She scrambled out of bed, then hurriedly washed up. There was no time to pack her things or eat breakfast. Changing into her work uniform with a piece of bread in her mouth, Zhao Mingyue rushed out the door. She even forgot her own phone; it was Bai Yu who reminded her.
No police tape was stretched outside Sunshine Apartment, but Zhao Mingyue saw quite a few officers moving about. Many people stood in the corridors from the first to the third floor, chattering noisily about who knew what.
Reaching the ground floor, she pushed out her bicycle. She couldn’t worry about anything else and just took off, one hand holding the handlebar, the other clutching her slice of bread.
Zhao Mingyue’s quality of life was poor, especially her diet. Being able to maintain her fair and delicate skin was purely due to powerful genetics.
She never took the initiative to do any skincare normally. In her words, the money for face masks was better spent on a few pounds of chicken wings. She liked eating chicken wings.
To her, even facial cleanser was a luxury. The only thing that maintained her skin was water.
Riding her bike with one hand and eating bread with the other, such haste inevitably led to her choking—as was entirely predictable. Her face turned red before she managed to swallow. But she had left in such a rush, she didn’t bring any water or milk. Her mouth was parched, and her bitter little face looked utterly aggrieved.
Choked by the bread and desperately thirsty, the key point was, she was so terribly sleepy!
Jingle.
The copper bell hanging on the door frame made a crisp sound. Just as Zhao Mingyue entered the convenience store, the wind chime hanging in front of the window rang as expected.
“Store Manager, I’m sorry I’m late again.”
She had been late yesterday, and now late again today. Zhao Mingyue felt she was losing face.
“It’s fine, just ten minutes, don’t worry about it. You young people are under a lot of pressure; I understand.” The store manager spoke with a chuckle and didn’t say much more, tidying up before leaving.
Such a large convenience store was left to Zhao Mingyue alone. She had long since gotten used to it. The boss trusted her, so she naturally felt responsible and would never take anything from the store.
However, today she couldn’t resist.
She was simply too thirsty. Left with no choice, she grabbed a bottle of mineral water from the shelf, then paid for it with money from her own pocket.
Bai Yu hid within her shadow and clearly saw that she had initially reached for the milk on the top shelf but, after hesitating for several seconds, took the cheapest mineral water from the bottom shelf instead.
“Mingyue, if it’s possible, I hope you will treat your body a little better.”
Bai Yu’s gentle voice, which nonetheless sounded devoid of any emotion, resonated in Zhao Mingyue’s heart. “At least make your physical fitness a bit stronger.”
Picking up the mineral water and taking a decidedly unladylike gulp, then hearing Bai Yu’s words, Zhao Mingyue sat down on her chair and sighed softly. “But, I have no money. It really is hard to earn money these days, you know.”
“Later, I’ll tell you how to earn money.”
“Really?!” Zhao Mingyue’s eyes lit up.
“Just imagine, future quests will only become more difficult. Can your body withstand that kind of day-and-night-reversed lifestyle? So I will help you in this area as much as possible.”
“Great! I knew Little Sister Bai Yu was the best!”
“Weren’t you looking at that bottle of milk just now? Go get it.”
“Mm-hmm!”
Zhao Mingyue immediately stood up and swiftly retrieved the bottle of milk, worth twelve yuan, from the shelf. Moving quickly, she scanned the barcode and paid. Just one sip after opening it, and she narrowed her eyes in pure enjoyment.
Sometimes, there really was no helping it. This girl Zhao Mingyue was just too poor. This type of milk was probably something she wouldn’t buy once in three years.
Bai Yu worried that in her current state, some no-good boy might lure her away with just a few little snacks in the future.
To be honest, before meeting Zhao Mingyue, she had never imagined there would come a day when she’d have to consider everything, even worrying about whether Zhao Mingyue would be snatched away, or might simply starve to death one day.
Watching Zhao Mingyue’s expression of pure bliss, Bai Yu laughed inwardly. It was then that she suddenly realized something.
Had she just… smiled?
There were different kinds of smiles: sarcastic, mocking, even manic, and genuine smiles from the heart.
In reality, no matter what kind of smile it was, it rarely appeared on her face, especially the last kind.
She truly couldn’t understand under what circumstances she would inadvertently reveal a sincere smile from her heart.
Killing an enemy? Completing a task? Having a plan succeed?
In her eyes, none of those were worth smiling about. Enemies could never all be killed. Finishing off the enemy in front of her only meant more were waiting to be dealt with. Complacency and negligence would only cost her her life. The same was true for the latter examples.
·
·
For the rest of the day, Zhao Mingyue noticed one thing: Bai Yu didn’t seem to want to talk to her much. It had been similar yesterday, but today seemed worse. When she spoke to her, Bai Yu either didn’t reply or only gave very short responses.
Not only during the day, but even when night came, Bai Yu still had little interest in talking. She wouldn’t even come out of the shadows.
When Zhao Mingyue returned to her bedroom, she specifically examined her shadow to confirm it was the silhouette of a young girl with low pigtails and a long skirt. This meant Bai Yu hadn’t left.
Zhao Mingyue felt puzzled but didn’t press the issue. She tidied her room, finished the rest of her homework after dinner, and after bathing, sat on her bed looking at the notifications on the black phone.
She had completed the quest. The black phone rewarded her with a Lottery Chance and [Strength+1]. But since Bai Yu didn’t want to talk to her now, she’d have to ask about it tomorrow.
“Bai Yu, I don’t know what’s wrong, but goodnight… see you tomorrow morning.”
The bedroom light was switched off, and the room fell into darkness. Not long after, once Zhao Mingyue was deep asleep, Bai Yu appeared and sat before her bed.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to talk to Zhao Mingyue today, nor was she angry. She was simply pondering one question.
What exactly was wrong with her?
It had only been two or three days since she came into contact with Zhao Mingyue, yet the change in her mindset seemed excessively large.
With Zhao Mingyue, her objective was to make the other party fall for her genuinely, to complete her task. She absolutely could not pour excessive emotion into her.
The reason was simple: once the task was complete, she would inevitably leave this world.
If she developed feelings for Zhao Mingyue by then, would she leave or not?
And another point: when the task was eventually completed, and Zhao Mingyue learned that her true identity wasn’t a kind-hearted ghost but a bona fide murderer, what kind of disappointed look would appear in Zhao Mingyue’s eyes?
She wasn’t overthinking it, imagining the emotional affairs of the future, like a boy who hadn’t even started a relationship daydreaming about married life with a girl.
It was because she had witnessed no fewer than ten such cases.
The protagonists of those ten cases, without exception, all ended up dead.
The Scumbag Game didn’t care about your feelings or your emotions. If you didn’t want to leave, you died here. It was that simple.
Just as the image of a certain man dying for this very reason surfaced in Bai Yu’s mind, Zhao Mingyue’s phone suddenly rang.
Someone was calling her through a chat application, and the profile picture was a very handsome man.
·
