Free Web NovelUnder the night sky, Cultural Road.
Under the warm, gentle glow of the streetlights, two or three dandelions swayed gently at the edge of the green belt. In the distance, the towering office buildings were brightly lit, and occasionally, through open windows, one could see young people standing, holding cigarettes and coffee, working overtime for their ideals.
The air was filled with the aroma of various foods: hot pot, grilled skewers, fried chicken...
On the street, Nanling Yaohua walked slowly forward.
Although her ultimate destination was still the restaurant for the graduation dinner, she completely ignored her constantly vibrating phone.
Some say that only when one is about to leave a place does one remember to appreciate its beauty.
She walked and stopped along the way, occasionally pausing to look at the scenery, like a traveler who happened to pass by and was drawn by the view, needing to remember the scenery here.
Yes, she was leaving.
When she was affected by the photos recording the projection, her consciousness went blank, and when she woke up again, the entire city had not been fully repaired, and the city was empty.
She walked through every corner of the city, saw the unconscious silver-haired Miss, saw the small thief who was looting everywhere like a bandit, saw the large tortoise slowly crawling in the city center, but did not see Lu Yibei.
At that moment, she suddenly realized that she should not stay here any longer.
Logically, the beautiful memories of more than ten years suddenly turning into a bubble should have made her very sad, perhaps even sentimental at the sight of certain things on the street corner, but she felt no discomfort at all.
After all, the experience of the past month or so not only showed her where to find the real Lu Yibei but also wasn't a bad experience.
However, before leaving, she still wanted to see the "Lu Yibei" who accompanied her as she grew up in the dream-like memory.
Having walked through more than half the street, the intersection at the end of [N O V E L I G H T] the road ahead was where the Red Sun Buffet Hot Pot for the graduation dinner was located.
Nanling Yaohua took out her phone and glanced at the time.
20:17 at night, the time was just right. At this time, the dinner should be nearing its end, and everyone hadn't dispersed yet. She could go there to see the person she wanted to see, but without staying too long.
Putting away her phone, she raised her head. Nanling Yaohua stood on the street with her hands in her jacket pockets, her gaze passing through the crowd waiting for the traffic light. From a distance, she saw the young man sitting alone on the street in front of the Red Sun Buffet Hot Pot.
It was him!
But why did he look unhappy?
Did something happen?
A hint of joy appeared in Nanling Yaohua's eyes, followed by a frown.
She looked up at the traffic light beside her.
Thirty-two seconds.
After thirty-two seconds, she could cross the pedestrian walkway and go to his side.
However, when she withdrew her gaze from the traffic light and looked at Lu Yibei again, she froze in place.
It was her?
The Miss who was unconscious before?
Although the Miss's silver hair had turned black and shiny after the special space was repaired, Nanling Yaohua recognized her at a glance.
In the few seconds that her gaze had moved away from Lu Yibei, the Miss had appeared by Lu Yibei's side.
Then...
Just as she was wondering why the Miss would approach Lu Yibei, the Miss suddenly stepped forward and tightly hugged Lu Yibei.
Buzz—!
Something in her brain seemed to short-circuit, emitting a buzzing sound. Nanling Yaohua's mind went blank for an instant, and her body stiffened in place.
The traffic light by the pedestrian walkway turned green, and people who had waited for a long time hurried across, their figures blurring in her vision, as if the entire world was left with only Lu Yibei and the Miss.
The red light turned on again, and songs came from the cars passing by. freēwebnovel.com
The singing gradually became only a blurred melody, humming intermittently in her ears, becoming strange and erratic, as if scattered by the evening wind, dissipating into the air until it disappeared.
Finally, in her ears, there was only her own rapid breathing and erratic heartbeat.
Are you angry? Nanling Yaohua asked herself in her heart.
If she had simply seen some Miss hugging Lu Yibei, her sword might have been drawn already.
But now, looking at Lu Yibei and the Miss, she clearly felt that there was something very special between them.
She didn't know how to describe that something, but she had seen it once, in the restaurant where she ate turkey on Christmas Eve.
It was something beautiful, something one wouldn't want to destroy, possessing the magic to make dry and tasteless turkey delicious.
————
Jiang Li held the trembling Lu Yibei, who was emotionally breaking down, in her arms, listening to his incessant pouring out, a shallow smile appearing on her lips.
Although she knew it wasn't the right time, she inexplicably felt that everything was too beautiful, as if time had slowed down, allowing her to hear the singing in the breeze and see the warm, gentle light of the streetlights flowing on the street.
