gaze. In the sound of her heart pounding in her throat, a very outrageous thought suddenly popped up.

—The reason why those five strategy characters had never made her heart flutter was because they weren’t beautiful enough?

The system’s warning was still fresh in her mind. She knew that in order to leave this dangerous world, she had to keep her distance from everyone.

But just from making eye contact with Su Mingxiu like this for a moment, Rong Rong felt an outrageous urge to surrender.

…So she was this kind of shallow type?

“President Tang, here are the personal details that you requested.”

On the other side.

After finishing her work for the day, Tang Yiyi’s assistant remembered the matter that Tang Yiyi’s friend had entrusted to her earlier. She casually handed the information to Tang Yiyi, intending to ask her if there was anything that she wasn’t satisfied with. But before she could put down the documents, the woman behind the desk didn’t even raise her head. Her gaze didn’t even glance at the folder. She only said, “Just give it to whoever wants it. I don’t need to look at it.”

The assistant responded and hesitated, not leaving, as if there was something that she was still struggling with. Until Tang Yiyi moved her gaze away from the documents and looked at this figure who was standing not far away, she rarely said, “Is there something else?”

The person who was being stared at by her took a deep breath and decided that, regardless of whether her boss knew or not, she should tell her what she had found out first. Otherwise, she would be the one to suffer if something happened later, “President Tang, your friend requested… Miss Rong’s information.”

At first, Tang Yiyi didn’t react to the words. After moving her gaze away for a while, she realized what the surname “Rong” represented and suddenly looked up, “Rong Rong?”

“Yes.” The thoughts about work in Tang Yiyi’s head had all been cut off.

And the content of what Po Er had said when she had rarely taken the initiative to talk to her, asking her to help her inquire about someone, was still fresh in her mind—

“I had a girlfriend before, and she works near your company. I wanted to ask if you’ve seen her.”

Her gaze was as sharp as a hawk’s, and she looked directly at the assistant in front of her, “Are you sure that you found the right person?”

“Yes,” The assistant clearly knew about her boss’s previous relationships. After all, she had helped Tang Yiyi book the private rooms at dating restaurants many times, and had also helped her book tickets for trips outside.

Although she had never had direct contact with Rong Rong, she had at least glanced at the other person’s information, “I confirmed it with Miss Po again and again.”

The woman who was sitting behind her desk was silent. She casually tugged at the collar of her shirt, but found that she wasn’t wearing a shirt today. Instead, the decorative scarf she was wearing had been pulled a bit out of place.

“Let me take a look at the file folder.”

As she reached out her hand, it suddenly hit Tang Yiyi that she had been with Rong Rong at the shopping mall when they had agreed to go to the movie theater together.

At that time, Po Er had happened to be in the seat next to her.

And when Rong Rong had used the excuse of going to the restroom, Po Er had also left from in front of her. But at that time, neither of them had felt it was necessary to greet the other person. Besides, the lights had been very dim. Only she had seen the other person’s appearance clearly. Po Er hadn’t looked at her even for a second.

And later, when she had met Rong Rong again, she had had a few extra scarves on her, saying that it was because it was too cold at the mall, so she had just happened to buy the discounted scarves, three for fifty yuan.

…Some things, once you started suspecting them, would make everything from before feel suspicious.

Before she opened the thin cotton threads that were wrapped around the file folder, Tang Yiyi hoped that all of her guesses about her were baseless.

But after she had finished reading the contents, her face completely turned cold. She threw the scattered papers and file folder to the side. After thinking for a moment, she asked her assistant for Po Er’s contact information and dialed the number.

“I thought you would have your assistant send me what I wanted directly. How is it that President Tang, who is so busy, has time to talk with me personally?”

“I have something to discuss with you.” Tang Yiyi’s answer was very cold.

Po Er usually found her arrogant attitude of only caring about her own business very annoying. But thinking about how the other person had helped her out a bit this time, she rarely put on a good face, “What is it?”

“Would it be convenient for me to talk to you about your girlfriend?”

Po Er: “?”

At the hospital.

Rong Rong was pushing Rong Si, who had already filled out the form and had already booked her psychological treatment sessions, out of the hospital. The person sitting in the wheelchair suddenly asked her, “Sister, are there osmanthus trees downstairs?”

“Yes, did you see them too?”

The person who was pushing her wheelchair through the sunlight that was coming through the windows of the corridor asked her with a good mood. But Rong Si had lowered her eyes and didn’t say anything.

Of course, she hadn’t seen them. When she was with this person, her eyes were only on the other person. How could she have noticed the changes of the seasons and the climate around her?

She had smelled them.

She smelled that sweet osmanthus scent on Rong Rong’s body. It wasn’t strong, but it made her wrinkle her nose and feel that it was cloying.

—So, who was the person that her sister had that leisure to enjoy the flowers with?

Rong Si didn’t answer. She even seemed to be tired of the sunlight that was constantly falling on her. She moved to the other side of the wheelchair, raised her hand to block her face, and asked about another matter in a muffled voice, “Why does sister think that I’m sick?”

Even now, she was still unwilling to accept treatment. She even felt very resistant when she thought about the doctor talking to her about intimate relationships and family relationships.

Had Rong Rong discovered something?

“Wasn’t that what we discovered when you went with me to the school’s infirmary last time? It’s not that I thought you were sick, but the doctor had some suggestions in that area, and I just happened to come with you to take a look.” The person behind her said.

Was that really it?

Rong Si lowered her head. She had only intended to keep the things that were in her heart hidden, but she didn’t know if it was because she was attracted by the lingering scent of osmanthus on Rong Rong’s body. At this time, she was suddenly forced to say, “Is sister in love?”

