—Who are you?
Li Shu opened his mouth, and a weak voice came out. His current state was strange; it seemed like something was separating his soul from this world. The body he inhabited was the only channel connecting him to the outside, but now this channel had been closed by an unknown existence.
His body went limp, and slowly slid downward. The man covering his eyes quickly noticed and used his free hand to steady him, circling around his slender waist.
With his eyes covered, Li Shu was unable to see what was happening outside. Everything was pitch black. There was also a strange man with a very strong aura beside him. Normally, anyone would panic in such a situation, but Li Shu didn’t.
He was just somewhat puzzled—puzzled about why he suddenly felt this way, and puzzled about this man who had suddenly appeared. Because the man was holding him to prevent him from falling, their bodies were pressed together. The man’s breath enveloped him and a refreshing scent like pine snow, mixed with a faint smell of cigarettes entered his nostrils. It was not unpleasant, on the contrary, it tempted people to breathe in more.
His brain had stopped thinking. Leaning against the man’s chest, he unconsciously uttered two words, “Xiao Yuan.”
His voice was very soft and barely audible, but the man holding him heard it.
His consciousness was growing heavier, and he didn’t know about the shocked expression on the man’s face when he said those two words. He only felt the man’s grip on his waist tighten.
Feeling uncomfortable, he struggled a bit, but couldn’t break free, and he frowned. The man’s palm was large, covering almost half of Li Shu’s face. In addition, the man was immersed in an indescribable surprise, so he didn’t realize that his grip was too strong.
“Uncle?” Lu Yuanqing walked out from around the corner and called out, then suddenly stopped.
He looked at the man standing not far away and the person he held in his embrace domineeringly, and he screamed in his heart. ‘Is this person my uncle! And who is the person in Uncle’s arms? Did I stumble upon something extraordinary? Will Uncle silence me?
Various questions flashed through his mind rapidly. Lu Yuanqing even started to consider turning around and leaving now, pretending nothing had happened.
He really didn’t mean to intrude and he never expected to encounter such a scene. The slender young man was held forcefully by the man. The man had covered the young man’s eyes, and a terrible storm was brewing in the man’s eyes.
This was a look Lu Yuanqing had never seen before. Stripped of the indifferent facade, the intense emotions in those eyes startled him. It was an unresolvable possessiveness, intertwined with surprise and fear, a mixture of gaining and losing, and hesitation to confront.
Who was the young man tightly embraced in the man’s arms? Was it someone from the past? Was he the cause of the past he dared not touch?
Hearing footsteps, Li Heyuan immediately withdrew from his complex emotions. He didn’t turn back but held the person in his arms even tighter. He did not dare to let go, for he was afraid that once he let go, he would never find the person in his arms again.
Even though he knew rationally that he couldn’t be that person, and that he had personally handled that person’s funeral, he still wanted to deceive himself just this once, even for just a few minutes.
He was almost at his limit.
He didn’t know who arranged for the young man in his arms to be here or what the purpose was, but at this moment, he didn’t want to think about it.
That person clearly promised never to leave him, but in the blink of an eye, he went to a place he could never find him again. Over the years, whenever he closed his eyes, the memory of that evening would always surface in his mind. He lost the most important part of himself that evening, joys, sorrows, anger and happiness.
“Why are you here?” The man’s voice was hoarse. Lu Yuanqing’s appearance shattered the little world Li Heyuan had created. There was a residual nostalgia in his eyes. He didn’t release the person in his arms. Instead, he turned with the person and blocked Lu Yuanqing’s view.
Who could have imagined that someone who was always calm and self-possessed would suddenly do such a thing? And it was his uncle who did it. Moreover, he saw it with his own eyes so he couldn’t even deceive himself.
After thinking about it, Lu Yuanqing still expressed his desire to survive, “Uncle, you continue. Pretend I never appeared, no, no, I have never appeared, I didn’t see anything. I’m leaving now.”
Lu Yuanqing knew he didn’t belong here right now and immediately turned around to leave.
“Wait.” The man’s voice had returned to its original tone, as if the previous loss of composure had never happened.
Lu Yuanqing stopped as told, puzzled. “Uncle?”
“Tell them over there that I’m leaving first.” With that, he lifted the young man in his arms and walked past Lu Yuanqing.
Lu Yuanqing was immersed in the shock of the scene before him. His uncle, who never let anyone get close, actually lifted the person directly and intended to take him away?!
He was so shocked that when he saw the face of the person in the man’s arms, he blurted out without thinking, “Isn’t this Li Shu?”
The man’s steps halted. He seemed to be desperately restraining something, his shoulders were trembling slightly. Just as Lu Yuanqing felt he was done for and wanted to say something to remedy the situation, the man turned around and asked, “What did you say his name was?”
Struggling to suppress the storm surging in his heart, Li Heyuan repeated, “What did you say his name was?”