After a long time.
Sensing that Lu Yibei's emotions seemed to have been vented, Jiang Li tilted her head, looked at his cheek wet with tear stains, and softly asked, "Feeling better?"
"Much better," Lu Yibei nodded in response.
After speaking, he seemed to suddenly realize that something was wrong, his expression changed, and he looked up at Jiang Li's face, exclaiming, "That's not right, Leader! Why are you here?"
Jiang Li, "..." Is it very surprising? I should be the one who's surprised, right?
Although she had long known Lu Yibei's identity as a Disaster, as the Huacheng Monster King.
But she had never thought that Lu Yibei would be involved in the outbreak of the Huacheng black night disease epidemic and the special space that had been long sealed by the Night Watch.
Lu Yibei looked at Jiang Li, waiting for her response, his heart in turmoil.
In the few minutes of emotional breakdown just now, he hadn't realized how unreasonable Jiang Li's sudden appearance in front of him was. For a moment, he even suspected that he needed someone to talk to so much that he was hallucinating.
Unreasonable was one thing, but the key was that it was embarrassing!
Throwing himself into the arms of the girl he liked and whimpering like a baby was simply a social death scene. Lu Yibei was already considering resigning from the Night Watch and moving away from Hua City.
Reading his embarrassment in Lu Yibei's eyes, Jiang Li sighed silently, "Don't worry, I will completely forget what just happened."
"If you still mind, you can think of it as a Leader simply caring about a subordinate's psychological problems."
"Do you think I'll believe your nonsense?" Lu Yibei blurted out.
This woman is very cunning. She will definitely use this to threaten me to do this and that, right?
Maybe she'll make me turn myself in to the Night Watch, then reform and become a new person! Lu Yibei thought.
"Have I ever lied to you?" Jiang Li said calmly, "Even that thing you did to me in my office, I can forget. Is there anything else I can't forget?"
"What are you talking about? What did I do to you in your office?" Lu Yibei asked in surprise.
I've done so many things, how do I know which one you're talking about? Lu Yibei thought secretly.
Jiang Li crossed her arms over her chest, tilted her head slightly, and reminded him expressionlessly, "The photo..."
Hearing Jiang Li mention the photo, Lu Yibei's face suddenly turned red.
He had seen all the photos in Ms. Wang Meili's album, and the photos of Jiang Li that were in her office were just a few.
And among them, the only one that needed to be kept a secret was the one where, for some reason, he had a brain cramp and wanted to steal a kiss from Jiang Li, but was afraid she would suddenly wake up.
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If she had really seen that photo... Lu Yibei's face turned pale.
It's over, the social death scene has turned into a large-scale social death scene!
"What photo? I don't know, I've never heard of it!" Lu Yibei avoided Jiang Li's gaze and said expressionlessly.
As long as I'm tough enough, social death won't catch up to me!
Anyway, she doesn't have any evidence, right? Lu Yibei thought.
You can't even lie properly... Jiang Li muttered to herself, looking at Lu Yibei with an expression of "I'm very disappointed in you," and said calmly, "Oh, if you haven't seen it, then forget it."
Although Lu Yibei was tough enough, she had already read the psychological activity of 【Of course I know what photo it is, but I will never admit it even if I die】 from his eyes.
"Compared to this, if your emotions have stabilized, you can look at the Miss across the road. She's been staring over here for a long time and seems to be about to cry."
As she spoke, her peripheral vision glanced in Nanling Yaohua's direction.
One could call it a woman's intuition, or a keen insight into those behaving abnormally in a crowd.
In short, she had noticed Nanling Yaohua's presence long ago.
"Miss?" Lu Yibei frowned in confusion, following Jiang Li's gaze. His eyes met Nanling Yaohua's, and his body suddenly stiffened.
He saw Nanling Yaohua open her mouth, wanting to speak but hesitating, then sadly averted her gaze.
"Need me to handle it?" Jiang Li responded calmly.
Lu Yibei lowered his head and shook it, "Forget it..."
Anyway, it won't be long. When I leave here and erase the traces of my existence in this special space, she won't remember anything... Lu Yibei added in his heart.
Seeing this, Jiang Li, as if she had seen through everything, shook her head and said helplessly, "I think it's better if you go."
Lu Yibei looked up into Jiang Li's eyes, "Do you really think I should go?"
"Some things still need to be resolved personally to leave no regrets," Jiang Li said calmly.
