Mini World Game Console

Calm down!

It was still pitch black with his eyes open. The medical facilities were underground, with only ventilation ducts and no windows; turning off the lights plunged the area into tranquil darkness.

Ren Suo, use your brain and think calmly...

Ren Suo closed his eyes and regulated his breathing, the confidence of controlling everything in the game once again filling him.

You were once the Fairy Palace Assassin at the Bloody Banquet… You were once the Truth Seeker who climbed to the summit of ten thousand meters… You were once the mournful Cultivator whose duty it was to slay monsters and demons… You were about to become famous for deceiving all beings as the Devouring Spirit of the World…

Stormy passions tumbled in his heart, wisdom from countless undefeated battlefields boiled in his brain! He gathered all his thoughts, settled them, relaxed his body, and decided—

to sleep a little longer.

Maybe it was a dream? Wouldn't I wake up if I slept? Maybe I'm just dazed from sleep? Sleeping a bit more should sort things out.

"The game never taught me how to handle this kind of plot! And I can't reload my save to try every possible reaction!"

Ren Suo could hardly suppress the sense of helplessness radiating from deep within. He felt like a newborn baby, fresh from the womb, who suddenly sees Godzilla performing dances from the Pure Land of Bliss before him. He muttered, "Sleeping, sleeping, I can't bear to look."

At that moment, Ren Suo was rather like a Pangolin that might be within a hundred meters of him—trying to dig a hole to bury itself and ignore the incomprehensible storms of the outside world.

But as he closed his eyes, Ren Suo heard Qiao Muyi gently hum beside him, her voice carrying a misty gentleness... but in the quiet space, this soft sound was akin to a shocking explosion.

Ren Suo felt like a student who had started school but had no summer homework to submit, waiting with an extremely uneasy heart for the teacher of Destiny to pronounce his fate!

"...?"

He could hear Qiao Muyi's breathing become chaotic as well; it seemed she also recalled what had happened the night before. Thus, next should be the scene Ren Suo did not want to face—that extremely awkward entanglement.

Just as Ren Suo was waiting for Qiao Muyi to sit up or call out, he felt the left hand he was holding with his right hand stir.

Her index finger traced his palm.

"'Is there someone nearby?'"

Hallelujah!

In that instant, Ren Suo's mind cleared. He felt as if a grand Angel with Insight to guide him through everything lay beside him. In that second, Ren Suo was ready to lavish all praises on her. Ren Suo, who hadn't done his summer homework, was surprised to find that Qiao Muyi, the classmate beside him, seemed to have finished hers!

"'Yes.'"

"'Oh, interesting.'"

—But it seemed classmate Qiao Muyi wasn't keen on letting him take advantage.

Ren Suo resigned himself to continue waiting for the teacher of Destiny's punishment, but after a moment, Qiao Muyi asked again by tracing in his palm, "'If our movements are small, will the light stay off?'"

"'Yes,'" he traced back.

Hmm? Ren Suo also realized something at this point.

Putting aside how Dong Chengling got in, Qiao Muyi was clearly here first. Normally, if someone saw me and Qiao Muyi lying in bed together, their first reaction would be Envy, Jealousy, and Hatred... No, no, it'd be confusion, curiosity, Gossip. Maybe they'd wake us up, but it's more likely they'd just turn around and leave. But it's impossible they'd react with a '+1,' 'Count me in,' or 'Come on, I want to play too' kind of response—even my sister, who's a bit slow, wouldn't do something like that!

So Ren Suo deduced a possibility—Dong Chengling hadn't seen them.

The bed is far from the door. The light from opening the door would, at most, show where the bed is, not the details of who's on it. If Dong Chengling came in quietly, she likely wouldn't have triggered the room's motion-sensor lights. So, when she came in, she would have only seen darkness. Therefore, she must have thought I was lying in bed alone, and that's why she... huh?

