After Entering a Romance Reality Show Disguised as a Man to Win Over All the Female Leads - Chapter 15

Rong Yu only felt softness on her lips. A sweet fragrance poured straight into her nose, and He Jiao’s face, suddenly so close, brought with it an intense impact of beauty. Her originally violent breathing stalled, forcing her to slow it down.

He Jiao tilted her chin even higher. Rong Yu could barely breathe, yet for some reason, she felt much better instead. Her vision, which had been darkening in waves, gradually began to recover, and the heart that had been pounding wildly in her chest slowly calmed.

He Jiao’s other hand wrapped around Rong Yu’s waist, stroking up and down along her spine to help regulate her breathing. The rhythm of that hand’s soothing was just right, so comfortable that Rong Yu could not help closing her eyes.

She did not know whether it was her imagination, but she actually seemed to see a blue light flash through He Jiao’s eyes. Only, her eyes were blue to begin with, so that blue light was not obvious. It was like a glimmer passing over the surface of water.

In the next second, Mu Shuiqing’s rebuke, on the verge of exploding, immediately rang beside her ear.

“I think that’s enough, isn’t it?!”

Only then did He Jiao let go of Rong Yu. She glanced sideways at Mu Shuiqing, raised her hands, and took half a step back.

Rong Yu breathed in small, hurried gasps, but the suffocating sensation from earlier had completely disappeared.

He Jiao glanced at her. Her crimson lips were still stained with glistening saliva, carrying a decadent, sensual air. Even the tip of her nose and her cheeks were tinted with a hint of spring.

Every inch of her reaction was dancing directly on Mu Shuiqing’s minefield.

Mu Shuiqing’s face was expressionless, but her scarlet eyes seemed to have blood surging within them. The look she gave He Jiao could practically kill.

The little paper figure at her chest raised both hands high in the air, waving them in condemnation. The paper head was burning with fire, and even its edges had been charred black.

Mu Shuiqing gritted her teeth, pulled a tissue from her pocket, and wiped Rong Yu’s mouth with force.

The words she spoke, however, were directed at He Jiao.

“He Jiao, don’t forget our agreement.”

The blond-haired, blue-eyed girl beside them smiled faintly, but the smile did not reach her eyes. “I was just helping her treat an illness.”

Mu Shuiqing did not accept her excuse. Her face remained expressionless, but her words were almost squeezed out from between her teeth.

“You could have told me directly, and then let me do it!”

He Jiao spread her hands, her face innocent. “I forgot.”

Mu Shuiqing: “……”

The talisman fragments scattered all over the ground near her feet suddenly burst into flames and exploded in midair.

Both sides were consciousness bodies of Lian Langsheng, so Rong Yu quietly let Mu Shuiqing wipe her mouth and obediently stood in place, acting invisible.

She felt like a scumbag…

However, Mu Shuiqing and Lin Mengxing had said before, “Don’t forget our agreement.” Now it seemed there was also an agreement between Mu Shuiqing and He Jiao.

What exactly was this agreement?

Rong Yu wanted to ask, but also felt that prying into other people’s business like this was not very good.

Just then, soft, rustling footsteps came from the darkness in the distance. The three of them turned to look and saw that all the other guests had arrived, along with Host Zhang Yong’an and two staff members.

Zhang Yong’an ran in front and was the first to rush over to them.

He looked the three of them up and down several times. Only after confirming they were all standing there unharmed did he let out a breath, still shaken.

“Are you all okay?”

Rong Yu and He Jiao shook their heads at the same time.

Mu Shuiqing raised her hand and pointed at Seven on the ground. “He seems a little not okay.”

The sky around them was truly too dark. It was now deep into the night, and even the solar streetlights had begun to dim. Zhang Yong’an had seen that several people had been gone for too long, so he had simply ended today’s program and brought everyone over to search for them.

But because it was too dark, he had only noticed Rong Yu and the other two earlier. Now that Mu Shuiqing pointed, he finally noticed Seven lying on the ground. His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

“What happened to Seven?”

Mu Shuiqing glanced at Rong Yu and He Jiao.

Rong Yu thought about it and ultimately did not mention the fact that he had been possessed earlier. “It seems like he drank too much and fainted.”

Only then did Mu Shuiqing speak, echoing her words. “Yes. He was walking just now, and then he suddenly fell to the ground.”

Seven lay quietly on the ground. There was not a single injury on his face or body. No matter how one looked at him, he did not seem to have been beaten.

So Zhang Yong’an did not think too much about it and quickly called the staff members beside him over to help.

“Quick, quick, quick. Send Seven back.”

This was the program team’s only celebrity guest. Nothing could happen to him on their show. Otherwise, it would be even harder to invite guests in the future.

Zhang Yong’an wanted to cry. Their little program was too difficult. Would it be revenge-blocked by Seven’s fans just as it had finally started gaining a little traction?

