I bid farewell to "Fantasy Jianghu" completely.
On the night that Hanyan Nation was disbanded, I closed my account and uninstalled the game. The world that once intoxicated and loved me was sealed into my memory.
But I didn’t have much time to be sad, because the next day after I deleted the game, I suddenly received a call from my mother from abroad.
"Let me attend a summer camp abroad? You've even registered?" I exclaimed in surprise.
"Why, didn't Xiao Feng tell you?" Mom seemed even more surprised than I was. "I did tell him."
Uh... it seems, it seems, indeed, I heard my brother mention it briefly, but I was busy with exams at that time and had no time to care about what happened after the exams.
"The formalities have been completed. Your flight is the day after tomorrow. Your father and I will pick you up at the airport." Mom's voice suddenly became gentler, with a hint of melancholy. "We haven't had time to go back. We really miss you... Let's take this opportunity to have a good reunion."
I naturally missed my mother terribly, so I responded immediately and neatly: "Okay."
The trip was set, and I immediately started packing. While rummaging through the boxes, I accidentally knocked over a small cardboard box on the table, and the things inside immediately fell out and scattered all over the floor.
——It’s a broken white ball.
That day at school, it was torn into pieces by Tong Weiwei and ignored by Han Yebin as if it were trash. I picked up this innocent little doll, but I never repaired it because I was busy with exams.
I bent down and put the white ball's body and torn legs back together. I ignored the half-packed luggage, silently found the needle and thread and began to mend the white ball.
I have never been as careful and serious as I am now. I sew every stitch carefully, as if as long as I work hard enough, I can mend all the wounds and make everything as new as if nothing had happened.
But the wound still existed, and the stitched white ball had no chance of returning to its original glory. It was even so crooked that it was unbearable to look at. I sighed, put it back into the gift box that originally contained it, and put a letter that I had written long ago into it.
"Brother, can you give this to Han Yebin for me?" That night, I handed the wrapped gift box to my brother. He didn't say anything, just nodded.
“Good luck in the Mathematical Olympiad!” I was leaving the day before the competition, so I couldn’t wish you all the best on the day. I could only send you encouragement in advance, “I believe you will be fine!”
My brother reached out and patted my head, saying calmly, "It's good to go out and relax. Your smile is uglier than crying now."
My brother was right. I really needed a relaxing trip. Practice has proved that relaxing is very effective. The joy of seeing my parents, the happiness of meeting new friends, and the excitement of participating in summer camp activities made me feel fulfilled and happy. If I hadn't received that email suddenly, I would have almost forgotten the unpleasant things that happened a while ago.
"Sister Xiaoshui, when will you return to the game? Everyone is waiting for you!"
The sender is Butterfly Feifei, she is the only person in the game with whom I have exchanged email addresses. Maybe she hasn’t seen me online for a long time, so she can only contact me in this way.
"I've been banned and won't play anymore." When I typed this, I was glad that I no longer felt heartbroken. At most, I felt a little regretful. "I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you before."
"Ah?" Xiaoshui replied to the email very quickly, obviously she was online, "You're not going to play because your account is blocked? Don't! We have rebuilt Hanyan Country and are waiting for you, the princess, to return! We all miss you so much!"
I was slightly stunned. Although I was surprised by the news of the reconstruction of Hanyan Kingdom, after thinking for a while, I still rejected Butterfly Feifei's invitation.
"Thank you for your concern, but... it's really not convenient for me to return to the game."
I said this vaguely, and it was obvious that there was something else going on. Seeing that I didn't want to say more, Butterfly Feifei was very tactful and didn't ask any more questions. After all, we were close friends in the game, and we were both online at the time, so we simply exchanged QQ numbers and went online to chat directly. Butterfly Feifei always loved gossip, and she suddenly mentioned something.
"By the way, do you remember Walking Alone at Night? That guy has built a kingdom of his own now."
"What?" I was stunned. "No way?"
