TVLMS Chapter 42.1

Gu Xiyu almost forgot that the system of the new world had been reset and that there was no previous information in the database.

He explained, “The mission target from the previous world.”

The system didn’t rest at his answer and immediately asked another question, [You had… such a relationship with that mission target… as well?]

He was confused by the question, “What kind of relationship?”

The system was silent for a moment and then said, [The same relationship as Lu Ziqing.]

Gu Xiyu thought seriously for a moment and hesitantly said, “Not really.”

He might have also ended up in Lu Ziqing’s bed, but he had not been Ji Chen’s guardian. Moreover, he and Ji Chen had directly skipped to being legal partners, he was only answering the system’s question based on a combination of circumstances.

The boy in the kitchen had also finally gotten his act together and started helping Auntie Zhang bring breakfast and cutlery to the table.

[Is that so? It sounds like you had a pretty good relationship.]

Hearing the system’s voice, he smiled as he walked towards the kitchen, “Yeah.”

He reached out to take the item in Lu Ziqing’s hand, but to his surprise, the other party dodged and walked past him to the kitchen outside with a snort.

……? What’s wrong with this kid so early in the morning?

[When this world’s mission is over, will you have a new mission target?] The system seemed to have a lot of questions today, and since it was his important partner, he didn’t mind replying a few more times, “I guess so.”

It won’t be over until all of the Great Demon King’s soul fragments have been settled.

[So what kind of situation can make you remain in this mission worli?]

Gu Xiyu paused by the dining table.

He was a bit puzzled: “Why would you ask me such a question?” It was an intelligent system sent by the bureau to assist him in completing his missions; wasn’t something like that deeply recorded in its code?

The system answered quickly, [I just think you’re working so hard.]

It was the first time Gu Xiyu had heard someone say that to him, even though the other person wasn’t really human.

“No, the target is quite interesting.” He commented heartily, “Unless I can’t complete the mission of the small world and make a mistake that gets me sent back for punishment, I should stick around until the end of the mission.”

[…… punishment? Is it harsh?]

“I don’t know, I’ve never been there. But I’ve seen colleagues who went there and never came back.”

After this sentence, the system did not speak to him again for the time being.

The “system” was in deep contemplation.

Lu Ziqing was shocked and displeased upon hearing another man’s name in Gu Xiyu’s mouth, and he was so jealous that he wanted to explode at any moment. He wanted more than a lifetime, he wanted Gu Xiyu to be by his side forever. If he was destined to have only one life, then he selfishly wanted Gu Xiyu to have only him in his life.

But it turned out that before him, he had another man whom he got along with, and that man’s name was Ji Chen.

Lu Ziqing now wanted to rush over and kill this guy.

And Gu Xiyu had said that there would be more mission worlds down the line. He really wished he could be his last mission target, but….

He couldn’t bear the thought of Gu Xiyu being punished.

So Lu Ziqing spent the whole day in this torn mood, unable to even concentrate in class, and his notebook remained empty all day.

His deskmate was a girl with a soft personality. At the end of the school day, she asked him with concern: “Lu, are you not feeling well today? Do you need me to lend you my notes?”

Lu Ziqing had been promoted to class two this new school year, and the atmosphere in the class was similar to that of class one; everyone worked hard and everyone handed in their homework without fail. He packed his school bag in three or two tries and left his seat, saying, “It’s okay, I have to meet my brother.”

Mentioning Gu Xiyu made him feel even more depressed.

Because he was in a bad mood, he didn’t make much noise when he got home, and Auntie Zhang in the kitchen just nodded at him cheerfully when she saw him. He glanced into the living room and didn’t see the person he wanted to see. He was going upstairs with his school bag on his back when he passed Lu Mingren’s study and heard a familiar coughing sound coming from inside.

The door to the study was closed, so he could only faintly hear someone talking, but not the content of their conversation. Lu Ziqing stood outside the door and hesitated for a long time, but still held the door handle and quietly opened a gap.

He had never been a nosy person, so he despised his current behavior. It was his first time sneaking around.

“…… So when do you expect to leave?” Lu Mingren’s query fell just as the door opened.

Gu Xiyu was sitting on the other side of the desk and reached out to take the paper Lu Mingren handed back, “After winter break, they usually start classes around February. I looked at the calendar, and I can leave on the third day of the new year at the latest.”

The matter of representing the school as an exchange student had basically been decided, and he was now giving Lu Mingren a heads up, and when Lu Ziqing finishes his exams next week, he would find an opportunity to discuss it with him and pacify him.

Lu Mingren looked regretful: “Well, it is indeed a rare and good opportunity for you. I hope that while you’re away, Ziqing will remain obedient and work hard in the last semester of high school.”

