No one knew how long had passed, but the "Qingmei" lying on the ground finally got up. However, instead of returning to her room, she staggered out and pushed open the front door.
The skin on her face no longer looked like a normal human's—pale and bluish, like that of a corpse.
But "Qingmei" seemed completely unaware. She just kept walking forward.
And along the way, she didn’t encounter a single villager. She didn’t find this strange either, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
Eventually, she arrived at her destination.
It was the village’s only small pond.
No one knew exactly how deep the water was, but it was said that several children had drowned there long ago.
There were even rumors that a water ghost lived in the pond.
"Qingmei" stepped into the water one step at a time from the shore.
Soon, only her head was left floating on the surface.
Just as she was about to be completely submerged, something suddenly darted out from her body with a splash.
When Qingmei opened her eyes again, she found herself in the center of the pond!
Realizing she was about to sink, she immediately started crying out for help.
“Help! Is anyone there? Please help me!”
“Help…”
Qingmei kept shouting, but no one responded.
Gradually, the injury at the back of her head began to sap her strength from blood loss, leaving her feeling weak. Her body slowly began to sink straight down.
And just before her consciousness completely faded…
A grotesque and terrifying face appeared before her eyes.
It was her own face—when she had been conspiring with her mother about how to frame Qing Xi after Qing Xi and Zhou Ming had left.
As for her mother, she had ended up being smothered to death by her own daughter with a pillow after saying something wrong in the heat of the moment.
So… this was her retribution?
——
Half-asleep, Qing Xi stirred when he heard what sounded like a commotion outside. He turned to the man next to him and asked:
“Honey, is something going on outside?”
“No, nothing happened.”
“Go back to sleep.”
“I’ll be right here with you.”
“Mm.” Qing Xi’s voice was filled with dependence and trust.
Before long, the room was so quiet that only Qing Xi’s steady breathing could be heard.
Zhou Ming gazed at the sleeping boy with eyes full of tenderness and love.
After a while, Zhou Ming finally got up reluctantly.
Now it was time for him to take care of those trivial matters so that he could spend more time with his little wife.
——
“Zhou-ge, are you home?”
“Zhou-ge!”
Just after waking up, Qing Xi heard someone knocking at the door nonstop. Not seeing Zhou Ming anywhere in the room, he assumed his husband had come back.
But when he opened the heavy wooden door, he found a stranger standing outside.
The man was tall with a buzz cut and a handsome face, but his expression looked fierce, making Qing Xi instinctively avoid getting too close.
What’s more, he was wearing only a white tank top and gray shorts, exposing his muscular—but not overly bulky—build.
Lu Hua had been about to leave after knocking several times without a response, when the door suddenly opened.
To his surprise, the one who answered wasn’t his good buddy Zhou Ming, but a delicate young beauty.
The boy’s hair was still a bit tousled, clearly just out of bed.
Zhou-ge… where did you find such a gorgeous boy?
Lu Hua, who usually showed no courtesy to anyone outside his two best friends, found himself for the first time ever becoming conscious of his appearance.
He even tried to mimic lines he had heard on TV, flashing a bright and charming smile at the little beauty. “Hello, I’m Lu Hua. It’s nice to meet you.”
After what just happened, all traces of Qing Xi’s drowsiness vanished.
Now staring at the man greeting him, he thought the guy seemed a bit silly.
Though still a little wary, the well-mannered boy responded politely.
“Hello, I’m Qing Xi.”
Qing Xi… Lu Hua repeated the name silently in his heart, thinking not only was the boy beautiful, but even his name sounded lovely.
Even more importantly, he was Lu Hua’s ideal type in every way.
Honestly, it felt like he had just met his destined wife!
【Ding——The livestream has automatically started.】
That familiar mechanical voice of System 202 suddenly echoed in his mind.
Catching the unprepared boy completely off guard.
His round apricot eyes widened in shock, making him look like a startled little kitten.
“Qing Xi, are you okay?”
Lu Hua asked in concern, seizing the chance to grab the boy’s soft, fair hand.
Mm, his wife’s hand was just as small and soft as he had imagined.
“I’m fine. You can let go of me now.”
Frowning slightly at Lu Hua’s rude behavior, Qing Xi sounded displeased.
“Sorry.”
