My game, Orange Flavor, is great!

Lu Zhao was speechless for a moment.

“I told her that I had someone on my mind, but I would forget her soon.”

Su Ling's expression remained unchanged, as calm as if she were talking about the weather: "She said she could wait for me, wait until I forget that person, and then accept her pursuit."

She smiled and asked Lu Zhao, "Senior, she probably also hopes that I can forget her, right?"

The forget-me-not in the painting is incredibly lifelike, and the woman holding it is even more so.

However, both Su Ling and Lu Zhao knew that these were people and things from another world.

"Goodbye, senior."

Su Ling put away her phone, nodded slightly to her, and then wheeled her wheelchair toward Liu Qingluo.

As Lu Zhao watched her retreating figure, he knew in his heart that this was probably the last time he would see his junior from junior school.

Chapter Ninety-Three: Departure

With the date for returning home set, Lu Zhao spent the remaining two weeks with the two elderly people almost constantly, as if he wanted to make up for all the things he had missed.

Even though time flows at half the speed here, these short two weeks still pass in the blink of an eye.

One evening, Lu Zhao had just said goodnight to his parents and hadn't even touched the doorknob of his bedroom when he felt a powerful suction force coming from behind him.

Unlike the scene when she voluntarily stepped into the passage leading to this side, the scene when she left was more like the scene when she passed through this side for the first time.

One second she was in her own home, but after a moment of dizziness, her legs went weak and she collapsed onto the sofa. When she looked up again, she realized she was back in the villa.

He... just left like that?

She didn't even have a chance to say goodbye...

Lu Zhao tried to stand up excitedly, but was pushed back down by a figure that suddenly appeared in the air.

"Hiss... Si Ling, you're back too?"

"The landing location seems to be slightly off, sorry..."

She struggled to pull her lover away from her, and before she could even catch her breath, she heard the door open, and then Xia Zhifei walked in from the entrance carrying a bag.

Upon seeing the figures intertwined on the sofa, the young lady was startled and immediately turned around, quickly explaining, "I didn't see anything! Um... maybe I should go out for a walk first..."

"Come back!" Lu Zhao called out to her speechlessly, then patted Si Ling's leg, signaling her to sit down quickly, before standing up and saying, "We just got back, what are you thinking about!"

Upon hearing the voice, Xia Zhifei chuckled and quickly turned around to hug her. "Then... welcome home, A-Zhao!"

Lu Zhao felt a warmth in his heart and readily hugged her back, but Xia Zhifei quickly pushed him away.

"Let's not hug too tightly in front of Sister Si Ling, it's not a good look." The young lady laughed, not caring about making things worse, and quickly ran into the kitchen before Lu Zhao could raise his hand to hit her. "I bought roast duck, let's have it together for dinner!"

This guy has been dating Lin Yu for so long, how come he hasn't learned any of her composure?

Lu Zhao looked at the agile figure with a headache, couldn't help but sigh, and then turned to look at his girlfriend who should have been sitting on the sofa, only to be suddenly hugged tightly.

“Xiao Fei is right,” Si Ling said with a smile, holding her in her arms. “When your girlfriend is around, you’d better hug her more often.”

You can still be jealous of Xiao Fei?

Lu Zhao didn't believe her words at all. He tried to break free, but the embrace he received grew stronger and stronger, as if he wanted to pull her into his very bones.

"Ah Ling, stop fooling around, Xiao Fei is still here..."

“Zhaozhao,” Si Ling hugged her tightly, her voice unusually gentle, “before leaving, I already said goodbye to your uncle and aunt on your behalf.”

Lu Zhao froze for a moment, as if all the strength in his body had been instantly drained away. He lowered his head absently and buried it in his lover's arms.

"Your aunt and uncle know you don't want to leave, and they will take good care of themselves, so... don't worry."

Don't worry? How can I put her at ease?

While one's parents are alive, one should not travel far, but she has already traveled to another world.