“Huh?”

Rong Rong, whose face was somewhat similar to hers, immediately became wary. An alarm went off in her mind, and she even couldn’t help but look toward her sleeve.

Ever since she had been plotted against by Po Er, she had become very wary of these dangerous people. If it wasn’t inconvenient, she would have wanted to carry a can of pepper spray on her left side and an electric shocker on her right side.

It would be best if she could also wear protective clothing and a thick helmet.

“Why did you suddenly ask that?” She kicked the ball back to her.

Rong Si’s voice was still light and airy, with the lack of energy that was unique to patients. If it was any lower, it would inevitably give people the illusion that she was just barely hanging on, “I thought that sister was in love, so you were disgusted that I was always coming to find you, becoming your third wheel or a burden. That’s why you were so eager to push me away.”

“What are you saying?”

The woman’s slightly irritated voice rang out. Then, as if she wanted to express her feelings, she changed the topic, “Besides, you’re the family I finally found. Even if I found someone, it wouldn’t affect my feelings for you, right?”

When she said these words, every hair on Rong Rong’s body stood up. She was afraid that the other person would suddenly lash out. Her whole body was extremely wary.

But the person in the wheelchair didn’t move.

Only a terrifying silence spread out.

The seed of jealousy had taken root and sprouted in Rong Si’s heart. The veins on the back of her hands, which were resting on her legs, were bulging out, as if she was trying her best to suppress some impulse. She had to try very hard to control her emotions so that she wouldn’t scare the other person.

—So the love that Rong Rong gave her wasn’t unique. It could be shared with others.

Rong Si’s throat moved. An urge to peel her sister’s skin and tear her bones apart and fuse every inch of her body to her own was born.

But from the time that she had spent talking to the psychologist, she also knew that her condition wasn’t very normal. If she showed it, it would definitely scare the other person away right now.

She had to be patient.

She had to take things slowly.

The veins on the back of her hands took a long time to return to normal. Rong Si closed her eyes, then opened them again. She looked at the people who were waiting for their numbers to be called in the hall at the end of the corridor. There was a lingering gloomy aura in her eyes. But her voice was still smiling as she said softly to the person behind her, who couldn’t see her emotions, “Yes, sister.”

“But, if sister really finds someone that you like one day, can you bring that person to me to take a look at?”

Chapter 196: The Ones Who Can’t Be Shaken Off (15)

Rong Rong unilaterally deleted the contact information of Tang Yiyi, Po Er, and Wei Shang. In her great breakup plan, the only people she needed to deal with were Rong Si and Yu Wu.

Because she had already excluded these people from her plans, Rong Rong naturally wouldn’t inquire about any information related to them. So…

She didn’t know that Po Er, who she had finally managed to trap inside, was now standing under the sunlight again.

Thinking about what she had found out, Po Er was holding a gorgeous little parasol with a light blue lace border. She remembered all the things that she had bought for Rong Rong’s workplace and was trying to wait for her nearby—

But instead of waiting for Rong Rong, she had accidentally bumped into Tang Yiyi, who was coming out of the underground parking lot.

Because her assistant had forgotten to bring the documents that she needed to discuss with her partner at the dinner party that evening, Tang Yiyi’s car was parked on the side of the road. Just as she had opened the window in the back seat to get some fresh air, she had caught a glimpse of a very gorgeous figure on the outside.

Of course, Po Er had also seen her. In the upper class circles of this city, the Po family and the Tang family were considered acquaintances.

But because of the different paths that they had chosen, despite having similar educational backgrounds, they looked down on each other. So they rarely ever crossed paths.

Tang Yiyi felt that Po Er, with her privileged upbringing, had chosen an artistic path instead of inheriting the family business, and she felt that this was completely self-indulgent. She disdained associating with the other party.

And in Po Er’s eyes, she felt that Tang Yiyi, who exuded the smell of money from head to toe, was the type that she would avoid if she even smelled her from afar.

So after they had become adults, they hadn’t even met once in a private setting. Their circles were also completely different.

After glancing at her, Tang Yiyi uninterestedly looked back at the contents of her phone. Who knew that it was the person outside the car who would walk toward her Bentley Continental:

“Do you have time? I want to ask you something.”

The woman in the car raised her eyebrows slightly, as if she found it strange. Her sharp eyes looked in her direction, silently asking her what she wanted to do.

“I had a girlfriend before, and she works near your company. I wanted to ask if you’ve seen her.”

When she mentioned “girlfriend,” Tang Yiyi immediately thought of some of the stories that had been circulating recently. Even if she didn’t deliberately try to find out, it was difficult to block all of the gossip that was pouring in from all directions.

One of them was that Po Er was said to have angered her partner and seemed to have done some not-so-good things to them. As a result, she had been sent in, and the Po family had had to make a lot of effort to get her out.

But—

Girlfriend?

Tang Yiyi looked at her expression for a moment. She thought about the things that Po Er had done in those rumors, and she couldn’t help but reveal a hint of mockery in her eyes.

This person had a problem in her head, and the person she had found was probably not normal either. She was probably on a path of love and hate. She wasn’t interested in knowing… especially since the word “girlfriend” made her think of that obedient girl who had been by her side before.

She missed the other person a bit.

Tang Yiyi opened her chat box with Rong Rong, not knowing what message she should send. Most importantly, she felt that it would be a bit embarrassing if she was the first to end this cold war.

“Send the information to my assistant. I’ll have her notify you when there’s news.” Tang Yiyi stopped looking at Po Er outside the window and continued to think about her memories with Rong Rong.

