Watching Mu Hehe and Bai Hui’s figures fade into the distance, Yu Li stood at the door without saying a word.
Bo Jingmo walked over and took her hand, his rough fingertip slowly rubbing her wrist, then gently pinching and playing with her fingertips. “What are you thinking about?”
“Nothing.” Yu Li slowly leaned her head on his shoulder. “Just thinking about what to eat tonight.”
“Want to eat out?” Bo Jingmo looked down and took out his phone. “I just saw a place online upstairs—it should be your favorite flavor.”
Yu Li leaned in to look. Thinking of what happened the last time the two of them went out, she teased, “Not afraid of running into Jiang Xi and the others again?”
Hearing that, the man paused, then quickly tapped on the restaurant’s contact info.
“I’ll book a private room now.”
Yu Li couldn’t hold back a laugh. While Bo Jingmo was on the phone, she walked over to the table to grab her phone. But when her gaze happened to fall on the trash can, she froze slightly.
Right on top of the trash was a tissue—new and snow-white, clearly placed there intentionally to cover the shards of glass underneath.
Yu Li stared at the tissue without speaking, until someone gently wrapped an arm around her waist from behind. The man bent down and hugged her from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder.
Yu Li raised her hand and touched his face, letting out a soft laugh. “No wonder you touched my hand the moment you came in—checking if I was hurt?”
“Mm.” Bo Jingmo held her wrist and then lightly kissed it. “I’ve checked now.”
Yu Li sighed softly. “I thought you really didn’t care.”
After all, from the end of the conversation to seeing Bai Hui off, this man hadn’t asked a single thing about what was discussed.
Was it indifference—or... had he already guessed?
Looks like it was the latter.
Bo Jingmo lowered his gaze and said in a light tone, “I care.”
“But what I care about isn’t that matter—it's your feelings, Li Li.”
Yu Li guided him to sit on the sofa, then gently straddled his lap, lifting his chin with her fingertip.
She said, “Why don’t you take a guess at how I’m feeling, Boss Bo?”
Bo Jingmo wrapped both arms around her waist, obediently lifting his head. He smiled. “Will there be a reward if I guess right?”
Yu Li didn’t answer. She just stared at him quietly for a few seconds. Her fingertip slowly traced from his chin up to his eyes. Her voice was gentle, but carried a chilling threat.
A moment later, she slowly spoke: “Bo Jingmo, I actually really want to kill that person.”
His eyelashes trembled. Eyes still closed, he savored her touch. His voice was a bit hoarse. “Not worth it…”
“Li Li, he’s only going to dirty your hands.”
Bo Jingmo even felt that person’s mere existence had tainted Yu Li’s ears.
“Definitely not worth it,” Yu Li said, lowering her head to press her forehead against his, then kissed his cheek lightly.
“So I changed my mind. I want him to personally feel the pain you went through.”
Her lips were warm, like a soft breeze brushing across the rotting wounds in Bo Jingmo’s heart.
He looked into her eyes in silence, feeling like he was soaking in warm water—cozy and comforting. He said softly, “Whatever you say.”
Yu Li’s eyes curved like two crescent moons. She lowered her head and nuzzled his cheek, clearly satisfied with his response.
“Let’s go eat. I’m hungry.”
Turns out, a protagonist’s luck isn’t just talk.
Since Bo Jingmo had booked a private room in advance, they didn’t run into anyone and had to share a table.
But Yu Li still ran into Jiang Xi.
At first, she didn’t even notice. She was washing her hands with her head down when she suddenly heard a hesitant voice ask, “...Yu Li?”
The familiar voice made Yu Li pause for a moment, and she sighed faintly.
She was really starting to wonder who the real protagonist was.
Why did the male and female leads always refresh in random restaurants? It was like they were more of an NPC than she was.
After turning off the faucet, she looked up at the woman beside her and smiled faintly. “What a coincidence, Senior Jiang.”
Jiang Xi’s expression was slightly shocked. “It really is you.”
Her gaze calmly scanned Yu Li’s face. Seeing how similar it looked to the one in the instance, she hesitated. “You’re here... having dinner with a friend?”
Yu Li pulled a tissue and dried her hands. “Having dinner with my partner.”
She already has a partner?
Jiang Xi was genuinely surprised now.
For some reason, her first thought was that the partner... had to be Bo Jingmo.
But was it really that fast?
Weren’t they still classmates last time? Together already? That seemed unlikely.
Still, it was someone else’s private matter. Jiang Xi couldn’t really say anything. She just nodded slightly, then casually asked, “Yu Li, can I ask you something? Our group is doing a survey. I need to complete a task.”
Yu Li nodded. “Go ahead.”
Jiang Xi solemnly took out her phone, then stared at the screen as she slowly asked:
“First question—have you had any strange dreams lately? Second—do you remember them when you wake up?”
Girl, that’s a little too obvious.
Yu Li pretended to think for a moment, then responded in confusion: “I don’t really recall any strange dreams, but I’ve definitely seen a lot of strange people lately.”
“Yep.” Yu Li blinked. “Like you, Senior. Every time they see me, they ask if I’ve had any weird dreams recently. Are you all in the same group project? What a coincidence.”
She forced a smile. “Is that so... Maybe. Maybe we’re all taking the same class.”
No dreams, no memories, no system presence.
Could Yu Li really not be an NPC? Just a bug from the Instance System?
But the people Yu Li mentioned... who were they?
Besides Bo Jingmo, were there others asking her?
Jiang Xi frowned slightly without showing it. Could it mean Yu Li really just looked like that NPC?
After all, those instances couldn’t be replayed. She didn’t know what the NPCs other players met looked like.
The girl’s puzzled voice pulled Jiang Xi back to her senses. She quickly looked up and smiled. “Let’s go, I’m done asking.”
The private room and main hall were in opposite directions, but they both headed toward the same hallway after leaving.
A vague suspicion rose in Yu Li’s heart. She stopped at her private room door, hesitating for a second to see which one was Jiang Xi’s.
If it was really that much of a coincidence...
Sure enough, the next second, she saw Jiang Xi stop at the door right next to hers, then naturally opened it—
And as soon as the familiar voices drifted out from inside the room, Yu Li went completely silent.
...Those voices... sounded all too familiar.
Little System peeked in for her, then leaned over and whispered with a shocked tone, clicking its tongue:
“Sis, this is wild—everyone in there’s someone you know. Hou Liang, Wu Bei, Cen Xiu, Qi Mai, Guangran.”
From now on... she’d better just eat at home with Bo Jingmo.