He and the staff supported Seven and tried to pull him up from the ground, only to discover that even Seven’s arm was as heavy as an adult man.

Zhang Yong’an used brute force to barely pull him up a little, but for a moment, he failed to hold on and let go. Seven’s head hit the small curb beside the path with a loud thunk.

Everyone present heard the crisp sound.

Zhang Yong’an: “……Cough, cough.”

Fortunately, they had already ended filming and turned off all the cameras earlier. Otherwise, Seven’s fans would absolutely cancel him today.

The two staff members beside him were also frightened. Together with him, they strained to lift Seven.

Seven’s build was not especially strong, but for some reason—perhaps because he was drunk—he seemed even heavier than an ordinary drunk person. Zhang Yong’an, a retired artistic soldier, plus two young, vigorous men, still could not carry him on their backs. They could only stagger while holding his arms, bringing him toward the parking area.

The surrounding male guests were unmoved and quietly watched them.

Sheng Ming glanced at the dust all over Seven’s back and even frowned in disgust, retreating two steps.

Qin Wenhan stood expressionlessly to the side, looking as if it had nothing to do with him, lowering his head to glance at the Patek Philippe watch on his wrist.

Seeing how difficult it was for the host, Rong Yu quickly went over to help support Seven’s arm. But she did not have much strength either, and her help was like a cup of water poured onto a burning cart of firewood.

Mu Shuiqing glanced at Rong Yu. While no one was paying attention, she took a talisman paper from her clothes and stuffed it into Seven’s jacket pocket.

The people who had been staggering while holding Seven’s arms instantly felt much more relaxed.

Zhang Yong’an was too anxious to notice this problem. He thought Seven had been lying down earlier, making it hard for them to use force, which was why they had felt he was heavy. Now that Seven was no longer so heavy, he immediately had the staff carry him back and send him to his lodging.

Seven had originally been staying in a tent with He Huaiting. In his current unconscious state, he definitely could not stay in a tent anymore. Zhang Yong’an immediately called a nearby hotel and arranged a king room for Seven.

And to ensure absolute fairness, the other guests could also go to the hotel to rest tonight, with the room fees reimbursed by the program team.

Thus, the entire group was brought to the hotel. Their luggage would all be packed up and delivered by the program team’s female field staff.

Half an hour later, everyone was checked into the nearest five-star hotel.

The male guests’ rooms were arranged on the second floor, while the female guests’ rooms were arranged on the third floor. Since the lodging this time had been arranged at the last minute, and these were hotel rooms where all the interior settings could be seen at a glance, to protect the guests’ privacy, the program team did not install cameras.

After Zhang Yong’an escorted everyone there, he explained when they would come to pick up the guests the next morning.

“Let me give you a little spoiler in advance. Tomorrow’s program task will require a lot of physical stamina, so I hope all the guests will wear clothes and shoes convenient for exercise.”

Zhang Yong’an waved at everyone. “Also, after tomorrow ends, our first round of CP interaction time will be over. The program team will arrange for the guests to vote again and choose new interaction partners. Everyone can consider it in advance, and you can also privately communicate with someone you’re interested in ahead of time. But you must ensure fair competition~”

On ordinary dating shows, in order to make sure the program team could prank the guests and make the show more interesting, the team generally would not remind guests about the next day’s schedule type.

Heartbeat Moment was clearly a more conscientious program team. They even openly gave a reminder like tomorrow’s task requiring a lot of physical exertion.

…No wonder the ratings were low.

Without publicity stunts or hot topics, it really was not easy to explode in popularity.

Everyone nodded, said goodbye to Zhang Yong’an, and scattered back to their own rooms.

Rong Yu was currently still in her “male” identity, so naturally she had to follow the male guests back to the independent rooms on the second floor.

She had absolutely no common language with Qin Wenhan and Sheng Ming. The three of them stood together in the elevator, and the entire elevator was filled with an eerie silence.

Especially since the elevator walls on all sides were mirrored. Whatever expression was on one’s face could be seen clearly by the others.

Rong Yu felt even more uncomfortable all over.

As soon as the elevator doors opened, she immediately sprinted toward her room, swiped the door lock open, entered, and locked the door behind her.

The day’s filming was finally over. Rong Yu let out a long breath of relief and went to the bathroom to enjoy a nice bath.

The program team’s field staff had already placed everyone’s luggage in their rooms. After Rong Yu finished washing up, she found her phone charger in her luggage and lay on the bed, charging her phone while playing with it.

The moment she opened her phone, a Weibo notification page popped up.

[#HeartbeatMomentRongYu# As a pure passerby, I actually saw what top-tier male O means. Holy crap, too bewitching.]

Rong Yu tapped into it and found that it was actually the scene from that afternoon, where she had been surrounded by everyone in the center of the long table.

