Birthday Party
Chu Li opened his eyes and what he saw was no longer the unfamiliar ceiling of the community, but a cozy warm yellow chandelier. The layout of the room was familiar to him.
The movement outside the door made her dazed, until the door was opened, the emotions suppressed in the game were released, her eyes turned red, and tears were about to burst out.
The furious mother didn't notice, but asked loudly: "Your teacher called me three times! Chu Li, do you want to rebel?"
Chu Li was very depressed when he returned to normal life after a life-and-death experience. The first thing he received was not flowers, applause or hugs, but being urged to go to school.
After arriving at school, the second class was over. Chu Li came out of the office and returned to the classroom. Amid the caring voices of his classmates around him, Chu Li looked towards the empty desk in front of him.
That was Xiang Liangyu's desk. There was no book on the empty desk and chair. Chu Li looked at it for a long time and asked knowingly, "Where is she?"
Someone said: "Xiang Liangyu? Her condition seems to have worsened again. This time she has suspended her studies..."
Chu Li responded blankly.
After successfully leaving the game, Chu Li's life returned to its normal routine.
Xiang Liangyu also dropped out of school due to "health reasons". Her classmates speculated about her condition, and some said that she had a disease that had never appeared before and had been taken away for research.
When Chu Li heard this, he just sneered and did not join their discussion. Instead, he concentrated on studying.
The reason was nothing else but a strange number that sent her two text messages:
"Good luck in the college entrance exam."
"There are rewards for getting into a 985 university."
The studies in her senior year of high school weighed on her nerves. Every time she looked up from the piles of test papers and stared at the empty desk in front of her, she would occasionally lose focus.
Feeling irritable in the summer, Chu Li always thinks of that summer during his nap, which was not as hot as this summer.
At the beginning of the first semester of high school, students need to take the class placement test. After finishing the test, Chu Li was bored and began to scribble on the draft paper. Her drawings were terrible, but she was very self-appreciative. She could find similarities between the messy lines and the original painting, and then she called herself the contemporary Da Vinci.
Suddenly, a muffled laugh came from the side. Coincidentally, the exam bell rang at this time, and the exam was over. Amid the noise of papers and the sound of tables and chairs moving, Chu Li turned his head in dissatisfaction.
A girl with long hair tied in a ponytail, with her chin on her hand, smiled, her eyes still on her draft paper. As if she hadn't expected Chu Li to turn around, her smile froze, but there was no embarrassment on her face. She said, "It's a good drawing."
She was sitting next to the window. The sycamore trees that grew wildly in the summer were extremely lush, with layers of green leaves casting a shadow around her.
The girl was very pretty, fair-skinned and smart. From her expression and tone, Chu Li did not sense any mockery, but rather affirmation.
She was stunned. She glanced at the draft paper, then looked at the girl, and found that she had stood up with the test paper and left her sight.
Chu Li followed closely behind. When he handed in the paper, he glanced at the name column. In the delicate handwriting were written three words: "Xiang Liangyu".
When the class list was released, Chu Li was placed in the key class. On the first day of school, a classmate's seat was left vacant for a week. The head teacher only explained that the student was in poor health and would not be in class for a long time.
Poor health could not guarantee attendance, but she could still be admitted to the key class, which was enough to show how hard she was doing. Later, Chu Li asked around in the class and found out that he was the provincial champion and had been admitted to the class with full marks in the class placement test.
The second time I saw Xiang Liangyu was during military training. Although she was not in good health, she still had to follow the team during the training.
The large military training uniform was so big that it could almost fit two of her. This was the real thought of Chu Li, who shared the same dormitory with her.
After a week of military training, Chu Li discovered that Xiang Liangyu didn't eat or drink, and would only pretend to eat a little when she was in a crowded place. Chu Li calculated that what she ate and drank was only enough for two mouthfuls of rice.
Considering that her body was similar to that of Lin Daiyu, Chu Li had already determined that her poor physique was linked to her lack of appetite, so every time it was mealtime, she would always sit with her with a full bowl of food, and then pass the delicious dishes to Xiang Liangyu.
Chu Li thought Xiang Liangyu was moved. After the classmates in the class had their own friends, they were unwilling to accept other people. Except for necessary and spontaneous exchanges, not many people talked to Xiang Liangyu.
Every time he saw Xiang Liangyu, she was always alone. Chu Li couldn't bear to see someone alone, so he wanted to become her good friend.
