Liu Xiazhi was feeling hurt.

Learning dance during winter break was already exhausting, and now on her only day off, she was getting scolded by her father just for watching some TV.

So unfair.

Because An Mama was pregnant, Liu Xiazhi didn’t dare go to her, afraid of startling her. That left only one person at home she could turn to—her older brother.

She stormed into his room yelling.

She saw her brother sitting at his desk, fingers flying across the keyboard, and ran up behind him. Just as she was about to start venting about how unreasonable their dad was—

Suddenly.

Her eyes locked onto the computer screen.

This wasn’t like the handheld console she’d played with.

Compared to that tiny little screen, the vibrant, colorful graphics on the computer were way more eye-catching.

She watched her brother control a character wielding a giant sword—

slicing and slashing non-stop—

and those monsters didn’t even have a chance to fight back.

What… what is this?!

It looks so fun!

That thought popped into her head, and she completely forgot her plan to complain about Dad.

She stood silently behind her brother, completely absorbed by the game on screen, big eyes locked on the action.

Right now, Liu Zhiyue’s full attention was on the [Mecha Bull] dungeon.

No wonder it was one of the hardest dungeons at the moment—the complex mechanics were giving him a bit of trouble.

But as time went on, he was getting more and more used to his [Berserker] character, and before long, he was clearing the map without taking any damage.

After nearly ten minutes, he finally finished the dungeon.

He opened up the character panel and looked at the blue-quality gear equipped…

No wonder the damage was so low—what is this junk?

“Brother…”

“When did you get in here?!”

A voice shouted from behind him, coming through his headphones and startling him.

When he turned and saw it was his sister, he let out a sigh of relief.

But Liu Xiazhi wasn’t paying attention to that at all—her eyes were still glued to the game on the screen.

She pointed at it and turned her gaze to Liu Zhiyue.

“Can I play?”

“……”

Liu Zhiyue froze for a second.

He looked at the screen, then at the hopeful sparkle in his sister’s eyes.

After thinking it over for a moment—

“You can play for ten minutes. Not too long, got it?”

“Okay!”

She replied excitedly and started smacking the back of his chair to get him to move.

As soon as he got up, she eagerly plopped down.

Her little hands gripped the mouse, cluelessly clicking around.

Standing beside her, Liu Zhiyue watched her craning her neck at the screen, then decided to help her create a new character from scratch.

“Dad’s character is a high level—you probably won’t know how to play it. I’ll make you a new one.”

“Mm-hmm! I want a cute one!”

“Cute, huh…”

Taking the mouse and keyboard from her, Liu Zhiyue navigated back to the [Character Select Screen], browsed for a moment, and picked [Female Mage].

After hitting ‘Create,’ he put his hands on the keyboard and asked:

“What do you want to name her?”

“A name? I’m really good at naming!”

She immediately perked up.

Frowning in concentration, she thought for a bit and then said:

“Super Cute Xiazhi! Let’s go with that!”

“……”

He was speechless, but still typed in 【Super Cute Xiazhi】 for her.

Once the character was created, Liu Zhiyue said,

“There are beginner quests. Just follow the instructions on screen. Oh, and… you know all the letters on the keyboard, right?”

Liu Xiazhi, who was staring down at the keyboard, immediately pouted when she heard that.

“Are you underestimating me, Brother? I totally remember the English alphabet!”

“Twenty-seven letters?”

“No—wait, no, it’s twenty-five!”

“……”

Liu Zhiyue stared at his sister who quickly tried to correct herself, then turned and flopped back onto his bed.

Grabbing a book from the nightstand, he said,

“Knock yourself out, just keep it quiet.”

“No problem!”

She agreed without hesitation.

Liu Xiazhi turned her attention back to the screen, heart racing with excitement at finally getting a chance to play.

Following the in-game tutorial—

She kept glancing down at the keyboard, and it often took her a while to find the right key.

Then she’d jab at it with one finger, hard.

Watching his sister so focused, Liu Zhiyue finally got some peace and quiet.

Compared to Dad’s loud and frantic key mashing, his sister’s slow, deliberate taps every few seconds were much more bearable.

Lately… Liu Zhiyue had developed an interest in biology.

The book in his hands now was On the Origin of Species by someone from abroad named [Darwin].

He’d been trying to read this earlier too, even while their dad was around, but the noise from the keyboard made it hard to concentrate.

Now though, he could finally read in peace.

Meanwhile—

Liu Changqing stepped out of a fruit shop with a grim expression.

Back in his car, he slammed the door shut and grumbled,

“A big fruit shop like that doesn’t even have strawberries! And they had the nerve to recommend durian? Who the h*ll can stand that smell?!”

Cursing under his breath, Liu Changqing had already been to several stores.

The supermarket had them before, but today—of all days—they were out of stock.

So he had no choice but to drive around looking for some.

Yet everywhere he went, it was the same story—

It was like they’d all agreed in advance: no strawberries.

This was driving him nuts.

An Yuanyao clearly wanted strawberries. That was the only thing she had an appetite for!

What was he supposed to do now…

Just as he was fretting, his phone buzzed in his pocket.

Bzz~ Bzz~ Bzz~

He quickly pulled it out and looked at the caller ID—no contact name.

After a moment’s hesitation, he decided to answer it.

Holding the phone to his ear, he grumpily said,

“Yeah? Who is this?”

【It’s me.】

The voice on the other end responded.

As soon as he heard it, Liu Changqing froze.

He recognized that voice.

It was her—the one who’d disappeared for days…

Chu Fang.