It had even been edited into a video. The BGM was an especially seductive and suggestive vocal track that made one’s ears go soft.

The person who posted the Weibo was called @RongYu’sDog.

Rong Yu: “……”

She scrolled down and browsed the comments beneath the Weibo post. She saw all kinds of people liking and commenting.

[Am I getting old? I used to quite like domineering CEOs and older men, ahhhhh. Why? Why have I inexplicably started liking Rong Yu’s type?]

[That’s very normal, sister. This is the charm of a top-tier Omega.]

[I really feel like Rongrong matches every female guest so well. It’s such a strange feeling. Is this what a top-tier Omega is?]

When Rong Yu saw the word Omega, she could not help thinking of Lin Mengxing’s terrifyingly powerful Enigma pheromones. Her scalp went numb for a moment, and she had already started feeling a little PTSD.

She quickly swiped past that comment and continued scrolling down, where she saw other people discussing heatedly in the comment section.

[Actually, I feel like Little Brother Rong Yu’s charm lies in the fact that he’s very approachable and doesn’t act pretentious at all. How should I put it… He’s like a sister.]

[Personally, I think Rongrong matches Cat Cat better. I like He Huaiting too! Cool older sisters are supreme!! But Rongrong’s attributes always feel very strange. How do I say this? No matter whose hand he holds in the end, I’ll agree. They’re all my good little sisters-in-law, wuwuwu.]

[I think so too!! pulls out Little Brother Rong Yu’s previous women’s clothing edit to lick the screen prprprprpr.]

[Sister, Rong Yu has worn women’s clothing? Send it to me, .]

[No, no, it was a picture edited by netizens before. I wonder when Little Brother Rong Yu can wear women’s clothing once. I really want to see it. Can this be said?]

[It can be said!!! I really want to see it too, ahhhhhhh.]

Rong Yu laughed and continued scrolling down, preparing to read other comments.

Suddenly, behind her, outside the balcony, there was a booming sound, as if something had exploded. Red light flashed, illuminating her entire bedroom in a dark red.

The balcony curtains were drawn, but that light pierced through them so strongly that it was as if she were standing in the sunset at dusk. The orange-red, dim yet intense light was clearly not bright enough to be vivid, yet it made people unable to open their eyes.

Rong Yu could not help raising a hand to shield her eyes. She lifted the quilt, got out of bed, and walked toward the balcony. Squinting, she pulled open the curtains, opened the balcony glass door, and stepped outside.

When she looked up, she saw a huge crack about two meters long and wide appear out of thin air between the second and third floors, directly across from her balcony.

The crack seemed to have torn open another space-time. Rong Yu actually saw a beach beneath blazing sunlight on the other side of the fissure. On the beach stood rows of oddly shaped buildings in bright colors.

Some were like sharp towers. Some were triangular. Some were like flying discs. No matter how one looked at them, they did not seem like architectural styles people in the real world would use.

Most importantly, the other side of the crack was actually daytime.

Before she had time to keep looking, she saw a figure approach the crack and step out of it, moving toward the balcony above her. Just as that person was about to step onto the balcony edge, they suddenly lost their strength and toppled downward headfirst.

Rong Yu was so frightened she cried out. Before her mind could react, she had already reached out and caught the person falling down.

She tightly grabbed the other person’s arm and pulled them into her arms, using the momentum to drag them back onto her own balcony.

When the other person followed her strength and fell into her arms, successfully landing, Rong Yu’s hands were shaking. Her mind was completely blank, and all that filled it was relief.

She took a long while to recover before telling herself that all of this was Lian Langsheng’s brain world. It was like a dream. It was not real. Lian Langsheng would not be injured. She would not die.

But she still could not help trembling and tightly gripping He Huaiting’s hand.

Her gaze fell on the red marks all over the other girl’s body, and she suddenly sobered up. Carefully, she supported He Huaiting and walked toward the bedroom.

Just before leaving the balcony, Rong Yu subconsciously turned back, only to see that the crack that had originally floated in midair had already disappeared. There was nothing in the air, and not the slightest trace of its disappearance remained.

He Huaiting’s clothes were clean and tidy. She was still wearing the sweater Rong Yu had given her. But the exposed skin on her neck and wrists was covered in red marks like wounds left by whipping vines.

Rong Yu helped her to the bedside and laid her down, then carefully lifted the sleeve of her sweater. She saw that her entire left arm was covered with hideous, terrifying blood blisters and fresh red burns.

It was like boiling water had been poured over He Huaiting’s arm. Her fair, slender, powerful arm was full of marks that made one’s scalp tingle. Rong Yu felt that even breathing would pull at those wounds. She did not even dare touch them.

After only one glance, Rong Yu’s tears fell, rolling down the side of her face. Just as they were about to drip, she quickly reached out to catch the tears, afraid they would fall onto He Huaiting’s arm.

