"You're always taking his side."
Meng Luobai returned home, washed her hands, and prepared for dinner. She had just come out of the bathroom when she saw two off-road vehicles driving past outside the window. They seemed to be the ones from outside Ling Sui's place earlier.
Had Ling Sui gone out to hang out with friends?
Then maybe her earlier trip to deliver the food box had been a bit unnecessary.
Well, the food had already been delivered—how he dealt with it was his own business.
After dinner, she was dragged by Meng Luoyu to team up for gaming. The two of them lost three matches in a row.
They'd run into some skilled players in those rounds, and Meng Luoyu was getting killed so badly that she stood up expressionlessly and went to the room across the way to find Sangsang. Sangsang had been admitted to Longcheng University's graduate program, starting her master's this semester, majoring in materials science. She'd finally gotten in touch with a suitable advisor, who had sent her a reading list. She'd been spending her recent days reading books and papers.
Sangsang was quickly dragged over by Meng Luoyu. "My sister and I have been losing all night—how the hell are you able to study?!"
Sangsang asked with a smile, "You two are having bad luck tonight?"
Meng Luoyu: "It's terrible, and our teammates keep holding us back." Actually, Meng Luoyu was decent at gaming, while Meng Luobai was average. But Sangsang was a gaming god.
Sangsang logged into her gaming account and immediately led them to a satisfying win. They didn't get the chicken dinner, but at least they had some results.
Meng Luoyu finally got some confidence back. "Yes!!"
Meng Luobai stretched—she was getting annoyed from all the dying.
After a few more rounds, Meng Luobai checked the time—it was already 9:30. The game ended, and Meng Luobai said to her two younger sisters, "It's getting late. We should go to sleep."
Meng Luoyu wasn't done having fun. "It's still early—it's not even ten yet."
"That's still late," Meng Luobai said. "Come on, let's go to sleep."
Meng Luoyu flopped onto Meng Luobai's bed and whined, "One more round, or I'm not leaving."
Meng Luobai couldn't talk her out of it, so she asked Sangsang, "Sangsang, are you sleepy?"
Sangsang said with a smile, "I can do one more round."
Meng Luoyu immediately sat up. "Awesome!"
Just as they were about to enter the game again, Sangsang said, "I see Ling Sui's online. Should I invite him to team up with us?"
Meng Luoyu frowned and looked up. "Huh? You have his gaming account too?"
Sangsang said, "He's in the freshman group. As soon as he joined, tons of people added him, and I added him as a friend too. His gaming account just came up automatically."
Meng Luoyu: "He's in your freshman group? Aren't you in materials science at Longcheng University?"
Sangsang: "It's the grad school freshman group. He seems to be in archaeology."
"Archaeology?" Meng Luoyu's delicate brow arched slightly. "Is archaeology at your school easy to get into?"
Sangsang said, "Our school's archaeology program is ranked top three in the country."
"What's that fake foreigner doing studying archaeology?" Meng Luoyu suddenly put her phone down and said seriously, "He's not planning to come steal our cultural relics, is he?"
Meng Luobai: "…"
She reached out and tapped Meng Luoyu on the head. "Archaeology isn't tomb raiding. Are cultural relics that easy to steal?"
Meng Luoyu: "Hard to say. Isn't Empirl a French brand? The imperialists never give up their designs on us. Now that they can't steal relics, they're stealing culture."
Although what she said made some sense, Meng Luobai still had to point out, "Empirl is just a French brand in name; in reality, it's already been controlled by domestic capital with an 85% stake."
Meng Luobai had read the news and equity analyses about the Empirl Group. A long time ago, this established overseas brand had begun a series of capital maneuvers. Through offshore mezzanine funds, covert shareholding platforms, and multi-layered agreement controls… the decision-making chain, supply chain, and brand image still had an international flair, but in reality, the ultimate beneficiaries of every layer of shareholding pointed to the same mysterious domestic capital entity.①
This mysterious capital had quietly completed share increases, seized control, and replaced the core decision-making layer. Today's Empirl, though still bearing the same brand name, had long been fully controlled by Chinese capital on the inside.
