The spacious and luxurious villa had everything neatly arranged, with hardly any traces of human life, as if it were a meticulously decorated model home.
There was a garden and a swimming pool in the verdant courtyard, with the garden adorned with vibrant and lush flowers.
But amidst such lushness, not even a single insect could be found in the garden.
The garden was beautiful, yet unreal, like an exhibit in a showcase, possessing only outer beauty without the richness of life.
Inside the magnificent villa was also empty, except for a young man sitting in the study.
The young man was casually dressed in a white shirt, with the top two buttons undone. The shirt hang loosely over him, revealing his fair and smooth skin. A few red mottled marks could be vaguely seen, half hidden and half visible in the shirt.
He lounged comfortably in the chair, his eyes slightly closed, looking lazy yet sexy.
Bai Lixin was browsing the game forum.
It had been four days since he came out of [Dark Steel City]. After sending away the wolf-like Dijia, he had nothing to do today, so he opened the game forum.
At the moment, he was reading a post.
The post was titled [Bai Lixin, I Will Kill You!]
It seemed that Little Overlord was really furious after being tricked by him again. He was so angry that after leaving the copy, he had nowhere to vent, and finally ran to the forum to post and curse him.
This post was published four days ago, and initially, it didn’t attract much attention.
The names on the forum are all anonymous, so at first, no one knew it was Little Overlord.
But later, I don’t know who discovered this post and found out that the poster was Little Overlord. The popularity of the post quickly surged to “HOT”, followed by three fires.
Little Overlord should have been quite pleased with his scolding. At least Bai Lixin guessed that the other party should have used all the foul language he could think of in his life on him. So much so that many [Original Poster’s Comments] on the post said [This comment did not pass the review], and some [Original Poster’ Comments] turned into a bunch of [***********] even if they were released.
In short, the content of this post was really unique.
After reading it, Bai Lixin was even a little curious. How bad was Little Overlord’s mouth for his post to be locked up like this?
After this post was dug out as Little Overlord’s, the follow-up comments were also very interesting. While reading, the two systems in Bai Lixin’s mind kept laughing the whole time and he felt like his head would burst if it went on like this.
S419M: [Hahaha, why is this post so funny? It’s killing me, hahaha.]
Escape System: [Hahaha, hahaha, help, help, my stomach hurts, hahaha.]
S419M: [Hahaha.]
Escape System: [Hahahahaha.]
Bai Lixin rubbed his temples, which were trembling like a drum: [……]
‘Why don’t you two go out and laugh it off before coming back?’
Only he had the strong will power to cultivate two systems in his mind without being forced into schizophrenia. An ordinary person would probably have gone to a mental hospital long ago.
‘That’s enough for you two!’
‘Is it really that funny?!’
Armor Warrior: [Hey, who is this? Why are there so many stars? Let’s call you Little Star from now on. I want to see the meteor shower now. Little Star, can you add some more stars?]
Good Sister: [I’m dying of laughter. Is this Little Overlord? Haha, is Little Overlord’s post invalid? He cursed so much and not a single word came out, haha.]
Boatman’s Love: [Mainly because the post was sent out, but none of the content in the post was sent out, the anger wasn’t vented, and we found out his true identity. It’s so embarrassing, hahaha.]
Cutie Pie: [Hahaha, I suddenly find the Little Overlord so pitiful.]
So Weird: [Strange, why isn’t Little Star speaking?]
New User 485894: [Do you think I don’t want to talk? I’ve been banned! What a bunch of idiots!]
Armor Warrior: [Hahaha, banned, hahaha! Did you add too many stars? It’s really become a meteor shower now.]
Boatman’s Love: [Hahaha.]
Bai Lixin rubbed the corners of his mouth: ……
‘Don’t say it, it’s quite funny.
Little Overlord still has the talent for comedy.’
S419M: [Little Overlord must be furious, hahaha, Sun Ning will probably laugh herself to death, right?]
Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.
Bai Lixin’s private chat notification rang out. When he opened it, he found that the sender was Sun Ning.
Sun Ning: [Bai Lixin, I can’t stop laughing. You really helped me let off steam.]
Sun Ning: [Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to kill him and avenge my brother this time. Next time I get the chance, I’ll make sure he joins his ancestors.]
Sun Ning: [I haven’t felt this comfortable in a long time!]
Bai Lixin: [By the way, Sun Ning, do you remember which copy the memory-keeping diary is in?]
Sun Ning: [Are you talking about the diary for saving memories? It’s been a long time ago. I remember at the time, my brother, me, and Chi Yan participated together. My brother and I met Chi Yan in that copy, and it eventually became a party of three.]
Bai Lixin: [Alright, got it.]
He shut down the computer, then got up and went to the wardrobe to tidy up his clothes.
He buttoned up his shirt to the top, but the mottled marks that couldn’t be covered still peeked out from the collar.
Bai Lixin quickly found a windbreaker and put it on, trying hard to cover the strawberry marks on his neck.
After tidying up, he left the player dormitory and walked to the elevator, pressing the button to go to the 450th floor.
The single-person, high-speed elevator moved swiftly, and the numbers on it jumped rapidly. In just five seconds, there was a “d, and the elevator stopped at Bai Lixin’s destination floor—450th floor.
The 450th floor was a commercial street where many players liked to relax.