Thanks to Ren Suo's laziness, the motion sensor light's sensitivity was very low; gentle movements likely wouldn't trigger it. Otherwise, if Dong Chengling saw this situation... huh?

'Dong Chengling catching me in bed with Qiao Muyi' versus 'Dong Chengling discovering she's in bed with both me and Qiao Muyi'... when I compare them, it seems like, perhaps, they both lead to pretty much the same kind of ending.

Either way, it was so awkward that Ren Suo wanted to turn into a Pangolin and burrow a hole to hide in.

If this were the me of a month ago, I might have boldly gotten out of bed, turned on the lights, and calmly explained to Dong Chengling that last night was just a very pure transactional relationship between a man and a woman—being free of desire and being thick-skinned do have their similarities, after all. But now it's different; I'm unwilling... Just unwilling, no real reason. Emotion has diluted my rationality. I just subconsciously feel that this isn't right.

"'I'll explain,' Qiao Muyi traced in his palm. 'I won't let her misunderstand.'"

After a moment of silence, Qiao Muyi didn't get a response, so she started to withdraw her hand—

only to have Ren Suo grab it back the next second.

"'Let me do it,' he traced back. 'You were trying to help me; I can't let you take on such a role.'"

After a moment of silence, Ren Suo didn't get a response. He took a deep breath, ready to grip the hand to his left to wake Dong Chengling.

Unwilling or not, reality is full of things one is 'unwilling' to do. That's what makes the moments where one can say 'I am willing' so precious.

However, the next second his hand was gripped tightly by Qiao Muyi again.

"'Or,' she traced, 'we could take a gamble.'"

A gamble?

Ren Suo was slightly startled. He then saw Qiao Muyi release his right hand and move away very gently, climbing off the bed—

The light stayed off.

Indeed, I still have my own laziness to thank for this!

Ren Suo immediately grasped Qiao Muyi's idea. He stayed perfectly still, completely relaxed, and turned his head to intently watch the face so close yet shrouded in darkness. He knew it was in vain, yet Ren Suo subconsciously felt that by maintaining his gaze, he could make Dong Chengling sleep even more soundly—a common human belief that a gaze laden with expectations can create Miracles, like causing misfortune to the disliked or making words appear on a blank document through sheer willpower.

The teacher of Destiny had apparently skipped over Ren Suo this time; he could feel Dong Chengling's breathing was very calm, showing no signs of waking up.

Meanwhile, Qiao Muyi had already picked up her boots and was slowly moving to the door. She opened it. The term "house arrest" meant there were special checkpoints in the hallway outside preventing Ren Suo from moving to other areas; it didn't mean the door itself was locked. If actual locks were involved, it would be imprisonment, not house arrest.

The door was lined with steel and seemed to have high-quality bearings. It was well-maintained, so it made only a very light sound upon opening.

But this was a quiet room.

If Ren Suo were in a tabletop RPG session, this would be the moment to roll 1d100 (a die determining a number from 0 to 99) to see if his luck held.

Fortunately, whether it was Ren Suo's luck or Qiao Muyi's that held, Dong Chengling still did not wake up.

Grateful, Ren Suo turned his head to glance at the door, just in time to see Qiao Muyi squeeze through the slightly ajar opening, illuminated by the light from the hallway. She put a finger to her lips, a smile in her eyes, signaling Ren Suo to stay quiet. The bright light landed on half of her face, exuding an astonishing charm.

Hallelujah! Ren Suo once again offered genuine Thanks from the bottom of his heart.

But then, Ren Suo noticed Qiao Muyi was not only holding her own boots but also his slippers...

What is she up to?

Ren Suo noticed that Qiao Muyi's arching brows and smiling eyes revealed an aura of delightful mischief.

She precisely threw the slippers toward the bed space beside Ren Suo, simultaneously closing the door.

The slippers traced a beautiful arc in the darkness, landing quietly on the soft bed.

The light came on.