Just as Meng Luobai finished speaking, she saw her two younger sisters looking at her. Meng Luoyu asked, "Sis, you've been keeping tabs on that guy too?"
Meng Luobai: "…It's all over the news."
Just then, Sangsang glanced at the game screen and said, "Ling Sui is requesting to join our game team. Should I accept?"
Meng Luoyu: "Don't play with him. Reject him!"
Sangsang was never one to turn people down. She looked at Meng Luobai and asked hesitantly, "Sis?"
Meng Luobai: "Let him join."
Soon, Ling Sui's avatar appeared on the team page, and the four of them entered the game together.
Although Meng Luobai would curse while gaming, she was usually very quiet. Meng Luoyu, on the other hand, was quite chatty and immediately said in a sarcastic tone, "Even the great champion Ling has time to personally play games?"
Hearing this, Meng Luobai nudged Meng Luoyu's arm to tell her to cut the extra remarks, then asked, "Where are we dropping?"
Meng Luoyu gave a light snort. "Let's drop at G Port."
Sangsang: "Okay."
With that, Meng Luoyu marked a spot on the map. "Dropping at G Port—don't fall behind."
Meng Luobai glanced at the teammate list. Ling Sui's fourth slot had voice chat enabled, but during this entire time, there wasn't a single sound.
Meng Luobai returned to the game and, following her usual habit, landed on top of a warehouse. She looked around and was about to jump down when something flickered beside her—a figure appeared in front of her. It was Ling Sui.
Being this close, Ling Sui must have chosen to follow her. It seemed he had heard their conversation earlier.
After Meng Luobai jumped down from the warehouse, she went inside to scavenge for supplies.
Meng Luoyu's playstyle could be summed up in one word: reckless. By the time Meng Luobai had finished looting two warehouses, Meng Luoyu had already engaged an enemy. After a round of shouting and yelling, she killed the opponent but was injured herself. "Ahhh, sis, Sangsang, which of you has a med kit? Come save me quick!"
Meng Luobai was about to rush over when she heard a deep, calm voice by her ear: "Don't come out."
Meng Luobai froze for a moment, realizing it was Ling Sui speaking to her. Then she heard two gunshots. She immediately turned and moved behind the door. Just as she was about to check the situation, a burst of fighting sounds came from the room across—Ling Sui had already cleanly taken out a three-man squad.
Meng Luobai walked over and dropped the bandages from her backpack. Her luck at the start of this round was truly terrible—the only thing she had that was usable was bandages. The moment she tossed the bandages down, she heard a man's extremely low chuckle through her headset.
Meng Luobai couldn't help but say, "This is all I've got."
"Oh." As she spoke, Ling Sui had already finished healing herself. "There's some loot over there. Go pick it up."
Meng Luobai blinked, then ran over. The person who'd been killed had much better luck than she did—she picked up the med kit from the ground. "Thanks."
Meng Luobai knew her own gaming skill level well. Her playstyle was focused on gathering supplies and staying alive. Even if she ran into an enemy on a narrow path, she'd run if she could. A shooting game, and she'd turned it into an apocalyptic survival game.
However, because she'd run into Ling Sui this time, although the two hadn't said it outright, their routes aligned, so they'd effectively teamed up. Meng Luobai had actually managed to take down three enemies.
Meng Luoyu commented from the side, "Sis, you've got a pretty good haul this round."
Meng Luobai smiled. Maybe it was because she had an expert by her side, her nerves were a bit more relaxed, and her aim on targets was more accurate.
Just then, Sangsang reminded them, "Time to move into the zone."
"Damn! I'm still using my meds!" Meng Luoyu said with some agitation. At that moment, a three-wheeled motorcycle drove over, and with a clean drift, Ling Sui said, "Get on."
Seeing Ling Sui's motorcycle, Meng Luoyu complained, "Do you have any sense of teamwork? Twice now—you keep finding motorcycles. Who exactly are you trying to leave behind?"
The moment those words left his mouth, the enemies made the decision for them. Meng Luoyu was taken out by a single shot from an ambusher—there was no chance to even revive him. Sangsang fired back two shots and got injured in the process, and the two of them quickly jumped onto the motorcycle.
Meng Luoyu shouted angrily at his phone, "Ling Sui, do you not know how to drive a truck or what?"
