Looking out from the window of the villa by the lake, all you can see is the dense dark forest in the distance, but you can no longer capture the city lights of human civilization. The sky was twinkling with extremely rare large stars, like a black curtain with countless holes poked out by a hedgehog, and white points of light leaking from the surface seemed to open the sky, where a whole new world was hidden.

I withdrew my gaze from the distant view outside the window, then gently closed the curtains, and when I turned around, Hu Shubao sat on the edge of the bed with a blushing face, watching TV boredly......

Of course, the TV is playing anime, not some international news and important events, which of course is also prepared by the strategy team in advance.

I tightened the curtains, and Hu Shubao's gaze slowly turned back to me, and then she quickly nervously retracted it.

"Xiaobao......" I walked towards Hu Shubao step by step, and Hu Shubao's face became redder and redder, and she retreated from sitting on the edge of the bed to tucking her legs to the back of the bed.

I walked softly to the bedside, gently pulled up the bedside lamp, then walked to the door again, gently extinguished the light in the room, and finally, gently walked to the bed where Hu Shubao was, and sat down gently.

For a while, Hu Shubao and I fell into a long awkward atmosphere. I looked at her, and she looked at me, and at the cartoon on the TV, and didn't seem to know how to speak.

Seeing the two of us frozen in place like wood, Lin Yayue's voice finally couldn't help but ring in my ears:

"Hurry, come on, Xiao Shiyilang, why don't you do it yet! Why are you stunned? ”

"I ......," I wanted to say and stopped.

"That's right! Xiao Zai, wait any longer, my camera is almost gone! Speed, speed! The voice of the lewd uncle also sounded in my head.

My heart began to pound, I swallowed heavily, and then gently reached out and took Hu Shubao's small hand on the sheet.

"Xiaobao......" I said softly.

"Wait a minute!" Hu Shubao suddenly spoke.

I was startled, my arm twitched, and said:

"What's wrong, Xiaobao?"

Hu Shubao stared at the TV with her eyes firmly and said:

"Tom is about to get Jerry! Shhhhh We'll talk about it when Tom catches Jerry, okay? ”

"Uh...... All right. I followed Hu Shubao's line of sight, and my eyes fell on "Cat and Mouse" playing on the TV, and then watched it with her with relish.

And then, just like that, we watched it for four hours.

Four hours later, I finally couldn't hold back anymore and asked Lin Yayue:

"Yayue, it's been dozens of episodes, why hasn't Tom caught Jerry yet? How many episodes of "Cat and Mouse" are there?! ”

"Uh...... There are a total of 185 episodes of Cat and Mouse, and as for the number of times Tom caught Jerry in the story...... It's zero. Lin Yayue replied truthfully, her voice stiff and gurgling.

I felt the world spinning for a while, and Faye Wong's voice roared urgently from the other end of the communicator:

"Hurry up and let the TV station cut off the channel communication! If you look at it like this, it's going to be dawn! ”

As Faye Wong's words fell, the animated picture on the TV that Hu Shubao was watching suddenly disappeared, leaving only a fluctuating snowflake.

"Hey, why isn't there any?" Hu Shubao said in surprise.

"Probably...... It's because Tom hasn't caught Jerry, and the people on the TV station are tired of watching it, so they turn off the animation. I said casually.

Hu Shubao was furious and said:

"How can they do that? I'm going to call the TV station to complain! ”

"Hey...... Wait a minute! I hurriedly grabbed Hu Shubao's hand and said, "It's so late, everyone from the TV station is going home from work for supper!" ”

"Okay......" Hu Shubao said a little disappointed, "Then let's change the channel and watch "SpongeBob SquarePants"!" ”

I was taken aback, and asked Lin Yayue softly:

"How many episodes are there in SpongeBob SquarePants?"

"186 Episodes ......"

"Damn, one more episode than Cat and Mouse? Hurry up and shut it down! ”

Seeing that the "SpongeBob SquarePants" channel on TV was also a snowflake, Hu Shubao said disappointedly:

"Why don't we come and watch One Piece?"

"How many episodes of One Piece are there?"

"More than 800 episodes...... Still in serialization. Lin Yayue in the headset replied truthfully.