Which instance was this?

Even in her novels, she could not bear to let Lian Langsheng get hurt. How could He Huaiting suffer such severe injuries in an instance?

Rong Yu got up and planned to look under the TV cabinet for the hotel’s medical kit. At that moment, He Huaiting on the bed opened her eyes.

Her golden pupils, set against the pure white long hair beside her face, made her look like a sleeping leopard. When she first opened her eyes, she was still somewhat dazed. But when she saw Rong Yu beside the bed, she instantly regained clarity.

He Huaiting lowered her eyes and glanced at the sleeve Rong Yu had lifted. There was not the slightest extra expression on her face.

“You saw it?”

There was no point denying it now. Rong Yu nodded.

He Huaiting said nothing more.

Rong Yu glanced at her, then turned and found the medical kit under the TV cabinet. She took out burn ointment and alcohol, walked to He Huaiting, and sat down.

“Your wounds need to be treated.”

He Huaiting stared straight at her. After a full dozen seconds of silence, she suddenly spoke.

“You cried.”

She said it as a statement. The tear tracks on Rong Yu’s face were clear and visible, and there was no excuse to refute it.

He Huaiting slowly blinked. “Why?”

Rong Yu glared at her. “What do you think?”

He Huaiting lowered her eyes and looked at the quilt over her body. “It doesn’t hurt.”

This time, Rong Yu really could not hold back. Heartache made tears start falling again.

“You’re hurt this badly and you still say it doesn’t hurt?”

She gritted her teeth and looked at He Huaiting. “Which instance did you come back from?”

He Huaiting looked at her in slight surprise. This expression appearing on He Huaiting’s face made her rarely seem a little childish.

Rong Yu was so angry she almost laughed. “You thought I couldn’t guess your identity? Which instance did you just come back from?”

He Huaiting pressed her lips together and said in a low voice, “Agak instance.”

Rong Yu almost crushed the alcohol bottle in her hand.

Agak instance.

One of the legendary highest-difficulty S-rank instances. Every player who cleared it had survived only by the skin of their teeth.

According to the original dating-show novel’s setting, He Huaiting was currently twenty-two years old. In the infinite-flow novel, the plot should already have reached the middle to late stages. By that point, He Huaiting should already be a bug-level powerhouse inside the infinite-flow instances, qualified to freely select game instances in the instance hall.

Why would she choose an almost impossible-to-clear instance like Agak?

Not to mention, in the infinite-flow novel Rong Yu had written, the protagonist team had never entered the Agak script at all. It was a nearly inescapable orthodox intelligence instance she had created purely to highlight the horror of S-rank infinite-flow instances.

Players needed to carry out an escape game while simultaneously answering questions on the giant screen above their heads. If they answered incorrectly, the monitor around their neck would directly strangle them. Almost no one could remain calm enough to answer and clear the level.

“Why would you choose the Agak instance?” Rong Yu instinctively asked.

Only after asking did she realize her question seemed a little abrupt.

Fortunately, He Huaiting did not think too much about it. She withdrew her gaze and looked toward the white wall on the other side. Just when Rong Yu thought she would not answer again, she suddenly heard He Huaiting slowly speak.

“The mission reward included Siam Dream.”

Rong Yu’s wrist trembled. She quickly remembered what “Siam Dream” was.

Every infinite-flow instance would provide corresponding mission rewards after being cleared. The harder the instance was to clear, the richer the mission reward.

Siam Dream was one of those rewards, and it was a mission reward from one of the highest-difficulty S-rank instances.

It could allow the player who possessed it to lengthen the time an instance existed. Even if an instance had already completely ended, it would continue existing for a prolonged period because of Siam Dream.

However, the Agak instance was an intelligence instance, and the mission was far too difficult. It was an S-rank among S-ranks.

And the horror infinite-flow instances were extremely twisted. No player wanted to stay too long inside a terrifying instance, unless they wanted to experience all kinds of different ways to die. Therefore, Siam Dream had become the most hated instance reward among players. As long as a player had the right to choose, they generally avoided selecting the Agak instance.

For them, the cost and the reward were completely disproportionate.

Rong Yu frowned. “Why do you want to use Siam Dream?”

She had designed this mission reward purely because almost no one would go to the Agak instance. That was why she had created a powerful but useless chicken-rib reward and placed more useful rewards in other key instances of the infinite-flow novel.

Rong Yu never imagined He Huaiting would risk danger alone just to obtain it.

This time, however, He Huaiting did not speak again. She lifted her eyelids and quietly looked at Rong Yu.

Since she did not speak, Rong Yu did not ask further. She lowered her head and looked at the burns on He Huaiting’s arm, carefully pierced the blisters, and applied alcohol.