It doesn’t matter if we can’t be together all the time, and it doesn’t matter if we don’t want to exchange secrets, as long as she is happy and healthy.
Sure enough, with Chu Li's feeding, Xiang Liangyu took fewer and fewer sick days, and in the end he almost never took any leave, except that he became thinner and thinner.
But Chu Li soon discovered that Xiang Liangyu didn't seem to need friends and preferred to be alone rather than have someone accompany her. A friend who was an onlooker told her that Xiang Liangyu would be natural and relaxed when she was alone, but when she was accompanied by someone, her behavior was a bit stiff, which showed that she was uncomfortable.
Chu Li didn't believe it, but after spending so much time with her, Xiang Liangyu's discomfort had become obvious. Chu Li was sad to leave her, and when she saw that she was indeed happier without her, she became even sadder.
But after they separated, Chu Li discovered that Xiang Liangyu's appetite had decreased significantly again, and not eating or drinking had become the norm. After a two-month sick leave, Xiang Liangyu returned to class, even thinner than before.
So Chu Li thought of a good idea. Since Xiang Liangyu didn't need her, she wouldn't pester her. Instead, she would give her the food in her bowl at mealtime and watch her finish it.
When I occasionally meet her on the street, I will be so mean as to gently pull her hair. When I try to talk to her but am ignored, I will deliberately make a few sarcastic remarks.
She didn't know that her behavior was considered bullying in the eyes of others. But Chu Li was still very happy because Xiang Liangyu's sick leave became less and less due to her feeding.
She communicated with her more and more frequently, and even after repeated pestering, she added her contact information and sent her meaningless messages every day, even though she never received a reply.
A friend accidentally saw her profile and said calmly: "She blocked you."
Chu Li angrily blocked Xiang Liangyu at the school gate and asked her why she blocked him. The matter came to an end when Xiang Liangyu removed her from the blacklist in person and sent her a random letter.
Chu Li reduced the number of text messages he sent her and occasionally asked her about study problems. Of course, Xiang Liangyu would only reply with questions about study.
In the following two years, Chu Li noticed a game promotion, which was an escape game that she liked very much, but her attention was attracted by a sentence with an asterisk in the promotion that was difficult to detect.
“Once you win the game, you can realize your wildest dreams.”
For some unknown reason, Chu Li clicked the reservation button.
But soon, she became disdainful of her own naive idea. It was just a game. At most, she could send some big gift packages and realize her dream. Her dream was to become rich overnight and have ten more zeros in her savings.
It was a mock exam for senior high school students, and Chu Li's grades dropped significantly. After many conversations, Chu Li didn't care. She felt that she could survive the adversity and become a dark horse.
By chance, when she came home from school, she saw a courier box at the door with a logo of "No Escape" on the shell. Chu Li was very surprised, and when she looked up the game in the evening, she realized how much attention this game had attracted.
She recorded an unboxing video, shot the invitation letter from front to back without any blind spots, and sent it to Xiang Liangyu, mocking her for never having seen such a good thing, and said that if she was willing to help her with tutoring and improve her grades, she would be merciful and let her play with it for one minute.
Then he got the word "get lost" from Xiang Liangyu as he wished.
Chu Li looked at her angry "get out" and rolled on the ground with laughter. It was at this moment that she discovered a gold-plated note at the bottom of the gift box.
On it was a row of questions: "If you were victorious, what (any item or idea) would you most want?"
Below is a space for writing.
Chu Li laughed disdainfully: "Need I say more? I got full marks in the college entrance examination and became rich overnight with ten zeros at the end of my bank account!"
When she sat back at the table and was about to write, Chu Li curled her lips and hesitated for a long time. She stared at the instructions and the invitation letter. After an unknown amount of time, she sighed and said "Forget it", and put down her pen:
"I hope Xiang Liangyu will be healthy and free from all diseases"
When he was about to put a period on it, Chu Li paused and wrote:
"Become good friends with her."
Later, her wish came true, but only the first half of it.
[The highly anticipated holographic escape game "No Turn Back" has been officially released, and players who have the internal test qualification can enter the official website and use the invitation code on the invitation letter to redeem exclusive gifts~]
On the afternoon of the day after the college entrance examination, Chu Li turned on his mobile phone, and Xiang Liangyu's message and hot news popped up together.
Sick Beauty: Invitation code, 586321.
Chu Li declined his classmates' invitation to go out for a gathering. After returning home, he turned on his computer, logged into the official website, and entered the invitation code sent by Xiang Liangyu.
