Lu Yuan became slightly alert. He did not know why, but he always felt uncomfortable being stared at by this woman.
However, he did not let anything show on his face. As mentioned before, Lu Yuan was full of caution toward this world. He was a character who had run out of a game, and no matter how hard that was to believe, in Lu Yuan's mind, that remained a secret that must never be touched.
If this identity were discovered, what kind of fate would he face? Would he be captured for research, locked in a laboratory where the sun never shone, subjected to inhumane and cruel experiments every day, and would he even be sliced up after death, not even leaving a complete corpse behind?
This was not some persecution complex; if things were exposed, Lu Yuan's fate might be even more miserable than those mentioned above. He did not want his life to fall into an abyss just as it had begun.
Therefore, he had to completely integrate into this 'Lu Yuan' identity. Even when facing a sloppy woman whose name he did not even know and with whom he might not have any future interactions, he did not want to leave any traces behind.
"Ahahaha," Lu Yuan laughed awkwardly. "Yeah, how did you know?"
"Isn't it obvious? Under normal circumstances, how could a living person who has been lying in a game pod be hungry to this extent?" The woman returned to her nonchalant attitude.
Lu Yuan nodded. "Yeah, ha, I accidentally forgot the time while playing. It's really embarrassing."
"So, I'm a bit puzzled." The woman suddenly interrupted Lu Yuan. "You're in your 20s, how could you be so obsessed with playing 'Ark' to the point of forgetting to eat and sleep? Logically, you should have been exposed to this game between the ages of 9 and 12. Yet, your behavior is like a child who has just encountered it, so curious that you could even forget the time."
Lu Yuan changed his posture, appearing casual. "I can't help it. I'm just the type of person who loves playing games. Sometimes, for a hidden plot, I can go without logging off for a long time."
"Looking at your state, you've been hungry for at least two days and two nights, right?"
"Haha, yeah, it's really embarrassing to say, but I encountered a very difficult instance." Lu Yuan scratched the back of his head, his smile becoming even more awkward.
"But under normal circumstances, can the difficulty of an instance really make a player take more than two days to conquer it?"
"Of course it can. I was going for an S rating," Lu Yuan replied immediately.
"Alright then." The woman lazily took a gulp of beer. "You're a really interesting person."
"Yeah, there are very few people like me who are addicted to playing games nowadays."
"No." The woman interrupted Lu Yuan again; she seemed to like doing that. "I said you were interesting, not because you're addicted to games and would starve yourself, but because you actually sat here and explained all this to me."
"..." Lu Yuan fell into a sudden silence.
"I'm just someone who runs a bar, and you and I aren't familiar with each other. If it were an average person, encountering a woman like me who asks questions left and right upon first meeting, they would probably have thrown down some money, called me a lunatic, and left. But you, you specifically sat here and explained the questions I raised casually, as if you were worried that I might notice you."
"..." Lu Yuan remained silent, but this time he began to frown, staring back at the other person's hollow gaze.
After a while.
"Ahaha." The woman suddenly laughed. "I'm really sorry, I'm just like this. Whenever I encounter even the slightest unreasonable thing, I like to let my imagination run wild. I can't control it. Because of this habit, I suffer from insomnia every night."
As she spoke, she took another gulp of beer, implying that she couldn't sleep at night without alcohol.
Lu Yuan sized her up. "Uh, alright. Then I won't disturb your rest. Thank you for the snacks." He said, pulling a handful of crumpled money from his pocket, throwing it on the table, and walking straight toward the door.
"Hey." The woman suddenly called out to Lu Yuan. "You're the only customer who has come to my place this month. Why don't I get you a membership card so you can visit more often?"
"No need." Lu Yuan didn't even look back as he pushed the door and left. This hurried behavior was, just as the woman had said, very consistent with the reaction a normal person should have.
The woman watched Lu Yuan's back as he pushed the door and left, shrugging helplessly. It seemed she was long used to others avoiding her. She continued to drink her beer and smoke nonchalantly, while her line of sight fell intentionally or unintentionally on a small monitor to the side. The monitor displayed the scene of the stairs outside the bar.
In the footage, Lu Yuan could be seen walking up the stairs while grumbling, his expression clearly that of someone who had just encountered a very unpleasant stranger.
The woman withdrew her gaze, finished the beer in her hand in one gulp, and then swayed back into the side door.
Outside the bar, Lu Yuan walked up the stairs with an annoyed look on his face, muttering something. However, the moment he left the stairs, his expression changed immediately.
Very cautious and very puzzled, as if he had just experienced some inexplicable danger, he looked back at the stairs in front of him, the inconspicuous main door of the bar at the bottom of the stairs, and then looked up to confirm that he was indeed out of the camera's line of sight. Only then did he let out a long sigh of relief.
"What was that all about?" he couldn't help but complain.
He had only gone out at night to find something to eat; how could he have encountered such a strange woman with such intense curiosity?
But fortunately, Lu Yuan recalled his actions. Although he was a bit nervous at first, it was all within reason. This was unavoidable; after all, this was Lu Yuan's first time interacting with a real, living Human.
It was a bit ridiculous to say, but although Lu Yuan was a Human now, compared to these 'people', he seemed to prefer his fellow villagers in the game.
Therefore, Lu Yuan no longer lingered at the entrance of the bar. He turned and walked toward his apartment. As for the woman from just now, ha, she was just a Passerby. From now on, he would have no further interaction with her.
Just as he thought of this, the woman's hollow, unfocused pupils unexpectedly appeared in Lu Yuan's mind.
Lu Yuan shook his head in annoyance, shaking those eyes out of his thoughts. A night breeze blew by, and Lu Yuan shivered involuntarily. He pulled his hood over his head, shoved his hands into his pockets, and disappeared into the deserted night.
✦✦✦