Chapter 192: Logout

Qiao Suisui slept extremely tiredly this time.

She dreamed that she was suddenly sitting on a red chair, surrounded by pitch-black darkness, unable to see her own fingers; no matter which direction she looked, she could only see black.

"Is anyone there?"

"Where is this?"

"Zongfang, Luka."

In the darkness, she called out in all directions, but received no response.

Suddenly, a beam of light struck her, and in the vast darkness, there was only one circular spot of light, containing only her and that red chair.

Qiao Suisui turned her face to dodge the intense light, taking a long time to adapt to the direct glare. The light hitting her face made every pore feel like it was burning.

Instantly, many chaotic footsteps came from above her head.

She looked up and saw countless footprints appearing on a piece of white frosted glass, walking back and forth.

The surroundings began to grow noisy, as if countless people were whispering at the same time.

Qiao Suisui looked around at the top in a panic; in an instant, the light and shadows shifted, as if someone were standing high up holding a flashlight, shining it on her while whispering and discussing something.

The sounds and the light were all amplified in an instant.

One red chair turned into three, then into ten, then into thirty, and within a few seconds, it became three hundred.

A girl sat on every single red chair.

They were all in the vast darkness at this moment.

The difference was that only Qiao Suisui had a beam of light on her.

The next second, a heavenly voice came from above—

【Player No. 002, game failed, will log out in 5 seconds.】

【5!】

【4!】

"Wait, what does that mean?"

【3!】

【2!】

"Wait a second, let me go back!"

【1!】

"Wait a—"

"Sister."

"Sister, why are you sleeping here?"

A clean-looking, gentle youth was half-crouched in front of Qiao Suisui; he called out twice, and seeing that the person hadn't woken up, he sighed.

He carefully picked Qiao Suisui up, walked to the bed, laid her down, helped her take off her slippers, skillfully tucked her in, and picked up the remote control on the nightstand to adjust the air conditioning from 16 degrees to 24 degrees.

He did not sit on her bed, but instead sat naturally on the carpet beside the bed.

The youth watched her, raised his hand to gently tuck away her stray hair, his gaze deep.

The girl on the bed seemed to be having some terrible nightmare, muttering incessantly; just as he leaned in to pat her back, he saw Qiao Suisui suddenly gasp and open her eyes.

Their eyes met, and both were startled.

"Qiao Jiming," the youth was taken aback by her calling his full name in a puzzled tone.

"I know you don't like me coming into your room, but I saw you had fallen asleep at your desk just now, so... is it that you've been too tired lately? You shouldn't go to that part-time job anymore; I've told you I can support you."

Qiao Suisui watched his mouth opening and closing, her thoughts in chaos, unable to take any of it in. She clutched her head and looked around, discovering that she was in her own room at this moment.

She was back?

But she clearly hadn't opened a transmission channel.

Qiao Jiming noticed her abnormality, placed his palm on her forehead, and said worriedly, "Do you feel unwell? Are you catching a cold? I told you not to set the air conditioning so low."

Qiao Suisui looked up and saw Qiao Jiming's face, which was accustomed to deceiving others, and felt a bit dazed.

"Your body temperature is a bit higher than usual; I'll go get you some medicine."

She watched Qiao Jiming walk out of her room, stayed dazed for a moment, then immediately got out of bed and ran to the desk.

Qiao Suisui skillfully entered her computer password, but after unlocking it, there was only a blank black webpage. She clicked refresh, and as the progress bar loaded, she had never felt a few short seconds to be so long.

The progress bar loaded to the end, and a line of text appeared on the page: notfound404. "Why..."

She clicked refresh several more times, unwilling to give up, but the result was the same; she shut down, restarted, and logged in again, but it was still the same result.

"How could this be... could it really have been a dream?"

She sat blankly on the chair, falling into self-doubt, thinking everything was just her imagination. But that world was so real—were their hugs, touches, body temperature, and gentle gazes all fake? Were they her hallucinations?

"That brat is faking illness to fool me again, isn't she! Move aside!"

"Mom, Sister really isn't feeling well, please stop."

Qiao Suisui looked toward the bedroom door; sure enough, the next second, the door was pushed open without a knock by a woman—it was Mother Qiao.

"We have an appointment to eat with Professor Guan tonight, what do you mean by being unwell at a time like this? Don't think I don't know; it's finally your turn to be useful, and you're starting to act up. Professor Guan does indeed appreciate you, but don't think you're that important. If it weren't for the investment in your father's company, you could be sick whenever you wanted!"

Mother Qiao's mouth was like a loaded machine gun, *rat-a-tat-tat-tat*.

Qiao Jiming pulled her back, "Mom! Can you say a little less?"

Mother Qiao slapped Qiao Jiming on the back, angry, "I'm telling you, it's fine if you usually protect your sister, but don't you dare talk back to me tonight!"

Only then did Qiao Suisui suddenly remember that before entering that world, she had originally made an appointment to have dinner with her mentor, Guan Weizhi, to express her gratitude. Previously, there had been an internship where she had already been assigned a spot, but it was taken by someone with connections; she had already given up on it, but it was Guan Weizhi who, after hearing about it, communicated back and forth with the department leaders several times, and in the end, he used some unknown method to add her name back on.

And Mother Qiao, who had always wanted to find connections to pull strings, heard that she was going to eat with Guan Weizhi that night and immediately forcefully stated she would join, taking the opportunity to discuss investing in Father Qiao's company. She didn't even consult Qiao Suisui's opinion from beginning to end, just made the decision directly, busying herself with choosing a restaurant without caring about her feelings at all.

"Can Guan Weizhi really help our company?" Father Qiao said quietly.

"Of course, I've already inquired; the CEO of Zhonghe Fund is his older brother. The Guan family is low-key, with both reputation and capital in the financial world. Whether it's finding money for people or finding people for money, as long as you can climb up to them, all roads lead to Rome. This time, it's like someone handing us a pillow just as we're getting sleepy." Mother Qiao spoke with great excitement, as if hope were already within reach.

Qiao Jiming stood in front of Qiao Suisui's room door, fearing that Mother Qiao might say something unpleasant again; he turned his head to signal Qiao Suisui and whispered, "You go rest first, I'll come call you when it's time to leave."

If it were the Qiao Suisui of the past, she would surely have accepted it without a word.

But at this moment, she picked up her phone, tapped on Guan Weizhi's WeChat profile picture, and sent a message: 【Teacher Guan, I am not feeling well, I am truly sorry, could we reschedule our meal for another day?】

After sending it, she tossed the phone aside, stood up, and said, "I'm not going tonight; keep your voices down when you leave, I need to sleep."

Having said that, she didn't look at anyone's expression, closed the door directly, and locked it from the inside.

Father Qiao sat on the sofa drinking tea, completely bewildered; after being stunned, Mother Qiao was immediately incensed, unable to believe her own ears, and she flew into a rage, loudly berating Qiao Suisui's faults outside the door: "If you're not going, then don't go; do you think the world stops turning without you?"

Qiao Jiming stood in front of her door, his expression shifting after a brief moment of astonishment, then he lowered his head, using his bangs to cover the look of confusion in his eyes.

(End of chapter)