"Yeah, everyone couldn't believe it at first. But you know, Lone Night Walker is so famous. As soon as he founded his kingdom, many players immediately asked to join. But they were all rejected. So now he is still a commander without any troops. Hahaha, don't you think it's funny?"
I didn't know what to say anymore, so I just mechanically agreed: "Yeah, yeah..."
"But I heard that he doesn't just randomly reject people. He just asks applicants a question, and so far no one has ever answered it correctly, so no one can enter his kingdom."
"Oh..." I replied calmly, but my heart was already churning -
Questions? And you have to answer them correctly to join the kingdom? When did he start playing tricks like this?
This conversation was only the shortest and most insignificant of all the gossips about Butterfly Feifei. She quickly turned to talk about more interesting and popular topics with great interest, but I began to lose focus. After Butterfly Feifei went offline, I was alone for a while, but my hand involuntarily opened the official website of "Fantasy Jianghu" and downloaded the client.
I just haven’t played games for a long time, and suddenly I wanted to kill some monsters - I said to myself - that’s really all, that’s all!
The game was downloaded very quickly. Of course, I would not activate the main account "Jianshui Shuangtong", but instead created a secondary account with a vest. In order to have sufficient concealment, I also deliberately chose a male character, dressed in white clothes, elegant and extraordinary, and his name was "Qianli Buliuxing".
After logging into the game, the first thing I did was to open the kingdom list and enter the name of "Lone Night Walker". His kingdom was immediately displayed. It was a small first-level country with a very sloppy name, called "Night Walker Kingdom".
He removed the "独" from his name? I thought to myself with amusement - is he finally going to stop being alone? But why did he reject all the other people who applied to join him?
Out of curiosity, I clicked the "Apply to Join" button, and an input box immediately popped up on the screen with a question written on it.
——Do you know what my wish is?
I almost choked on my saliva. Is this the question that Butterfly Feifei mentioned that stumped everyone? Oh my god, is Han Yebin's brain broken? Doesn't he know how much this question lowers the cool image of Du Yexing among the players? I even suspect that those who failed the application were not unable to answer, but were shocked on the spot.
"Your wish is to become stronger and protect the people you want to protect."
When I came to my senses, I had already sent this sentence. My heart sank, and I realized that it was bad - if this was really the correct answer, wouldn't I be exposed? Du Yexing has always been a loner in the game. If it weren't for the wishing stone incident, I definitely wouldn't know what his wish was.
Just when I was feeling guilty and wanted to log off immediately, a crisp "ding" sound was heard, and then I saw a sentence flash across the screen.
——You have been accepted into the Night Kingdom.
As I expected, after opening the Kingdom Channel, the message about Walking Alone at Night was immediately sent.
"How do you know the answer?"
I panicked for a moment, but calmed down immediately.
"My guess."
"Guessed?" Du Yexing obviously didn't believe it.
"Because all the heroes in cartoons say that," I said confidently. "If you don't believe me, just search online. The male protagonists in hot-blooded cartoons all have the same wish!"
"But I'm not the hero in a hot-blooded anime."
"Who said that!" I started to make up a lie, using my best tricks, "You are the number one killer in Fantasy Jianghu, a hero in the eyes of many players! This wish is very consistent with your identity!"
Walking alone at night was silent for a long while, and it took him a long time to type a sentence.
"You're lucky," he said. "Then stay here."
Lone Nightwalker is a master at the game, but he is definitely not a good ruler - this is the conclusion I came to after spending five days in the Nightwalker Kingdom.
Every day, I would go to the kingdom to sign in on time, but he ignored me, the only member, and let me fend for myself. He didn't lead the team to level up, didn't participate in dungeon activities, didn't give honorary rewards, nothing. He seemed to have stopped his own business as a killer, and just sat at the city gate every day, holding a white ball, and then sat there all day long - at least when I was online, he was in this state.
"Master, what are you doing sitting here every day?" One day, I couldn't hold it in any longer and rushed over to ask him.
Du Yexing glanced at me indifferently, then looked towards the outside of the city again.
