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

The ward was quiet. The sky outside the window was grayish-white; it had just rained, and the air was still damp.

Shen Yi had been awake for a while. Her knees were wrapped in gauze, and her left rib area was covered with a bandage. It still hurt when she breathed, but it was much better than last night.

The nurse came to change the dressing once and asked her how she was feeling. She said she was fine.

There was a knock on the door, then it was pushed open.

The person who came in was a young man, around twenty years old, with a slender build, clean features, and a somewhat cold demeanor.

Shen Yi knew him; Pei Xiao, another month-level player from Ningchuan University, was a third-year student in the School of Physics.

There was a lot of discussion about him at school; he was a true celebrity, and many people liked him. His joining Tian Shu was no secret.

Pei Xiao stood by the bed and asked, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm alright now. Did you save me?" Shen Yi asked, looking at her.

Pei Xiao shook her head: "No, someone called the police, and the Queen Mother of the West notified me to go there. When I arrived, you were already in the ambulance."

Shen Yi was stunned for a moment.

"I have a few questions for you. Besides those two prisoners, did they have any other accomplices last night?"

"There shouldn't be any more..."

Pei Xiao nodded: "After you were taken to the unfinished building, what happened between the time you lost consciousness and the time you were taken away? Do you remember who saved you?"

"I can't remember clearly. I only remember that two people seemed to be talking about selling my organs. Then I heard someone fall to the ground, and then I saw a figure appear at the door. But I was almost unconscious by then, so I didn't see what the person looked like."

"Understood. Contact me through the Queen Mother of the West anytime you think of anything. Take good care of your injuries." Pei Xiao got up and left.

a few days later.

Lin was playing games in his dorm room when the dorm's information system told him that someone was waiting for him downstairs.

Lin also went downstairs, and there was a person standing next to the steps at the entrance of the dormitory building.

Shen Yi was wearing a loose long-sleeved shirt, her hair was not tied up, and her face was paler than before.

She saw Lin also come out and smiled.

As Lin approached, he could smell a mixture of iodine and gauze tape.

"What's up?"

"I was just discharged from the hospital."

"I can tell."

Can you answer one thing for me?

"What?"

"Was it you who saved me that night?"

"Which night?"

Lin also wore a puzzled expression, as if she had no idea what Shen Yi was referring to.

"I see."

Shen Yi didn't ask any further questions, but her gaze inadvertently rose up and swept over the balcony of the floor where Lin Ye's dormitory was located.

Several pieces of clothing were hanging on the balcony, including a white T-shirt with a cartoon print.

She looked away, a slight smile playing on her lips, almost imperceptible.

"Then forget it."

She turned and walked back.

When Pei Xiao came to her hospital room, she didn't remember much. Her mind was full of fragments: the sound of rain, the concrete floor, and the voices of those two people.

But when a person is lying in a hospital bed with nothing to do, the fragments will slowly piece themselves back together.

She remembered something: the man was standing in the doorway, and a sliver of light coming in from the window shone on his shoulders and chest.

At first, she wasn't sure if the memory was right, until one time she recalled eating with Lin Ye in the cafeteria, and Lin Ye seemed to have the same outfit.

In addition, Lin is also a month-level player, and that place is not far from Ningchuan University, so it is entirely possible that Lin could appear there.

With so many coincidences piled up, Shen Yi had already determined the answer before she arrived.

Around 11 p.m., the dormitory lights were turned off.

Lin lay on the bed, and her roommate's breathing gradually became even.

The next moment, Lin Ye suddenly opened his eyes and disappeared from the spot, leaving only an empty bed.

The artificial lake was deserted at the moment. Moonlight fell on the water, and a figure was struggling violently in the water, shouting for help intermittently.

Lin frowned as he pulled the other person out of the water.

Shen Yi was completely soaked, her clothes clinging to her body, with lake water dripping down her hem.

She coughed twice when she was pulled ashore, apparently having swallowed some water.

She looked up and saw Lin Ye. She smiled, but it wasn't a smile of relief after surviving a disaster.

Her eyes were curved in a smile, which was very light and sweet. She looked a little silly, and her wet face had a childlike quality to it.

"You've arrived?" Shen Yi's voice was a little hoarse, but her tone was light and cheerful.

"What are you laughing at?"

"you guess?"

Lin didn't guess either.

Shen Yi sat on the grass, tucking the hair behind her ears, while lake water continued to drip down.

"The biomagnetic field range of a monthly-level player is only five to twenty meters. The day I was arrested, the unfinished building was more than ten kilometers away from the school."

She looked up at him: "Your magnetic field can't sense places that far away, right?"

"What are you trying to say?"

"So, either your presence there that day was a coincidence, or you were following me the whole time." She paused. "I don't really believe it was a coincidence."

A night breeze blew by, causing her wet clothes to flutter.

"So I want to test it out. If you really have been secretly protecting me all along, then if I pretend to fall into the lake, you will come too."

Lin Ye was speechless: "You did this on purpose?"

"Yes." Shen Yi nodded, speaking with conviction, "I'm not stupid, and I can swim."

She spoke in a very soft tone, with a hint of coquettishness at the end, which was completely different from her usual measured and appropriate manner.

Lin was momentarily speechless. This person had only been discharged from the hospital a short time ago, and yet he was already doing this kind of thing.

He concluded in his mind that the person was out of their mind.

Lin was only wearing a short-sleeved shirt, so he couldn't be as gentlemanly as he is in TV dramas and lend her his clothes.

Are you going back to your dorm?

"Oh right, it's almost 11:30!"

The dormitory closes at 11:30 p.m., and she doesn't want to affect her eligibility for awards because she comes back late.

Shen Yi didn't let Lin Ye see her off; instead, she jogged towards the girls' dormitory herself, saying, "Thank you for saving me."

Perhaps because her injury hadn't fully healed, she wasn't running fast, and her soaked shoes made a clattering sound as she stepped on the pavement.

After running a few steps, she started walking, and after walking a few more steps, she started hopping. She bounced around, her ponytail swinging back and forth, like a child who had just received candy.

Lin stood there for a while, making sure she was alright, and then walked towards Songyuan herself.

Shen Yi swiped her access card at the appointed time, leaving a trail of footprints on the corridor floor tiles.

She pushed open the dormitory door, and Zhou Ran was lying on the top bunk scrolling through her phone. Hearing the noise, she peeked out and paused for two seconds.

"Did you fall into the river?"

"In the lake."

"..."

Zhao Jiaxin sat up in bed, her face mask still on, making her expression look particularly fierce: "What were you doing in the lake so late at night?"

Shen Yi took off her soaking wet shoes and socks, stepping barefoot onto the ground: "Take a bath."

"Isn't the bathroom big enough for you to shower in?"

Shen Yi didn't answer, and took the dry clothes to the bathroom.

After she came out, Zhou Ran stared at her for a long time, watching her grin foolishly.

"It's hopeless."