Volume 2: Winter’s End
In the following days, Shu Xun and the others stayed in the apartment. The door to the bedroom remained closed, but the image of the three stuffed bears placed tightly together was still as clear as ever. Shu Xun wasn’t sure if Qing Meng had achieved her wishes, and the whereabouts of her parents remained uncertain. They could only hold onto a faint hope that, like the teddy bears, they were in the same world.
This time, the blue light persisted longer than before. Thirteen days later, the faint blue glow outside gradually receded. Shu Xun and the others left the apartment, standing in front of the building in a slightly nostalgic mood. Not long ago, a child cheerfully led them into the warmth of a home, but that moment was fleeting, disappearing without a trace. The somber feeling lingered in the hearts of the few, making them even more eager to understand what had happened in this world and where those inexplicably vanished people had gone.
After the blue light faded away, a snowstorm eagerly filled the world once again. Micro City plunged back into a chaotic silhouette, with indistinct scenes in every direction. Shu Xun nestled back into Ye Qian’s pocket, and the three towering figures swiftly made their way toward the City Bureau. The City Bureau was Micro City’s largest authority, and they had limited business there — specifically, they sought the kind of classified documents only the City Bureau could possess.
Facing the snowstorm, they traveled swiftly without exchanging words. However, when they stood in front of the City Bureau building, they unexpectedly saw a row of footprints in the snowstorm that hadn’t disappeared yet – someone had entered the City Bureau ahead of them.
The speed of Shu Xun’s group was already fast. The three players were god-tier, and they had left the apartment almost at the moment the blue light disappeared. The fact that someone had beaten them to the City Bureau suggested that the person was either a survivor or a player who had arrived in Micro City long ago, with the latter being more likely.
They exchanged meaningful glances and silently infiltrated the building, lightening their breaths, attentive to the surroundings. Shu Xun, with a small frame, found the location of the archives on a sign and pointed towards it. The other three immediately understood, swiftly ascending the stairs.
As expected, when they reached the floor where the archives were located, they heard a faint sound of pages being turned. The three quickly arrived outside the archives’ door, with Lie Yang showing a combat-ready expression as if he was about to enter battle. However, upon reaching the door, they discovered that it was open. The situation inside was almost self-evident – a slightly slender young man was standing in front of a file cabinet, flipping through document boxes. Quickly noticing Lie Yang’s group at the door, he turned his head, slightly puzzled, looking at them.
The young man had amber eyes and a face that couldn’t be described as handsome but rather delicate, giving off a somewhat inexperienced appearance. He seemed quite young, dressed in casual black winter attire, and two antennae on his head that looked oddly familiar.
Shu Xun looked at the young man, then tilted his small head to look at Lie Yang. With wide eyes full of curiosity, he spoke, “You’ve met a relative! A bug like you!”
Lie Yang: “…” What’s with this amazed tone? And why does it sound strange? Shu Xun, come here; let me educate you on the correct terminology for us – butterflies. An elegant and beautiful creature…
Lie Yang revealed a confident smile, seemingly about to embark on a lengthy lecture.
On the other side, the young man finally seemed to snap out of his daze. His eyes suddenly lit up, and with a respectful tone, he spoke, “Lie Lie Lie…Yang Yang…Palace Palace Palace…Your…Majesty!”
Shu Xun almost stumbled out in surprise. When the young man spoke, the huge contrast was hard to ignore. Shu Xun tilted his small head, looking at the now reddened young man with confusion. Lie Yang also had black lines on his face; could this embarrassing guy stop pretending to be one of their kind? Or, was there still time for Lie Yang to disguise himself as a different Zerg?
After saying his piece, the young man finally seemed quite embarrassed, closing his mouth in dejection.
Shu Xun swayed his little head left and right, finally realizing that he might need to take charge of the communication. Stretching out his chubby paw, he waved it, “Hello, are you also a butterfly?”
The young man raised his head in confusion, then found the point to speak and widened his eyes in astonishment. “You, you, you… what kind of… species, species, species are you?”
Shu Xun silently wiped a drop of cold sweat from his forehead. Why did it feel a bit exhausting to listen, and was stuttering still an incurable disease in this era? Obviously not. Was it the unique way of speaking for this butterfly species? Like speaking in a northeastern accent? Shu Xun nodded his little head, thinking he had found the reason. After contemplating for a moment, he earnestly spoke, “I, I, I… am a human… of the human species.”
“Pfft! Hahaha!” Lie Yang was stunned for a second, then burst into laughter instantly, seeming like he was about to laugh himself to death.
There was a trace of uncontrollable amusement in Nuan Dong’s eyes, and even the imitated young man himself, after a moment of daze, smiled with narrowed eyes. Only Ye Qian remained expressionless as usual.
Shu Xun, being laughed at, had a dumbfounded expression and scratched his head with chubby paws. “Did I say something wrong?”
Laughing almost to the point of cramps, Lie Yang immediately nodded wildly. “Ri-ri-ri-right…”
The young man scratched his head with a hint of embarrassment. Shu Xun, even if slow, realized what was going on, snorted, and withdrew into his pocket, refusing to speak. Ye Qian raised his hand and reached out to pat the little furry head with exposed hair, comforting him. Shu Xun suddenly felt comfortable, rubbed against it, and then emerged from the pocket again.
The young man’s gaze turned to Shu Xun. “I, I, I… am nervous… I, I, I… am called Gray…”
Shu Xun suddenly remembered the gray giant wolf in Ye Qian’s beast form. “Gray, a very nice color.”
Gray seemed to pause for a moment, then his eyes overflowed with a smile. “Thank you.”
Gray was obviously not the young man’s real name; it was his in-game name. He belonged to the butterfly lineage of the Zerg race, a type of leaf butterfly that didn’t quite conform to the contemporary aesthetic. It seemed that this was why he called himself Gray. The young man seemed very uncomfortable with interpersonal communication, stumbling when nervous. It took Shu Xun a particularly long time to communicate with him. Shu Xun sat on an open file cabinet, listening to Gray’s stumbling narrative of his experiences. In the end, Shu Xun handed him a can of drink.
“Thank you.” Gray politely thanked again, took the drink can Shu Xun handed over, and continued speaking as the can returned to its normal size and opened. “The Hunters… should have… also arrived… in Micro City…”