"I...I was just worried they would be sad..." she said in a muffled voice, lowering her head even further.

It must be heartbreaking. Her parents in this world left because of her, and her parents in the other world have to watch her leave.

Why am I not sad?

Feeling the fabric on her chest gradually becoming damp, Si Ling sighed silently. Seeing that Xia Zhifei was still obediently staying in the kitchen and showed no signs of coming out, she simply picked up Lu Zhao and carried him upstairs.

Only after the door upstairs closed did Xia Zhifei peek out from the kitchen, look up for a moment, and then quickly run into the living room to grab her phone and make a call. "Hey, emergency! Postpone today's event until I get a signal!"

She must have made a lot of noise running out, because the two people in the room on the second floor heard her.

Si Ling sat on the edge of the bed, one arm around Lu Zhao, the other handing her a tissue: "It seems Xiao Fei and the others have prepared a welcome-back celebration for us. Don't you want to go down and take a look?"

"……In no mood."

Lu Zhao trembled all over, silently leaning against her lover and sobbing. Since transmigrating, she rarely shed tears like this. Most of the time, she would endure it alone, swallowing everything down and waiting for time to slowly digest it.

The last time she showed such emotional outbursts was when she learned the whole truth about herself, and the time before that was when she learned Si Ling's secret.

Even so, her most intense reaction was to lie in bed alone with a high fever for a whole day, and then struggle to learn to heal herself.

"Ah Ling, I feel so tired..."

Lu Zhao murmured, almost burying his whole body in his lover's arms and curling up like an infant finding its most trusted mother.

A fine layer of sweat had formed on her forehead, mingling with tears that streamed down her face. Seeing this, Si Ling's eyes narrowed instantly. She tenderly wiped away her tears and gently comforted her, "I understand, you've had a tough time these past few days. Once everything here is over, we'll travel the world. We'll eat, drink, and have fun everywhere, and we won't care about any of this anymore, okay?"

Having grown up in another world, Lu Zhao does indeed possess a more robust and less easily defeated mind, but ultimately, she also has her limits.

Everything happened too fast during this period, and all kinds of information were forcibly stuffed into her mind. Her own problems were finally resolved, but the Bureau of Spirituality Management also needed her support.

She had been trying very hard to process and adapt to everything, but the sudden separation from her parents was the last straw that broke the camel's back.

Twenty-six years old was a threshold for Lu Zhao.

Everyone envied her for acquiring the powerful ability of the White Flame without any cost, but only the two of them knew best that the price the White Flame's owner had to pay was a predetermined short lifespan.

To escape this fate, Si Ling reversed time and opened a passage between the two worlds, causing Lu Zhao to die and come back to life repeatedly. Now that she is finally about to celebrate her twenty-sixth birthday, Si Ling cannot tolerate any unexpected events.

Holding her lover, who was still sobbing softly in her arms, Si Ling's eyes turned slightly cold as she gently stroked Lu Zhao's increasingly thin and bony back with her slender hand.

"I will clear away all obstacles for you before your birthday, Zhao Zhao."

Chapter Ninety-Four: The Ending of Friendship

After calming down a bit, Lu Zhao couldn't leave Xia Zhifei downstairs unattended. She applied some ointment to her swollen eyes and forced herself to go out. Before she even reached the bottom of the stairs, she saw the young lady standing downstairs staring at her with shining eyes.

"...See? If I don't go, all their hard work in preparing this will be for nothing?" Lu Zhao muttered to himself, then smiled and walked downstairs.

Si Ling followed carefully behind her, watching as the back that had been trembling in her arms just moments before slowly straightened and became upright, as if nothing had happened.

Her heart tightened, and she followed them like a mother hen protecting her chicks, sitting calmly on the sofa and watching the two of them talk with smiles on their faces.

"Xiao Fei, if you have any surprises, hurry up and bring them out," she interrupted their lively conversation, glancing at Lu Zhao intentionally or unintentionally. "Zhao Zhao just got back, he should get some rest."

