Wu Zhen woke up in her ancestral home.
The passive shutdown state wouldn't be lifted until her Fatigue level dropped to a safe threshold. The recovery time fluctuated around eight hours, and if she was injured, she would sleep even longer.
Just as she tried to sit up, she felt her body firmly pressed down by some invisible energy, rendering her unable to move.
Wu Zhen: "…?"
She glanced toward the side of the bed.
A black-haired young man was resting his head on one hand, his long hair cascading down. With his head slightly bowed and eyes closed, he seemed to be in a light sleep. It was hard to tell how long he had been keeping watch here. The bed wasn't very wide; his long hair trailed onto the mattress, even mingling with her own until they were difficult to tell apart.
He was right where she could see him just by turning her head. She could even clearly count his distinct eyelashes. Her attention was fiercely snatched away for a second by such breathtaking beauty.
But Wu Zhen quickly realized what had happened.
She didn't even need to check the Event log to know that after falling unconscious, she must have launched a merciless, lethal attack on Jiang Zhenxue.
However, as a player, she was indeed somewhat curious about that scene, so she opened the replay.
It was indeed Jiang Zhenxue who had caught her in his arms, preventing her from hitting the ground. One hand supported her shoulders while the other held the back of her knees, gathering her entirely into his embrace. He hadn't forgotten to put away her weapons either.
Deng Caiying said something, looking at her with a somewhat anxious expression. The black-haired young man glanced over, curled his lips into a smile, and said:
"No need to worry."
He tilted his head and lowered his gaze to look at her carefully, his smile seeming to widen imperceptibly.
"…A-Zhen has just fallen asleep."
Subsequently, the scene flashed forward. Jiang Zhenxue returned to her room and was about to bend down to lay her on the bed—
She swept a leg at him, which Jiang Zhenxue caught and pinned down without changing his expression.
But would a soundly sleeping player be someone who gives up easily? No.
Her leg was pinned, but didn't she still have hands? She immediately clenched her fist and smashed it toward Jiang Zhenxue's face. The fierce punch even produced a sharp whistling sound through the air. Jiang Zhenxue, with quick eyes and deft hands, grabbed her wrist. Then, as if just to be safe, he simply brought both of her hands together and pinned them above her head.
"…"
After doing all of this.
The black-haired young man seemed to fall into an eerie silence for two seconds.
For some reason, he remained completely motionless, maintaining this posture for a while, until Wu Zhen tried to bite him. Only then did he seem to jolt awake, straightening up and taking several steps back. His pitch-black long hair slipped off his shoulders. He loosely covered the lower half of his face with his right hand and lowered his eyes, lost in thought.
This behavior made the player watching from a god's-eye view want to scratch her head.
…Oh my, could he be angry?
She actually quite liked this NPC, but teasing an NPC into getting angry seemed like it could be pretty fun too…?
The young man stared at her for a moment. Perhaps because there was no light in the room, the faint misty hue in his eyes wasn't very obvious, and his pupils appeared as a deep, heavy black.
Then, just as Wu Zhen tried to get closer to attack again, he raised his hand and pressed it down.
Several streaks of white spiritual light vanished into her body, and she finally lay down quietly.
Jiang Zhenxue, however, didn't move. His unblinking gaze rested on her, staring so intently that it gave the player the creeps. Just as Wu Zhen was about to impatiently press the fast-forward button, he finally moved. He walked slowly back to the bed and draped a thin quilt over her.
Then, he lowered his head and sat by her bed, closing his eyes to rest.
The scene replay ended there.
Wu Zhen fell silent.
…So she had to just wait like this until Jiang Zhenxue woke up?
Damn it, you're a cultivator, how can you even sleep!
Fortunately, she didn't have to wait too long. After just a few breaths, the young man opened his eyes.
His eyes were clear, without the slightest trace of sleepiness.