Po Er was used to her arrogant attitude. She shrugged and took a few steps back, leaving this luxury car that was a low-key color on the outside, but whose interior screamed “I’m very expensive and you’re not worthy” and continued to wait under the building like a wife waiting for her husband to return.

Two flowers bloomed, each representing a different branch.

Rong Rong, who was being remembered by her ex-girlfriends that she had already broken up with, was accompanying Rong Si as she visited a psychologist. Because the other person had to deal with some unexpected business, and she didn’t want to change to a different doctor, the time had unknowingly dragged on until very late.

Before Rong Si had gone in, Rong Rong had already told the psychologist about her situation. She had very subtly said that she had a relative whose ideas were rather extreme and biased, and also seemed to have some problems with her understanding of feelings—for example, she would treat her feelings for a relative with whom she had a blood relationship as love.

The psychologist immediately said that she understood completely, and told her that they would communicate about all of the situations after talking with the patient. Of course, Rong Rong also understood.

So she left Rong Si in the consultation room to do all kinds of complex test questions, while she went to stroll around the downstairs of the hospital by herself.

It was a coincidence.

This hospital was the same hospital where she had been sent to after being drugged by Po Er.

At that time, she had been distracted by too many messages, so she hadn’t had time to admire the scenery of the garden below. Now that her stress had decreased a lot, she also seemed more relaxed.

Her phone was showing messages from Yu Wu, with the schedules that her fan club had specially organized for her, and also some of her recent business achievements, including drama posters, endorsement pictures, and more. But when Rong Rong thought about the identity of this top star, she decided to ignore them.

A celebrity had a higher level of social awareness than ordinary people, which also meant that her every move was being closely watched. If Yu Wu was going to do something inappropriate to her, Rong Rong wouldn’t mind exposing her at any time and pulling her down from the top, causing her to lose everything.

“The osmanthus flowers here are still blooming very nicely.”

A voice came from behind her.

Rong Rong turned around and saw the woman who had left resolutely in the alleyway earlier. After not seeing her for a few days, she didn’t know if the other person had secretly upgraded her with the system, or if she had upgraded her bug abilities again. Her image quality… had actually become clearer again.

Although the shadows and transitions of her features and body still weren’t particularly natural, even the outlines and facial features that had been sketched on sketch paper were enough to show the amazing beauty of this godlike creation.

The person who had turned around was stunned for a rare moment.

She thought about Yu Wu, who she had seen before, and who was the most beautiful among everyone. The sudden richness was like a peony in a garden. But in terms of colors, Su Mingxiu wasn’t lacking at all.

More importantly, many appearances, after the initial amazement, would feel ordinary after looking at them again. Yu Wu was this type, but Su Mingxiu… was completely different.

No matter how many times she looked, no matter how long she looked, Su Mingxiu’s face was like a flame that had been ignited by a soul. The charm that it emitted was always able to be imprinted in other people’s hearts.

“Why do you have this expression?”

Because she didn’t know how her appearance had changed in Rong Rong’s eyes, Su Mingxiu, looking at the person who was staring at her blankly, had no choice but to put the thing she was holding behind her for the time being and carefully observe Rong Rong’s expression.

“Ah…” The person who had snapped back to her senses subconsciously took two steps back, and her lips pursed together lightly. Then, under Su Mingxiu’s unchanging gaze, she kept her lips pursed in that way and, in a serious and almost stubborn manner, took two steps forward, shortening the distance between them, “It’s just… I suddenly realized that you’re very beautiful.”

“Oh?”

Su Mingxiu raised her eyebrows. Her eyelashes lowered as she saw that she had almost touched the tips of her shoes. The corners of her lips curved up, as if she was very satisfied with this expression of her heart and body being in sync.

After a moment, she brought out the thing that she had been holding behind her. It was a fruit tea that she had bought from somewhere. It was a small bucket that was big enough for someone to hold with both hands. The chilled air had caused water droplets to form around the plastic bucket, “Do you want to drink some juice?”

“Okay.”

Rong Rong took the large bucket of fruit tea from her and stood under an osmanthus tree. She had just taken a big gulp of the cold sweetness when she felt something land on her head. Just as she looked up, the person who had been standing in front of her had already raised her hand to brush away the osmanthus flower on her head.

“If you don’t want your head to be covered in flowers, then stay away from that tree.” Su Mingxiu, who was also holding a fruit tea with the same flavor, said while standing next to her.

Rong Rong’s eyes moved around. She seemed to have thought of something and suddenly raised her hand to grab the leaves at the top of the branch. She gently shook it, causing a rain of flowers to fall down—

It was just at that time that the wind picked up.

The golden rain of osmanthus flowers fluttered over Rong Rong’s shoulders. After she had been stunned for a moment, and belatedly tried to cover the straw of her drink, she saw that the osmanthus flowers had fallen on Su Mingxiu’s head and shoulders.

And when she looked up again, she found that the tree, which she had shaken and caused a few flowers to fall off earlier, was now full of flowers again.

Belatedly, Rong Rong remembered that this was just a game after all. Even if it was very realistic, it was difficult to make the details perfect.

Feeling embarrassed about her earlier thought of “if I shake this tree, I’ll have fewer flowers on me,” Rong Rong stuck out her tongue and, while holding her fruit tea in one hand, walked in front of Su Mingxiu. She raised her hand to help her brush off the flowers on her.

Su Mingxiu sensed something from the changes in her expression, but she didn’t show it. She only lowered her head slightly, letting her actions be more convenient.

Rong Rong reached out her hand and gently helped her brush off the flowers on her body. Unknowingly, they were both infected by the overbearing fragrance of the osmanthus flowers.

And Rong Rong’s movements suddenly stopped.

