Translator: Dj2203
Editor: Dj2203
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The cub quickly led the wandering Taoist to the side hall.
On the way from the temple gate to the side hall, the cub couldn’t wait to tell the wandering Taoist about the whole story. Of course, he didn’t mention the ghost around him and his interactions with them. He only vaguely said that he believed there was something superhuman around him and hoped that the wandering Taoist could help him meet her.
When the wandering Taoist stepped into the side hall, Su Xi braced herself and looked at him. She saw a white-haired Taoist with an otherworldly air, a gaunt face, and bright eyes. He did indeed seem to have a certain understanding of all things.
After the wandering Taoist entered, he looked straight up at the sky. From Su Xi’s perspective, it was as if the Taoist was staring directly at her.
Su Xi felt a chill run down her spine, as if the wandering Taoist priest, with his otherworldly air, had seen through her and realized that she was not from their world.
Lu Huan walked to the table to pour tea for the wandering Taoist. He saw the wandering Taoist staring intently in a certain direction in the sky, so he couldn’t help but look in that direction as well.
Is she… over there?
His heart was pounding, his throat was extremely dry, and his whole body felt taut with tension— he had never been so nervous in his life.
He had imagined a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand times what it would be like to meet her, but when the moment he had been waiting for for months finally came before him, he couldn’t help but hold his breath and remain motionless, his heart pounding as if it would burst out of his chest.
Seeing that the wandering Taoist priest had not spoken for a long time, Lu Huan asked with difficulty, “…Taoist priest?”
The wandering Taoist priest turned and glanced at him, pondered for a moment, and said, “Young Master Lu, I already know what you seek, but—”
Lu Huan’s heart jumped into his throat, and he held his breath.
“However, you and the person you want to see are not in the same world.”
Lu Huan felt a chill run through his hands and feet. With great difficulty and a hoarse voice, he asked, somewhat bewildered, “Not in the same world… what does that mean?”
The wandering Taoist simply shook his head, a hint of barely perceptible pity in his eyes, and said to him, “The four directions above and below are called the universe, and the past and present are called the cosmos. A flower and a leaf are a world. In places unknown to you and me, there are countless universes. Even if the person in the flower can see the person in the leaf, the flower and leaf wither and die in different cycles, so how can they possibly come together?”
Su Xi, watching from outside the screen, stared in astonishment at the elderly wanderer who was over a hundred years old.
Lu Huan’s face turned pale, but he was still unwilling to give up. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something.
The wandering Taoist priest then said, “What you are thinking is not that of an ordinary ghost. I cannot do it, and no one in the world can. Give up, Young Master Lu. What you want is unattainable.”
After he finished speaking, he shook his head, didn’t drink the tea that the cub poured for him, and turned to leave.
Su Xi forgot to breathe and looked at the baby on the screen. The baby was standing there, his face completely bloodless.
He seemed lost in thought, as if all hope had been stripped away in an instant, looking bewildered and disoriented.
…Is that so? We’ll never see each other in our lifetime?
Lu Huan’s blood seemed to freeze, as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.
He was almost unable to think about anything.
He turned around, seemingly trying to find the direction of the ghost beside him, but his sleeves accidentally knocked over the teacup on the table, which shattered into pieces on the ground with a “bang.”
The loud noise brought him back to his senses somewhat.
Lu Huan pursed his lips tightly, his lips turning pale, and squatted down to pick up the broken pieces of the teacup.
….
Su Xi felt a little sad watching this scene on the screen. So she tugged at the cub’s sleeve, wanting to say, “Baby, it’s not a big deal. Anyway, I’m still here with you.”
….
The little one looked dejected, but after a moment of silence, he seemed to be trying his best to cheer up.
Instead, he looked into the void and comforted Su Xi, saying, “Don’t be afraid. Even if you are like this forever, without a physical form, I will still be with you.”
Su Xi: …QAQ
“Tell me what you want. Even if you can’t eat those delicious foods or use those cosmetics, just tell me whatever you want…”
The cub was trying his best to remain calm, but his voice was still a little hoarse and his eyes were a little red.
He suddenly seemed to have made up his mind, and then said—
“I meant what I told you last time about never getting married and having children.”
Su Xi: …Huh?
Why bring this up again all of a sudden?
The cub stared into the void, as if he had a thousand words to say. His reddened eyes were also dark and unfathomable, but in the end, he swallowed them back and only explained to her, “If I get married and have children, you will feel that I have someone to accompany me and then leave, right? If that’s the case, I don’t want to.”
“…” Su Xi’s eyes stung with tears outside the screen. Damn it, she was actually made to feel a mix of sadness and warmth by the little game character. She wanted to force a smile, but her nose was also sore and she wanted to cry.
The little one bent down to pick up the fragments, then said, “However, although I’ve heard this wandering Taoist is very powerful, seeing him today, it seems he can’t solve your problem. So he’s nothing special. Don’t worry, I’ll find another way…”
Just moments before, Su Xi was so moved that her heart ached, and she suddenly jolted, almost dropping her phone from her hand—
Seriously? Kid, you haven’t given up yet? You still want to think of another way?!