"Waiting for someone."
"Who are you waiting for?" I became curious.
He casually asked, "Guess?"
It is definitely not my style to retreat when faced with difficulties. Since I didn’t want to talk when walking alone at night, I started trying hard to create a topic.
"Look at you, you look so bitter and resentful, are you waiting for your lover?" This was just a teasing joke, and after saying it I burst into laughter without any image, "Hahaha..."
But I soon stopped laughing because Du Ye Xing was looking at me coldly, as if he was an idiot.
"Is it funny?" he asked stiffly.
"Not funny." I also felt like an idiot just now.
"Hmph." Du Yexing glared at me and ignored me.
But I am a person who cannot bear loneliness, and now I am using a pseudonym, so I have no pressure of having my identity discovered. A day later, I went to talk to Du Ye Xing again. This time, he finally did not ignore me, but ordered me to sit at the city gate and "wait together" with him.
"I don't even know who you are waiting for, why are we waiting together?" I asked with a bitter face.
"You just wait when I tell you to. Why are you whining all the time? Are you even a man?" Du Yexing said with contempt.
I'm not a man!
I protested in my mind, but I didn't dare to say it out loud. I could only pretend to be a "manly man" and sit with him at the city gate. I don't know how long we sat there, but Du Yexing suddenly spoke.
“I’m actually a very extreme person.”
You also know that it is too much to indiscriminately drag an innocent person to sit and wait for people with you?
I complained in my heart but remained calm on the surface - he is the king, which means he is my current boss, so of course I have to be more restrained, well, keep a low profile.
"I have always been alone and have almost no close friends, so I don't know how to maintain a relationship - whether it is family, friendship, or love. I never consider things from other people's perspectives. I can make a big fuss to someone I'm not sure if I really like for fun, and I can just pick a hapless person to play with because I'm bored. I like to see others being fooled around by me, but I never consider whether it will hurt them."
"But then, I met someone. She was a complete idiot who could always make me speechless, but being with someone like her made me feel relaxed. I didn't even have time to put up defenses against her like I would with others, and she had already walked into my heart without me noticing."
"But I am really a selfish and arrogant person. Because I have her in my heart, I stubbornly believe that she should understand everything about me and should stand by me. Later, something happened and she actually jumped out to blame me. I couldn't accept it. I just felt that I was deceived. I also deeply believed that there was really no one in the world who could understand me. It turned out that being alone was the best for me."
"But soon, I regretted it. What did she do wrong? I was the one who was wrong. I was like a hedgehog. When I was hurt, I immediately put up my spikes and refused all approaches and communication. I was only concerned with healing my own wounds, but never considered her feelings."
Du Yexing suddenly turned around, looked at me standing there in a daze, and asked, "Do you think she will forgive me?"
It took a long time for my reply to appear in the channel.
"Why not?" I said, "Didn't you say that she was a fool? Fools are the least likely to bear grudges. Just like this white ball..." I poked the white ball that was grinning beside Du Ye Xing, "No matter where you go, it will jump and follow you, happy as a fool."
Du Ye Xing looked at me for a while, then turned his head and continued to look out of the city silently. He didn't say another word until I logged off that day.
After that, I didn't log in to the game for a long time. Because the last stop of the summer camp was to camp in the mountains, where everyone had to experience survival for a week. There was no signal in the mountains, so I returned to the city a week later and was able to log in again.
As soon as I came out of the game login point, I felt something was wrong - I felt that people around me were looking at me frequently, and some even pointed at my name and whispered. Just as I was wondering, I heard someone shouting.
"It's a thousand miles away! Catch him!"
ah?
Suddenly I saw a group of people rushing towards me aggressively. Even if I had done nothing wrong, I was scared away. I instinctively turned around and ran, only to hear continuous shouting behind me, each one of them was passionate, as if they had a deep hatred against me.
"stop!"
“Don’t run!”
I really started to doubt whether I had opened the game in the wrong way - it's only been a week, and I didn't cause any trouble with this fake account, so how come I suddenly became a wanted criminal?