Ling Sui drove the motorcycle with precision and speed, easily escaping the shrinking zone, and said coldly, "No."
Meng Luoyu clenched his fist in frustration, then immediately turned to tattle to Meng Luobai. "Sis, this is all your fault for bringing him along. This bastard has zero team spirit!"
Meng Luobai opened her mouth.
When had she brought him along? Hadn't Ling Sui applied to join himself?
The summer night sky sank into a deep indigo, starlight so faint it was barely visible, with only pale moonlight spilling down.
Ling Sui leaned half-against the windowsill of the balcony, his shoulder and back lines sharp and taut. A simple black T-shirt couldn't hide his solid, well-built frame at all. A cigarette hung casually between his teeth. His fingers, which had been lowered as he tapped the screen with clean precision, paused for a moment before continuing to park the three-wheeled motorcycle under a tree.
After Meng Luoyu finished speaking, another clear, pleasant voice spoke up innocently, "I… trucks aren't easy to come by. Maybe Ling Sui just couldn't find one…"
Hearing the woman's voice, his Adam's apple rolled with barely contained restlessness. A moment later, he raised his eyes, his gaze passing through the balcony toward the next building over, landing on the window glowing with warm light.
His brow arched slightly, and a faint, lazy curve tugged at the corner of his lips. In that cold, roguish expression was a gaze full of possessiveness. He was steeped in the night like a beast poised to strike—wild, yet still. "I found one."
Meng Luoyu immediately grew furious. "Sis, you hear what he's saying? He did it on purpose. You're always taking his side."
"…When have I ever taken his side?" The woman's voice was gentle and soft. This time, she spoke to him. "Next time, drive the truck first."
He lifted the corner of his mouth slightly. "Alright, whatever you say."
The match ended. Their team had successfully won the chicken dinner.
Meng Luoyu and Sangsang were persuaded by Meng Luobai to go to sleep. She lowered her eyes to look at the game screen on her phone and noticed that Ling Sui was still in the game lobby.
She looked at his lonely avatar, paused for a moment, and asked, "Ling Sui. Are you still there?"
There was no sound from the earpiece. She was just about to assume that Ling Sui had already left when she saw his voice indicator flicker lightly in the corner. He didn't speak directly, but as if drowsy, he answered with a single, careless syllable, "Mm."
Meng Luobai: "Go to sleep early."
After she said this, Ling Sui still didn't leave the game lobby for a long time. Meng Luobai rolled her sore shoulders, picked out a new pair of pajamas, grabbed her phone, and headed toward the bathroom. She was about to exit the game when a new message notification popped up.
【L777: Request to add you as a friend】
Meng Luobai paused for a moment, then lightly tapped "Accept."
Immediately, a message jumped out. 【L777: Why didn't you accept my friend request?】
【Cypress: Didn't I just accept it?】
【L777: WeChat.】
Seven years ago, WeChat wasn't yet a mainstream communication tool. The two of them had never added each other on WeChat before.
Meng Luobai returned to her home screen and glanced at WeChat. Sure enough, there was a friend request.
Meng Luobai let out a soft sigh and tapped "Add."
【L: Good night.】
Warm water cascaded down from the showerhead, flowing over Meng Luobai's collarbone and back.
In the haze of steam, her fair, slender fingers—carrying the light floral scent of body wash—pressed the water control switch on the wall. The water stopped, and droplets on her shoulders dripped down along her graceful curves.
As she walked out, Meng Luobai casually raised her arm and swept her wet, long hair back toward the back of her head.
The steam slowly dispersed, and a thin layer of mist coated the mirror. Meng Luobai wrapped a bath towel around herself and used another towel to pat the water off her skin. The soft fabric brushed across her wrist, where a stretch of rugged old scars lay quietly on the skin of her forearm. Though they had healed years ago, the traces of the scars still spread along the texture of her skin.
This scar, along with the ones on her leg, had occurred in the year she graduated from university. She had been caught up in a three-car collision accident—two dead, over a dozen injured. She was one of the luckier ones in the accident. But as a prospective graduate student in clinical medicine specializing in neurosurgery, she could never again hold a neurosurgeon's scalpel.