My game, Orange Flavor, is great!

Both of them were taken aback by these words.

Lu Zhao paused for a moment, took a sip of wine, and nodded, saying, "Indeed, you're not young anymore, but alcohol is bad for your health, so try to drink less."

“…Hmm.” Wenruo returned to her previous demeanor and mumbled a response.

Seeing that the atmosphere was about to become awkward, Lu Zhao quickly asked, "By the way, how have you been studying at school lately? Do you have any close friends?"

She still remembered that Wen Ruo was the female protagonist of the game. Although the other female supporting characters around her seemed unlikely to be her, who knows, maybe some random passerby would win her heart.

“I’m almost done accumulating credits over the past few years,” Wenruo said, head down, clutching a bottle of wine. “In about two or three months, I can apply to the school to skip a grade and graduate. After that, I’ll probably leave here and go somewhere else to continue my studies.”

Eh?

Lu Zhao was stunned for a moment, not expecting this outcome. "Have you thought it through?"

"Well, I don't think I'm really suited to working here right now," Wenruo said, tilting her head back, her eyes reflecting the bright moonlight. "Captain, can I come back after I finish my studies?"

She smiled and reached out to pat the child's head: "Of course you can. I'll apply for a job hold for you. You can come back whenever you want after you've studied enough!"

"Then it's a date!"

Although I didn't expect it to be a friendship ending in the game, with Wenruo disliking everyone and traveling alone to study, this ending... seems pretty good. Everyone is satisfied and there are no regrets.

Looking at the child who seemed to have grown quite a bit, Lu Zhao smiled with satisfaction and then downed a few more gulps of wine.

It wasn't until her head started spinning that she realized she might not be a very good drinker.

Chapter Ninety-Five Crisis

The next morning.

When Lu Zhao woke up, his whole body was sore and weak from the hangover. His brain felt like it was about to explode, as if a terrible rock concert was playing in his head. The pain tormented every nerve in his brain like a saw.

Uncomfortably rubbing his temples, Lu Zhao got out of bed, instinctively turning his head to avoid the strong light shining in from the window. When he finally opened his eyes, he realized that he didn't know when he was lying in bed, and his clothes had been changed into pajamas.

After finally clearing her head a bit, before she could even get out of bed, she heard a series of urgent knocks on the door, accompanied by several terrified shouts.

Lu Zhao casually threw on a coat and got up. As soon as she opened the door, she saw Messiah standing in the doorway with a panicked look on her face, grabbing her collar and saying, "It's terrible, Captain! Wenruo... Wenruo is missing!"

Lu Zhao jolted awake, his previously groggy mind instantly clearing. He hurriedly pulled Messiah out of the room and asked, "Tell me exactly what happened!"

"Oh dear, we all got drunk last night, and Sister Siling and Sister Song helped us into our respective rooms to rest. Wenruo was supposed to be in her room too, but when I knocked on the door this morning, I found she was gone!"

As Messiah spoke, she led her toward Wenruo's room, saying, "Look, these things are all over the floor, she couldn't have walked there by herself!"

As soon as she pushed open the door, the mess in the room came into view. Blankets and clothes were scattered all over the floor, even cups were smashed on the ground, and a large puddle of water was left on the floor.

Lu Zhao was a little dazed. He went inside and looked around carefully for a while before turning around and asking, "Where are the others?"

"Everyone's gone out to look for people!" Messiah was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, and looked like she was about to cry. "Captain, do you think something might have happened to Wenruo?"

Lu Zhao wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, glanced at the wide-open window behind him, and then looked at the puddle of water left on the ground. He stepped forward with some doubt and touched the bedding on top of the puddle.

"The blankets were wet too..."

She murmured to herself, squatted down, and measured the water on the ground with her hands, then frowned.

"Captain, do you have any clues?" Messiah asked anxiously from behind.

