Five years after my wife's death, she came back!

Shi Ying froze for about two minutes, then looked at the staff member with a doubt in her voice: "Are you sure?"

The staff member maintained a smile: "This diamond is of very good quality. We are certain that we have identified it correctly. If you don't believe us, you can send it to a professional jewelry appraisal institution."

"No, no... I believe you..." Shi Ying took the ring back. The ring, which was originally light and flimsy, now felt unusually heavy in her palm.

The staff member asked curiously, "Could you tell me the origin of this diamond? It's absolutely gorgeous; the color, clarity, and cut are all perfect."

Shi Ying looked down at the ring in her palm and shook her head: "I don't know either, it was...it was a gift from someone else."

"Then it must be your boyfriend. Pink diamonds symbolize eternal love, and such beautiful luster and color are extremely rare."

As Shi Ying walked out of the mall, her mind was completely blank.

This is actually a real diamond!

Although she didn't know much about jewelry, she knew from what the staff member had said that the ring must be very valuable.

Where did it come from?

Game items cannot be taken out of the real world. When Shi Ying logged out, she was still wearing her pajamas, but when she woke up from the hibernation pod, she was wearing her real-world clothes and did not have any items from the game with her.

"I've encountered a ghost..." Shi Ying rubbed her head in annoyance and turned to walk towards the Time Travel Bureau again.

Information desk in the building.

Upon seeing Shi Ying return, the staff member who had greeted her earlier asked with some surprise, "Ms. Shi, is there anything else?"

Shi Ying grabbed her and asked, "Could you help me check my game history?"

The staff member nodded, fiddled with the computer for a bit, and then said, "Your only game record is from six days ago."

"Could you check again? I feel like I've been here before..."

The staff patiently showed her the computer screen: "We've checked, and there is indeed only one record."

"but..."

"But what?"

The staff member said, "Two years ago, the game was in the testing phase for the first six months after its release. At that time, the technology was not very stable, and a lot of data was not saved. If you participated in the game during that period, it may not have been recorded."

Shi Ying clenched the ring in her hand, recalling a dream she had in the game.

She was certain that it wasn't her real-life experience.

But if it wasn't something she experienced, why would she dream about it? And this ring...

Could she have entered the game two years ago?

Or could it be that Shang Chenyan is someone she already knew from the game?

Who exactly is his wife...?

"Miss Shi, is there anything else?"

Shi Ying's breathing became erratic, and she swallowed hard, her throat feeling dry. "If I had entered the game before, but five years had passed in the game, would anyone still remember me?"

"That's almost impossible."

The staff explained, "To ensure the normal operation of each instance world, we will manually intervene to gradually erase the NPCs' memories of outsiders. It will take at most a year, until everyone has gradually forgotten the previous outsiders, at which point the instance will be restarted and a new round of gameplay will begin, unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Unless someone can resist external forces and never forget you for five years."

*

In the evening, Shi Ying went to Xu Xiuling's house.

After Xu Xiuling and Uncle Liu remarried, they had a son who is only eight years old this year and is at the age where he is very mischievous.

Shi Ying was almost knocked over as soon as she entered the room.

"elder sister!"

The little boy was chubby. Shi Ying rubbed his head and was pulled by him to play with toy cars, but she really wasn't interested. She reluctantly played with him for a while.

After a slightly awkward dinner, Uncle Liu took his son out for a walk, leaving Shi Ying at home to help tidy up.

Xu Xiuling looked at her and said, "I'll take care of it."

"Yingying, it was my fault that day. I shouldn't have said that," Xu Xiuling rarely apologized to her. "If you don't like that job, we can find another one."

Shi Ying hummed in agreement and helped Xu Xiuling clear the table. "Mom, have you been to the hospital recently?"

"No, it's all the same old problem, what's the point of going?"

Xu Xiuling has always been in poor health, but she went to the hospital a couple of years ago and they couldn't find anything seriously wrong, so she stopped going.

But Shi Ying still frequently urged her to go for a check-up so that any problems could be detected in time.

"I know, I know." Every time she brought this up, Xu Xiuling would get impatient. "Don't worry about me, just take care of your own job first."

After cleaning up the kitchen, Xu Xiuling pulled her to sit on the sofa and took out a photo: "Take a look."

"What is it?" Shi Ying glanced at it. The person on the other end was a man who looked quite young and a little chubby.

"Your Aunt Li introduced me to a university professor who can help with employment for family members."

Shi Ying understood now; they had arranged a blind date for her.

She pushed the photo away: "I'm twenty-two, not thirty-two. It's not time for me to go on blind dates yet."

"Why not?" Xu Xiuling asked. "You were born when I was twenty-two."

"Besides, university professors are great. Their spouses can be assigned jobs, which is stable and easy, making it very suitable for girls."

Shi Ying was about to lose her temper. She rarely came here, and she didn't want to argue with Xu Xiuling, so she could only patiently say, "I can handle my own affairs. You don't need to worry about me."

"What are you dissatisfied with?" Xu Xiuling pushed the photo in front of her. "Twenty-eight years old, successful in her career, and pretty. Don't you like her?"

Twenty-eight years old.

It is the same size as Shang Chenyan.

A certain name suddenly popped into her mind again.

Shi Ying glanced at him sideways. He was quite handsome, but not as good-looking as Shang Chenyan, not as tall, and not as well-built...

Realizing what she was thinking, Shi Ying suddenly stood up, startling Xu Xiuling.

"What's wrong?"

"I..." Shi Ying's expression shifted, unsure how to explain to Xu Xiuling.

Xu Xiuling seemed to have noticed something: "You have someone you like?"

Shi Ying was surprised at how she could tell. Xu Xiuling smiled and said, "If you have someone you like, bring them to meet your mother. I won't introduce them to you."

"I didn't," Shi Ying insisted, picking up her bag. "I'll be going now, I'll come see you another day."

She ran downstairs in a flustered manner.

The evening breeze dispelled some of my inner turmoil.

She had only been back for half a day, but the image of a certain person kept creeping into her mind.