Xia Zhifei wrinkled her nose in annoyance and couldn't help but complain, "Sister Si Ling, you're so unromantic! If you're going to see through something, you shouldn't say it!"

As she spoke, she walked to the door and opened it. Immediately afterward, a tremendous cheer erupted from the entrance hall, followed by a group of people rushing in.

Leading the group was Messiah, who had caused Lu Zhao a lot of trouble, holding a huge cake, with Wen Ruo, who was also smiling broadly, beside her.

The last one to arrive was Song Lingge. Although she didn't cheer with the others, she was still holding several slender ceremonial cannons. She calmly walked into the living room and fired off all the cannons in her hand.

Amid the deafening noise, the excited voices of several other people could also be heard.

"Captain, welcome back!"

"Captain, eat some cake! This cake is delicious!"

"Come on, Captain, make a wish!"

"Messiah, are you out of your mind? Ah Zhao's birthday hasn't even arrived yet!"

In the somewhat chaotic scene, Lu Zhao stood in the middle, looking a little lost, and glanced back at Si Ling.

Si Ling remained silent for a while before sighing, standing up and saying, "I'll go to the kitchen to get some wine. Now that we're back, let's celebrate properly."

Lu Zhao's face immediately lit up with joy, but as soon as he turned his head, a fork of cake was stuffed into his mouth.

"Is it sweet?" Xia Zhifei asked with a smile as he stood in front of her.

She blinked, subconsciously licked the cream off her lips, and nodded in response, "It's quite sweet."

"It has to be sweet!" Messiah chimed in from the side. "This is a cake we made ourselves!"

Lu Zhao was stunned for a moment, then heard Wen Ruo blush and whisper beside her, "It's...it's because Sister Xiao Fei said you would be coming back today, so Messiah suggested having a welcome ceremony."

“If time weren’t so tight, I could decorate the whole living room with ribbons!” Messiah replied, beaming.

Xia Zhifei gave her a serious shove, "Come on, with your taste, don't ruin my perfectly good living room."

"I have great taste! Look at the little bunny on this cake, it looks so realistic!"

"If you hadn't said it was a rabbit, I would have thought it was some kind of alien creature."

Seeing that the two were about to start their usual bickering again, Si Ling carried a large case of beer from the kitchen and put it down. Helplessly, she put her hands on her hips and said, "Alright, what are you standing there for? Come sit down and have a drink while you chat!"

"Great! I'm going to drink all the alcohol in the captain's house!"

"With your alcohol tolerance, one bottle would be enough to knock you out, right?"

The two grown-up kids put down the cake and started chasing each other with bottles of alcohol, creating the lively atmosphere of a dozen people chattering away, even though there were only two of them.

Song Lingge sat on the sofa with a chuckle, cut a piece of cake for everyone and placed it down, then opened a few bottles of wine for each person, handing one to Lu Zhao and saying, "Captain, you've worked hard. Take a good rest these two days and go back to work the day after tomorrow."

“You’ve worked hard too,” Lu Zhao smiled, raising his wine bottle to clink with hers. “Taking care of these children while I was away must have been tough for you.”

"It's my duty," Song Lingge blinked, her usual reserved and dignified demeanor replaced by a playful and adorable one. "But I'll have to take a long vacation afterwards."

"no problem."

The two exchanged a smile and each took a big gulp of beer.

“Sister Lu…” Wen Ruo also came over with a bottle of wine, glanced hesitantly at Si Ling who was standing next to her with a half-smile, and coughed lightly, “Can we go over and talk?”

It's really noisy here.

Lu Zhao didn't think too much about it and nodded, following her to the back courtyard. He glanced at the wine bottle in the child's hand and couldn't help but nag, "Even though you're in college now, you still need to drink less. You're still young, only eighteen..."

"I'm not young anymore." Wen Ruo, whose face had been flushed just moments before, suddenly turned deathly pale and interrupted her.