“There shouldn’t be this much water in the cup,” Lu Zhao slowly stood up, his expression visibly serious. “If Wen Ruo accidentally knocked the cup over, then there would already be enough water on the cup. So where did the puddle on the floor come from?”

Messiah paused, quickly walked to the window, touched the windowsill, and immediately exclaimed, "There are a few water stains here too!"

That's it then.

Lu Zhao stood up with a solemn expression, glanced around, and said in a low voice, "Ice melts into water, and the only one who can manipulate ice is Li Manqiu."

She truly hadn't expected that Li Manqiu, who had been constantly being pursued, would be able to turn the tables and capture Wen Ruo.

Everyone was too relaxed last night, and after getting drunk, no one noticed that Li Manqiu had secretly sneaked in. It seems that the peaceful days of this period have numbed her senses.

"Then what does she want to do by capturing Wen Ruo..." Messiah was anxious and was about to step forward to ask when he accidentally stepped on a puddle of water on the ground and fell backward.

"Careful!" Lu Zhao didn't catch her in time and watched her fall onto the bed. He went over to help her up and noticed that her expression seemed to have changed slightly.

More importantly, a long-lost psionic energy fluctuation emanated from her body.

Lu Zhao's expression changed slightly, and he forgot to speak. He looked at her hesitantly and carefully reached out to poke her face.

"I understand!" As if suddenly coming to his senses, Messiah stood up abruptly and began pacing back and forth, muttering to himself. "The moment I fell down, I think I saw something again."

"Your psychic powers worked again?" Lu Zhao looked at her with surprise and uncertainty. "What did you just see?"

It should be noted that in the past six months since she transmigrated, Messiah's abilities have only been activated a few times at random times, and even then, they were all beyond her control.

The power of time is inherently mysterious; what the Messiah sees with it is either a vision of the past or a prophecy of the future. But it must be admitted that, so far, everything she has seen has come true.

Messiah paced back and forth a few steps before finally stopping, her little face scrunched up in wrinkles. "Hmm...it seems like there's ice?"

Lu Zhao's face twitched. "Li Manqiu's ability is to control ice."

This statement, aside from confirming that her guess was correct, was essentially useless.

"No, don't rush!" Messiah waved his hand impatiently, frowned and thought for a while before suddenly raising his eyes with a sense of enlightenment. "That's right, what I saw wasn't ice, but an ice coffin, and there was a woman lying inside!"

Lu Zhao was so startled that he stood up abruptly.

Ice coffin, woman...

Isn't this Si Ling's older sister?

Could it be that... Li Manqiu's kidnapping of Wen Ruo is related to Si Ling's sister?

Thinking of this, she could no longer remain calm. She grabbed the wailing Messiah and pulled him outside, saying, "Quick, we need to find Si Ling and discuss this with her!"

After finally managing to drag this person downstairs, Lu Zhao saw Si Ling also hurrying in. He knew something was wrong as soon as he saw her expression, so he told Messiah to sit on the sofa first and then pulled the person to the window.

“I’ve noticed that my original body, which is buried underground in Yongling City, has been disturbed,” Si Ling said bluntly.

Lu Zhao's heart tightened, and he told her what he had discovered. He then asked, "Li Manqiu took Wenruo away, Messiah saw the scene of your sister sleeping in the ice coffin, and your original body was also disturbed. What is the relationship between these three things?"

Wenruo, the female protagonist of this world, can be said to have gathered most of the world's fortune.

Si Ling's older sister, the incarnation of a meteorite.

Furthermore, Si Ling's true form is also a meteorite.

After a moment of contemplation, their expressions changed drastically at the same time.

"I'm afraid... she wants to use Wenruo's body to make my sister wake up quickly." Si Ling gritted her teeth. "My sister's original body was taken away by humans and studied for many years. She even founded an alien planet. I'm afraid she already harbors hatred towards humans..."

Lu Zhao replied with a complicated expression, "And your true form is a trigger that can turn all humans worldwide exposed to meteorite radiation into spirits. If your sister wakes up..."