Rong Yu had never seen Lian Langsheng suffer such severe injuries. Even though she knew He Huaiting was only one part of Lian Langsheng’s consciousness, she still felt as if her breathing had been seized. Even the hand applying medicine trembled, afraid of hurting her.

Looking at the uneven burn marks on that fair arm, Rong Yu herself felt as if her arm were aching too. He Huaiting, however, seemed completely unable to feel pain and quietly let Rong Yu apply medicine.

By the time Rong Yu finally finished treating the wound, more than half an hour had passed.

Rong Yu let out a long breath. She bandaged the wound properly and lowered the sleeve. Only then did she finally feel as if she could breathe again, escaping from the heartache she could hardly hide.

Just as she placed the medicine bottle and bandages back into the medical kit, she heard He Huaiting on the bed say quietly, “You’re not afraid?”

Rong Yu thought she meant the crack she had seen that traveled back and forth through infinite instances, as well as the wounds on He Huaiting’s body. She laughed.

“You won’t kill me. Why should I be afraid?”

He Huaiting’s eyes were complicated. “You are the core of this S-rank instance.”

The core of the instance.

Rong Yu’s movements paused slightly. Suddenly, she thought of something Lian Langsheng had once said.

[Mm, you’re actually going to write infinite flow this time? Does our great author Rong’s little brain have enough capacity?]

[Lian Langsheng!]

[The infinite-flow instances I designed are very intricate. Very few people can kill the boss and successfully clear them.]

[Is that so?]

[But if you were the instance core, I might really not clear it.]

Past memories suddenly flooded into her mind. Rong Yu froze, her blue pupils widening slightly.

He Huaiting silently took in her reaction.

She thought Rong Yu felt endangered because her identity had been discovered.

In previous instances of various levels, the core boss of the instance always knew their true identity. In order to survive, they would instinctively kill the players who had entered the instance. After all, as long as no player survived, “they” would not die.

Therefore, revealing one’s identity in front of the core boss of an instance was not a suitable choice.

But facing Rong Yu’s eyes, He Huaiting inexplicably did not want to conceal the truth. Moreover, from the very first moment she saw Rong Yu, she seemed unable to attack her.

So He Huaiting said calmly, “If I die in the instance, no trace will be left behind. If you want to kill me, now is the most suitable opportunity.”

The air seemed to freeze. A layer of lonely white surfaced on the surrounding walls.

The cold, dazzling girl lay quietly on the soft bed in the hotel, her eyes half lowered as she spoke in a heavy voice. She was like a blade tamed back into its sheath, her radiant golden pupils dimming their edge, looking as if she were quietly waiting for death.

Rong Yu was so angry she almost laughed. The worry from earlier instantly turned into anger.

He Huaiting lay on the bed and only saw Rong Yu slowly approach.

The wool carpet beneath her feet was a blooming reddish-brown rose. Rong Yu walked into it like a butterfly entering the heart of a flower, bending down close to He Huaiting’s face. Her cool hand then pressed against He Huaiting’s neck.

Rong Yu leaned close to her ear. Tears still hung on her exquisite face.

“How should I kill you?”

Her slightly cool fingertips carefully avoided the red marks on He Huaiting’s neck and brushed left and right.

“Like this?”

“Or…”

Rong Yu turned her wrist and carefully wrapped an arm around He Huaiting’s waist. The distance between them instantly became negative, the curves of their bodies fitting perfectly together.

“Like this?”

Rong Yu’s eyes, damp with moisture, were like meteors crashing into daylight. Even beneath the moonlit night, their shallow, crystalline blue could still be seen.

He Huaiting could not help feeling her throat tighten. She instinctively raised her other hand and pressed it against Rong Yu’s shoulder, as if clinging to the last remaining distance.

But her body was exhausted, and she had no strength to resist at all. The hand resting on Rong Yu’s shoulder had no power to speak of.

On this cool moonlit night, the heat inside the room gradually climbed.

Rong Yu asked softly, “What is your instance mission?”

Was this the core boss’s sudden whim before killing a player? Specifically coming to ask clearly about the player’s mission?

He Huaiting’s lips parted and closed. In the end, she still answered honestly. “The final mission of all instances is to kill the core boss.”

“So…”

The distance between them was barely controlled at one fist’s length by He Huaiting’s resisting push. Rong Yu raised her head and met her eyes.

“You should have killed me the first time you saw me.”

Even with a hand pressing against her shoulder, she still forcefully lowered her head and moved close to He Huaiting’s lips.

“Otherwise, you wouldn’t be unable to move like you are now, lying on my bed, letting me do this…”

Rong Yu lowered her eyes and almost retaliated by lightly kissing her crimson lips.

“This…”

Rong Yu propped herself up and kissed the tip of her nose, then placed a kiss on those dazzling golden eyes.

