***
Bonus chapter! Thank you to Chocco for the donation! ^^
***
After a moment's thought, Ling Xiao said, "My memory loss isn't the same as the players' in the <Shared Memories> instance. I've only lost some memories; my feelings, my way of thinking—all of that is still here."
Ning Su could accept that explanation.
Watching the two children clear the table and wash their hands under running water, Ning Su murmured, "At the dinner table, why did you say that?"
Ling Xiao: "Say what?"
He followed Ning Su's gaze to the two children. "That Gui Sheng takes after you, and Ah Fei takes after me?"
He turned to look at Ning Su, staring directly into his eyes. "Was I wrong?"
He wasn't wrong.
It was true that Manman and Ling Xiao were quite alike; after all, she was a Ghost Lord born from Ling Xiao's essence.
"You were right, but was it necessary to say it at that moment?"
Ling Xiao: "I'm not an emotionless god. Hearing them say things like that all the time, even I can feel a certain way."
Ning Su was taken aback, not fully grasping the meaning behind his words, when he heard Shi Tianzhu calling him from outside.
As he stepped out, he saw Ling Xiao's eyes half-hidden in the interplay of light and shadow, watching him with an intensity that flickered between clarity and obscurity—holding something Ning Su almost, but not quite, understood.
Shi Tianzhu was about to leave.
They saw her out together. Shi Tianzhu said to Ling Xiao, "You're welcome—to come visit Yinhua anytime."
Ling Xiao nodded. "Alright."
After Shi Tianzhu left, Ning Changfeng looked somewhat wistful.
"What's wrong?" Ning Su asked him. "Isn't it good? The misunderstanding between you two is cleared up. You won’t be trying to kill each other on sight anymore."
"In some ways it’s good, in others not so much..." He sighed. "Before, we were mortal enemies. No matter what, that was still a deep connection. Now it feels like everything has been reset to zero, and we have no relationship at all."
Ning Su: "..."
There's definitely something a little wrong with him.
Is this the legendary masochism?
"What am I even saying?" Ning Changfeng also realized his train of thought was a bit messed up. He looked toward Ling Xiao. "How do you feel about it?"
"Feeling," he glanced at Ning Su, then back at Ning Changfeng, "that in the future, the head of your household will definitely be President Shi."
Ning Changfeng: "..."
Ning Su: "..."
Ning Su: "You're right. It's obvious."
Ning Changfeng: "..."
***
By the time Shi Tianzhu returned, the last trace of the sunset had melted into the tangerine sky.
After entering Yinhua, she didn’t go back to her own room but went instead to the laboratory of the healer, Yin Qingmo.
The lab was already brightly lit. Yin Qingmo was studying something with an instrument.
As a healer and one of the top ten players in the latest rankings, he possessed the most advanced support and healing skills in the entire base, and was also highly proficient in developing various poisons.
He initially researched toxins to deal with the Eternal Night Guild, but later his work expanded beyond poisons, encompassing more and more subjects, some of them quite strange.
What Shi Tianzhu had come to ask him to test this time was, for him, an exceedingly ordinary thing.
"President, you sought me out specifically. Is there something you need?"
Shi Tianzhu placed two strands of hair on the table. "Test whether these two individuals are related by blood."
Yin Qingmo took off his gloves. "Alright, I'll run the test right away."
While Yin Qingmo took the hairs to run the analysis, Shi Tianzhu waited outside.
She had asked Ning Changfeng about his relationship with Ning Su, and he hadn’t answered. This made Shi Tianzhu even more suspicious.
If what he said was true—that he was even willing to share his memories with her—then why couldn’t he tell her about his relationship with Ning Su?
Based on Shi Tianzhu's understanding of the two individuals, their relationship couldn't be anything shameful—it was more likely they simply didn't want her to know.
And precisely because of that, Shi Tianzhu wanted to know even more.
They both shared the surname Ning, and upon closer inspection, there was some resemblance. The first possibility that occurred to Shi Tianzhu was a blood relation, a familial bond.
As she pictured Ning Su's face, Shi Tianzhu's fingers, which had been lightly tracing the rim of her coffee cup, stilled.
In the time it took to drink two cups of coffee, Yin Qingmo emerged from the laboratory.
"President, they appear to be father and son."
Shi Tianzhu's fingers twitched as if scalded by the hot coffee.
She turned to Yin Qingmo, her voice trembling slightly. "Are you certain?"
Not only was her voice shaking, but her eyes were also wide with shock and agitation. Her slender fingers clenched tightly together, her nails pressing pale crescent moons into her soft palms.
This was the first time Yin Qingmo had ever seen Shi Tianzhu like this.
Even in their most dangerous instances, facing the most perilous situations, she had never been like this.
Yin Qingmo: "I wouldn't make a mistake about something like this."
Shi Tianzhu hurriedly stood up, jostling the table in her haste. Coffee sloshed out of the cup, spreading across the surface.
She rushed out, but turned back almost immediately, handing him a longer strand of hair. "Test... test her relationship to them as well."
Seeing her state, Yin Qingmo immediately took the hair for testing.
"There is no blood relation between her and one of them, but with the other, the results indicate a parent-child relationship."
By the time Yin Qingmo came out to give her this result, Shi Tianzhu was no longer as shocked or tense, as if she had already anticipated this outcome.
"Thank you for your hard work."
Shi Tianzhu walked out somewhat dazedly, countless past images and voices surfacing in her mind.
The young man hesitantly saying, "May I hug you?"
His clear peach-blossom eyes held caution, reverence, and happiness.
The young man hugging her at the entrance of the girls' dormitory, whispering to her, "President, I don't want you to forget me."
In the human survivors' base, that genius researcher Lu Weiming, his face full of disgust.
"He agreed and was studied in the lab for over ten days."
"We still considered him a dangerous mutant, so the very next day after he was released from the lab and sent home, we drove him out."
"Later, he turned into a zombie. Right after the transformation, at his weakest, we bound him again in the lab for more thorough research as a valuable specimen. After he recovered, he blew up the lab and escaped from the base."
"How did you study him?"
"You said you're a doctor—haven't you encountered this before? Dissection, toxicity testing, and even more invasive procedures."
Shi Tianzhu slowed her pace, supporting herself against the wall as she moved into an inconspicuous corner. She crouched in the darkness, covering her mouth.
Moonlight spilled over the retro-luxurious castle of the Yinhua Guild, unable to penetrate the shadowy recesses.
Only the ends of her hair caught a sliver of moonlight, slipping into the darkness on either side as her slender back trembled.
Yin Qingmo, who had followed her out of concern, stood quietly ten meters away, clutching a handkerchief, helpless and silent.
After what felt like an eternity, Shi Tianzhu rose to her feet.
At eleven o’clock at night, the game base was bustling with noise and excitement.
Shi Tianzhu, in her nine-centimeter silver high heels, moved through the crowd. The mingled glow of moonlight and artificial light fell upon her face, making her features even more dazzling and her expression colder, more unapproachable.
The crowd gradually thinned until she reached the river at the base’s edge, where traces of people reappeared under the bridge arches.
She drifted downstream in a small boat, stopping at a certain point. There she remained, gazing at a small courtyard ahead, standing vigil through the entire night.
After everyone had left and two children had tidied up, Ning Su lay contentedly in bed and fell asleep.