The screen flickered for a moment, and then Chu Li felt dizzy and fell on the table.
Chu Li was awakened by a loud noise. She opened her eyes and saw the familiar Yun Panshan in front of her. Chu Li was so scared that she took a few steps back and bumped into someone from behind.
She turned around, and Xiang Liangyu put his hands on her shoulders, supported her unstable body, and raised his eyebrows: "What, are you stupid? Don't you even recognize us?"
Chu Li didn't react: "What's going on?"
Xiang Liangyu smiled slightly and looked forward with her: "The rewards are distributed in advance. I let the system make these worlds into real games. There has not been a single negative review after they were launched. You can come here to play anytime and anywhere in the future. I have also set up a dress-up system for you."
Chu Li looked at the scene in front of him. They were at the entrance of the second-floor Life Tower. The city that was always shrouded in rainy nights was now surrounded by stars and there was no longer any sense of oppression as before.
A large number of players were walking on the forked road in front of the Life Tower, with banners and balloons hanging above the buildings, creating a cheerful atmosphere. The colorful lights in the central square were bright, and the lively noise infected the entire place.
It's like a sleepless city that's bustling all night long.
"Xiang Liangyu! Xiang Liangyu!"
Two familiar voices rang out amid the noise. Xiu Lu and Fang Zi waved at him from the crowd. Xiu Lu said, "Xiang Liangyu, Quan Shengyan is being harassed again!"
Xiang Liangyu held Chu Li's hand and walked towards the crowd. In the center of the square, Quan Shengyan was surrounded by countless players. Fang Zi said, "These are all the players who survived the previous game because of Quan Shengyan's help. After entering the invitation code and entering the game, the first thing they did was to come and thank him."
Xiang Liangyu smiled muffledly, looked at Quan Shengyan's slightly embarrassed expression, and said, "Then I'll go over and save him."
She let go of Chu Li's hand, went deep into the crowd, climbed onto Quan Shengyan's arm, and led him away from the crowd while talking and laughing.
Chu Li was thoughtful and searching among the crowd. Fang Zi seemed to see what she was thinking and said faintly, "Don't look for it. Since the rest area can also use props, Gu Ye and Ji Rendong don't dare to come to the public rest area now."
Chu Li agreed: "Indeed, if I were them, the first thing I would do is fight them to the death."
Xiu Lu and Fang Zi laughed loudly, took her arms on both sides, and led her to the NPC rest area.
The central community rest area is divided into two parts after the remodeling, the NPC area and the player area. Familiar NPCs and players gather in the living room on the first floor.
Gu Ye's eyes drooped: "My sister, can you not make it so complicated? Can't you just choose the system template?"
"No!" A strong voice cut off Gu Ye's words and he fell on the sofa, feeling worse than death.
The same thing happened to Ji Rending, who sat on the carpet with a deathly pale face.
Xiu Lu: "They are discussing how to celebrate Xiang Liangyu's birthday."
Chu Li: "Celebrating birthday? Isn't Xiang Liangyu's birthday in..."
She paused halfway through her sentence because she didn't know how time was calculated in this world.
"According to the time calculation of this world, Xiang Liangyu's birthday is today." She looked at the system interface and said, "Ji Rendong, it's your turn to hold Xiang Liangyu back."
Ji Rending closed his eyes and fell backwards with a look of despair.
Gu Ye raised his foot and stepped on his back as he was about to fall, pushing him forward: "Stop pretending to be dead, go quickly."
Ji Rendong said nothing, stood up silently, walked out the door without uttering a single curse word.
Chu Li was shocked and asked, "What happened to him?"
Jiang Cangshu: "He is sick, ignore him. You are Xiang Liangyu, right? My name is Jiang Cangshu, and I am also a beta player."
Chu Li: "Hello, my name is Chu Li."
The creative ideas that the girls came up with together were unparalleled, leaving the male NPCs and players present dumbfounded. In just a few minutes, they had finalized the layout of the venue and template.
Yun Panshan: "Great..."
Bai Chuncao held Bunny in her arms and agreed, "That's a good idea."
Master Liming snorted coldly: "I've already said that you think about it and we do it."
Jiang Cangshu spread the drawings on the table, took out a pile of materials from the system space and placed them on the ground , instructing everyone how to arrange them.
The style of the living room on the first floor is very simple, because no NPC will refuse a room and choose a public living room with no sense of privacy, so there are very few pieces of furniture in the living room, only the initial sofa, coffee table, bar and other necessary furniture.