He Huaiting, unable to rise, instinctively blinked. Her long lashes, like butterfly wings, lightly brushed over the corner of Rong Yu’s lips.

The humanoid weapon in the infinite horror novel, who had made ten thousand ghosts weep and caused countless instances to collapse, now lay obediently and weakly in the soft, floating bed, held in Rong Yu’s arms as dense kisses fell one after another.

This act of controlling the most decisive and aloof part of Lian Langsheng made a secret sense of satisfaction rise in Rong Yu’s heart. It was like dancing on the edge of a blade while being wrapped in a soft cloud, so comfortable it made her feel lightheaded.

When her soft lips left the skin of the person beneath her, the lingering heat in the room was still rising.

“Why didn’t you make a move? He Huaiting.”

Rong Yu narrowed her eyes and looked at her. The anger in her heart, sparked by He Huaiting’s earlier complete disregard for life and death, gradually settled. She murmured in a low voice, “Do you like me?”

Rong Yu’s voice was light and slow.

But only she herself knew that after asking this question, her palms were covered in sweat.

Only in this strange, supernatural brain world did she dare ask the truth aloud.

And this question—she did not know how long she had waited for it.

Beneath her, He Huaiting’s narrow golden phoenix eyes stared straight at her. Her thin lips parted slightly, just about to speak.

Suddenly—

“Da-da-da.”

Several crisp knocks broke the calm.

Rong Yu frowned slightly, released He Huaiting, and stood up. She walked around the bed to the room door and opened it.

Because the door chain was fastened, the door could only open about the width of a fist. Rong Yu looked outside and saw someone she had never expected.

“He Jiao?”

The blond-haired, blue-eyed girl stood outside the door in a long dress. Her face still carried coldness, but at least she no longer looked vicious.

“This is for you.”

She reached out. Lying quietly in her soft, fair, slightly pink palm was a smooth pearl glowing with blue light.

The pearl was three to four centimeters in diameter, larger than any pearl Rong Yu had ever seen before. It was lustrous as jade, blue light rippling across its surface. One could tell at a glance that it was extremely valuable, completely different from an ordinary pearl.

The moment the pearl appeared in He Jiao’s hand, the entire corridor was illuminated by a gentle, warm layer of soft light. The light was not dazzling. Instead, it gave people the intimate comfort of facing the sea, inexplicably pleasant.

Rong Yu reached out and picked it up, carefully holding it in her hand.

“This is a pearl? For me?”

He Jiao nodded, looking a little uncomfortable. “This helps regulate sleep and breathing.”

After being treated coldly by He Jiao for two consecutive days, Rong Yu suddenly receiving her gift felt somewhat unbelievable. She even felt a little uneasy inside, as if it were not real. But she still looked at He Jiao and thanked her softly.

“Thank you. I really like it.”

The delicate and beautiful girl turned her face away. But in the next second, Rong Yu saw a blush spread over the tips of her ears.

“Don’t overthink it. I only mistook you for someone else before, which made me dislike you. So this is compensation.”

Rong Yu finally understood.

So He Jiao had realized that she was not the original “male lead” from the text, and had finally let go of her prejudice toward her.

But how could the aloof Young Miss He suddenly make a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn in attitude toward her? Once she had said what she wanted to say, He Jiao did not stay even a moment longer. She turned away coldly and left.

Rong Yu lowered her head and looked at the pearl in her hand, guarding it with extreme care as she turned and entered the room.

The moment she entered, she saw the quilt on the bed had been lifted.

The center of the bed, where someone should have been lying, was empty. The clean, smooth bedsheets looked as if no one had ever lain there. Only the glass door to the balcony in the distance was wide open. The cool night wind blew in slowly, lifting the curtain beside the door.

He Huaiting’s appearance was as if it had only been an illusion.

But Rong Yu still remembered the question she had not gotten an answer to just now. She lay back in bed in disappointment.

The quilt and bedding still carried warmth that had not yet dispersed, as well as the medicinal and alcohol scent from He Huaiting’s body. Rong Yu rubbed her face against the pillow and hugged the quilt tightly, as if she had preserved the person who had just lain there.

And directly above her room—

He Huaiting, who had returned to her own room, stood in the bathroom and looked expressionlessly at herself in the mirror. She raised her hand and took off Rong Yu’s brown sweater.

The camisole underneath could not hide the scars all over her body at all. The red marks that looked as if they had been whipped out by vines had already begun turning purple. The burn wound that occupied her entire left arm had already been completely bandaged, so the hideous blood blisters and pus from before could no longer be seen.

He Huaiting untied the bandages that Rong Yu had just wrapped around her left arm. The bandages stuck with blood were all pulled off by her.

He Huaiting closed her eyes and spoke in a low voice. “Exchange for repair fluid.”

A cold, stiff female electronic voice immediately sounded beside her ear.