She found that Su Mingxiu’s pixels had become clearer again. For a moment, she had almost blended into the fine art style of the surrounding environment.

“Are you done patting me?”

Su Mingxiu straightened her body again, casually asking, and was about to continue drinking her fruit tea. She didn’t ask Rong Rong why she had suddenly come here, or why she was standing alone in the corner of the hospital. It was as if the two of them were friends who had accidentally bumped into each other, and so they had just decided to have an afternoon tea together, and that was it.

Who knew that the woman in front of her would nod her head involuntarily, and then shake her head.

Then, to Su Mingxiu’s surprise, she said in a tone that couldn’t hide her amazement, as if she was sighing, “You’re really… the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen in this world.”

Blinking her eyes, Su Mingxiu revealed a smile and, calmly followed her words, “So—”

“Am I your type?”

Chapter 195: The Ones Who Can’t Be Shaken Off (14)

When Su Mingxiu’s voice faded, at the moment Wei Shang made a move, the sleeves of Rong Rong, who was encircled in her arms and was clinging to her like a dodder vine, fell down.

Then, the person who was holding her suddenly went limp, and her voice only had enough time to pass through the mask and say one word:

“You…”

Rong Rong caught her directly. She placed the person who had fainted because she was unprepared on the booth. She deliberately avoided the dogs, who were baring their teeth and starting to show hostility to her. She stood on the steps of the passageway on the other side and said to the people below, “Of course.”

She said, “The owner here has already agreed to your request, and everyone has seen your performance—”

“Now, I’m yours.”

Su Mingxiu stared at the mask on her face. After a long time, she chuckled softly. Only Rong Rong could see the mist that surrounded her.

When the mist had dispersed, the person in the cage had turned back into the ordinary-looking woman from before. There were no longer any of those blurry color blocks that deliberately made the image quality look inferior.

Rong Rong relied on the anesthetic that she had gotten from the hospital to knock out the dangerous Wei Shang. Taking advantage of the fact that no one had discovered her actions yet, she brazenly walked through the VIP passageway and left the sinful underground second level.

If nothing unexpected happened, then for the rest of the time in the game, she shouldn’t get close to this underground fighting ring again.

Who knew that plans couldn’t keep up with changes? Just as she had walked out of the fighting ring and was standing under the deep night sky, preparing to take off her mask, she suddenly saw Tang Yiyi’s figure appear not far from her.

The other person was sitting in the back seat of a luxurious car, examining the luxurious building in front of her. She was holding her phone to her ear, and Rong Rong didn’t know who she was talking to. But her gaze had already met Rong Rong’s, who had suddenly rushed out of the corner passageway—

The woman in the suit in the car frowned. Her gaze scanned her strange mask and her very fashionable clothes, and then she looked away uninterestedly.

Tang Yiyi had had the driver follow the car that had stopped at the entrance of this fighting ring, which made her feel very strange.

Because the Rong Rong that she had in her memory, who was like an obedient little girl, would never be associated with such a chaotic place.

But…

Thinking about the exorbitant amount of money that the other person had asked to borrow earlier, and the way she had acted as if she would give everything for that unrelated distant relative, she couldn’t help but have some bad thoughts…

She had heard that there were always those underground black fighting rings. When she thought about the way that Rong Rong had lost her mind and said that she would break up with her if she didn’t lend her money, Tang Yiyi had to consider this possibility.

Because she usually never got close to a place like this, she was now calling someone that she knew, wanting to ask if they had seen a girl who looked like Rong Rong.

The person who had suddenly rushed out from outside the car window made her feel that her figure was a bit familiar. At first, she had thought it was Rong Rong.

But after carefully looking at the other person’s clothes, Tang Yiyi knew that she was just worrying too much.

Just as Rong Rong had subconsciously stopped and her heart had skipped a beat because of Tang Yiyi’s sudden gaze, a hand suddenly reached out from the alley and pressed on her shoulder.

“Ah!” Her figure was pulled back into the world that was shrouded in shadows. Rong Rong subconsciously turned around to look.

Because the mask was limiting her vision, she had to raise her head. But quicker than her actions was the temperature of the other person’s grip on her wrist and her slightly helpless voice, “Your moves can’t be so obvious, especially when you don’t know if the other person is prepared.”

It was… Su Mingxiu.

Rong Rong subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief. The breath she exhaled was on her mask. It was Su Mingxiu who led her through an alley and away from Tang Yiyi’s vehicle. Then, she helped her take off that strange Queen of Hearts mask and casually threw it into the trash can next to them.

“You’re okay?”

After asking this question, Rong Rong felt that it was completely pointless. And… she quickly suppressed her previous relieved look and became wary again.

Su Mingxiu could sense the change in her mood from her aura. She sized her up and, after warning her not to be so obvious next time she took action against that dog-raising person, she found that the person in front of her didn’t seem to be injured. After nodding her head, she released her grip on Rong Rong’s hand and turned to walk out of the alley without saying a word.

The night lights of the bustling city couldn’t reach over the high walls of the alley, allowing the cold and narrow road to be swallowed by the dark world.

When Rong Rong saw her back about to blend into the night and disappear from her sight, she couldn’t help but say, “Wait!”

Her lips opened and closed, and in the end, she asked, “You… don’t you have anything to say to me?”

Was she just going to leave like this?

Was she not even planning to explain what her agreement with Wei Shang in the octagonal cage had been about?

Was it just that she had seen her in danger, so she had just made up a reason… or did she really want to have her?

This wasn’t Rong Rong being narcissistic and thinking that she had an unparalleled charm. It was just based on her understanding of this broken romance strategy game.

Even if she herself looked more ordinary than the average passerby in the game, according to the usual settings of this kind of game, those special and outstanding existences in the game would always be attracted by the [player].

