Cen Yao clicked confirm without any hesitation.
【100 points deducted.】
【Real world passage opening.】
A door glowing with white light emerged on the panel.
Seeing that door, Zhu Lingxi also opened her teleportation panel.
【Do you wish to pay 100 points to return to the real world?】
“Yes.”
The same white light fell upon her.
Pei Tinglan sat in his wheelchair, staring at the deduction prompt for a moment, his expression rather sour.
“The System's fees are truly ruthless.”
Cen Yao, already standing by the portal, turned to look back at him.
“Don't you have plenty of points?”
“Having points doesn't mean I'm willing to be scammed by it.”
Pei Tinglan clicked confirm with a cold face.
In the next instant, a deduction notification popped up on his panel as well.
【100 points deducted.】
“Let's go.”
Cen Yao waved to the two of them.
“The sweet and sour pork is waiting for us.”
Zhu Lingxi's eyes lit up immediately.
Pei Tinglan originally wanted to say that he was just coming along because it was on the way, but Cen Yao had already stepped into the white light first.
The familiar weightlessness hit her.
The space felt as if it were gently folded, only to be unfolded again in the next instant.
When Cen Yao's feet touched the familiar floorboards, the floating, unsettled feeling in her heart finally grounded completely.
She was back.
The room was exactly as she had left it.
The light gray curtains were half-drawn, and the afternoon sunlight leaked through the gap, casting a bright patch of light on the floor.
A few half-read books were piled on the desk, a chubby white plush toy sat at the head of the bed, and the shelf by the window still held the magic storybooks she had collected as a child.
The air carried a faint scent of laundry detergent.
It was the smell of home.
Standing in place, Cen Yao couldn't help but take a deep breath.
“It really is best at home,” she murmured softly.
In the next second, two more white lights lit up in succession behind her.
Zhu Lingxi and Pei Tinglan had also completed their teleportation.
Zhu Lingxi wasn't quite adjusted to the landing yet and stumbled slightly.
Cen Yao was quick to catch her arm. Once Zhu Lingxi steadied herself, she first looked down at the clean, soft carpet beneath her feet, then looked around the room.
Her gaze was full of curiosity.
The room wasn't particularly large, but it was decorated very warmly.
The light gray curtains were half-drawn, and the light fell diagonally from the window, slicing a bright spot onto the edge of the desk.
On the desk stood a pen holder, a small desk lamp, and a few haphazardly stacked textbooks and novels. Along the wall was a full row of bookshelves, with several oddly shaped little trinkets lined up on the very top shelf.
A pair of plush toys was piled on the bed.
One was a cute, fluffy white ball, while the other was a black cat wearing a pointed hat with a slightly fierce expression.
Zhu Lingxi's gaze fell upon the black cat plush toy. After staring for a moment, she couldn't help but curve her eyes into a smile.
“So this is what Xiao Yao's room is like.”
Cen Yao felt a bit embarrassed.
“They're just things I bought randomly in the past.”
“It's very cute,” Zhu Lingxi said earnestly. “It feels like a home.”
Cen Yao was taken aback.
She had never thought there was anything special about her room before.
To her, this was just a place to sleep, do homework, hide under the covers to secretly binge-watch shows, and listen to music.
But hearing Zhu Lingxi say it, she suddenly felt that this small room indeed felt very warm.
Pei Tinglan's wheelchair stopped by the door.
He didn't look around like Zhu Lingxi did. Instead, he simply swept his gaze across the room, letting his eyes drift past the desk, the bookshelf, and the bed, before finally halting on the wall behind Cen Yao.
His movements suddenly froze.
Cen Yao hadn't noticed yet.
She was just about to say she would change her clothes first before taking them downstairs.
But Zhu Lingxi followed Pei Tinglan's gaze and looked over.
Then, she froze as well.
Several posters were pasted on that wall.
There were movie posters, band album posters, and a limited-edition stage poster occupying the absolute center position.
Silver-white specks of light covered the entire image.
