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

On the third day of military training, at 10 a.m., the temperature in Ningchuan had already reached 35 degrees Celsius.

On the playground, the formations of each college were neatly arranged, the instructors' commands rose and fell, and the students' camouflage uniforms were soaked with sweat.

The instructor blew a long whistle, signaling a ten-minute break.

Lin walked to the cement steps on the east side of the playground, sat down, unscrewed the water bottle, and took a sip.

The other groups were also resting, and people were walking over in twos and threes.

A girl sat down two or three steps away from him. Her long hair was tied in a ponytail, and a few strands of hair were stuck to her skin in front of her forehead. She had a kind of broken beauty that Lin Ye often saw online.

She sat by herself for a while, took a sip of water, and then casually asked, "Are you in administration?"

Lin glanced at her and said, "Mm."

"I speak Chinese, and our formations are next to each other. I've noticed you always sit here during breaks."

Lin also looked at the playground.

She didn't chase after him, but raised her hand to wipe the sweat from her forehead and muttered to herself, "It's so hot, I'm about to get heatstroke."

Her clothes were soaked through, both the front and back, just like everyone else around her.

Not long after, the instructor's whistle rang out.

She stood up and dusted off her pants: "Let's go back."

The military training lasted for two weeks.

During each break, she would sit on the steps on the east side of the playground.

The distance is not fixed; sometimes it's five or six people's distance apart, and sometimes it's only one or two steps apart.

The two haven't spoken since then. She occasionally chats with her classmates from her college, her voice low, her eyes crinkling when she smiles.

Lin didn't pay any attention.

The day after military training ended, the canteen was in its peak season, with lines of people waiting to get food stretching all the way to the door.

Lin Ye carried her tray and found an empty seat in the corner. She ordered braised chicken leg rice with an extra side of vegetables.

After taking a few bites, the chair opposite me was pulled out.

Shen Yi carried a plate containing a vegetarian rice bowl and a free seaweed and egg drop soup.

"Is anyone here?" she asked after she sat down.

"No." The two of them ate their own food.

The cafeteria was noisy, filled with the sounds of people talking and utensils clattering against plates.

Lin Ye's gaze swept over her plate, which was two-thirds full of white rice, topped with a few slices of stir-fried potato and some bean sprouts.

Shen Yi noticed and smiled: "Losing weight."

The two quieted down. She ate very quietly, using her chopsticks to pick up food with small movements, and sipped her soup in small sips.

She finished eating before Lin: "I'm leaving now."

The tone was casual, as if greeting someone you've known for a long time, but in reality, the two had only exchanged one sentence.

Two more days passed.

Around 5 p.m., while it was still light outside, Lin also planned to go to the supermarket near the school gate to buy some things.

The route passes by the school's artificial lake. The lake is not large, and it is surrounded by willow trees. There are a few benches on the shore, where people occasionally rest or enjoy the scenery.

Shen Yi sat on the bench near the roadside, a book open in front of her, her phone to her ear.

"Mom, I'm fine here... no need to send anything, the school provides a subsidy... don't skimp on it, take your medicine when you need to..."

Her voice was soft and gentle, with a hint of coaxing, like an adult comforting a child.

When she saw Lin Ye, she paused for a moment, said "I'm hanging up now" into the phone, and then looked up and smiled at him.

"We've run into each other again."

"Um."

"Where are you going?"

"supermarket."

"I was just thinking of buying something too, shall we go together?"

Lin continued walking forward without answering. Shen Yi put the book into her bag, jogged a few steps to catch up, and walked beside him, keeping a half-step distance.

"Where are you from?"

"Linhai" (meaning "near the sea")

"It takes about three hours by high-speed rail, right?"

"almost."

"I'm from Linnan, which is a bit far."

She spoke in a relaxed rhythm, without pressing for answers or engaging in awkward small talk. When Lin didn't respond, she would say a few words herself, and she never felt awkward.

When she arrived at the supermarket, she picked out a few packs of instant noodles and a packet of pickled vegetables. She walked around the shelves, picked up a carton of milk, looked at the price, and put it back.

When it was time to pay, she spent a long time looking for coupons on her phone. The cashier waited for a while, and she smiled apologetically.

Lin also bought a few bottles of drinks and snacks. After leaving the supermarket, the two walked back along the school road.

At the fork in the road, the girls' dormitory goes left and the boys' dormitory goes right.

Shen Yi stopped and held up the packet of pickled vegetables in her hand: "I'll treat you to a meal next time we meet."

She smiled, turned around, and left.

For a while after that, Lin Ye would often run into her, and they became more and more familiar with each other, though this was one-sided.

One evening during self-study, as people were leaving the teaching building, Lin Ye came out of the lobby, and Shen Yi turned into the corridor next to him.

"Lin Ye, my phone is dead. Can I borrow a power bank? I need to call my mom back."

Lin hesitated for a moment, then took out a power bank from the side pocket of his backpack and handed it to her.

She reached out, her fingertips lightly touching his knuckles, the contact area was very small.

"Thank you, I'll return it to you tomorrow."

The next day, she waited for Lin Ye in the teaching building and handed the power bank back, saying, "Let me treat you to milk tea."

"No need to invite me."

"That won't do. You have to repay favors when you borrow things. What flavor do you want to drink? If you don't say, I'll choose for you." She smiled and walked away, her ponytail swaying behind her head twice.

That afternoon, there was a cup of milk tea on Lin Ye's desk, with "For Lin Ye" written on the cup sleeve in marker.

As night deepens, in Guiyuan Building No. 9, the girls' dormitory.

Shen Yi's dormitory room is a four-person room. It is not large, with two bunk beds and four desks arranged in a row against the wall.

Her bed was on the lower bunk, and under her pillow was a vocabulary book for the CET-4 (College English Test Band 4). Her class schedule and library duty roster were posted on the headboard.

"You didn't have dinner with us again today."

"I've eaten, it's in the cafeteria."

"one person?"

"Otherwise what?"

"You're lying." Zhou Ran rolled over, holding her phone. "Someone saw you go to the teaching building at noon to return something to a boy in the administration department. You seem to be going there a lot lately."

Shen Yi looked up at her, neither denying nor explaining.

"Which boy is it?" Zhao Jiaxin, who was in the lower bunk diagonally opposite, put down her face mask and came over to ask.

Zhou Ran poked her head out from the top bunk: "I heard his name is Lin Ye, and he's a gamer. He's been on the news. You can find him by searching for west Wangmu."

Zhao Jiaxin searched and said, "Damn, it's only at the monthly level. There are only a few like that in our school."

Zhou Ran's gaze returned to Shen Yi, filled with the scrutinizing curiosity typical of girls: "Shen Yi, you're not pursuing her, are you?"

"Yes." She smiled slightly, her tone crisp.

The lights were turned off, and Shen Yi lay on the bed.

She came from a rural area in Lin'nan. Her father passed away a few years ago, and her mother works in a clothing factory in town, earning 3,000 yuan a month. Her tuition was covered by student loans, and her living expenses were covered by part-time jobs and school subsidies.

On the first day of school, she heard from her classmates that there was a level 1 player among the new students.

She had some understanding of the players' income system, social status, and commercial value.

Those numbers were too far away for her, so far that she would never be able to reach them in her lifetime.

Her mother had lived a frugal life, only to end up with a host of illnesses, and she didn't want to follow the same path.

She was beautiful enough, and she knew she was beautiful enough. She had slender eyes, wispy hair that clung to her forehead, and a gentle, harmless smile.