Chapter 269 - 266·HP-1

Chapter 269: Chapter 266·HP-1

When Su Ming’an opened his eyes again, he saw the familiar personal space.

The space was closed off, cramped, with only a bed big enough to lie down.

If he turned around, he would knock over the familiar water kettle.

Even the dorm rooms in White Sand Paradise were several times larger than this.

...But as he looked at these familiar scenes, he felt a long-missed sense of relief.

Exhaustion surged over him like a tide, he closed his eyes, and his body fell forward.

He fell into the soft bed like a rigid wooden stake, instantly sinking into deep sleep.

The playing system voice encountered a moment of stutter.

The voice that had been announcing paused, quieted down, and then fell silent.

In the quiet room, only the crisp ticking of the wall clock remained.

The door curtain stirred, and the wind chimes tinkled.

A youth clad in black entered the shop, holding a black plastic bag in his hand.

"Someone’s come, Liangzi, go take a look," a middle-aged man’s voice called from the back room.

"Coming!"

A fresh-faced ponytailed girl stepped out of the back room, her spirit visibly tensing upon seeing the newcomer.

With a "thud," the youth placed the black plastic bag on the counter, making a muffled noise inside.

"You... just returned, haven’t you?" Liangzi paused her steps.

From the youth, she felt an overpowering presence assaulting her.

It was as if she were being targeted by some fierce beast; she could sense an unvanished scent of blood on him.

Recalling that hellish place in the Sixth World, she could guess what kind of underworld affairs he had experienced.

The youth blinked.

"Looking at the descriptions on the forums, I thought you would be going straight to the hospital upon returning. The psychiatric wards are overflowing right now... But instead, you run to my shop first thing," Liangzi said.

The youth blinked again.

Liangzi: "..."

Liangzi: "But thinking about your situation, I suppose no hospital would dare to admit you anyway."

The youth remained silent.

"...You should be okay, right?" Liangzi couldn’t help but speak again. "I see those who’ve returned, one more somber than the next... Now everyone says there’s no need to differentiate between Adventurer Players and Casual Players; you can tell them apart at a glance... These Adventurer Players all look like killers who’ve just walked out of a sea of blood... We all have to avoid them. I didn’t believe it at first; how could it be so exaggerated... But now, I think they might be right, you also look like a murderer who’s just come from a crime scene."

The youth pointed his finger at the plastic bag.

Liangzi sighed, knowing that the other person probably didn’t want to talk much. She reached out to open the black plastic bag:

"I’m saying, why don’t you try the psychological counseling project recently launched by United Group? It’s specifically for players at the top of the leaderboard, a treatment method researched and developed by the scholars in the psychological department. I heard it’s quite effective... you see, after all, it is the culmination of human wisdom, and it’s free. Isn’t it a waste not to use it? ... You look like this now, I’m really worried you won’t hold on in the next world..."

As Liangzi spoke, she unhurriedly began to work with the plastic bag, which rustled as she did.

After opening it, her coaxing abruptly stopped.

Staring at the wriggling thing in her hands, her gaze became distinctly angrier.

With a "bang," the table’s HP dropped by 1.

"—You, you actually brought a live puppy here in a plastic bag—are you out of your mind!" Liangzi instantly flared up.

"It doesn’t count as a pet yet, so it can’t be pulled into the backpack," the young man answered honestly.

"You—Lv Shu!!" Liangzi couldn’t help but yell, "If it really comes down to it, you could have bought a cage from the Main God store! Who ever puts a puppy in a plastic bag!"

"Liangzi, be polite to the guest."

A middle-aged man’s voice came from behind.

Liangzi pursed her lips.

The ceiling fan spun overhead, lifting strands of her black hair.

She got irritated and tucked her hair back behind her head, shifting her gaze away.

This was a pet hospital, her family’s business, continuing the venture they had on Zhai Xing.

She used to say she didn’t want to study or go to school, that there was a shop at home anyway, she could just go home and watch the store. Learning through to the end only to go out and grudgingly work behind a counter for little pay was far less appealing than playing with small animals all day.

And now, her dream had been briefly realized.

As for what would happen after the World Game ended... whether they would go to school normally was another question.

...And even whether humanity would continue to exist was uncertain.

Liangzi listlessly sprayed the mood spray on the little dog from the counter.

"Speaking of which, I didn’t expect you to adopt a dog." She said languidly, "I thought you only had mantises and butterflies."

