When dawn opened its eyes, bright light scattered all around the world.
Li Shuoxing woke up from his sleep when that light shone on his face.
He sat up from his bed, slightly awake for a moment, and began to think of last night.
He felt like he had a strange but very fantastic dream of dancing together, and, at the end of the dream, there was a sentence that touched his heart, liver, spleen and lungs.
The sentence was:
âI want you toâŠâ
I want you to do what?
I want you to stay?
I want you to dance?
I want me to kiss me?
Li Shuoxing added several words to this sentence, but always felt unable recover the mystery and ambiguity he had felt in the dream.
He was frozen for a long time, suddenly feeling the pain of a lack of vocabulary.
Damn.
Li Shuoxing thought.
What the hell went afterwards? Why did I have to wake up so early? If I go back to sleep now, can I continue that dream and finish listening to Su Mingqianâs sentence in it?
Li Shuoxing got restless.
But, he still took out his phone and logged into the game first before he went to sleep.
The habit, which had formed over four months, shouldnât be underestimated. Li Shuoxing had now gotten used to getting up and looking at the game first every day.
He immediately saw a set of small chairs and a small table for the dolls placed together in front of the floor-to-ceiling window. There was also a special miniature rose on top of the small table.
Li Shuoxingâs radar went up.
Wait a minute, isnât this what I saw in my dream?
He suspiciously opened the system narration and soon sawâŠ
Today, 03:00am
[Su Mingqian enters Qianqianâs body.]
[Su Mingqian practises the exercise dance.]
âŠ
Today, 04:00am
[Su Mingqian invites Xingxing to dance.]
[Su Mingqian whispers in Xingxingâs ear.]
Li Shuoxing: â!!!â
It isnât a dream! Itâs actually something that really happened!
Then Iâ
Li Shuoxing instantly opened his phone storage, found the latest video file, and then tapped on it to see what had happened last night.
He wasnât very awake yesterday, but when he thought about it, he didnât seem to have missed anything.
Li Shuoxing instantly felt relieved.
At the same time, he once again recalled that half-said sentence. He couldnât help but continue scrolling through the narration, trying to decipher one or two.
But the narration didnât record this sentence. What followed immediately after was:
Today, 04:00am
[Su Mingqian leaves Qianqianâs body.]
[Su Mingqian falls asleep.]
Today, 08:00am
[Su Mingqian opens Lofter.]
[Su Mingqian is using Lofter.]
Li Shuoxing looked at this passage carefully for a while and began to ponder.
As he pondered, he opened Lofter.
He searched the keywords âXing Suâ in the Nine Crossings CP.
He saw the latest and hottest videoâSu Mingqianâs energetic exercise dance.
The videoâs uploaderâSu.
Li Shuoxing: ââŠâ
He suddenly understood something.
He thought about it, bookmarked the page, and waited to see what would happen.
***
The efforts paid off.
The majority of Nine Crossings fans truly loved this newly uploaded video. It had become the top five in total popularity under the tag and the most popular work for this food production activity in a short time. However, Su Mingqian didnât occupy the first prize slot. Back when theyâd made their initial entries, he and the other girls in the group had indicated that they participated for sharing only, not for prizes, in order to avoid some problems.
What he cared about was still the news from the handcraft side.
On the afternoon of the next day after the event, Su Mingqian got the news that the handcraft modeller was giving Cunxingâs handcraft to the maker of a clay fanwork in this event. Her original words were:
âI like many of the fanworks in this event, but the clay one feels the most intimate, so Iâm giving the handcraft to them.â
Su Mingqian couldnât help but sigh when he received this news.
Even though he tried very hard, he still couldnâtâŠ
He was a bit lost. He opened Weibo again, then went to the modellerâs Weibo. After silently looking at the handcraft figure of Cunxing for a while, he saved the figure to his favourites, and immediately returned to the app.
When he arrived home and saw all kinds of familiar things, Su Mingqianâs mood improved.
He placed Xingxing and Qianqian in front of him, thought for a moment, and then took out a small iPad. But, this time, instead of searching for dance videos on it, he found the audio and videos of Li Shuoxing he had recorded and began to play them.
Almost instantly.
Numbers popped up from Su Mingqianâs head.
Favourability +1
Favourability +2
FavourabilityâŠ
***
Li Shuoxing entered the game and saw this scene.
The lazy afternoon sunlight lighting up half the lounge, and Su Mingqian lying on the high-backed sofa, his head resting on the arm of the sofa, his eyes seemingly open and closed, taking a nap in the sofaâs shadow.
But, the numbers +1+2+3 popped up above from his head from time to time.
It seemed that the person who was sleeping was also thinking about him.
Li Shuoxing didnât disturb him. He took a couple of looks, then exited the game.
He messaged Night Tour. âOld Night, recently, the fanworks of Nine Crossings seem to be quite hotâŠâ
Night Tour: âIndeed quite hot.â
Li Shuoxing directly stated, âDo the officials have no intention to do something else? For example, decide to collect the handcraft of Cunxing? I see that the modeller who sent me the handcraft last time did a particularly good job. Itâd be great if you could contact her, and cooperate to commercialise the handcrafts.â
Night Tour felt somewhat impressed. This matter was also simple, so he directly gave an affirmative answer. âThat handcraft is really good. The officials can ask to see if sheâs willing to cooperate in its commercialisation. However, the first handcraft commercialised is generally the male protagonistâs. Why did you think of Cunxing?â
Li Shuoxing made up a random reason. âAfter all, we both have a XingâŠâ
Night Tour was shocked. âXimu, you werenât this narcissistic in the past, right?â
Li Shuoxing: âHaha.â
He gave Night Tour a generic abort conversation sentence and instantly went offline.
