Chapter 87

Jiang Liu didn’t usually dream often.

Perhaps because she had lived for so long and had seen everything she should and shouldn’t have, her dreams lacked the space for much imagination. Most of the time, she would sleep through the night and wake up to daylight.

When she slept, it was pitch black, like a blackout with no memory. When she woke up, she was refreshed and had the motivation to face another old yet new day.

But since entering this game, Jiang Liu had often entered dreamscapes. It was even like now, where she was clearly aware that she was dreaming.

All around was a barren land, looking much like the farmlands in the mountains of the past. But the strange thing was that it was extremely arid. The sun in the sky seemed about to crack the earth, and the dry riverbed had already broken into pieces.

Who knew how long it had been since it had rained. The air was suffocatingly hot to breathe. The land was barren, and the pitiful crops had died in the airless soil before they could even sprout.

Jiang Liu’s perspective was vast. She roughly judged that in her dream, she was a giant at least two meters tall. As far as the eye could see, there were only dry clods of earth. There was no one around, and she couldn’t tell what era it was.

But there was a person standing beneath her.

The person was wearing a long white robe, the style of which was very retro, with a bit of a Republican-era flair. He also wore a pair of fashionable gold-rimmed glasses, with a thin chain hanging down from his ear.

Qiao Ke’s appearance hadn’t changed much from the present. He just took out a pocket watch from his lapel to check the time, then looked up in one direction.

Jiang Liu followed his gaze, and after waiting for who knows how long, she saw a disheveled figure from that direction.

The girl was about sixteen or seventeen, but she was much shorter than she was now. Her cloth clothes were patched up and covered in mud and dust. Her long hair was messily tied up at the back of her head, with two straws sticking out of it, looking just like a beggar from a playbook.

Although her features hadn’t fully matured, one could still recognize from her eyes that it was her former self.

She was tired and hot, and couldn’t help but look towards the only place where she could briefly find shade. She quickened her pace and ran straight towards it.

Her reflection was clearly visible in those clear eyes, and Jiang Liu belatedly realized.

So in the dream, she was a tree.

She shook her body with all her might and only heard a rustling sound, as if a breeze was blowing through the leaves, a soft sound that didn’t attract any attention.

Qiao Ke, who was waiting under the tree, finally spoke. “I can grant your wish.”

There was no preamble, just a direct discussion of the matter, which often left people confused.

Jiang Liu watched her younger self warily sizing up the young man in front of her. She opened her mouth and seemed to say something, but her voice was as soft as a whisper. It was as if there was a great chasm between them, making it impossible to hear clearly.

A moment later, her younger self extended her hand and solemnly clapped hands with Qiao Ke. The two figures gradually disappeared.

Before Jiang Liu could see clearly, it felt as if a pair of hands were repeatedly slapping her soul, telling her it was time to wake up.

Jiang Liu opened her eyes with some annoyance. The first thing she saw was her constantly vibrating phone. She had casually tossed it on the headboard last night, and it was now buzzing on her head.

The alarm on the headboard pointed to eight o’clock sharp. She stretched lazily, feeling a bit drowsy, and only then did she see that the caller was Gao Yuan.

Before she could answer, the call had already automatically ended, and at the same time, a message came through, “Come to Xiao Yang’s place when you wake up.”

The tone was simple and direct, not Gao Yuan’s style.

Jiang Liu’s still somewhat groggy mind quickly cleared, as if someone had given her a shot of adrenaline. She quickly got up and got ready, checking her phone along the way.

Xu Meng and Zhao Ziming had indeed also come out and were asking about Jiang Liu’s situation in their group chat. She replied with an “everything’s fine” emoji and then sent Tang Ruo’s contact information to them.

As long as the two of them realized each other’s existence, the previously blocked contact method should be usable again.

After doing all this, she went downstairs and headed straight for Yang Caisi’s small building.

The main door was open, and it was clear that someone had already swept the front. The accumulated water from the night’s heavy rain had washed away the old dust, making even the steps sparkle, which made Jiang Liu’s heart race with excitement.

Was Yang Caisi home?

At this possibility, Jiang Liu’s steps became lighter, and she couldn’t help but quicken her pace. All the questions she had wanted to investigate were now secondary. Her mind was filled with only one thought—

She missed her.

But as soon as she entered, she saw the pale-faced Gao Yuan sprawled on the sofa. A night’s rest didn’t seem to have done him any good. He looked even more listless, with dark circles under his eyes.

Jiang Liu’s excited steps faltered. She first ignored the figure sprawled on the sofa and looked around, not finding Yang Caisi. She immediately frowned.

“Where is she?” She kicked Gao Yuan, who was spread out on the sofa, her tone puzzled.

Gao Yuan grunted groggily and said lazily, “Don’t bother looking, she’s not back.”

Jiang Liu couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. Only then did she plop down on the sofa and ask, “Then why did you ask me to come here?”