"Aren't you afraid that if I go, I won't come back?" Lu Yibei asked, half-jokingly, half-seriously.
"..." Jiang Li hesitated for only a moment, then answered decisively, "No, you won't."
"Hmph!" Lu Yibei rolled his eyes, pretending to be indifferent, "Since you trust me so much, I can only reluctantly go and come back early."
"Alright, hurry up and go?" Jiang Li said, turning around and waving her hand, "Talk to that Miss properly, just don't cause any deaths. Also, report to my office at nine tomorrow morning."
"Wait a moment!"
Looking at her back, realizing she was about to leave, Lu Yibei called out softly.
"What is it?"
Jiang Li turned around, her gaze met Lu Yibei's, and then she saw the information he conveyed with his eyes.
【What you just said, that you were there... you won't forget this matter too, right?】
Jiang Li was stunned for a moment, her face red, and responded with her eyes.
【No (heart emoji)】
At that moment, her eyes were incredibly clear, without any concealment, speaking her heart in the most direct way.
After responding to Lu Yibei with her eyes, Jiang Li quickened her pace, walked into the crowd, her figure flickering, and disappeared into the noisy street.
————
Nanling Yaohua hadn't expected Lu Yibei and the Miss to look over at her together, and even less so that the Miss would leave and Lu Yibei would walk towards her.
By the time she came back to her senses, like a startled kitten, wanting to hide in panic, she found that Lu Yibei was already standing in front of her.
Lu Yibei looked at Nanling Yaohua, scratched the back of his head, "Uh, it's getting late, how about... I take you home?"
Nanling Yaohua stared blankly at Lu Yibei and nodded, "Okay."
So, the two walked side by side along Cultural Road towards the Teaching Staff Compound.
From the lively street just after dark, to the crowded subway, and then to the quiet and peaceful subway, there was silence all the way.
Before they knew it, the only sound left was the gentle tapping of high heels on the flagstone-paved shaded path in the Teaching Staff Compound.
Nanling Yaohua walked ahead, Lu Yibei half a step behind her.
She was clearly dressed up today, with light makeup, wearing a black slip dress of a unique style, with a short jacket over it. Her long legs, honed by years of ballet practice, wore a pair of vintage-style low-heeled shoes, and her smooth long hair floated freely around her.
Looking at Nanling Yaohua's back, Lu Yibei frowned, not knowing what to say to her.
Should I say that this is just a dream, and I like someone else?
Or should I say that I am actually from a parallel universe, where you are already engaged to someone else, and I cannot overcome this sense of impropriety, I am very sorry?
It felt like the tone of a low-level scumbag deceiving an innocent Miss, probably only someone as simple as Gu Qianqian, who was almost foolish, would believe it.
Just as Lu Yibei was hesitating, unsure what to say to Nanling Yaohua, she suddenly spoke, "Xiao Bei, you like that Miss just now, don't you?"
"Ah?" Lu Yibei had not expected Nanling Yaohua to ask such a question and was stunned for a few seconds before answering with a firm gaze, "Yes, I like her very much."
The moment he said it decisively, Lu Yibei felt as if a long-troubled problem had finally been solved, and he felt completely relieved.
"Why?"
"Because..." Lu Yibei frowned and asked in return, "Is there a 'why' for something like this?"
"You're right," Nanling Yaohua nodded.
There aren't so many reasons for liking someone.
She forced a smile at Lu Yibei, "Xiao Bei, I'm leaving."
If someone is with you, I can leave with peace of mind... Nanling Yaohua added in her heart.
"Huh?" Lu Yibei was stunned again, "Where are you going?"
Something's not right!
As the controller of this special space, how could I not know that there are other places to go besides this city?
Unless you also want to go to Alaska to catch crabs. Lu Yibei thought.
"Going home!" Nanling Yaohua smiled and pointed upstairs, "We're home, aren't we?"
Lu Yibei followed the direction she pointed and realized that, without knowing it, they had already arrived downstairs at his house.
He was lost in thought for a few seconds. When he came back to his senses and looked at Nanling Yaohua again, wanting to say something, he found that Nanling Yaohua had already left him and gone upstairs, disappearing.
Only the faint sound of high heels hitting the stairs echoed in the stairwell, like an illusion.
Perhaps... this is for the best?
At least it's clear now.
Lu Yibei gazed at the stairwell illuminated by the dim yellow light, frowned, and then, with a thought, activated the part of his Power used to maintain the operation of the special space.
He began to erase the traces he had left here.
