Over the next five days, Tang Danqing kept up her routine of driving around through the snow. Little by little, she was able to venture farther afield.
And once she got home, she noticed a small problem—
Jelly kept taking out premade meal packs to boil, or eating boiled vegetables dressed with sesame oil or salad dressing. There was nothing wrong with that, but Tang Danqing had grown up eating cafeteria food at the martial arts school. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she believed a proper meal needed something freshly stir-fried in a hot wok to make a home feel lived-in.
Thanks to the Storage Space, which had no sense of time and could hold plenty of fresh food, Tang Danqing simply bought a huge variety of fried rice, rice bowls, stir-fries, clay-pot dishes, and steaming soup bases. She stored them all away so the NPC could take out whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted, just as fresh and hot as the day Tang Danqing had bought it.
Then, at Tang Danqing’s insistence, she taught Little Jelly to make something the Shop didn’t sell: dry-fried crucian carp.
The finished dish made it to the table. It wasn’t restaurant-worthy, but it wasn’t bad enough to be inedible. Tang Danqing took her time picking the meat off one fish and eating it.
The NPC lowered her eyes, embarrassed. “Sorry, Shan Qing. I’m still a little clumsy in the kitchen.”
“Take your time. You’ve already got a real talent for it. You can’t rush this sort of thing. Cooking takes practice.”
Too much exhaustion could make a person ill, but so could having nothing to do.
Tang Danqing, who was deeply committed to living a healthy life, smiled encouragingly after the meal.
“You did a great job with this one!”
A little gentle activity was good for both body and mind.
Tang Danqing was paying closer attention to the little details of taking care of her NPC. Just as she knew the girl could get sick from a lack of nutrition, she had to make sure her mental state didn’t slip into numbness and despair.
The NPC was inexperienced in the kitchen, and her food often didn’t taste very good, so Tang Danqing taught her step by step.
Usually, after logging in and helping her make one meal, Tang Danqing would drive out to search for NPCs to complete the quest.
Whether she found anyone or not, she’d return after an hour and a half. She spent the rest of her game time practicing with Little Jelly, standing close behind her, supporting her arm as she taught her to fire the AK.
Tang Danqing realized Little Jelly had more of a knack for shooting than cooking. In only a few days, she was already showing signs of catching up to the level Tang Danqing had reached after months of training.
That was talent!
Tang Danqing told her the combination to the gun safe.
Shang You also thought Tang Danqing handled firearms better than an ordinary person. She’d been quietly sizing up Tang Danqing, and her shooting was pretty good.
And the scent of white peach perfume on her…
It smelled nice.
After Tang Danqing left, Shang You sniffed her own wrist. It carried the same fruity scent as the essential oil Tang Danqing used.
It didn’t take long for Shang You to learn why. Tang Danqing trained her hands every day, so she used plenty of hand cream, essential oils, massage balm, and other products to keep her skin from getting too rough. That was why the scent on her hands was even stronger than the scent on the rest of her.
Even on days when she didn’t use anything, the fragrance had soaked into her skin over the years. It wouldn’t fade.
“It smells really good,” the NPC said with a smile.
Tang Danqing sat on the sofa and sniffed the back of her own hand, plump as a steamed bun. She’d gotten used to the scent and couldn’t smell it anymore.
“Well, I hope so…” she murmured to herself.
What woman wanted to smell bad? Better to smell nice. Worried the scents might clash, she’d always bought her hand products from the same brand, in the same fragrance.
The NPC sat beside her. Tang Danqing turned to her.
“Jelly, in two days I won’t be able to come back and see you every day…”
Her voice held a hint of regret, helplessness, and reluctance.
The NPC stared at her with wide, dark eyes.
Tang Danqing spoke softly. “I have to go to work. I’ll be really busy.”
Training camp was almost over, and filming would start right afterward. Tang Danqing was scheduled to finish her scenes in the first month, so the schedule would be tight. She’d barely have time to eat or sleep.
The NPC’s lips moved. “When will you come back?”
“Maybe… in a month.”
“I’ll wait for you at home, Shan Qing. Is there anything I can do?”
“Yes. Try to get yourself up to 110 pounds.”
The NPC pouted, worried. “Will you be in danger?”
Shang You was only making polite conversation, but Tang Danqing actually took a moment to think before answering.
“A little. But I’ll keep myself safe. I have experience. I’ll make sure I get back in one piece.”
She had a few stunt scenes in the film, and they were dangerous. Action performers in the industry all knew the truth: one stunt could be the last thing they ever did. They might not see another sunrise.
In her previous film, Tang Danqing had fallen onto broken boards after jumping through a window and injured her back. She’d spent two months recovering.