"Forget it, Yayue, I think you should just cut the electric switch at home." I rubbed my temples.

With a crisp click, the picture of the TV turned dark. Hu Shubao jumped up in panic and said:

"Why is the screen suddenly black?"

As soon as Hu Shubao's words fell, the door of our room opened, and Ye Guimei, who was wearing a long white dress, walked in with a candle like a female ghost, and said lightly:

"The circuit is overloaded, the power is cut off at home, and the electrician dies in a car accident halfway through, and it won't be repaired until tomorrow."

"Damn, ghost girl, who are you pretending to be in the middle of the night? Scared to death! I patted my chest in a panic and looked at Ye Guimei with a gloomy face, and couldn't help but shout. Also, why is the door to the room open? I was locked up before! ”

The ghost girl didn't say a word, she turned around and left barefoot with the white candle in her hand, looking at her white dress flying away, I felt that the temperature of the whole room had dropped a few degrees.

I turned to Hu Shubao on the side and said:

"Xiaobao, it seems that there is no way to do it today, so why don't you ...... Shall we go to bed first? ”

Hu Shubao looked at the pitch-black TV, looked at me again, and then nodded slightly.

"Hmm." This time, she finally didn't refuse.

With that, the two of us lifted the quilt and got into it together.

Hu Shubao curled up, her body exuded a faint smell of cherries, and she didn't know if it was her own smell or the smell of cream cake before.

In this way, under the light of the emergency bedside lamp, the two of us looked at each other in the quilt, like two silkworms that had come out of their cocoons.

In the quiet room, I could hear Hu Shubao's rapid heartbeat, and looking at her messy hair scattered on the pillow, I couldn't help but stretch out my hand and carefully spread it a little.

"Xiaobao, you are so beautiful today."

Hu Shubao's cheeks suddenly turned red, she pursed her lips, as if she didn't know how to answer, and finally, she also said to me with a red face:

"You too...... Looks young. ”

Hu Shubao's exhaled hot breath spewed onto my cheeks one after another, and I gently stretched out my hand, carefully wrapped my arms around her waist, and gently pulled her towards me.

Hu Shubao didn't have any resistance, but let me hold her, the two of us looked at each other like this, and through the dim light, I could see Hu Shubao's eyes flashing with crystal spots.

"Nervous?" I let go of the hand around Hu Shubao's waist, took her hand instead, and asked softly.

"It's a little ......," Hu Shubao said as she looked at me quietly, "Your expression ...... Looks...... How do you seem to have something on your mind? ”

Hearing Hu Shubao's words, my heart also trembled slightly.

"I ...... too Nervous. I laughed.

Lin Yayue's voice suddenly sounded in her ears:

"Nervous about what? Xiao Shiyilang, now Xiaobao's favorability has reached 70%! During this period of time, Xiaobao's favorability has risen rapidly, and he is almost at the door, fast! ”

Hu Shubao lowered her eyelashes carefully, and suddenly said with a little preoccupation:

"It's kind of ...... Can't sleep. I always think about Tom and Jerry. Can you tell me a story? ”

My heart sank a little, then I took a deep breath and said:

"Okay then...... I'm going to tell you a horror story about Tom and Jerry. Actually, Cat and Mouse has an ending. It's just that that episode was banned, and that was episode 22, in which Tom's owner hit Tom in the basement and warned Tom never to go to the basement. So Tom was furious and collused with Jerry to kill his master, and hid the body in the basement. Later, Jerry kills Tom and hides his body in the basement as well. Eventually, Jerry rented out the house. ”

Hearing my story, Hu Shubao wrinkled her nose and scolded softly:

"I hate it, can't you tell a serious ghost story at night?"

Looking at Hu Shubao's terrifying expression, I couldn't help but stick out my tongue.

A smile appeared on Hu Shubao's face, but this smile soon disappeared.

"You say...... Why is Tom so stupid that he can't catch Jerry? ”

When I heard this story, my heart suddenly trembled!

Familiar questions, familiar words, familiar scenes, memories of the past month or so, all rushed into my mind in an instant.

Where, where...... Have I ever faced such a scenario?

That's right...... It was during the first round of the game, and Xiaowei asked me the same question!