Wu Zhen suddenly felt a bit suspicious—had he really been asleep just now, or was he just pretending to sleep to strike a pose.
…But an NPC probably wouldn't do something like that, right?
The player was a bit hesitant.
Before she had a chance to speak, she felt her body lighten as the invisible force restricting her dissipated.
She looked up at Jiang Zhenxue. He curved his eyes into a smile and took the initiative to explain, "You fell unconscious from extreme exhaustion at the Flying Star Villa, so I brought you home first."
At this point, he paused for a moment. Seeing that Wu Zhen didn't object, he curled his lips and continued, "Deng Caiying had to stay there to recover from his injuries and investigate the massacre of the Deng family. Once everything is settled, he will personally come to express his gratitude."
When Jiang Zhenxue brought this up, Wu Zhen finally remembered that there were still a few stragglers left at the Flying Star Villa that hadn't been dealt with.
Sigh, what a pity. It was all the fault of this Fatigue system. Although it wasn't as strict as a certain game where you had to go to sleep exactly at 2 AM no matter where you were, it still occasionally caused some trouble at critical moments.
If she had known, she would have killed them faster.
Wu Zhen mentally reviewed the battle and the plot at the villa. When she snapped back to reality, she met Jiang Zhenxue's quiet gaze again.
She locked eyes with him for a moment. Jiang Zhenxue seemed completely unaware that there was anything wrong with staring at her continuously. He tilted his head slightly and blinked.
…She couldn't help but feel that he hadn't just become much more clingy.
Even his skin had grown thicker.
Wu Zhen asked, "What did you go do?"
Her topic jumped quite abruptly, but Jiang Zhenxue understood her meaning perfectly naturally. He lowered his eyes, then raised them again, revealing a smile as he said, "I went to look for some herbs."
Herbs?
Ordinary herbs shouldn't be of any use to a cultivator... Did he make a trip back to the cultivation realm?
Seeing that she didn't say anything, Jiang Zhenxue continued, "Miss Wu, rest for a little while longer. I'll go make some porridge."
Hearing his words, Wu Zhen cast him a confused glance.
He asked gently, "What is it?"
Wu Zhen: "You…"
She tilted her head, recalling the scene from when she was unconscious. "Weren't you already calling me A-Zhen?"
Why was the form of address changing back and forth? Was it a game bug?
After pondering this, Wu Zhen noticed that the person opposite her had remained silent. She looked over in puzzlement.
"…"
…
The black-haired young man looked at her without saying a word.
After a moment, he suddenly lowered his eyes. Resting his long, pale fingers against the corner of his lips, he let out a soft "hmm" as if thinking about something. His thick, raven-feather-like eyelashes cast a small shadow over his already pitch-black eyes.
"So you know."
After saying this, he raised his eyes to look at her, and that small, blurry shadow seemed to project down along with his gaze.
"…Then, will A-Zhen blame me?"
Wu Zhen felt baffled. "Why would I?"
Jiang Zhenxue looked at her intently for a moment. Before she could feel confused again, he suddenly began to smile, his eyes curving into a warm, gentle arc.
The surrounding air seemed to lighten along with it.
From the corner of her eye, Wu Zhen noticed a faint blush on the tips of his ears. It seemed like an illusion, as it was quickly covered by his falling hair. When she looked again, she only saw the young man's cheerful, smiling face.
Wu Zhen had originally wanted to say that it really didn't matter how he addressed her as a player, but Jiang Zhenxue briskly told her to rest well before getting up and heading to the kitchen.
"…"
Forget it.
Wu Zhen lay down peacefully.
Wait, no.
She had just lain down when she sat right back up. Thanks to the player's absolute control over their ancestral home, she knew that someone had snuck into the estate shortly after she left. Although nothing was lost, she still needed to see it with her own eyes to feel at ease.
She hopped out of bed and walked out the door.
First, she went under the pear blossom tree to properly rebury the bones, and then she visited the herb garden to tend to her medicinal plants.