This was an unchanging law of strategy games.

Although Su Mingxiu was a bug, this state of being able to appear everywhere like a ghost, and her terrifying power of being able to kill over a dozen vicious dogs in the octagonal cage and remain unscathed, despite having such a pitiful identity, all made her worry about her own safety.

—Even though her emotions were always betraying her reason and were silently eroding her thoughts, secretly telling her that this person could be trusted.

Hearing her words, the person who was walking ahead stopped.

Even the sound of footsteps in the alley disappeared. An endless silence came over them, making people feel cold to the bone. Su Mingxiu, who was walking in front of her, remembered something and turned around to look at her. As if she had just remembered something, she said, “I am actually very curious about one thing. How did you recognize me?”

She was able to recognize Rong Rong because the other person’s appearance had never changed, including her figure and aura.

But after appearing as countless passerby identities, and based on the reactions of those around her, Su Mingxiu knew that her appearance in this world must have changed. Either it was being blocked by some kind of disguise, or it was being blocked from the minds of other people.

So… how had Rong Rong recognized her?

“Huh?”

Not expecting her to ask such a question, Rong Rong’s eyes widened slightly. After a moment, she instinctively replied, “Because… it’s just very obvious?”

“Very obvious?”

Rong Rong raised her hand to make a gesture. Then, she realized that she couldn’t describe the difference between Su Mingxiu’s art style and the others. After swallowing for a moment, she said weakly, “It’s just… don’t you look in the mirror? Don’t you realize that your pixels… are different from the people around you? Your pixels… are too low.”

Su Mingxiu: “?”

She was also clearly stunned for a moment. After a while, she couldn’t help but laugh.

“So that’s how it is.”

From her reaction, Rong Rong realized that the way she saw herself was probably different from the way others saw her, so she subconsciously asked, “Then what do you see when you look in the mirror?”

“I won’t tell you.”

“Uh…?” Rong Rong’s expression, which had been left dumbfounded by Su Mingxiu’s answer, was slow to have a question mark pop up above her head.

When she reacted, she realized that this person was about to leave again. She was even facing away from her and waving her hand lazily behind her back. But because the pixels were too low, this handsome gesture had a comedic feel to it, “Next time you need help, tell me beforehand. I’ll be nearby.”

“Wait a minute!”

Rong Rong subconsciously took two steps toward her, “I still have questions I haven’t finished asking.”

The person who had been grabbed by her turned around very patiently, her eyes as gentle as moonlight, “Okay, ask.”

“Why… have you been helping me?”

Even though she was being enveloped by her soft gaze and gentle tone, Rong Rong was determined to ask the question that was in her heart.

“If I tell you the truth, you’d definitely run away, right?” Su Mingxiu looked at her meaningfully. As expected, just as she took two steps toward her, the other person was already trying to retreat.

She didn’t mind it and only chuckled lightly.

“I’m just teasing you.”

The person who was about to turn out of the alleyway, and who was just one step away from stepping into the bustling world outside, had half of her face illuminated by the scattered lights from the outside.

Although it was just blurry color blocks, it made people feel that her skin was definitely as white as snow.

“I’ve promised you many times that I wouldn’t bully you the next time we met—”

“I should also fulfill my promise once.”

In the previous worlds, every time they met, Su Mingxiu would be unable to resist releasing the malicious side of her heart that wanted to bully the other person because of the various immature states that the protagonists of those worlds had shown.

Only this time.

Thinking about the way that the other person had stiffened when she had seen the fruit knife in her hand in the hospital room, Su Mingxiu lowered her eyes. After leaving these words behind, she didn’t care what kind of expression Rong Rong had. She strode into the lights outside and quickly disappeared into the endless stream of traffic.

Even though she already knew what the system’s goal was this time—

And even though she already knew that, out of all the worlds from before until now, the protagonist of this world was the most unlikely to fall in love with her… maybe, this was the last world that she would be able to come to.

Chapter 194: The Ones Who Can’t Be Shaken Off (13)

The spectators, who had always only enjoyed watching human life being mercilessly trampled by beasts, suddenly saw a different type of fighter today. The audience, both above and below, became a bit rowdy. Some started to applaud, feeling that today’s performance was very creative. And others—

Looked toward the last row from under their masks, silently waiting for the attitude of the person who was hosting this “performance.” Would they simply present a program according to the old rules, or would they give them some new entertainment?

Countless playing card masks looked over, making Wei Shang, who had diverted her interest to other things, look over with a bad mood. Especially when she saw the dog’s head that Su Mingxiu was stepping on, her expression became even more unpleasant.

After a moment, she released the hand that had been restraining Rong Rong and also stood up from her seat. She looked down at the person who was, rather than in an octagonal cage, more like she was locked in a dog cage, “Although I’ve seen this kind of lingering and desperate struggle many times, this time, since everyone has a bit of expectation for you, you can try to make a condition.”

After a pause, Wei Shang curled her lips slightly under her mask, “If I’m in a good mood, maybe I’ll agree to it.”

Grumble.

Standing right next to her, Rong Rong, who had been trying to find an opportunity to escape because she was extremely unwilling, could feel the extremely bad aura emanating from her body.

If she hadn’t been sure that the chains on the necks of the dogs next to her were securely fastened, she would have suspected that she would be reduced to the food of these beasts in the next second.

And because of this, Rong Rong had the time to look at the person who was trapped in the cage again. Although she wasn’t sure what kind of abilities Su Mingxiu, the game bug, had,

But thinking about how she had encountered the other person in so many different places, Rong Rong was sure that this person definitely had the ability to leave the current situation unscathed.