[Player He Huaiting has successfully exchanged for repair fluid. 1,008 gold coins deducted. Gold coin balance: 16,874,201.]

When she opened her eyes again, a finger-length golden medicine bottle had already appeared in front of the dressing table.

He Huaiting’s expression was bland as she twisted open the cap. She dipped her bare fingers into the green liquid inside the bottle and reached back to apply it to the purplish red marks. The red lash marks, which had been especially glaring against her fair skin, disappeared almost instantly. Even the bruising vanished completely.

After dealing with all the red marks over her body, He Huaiting lowered her eyes and looked at her left arm, the most tragic wound, which had been splashed with sulfuric acid by other players inside the instance. Just as she was about to apply the repair fluid to it too, Rong Yu’s words from earlier uncontrollably echoed in her mind again.

[Why didn’t you make a move? He Huaiting.]

[Do you… like me?]

The warm, soft sensation seemed to return to her lips and eyelids. He Huaiting could not help tightening the hand holding the medicine bottle. Quite a bit of the repair fluid was squeezed out. The cool green liquid splashed onto the back of her hand, and the refreshing sensation instantly woke her up.

He Huaiting pressed her lips together and glanced at herself in the mirror. Expressionlessly, she screwed the cap back on and casually tossed aside the repair fluid that countless players in the instance world would fight to the death for. Then she rewrapped the bandage Rong Yu had used on her.

She bit one end with her teeth, tightened the other end, and tied it properly. The stinging pain from her arm made her unable to stop thinking of Rong Yu’s expression as she applied medicine to her while crying.

[Why do you want to use Siam Dream?]

He Huaiting let go of the bandage, put on clean clothes, and looked at Rong Yu’s sweater beside her hand. After hesitating for a moment, she still held it in her arms.

Why did she want to use Siam Dream?

Perhaps she only wanted to keep a few more traces of it.

The only warmth she had known in these twenty years.

·

“Miss Rong, Miss Rong?”

Rong Yu opened her eyes and found herself lying in the hospital ward. Doctor Lin stood at the head of her bed. Seeing that she had woken up, Doctor Lin turned off the head device above her, opened the instrument from the center, and helped her sit up.

“Welcome back, Miss Rong. How is the progress?”

Doctor Lin held a record book and began recording the data from the instrument beside her that monitored Rong Yu’s physical condition, while preparing to write down any useful information Rong Yu gave.

Rong Yu pressed her lips together and pondered for two seconds.

“The four of them really are Lian Langsheng’s consciousness bodies.”

It was not only the result of her observation, but also what she felt in her heart.

After so many years of being together, they were inseparable from each other. As long as Lian Langsheng said one sentence, Rong Yu could feel her presence.

Even though the entire brain world was Lian Langsheng’s consciousness, those four people were still different. It was an indescribable feeling of the soul, something only people who had accompanied each other for many years could sense. It was a familiarity scattered through the bones.

Doctor Lin let out a long breath of relief. “Since the situation is true, that’s wonderful.”

Rong Yu froze. “What? Did you discover something?”

Doctor Lin nodded slightly and handed the data in her hand to Rong Yu.

“Although we cannot see images involving privacy, from the limited brain imaging available, we still found some key information. These are the image records I extracted from Miss Lian’s consciousness. She seems to have rather… rather poor feelings toward all the male guests.”

Rong Yu roughly skimmed through them. They were all classic scenes of Mu Shuiqing and the others attacking the various male guests.

She thought back to the scenes at the time.

…Their attitude was more than poor. It was absolutely terrible, with no mercy at all.

Doctor Lin looked at her reaction and suddenly asked, “Do you like Miss Lian?”

This time, Rong Yu was truly stunned. She did not understand why the doctor would ask such a question. The hand hanging by her side clenched slightly, and she pressed her lips together without speaking.

Doctor Lin quickly waved her hand. “I don’t mean to speculate about your relationship. It’s just that my team and I discovered Miss Lian should like you. If you also like her, perhaps there is a better way to treat Miss Lian—”

Rong Yu could not help interrupting her. “Sorry, what did you say?”

Doctor Lin patiently said, “I said, if you like—”

“The sentence before that.”

“Miss Lian should like you.”

“H-how is that possible…”

Rong Yu was at a loss.

She had once had this secret expectation too.

But it had shattered when Lian Langsheng frowned and washed her hands after another girl threw herself at her, and when she expressionlessly said she did not like girls after a girl from the neighboring class confessed to her.

Later, Rong Yu had personally witnessed Lian Langsheng’s whole body stiffen when Rong Yu accidentally touched her shoulder. From then on, Rong Yu had completely given up, silently retreating to a suitable distance and not daring to cross the line by even one step.

How many times, in the middle of the night, had she dreamed that she could not restrain herself and accidentally confessed to Lian Langsheng? She did not even wait for the Lian Langsheng in the dream to respond before waking up in fear.