“If he can really do well on the entrance exams and not let me down as a father, I’ll consider what you just said.”

Gu Xiyu sighed in relief, not expecting Lu Mingren to actually be that nice: “If conditions allow, I can monitor him via video.”

“Okay.”

After talking to Lu Mingren about this matter, he got up and walked in the direction of the room door. The door to the room was left with a finger-thick gap, and he froze, wondering if he hadn’t closed the door properly when he came in.

He opened the door and was just about to step outside when he was instantly stopped by a human-shaped wall. The moment he looked up and met the other party’s gaze, a system notification also rang out in his head.

[[Target’s risk value is +15; the current risk value is now 30.]]

“…… leaving? Where are you going?” Lu Ziqing’s voice sounded very calm.

But Gu Xiyu knew it was a bad omen.

Lu Mingren at the desk was just about to come over when the computer beeped with an urgent message alert. Gu Xiyu gave him a look that said he would handle things alone and exited his study.

The paper in his hand was jerked away by the boy beside him. He read it carefully with his head down, and although the expression on his face remained calm, the paper he was holding became creased from the increasingly heavy force of his hand. No one spoke, and all he could hear was Lu Ziqing’s increasingly rapid breathing.

“When did this start?” After a long time, Lu Ziqing asked in a deep voice.

Gu Xiyu knew what he was asking, “I knew it from last semester.”

Lu Ziqing laughed angrily, “So all this time, you’ve been intentionally or unintentionally setting up my thoughts on long-distance relationships.”

Gu Xiyu was worried that Lu Mingren would overhear this conversation, so he could only pull Lu Ziqing and say, “Let’s go upstairs and talk in my room.”

Fortunately, Lu Ziqing was quite cooperative.

They walked into the room, and Gu Xiyu calmly explained the matter to him.

“This is …… what I’ve always dreamed of, and I can’t miss this opportunity.” He looked at the boy beside the bed who didn’t say a word and sighed softly, “I’ll be back in a year.”

Lu Ziqing didn’t give his opinion on the matter, but instead gazed at him with those dark eyes, “When my mum first left, she said she just wanted to go out to relax.”

“And then she never came back.”

He had always felt that if Lu Mingren had made an effort to keep an eye on her from the start and not let Zhou Tianyi have a chance to leave him at all, perhaps she would not have re-encountered her first love outside, and then he would have had a complete home and a happy childhood.

So he had the same obsession when it came to Gu Xiyu.

Gu Xiyu pursed his lips and said, “You don’t believe me?” He was really just going abroad to help the original owner and Xie Chunhua fulfill a dream they had been working on for a long time. Life abroad didn’t suit him, and without a purpose in mind, he couldn’t stay long.

“I believe you.” Lu Ziqing said, “But I’m more afraid of losing someone again.”

For this rebellious teenager, only by keeping Gu Xiyu where he can be clearly seen will he feel secure. Gu Xiyu was the light that had reappeared in his world, and the experience of being abandoned once again was something he could not bear.

Lu Ziqing did not unreasonably ask Gu Xiyu to give up this decision; it just seemed that he could not accept the impending separation from him, so he returned to his room lost in thought after those words.

In the afternoon, Gu Xiyu started a live broadcast, and Lu Ziqing’s account did not come online, causing him to be in a less-than-stellar state today, winning maybe two or three rounds out of 10. It was only when Lu Mingren came upstairs to call them to go to the Lu mansion that Lu Ziqing came out with his messy hair.

It looked like he had fallen asleep.

Probably because he had a falling-out with Lu Ziqing, Gu Xiyu didn’t feel in the best of spirits either. He got into Lu Mingren’s car wearily, and the three of them arrived at the old Lu family residence.

Several of the relatives they had met the last time were present, including the boy who had blocked Xu Chengxuan in the warehouse and gotten someone to beat him up. He heard that his relationship with Lu Ziqing used to be okay, but the two did not greet each other this time, treating each other like air.

It was the boy’s father, one of Lu Ziqing’s uncles, who came over to ask Lu Mingren for advice: “Hey, I heard that your Ziqing has been doing very well at school recently, his results in the last test were even better than those in class 1, and he was even praised by the principal. I remember that Ziqing used to be particularly unmotivated to study, how did you manage to turn him around in such a short time?”

Lu Mingren had recently received praise from many people because of Lu Ziqing. He was so overjoyed to hear this that he smiled and said, “It’s because Xiyu has brought him up well.”

As he said this, the eyes of the other people in the living room fell on Gu Xiyu to a greater or lesser extent, and even Lu Chenghe’s kind eyes looked over: “It’s a blessing for our Lu family to have the fortune to meet a child as understanding as Xiyu.”

