Volume 5
301 What’s the Goal?
Instead of long, pink hair on her head, she had shiny, black hair. Those tiny pink horns on her head were gone too. She was dressed simply in t-shirt and shorts, but I would recognize that face anywhere. Her voice was exactly the same. She was definitely Mi Fu.
Is she Mi Fu who had returned to the real world?
This felt like too much of a coincidence. Could Mi Fu really be living in the exact same city as I did? And I could even look at her like this after landing in the crack in space?
An occurrence like this seemed very rare. What other secrets have yet to be uncovered?
I stared at Mi Fu as tons of questions ran through my head, forgetting that the reason I arrived here was actually because of that male who had this unique and overwhelming aura about him.
Mi Fu smiled at him. She looked more mature and less childish compared to when I last saw her. She said, “You’re here again, Huan Qing gege? Why didn’t you come with Xiao Mi jiejie today?”
My eyes widened at those words and I turned to look at the male in my confusion.
This individual did not look like Huan Qing at all. His gaze did not look like it belonged to Huan Qing either, but that aura about him was extremely similar to that exuded by the handsome Huan Qing who loved to dress in white suits.
That was it. I was attracted by that very aura.
I recalled it now.
I couldn’t place that aura as I watched his figure from the back earlier, but on hindsight, the feeling he gave me was that same feeling of meeting Huan Qing, an ‘old acquaintance’.
If that was the case, I was disinclined to think that this was all a coincidence.
Arriving in this crack in space was already something I found unbelievable. Apart from Huan Qing and Mi Fu, I’ve also met that stocking lady and that boy. How could all of this be mere coincidence?
Something felt amiss here.
Li Qing rushed over just to save me, and her method was to get me to continue walking on a single path where I could not turn around, or else I’d end up in the crack in space and live here in eternal solitude.
The whole situation did not make sense at all.
I knew something was wrong, and there were probably some secrets unbeknownst to me still, but what made me upset was how I couldn’t comprehend the entire situation completely.
Things that felt like they did not make any sense have been happening ever since the very first incident where Laurel’s death was faked.
I ended up in a place where I didn’t actually exist, but in this place, I was actually able to meet those who had died in the Split Zone and those who had left and returned to the real world.
What did all of this mean? I wanted to know the truth, but I couldn’t wrap my head around the situation at all.
What I found weird was that the exact same incident had actually happened between that stocking lady and the boy, but the eventual outcome was totally different from what happened in the Split Zone.
Why did Mi Fu look different from the Mi Fu in the Split Zone? Why did Huan Qing have a different face?
“Haven’t I told you this before? Don’t call me Huan Qing gege in this world. We’re back now, Mi Fu. Be good, forget this name.” Though Huan Qing was correcting her, he did not sound the least bit upset. He patted Mi Fu on the head gently.
Mi Fu was still smiling. Her temper did not flare up all of a sudden nor did she stamp her feet like a stubborn child. She was completely different. Even so, I did not find her friendly for some reason.
Smiling and nodding, she said, “Okay.”
Huan Qing handed her a lunch box and led her gently to a chair beside the window. It was only at this point did I realize Huan Qing carried a lunch box with him.
“Xiao Mi jiejie made this for you. She asked me to bring it over.” Huan Qing opened the lunch box and put all the dishes on the tiny table.
There was an unmistakable glint that flashed past Mi Fu’s eyes when she looked at all the food, but I couldn’t comprehend it.
“Go ahead and eat.” Huan Qing patted Mi Fu’s head gently once again as he watched her, waiting for her to start eating.
They looked at each other for a few seconds before Mi Fu started on her meal.
She ate very slowly.
I wanted to rub my eyes at this scene. I used to know these individuals, and they were people I went through some things with.
The both of them seemed to have turned into ‘humans’ who adhered strictly to the rules in this world, and both of them seemed to have changed so drastically. Huan Qing’s noble air seemed to be gone, and that stubborn streak in Mi Fu was nowhere to be found either.
I suddenly missed their old selves. Mi Fu was annoying, but I still missed that about her.
I didn’t know why I felt that way.
As Mi Fu ate, she asked Huan Qing casually, “Xiao Mi jiejie has great skills. Aren’t you going to try some, gege?” Instead of using the name Huan Qing, she simply shortened it to gege.