My heart began to tremble violently.

With exactly the same look, exactly the same sadness, and exactly the same tone, at this moment, Hu Shubao's figure actually faintly coincided with Xiaowei......

My heart began to beat wildly, and I said tentatively:

"Because Tom didn't want to catch Jerry at all, they were the best friends in the world."

Hu Shubao touched his face, found a comfortable sleeping position, and said:

"So the ending of the anime you just said is fake?" Hu Shubao asked me casually.

"yes, of course I made it up...... However, I also know the real ending. ”

"Really? What is the ending of Cat and Mouse? Hu Shubao asked me softly curiously.

I took a long breath.

All the scenes are finally back to the first game.

And then, I already know how to answer.

I raised my head and stared blankly at the ceiling for a long time before I said:

"That's a sad story...... Many, many years later, Tom is very old, the owner no longer likes him, and the new cat in the house always bullies him. When the meows threw Tom's food out the door again, Tom dragged his no longer flexible leg for a long distance before picking up the dusty piece of cheese. He let out a sigh of relief, and amid the laughter of the meows, he carefully placed the cheese in the corner of the door to the cobweb-strewn rat hole. ”

Long after I finished telling this story, I fell silent.

Because in my mind, another girl who asked me the same question came to mind.

I don't know how long it took, but Hu Shubao's words suddenly sounded in my ears.

"Like...... Where to ...... Heard the story. ”

I looked back in shock, only to find that Hu Shubao had already burst into tears.

Xiaowei...... Is that you?

"Have you really heard of it?" My eyes suddenly brightened, "And what do you remember?" Are there any more details? ”

Under my questioning, Hu Shubao frowned, bit her fingers, thought about it a little seriously, and finally shook her head and said:

"No...... I don't quite remember. It felt like a dream...... I guess I dreamed of something like that in some of my dreams......

Hu Shubao thought it was a dream.

But I knew very well that it was not a dream.

It was the Leviathan that had once become one with her, or rather, the memories that Vicky brought to her. It wasn't entirely her memory.

This...... Maybe even Zhu Qingyun himself didn't calculate it.

It is true that Zhu Qingyun may know all of Hu Shubao's memories, but ...... What about Vivi's memories?

What about Xiaowei's emotions?

Xiao Wei's memory is closely related to the god costume on Hu Shubao's body, and the cherry rain and clear sky can seal Xiao Wei's power, perhaps...... It's like an auxiliary USB flash drive, carrying part of her memory? Or is it Xiaowei's soul that is possessed by Hu Shubao's body?

I don't know if there are souls in this world, but at least I can work in this direction.

"Can you think harder?" I asked with some eagerness.

Hu Shubao's brows furrowed a little tighter, this time, she thought more carefully for half a minute, but in the end, she still shook her head and said a little helplessly:

"No...... Can't remember. But it always felt like someone had told me the story...... Who is it...... Hey, my memory is so bad, I ......."

Looking at Hu Shubao's helpless expression, I sighed softly, stretched out my hand carefully, stroked her ear, and said:

"Forget it, if you really can't think of it, then forget it. Don't push yourself too hard. ”

"I'm sorry...... I'm always stupid. Hu Shubao curled up as if she was coquettish, with a pitiful expression on her face.

"What's stupid, I like stupid women the most. How terrible a wise woman is. I laughed.

"Hehe...... Hu Shubao suddenly snickered, "Others say I'm naïve and naïve." ”

"I just like naïve women." I laughed and said, "A naïve person never gets old." ”

At this time, Lin Yayue's voice sounded in my head:

"Good job, Xiao Shiyilang, the favorability is eighty-five, let's work harder!"

Hu Shubao chuckled, hugged me, and said:

"Tell me another story...... The last story, after we have finished telling it, we ...... Let's get started, okay? ”

I came back to my senses, was slightly stunned, my brain turned slightly, and then smiled lightly and said:

"Okay...... Let's tell the last story. Or is it a story about Tom and Jerry...... But, this time, it's a true story. ”

"The real story?"