The ending is no surprise.
I was eventually caught by the people, and tied up like a dumpling with a prop called "Tie Xian Rope", and escorted all the way to the gate of "Night Walk Country". I was waiting there with Bai Tuanzi, and I was confused at first, but suddenly I saw a notice posted at the city gate, and after a closer look, I almost vomited blood in anger.
——That was a bounty order. The one who issued the order was Du Ye Xing, and the one who offered the bounty was me, and I would leave no stone unturned.
"Boss, is it that serious?" I cried, "I just haven't been online for a week, I'm not absconding with the money!"
Du Ye Xing shrugged: "Who knows? A guy who disappeared twice in a row is not very convincing."
"How can it be twice! It's obviously..." I was suddenly stuck in the middle of my words - twice? Did he really say twice just now?
"Pretending? Still pretending?" Du Yexing walked up to me and looked at me with a half-smile. "Do you think I'm as stupid as you? I've seen through your disguise a long time ago. Otherwise, why do you think I said those words to you that day?"
My face immediately turned red, and after a long while I stammered, "There's no need to arrest me in such a high-profile manner..."
"Who told you to disappear without a word?" Du Yexing said confidently, "I've already lost you once, and I waited so hard for you. I don't want to lose you a second time."
There was a sudden sound of gasps from all around. I looked at the stunned faces of the onlookers, then looked at my own burly male character, and suddenly I had an epiphany.
"Great God!" I coughed twice, "I am a man now, please pay attention to the impact, please pay attention to the impact!"
"Oh." Du Ye Xing nodded in understanding, "That's right."
Then without saying a word, he suddenly drew his knife and stabbed me, and then... I was dead.
Death is nothing. What’s terrible is that when I emerged from the resurrection point of the Night Country, I found that the rope was still tied to my body, and I was still tied up tightly like a dumpling.
“It’s quiet now.”
Du Yexing appeared not long after. He was shaking the silver dagger in his hand with a relaxed look on his face. It was obvious that he was satisfied that no one came to watch.
"Untie me quickly!" It feels bad to have your hands and feet tied up.
"I can untie you, but you have to promise me one thing."
"I'm attending a summer camp right now, so I can't go back right away." I had already guessed what he would say, so I preemptively said, "So if you want me to go back right away, forget it!"
"Oh, that's not it." Du Yexing said calmly, "I just want you to help me cure an illness."
"Treatment?"
"Yes." Du Yexing nodded seriously, and said without blushing or panting, "I have a strange disease that 'I can't sleep unless I see a certain idiot', so I urgently need you to come back and treat me."
Is this any different from asking me to go back immediately?
I complained inwardly, but my hands involuntarily reduced the size of the game window, opened the browser and started looking for flights back home.
Probably because he had waited for a long time without hearing my reply, Duyexing actually started to get nervous. He circled around me several times, then lowered his posture and spoke in a negotiating tone.
"Ling Jiantong, come back."
I still didn't reply, but I just responded softly in my heart -
Um.
"I promise that I will never make you sad or upset again."
Um.
"So, don't leave me again, and don't leave me again."
Um.
He suddenly paused for a long time, then typed a line in bold.
"Ling Jiantong, I like you."
My hand moving the mouse suddenly stopped. I don't know how long it took, but I heard the sound of my own typing on the keyboard - a simple sentence, which was whispered out of my mouth at the moment it was sent out.
"I like you too."
I don't know when this feeling started, I only know that the heartbeat I once had has finally turned into a sweet and happy heartbeat. From the time we met to the time we got to know each other, we were both a little ignorant, so we would confront each other, laugh and quarrel, feel helpless, and feel sad and resentful. Fortunately, the fog has finally dissipated, all the misunderstandings are no longer misunderstandings, and all the mistakes are no longer important, because -
I finally waited for this sentence.
What else could I do? Of course I bought the fastest ticket and flew back. I couldn't wait to see him.