"This dog, I’m not planning to keep it," said Lv Shu.

"Ah?"

"I heard that communicating with animals can be comforting and help relieve people’s tense and repressed emotions," Lv Shu said. "Then I looked it up online and they all said that dogs are man’s best friend."

"..." Liangzi fell silent for a moment: "And then?"

"And then I got one, to give to Su Ming’an..."

"Bang!"

Liangzi threw the spray bottle, which Lv Shu deftly dodged.

"Putting aside whether it can relieve emotions, what do you mean you ’got’ one?" Liangzi shouted.

"Picked it up on the street."

"Picked up?" Liangzi looked puzzled.

"I was planning to buy one here, but I saw it on my way and picked it up."

Liangzi fell silent for a while.

"Really..." When she spoke again, her voice was somewhat hoarse: "In whatever kind of world, there are always people who abandon pets. Here, where it’s so convenient to keep them and there’s no economic pressure... People are just throwing them away by the roadside out of sheer boredom..."

Her emotions dipped for a moment before quickly settling down.

"The dog doesn’t seem to have any issue. Its breed looks like a Samoyed from Zhai Xing," Liangzi said. "Its covered in dust, I’ll clean it up in a while, then vaccinate it, and it should be fine."

"Hmm."

"However, I must remind you, Lv Shu," Liangzi raised her head, looking at him earnestly: "Keeping pets doesn’t fundamentally ease people’s emotions. One just feels happy when petting animals, but taking care of them is a troublesome task. I don’t think the person you’re giving it to would have the patience to keep it."

Lv Shu stood there like a dark wooden stake, as if pondering.

Liangzi furrowed her brows.

She couldn’t help but feel the urge to back away.

Despite having frequently browsed the World Forum lately, knowing that people say returning Adventurer Players are like madmen and murderers, she didn’t have any substantial feeling about it. But now... when a genuine fellow stood in front of her, she felt a real sense of danger.

It was like a rabbit being targeted by an eagle; even though the other party hadn’t pounced or even shown her any hostility, she could feel fear rising in her heart.

She even found it somewhat hard to look him in the eye.

These Adventurer Players... when had they become so terrifying?

The gap just seemed to be getting wider and wider.

"Besides," Liangzi couldn’t help but add, "the one you picked up is quite ugly."

Lv Shu looked down.

He saw a large dog lying listlessly on the counter, having been stuffy inside a plastic bag for too long. Its entire body was dusty and shedding, bearing no resemblance to the "Smiling Angel" Samoyed.

He couldn’t help but compare this dog with that fat white cat and then realized that even the white cat looked better than this dog.

"What should I do then," Lv Shu said.

"Don’t give this one away; aren’t you good at training combat pets?" As for Su Ming’an, Liangzi seemed even clearer on the situation than Lv Shu, "When you give him something, it should at least be valuable, right? Do you think he’d really accept a Samoyed that’s a time-consuming and non-combatant creature?"

Lv Shu: "..."

Lv Shu: "He wouldn’t."

"That’s what I’m saying." Liangzi set the Samoyed aside and bent down to grab some medicine, "Change your mind."

"And one more important thing," Liangzi said, "no one knows what he has become after his return. Although it’s only been five short days in the Sixth World, I think he’s changed a lot from how he was during the human self-rescue conference. I advise you, at least during this intermission period, you better not go see him—"

"No way," Lv Shu said.

"Huh? You really are fearless. Even I can tell he’s displeased with you, ever since the Fifth World."

"No way," Lv Shu repeated, "I heard that communicating with others can make people feel relieved and helps alleviate their tense and repressed emotions. As a companion, I need to talk with him."

"... You just used that reason, even though the subject changed from ’animal’ to ’human’."

"Then, I did some online research," Lv Shu continued seriously, "They all say that I am his best friend."

"Bang!"

The table’s HP decreased by 1.

Liangzi’s finger tapped on the tip of Lv Shu’s nose.

"You’ve been fooled," she declared as if pronouncing a verdict, her tone grave, "Go online less, stop reading those rubbish forums."

Lv Shu blinked again.

"Liangzi, you go back first,"

The voice of a middle-aged man came from the back room, followed by the emerging figure of a stooped, skeletal man resembling a little old man as he lifted the curtain and walked out.

"Dad, I’m dealing with the dog," Liangzi said as she took off her gloves.

