After AFK for five years, I returned to be number one in the entire server.

Late September.

Lin walked along the stone path by the lake, with Su Nian beside him.

Su Nian was wearing a beige light trench coat today, her long hair was casually tied back with a ribbon, revealing her slender and fair neck.

Her features were exquisite, and the morning light shone on her face, giving her skin a delicate, cool glow.

Several passing boys kept turning around, their gazes lingering on Su Nian for a long time, and some even slowed down their pace.

"National Day is coming soon, shall we go back together?" She walked beside Lin Ye, keeping an arm's length distance between them.

"If there's nothing else, we should be able to go together."

Lin wasn't sure if Tian Shu had made any arrangements; if so, he would have to stay in Ningchuan.

"What could happen?" Su Nian was very sensitive. During the normal National Day holiday, the school would not arrange any other activities.

Is he busy outside of school? We need to keep an eye on that; my aunt cares a lot about that.

Lin shook his head: "It's nothing, don't tell my mom nonsense."

The lake shimmered as the two walked and talked.

A few dozen meters away, Shen Yi was holding her textbooks, preparing to go to class, when she saw a man and a woman by the lake ahead and assumed they were a couple.

They looked quite well-matched from behind, a handsome man and a beautiful woman. Without thinking too much, she prepared to hurry to the classroom.

After walking a distance, she heard the man speaking; his voice sounded very familiar.

From this vantage point, she could see the profiles of two people. Turning her head, she discovered that one of them was Lin Ye.

The girl next to me was very pretty, probably the most beautiful girl in the law school. From her clothes to her demeanor, she exuded a composure nurtured by a privileged environment from a young age, and there was not a trace of embarrassment in her.

Ningchuan University has a school forum with all sorts of gossip and miscellaneous content.

She would occasionally browse forums to see if anyone shared good part-time jobs, and she saw Su Nian's photo in a post discussing beautiful girls on campus.

Shen Yi suddenly had a bad feeling. Instead of going up to say hello and create a chance encounter as usual, she turned around and walked down another, longer route.

Her expression was indifferent, lacking the slight upturn of her eyes that she usually showed when she met Lin Ye, and there was no perfectly timed smile.

She raised her free hand and tucked a strand of hair that was hanging by her ear behind it.

During the period since the start of the school term, Shen Yi has been trying to get closer to Lin Ye.

He deliberately appeared on the playground and in the cafeteria, borrowing power banks, delivering milk tea, and even intentionally falling into the artificial lake late at night.

These actions were straightforward and efficient. To outsiders, her behavior seemed highly purposeful and skillful, much like that of a woman who was adept at navigating relationships with men and materialistic.

She did have a clear purpose.

Lin is also a Moon-level player, a status that corresponds to a social class that is difficult for ordinary people to reach.

She wanted to get rid of student loans, escape her current life, and live a life free from worries about food and clothing, without having to live in fear.

But she had no experience; she had never been in a relationship before. All her routines and initiative were just a cover for her own awkwardness and timidity.

There was another reason she set her sights on Lin Ye, which she rarely revealed.

Lin was also very introverted. He didn't like to talk, didn't take the initiative to make friends, and always stayed on the periphery in a crowd.

His life was very simple; he spent most of his day alone.

This nonchalant and aloof attitude, which might seem boring to others, represents extremely low risk for her.

A narrow social circle means one is not easily tempted by external influences. A reserved personality means one doesn't engage in casual flings.

Life at the bottom cannot withstand trial and error; to transcend social classes, she needs absolute stability.

She couldn't bear betrayal, nor could she afford to be casually abandoned.

Lin Ye's somber demeanor perfectly matched all her needs for a sense of security.

But what she had just witnessed made her uneasy and afraid. She thought that those rich people would not develop any real feelings for her, not even pity. They would take advantage of her and leave her with nothing.

Perhaps I haven't seen Lin Ye clearly; he's not as lonely as I imagined.

She recalled that rainy night and the unfinished building. The data published by west Wangmu clearly stated that the magnetic field range of a monthly-level player was only twenty meters at most. If that was a coincidence...

What about the artificial lake incident?

He couldn't always run into her by chance. She jumped into the water, and before she could even surface, Lin Ye had already grabbed her hand.

Shen Yi felt that only Lin Ye, who had been secretly protecting her, was able to save her when she fell into the water.

She felt that Lin cared about her too, and at the same time, she felt happy and blushed because of this possible "care".

A super-powerful protector who appears precisely when you're in the most danger, seemingly indifferent but secretly protecting you—how could you not be moved...?

Shen Yi, you're so useless. You were supposed to be seducing others, but how did you end up falling in love with yourself?

Shen Yi was not in a good mood throughout the day and was unable to concentrate in class.

The professor was flipping through slides on the podium, the cold light from the projector shining on the blackboard, but her gaze kept drifting out the window.

The withered yellow leaves of the sycamore tree were swept away by the wind, and her thoughts drifted far away with them.

This indescribable feeling of exhaustion reached its peak when I went to work part-time at Huisheng Fresh in the evening.

Around 10 o'clock, it suddenly started to drizzle outside.

Shen Yi stood behind the cashier, looking at the rain outside, silently calculating her time to leave work.

She didn't bring an umbrella and could only pray that the rain would stop before she finished her shift.

The glass door was pushed open, and a blast of cold air rushed in. Shen Yi reflexively looked up.

Lin also put away a black straight-handled umbrella. Water droplets slid down the umbrella ribs and dripped onto the absorbent mat by the door. He leaned the umbrella against the shelf by the door.

"Are you here to buy something?" Shen Yi greeted her proactively.

Lin nodded and walked towards the refrigerated display case area.

Shen Yi's gaze did not linger on him as usual.

In the past, if Lin had appeared at this time, she would have half-lyed on the cashier's counter, tilting her head and trying her best to find a topic to talk about, asking him if he had come specifically to wait for her to get off work, or complaining in a drawn-out tone about how tired she was from standing all night.

The glass door was pushed open again, and it was Sister Yang coming to relieve us. She was only wearing a raincoat.

The rain didn't stop; in fact, it seemed to be getting heavier. The fine raindrops pounded on the waterlogged asphalt road, splashing up a layer of white mist.

Shen Yi stood under the eaves, staring blankly at the rain. She was wondering whether to wait for the rain to subside or simply put her bag on her head and run back.

I heard the sound of a plastic umbrella being opened from the side, and a black, straight-handled umbrella was opened overhead.

"Let's go."

Shen Yi paused for a moment, then shifted her gaze from the top of his head to Lin Ye's face. His expression remained as calm as ever, as if this were just a trivial matter like eating and drinking.

The two walked in the rain, and Lin looked at the intersection ahead: "You're very quiet today."

"I'm a little tired," Shen Yi replied softly. She smiled, a beautiful smile that was gentle and quiet, without any flaws, except for the lack of that strong vitality.