Xiulu didn't like cold lights. Coincidentally, Quan Shengyan brought the system into the living room at this moment. She ran to Quan Shengyan and explained the situation to the system. The system readily agreed.
Fang Zi handed a pile of colored papers to Quan Shengyan and said, "Hang these on the wall. Ah Chu Li, take out the colored papers from the box, and let's write..."
She fell silent in the middle of her words, then strode forward and rushed behind Guye, punching him on the head. She said angrily: "Guye! Is there something wrong with your brain? Why do you have to write on the wall first?"
Gu was also hit on the forehead and hit the wall. Now he had a headache: "I just thought that this wall is so empty, I wanted to write something..."
Xiang Liangyu and Ji Rendong looked at each other. She wanted to go into the house, but Ji Rendong blocked the door. Xiang Liangyu asked, "What do you want?"
Ji Rending took a deep breath and shook his head. Xiang Liangyu looked at him suspiciously, but ignored him and walked around him into the house. However, just after she took a step, Ji Rending also moved and blocked her way.
Ji Rendong: "You can't go in. I want to eat something. Take me to buy it."
Xiang Liangyu: "There is a food section in the system mall, buy now and get it now."
Ji Rendong pushed Xiang Liangyu and collapsed: "I have something to tell you!"
Xiang Liangyu stopped and said, "You say."
Ji Rendong: "I want to stay and become an NPC."
It was exciting to return to the real world, but when the sweet shell faded with time, he found that he could no longer fit in. The conditioned reflexes and living habits formed in the game world had made him regarded as an alien by those around him.
He hated this world, but had to stay in it.
Xiang Liangyu found Ji Rendong's reluctant expression funny. She stepped forward and patted Ji Rendong on the head, saying, "So I called you here this time because I want to tell you something."
"In order to compensate you, the system has changed your memory of the game experience to the memory of your original world. Everything here will be forgotten, including any habits you have formed here."
She withdrew her hand, and while Ji Rendong was still not able to react, she walked around her and pushed the door open.
Ji Rendong suddenly reacted, turned around and shouted: "No, no, you can't go in now!"
"Bang-!"
Explosions and screams rang out together, and colored pieces flew randomly above his head. Xiang Liangyu stood at the door and accepted the welcome of the colored pieces.
The sound of taking photos continued, and the next second, countless figures appeared in front of her, shouting in unison: "Happy birthday!"
Chu Li came over with a cake of unknown shape and said, "Happy birthday. This seems to be my first time attending your birthday."
Xiang Liangyu blew out the candles. With her good eyesight, she looked at the cake that looked like it was squashed and said, "To be honest, this is my first birthday too, but I've seen other people's birthday parties. Does the cake... look like this?"
Xiu Lu turned on the light. The warm light with the erratic laser light made the room extremely dazzling. "It's all Lu Jifeng's fault. He ran in Tai Chi and fell on his face... 331, I didn't ask you to turn on this light."
The system turned off the laser light.
Lu Jifeng entered the room laughing. It was obvious that his face had been wiped clean, with only a circle of white edges left on his hair. "It's okay, it's okay. Xiang Liangyu can't eat the cake anyway, so it's okay to scrape off the top layer."
Everyone: “…”
Xiang Liangyu walked to a wall. The blue-grey wall was covered with white words of various sizes, shapes and styles. Only the four huge words "Happy Birthday" in the middle were recognized by Xiang Liangyu as Chu Li's words.
Gu Ye said faintly: "Why don't you give us some comments? We finally completed it."
Xiang Liangyu lowered his head and smiled. When he raised his eyes, his eyes were bright and he said softly, "Thank you."
"Take pictures, take pictures!" Chu Li suddenly appeared with a camera. She pushed Quan Shengyan aside, raised the camera and aimed it at herself and Xiang Liangyu. While Xiang Liangyu was looking at the camera and had no time to react or make any movement, she quickly pressed the shutter.
She took many photos with Xiang Liangyu. Xiulu walked to Quan Shengyan and whispered, "It seems like you have never taken a photo with Xiang Liangyu."
Quan Shengyan: "If I miss her, I can see her in person. We will be together every day."
Xiu Lu snorted and laughed: "Tell me, what gift did you prepare?"
She looked at the gifts prepared on the coffee table in the living room . The largest package was placed by Quan Shengyan. He did not hide anything and said, "My notes, and..."
Fang Zi rushed out and said dissatisfiedly: "Chu Li, are you going to blow up the camera? I want to take a photo with Xiang Liangyu too! Let me do it!"