"Yes, true story." I nodded solemnly, "Actually, Tom and Jerry, it's not a fictional story, but a real story. They are based on a pair of real people. The real couple was a boy and a girl. There was a boy named Tom, and one day, he met a strange girl named Jerry, who was completely different from him, both in terms of lifestyle and way of being. The girl had a very strange temper, and the general population was afraid of her, thinking that she was like a monster. But Tom was curious about the peculiar girl, so he began to approach her, trying to get to know her little by little. In the end, Tom discovers that this girl, who looks like a monster, has an extremely simple and innocent heart. She was a very simple and clean girl at heart, more innocent than all the girls Tom had ever seen......"

Gradually, Tom found himself liking this girl who was different. People all over the world don't want to accept that girl, the girl is like a rat crossing the street, it is difficult to be accepted by the people of the whole world outside, she huddles in her house all day long, and even goes out carefully, like a thief. Tom felt heartache to see the girl like this, he hoped that the girl would be able to pick herself up again, and he hoped that the girl would have a smile on her face. So, Tom thought of a way, since the girl was ostracized by the world and not accepted, then I should also be a fool who was not accepted by the world. So, Tom played such a fool, he wandered around the girl's door every day, deliberately playing himself like a fool, making himself like an easy bully. Whenever the girl is in a bad mood, she will have a childlike attack, vent on the clumsy-looking Tom, tease him, and tease him. So, Tom finally saw a smile on Jerry's face, and Jerry gradually became cheerful, she found that she was not alone in this world, and there were people who were stupider than herself......"

Seeing Jerry's smile, Tom felt his heart flutter. So he began to pursue Jerry, and Tom chased wildly, and kept chasing, and pursued Jerry every day...... However, because of an accident, Tom drove Jerry to a strange place, Jerry was once again ostracized and bullied, and when she came back again, her inner inferiority complex was stimulated again, because of the inferiority complex in her heart, Jerry turned back into the original sullen girl, and rejected Tom's pursuit again and again......"

"After that, no matter how Tom treats Jerry well and shows love to Jerry, Jerry's heart will always have a trace of mustard, as if there is a piece of ice that cannot be melted, Jerry has a good impression of Tom, but the faint mustard hidden in her heart makes her never accept Tom's emotions, and she can only choose to close herself and choose to escape ......"

"Soon, decades passed...... Tom failed again and again. A few times, he even wanted to give up. However, when he remembered the beautiful smile that Jerry had inadvertently shown to him, he still chose to chase after it without hesitation...... ...... to this day"

At this point, the night was already deep, and a deep sense of tiredness came over me, and the light of the bedside lamp was gradually dimming due to the depletion of the backup battery.

In the dim light, I suddenly heard a soft sob.

My eyes widened in astonishment, but I saw that Hu Shubao was already in tears.

She wiped the tears from her face, looked at me with tears shining in the corners of her eyes, and said with a crying voice:

"So...... That Jerry...... Am I right? …… Isn't that right, Xiao Shiyi Lang......? ”

Seeing the flickering tears on Hu Shubao's face, at that moment, I felt a warmth rushing in my chest, and almost without thinking, a soft answer came out of my mouth:

Looking at the eyes that shimmered with tears, at that moment, I felt the corners of my own eyes moisten as well.

"Right...... That's you...... Xiaobao ...... Welcome back......"

Hu Shubao suddenly burst into tears, she threw herself into my arms, and I hugged her tightly.

At that moment, I believe, she had already remembered.

"I'm sorry...... Xiao Shiyilang ......" Hu Shubao suddenly cried, "I remembered...... My Hu Shubao...... You are Xiao Shiyilang...... I...... I'm sorry everyone...... I've been gone for too long......"

Listening to the sound of Hu Shubao sobbing in my arms, the corners of my mouth finally lifted a smile, and the heavy stone that had been pressing on my heart finally fell to the ground.

"Welcome back......"

"Oh my God, good, the favorability is crazy! Ninety-nine percent of the time! Xiao Shiyilang, you ...... You're a genius! Faye Wong's incredible voice came, "Up, take down her first night directly, and you will succeed!" ”

I shook my head, smiled lightly, and finally gave Faye Wong and Lin Yayue this answer:

"No need, Xiaobao is already very tired today, so be it...... There's still a little bit of time anyway. Let's continue tomorrow. ”

Even I didn't expect that just a story would be able to move Hu Shubao. Is it because I touched the deepest memory of Hu Shubao's heart, or is it because Hu Shubao is actually a simple and innocent girl from beginning to end, easy to believe in everything?