But…

Why wasn’t Su Mingxiu leaving?

With the mask blocking her face, she didn’t hide her expression at this moment. She was watching the direction of the octagonal cage with some worry. Even Rong Rong herself didn’t realize that, at this moment, her expression, in addition to a hint of indescribable expectation, was also carrying a trace of fear.

It was at this time that Su Mingxiu’s unique and very recognizable voice entered her ears, “If I can survive here today, how about you give me the person next to you?”

Rong Rong stopped breathing.

The person next to her suddenly raised her hand and placed it on her shoulder. She leaned in and said to her, “Since you’re not planning on running, then you should watch this performance properly.” Then, without thinking, she smiled even more exaggeratedly toward the cage, “Okay, if you have the ability to survive, then I’ll give her to you.”

The situation, which had already seemed like a love triangle, became even more confusing after Wei Shang’s answer. It made what was a simple emotional line between them become unpredictable.

Rong Rong tried her best not to think about the reason for Su Mingxiu’s sudden performance. She only realized that with Wei Shang’s dangerous personality that couldn’t be tolerated by the world of daylight, the later she left, the more danger she would encounter.

While taking advantage of the fact that that situation had been interrupted, she sat down again. Even though Wei Shang’s arm was around hers, her hands were placed directly on her knees. She controlled the trembling of her voice and said softly, “If she really wins, are you really planning on giving me to her?”

“Are you angry?” Wei Shang’s mask came closer to her, her voice still affectionate, as if she hadn’t made that agreement with a stranger to give away the person next to her, “I’ll tell you quietly, you’re very important to me. Even if she wins, I won’t give you to her. Does that make you happy now?”

It didn’t make her happier at all.

A large red “X” appeared in Rong Rong’s heart. But she didn’t show it. She only turned her head, looking at the person who was making intimate gestures next to her through the two small holes in her mask. The person was more cold-blooded than anyone else.

If Tang Yiyi’s feelings for her were like that of a person for a porcelain doll in a shop window, she would spend the most money to dress her up and change her clothes.

But if she found out that this doll had developed her own thoughts one day and disobeyed her, she would easily take back her previous effort and lightly abandon this doll, and get a new obedient one—

Then Wei Shang, Po Er, and Rong Si, were an even more extreme type than that. For Po Er, Rong Rong could only be her one and only muse. If her gaze landed on someone else and no longer looked at her, then she would destroy what she couldn’t have.

For Rong Si, she was the light. As for Wei Shang…

This kind of overlooking gaze was even more obvious.

The meaning of Rong Rong for her wasn’t even as much as the dogs that she spent her days with. If she couldn’t give her enough novelty to make her happy, this dangerous woman would quickly dispose of her like trash.

Thinking about it this way, defining these people as “girlfriends” was also a humiliation of true feelings in this game.

Which one of these people was worthy of being associated with love?

They were all just beasts that were wearing a “love” mask and ate people unscrupulously.

“I’m thinking too much,” Rong Rong continued, maintaining her usual persona, “Your answer just now made me a bit dissatisfied, which is why I’m in a bad mood now and don’t want to play with you anymore.”

Every time she said a sentence, the aura under Wei Shang’s King mask became more and more dangerous. The dogs, who had been restless next to her, and who wanted to rush over to bite the enemy after their companions in the cage were being beaten one by one, were now trying their best to suppress the urge to paw the ground and were lying down quietly.

Wei Shang replied to her with an ambiguous tone, “If you’re angry and want me to coax you, Rong Rong can say it more clearly. If you lose your patience with me so easily, then I’ll be very hurt too.”

“Can you answer one question for me?”

Rong Rong didn’t follow her rhythm. Instead, she started a new topic, “What am I to you?”

Wei Shang: “?”

She was already on the verge of anger and thought that Rong Rong really had some messy entanglement with the person in the cage.

But now, when she heard the other person ask this, an idea suddenly popped into her mind—was she having a tantrum with her?

After all, she had just agreed to give her to someone else.

So she softened her voice and said to Rong Rong in a coaxing tone, “Of course you’re very important to me, Rong Rong. I haven’t even asked you what your relationship with that person is. Why are you getting angry at me first?”

Since she had gotten her answer, Su Mingxiu hadn’t looked at the audience seats again.

Although these vicious dogs couldn’t pose much of a threat to her, in a particularly extreme situation, she could always change her identity and leave. But since she had chosen to stay, she would naturally do her best.

The octagonal cage was filled with a thick, bloody smell, which made the remaining dogs even more manic. They didn’t care whether the source of this smell was a human or one of their own. Under the influence of hunger and blood, everything that emitted a smell was just food.

As long as they were alive, and as long as they still felt hungry, they had to try their best to get a piece of meat with their teeth.

The blood was flowing out of the cage. The madness, despair, and irrational anger inside ignited the passion of the spectators. Su Mingxiu only had the iron chain that was connected to the dog collars in her hand, and even one side was restricted, which made the already tattered clothes on her body even more worn.

The octagonal cage had been specially modified, making it impossible for people to leave it easily. Su Mingxiu was locked inside, surrounded by blood and sin. She couldn’t hear the words from the outside.

At the same time.

Rong Rong’s answer rang out, “I don’t have any relationship with her. I just thought she looked familiar—but you, Shan Shang, your answer wasn’t specific. What am I to you? A toy? A pet? Or something else?”

“How can you say that about yourself?” Wei Shang raised her hand again to hug her waist. She didn’t know what kind of nausea Rong Rong felt as she was so close to her, with the smell of iron permeating the air, “Even if you’re a toy, you’re my favorite one.”

Oh?

