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Bonus chapter! Thank you to UnholyHuman for the donation! ^^
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Ning Su was taken aback for a moment, then naturally grabbed Ling Xiao’s sleeve. His beautiful peach-blossom eyes were full of curiosity and anticipation. "Tell me."
Ling Xiao’s gaze shifted from Ning Su’s eyes to where his hand was clutching the sleeve. He leaned back leisurely against the tree trunk and fell silent.
"You talk."
"Why should I? What's in it for me if I do?"
"..."
Ning Su: "I brought your nerves back to you."
Ling Xiao: "That was your own choice. I'm not really willing to talk."
Ning Su: "..."
Listen to that—does that even sound human?
No wonder he's a natural-born villain condensed from dark memories.
Ning Su: "What do you want in return?"
Ling Xiao: "Is that for me to figure out?"
Ning Su: "..."
Ning Su stepped closer and started massaging his shoulders.
Ling Xiao remained unmoved. "I'm made of memories. If you keep pounding, I'll scatter."
He glanced at the young man's pale hands resting on his shoulders, feeling the dark energy transmitted through them seep into his body.
Beyond the dark memories, something else began to fill his being.
Ning Su took a step back. "Then let me perform a magic trick for you."
He brought his hands together, shifted them left and right a few times, and suddenly opened them.
A black, four-petaled lingxiao flower bloomed between his palms.
He held the flower out to him with both hands. "The most beautiful flower in the world for the handsomest man."
Ling Xiao: "..."
Ning Su blinked. Had he been found out?
That line really was from some decades-old romance novel he’d bought at a street stall.
But he’d added his own twist to it.
"Didn’t you catch the double meaning in that line? 'The most beautiful flower' and 'the handsomest man' are both compliments to you! And the flower—I created it from my own energy, a Ling Xiao flower!"
Ling Xiao: "..."
Ling Xiao remained unmoved, leaning lazily against the tree trunk as he watched him with leisurely amusement. "Anything else?"
Ning Su repeated silently in his heart: This is not the Flower God, not the Flower God, not the Flower God...
Ling Xiao: "So these are the kinds of benefits you can think of?"
The next second, a necktie looped around his neck and tightened abruptly in front, nearly cutting into his throat.
Ning Su straddled him and demanded, "Are you going to talk or not?"
This wasn't his usual Flower God—without a real body, his strength was greatly diminished. Last time, he had already tested that he could overpower him.
Ling Xiao glanced down at the necktie restraining him and raised an eyebrow. "Now this benefit is a bit interesting."
Ning Su: "..."
Watching Ning Su's expression shift from confusion to shock, Ling Xiao let out a low chuckle.
He reached out, gripped the back of Ning Su's neck, and pulled him closer. His dark, profound eyes fixed on him as he asked with ambiguous meaning, "Are we in a relationship?"
Ning Su was taken aback for a moment, then tightened his grip on the clothes at Ling Xiao's waist. "Of course not."
"Mm." He watched Ning Su, observing until his heartbeat quickened and his hair stood on end, before saying, "If we're not in a relationship, then what am I to you?"
Ning Su: "You're my uncle. You're my Flower God."
Ling Xiao: "..."
"Uncle?"
"Yeah, you're my dad's friend. I've called you 'uncle' several times already."
"Actually, I don't want to call you uncle. You're my Flower God," Ning Su said earnestly.
Ling Xiao looked at the natural devotion in his serious expression and suddenly let out a scornful laugh. "An empty shell deserves to be called a god?"
Ning Su frowned. "You are my god!"
Ling Xiao stared at him for a few seconds before suddenly saying, "Have you ever considered that the one who raised you and sent you back might be me?"
Ning Su: "It was you. You are Ling Xiao."
Ling Xiao was taken aback, feeling inexplicably irritated.
Ning Su tugged on the necktie. "Are you going to talk or not?"
"Get up. Don't sit on me like this."
Ning Su not only didn't let go, but took the opportunity to hug him instead, pressing against his chest. "Just talk like this."
Back at Ling Xiao's place, he had felt an inexplicable urge to hug Ling Xiao but was too shy. Here, he embraced him without any reservations.
It had been a long time since he last heard Ling Xiao's voice. Just as Ning Su was about to look up, the voice came from above his head.
"In this instance, generally speaking, no player can destroy the Black Tree Monster. The plot isn’t set up to allow for that situation."
Ning Su: "Mm, then how do we clear it?"
Ling Xiao: "The Black Tree Monster is a powerful and sensitive creature. If players team up to force their way into the Reflection Hall or try to forcibly extract the memory neurons, as long as the Black Tree Monster is harmed, all the memories stored by the school will vanish and return to their original state. Players won’t be able to use those memories to clear the instance."
Ning Su had considered this point too.
When they were reviewing the instance, Shi Tianzhu had proposed a solution: players should endure being model students until the afternoon before the college entrance exam, when they would break school rules to enter the Reflection Hall.
At that time, the school would be unprepared, and the Reflection Hall wouldn’t have been reinforced. All players could go to the second floor of the reflection room to transfer memories, then take advantage of the holiday break to escape the school.
But they only learned about this method during their review.
What about players entering the instance for the first time? Those entering a newly opened instance with no prior knowledge couldn’t possibly wait until just before the college entrance exam to act.
Would all players who scored below 600 in the high school entrance exam simply die?
Moreover, Ling Xiao now raised another point they hadn’t known: even if they went in just before the college entrance exam and tried to forcibly extract the memory neurons from the tree trunk, it would destabilize the Black Tree Monster, causing those memories to vanish and return.
Ning Su: "Is there another plotline? It can’t be a dead end, right?"
Ling Xiao made an affirming sound. "When players realize those memories are unusable, and because the Black Tree Monster is unstable, the school temporarily can’t use it to transfer memories for the remaining elite students. This will trigger a new plotline."
"The school administrators will find Tang Yichen and ask him to share his memories."
Ning Su was surprised. "Share memories?"
"Earlier, memories were forcibly taken from students and players without their knowledge or consent. That way, they could only be transferred to one person at a time."
"If the original owner is willing, memories can be shared. He and others can use his memories together to take the college entrance exam."
"The word '合' (hé) in '合忆' (Shared Memories) has two meanings: cooperation and shared use."
"This final step is where human nature is truly tested."
He asked Ning Su: "Would you be willing to share your memories with someone else? For players, sharing memories means sharing all of them."
Ning Su: "Unwilling."
This was memory cloud sharing.
Sharing one's memories with others was like being stripped bare layer by layer before them, right down to the deepest recesses of one's heart.
Everyone has things hidden in the deepest parts of their hearts—things they don’t want others to know. These are reflected in their memories.
Ling Xiao asked again, "Do you know how your parents completely resolved their misunderstanding?"
Ning Su was taken aback. "When Shi Tianzhu was about to fail the checkpoint and die in the instance, did Ning Changfeng share his memories with her?"
After Shi Tianzhu experienced all of Ning Changfeng’s memories, she naturally realized he hadn’t lied to her. She learned about all his life experiences and understood what kind of person he truly was.
Compared to Shi Tianzhu’s potential death, Ning Changfeng was willing to share all his memories with her.
So, it turned out he truly loved Shi Tianzhu—and so deeply at that.
