Ya Ya rushed to Yin Xiu's side immediately, holding up a small red flower and handing it to him, "Brother, look! This is a pretty little flower I found!"
"Hmm." Yin Xiu reached out and took it, holding it in his hand.
Li Mo, standing to the side, squeezed the flowers in her hand and handed them to Yin Xiu, smiling as she said, "I'll give my boyfriend an even better one next time."
Yin Xiu took the two delicate little flowers, his gaze gentle, "I will keep them."
Yin Xiu's happiness was more important than anything else; they felt content and seemed to have forgotten the original purpose of the competition.
Ya Ya looked up into the house, staring at the cat that had turned back into human form, and happily handed the second little flower she had picked to the cat's mother, "This one is also very pretty, it's for Mom."
The mother cat walked lightly to Ya Ya's side, wagged her tail, opened her mouth and picked up the flower. She rubbed Ya Ya's head, her eyes full of tenderness.
Yin Xiu also squatted down and touched Ya Ya's hair, "Brother is going on a long trip recently and will not be able to come back to see you for a while. Remember to stay here with Mom."
"Where are you going, brother?" Ya Ya asked, her face full of confusion. Where else could they go besides the dungeon?
"Let's go somewhere a little further away from here. Your mother will tell you later." Yin Xiu rubbed Ya Ya's little face. "I'll come see Ya Ya as soon as I'm done with my work."
"Okay." Ya Ya nodded, though she didn't understand. "Remember to come back soon."
She had already assumed that Hei Qiqi would go out with her brother. Since Hei Qiqi was with her brother, she had nothing to worry about. However, the thought of not being able to see her brother for a while still made her a little sad.
But her brother will surely come back to see her soon.
Because of Yin Xiu's pat on the head, Ya Ya quickly forgot her troubles and happily circled around Yin Xiu.
Li Mo thought that she would soon be able to have her boyfriend all to herself, so she generously let him have her for a while, since he would be hers alone afterward.
As the last bit of time they would spend together recently, Ya Ya happily pulled Yin Xiu to stroll through the woods around the cabin, joyfully holding his hand as they walked through every patch of flowers and grass.
She squatted on a small stone in the flower bushes, carefully weaving a flower wreath with her small hands, as a gift for Yin Xiu before his departure.
Li Mo was then directed by her to pick flowers and hand them to her.
Yin Xiu sat to the side watching the two busy themselves, propping his chin up as he watched the two figures, one in red and one in black, darting in and out of the flower bushes. He then leaned against a rock and took a short rest.
This small, elegant and comfortable environment, surrounded by familiar people, brought Yin Xiu a rare moment of peace.
Perhaps because he was mentally relaxed, he leaned against the rock and dozed off for a while.
In just a short while, he had a dream.
I dreamt that I returned to the gate of the orphanage many years ago, holding Ya Ya's hand with my left hand and Li Mo's hand with my right hand. He walked past his past with his precious present.
He saw Xiaoxiao standing at the door waving at him, and then skipping and jumping as she leaned against the orphanage wall to watch them walk away.
The orphanage that was always dark and gloomy in his memory no longer seemed as gloomy as before. He left the place that had trapped him for the first half of his life and headed towards a more distant place.
When Yin Xiu slowly opened his eyes, his legs and shoulders felt a little numb.
He looked down and saw Ya Ya lying on his lap, Li Mo leaning on his shoulder, and a rough flower wreath on his head.
The woods were quiet and peaceful, with sunlight filtering through the leaves and casting dappled shadows on them.
As soon as Yin Xiu woke up, Li Mo opened his eyes and looked at him.
She doesn't need to sleep; she's just sleeping with her boyfriend.
Yin Xiu reached out and touched Ya Ya, who was lying on his knees, then turned to look at Li Mo.
Finally, upon waking up, he was not in a dark or silent room, but nestled with the person he depended on. This was a rare warmth for Yin Xiu.
He once heard someone tell him that whatever one lacked as a child, one would try desperately to make up for it as an adult, subconsciously seeking it out.
He felt that he was missing a lot and was incomplete. But as he wandered around the dungeon, it seemed that the void in him had been filled without him even realizing it.
"Awake?" Li Mo asked softly.
"She's awake." Yin Xiu also lowered his voice, afraid of waking Ya Ya, and answered softly.
"Did your boyfriend sleep well? Did he feel more relaxed?"
"Um."
"Ya Ya has finished making the flower wreath and put it on your head. I also helped pick the flowers."
Yin Xiu lowered his eyes and chuckled softly, "I know."
Their soft, murmured conversation sounded especially hazy and gentle in the quiet woods, as if they were isolated from the world, showing no trace of the strife and danger outside.
Yin Xiu felt at ease, thinking that when he could finally let go of all his troubles, he would definitely find a place like this to live, not as a so-called god of war or a player, but as Yin Xiu himself to retire.
He will have more then than he has now.
When Ya Ya woke up, she was already asleep in her own little room.
She sleepily made her way downstairs, stared blankly at the living room where only her mother was, and asked, "Where's my brother?"
It seems she had a dream where her brother came to visit her. The first time she woke up, her brother was there; the second time she woke up, her brother was gone.
"Meow...meow meow meow…" the mother cat explained.
Ya Ya pouted, "I haven't said goodbye to my brother yet, and I don't know when he'll be back."
"Meow meow meow!"
"Does my brother like my flower wreath? That's wonderful!" Ya Ya immediately became happy again.
"Meow meow meow meow".
"Okay! I'll go eat the pancakes now! I'll wait here for my brother to come back!" Ya Ya quickly put her worries aside and happily ran to the table.
No one knows how long this trip will take or what they will see in another unfamiliar time. Before leaving, Yin Xiu decided to see all the strange creatures he knew who he didn't have a very strained relationship with.
If you asked him to count them himself, it seems there are hardly any.
He pulled Li Mo along, through the darkness, and they arrived at a familiar place.
Since the last time he caused such a devastating upheaval here, leaving behind many unpleasant memories, Yin Xiu has not liked this school very much.
The Deep Sea Academy should have been a place he looked forward to, but now that he's here, he only has two sets of memories in his mind.
When I first arrived here, I was isolated by the other students because of the Deep Sea Academy's mechanics. When I got stuck in the dungeon, I just drew my sword and killed all the students.
On my second visit here, due to the game mechanics, I was tempted and influenced by the students, and because I was stuck in the dungeon, I killed the dungeon boss.
I cleared the Deep Sea Academy dungeon twice, and each time I only kept two familiar faces: the cafeteria lady and the teacher.
When I returned, the school had been restored to its original state, but the instance had not yet reopened, so there were no students on campus.
The only sound in the quiet campus was the crashing of the waves, which remained shrouded in darkness as always.
Yin Xiu looked up and saw a faint light shining from the staff dormitory in the darkness of the night, the only light in this pitch-black school.
It was very late, and the cafeteria lights were off. Yin Xiu didn't know where his aunt had gone, so he went to check on her in the staff dormitory first.
"I don't like it here." Li Mo still had some bad memories of this place and disliked it.
"It's alright," Yin Xiu said calmly, "I don't like it either."
They just came to see their aunt, and left immediately afterward, not staying a second longer.