Huan Qing smiled. “I can’t eat what has been specially prepared for you. Wouldn’t that be letting Xiao Mi jiejie down? All her effort to make this would go down the drain, wouldn’t it?”
Mi Fu looked down at the food as she continued eating. I couldn’t see her eyes, but it felt like she was just listening quietly.
Mi Fu did not answer Huan Qing, but after a moment of silence, she asked, “Gege, you love Xiao Mi jiejie very much, don’t you?”
Huan Qing seemed stunned at the question, but a smile appeared on his face shortly after. “Yes, I love her very much. There’s no need for me to keep this from you now that we’re back anyway. Mi Fu, I should’ve left the Split Zone much earlier. I knew that she’d definitely be looking for me if I went missing. If she can’t find me, she’d just be waiting for me, and I can’t let her down. I don’t have time to let her down.
“But I’m sure you know that I’ve still let her down. I’ve stayed in the Split Zone for way too long.”
Mi Fu looked up after swallowing a mouthful of food. “It’s not your fault. Aren’t you back now? You’re back by her side now. Time here is different from that in the Split Zone. To Xiao Mi jiejie, you might’ve just been missing for a short period of time. Even if you had been missing for quite a while, to her, it’s probably not that long. You’ve treated her well before, and now that you’re treating her even better, what would she be discontent with?”
Huan Qing smiled faintly. “She isn’t discontented. I just feel that I owe her too much, Mi Fu. Even if all you’ve just said is true, even if I haven’t been missing for an extended period of time in this world, to me, I’ve definitely spent a great number of years in the Split Zone. Day after day, 60 hours per day, I’ve been there. I’ve changed when I was in the Split Zone, and now that I’m back, it’s not possible for me to feel as if I don’t owe her anything.”
Mi Fu chewed on another mouthful of food as she mumbled an agreement. “Yes, I know. It was all because of me. If I weren’t there, you wouldn’t have had to force yourself to stay in the Split Zone for such a long time. You wouldn’t have to feel guilty about it, and Xiao Mi jiejie wouldn’t have had to wait for you for such a long time. I’m the one who dragged you down.”
She sounded extremely calm as she said this.
Huan Qing looked slightly surprised, as if he did not expect Mi Fu to say something like this in such a calm and composed manner.
He looked like he was in a flurry, and he obviously cared about Mi Fu’s feelings as he tried to explain himself. “That’s not what I meant, Mi Fu. Don’t think about it that way. Everything I do, I do willingly. Those were just my honest thoughts, and I don’t mean anything else by it. I hope you don’t misunderstand gege…”
Mi Fu looked up as a bright smile appeared on her face. She looked like a beautiful flower in bloom. “Nope, I’m not thinking too much about it. Don’t worry too much about it, gege. I shouldn’t have said something like that. Don’t misunderstand too, gege. You should treat Xiao Mi jiejie well. I like Xiao Mi jiejie. Xiao Mi jiejie treats you really well too. You have to be happy, gege.”
She sounded so sincere. Anyone who heard this would probably feel the warmth, but I actually found myself frowning at it.
I stared at her eyes, trying to look into her heart.
Huan Qing did not look relieved at Mi Fu’s words. That guilty look he had betrayed the uneasiness that he felt.
Though I wasn’t extremely close to Huan Qing, I saw him as a friend after we had that conversation on the roof.
I couldn’t be of any help to him in the Split Zone and I didn’t do anything that was of value for him. I didn’t even send him off properly. He came and left so quickly.
Looking at him like this, I felt like I could understand him a little better.
He might have felt a little better if Xiao Mi or Mi Fu had blamed him for anything or if they had just bawled in front of him. But for Mi Fu to say something like this, the kind-hearted Huan Qing would feel a greater sense of guilt.
The truth was that he didn’t let anyone down at all.
I kept my eyes on Mi Fu, wishing so badly that she could actually feel my gaze right at that moment.
Having spent so much time with Huan Qing, I found it impossible that she didn’t understand him at all even if she was just a young child.
I wondered if she said all that because she had really matured and it was something out of sincerity, or if she said it because she knew Huan Qing well.