Here, there were crisscrossing streets, colorful neon lights flashing dazzlingly, a constant stream of pedestrians on the road, and lively shops on the roadside, giving people confusion about the boundary between reality and the game. It was very difficult to distinguish where one really was.
Bai Lixin walked along the street, looking around. He walked a long way inside until he finally found the shop he was looking for.
A café.
He pushed the door open, and the doll hanging on the door made a crisp sound of “d, while a familiar voice greeted skillfully, “Sir, please come in.”
Bai Lixin glanced at the rabbit-masked waiter, nodded to him, and went upstairs to find a corner with fewer people to sit down.
After a while, the rabbit-masked waiter came over with a tray.
As he used tweezers to pick up the freshly sterilized and still warm towel from the tray and placed it in front of him, he spoke in a voice as soft as a mosquito’s: “Are you here to see me?”
Bai Lixin made a soft “mm” in response, “I’m here to ask you something.”
This rabbit-masked waiter was originally a famous player named Chi Yan. He met in the punishment copy, Eternal Diamond Mountain.
At that time, he was punished by the system for not completing the task in the [Yanwan Town] copy and fell into the punishment copy [Eternal Diamond Mountain]. He stayed in the punishment copy for several decades, and when he finally left that copy and returned to the game lobby, he found that only two years had passed in the game lobby.
He stayed in the punishment copy for decades, but Chi Yan had stayed even longer.
Although Chi Yan later left the punishment copy, he still failed to transform into a player due to other reasons. Instead, he was transformed into an NPC by the system. Bai Lixin also learned from this incident that not all NPCs in this game lobby were virtual characters created by the system. Some NPCs were former players who had failed tasks.
A few months ago, Dijia on the 999th floor deceived the main brain into organizing a “Nationwide Battle” event. Because the rewards for that event were exceptionally rich, and the tasks were easy to complete, almost all players participated in the registration.
There are a total of 999 floors here, with an entertainment activity floor every 50 floors.
During the event, all the entertainment activity floors were overcrowded. Because NPCs couldn’t support so many player activities, the main brain had to convert many players who had failed tasks into NPCs to fill the vacancies.
Chi Yan became an NPC at this time.
When Chi Yan heard Bai Lixin’s words, he nodded slightly, “Ask.”
Bai Lixin picked up the towel and started wiping his hands slowly and carefully, “After Sun Ning’s brother died, Sun Ning didn’t forget him. She said it was because she got a diary that could record memories. You were also in the copy where she got that diary. Do you remember that copy?”
Chi Yan thought for a moment, “I remember there was such an copy.”
“It’s an old and simple copy. I remember it was closed long ago.”
Bai Lixin put the towel he had finished wiping aside, “Do you know which copy has a similar prop like the diary that can retrieve memories?”
Chi Yan thought for a long time before lowering his head to pick up the towel with tweezers, “I heard a senior mention it a long time ago. He said that someone in the Shentian Guild seemed to have such an prop.”
Bai Lixin lowered his head, his lips almost not moving, just murmuring softly, “Who said it, and who has it?”
Chi Yan: “I forgot, I only remember that someone told me about it. As for who has it, I also forgot. Hey, to be honest, I don’t even know if this news is true now. It’s possible that I remembered it wrong, or maybe the senior who told me was lying, and no one in the Shentian Guild actually has this prop. Besides this, do you have any other questions?”
Bai Lixin: “No.”
He cleared his throat and raised his voice, “A hot cocoa with milk, please.”
Chi Yan also raised his voice, “Yes, sir, please wait.”
The next second, he lowered his voice again, “Is Sun Ning doing well lately?”
Bai Lixin: “As far as I can see, she’s in a good state, just constantly thinking about avenging her brother.”
Chi Yan sighed, “Her brother would definitely not want to see her like this. If he knew she would get into such a state now, he wouldn’t have given her the diary in the first place. Her brother would rather she forget about him than live in the shadow of revenge.”
Bai Lixin was stunned for a moment, “Her brother would think like that?”
Chi Yan: “Why not? Once a person is dead, they’re dead, but the living have to keep moving forward. If they keep lingering in the past and not moving forward, the dead will also feel sad.”
Bai Lixin: “I don’t think so.”
“Why should the dead deprive the living of their memories?”
“It’s natural to grieve when a loved one is gone, but in those memories, there must not only be sorrow but also sweet memories.”
“If all memories are forgotten, won’t those sweet memories be lost too?”
“We shouldn’t abandon the taste of warmth and sweetness just because we’re afraid of sadness.”
“I think Sun Ning is so angry now because the memories she had with her brother were very beautiful. When Sun Ning reminisces, she must often recall the happy times with her brother.”
“This is her happiness, and no one has the right to take it away.”
Chi Yan was stunned, looking at the handsome young man in front of him in surprise.
His throat was dry, and he swallowed hard before raising his voice, “Customer, please wait a moment, your drink will be delivered to you shortly.”
As he walked downstairs, Bai Lixin’s words kept echoing in his mind.
—We shouldn’t abandon the taste of warmth and sweetness just because we’re afraid of sadness.
This sentence lingered in Chi Yan’s mind until he returned to the bar and was pushed by another NPC waiter, bringing him back to his senses.
‘Yes, Bai Lixin was right.
How could one give up such beauty just because of fear?’