Or is this the truest affection between people?

I thought, maybe it's all there.

It wasn't until dawn that I woke up quietly and asked energetically about Lin Yayue's strategy with a sleepy voice.

Lin Yayue said lazily:

"It's still 99.9 percent, but with this little progress, you can give her a kiss in the morning......"

I smiled happily and said:

"That's good, it looks like I wasn't dreaming before. Then I'll finish the rest of the task in a moment. ”

After waiting another hour, Hu Shubao woke up, washed up, and had breakfast with us. After breakfast, I plan to give Hu Shubao a kiss in front of everyone and complete my last part of the task.

However, before kissing, in order to test the stability of Hu Shubao's favorability, we first took her to the ordinary world, washed all her memories first, and saw if her favorability would fall, otherwise, all our previous efforts would be meaningless.

For this, whether it is me or Lin Yayue, they are full of confidence. Because I believe that once you go to the ordinary world, the favorability of the previous raiders will be superimposed, which will only make Hu Shubao's favorability higher.

So, after breakfast, I took Hu Shubao to the Australian region of the ordinary world.

On a certain hillside, I let go of the hand holding Hu Shubao, and then slowly walked out of the aperture against the rising sun.

However, the moment I stepped out of the aperture, the sound of Lin Yayue gasping for air sounded in my ears.

"How can this be......" Lin Yayue's dumbfounded voice came.

Hearing Lin Yayue's gasp, I realized that the situation might not be good, so I hurriedly asked:

"What's wrong, Masatsuki?"

didn't answer, as if the silencer was turned on, Lin Yayue's side was actually quiet.

After a long time, Lin Yayue's voice sounded again:

"Favorability...... I am dropping and have been dropping...... It became ......"

"What has become!? Yayue? My voice grew flustered.

I looked at Hu Shubao on the side, but I didn't expect Hu Shubao to be staring at me and smiling, she suddenly split her mouth, licked her lips with her tongue, and then squinted at me and smiled:

"My previous acting was very realistic, right? You say, will Lord Qingyun praise me, Xiao Shiyilang? ”

In the squinted eyes, I seemed to see another strange pair of eyes.

"Zero." Lin Yayue's panting voice finally sounded in my ears, "Xiaobao's favorability...... It became zero. ”

"How could it be ......" my brain fell into a brief blank space.

And Hu Shubao stood next to me, wearing a white dress, and the outline of her body in the sun was outlined extraordinarily slender and beautiful.

Hu Shubao looked at me with an innocent and innocent smile, but I could see a trace of unnaturalness in this smile.

"Xiaobao, what did you just say?" I stepped forward in a daze and grabbed Hu Shubao's shoulder, "What did you say?" ”

"Lord Qingyun." Hu Shubao said with a smile, "Lord Qingyun has said a long time ago that this world is false, and my life is also false, just like animation, jumping from one to another, but no matter which animation I go to, I should cooperate well with the people in the animation and pretend to obey them, but my heart still belongs to Lord Yun." This has happened hundreds of times and thousands of times before, and you have tried to attack me in the past few days, and it has been repeated many times before, haha, each time your reaction is similar. ”

At this moment, I finally realized my deep fear.

I thought that a few days of hard work, a few days of fatigue, a few days of adventure, and several years of dedication and hard work could finally be rewarded. But I still take it for granted. All this was in Zhu Qingyun's calculations at the beginning, and he had already calculated that we would impress her by promoting a relationship with Hu Shubao and let her reintegrate into us, so Zhu Qingyun came up with another strategy to deal with us, that is, pretending to cooperate with us and making us think that we had succeeded, but in fact, she was just highly involved in the drama and pretended to cooperate with us.

Her true heart has never belonged to me for a moment.

Belong to us.

In the past hundreds, thousands, and even tens of thousands of reincarnations, Zhu Qingyun has already gone through all the methods we can think of to restore Hu Shubao, and what we are doing now is nothing more than jumping from a false world to another false world for Hu Shubao.