Wu Zhen's planting skill was maxed out, so these herbs wouldn't die easily. Otherwise, she would have made Jiang Zhenxue stay behind to watch the house no matter what.
After taking a lap around the inside and outside of the estate and erasing all traces of the intruders, she finally stopped, satisfied. She checked Jiang Zhenxue's location on the minimap and headed toward the kitchen.
The side quest to forge her exclusive weapon was already complete, but the weapon itself was still with Jiang Zhenxue.
Along the way, Wu Zhen pondered deeply over what to name her exclusive weapon. By the time she reached the kitchen, Jiang Zhenxue had already finished cooking the congee, so Wu Zhen continued to think while she ate.
She had always been a fast eater. In just a few mouthfuls, she polished off the congee, and her hunger meter dropped back to a safe level.
Seeing that she had finished her meal, Jiang Zhenxue opened his palm, preparing to take out her weapon.
"Hold on."
Wu Zhen said suddenly.
Holding the scythe horizontally, Jiang Zhenxue paused his movements and tilted his head to look at her.
Wu Zhen's eyes sparkled. "I mean the name of this weapon—"
"Let's call it [Hold On]!"
[Exclusive Weapon Naming Complete]
[Currently Equipped Weapon: Hold On]
She looked at Jiang Zhenxue with a face full of anticipation.
Jiang Zhenxue: "..."
He seemed dazed for a couple of seconds before suddenly breaking into a smile. His eyes curved into crescents as he looked at her with a beaming expression.
Wu Zhen's mind went blank for a second.
When she came back to her senses and realized what had just happened, she felt a bit embarrassed for the first time.
She scratched her cheek and averted her gaze, inwardly blaming the game developers for making the NPC models so perfect that it completely shattered a player's composure.
To distract herself, Wu Zhen let her thoughts drift back to the red-named enemy at the Flying Star Villa, which reminded her that she still hadn't checked her loot.
As the master of the Flying Star Villa, that major red-named boss had dropped almost his entire fortune into her inventory—save for the villa itself, which couldn't be dropped. The player had once again become rich overnight.
At the same time, the player wasn't surprised that he was connected to the Deng family massacre. She had played too many games; she could guess how certain storylines would unfold with her eyes closed. Deng Caiying would likely be delayed there for some time.
"What are you thinking about?"
As she was thinking this, the young man's gentle voice suddenly came from across the table.
Wu Zhen looked up, but before she could answer, she heard his next sentence, which seemed to carry a hint of a smile.
"Are you thinking about... matters regarding Deng Caiying?"
She didn't catch anything amiss at all and nodded, saying, "After all, I was considering whether or not to get marr—"
Before she could finish her sentence.
A very faint cracking sound seemed to echo.
Puzzled, Wu Zhen looked toward the source of the sound: Jiang Zhenxue, who was still maintaining his smile.
And the wall of the teacup in his hand, which now seemed to be covered in cracks.
Wu Zhen: "..."
...Are you just going to ignore that? Your pretty teacup looks like it's about to break.
Jiang Zhenxue lowered his eyelashes, his thumb slowly rubbing over the cracks on the cup. After Wu Zhen shot the cup a look of deep, mournful condolence, he withdrew his slightly cold gaze and revealed a hint of distress on his face.
"I am truly sorry. Perhaps my injuries haven't fully healed yet, and I failed to control my strength for a moment. I have lost my composure."
After saying that, he paused and then brought up in a slow, deliberate tone, "Speaking of Young Hero Deng, that old matter from years ago is very important to him. He might end up investigating it for half a year or more..."
Half a year or more?
Wu Zhen was a little surprised.
The young man's gaze closely followed her expression.
As if thinking of something, his eyelashes, dark as raven feathers, lowered slightly, then lifted again. A moment later, he smiled and said:
"But I won't... be away for that long."
"Because A-Zhen is very important to me."