"Go to the back and deal with it, I’ve got something to discuss with the kid from the Lv Family."

Reluctantly, Liangzi moved the items back and forth to the rear room, her single ponytail flicking behind her.

With a "bang," the door closed, and the hunched figure walked over at a leisurely pace.

Even though his body had been rejuvenated by the System and was now that of a strapping middle-aged man, his posture still resembled that of an old man, unconsciously hunched over. His neat Zhongshan suit wrapped his skeletal frame, making him look gaunt and lanky.

He approached slowly, leaning on a rosewood cane, which made a "thud, thud" dull sound with each step.

The noise of cats and dogs separated by glass on both sides rose, and Lv Shu frowned as he watched the elder advance towards him.

"Kid from the Lv Family," the old man began, his voice carrying the aura of the last century.

"Lv Shu."

"Alright, Lv Shu." The old man quickly corrected himself, grinning with a smile.

His uneven teeth showed as he smiled, the skin on his face bunching up like the dry bark of an old tree.

It was hard to imagine how such a middle-aged man could let himself go to look like an old man on the verge of death.

"How have you been lately?" The old man looked down as if searching for something, his greeting casual and distracted.

"Not too good."

"Hmm, I thought so." The old man said, "Though I don’t understand all that forum stuff, Liangzi told me that the Sixth World is a place adept at crushing one’s spirit. I can see you’re not in the right state; your vitality is too overwhelming."

"You’re not in a good shape to keep adventuring into the next world," the old man said. "I’ve heard from those ancient martial fellows that they want their trained kids to take a short break for a world. You should take a break too, this world doesn’t need a kid like you to fight."

"I can’t."

"Oh?" The old man raised an eyebrow in surprise. A deep red smoking pipe appeared in his hand, and he took a light puff. Smoke rings floated between the two of them.

"Such a rare emotion." The old man remarked. "I sense your restlessness... children of the Lv Family, no, Lv Shu, you now look exactly as stubborn and peculiar as when I rescued you from the fire all those years ago. What has happened to make you this way?"

"That ’kid’ you mentioned is struggling." Lv Shu said. "I want to help him."

The old man released a smoke ring.

Time flowed like a river, leaving indelible marks on his face, and even youthful features couldn’t change these traces.

He smoked and smiled a little, his smile tinged with satisfaction.

"In such a world, you’ve found your ideal, huh," the old man said. "Good, very good. Unlike us old fogies who refuse to move, your mindset is young and progressive... Lv Shu, I’m quite envious of you."

"However," he tapped his smoking pipe, and ash fell like snow:

"Act as soon as possible."

Lv Shu fell silent for a moment.

The old man continued, fiddling with something in his hands, "The actions of large organizations have to be cautious, and it’s not appropriate for us to get involved—but it’s much easier as an individual, you don’t have to consider the consequences of stirring everyone by moving a single hair..."

"What are you trying to say."

"Lv Shu, I’ve heard about that ridiculous thing you did at the end of the Fourth World; it was absurd to the extreme, even I wanted to rush out and knock some sense into your head."

"Even that kid named Su Ming’an could see clearer than you, knowing not to clash directly with the puppets of the United Group. How did your brain get so rusty?"

"I understand how you feel, but you, a child of the Lv Family, have to understand," the old man reached out, tapping Lv Shu’s shoulder with the end of his pipe:

"You’re not just an ’individual’."

"There are many unseen people on your back."

"They’re all watching you."

"..." Lv Shu closed his eyes.

"This break is quite long; today is just December 2nd, right?" The old man didn’t continue further, turned around, and smoked, "Until the next world, there’s still more than ten days of break time. You better think carefully, think about your path, and consider whether you want to bet everything on someone who might very well fail midway."

"Lv Shu, in the Fifth World, you teamed up with that person, were entirely inactive, and your ranking plummeted. That is the truth."

"Instead of insisting on joining in, it might be better to focus on practical things, to think more for yourself."

"And you are not like that boy called Noel. Noel... no one knows who his backer is; he can afford to gamble because he might have bigger capital, but you can’t afford to make mistakes."

"Everything is still so far off... you must remember that you carry many things. You can’t just redeem the past by purely following someone... Ah!"

The old man rambled on before suddenly turning back.

He realized that the figure in front of the counter had gone, as if not wanting to listen to him anymore.

"This kid... went off to find someone again."