Zhu Qingyun's layout...... It's scary.

I was furious.

This time, I was really outright outraged. I immediately pulled Hu Shubao to open the teleportation aperture and teleported to the safe area where Zhu Qingyun and the members of the Electronic World were located.

I angrily pulled Hu Shubao to find Zhu Qingyun, who was looking down at a book in a certain base, and then grabbed him by the neck, pulled him up from the chair violently, and then slammed into the wall!

Zhu Qingyun didn't resist during the whole process, he just let me choke his neck like a wooden puppet with no strength, and then hit him against the wall.

"What do you want to do, Xiao Shiyilang! The agreement says you can't make any physical attacks on our people until the agreement is dissolved! Murong Yin on the side jumped up and roared angrily.

But I didn't listen to Murong Yin's words at all, I just pressed Zhu Qingyun hard against the wall, and said viciously:

"You brute! What the hell did you do to Xiaobao! You're actually ...... I actually told her that she should cooperate with us in acting! You're actually playing with Xiaobao's mind like this, you bastard! ”

"I'm sorry." Zhu Qingyun struggled to squeeze out a hoarse voice from his throat, "But I've already told you all the information before. It was you who couldn't distinguish whether Hu Shubao was acting or not, and chose to believe Hu Shubao. ”

Seeing Zhu Qingyun who was pressed against the wall by me, Hu Shubao said angrily:

"Xiao Shiyilang, let go of your hand, what do you want to do to Lord Qingyun?! If you do it again, I'm not going to be kind to you! ”

Hearing Hu Shubao's words, my heart was like a knife.

I turned my head in a daze, but saw Hu Shubao with a gloomy face, looking at me with a frown.

I smiled bitterly, then let go of Zhu Qingyun's neck and let his body slowly slide off against the wall.

Zhu Qingyun pushed the frame of his glasses, looked at Hu Shubao on the side and said:

"I order you to fall in love with Xiao Shiyilang."

Hu Shubao's face showed a look of pity, she looked at Zhu Qingyun painfully, and said:

"Lord Qingyun, don't you want me? No matter how much I listen to you and try to like others, you are always the supreme in my heart......"

Zhu Qingyun turned to us and said:

"It's up to you to figure it out. Because when I set up control over the Leviathan, I didn't think about giving her back her freedom. But there are inevitably incompleteness in any system. It's up to you to find possible vulnerabilities to break through. Time is running out. ”

Lin Yayue also ran forward after us angrily, she looked at Zhu Qingyun angrily, and said:

"You're so smart, please tell us what can be done to restore Xiaobao!"

Zhu Qingyun said:

"I'm good at analytical thinking and reasoning, but I'm not good at emotional communication and empathy, which you need to figure out on your own, and I can't help you effectively. But I believe there is a possibility for you to restore the Leviathan. ”

Faye Wong said fiercely:

"Why should we believe that your conjecture is correct?"

Zhu Qingyun pushed his glasses and said:

"Yes, my words may be wrong, but they are absolutely true. You can choose to use my information, but even I cannot guarantee the authenticity of this information or conjectures. True and false and wrong are two different things. You humans often confuse the two, but there should be a logical distinction. The rules of the game guarantee the truth of the information, not the right or wrong of the information itself. ”

At that moment, looking at Zhu Qingyun's expressionless face, I couldn't wait to press his head against the wall and smash it into meat sauce.

But I know very well that no matter how I abuse Zhu Qingyun now, Hu Shubao will not recover, and her favorability towards me will only decline.

I said viciously:

"A good sentence is not the same thing as being right or wrong, very good, then, if Xiaobao doesn't recover, we won't agree to help the zombie world, you just wait for death together! Even if there is a probability of survival, your risk will be extremely high! We don't guarantee that we will be able to destroy meteorites 100%! ”

Zhu Qingyun said:

"Your Book of the World has been exchanged with us, and if we die, you will die too."

I smiled coldly, crooked my neck, and said:

"yes, but ...... So what? Let me tell you a word, Zhu Qingyun, our team is a family, we are one, and none of us can be missing!! ”