The young man on the poster stood in the middle of a massive stage, wearing a black performance outfit with silver trim. His slender fingers held a microphone, and his in-ear monitor gleamed with a very fine light under the stage lamps.
He slightly lowered his head, half of his face hidden in the alternating light and shadow of the stage, looking so beautiful it was almost surreal.
Zhu Lingxi looked at the poster, then turned her head to look at Pei Tinglan in his wheelchair.
She blinked.
“Xiao Yao.”
Cen Yao: “Hmm?”
“Isn't this Master Pei?”
Zhu Lingxi pointed at the poster, her tone filled with the pleasant surprise of recognizing an acquaintance.
“Why is there a photo of Master Pei in your house?”
The room suddenly fell dead silent.
It was so quiet that even the sound of the wind rustling the leaves outside the window became exceptionally clear.
Cen Yao: “...”
Pei Tinglan: “...”
Both Cen Yao and Pei Tinglan plunged into utter social death.
Cen Yao's mind went completely blank.
She stood frozen on the spot, her eyes gradually stiffening, not even daring to turn her neck.
Without even looking back, she knew exactly which poster Zhu Lingxi was referring to.
It was the limited-edition tour poster from the third year of Pei Tinglan's debut.
That year, she had camped out on the official store and spent three whole hours trying to grab it, nearly poking a hole through her phone screen before finally snatching the very last one from countless other fans.
She had been ecstatic for days back then.
Once the poster arrived, she specifically bought a picture frame and hung it neatly on the most prominent wall in her room.
Later, when the Horror Game arrived, she had poured all her energy into improving herself, leaving her with no time to care about anything else.
Yet she had never expected that one day, she would actually bring the person from the poster into her own home.
Even less did she expect that he would be sitting in a wheelchair, looking at his own poster with his very own eyes.
Cen Yao desperately wanted to travel back in time to a few minutes ago.
She wanted to slap her past self, who had excitedly boasted, “My house has lots of fun things. I guarantee you've never seen them before.”
Did she really have to invite people to her house so badly?
That's what she got for having a big mouth and offering to treat them.
That's what she got for insisting on bringing people home for sweet and sour pork.
The key was, it was one thing for them to come, but she actually let the person in question see his own poster in her room!
This made her look like a total creep!
Sure, given his career, having a poster was perfectly normal, but the crucial point was that the person himself wasn't supposed to see it!!!!
Ahhhhhhh!!!!
She was never stanning a celebrity again!!!!!
Zhu Lingxi still hadn't realized where the problem lay.
She looked at Cen Yao's stiff back, then at Pei Tinglan, whose expression was also slightly off, and carefully added, “It's what Master Pei looked like when he used to sing. It's a bit different from how he is now.”
Cen Yao wanted to die even more.
Yet Pei Tinglan wasn't doing any better than her.
He stared at the poster, his ears gradually turning red. The flush spread upward, slowly creeping onto his cheeks.
That was his tour during the third year of his debut.
Back then, he had just finished a highly successful album and held over a dozen concerts, almost every single one sold out.
During that time, he was surrounded by countless lights, cheers, and flowers, believing he would stand on that stage forever.
But looking at that photo now, it felt like looking at a completely different person.
A person whose legs were perfectly fine, who smiled warmly, and who still harbored many unrealistic expectations for the future.
Pei Tinglan should have found it ironic.
But as it turned out, the poster was preserved incredibly well.
The frame was wiped clean, without a speck of dust on the edges, looking as good as new.
Suddenly, he found himself a bit speechless.
In the dungeons, Cen Yao had never shown any of the excitement a fan would have upon meeting their idol.
She bickered when she wanted to, and she scolded when she wanted to.
She hadn't even asked him for an autograph.
Pei Tinglan had always assumed she had just listened to his songs before or watched some of his stage performances.
He never expected that she was actually his fan.
And a fan dedicated enough to grab that limited-edition poster, at that.
It turned out Cen Yao hadn't just casually said she “used to like him.”
Rate on N.U.