Like a guilty puppy, Lu Hua immediately admitted his mistake when he saw that his wife was angry.
[Meow meow meow??? At first, I thought this was some countryside romance storyline.]
[What’s going on?? I was only gone for one day, and my wife already has another dog??]
[Hehe, but this dog’s body looks great. When doing that kind of thing, he’d definitely make our wife feel better than that sickly husband.]
[Also, the contrast in their skin tones—tsk. That big arm looks even thicker than my wife’s calf.]
“If you don’t have anything else, you can leave now. Zhou Ming isn’t home at the moment.”
“Then I’ll come back to look for Zhou-ge later. It’s nothing urgent anyway.”
Lu Hua said that, but his eyes remained glued to Qing Xi, not even blinking.
Qing Xi originally thought the man would leave after he said that, but he just kept staring at him. So shameless.
Flustered and annoyed, Qing Xi decided not to bother with this big idiot anymore. He turned around and went back into the courtyard, intending to shut the door.
But just as he was about to close it—
A tanned hand, much bigger than his own, suddenly reached in and stopped it.
“Qing Xi, I suddenly remembered I actually have something important to talk to Zhou-ge about. Can I come in and wait for him?”
The boy raised his eyes to look at him. Seeing the sincere expression on the man’s face, he hesitated but eventually nodded and let him in.
[Ahhhhhh wife don’t let the wolf in! I swear! That guy’s totally lying to you!!]
[Wait, is this NPC even supposed to be in this storyline? I’ve never seen him before.]
[Same! This is the first time I’ve seen this dude. Could he be a newly added character in this instance?]
[Hehe, another day of watching our pretty wife attract more dogs.]
“Thank you, Qing Xi.”
After coming in, Lu Hua immediately made himself at home and dragged over a chair to sit in the courtyard. Then, as if casually, he asked the boy,
“Qing Xi, if I may ask, what’s your relationship with Zhou-ge?”
“Because I’ve never seen you before, and I’ve never heard Zhou-ge mention you.”
Qing Xi glanced at him and replied blandly, “It’s normal you haven’t seen me. I’m the wife he just married yesterday.”
!!!!
Lu Hua nearly fell off the chair upon hearing that.
What! The person I just fell for at first sight is already married!?
Wait—when did Zhou-ge even hold a wedding? As his brother, how could I not know anything about it!?
This is outrageous! Did he even consider me a real bro!?
The shock was too much, and for a while, Lu Hua just sat there in a daze.
Meanwhile, Qing Xi returned to his room.
From that conversation with Lu Hua, he’d gotten a crucial piece of information.
Logically, since they all grew up in the same village, Lu Hua should’ve known him. But he didn’t.
If Zhou Ming’s alienation could be explained by his poor health, then what about Lu Hua?
And his surname is Lu… so is he, like Zhou Ming, also from outside the village?
Qing Xi now felt like he was surrounded by a thick fog of mystery, not knowing where to start unraveling the truth.
“202, can you… maybe give me a little hint?”
Alone in the room, the boy pitifully reached out to his system for help.
But what he didn’t know was that these systems only issue missions and plotlines to their bound players. As for other things… they didn’t care.
Especially since 202 was known to be the most emotionless system of them all.
[QwQ, poor wife… If I could talk, I really wanna give you a hint.]
[Sob, wife stay strong, you have to pass the instance on your own.]
[202 won’t help him, right? I remember someone who was bound to it before said it’s cold as ice and completely devoid of human emotion—just a ruthless machine.]
[Well, it is a robot, after all.]
But just as the viewers were discussing 202, the system was secretly giving its little player a hint. Compared to its usual tone, it even sounded… gentler.
【Perhaps the player can try asking some of the other villagers. You might learn something useful.】
!!!
Qing Xi’s eyes lit up instantly when he heard that.
He really was dumb—he’d forgotten such a simple method.
“Thank you so much, 202.”
The boy expressed his heartfelt thanks through mental communication.
“It’s nothing. It’s part of my duty as your system.”
But as 202 recalled everything it had seen recently, for the first time in its high-level system existence, it experienced something akin to desire.
It really wanted to become human.
That way, it could always stay by its little player’s side, to protect him.
And maybe… just like those others, it could do some “bullying” things to Qing Xi too.
Besides, in 202’s eyes, its little player was so obedient—he would surely enjoy that…
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