The person opposite her pointed to his own face. “Don’t even mention it. I don’t know which enemy of mine poked a hole in my roof. It was like a flood when I was sleeping at night. I had no choice but to come to her guest room to sleep for a while.”

Gao Yuan couldn’t believe that someone in the system would resort to such a primitive method. Instead of a direct confrontation, they would secretly do such a despicable thing. It was truly infuriating.

Jiang Liu was speechless. “…”

Her eyes suddenly widened. It was only now that she remembered the reminder from last night that she couldn’t recall.

Facing Gao Yuan’s resentful gaze, she cleared her throat uncomfortably, trying to gloss over the matter. She said vaguely, “There’s such a wicked person? What a piece of work. Don’t be angry, I’ll patch it up for you later.”

Fortunately, Gao Yuan waved his hand and didn’t dwell on such a small matter. “That’s not necessary. The Logistics Team will be here soon.”

He sighed and pointed to an open laptop screen on the coffee table. “This isn’t the point. Look at this.”

It looked like their work computer. Jiang Liu pondered for a moment and turned the screen towards herself.

On it was an extremely simple login page with the name 082. The webpage showed recent transfer records, and the latest one was highlighted in red.

[Due to a temporary bug in the mission dispatch system, the order to transfer user 082 to a special mission instance has been withdrawn. Please pay attention to recent notifications to avoid errors.]

Jiang Liu couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow, looking at Gao Yuan strangely. “Doesn’t this explain that your transfer order was an error?”

Gao Yuan rubbed his brow, looking at the computer with great frustration. “You have to know that the system has been running for so many years, and it rarely makes mistakes of this magnitude.”

And—

He gestured for Jiang Liu to open his punishment record. Apart from some minor penalties from years ago, there was no new information.

“Logically, when you reported me as a Mermaid to Qiao Ke, my existence had already been discovered by the system, and punishment was inevitable. But look now, there’s not a single thing. This is clearly not normal!”

He had been worried all night, afraid that he would be taken away by the Inspection Team before he woke up. If they found him in Yang Caisi’s house, he might even be accused of being a fugitive.

But to his surprise, nothing happened, which Gao Yuan found unacceptable.

Jiang Liu scratched her head, a hint of doubt in her eyes as well.

She didn’t know the system’s operating rules, but Gao Yuan’s perception must be correct. So where did the problem lie?

Punishment, transfer error—Jiang Liu couldn’t help but think of what Zhang Xiaochen had said by the sea yesterday.

The system seemed to give preferential treatment to Qiao Ke and Yang Caisi. Could this matter be related to Xiao Si?

She shared her thoughts with Gao Yuan, and the person opposite her immediately nodded. “I think so too. But you know Xiao Yang’s personality. If she doesn’t want to talk about something, you can’t get a peep out of her even if you pry her mouth open. So I wanted to ask you frankly what you think.”

His thinking was quite direct. Anyway, he had been partners with Yang Caisi for so many years, and now they were in the same boat. If there was a punishment, they would face it together. He, Gao Yuan, accepted that.

But he couldn’t be willing to go through thick and thin together while the other person told him nothing at all.

Jiang Liu didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she looked down at her ring.

Since leaving the instance last night, she had been trying to contact Xiao Si, but there had been no response from the other side.

In that case, she could only be bold and go find someone else.

—

As an early employee of the permanent points arena, Qiao Ke’s house was in a deeper, more secluded and serene area. The leaves of the nearby trees were blown by the wind, and the raindrops that had not yet evaporated fell sparsely to the ground.

Jiang Liu stared at the door for a long time, but couldn’t recall any memories related to this place.

Squeak…

The door opened.

Qiao Ke must have just finished showering. His hair was still a bit damp, and he appeared before Jiang Liu, refreshed, as if he wasn’t surprised by her arrival.

“I thought you would go to my office.” He smiled at Jiang Liu, then couldn’t help but add on the right, “Showing up at a supervisor’s door early in the morning, that’s not something the you of the past would do.”

Jiang Liu sneered, casually crossing her arms and sizing him up. She said meaningfully, “People change.”

Qiao Ke surprisingly didn’t deny it, but instead followed her lead. “I admit that.”

He no longer spoke with the same vague and roundabout manner as before, but instead said with certainty, “You remember everything.”

Jiang Liu met his gaze frankly. “Not everything, but close enough.”

After seeing what Zhang Xiaochen had given her last night, those fragmented memories seemed to have been re-triggered. Although they weren’t coherent, Jiang Liu could still piece together most of it in her mind.

If she wasn’t mistaken, many years ago, her younger self had accepted Qiao Ke’s terms and entered the game to fulfill a wish. After clearing it, she left the system and met Yang Caisi during her wanderings.

Then, for some reason, she and Yang Caisi both entered the system.

In other words, she suspected that Xiao Si had entered the game because of her.

Jiang Liu suddenly lowered her gaze, her voice tinged with suppressed emotion, as if she were seeking confirmation of her views from Qiao Ke.

She said, “The person who died in that car crash was me, wasn’t it?”