At four in the morning, Gao Sijin jolted awake without any warning. He was still sharing a room with Uzuki. She slept soundly on the bed, her breathing rhythmic, the corners of her lips slightly upturned like an adorable little cat.
She was surely having a sweet dream.
Unlike her, Gao Sijin’s heart had started pounding for no reason. In the vast darkness, his heart beat so violently it felt as if it might leap out of his chest at any moment. Careful not to wake Uzuki, he tiptoed out of the room, walked to the living room balcony, and pushed open the window.
A cool breeze rushed into his body, every pore opening wide as a chill ran down his spine.
“Did you have a nightmare?”
The sudden voice made Gao Sijin jump. Turning around, he suddenly realized he wasn’t alone on the balcony. Yu Qingxue sat there, her long, beautiful legs crossed, her slender, pale hands holding a Switch. A can of Budweiser rested on the side table beside her.
The events at the old school building yesterday were still vivid in his mind—the middle school class in the Mirror World, forcibly occupied by Yu Qingxue, indulging in unbridled excess, reaching as many as five times.
That beast-like behavior left Gao Sijin both troubled and thrilled. Now, alone with Yu Qingxue, he had no intention of distancing himself from her. His gaze fell upon the faintly exposed whiteness at her collar, and an inexplicable heat inevitably rose throughout his body.
“I did just have a nightmare,” Gao Sijin said, opening a can of Budweiser and sitting beside Yu Qingxue. They stayed on the balcony, gazing at Tokyo’s dazzling nightscape. “I dreamed I was sprinting endlessly through a forest, something chasing me from behind. I kept running, thinking I had successfully escaped, but at the finish line, I ran into a hunter who had been waiting a long time. The sunlight was blinding. I couldn’t see her clearly, but I knew—she had caught me. Every cell in my body screamed its fear of her.”
“Male ‘he,’ female ‘she,’ the impersonal ‘it,’ or the divine ‘He’?”
“Female. The one chasing me was a woman. Strange, right? I’m a man, yet I’m afraid of a woman. I even kept running away.”
“Nothing strange about it.” Yu Qingxue took a sip of Budweiser. “Rio comes back today. You’ve been missing her a lot, haven’t you?”
“Of course. She’s my fiancée, my one and only fate.”
A desolate radiance flickered across Yu Qingxue’s exquisitely beautiful face.
Though she had no proof, Yu Qingxue was one hundred percent certain that at this very moment, the Young Miss was spying on her casual conversation with Gao Sijin. Deep down, Yu Qingxue actually felt a twinge of lingering fear about having confessed those truths to Gao Sijin. In her eyes, Gao Sijin was just like that Malphite he loved to play—not the sharpest tool in the shed. If things truly got exposed, everyone would be finished.
Because of this, Yu Qingxue had also had a nightmare. She dreamed she died before Gao Sijin’s eyes, her body pierced through by Tsukiyuki Rio’s tachi. The music box still played its beautiful melody. Mortally wounded, Yu Qingxue gritted her teeth in pain. Her final sight was Gao Sijin being dragged away by the collar, Tsukiyuki Rio leading him.
Their backs grew smaller and smaller, leaving Yu Qingxue alone, waiting for death.
That was what she had dreamed an hour ago. She knew the Eldest Miss Tsukiyuki Rio’s heaven-reaching methods. If she truly decided to investigate thoroughly, the matter of her having relations with Gao Sijin would sooner or later come to light.
In four more hours, Tsukiyuki Rio would return to Tokyo. She loomed like the Sword of Damocles, making it impossible for Yu Qingxue to eat or sleep in peace.
“Let’s go play some games.”
Downing the beer in the can in one go, Yu Qingxue naturally took Gao Sijin’s hand and walked into her room.
Compared to Gao Sijin’s room, Yu Qingxue’s room looked more like a gaming den. Ambient lights glowed in a riot of colors, a Transformers figure stood nearly as tall as a person, and the setup boasted a top-tier desktop computer, a large LCD TV, and a PS5. It was practically every man’s dream room.
“Why do you like games so much, Qingxue?” Gao Sijin sat beside her and habitually powered on the computer.
“Maybe it’s a way to escape reality. In games, I can do everything I can’t do in real life. Human strength is too insignificant, but in games, you have the possibility of becoming a god… The peak is too lonely and cold. But games are fairer than the real world, especially those that rely on skill. At least there are no rich second-generations or bureaucrats’ kids. Everyone starts from zero…”
Yu Qingxue felt deeply bitter. When she was alone in her room, hidden under the covers, she had teetered on the edge of collapse many times. Countless times she asked herself: why did Tsukiyuki Rio have the Tsukiyuki Zaibatsu behind her, yet the Yu Family behind her offered nothing but being a burden?
Earth Online was the trashiest game in the world. Some people’s upper limits didn’t even qualify as other people’s lower limits.
She wanted a carefree romance with Gao Sijin. No more sneaking around. If they were going to love, she wanted to love openly and honorably.
A lion that has tasted meat can never stomach grass again.
She wanted to entwine with her beloved in mad passion once more. How could just one time ever be enough?
In the remaining years of her life, she wanted many more times with him. Every day she wanted to be with him, she’d pin him to the bed and break him completely, making his eyes see only Yu Qingxue, making his body unable to adapt to anyone but her.
“Team fight’s starting. You saving your ult for retirement or what?”
“Lag.” Though the game was fun, Gao Sijin felt somewhat restless. “Qingxue, I actually like Rio more than you think.”
“Tch. You know how I feel about you, and you still say that. You’re really something, you know that?”
“If I hadn’t met Rio, Qingxue and I probably would have become lovers.”
“Too bad there’s no ‘if.'”
Though Gao Sijin whiffed his ultimate as usual, Yu Qingxue still managed to destroy the enemy’s nexus with her masterful mechanics.
They played until six in the morning. Then Morgana knocked on the door and entered Yu Qingxue’s room.
“Why is Lord Sijin in your room? You two weren’t doing anything weird, were you?”
“He couldn’t sleep, so he was gaming with me. What about it?”
“Qingxue, I still haven’t forgotten the little matter of you using anesthetic on me the day before yesterday.”
“Whatever makes you happy.”
“Get ready. Breakfast soon. We leave at eight to pick up Young Lady Tsukiyuki from the private airport. Stop playing games for now. If you want to play, wait until we get back.”
“Yeah, yeah. I got it.”
Yu Qingxue turned off the computer impatiently. Daylight had fully arrived. Once Tsukiyuki Rio returned to Tokyo, Gao Sijin’s trial card would expire.
“Go take a shower, Sijin. Wash up nice and clean. When your Rio comes back, she’ll properly dote on you. You’ve been apart for so long this time. I’d say you’re doomed for sure.”