It was frightening to think about, but she’d been lucky. It hadn’t been too serious. She let out a breath, put an arm around the NPC’s head, and gently stroked her to reassure her.
“It’s all right, it’s all right. I’m usually pretty lucky.”
Shang You nestled against her shoulder like a little bird and murmured, “Mm.”
Neither of them knew what tomorrow would bring.
During her last two days of uninterrupted gaming, Tang Danqing logged in for the full four hours each day, until the Holographic Health System forcibly kicked her out.
In those final two days, she managed to race through the storm and find all three NPCs!
She found the first one in a pipe, following fresh bloodstains in the snow.
Tang Danqing approached cautiously, gun raised. At the bend near the pipe’s entrance, she snapped the barrel up and pressed it against the NPC’s forehead.
“Don’t move!” Tang Danqing barked.
The pipe fell utterly silent. The silver-haired NPC stared at her, panting heavily.
It was the same silver-haired NPC the man in the military coat had brought along—the one who’d killed the man and his three companions.
Tang Danqing hadn’t expected to run into her again.
She glanced behind the NPC. Well, damn. The NPC had somehow found a dead crocodile. It had been gutted and skinned, its meat sliced into pieces and laid out on the ice.
So the silver-haired NPC had been having a meal. Fresh-frozen crocodile, all you could eat…
“Am I interrupting your dinner?” Tang Danqing asked, the gun still pressed to her forehead.
The silver-haired NPC didn’t dare move. “…No, not at all. Do you want some?”
She’d have to pass.
Tang Danqing found the sight a little disgusting, but she understood. The NPC’s living conditions were what they were.
The pipe was already far from the hotel where Little Jelly lived. The silver-haired NPC said she would keep going, far away, and never come back to bother Tang Danqing.
“We stay out of each other’s way… Don’t… commit any more killings.”
The silver-haired NPC stared at the AK’s barrel, sounding almost as if she were telling Tang Danqing to put down her weapon.
“I’m not here to hunt you down,” Tang Danqing said. “What are you going to do now?”
“Keep going… Find somewhere I can survive…”
The silver-haired NPC promised again, “I won’t come back to take your territory.”
Tang Danqing pretended to ponder the answer as she looked at the figure trembling beneath her worn coat.
“What’s your name?”
“J-Jiang Chenyu.”
“All right. I’m Shan Qing. Let’s get acquainted. I hope you have a safe journey. If you don’t want to die, don’t come back.”
“I won’t. I promise.”
The quest progress changed to (1/3). With that settled, Tang Danqing backed away with her gun raised. Only after leaving the pipe did she turn around.
Outside, she bought a set of warm clothes from the Pocket Shop, along with a wool hat and gloves. She also bought plenty of compressed biscuits and jerky, some gauze and antiseptic wipes, and a box of water-purification tablets. She wrapped everything in the clothes, shouted into the pipe, then tossed the bundle inside.
That was all Tang Danqing could do for her. She hurried back to the off-roader, climbed in, and drove away.
The second NPC was inside a trash can.
Tang Danqing noticed a big green garbage bin lying upside down in an old building. It was shifting, just slightly. That was how she found her.
She crept over, then kicked the bin aside in one quick motion. Her gun came up and pinned the red-eyed NPC to the ground. The NPC immediately stopped moving.
Her eyes were the same clear pomegranate red as Little Red’s.
Tang Danqing stared for a moment. “Are your eyes sick? Why are they so red?”
Under the pressure of The Truth, the red-eyed NPC answered every question. “They’re natural. Genetic selection.” But that didn’t mean she had to tell the truth, did it?
“You going to shoot me?” After answering a couple of questions, the red-eyed NPC turned the tables on her, gathering her courage to lift her chin. “If you’re not going to kill me, put the gun away. You don’t look hungry enough to eat people. A calm conversation is how friendships begin.”
Compared to the silver-haired NPC’s wariness and Jelly’s carefulness, this NPC didn’t seem particularly afraid of Tang Danqing.
Under the muzzle, she seemed oddly compliant.
“Not a chance. This is your territory, and I just got here. I’d be at a disadvantage if I put my gun away,” Tang Danqing replied smoothly. “I’m Shan Qing. It’s rare to find anyone alive around here. Let’s get acquainted.”
“Sure. Nice to meet you… Is that gun real? Where’d you get it?”
“That’s none of your business. Your turn. What’s your name?”
“I’m Xu Changliu.”
May the hills stay green and the rivers keep flowing.
“We’ve got a little connection now. I hope you’re still alive when we meet again.”
After delivering that pretty farewell, Tang Danqing didn’t stay a second longer.
She backed away step by step, then left the wary NPC behind. Even after getting back in the car, she deliberately drove in circles across the snow. Only once the storm had buried her tire tracks did she take a longer route home.
Quest progress: (2/3).