Now Lian Langsheng’s brain doctor was actually telling her that Lian Langsheng might like her.

How could that be possible?

Doctor Lin took out the case analysis.

“Judging from the currently monitored images, Miss Lian’s private interactions with you, and the dopamine data when she discovered other consciousness bodies interacting privately with you, the result is indeed like this.”

She closed the data results.

“And what I want to say is that, before you, we had already proposed a project using the brain world to treat vegetative patients. But among the relatives and friends of more than one hundred patients whose families agreed, no one successfully entered the patient’s brain world.”

“The reason you are the first person to use this treatment method is not because you happened to catch up with our brain-world research experiment. It is because you are the first person to pass through the human brain world’s immune system and successfully enter the brain world.”

Doctor Lin tried to explain the more scientific academic terms to her in common language.

“When we transmit data into the human brain through neurons, the immune system secretes microglial cells to prevent image formation. This is like having a voice in the person’s brain telling the patient that the current scene is fake. The scene will then begin to destabilize and kick out all figures that do not belong to the brain world. But when the human body secretes dopamine, it restricts the production of microglial cells. This is also why people tend to experience a decline in intelligence when they are in love.”

“Only when the patient loves you to a certain degree will a high proportion of dopamine be secreted the moment your character image is formed in their brain, before microglial cells can form. This is what allowed you to successfully enter the patient’s brain world.”

“In addition, every time you communicate with Miss Lian’s consciousness bodies, and when you face multiple Miss Lian consciousness bodies at the same time, Miss Lian’s heart-rate index fluctuates significantly.”

“So I believe there is a ninety percent possibility that Miss Lian likes you. To be more accurate, she admires you romantically.”

Rong Yu’s expression stiffened. She stared blankly at her close friend lying on the hospital bed beside her, covered in instruments and tubes.

Only the waves of tingling numbness surging through her whole body revealed the storm raging in her heart.

Lian Langsheng might truly like her.

Just this one guess was enough to throw her into chaos. The calm she had forced herself to maintain instantly shattered to pieces.

Rong Yu did not even dare make a sound, afraid that the doctor’s words were only a dream.

Seeing her silence, Doctor Lin thought she was still hesitating and continued, “The result of my discussion with the other doctors is this: since Miss Lian likes you, if you also like Miss Lian, we can guide the secretion of dopamine and adrenaline by having you date her. This can help stimulate Miss Lian’s myocardial contractility and raise her heart rate. Based on the previous test results and the life résumé of Miss Lian that you provided, Miss Lian’s brain world has a very strong endurance capacity. Very few things can cause emotional fluctuations in her. If this method is used, it may produce twice the result with half the effort. Of course, if you don’t like her, then pretend I didn’t say anything.”

Rong Yu immediately shook her head. “I just… find it a little hard to believe.”

Her clenched hand gripped the corner of her clothes tightly.

“She never told me…”

Hearing her words, the doctor laughed softly. “Forgive me for being blunt, but the brain world, to put it plainly, is only a world of consciousness. You can completely treat it as a dream. If you like her, you might as well try dating her inside it. Even if, midway through, you discover those consciousness bodies don’t like you romantically, when the patient wakes up, it won’t affect you in any way. You can tell her it was only a dream she had.”

“Of course, if it succeeds, that would naturally be even better. The two of you would love each other mutually.”

The doctor’s words were far too tempting.

Just imagining the scene of herself and Lian Langsheng confessing and falling in love already made Rong Yu tremble with excitement all over.

She walked to Lian Langsheng’s bedside and bent down to look at the woman lying quietly on the bed.

Beneath the semi-transparent shell of the instrument, Lian Langsheng’s face was revealed. Because of long-term nutrient injections, it looked somewhat pale and bloodless.

That face was sixty to seventy percent similar to He Jiao’s, but even brighter and more moving. It was gorgeous and graceful like a crafted work of art, carrying a cold, fragile, broken quality.

Rong Yu was afraid of touching the instruments on her body, so she could only reach through the air above Lian Langsheng’s cheek through the semi-transparent shell, tracing the outline of her face from a distance. She answered softly, “I agree.”

She looked again at the papers Doctor Lin had handed her, showing scenes of Lian Langsheng’s consciousness bodies interacting with the various male guests. Her hand holding the papers tightened forcefully.

“But if that’s the case, then I need to change the action plan.”

Doctor Lin raised a brow. “What?”

Rong Yu crumpled the data-filled papers into a ball and threw them into the trash can beside her. Her expression gradually became firm.

“How can the person I want to pursue form a couple with someone else? Even if it’s only an onscreen CP, that won’t do.”

---

Author’s Note:

It’s only been one night and there are actually this many landmines and nutrient solutions!! I love everyone, wuwuwu, I’m going to cry.