When the cub mentioned these things, his lifeless eyes tried to brighten up a little. Seeing that the ghost beside him was still motionless, he assumed she was also sad, so he looked up and gave her a comforting smile.
Su Xi: …QAQ
Oh dear, kid, stop smiling, it hurts my heart.
….
The wandering Taoist’s whereabouts were unpredictable, and by the time the child, unwilling to give up, tried to chase after him, the wandering Taoist had already disappeared.
That night, on the way back, the cub was a completely different person from the one on the way there.
When he left, he rode his horse at breakneck speed, his eyes full of hope, like a young man in the capital rushing to see his beloved. But on the way back to his official residence, as dawn was breaking, he let his guards go ahead and rode his horse very slowly behind.
Su Xi knew he was sad, and the redness in his eyes hadn’t faded, but he still kept saying things to Su Xi, trying to comfort the ghost beside him, saying that even without a body, it was fine and no different from a normal person.
This was the first time Su Xi had seen him so talkative. Seeing the chatterboxes constantly popping up above his head, she wanted to laugh but also felt a little bitter.
By the time the child returned to the official residence, it was already fully light.
He realized that the ghost had been with him all night and it was long past the time she would usually leave, so he said to her, “You must be tired.”
Su Xi pinched his cheek.
He had always disliked being treated like a child, and this moment was no exception: …
Su Xi grabbed his hand again, making sure the shards of the teacup hadn’t hurt him. He assumed the person was in front of him, so he smiled and whispered, “Go and rest. See you tomorrow.”
Seeing that he was not injured and had a strong ability to adjust himself, Su Xi was finally relieved. In addition, it was already evening for Su Xi, and she was also a little sleepy. So, she rubbed the baby’s head and then logged off to sleep.
….
After she left, Lu Huan could no longer maintain his smile, and he silently walked to the bedside and sat down.
It was already past 7 AM, time to change into his official robes and go to the government office, but he felt as if all his strength had been drained away, and he couldn’t even lift his fingers.
The courtyard outside was deserted, and the house was deathly silent. He sat quietly for a long time, feeling a deep and lingering pain in his heart.
Overnight, all his hopes were shattered. Although he had anticipated that seeing her would not be easy and that he should not have too high expectations, the words of the wandering Taoist priest plunged all his hopes into hell.
“What I want, I cannot have,” he murmured, repeating the wandering Taoist’s words.
….
Su Xi was asleep, so she didn’t know that two more points had been quietly added to the game.
This came from Lu Huan’s diligent daily practice of swordsmanship and archery over the past three or four months, +2.
He got up at cockcrow every day and worked incredibly hard; he should have gained 4 more points.
However, since the points for physical strength and martial arts had a diminishing marginal effect, even though Lu Huan had put in far more effort in these past few months than in the previous month, the system still only evaluated him as worth 2 points.
At this moment, a message popped up in the system:
[Congratulations on completing ten beginner and intermediate main quests, reaching 100 points! A big gift pack is coming soon!]
[Gift Package Countdown – Three – Two -]
[one–]
After this message popped up, the air around Lu Huan on the game screen seemed to change slightly, yet nothing seemed to change at all.
However, a semi-transparent object— similar to suspended air— suddenly appeared in front of Lu Huan.
Lu Huan looked dejected, but then suddenly realized something and looked up warily, only to see the thing that had inexplicably appeared out of thin air.
His pupils contracted sharply, he paused for a moment, then abruptly stood up: “What is that?!”
However, the room was empty, and no one answered him.
Lu Huan picked up the sword from the bedside table and walked toward the screen that was floating in mid-air. He drew the sword and slashed at it, but it passed right through the screen.
Just then, an image slowly appeared on the screen. It seemed to be a room, but the things inside were things Lu Huan had never seen before. In the center appeared to be a bed, but the patterns on it were far too— far too dazzling— drawn on some incomprehensible creature, something like a bear, or perhaps—
Lu Huan’s eyelids twitched, and he was about to take a closer look, but before he could see it clearly, a line of words appeared on the floating object, covering the image.
This line of text was actually in a script that Lu Huan could understand.
“Want to see the person you long for? Want to know what she looks like? Play this game, become a wise ruler who cares for his country and its people, and you can fulfill your heart’s desire!”
For a moment, Lu Huan wondered if he was dreaming, yet the unbelievable scene before him felt so real—
His sharp gaze was fixed on the first sentence on the semi-transparent object: “The person I long for.”
Then, before he could react, another sentence popped up on the translucent object:
And accompanied by a mechanical sound, it rang in Lu Huan’s ears.
“Hello, little one, welcome to the exciting game world after 100 points.”
Lu Huan’s expression turned strange for a moment. He didn’t have time to consider all this absurdity and asked, word by word, “What did you call me?”
Two words popped up on the screen: “Little One”
The mechanical voice also read out in an explanatory tone: “l-ittle-one, li-ttle-one (third tone), little one (third tone).”
“…”
Lu Huan’s expression was incredibly varied in an instant.
The author has something to say:
Little One: ……………………
Su Xi, who logged on the next day: Kid, what’s wrong, kid?
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