Lu Ziqing sat beside him without making a sound, only looking down at his phone that rang out with the constant “biubiu” sounds of bubble gum being eliminated.

He lowered his eyes and said, “Well, Ziqing was already smart and talented, and also very obedient.”

He expected Lu Chenghe to take the opportunity to say something more to him, but instead, he nodded and went back to chatting with the others. He had been hanging on to the land deed ever since he found out about it, and had speculated whether today’s so-called family birthday banquet was the Lu family’s attempt to inquire about the land. However, Lu Chenghe hadn’t mentioned anything about it at all, and when someone wanted to talk about work, he would even frown and tap the staff in his hand and say, “It’s a rare family reunion, let’s not talk about irrelevant matters. “

Lu Chenghe was still concerned about him and Lu Mingren during the meal: “Marrying a man is the first of its kind in the Lu family, so I was quite worried that you and Mingren would not be able to get along. How was your stay with them? Are they treating you well?”

Gu Xiyu said politely, “Don’t worry, grandpa, they’re all very nice to me, and we get along well.” He did not say anything about the divorce.

Lu Chenghe seemed convinced, nodding and adding, “My child, you’ve been coughing since you sat down, and your complexion doesn’t look too good; are you not taking care of your body? Have you received all the things I sent to the house earlier? Those are all the tonic products I usually eat at home, so remember to eat more if you’re not feeling well, and Grandpa will have someone send you some more later.”

Gu Xiyu, who had a pile of supplements of great value, ranging from bitter to sweet and tasteless, hurriedly refused. “It’s alright, I’ve eaten enough at home; grandpa doesn’t need to worry, you just take care of your own body.”

Lu Chenghe did not force it.

After eating, Gu Xiyu sat silently on the sofa, listening to the family chat, Lu Ziqing had run off somewhere again, and the few children of the same age were also not there.

If he could, he would actually like to find a quiet corner to play with his mobile phone or do something else, as the topics the family chatted about were unfamiliar to him.

Lu Ziqing went to the familiar staircase with half of his body hidden in the shadows, shutting himself off from the noise outside. That was until a pair of feet suddenly appeared in front of him, and he had to look up to meet the other party’s gaze, which was also somewhat impatient.

“You’re strange.” His cousin Lu Ziyao bristled and asked with an angry tone, “What’s wrong with you? Did that man called Gu Xiyu put a spell on you? Ever since he came to your house, your whole personality has changed, you don’t play with us anymore, you do your homework, and you listen in class like a good student. You even flew straight to class two in the blink of an eye.”

Lu Ziqing was silent for a long time, so long that when Lu Ziyao thought he would not receive any response from him, he suddenly spoke, “I always wanted to be a good student.”

But then it turned out that a well-behaved child only made the elders at home feel more at ease, thinking that they could grow up well without the need for attention. It was only then that he wondered whether the result would be different if he was the opposite. Although Zhou Tianyi didn’t come back, at least Lu Mingren started to criticize him, deliberately freeing up some time to talk to him.

However, he soon met the one person he wanted to please, and he could be himself. Perhaps it was because of him that he didn’t need to live in a certain way or with a personality he hated.

Lu Ziqing didn’t explain much to Lu Ziyao, only reminding him as he turned back to his game, “The college entrance exams are coming up soon, so you should think more about yourself and your parents too.”

Lu Ziyao pursed his lips again, as if he were a bit annoyed, but he didn’t turn and leave. Instead, he looked at Lu Ziqing for a few moments and said, in a somewhat unnatural tone, “Well, even though we don’t hang out together anymore, it’s not right to play games without helping your best buddy, right?”

Lu Ziqing lowered his head and smiled a little. “Go online.”

They were playing a shooter game and had just gone up to form a team when a message popped up on the chat software. Seeing the person who sent the message, his finger clicked in one step faster than his thoughts.

Fragrant and soft brother: [ I’m going back to my mom’s for the night, I’ll be back tomorrow].

He would rather his body hadn’t reacted so quickly; otherwise, he wouldn’t have seen the message that made him feel even worse before the start of the game. He understood Gu Xiyu’s intention, which was to give him space to calm down first and, by the way, let him ‘get used to’ not having him at home in advance.

Lu Ziqing was in a bad mood, so he went into the game and started killing people, helping Lu Ziyao, who didn’t know anything, to get several points.

When Lu Mingren sent him a message to come downstairs and get ready to go home, Gu Xiyu was no longer there.

“Xiyu’s mother called him and asked him to go back home to help look after some things.”

“Oh.” Lu Ziqing replied with a normal expression.