Gu Ye: "What's the point of taking pictures? I see it every day. It's a waste to take pictures."
Jiang Cangshu clenched his fist and hit him hard on the back, threatening: "Just because you can see someone every day doesn't mean others can see them every day."
The system's prompt sounded throughout the living room. Everyone looked and found that the system's main screen was in mirror mode, framing all the noisy people in the living room.
Xiulu pushed Quan Shengyan to Xiang Liangyu's side. Xiang Liangyu subconsciously reached out to support Quan Shengyan. Coincidentally, at this moment, there was a "click" sound, and a chaotic photo was created.
The system produced films on the spot and distributed them to everyone present. It even photoshopped its physical form into the group photo.
A lively but short birthday party came to an end. Xiang Liangyu wanted to look at the gifts on the table slowly by herself, but no one forced her to do so. All good things must come to an end. The NPCs' game time had already begun, and only the invited players and NPCs were left in the living room.
Bai Chuncao shook her head, lowered her head and rubbed Bunny's head, and left while saying: "I won't leave here."
The rest of the players and NPCs chose not to clear their memories. Most of them spent less time in the game world and it was relatively easy for them to leave.
Only Chu Li and Ji Rending were left in the living room.
Chu Li shook his head but said nothing.
Ji Rendong remained silent for a long time after Chu Li shook his head. After a long while, he said, "I want to clear my memory."
Xiang Liangyu nodded readily and said, "Do you want to stay and play for a while before that?"
Ji Rendong stood up: "No, I want to go home."
Xiang Liangyu: "Okay. The system will take you to the new area of Life Tower."
After seeing Ji Rending off, Xiang Liangyu and Quan Shengyan separated briefly and sent Chu Li to the top floor of the Tower of Life, which is the entrance and exit of the world. The expression of the human face sculpture seemed to be more kind than before.
Xiang Liangyu and Chu Li were enjoying the breeze, and she asked, "I thought you would choose to forget everything here, just like Ji Rendong."
Chu Li's hair has grown a lot longer. The short hair she had when she entered the game has also changed to the length in the real world. At this moment, the wind blows her hair up, and she says, "I can't forget it."
She turned to look at Xiang Liangyu: "I won't say those weird sentimental words. In fact, when I was in school, I really wanted to be good friends with you."
Xiang Liangyu's smile remained unchanged.
Chu Li looked away: "But you don't seem to like me."
Xiang Liangyu smiled softly, she looked into the distance and said, "It's not that I hate you, it's that you're too good, so good that it makes me feel a little uncomfortable. If you didn't give me half of the food every day, my body really wouldn't be able to hold on until I can come back."
"The time I spent on Earth was long, long enough for me to adapt to some of the demands there."
Chu Li asked: "Will you come back?"
Xiang Liangyu shook his head: "Our body structures are different. Oxygen is poisonous to me. If I don't get used to it and come back here, I might experience birth, aging, sickness and death like you."
"But I came back here. This is my home. Home heals everything in me, including my body. So I can't leave again."
Chu Li pursed his lips.
Xiang Liangyu raised his hand and patted her head, saying, "Of course, maybe when the world ends, I'll go out and take a look."
Chu Li curled his lips: "By then I will be a great-great-grandmother."
Xiang Liangyu laughed loudly and said, "Okay Chu Li, we have been good friends for a long time, but we are both not good at speaking and stubbornly think that the other party doesn't care. You are welcome here anytime, thank you for celebrating my birthday."
The exit of the human face sculpture opened. Chu Li stood at the exit and looked back at Xiang Liangyu. As she left, she murmured, "If I choose to erase my memory, will I forget you too?"
Xiang Liangyu: "No, you will remember it, but the memory will be modified to show that I was tortured to death by the disease."
Chu Li: "That's why I don't want you to die in my memory."
Xiang Liangyu heard it, smiled slightly, and watched Chu Li leave.
So a long time ago, in that glorious summer, Xiang Liangyu raised his head from the paper, and his peripheral vision was attracted by a touch of rich color.
She turned her head to look at the short-haired girl holding the only three colored pencils, drawing on the draft paper. The crooked lines outlined the strange shapes, and she was so interested that she laughed subconsciously.
The sound of cicadas was covered by the ringing of bells. The short-haired girl covered the screen and turned her head away in dissatisfaction.
The squeaking fan, the swaying shade of the tree, the noisy classroom, that was the first time they met.