There was a storm brewing in his eyes, a violent storm that could tear a person apart. Facing those eyes, one could easily be drawn into the center of the storm and shattered to pieces.
Lu Yuanqing was frightened and stammered out the name, “Li…Li Shu.”
“Come with me.” After leaving these words behind, the man held the person in his arms steadily and walked away.
Lu Yuanqing didn’t dare to defy his uncle’s words. Despite his doubts, he followed obediently. Walking behind, he couldn’t see the tense expression on Li Heyuan’s face.
Li Heyuan’s heart was in turmoil. He didn’t know if all this was deliberately arranged by someone, but even if it was a trap, he was willing to jump into it, not for anything else but for that one in a million chance.
Even though reason kept telling him: stop daydreaming, that person doesn’t want you anymore, no matter how much you hope for him to come back, it’s just your wishful thinking. Li Heyuan didn’t want to resign himself to such a result. That person had clearly promised to stay with him forever, how could he leave halfway?
He refused to believe such an outcome.
Li Shu’s consciousness was drifting. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t concentrate. His consciousness was scattered everywhere, even across different times and spaces. He seemed to see someone, something happening. He saw a familiar indulgent smile, the person’s mouth moving as if saying something. He tried to bring his consciousness closer, but before he could hear clearly, that face dissipated into nothingness in the air.
After floating in and out of consciousness for a long time, a familiar mechanical voice sounded in his mind:
[Matchmaker System 1314 reboot successful—]
[Loading information——]
[2%, 5%, 20%…]
[Loading successful——]
After the mechanical voice fell, the scattered consciousness reassembled and Li Shu heard 1314’s sobbing voice:
[Sorry, host, it was my calculation error that led to the host’s mission being judged as a failure.]
1314 blamed itself. It was just a matter of seconds for the mission to be considered successful. Otherwise, they wouldn’t still be in this world to complete the failed mission and having to enter a punishment world in the next world. The more 1314 thought about it, the sadder it felt. If only its actions had been a bit faster, the mission would have been deemed a success.
[It’s okay,] Li Shu stretched his body and realized he was back in his original body. He could feel that most of the injuries on this body had already healed. Soon, he should recover completely. However, [How did I come back?]
[I found that the host’s soul was unstable, so I activated emergency mode to temporarily summon the host’s soul back to the original body. It only lasts a short time, and there’s no time to explain now…]
Before 1314 could finish speaking, Li Shu felt a tremendous force pulling him. Without time to say anything, he was taken away from his original body by that force.
The person on the sickbed opened his eyes.
“You’re awake?”
A deep male voice came. Li Shu turned his head and saw the man standing beside the bed.
It was a very familiar face, but much more mature than he remembered. The youthful awkwardness in his memory had faded away, and this person now exuded a more masculine aura.
The sharp brows were as before, and the eyes were still as deep as ink, but they were no longer the eyes full of admiration from his memory. Indeed, now they were just strangers to each other.
For some reason, when he thought of the phrase “stranger”, Li Shu felt a brief dull pain in his heart. The pain came and went quickly. Li Shu frowned slightly and didn’t pay too much attention to it.
Under the man’s somewhat oppressive gaze, Li Shu propped himself up and sat up. “What happened to me?”
“You fainted.” The man’s voice was steady, without much fluctuation.
‘Fainted in my arms.’ Of course, he didn’t say this sentence.
Li Shu’s condition at the time was very abnormal. Li Heyuan almost instantly thought of that evening. He also held that person. Even though he prayed desperately in his heart, he still couldn’t keep that person. He brought the person to the hospital and then asked for Li Shu’s information to be checked.
During the time he waited for Li Shu to wake up, he had roughly learned about Li Shu’s deeds, understood that his appearance there was purely coincidental, and furthermore knew that this Li Shu was not the person he was waiting for.
They were not the same person, even though they had similar looks and the same name. He couldn’t deceive himself, nor would he play any substitute games out of boredom. It would be an insult to that person.
That person was the only light in his dark life, the hope that led him out of the abyss, and an existence that absolutely must not be tainted.
“This is a hospital. Don’t worry. I’ve already spoken with your roommates. Just focus on recovering here.” Facing that face, Li Heyuan couldn’t help softening his expression. Through this person, he could imagine what that person looked like when young, something he had never seen before.
Li Shu picked up his phone from the side, unlocked it, and saw several messages from his roommates, all wishing him a speedy recovery. He put down the phone and looked sincerely at the man beside the bed. “Thank you.”
At the same time, he sighed in his heart. The cub he raised had indeed grown up.
“No need to thank me.” Li Heyuan turned his head slightly, his tone somewhat stiff. This person’s eyes were exactly the same as he remembered.
Thinking of the male protagonist’s negative happiness value, Li Shu blinked. “How about I treat you to a meal then?”
“…,” Li Heyuan intended to refuse, but those eyes suddenly flashed through his mind and without thinking, the word “okay” had already slipped out of his mouth.