At this time, Rong Rong, taking advantage of the cover of the mask, felt that after her values had been shaken and damaged, the tall building that she had rebuilt was also distorted. “System, did you hear that?”

[I’m just her toy. We’re not even a couple, so naturally we can’t talk about breaking up. According to this theory, I should be considered to have broken up with her, right?]

After all, if a relationship didn’t exist, there was no way to sever it.

The system didn’t expect her to be using such a bizarre way to exploit the breakup bug. It was silent for a while, “…”

And Rong Rong had even taken the lead to set the tone, “Is that so? I really like this answer. I thought you were going to give me some vulgar answer like ‘I’m your girlfriend’.”

Wei Shang replied thoughtfully, “You don’t like being my girlfriend?”

Immediately after, she continued very straightforwardly, “Then you won’t be.”

Rong Rong pleased her so much, she would do whatever she wanted.

Rong Rong: “System, did you hear that? The other party has also denied this relationship. Can you determine that the breakup is successful?”

If this method could work, then for the remaining Rong Si and Yu Wu, Rong Rong’s “108 Ways to Break Up” would be even easier.

Just as she thought that the system wouldn’t agree, she heard the mechanical voice in her mind suddenly reply:

[Congratulations, player, on your successful breakup with Wei Shang—]

[You’re one step closer to returning to the real world.]

It was also at this time that the last cries in the octagonal cage died down. When the smell of iron had almost dyed the air of the underground second level red, Su Mingxiu’s somewhat hoarse voice, as if she had exhausted all her strength, was transmitted from inside:

“I won. Can we fulfill our promise?”

Chapter 193: The Ones Who Can’t Be Shaken Off (12)

When the pixelated Su Mingxiu looked at her from the wire-mesh octagonal cage, the masked VIPs on both sides of the steps also looked at her at the same time. This silent gaze oppressed the air, making the danger roar in Rong Rong’s ears.

Even Wei Shang’s hand that had been around her waist suddenly tightened, almost forcing most of her weight onto herself.

Their masks bumped together, creating a slight sound. Then, Wei Shang’s heroic voice came from close by, with a very clear warning, “What, do you know her?”

If it had been a completely unfamiliar passerby, Rong Rong would probably have been able to close her eyes and not look at the tragedy, comforting herself that it was all fake, just a game setting—

But once the person facing those vicious dogs became a friend with whom she had exchanged names, she could no longer remain silent.

In her mind, a red alarm was constantly reminding her that if she didn’t want to lose her precious life in this realistic holographic game experience, then the best solution was to try her best to suppress the abnormality from before, and pretend that nothing had happened.

Even her system, which she never summoned and never appeared, rarely dropped a sentence in her mind, “If the player wants to leave this game, they cannot maintain an intimate relationship with anyone. In addition to the five girlfriends in the background settings, the player cannot fall for anyone else in the game, or it will automatically be considered that the game has continued.”

This long sentence was like a blow to the head. It pushed all the words that Rong Rong wanted to say to disrupt this deathmatch back into her throat, to the point that she opened her lips and found that she couldn’t say a single word.

She even shook her head in confusion.

Wei Shang thought about how every time she had invited this person to her territory before, the other person would cleverly find an excuse to avoid it. At that time, she thought that this person was trying to remain mysterious in front of her, so she didn’t want to explore everything about her. Wei Shang, who was immersed in this game of hide-and-seek, was looking forward to the joy of discovering a new secret about the other person every time they met.

For this reason, she had even restrained her urge to investigate the other person.

If she read the strategy guide so quickly, wouldn’t that be boring?

But today was different. Before entering this arena, she had given Rong Rong so much time to think.

Until she was in front of this door, she had countless opportunities to refuse… but this woman hadn’t left.

So she wouldn’t give the other person a chance to escape again.

Even though she knew that Rong Rong’s actions were like an attempt to quibble, Wei Shang looked down at the octagonal cage and then looked back. Through the two small holes in her mask, she saw the bright red mark of the Queen of Hearts on Rong Rong’s mask, spreading out on the white background, giving a person a feeling that the white had been dyed with a sinister color.

So what if she knew her?

She thought. Now that Rong Rong had entered her world, everyone else had lost their qualification.

…Especially, those who were about to die.

The sharp lines of Wei Shang’s arm that had no extra fat had long determined that every inch of muscle under her skin was hiding power. This also meant that when she wanted to do something to Rong Rong, with her soft body, there was no way for her to resist. She was almost half-pulled and half-carried to the highest seat.

It was the best view in the audience, like the couple’s seats at the back of the movie theater.

After the sudden voice had briefly alerted the wealthy people, they saw that she had been brought to the top as if she had lost all her strength, and even more speculation arose in their hearts—

Guesses such as “The person next to the fighting ring boss found a mistress, and the boss, after finding out, was enraged and designed today’s show to beat the couple” spread through the crowd.

Even the guest who had actually ordered this program thought it was very interesting. Adding another layer of cruelty to this terrifying and exciting scene was like giving two cold corpses an identity and a story. Romeo and Juliet, Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai. Since ancient times, the reason why these couples who had been torn apart and had suffered a terrible fate could be remembered was because of this unattainable love.

This octagonal cage, now, not only carried their vile viewing pleasure and vented their instinctive bestiality that they had to hide in all kinds of places, but now, it also contained a melodramatic story, making the viewing experience better than ever before.

And the protagonist of the story, Rong Rong, was still a bit dazed and confused.

All of her thoughts were being affected by the system’s sudden reminder. She knew that if she wanted to get rid of everything related to this terrible game, she had to… had to keep her distance from everyone.

Lock her heart and love away.