Then the world is about to change drastically.

She gasped, and said urgently, "We have to stop them right away!"

Chapter Ninety-Six: Unexpected Events

It was early spring, and the lake was still a bit chilly. In the morning, there was a touch of white frost on the surface. Suddenly, a burst of firelight shot up from the water and illuminated the entire lake.

A figure rose from the gradually warming water and landed on the ground, holding a small spherical stone in its hand. However, for some reason, the stone was completely cut in half, and the other half was nowhere to be found.

Lu Zhao shook off the wet clothes and strode towards the people on the shore, handing them the stone. "This is half of your original form, right? Keep it safe, or someone else will take it again!"

She had been here before when she was on a mission, but she didn't find anything unusual then, which shows how well Si Ling protected her.

Si Ling took the stone and ran her fingertips along its uneven surface, hearing a crisp sound emanating from within.

Immediately afterwards, deep, bone-revealing cracks spread across the surface, with fissures spreading in all directions like a spider web.

Another crisp sound rang out, and the stone, which exuded a strange aura, turned into powder and disappeared into the air.

"What...what happened? Are you alright?" Lu Zhao was startled and quickly grabbed her hand, asking with concern.

This is half of Si Ling's true form. If something happens to the true form, how can the avatar that was born from it survive?

“Don’t worry,” Si Ling smiled and pointed to her lower abdomen, “It’s already inside my body. I put it here before so that it could absorb energy better, but now it seems that it’s safer to keep it myself.”

Lu Zhao was relieved and couldn't help but grumble, "Yeah, don't do this kind of thing again. Who knows, someone like Li Manqiu might come and steal things."

As she spoke, she suddenly remembered the important matter: "By the way, you should be able to sense their location now, right?"

"I can sense the location of the other half of the body. I suppose the two of them, along with my sister, should be there."

Upon hearing this, Lu Zhao finally felt a sense of relief, and pulled her along, wanting to leave: "Then let's go find them now!"

Si Ling chuckled, letting her pull her along for several steps before saying, "Zhao Zhao, have you forgotten that I can teleport?"

Ah this...

Lu Zhao paused, turning around somewhat awkwardly.

She had completely forgotten that she usually only received this treatment when she was with Chi Ying.

"Where is our destination?" she asked, holding Si Ling's hand tightly before closing her eyes.

Then, a gust of wind whistled past their ears, and Si Ling's voice followed: "This is Lijia Village, located in a small corner of the surrounding counties and cities of Yongling City. I think you probably wouldn't know it without a map."

Lu Zhao opened his eyes in surprise, only to find that the scene before him had changed, from the lakeside to a village.

They were standing at the entrance of the village. The village in front of them was not very big, but it was very quiet, with only the occasional bark of a dog reaching their ears.

"Squeak—"

The door closest to the village entrance was pushed open, and an ordinary-looking woman walked out, holding a primary school textbook in her hand.

She had just reached the door when she saw the two people looking at her from the village entrance. She adjusted her glasses, and a look of delight immediately appeared on her face. She put down the book she was holding and went over: "Captain Lu! What brings you here!"

Lu Zhao was taken aback. Although he didn't recognize the woman for a moment, he could feel a clear spiritual energy fluctuation emanating from her.

Is she a Spirit Race woman?

While she was still standing there in a daze, the woman in front of her walked over with a happy expression, took her hand and kept thanking her: "Captain Lu, thank you for saving me that day, otherwise I don't know what would have become of me!"

Huh? When did I save this woman?

Lu Zhao was still a little dazed. He stared at the woman with a joyful face for a while before he finally matched her with someone from his memory.

"Wang Yuemei?" she asked uncertainly.

The woman nodded immediately, appearing even more excited: "That's right, it's me! I didn't expect Captain Lu to still remember me!"

Um... Actually, she herself didn't expect that the radiant woman in front of her was the same person as the kindergarten teacher in her memory who wanted to jump into the lake to commit suicide.