Li Shuoxing pretended that nothing had happened for the next two days.
Su Mingqian also let go after a brief period of loss. That afternoon, Ximuâs recordings and videos calmed him down well, and soon made him happy again. He stopped thinking about it. Nothing had really happened.
Until the afternoon of the third day. Su Mingqian entered Terminal through the app as usual, intending to check the Nine Crossings page. But when he entered, he suddenly saw a brand new opening screen promotion, which read:
âThe first in a series of handcraft projects for Nine Crossings has been decided: Cunxing!â
The models of the two protagonists on it were the ones Su Mingqian had seen on Weibo before.
He froze, rubbed his eyes, and then clicked on the advertisement. After he had viewed it in order without any problems, he suddenly left the app and called out, âXimu!â
Li Shuoxing: âWhatâs the matter?â
Su Mingqian felt very happy and carelessly blurted out, âTerminalâs cooperating with the modeller who sent you the handcraft last time to commercialise the handcrafts. Cunxing can come over and be a pair with Su Mingqian.â
Li Shuoxing smiled. âReally? Thatâs great!â
As he said that, he saw a huge +88, brightly appearing, brightly hanging above Su Mingqianâs head, and swaying slightly from side to side with his words. He couldnât help feeling both relieved and smug.
Cub, you can rest assured that thereâll be a star magician to come and fulfil your wishes.
But then Li Shuoxing thought:
The fanworks these days are really getting more and more awesome. Even if the officials dedicated their own flesh, they would be forced to die.
However, one official falls and another stands up.
Officials, never admit defeat!
Li Shuoxing secretly encouraged.
While encouraging, he still thought that these fanworks were great. In fact, not only the fanworks, but also the fans who liked the fanworks, especially the fans who clicked on and liked Su Mingqianâs cute chibi pictures. Alas, how could they have such a good eyeâŠ
He added an extra chapter with a large wave of his hand. The reason was:
The fanworks are so awesome that they deserve an extra update to celebrate.
***
That night, a secretly happy Li Shuoxing sent a brightly happy Su Mingqian back to the Love Bar app.
An email flew across the screen and into the mailbox just as he entered.
Li Shuoxing casually tapped on the mailbox and saw:
From: System
Topic: Dream Partner Investment Rebate
Content: Plane ticket from the system
Surprises always come so suddenly.
Li Shuoxing looked at the email and froze for a second, then hurriedly called out to Su Mingqian, âCub! Come here, I have a new plane ticket! We can now unlock a new location!â
After he said that, he immediately tapped to get the plane ticket into his hands, and more detailed information appeared.
[Name]: Plane ticket
[Destination]: Desert town
[Note]: This is a journey to the truth. Please make sure to be prepared before you go.
This information was displayed in front of both of them at the same time.
Li Shuoxing asked Su Mingqian for his opinion. âMingqian, what do you think?â
Su Mingqian didnât hesitate. âLetâs go right away. I really want to know what exactly happened in the past. No matter what happened in the past, I think,â he said, looking at Li Shuoxing, âIâll be able to face it with you there.â
They had the same opinion.
The plane ticket was used immediately.
The blue light gate appeared in the courtyard. Li Shuoxing used the helmet to enter the game, and crossed through the light gate with Su Mingqian to the designated destination: the desert town.
The blue light diffused in their line of sight for a few dozen seconds.
Then, the light faded away and a new scene appeared in Li Shuoxingâs eyes.
He found himself hugging Su Mingqian and lying down with him on a large hotel bed.
The two of them rolled over and sat up, exploring their surroundings.
The hotel suite was very clean. They searched the room and found only a properly packed suitcase, and two shirts and trousers hanging in the closet; other than that, there was nothing.
Since they couldnât find anything useful in the place they appeared in, they pushed outward.
Li Shuoxing suggested to Su Mingqian, âLetâs go out and have a look?â
Su Mingqian nodded.
They left the room and entered the corridor. It wasnât long before they met a young man in camouflage clothing with a name on top of his head.
When this character appeared in Li Shuoxingâs line of sight, a virtual magnifying glass suddenly appeared on his chest.
This is?
Li Shuoxing tried poking it, and poked out the novice guide.
[Name]: GM Probe
[Note]: This can be used to probe people and objects in the town to get certain clues. Collect clues and record them to get truth points. Using the probe requires the consumption of truth points. The probe has three free use opportunities (3/3).
The young man smiled at Su Mingqian and greeted him kindly, âProfessor, good morning.â
âYou too.â Su Mingqian read out the name on top of the personâs head. âTom.â
Li Shuoxing just finished reading the novice guide at this point.
He casually threw the skill, probing Tom, and got the result:
[Character]: Tom
[Identity]: Experimental group security chief
[Position]: Extremely dangerous
[Note]: âHe is the killerââthis is a spoiler given by the system to you, a distinguished partner worth ten million yuan.
Li Shuoxing froze.
He pressed his finger on the magnifying glass, froze for a long time, and forgot to retract it.
At this moment, he feltâŠ
Like he had opened a detective novel, only to be ultimately spoiled before reading its first page.