The mask blocked all of her lost and confused expressions. The person in the octagonal cage, wearing tattered clothes that were almost impossible to tell what the original material had been, looked toward the audience. She just so happened to make eye contact with Rong Rong.

From such a distance, and with these identical masks, she was able to easily lock onto Rong Rong’s location in the darkness, making the person who was sitting next to Wei Shang stiffen.

Su Mingxiu would die.

Among the chaotic thoughts that were bubbling in Rong Rong’s mind like bubbles, a small bubble like this briefly floated up, and she captured it in an instant.

Yes.

She would die.

[System], she suddenly asked in her mind, “The bug that I exchanged with you last time, was the character and the data that were exchanged completely erased?”

[Yes.]

The system had a hunch that the bug she had seen was probably not just that one. Otherwise, Rong Rong wouldn’t have brought it up in such an unrelated situation.

But the data that had been extracted earlier was very unstable. The system couldn’t use it to track more, so it could only condescend to take the initiative to ask, “Have you seen a bug again? As usual, we will reward you with generous compensation this time.”

But Rong Rong rarely didn’t ask what the reward was.

Her gaze was always fixed on that blurry color block. She suddenly felt that it was so unfortunate for Su Mingxiu to have met her…

The first time they met, she had been exchanged as a bug. Now, she was facing danger because of her. Either she would die in the mouths of the beasts in that octagonal cage, or she would be exchanged again.

Even if Su Mingxiu seemed to have an endless amount of life.

Another bubble popped up in her heart with a “gurgle.”

“How do you know which second she’ll reach the end?”

“Woof!”

The bull terriers that were mostly locked in the cage, with a few that had come to Wei Shang’s side, seemed to sense the change in the aura of the person in the cage and started to become a bit restless.

If Wei Shang’s left hand wasn’t holding the leash so tightly, she had no doubt that the dogs would run over there immediately.

Although she wasn’t particularly familiar with this kind of emotional change, she remembered it very well—even though the last two times the dogs had shown this kind of state, the people who had made them so restless had been dead for a long time.

She casually rubbed their heads, and looked toward the person in the cage thoughtfully.

But soon, Wei Shang looked away again. She didn’t even pay attention to who this person was, what her relationship was with Rong Rong. She didn’t even care when this one-sided slaughter would begin.

When her clothes were pulled, Rong Rong hadn’t reacted yet. When she realized that the actions of the person beside her were full of teasing and sensuality, she suddenly widened her eyes.

…This was a public place!

The front was full of spectators!

She instinctively raised her hand, wanting to stop the other person’s movements. Her peripheral vision even subconsciously tried to click on the skill activation page, planning that if she really couldn’t resist it, she would just numb herself and activate the skill while burying her head in the sand.

[The conditions are not met. The skill cannot be activated.]

After the same voice rang out in her mind three times, Rong Rong was completely pulled into Wei Shang’s arms. Even the mask on her face was a bit crooked. Her back was covered in sweat. She didn’t know why the skill that she had been able to use with Yu Wu and Po Er was failing at this crucial moment.

What was the reason?

Could it be that it could only be used in a one-on-one, closed environment?

Yes, the system had said that this skill was only simulating traces. In reality, the two characters who were participating in the story were both in a state of unconsciousness. Their minds would have an extra dream-like memory that represented everything. Because everything was fake, the simulated traces on the body… would also gradually disappear within half an hour.

But now—

If she couldn’t use the skill, Rong Rong felt that she was done for. Accepting the perverted skill of this game to replace her was already her bottom line as a single dog. Now, skipping over the steps of having a crush, confessing, and confirming their relationship, and then giving her a crowded bus ride, she refused.

Her values were also about to collapse.

“Don’t do this,” she knew that the more flustered she was, the more likely it was to make Wei Shang, who had been ignited by the atmosphere of the arena, even more interested.

So her actions of refusing weren’t too big, but they contained all of her strength. “I don’t like it here.”

“But I like it,” Wei Shang pried apart her fingers one by one, and leaned in, completely enveloping her in her own aura and shadow, “Little thing, since you willingly stepped into the hunter’s trap, then don’t try to struggle. It will only make your end more tragic.”

She paused for a rare moment, her chin resting on Rong Rong’s head, making her look at the vicious dogs who were about to have their chains released, who had been hungry for several days, and were about to pounce on their only “food”:

“Or do you want to be in there more than you want to be by my side?”

Rong Rong’s resistance paused for a moment.

Was she going to be a subservient audience member in this audience, completely transformed by this holographic game into someone who adapted to everything, and live out her life by barely surviving?

Or was she going to enter that octagonal cage and become a tragic fate who would die without a whole corpse, and even be declared dead in reality?

She thought that the identity of [player] was too ironic for her.

At least in this game, she wasn’t the one playing the game. She had never enjoyed even a bit of the happiness of playing a game. All along, the game had been playing her.

At the moment that Rong Rong, who was in the last row of the audience, suddenly stood up, Su Mingxiu, who was in the octagonal cage, was as if she didn’t smell the bloody stench that wouldn’t go away, no matter how much it was cleaned, and was walking toward one of the vicious dogs.

One of them barked at her, and the chain that was attached to its collar rattled loudly.

But she raised her foot that wasn’t wearing shoes, which was covered in blood and dust, and stepped hard on the vicious dog. Then, she suddenly bent down and unfastened the dog’s chain—

“Clang, clang.”

The sound attracted all the spectators.

“One-sided slaughter is too boring, everyone,” the person, who was holding the iron chain and stepping on a vicious dog, suddenly transmitted her voice to the whole arena. She looked ordinary, but at this moment, it seemed like she was radiating a unique light from her soul, “Do you want to see something more exciting?”