At the dining table, White Li stared at the dishes covering the table, her eyes fixed.
A glistening substance formed at the corner of her mouth, and she sniffled forcefully.
Lin Du set the last dish on the table and casually pulled two sheets from the tissue box, handing them over.
White Li took the tissues, wiped the corner of her mouth, and crumpled the paper into a ball in her palm.
“Eat up, why are you spacing out?”
“I was waiting for you. The host has to start eating before the guest can—don’t you know that rule??”
Lin Du was slightly startled, his hand pausing as he pulled out a chair.
“Strange people have rules like that?”
“Isn’t that basic manners? What’s this ‘Strange Person’ nonsense?”
White Li tapped the edge of the table lightly with her chopsticks and urged.
“Hurry up and eat, the food’s getting cold.”
Lin Du picked up his chopsticks.
The moment the tips touched the edge of the braised pork in the dish, White Li’s chopsticks shot out like an arrow.
She precisely grabbed that piece of meat, quickly pulled her hand back, and stuffed the whole thing into her mouth.
“Mmm! So good.” White Li said indistinctly, her chopsticks already reaching for the next piece.
Lin Du didn’t rush to grab food.
Instead, he rested his hands on the edge of the table and watched her eat.
White Li’s chopsticks darted across the plate, piece after piece.
Sometimes gravy leaked from the corner of her mouth, and she would stick out her tongue to lick it, then continue chewing.
Her tail swung back and forth behind the chair, smacking against the backrest with a thwack thwack.
“Hm? Why aren’t you eating?”
“You go ahead. I’m not very hungry.”
Lin Du lowered his head, recalling the mysterious dragon inside the wristband, and sighed.
White Li swallowed what was in her mouth and tilted her head.
“Feeling down? Want to talk about it?”
“What if,” he began, “you encountered a target that you absolutely cannot get close to. No matter what you do—whether you try to sneak up when it’s relaxed, or circle around from its blind spot—it never works. Every time you’re discovered, every time you’re beaten back.”
He looked up at White Li.
“What would you do?”
White Li set her chopsticks on the rim of her bowl and looked up at the ceiling.
“Hmm… Sounds like a game,” she thought for a moment and then said.
“Are you stuck on a level?”
“You could say that…” Lin Du’s gaze drifted to the side.
White Li picked up her chopsticks and twirled them between her fingers.
“If you can’t get close no matter what, why not look around first? Maybe there’s some tool or item you can use. Some games are designed that way—they deliberately mess with you, and you can’t unlock the next level until you’ve collected everything.”
She tapped the table with the tip of her chopsticks, like a teacher tapping chalk on a blackboard.
Lin Du nodded thoughtfully, his fingers also tapping lightly on the table edge.
“I understand.”
“By the way, what game is it?”
White Li leaned forward, eyes sparkling.
“Can I try it? I may not be good at fighting, but I’m pretty decent at puzzles.”
“You just keep eating.”
Lin Du reached out and pushed the dish with two pieces of meat left toward her.
“Hmph, stingy.”
White Li pouted, but she still picked up her chopsticks and went for the two pieces.
She picked up the last piece and waved her chopsticks at Lin Du.
“I’m going to eat the last piece too, you know. You don’t want any?”
“You eat it.”
Lin Du stood up.
“I’ve got your appetite figured out. Next time I’ll make more.”
With that, he turned and walked into the kitchen, took out a carton of milk, and set it beside White Li.
White Li was holding a bowl of soup in both hands, blowing at it over the rim.
Steam rose from the bowl, blurring her face.
She looked up and watched Lin Du place the milk on the table.
“Drink a glass before bed,” Lin Du said, his tone casual.
“It’s good for you.”
“Ah, well…”
White Li stopped blowing.
She put down the soup bowl, looked at the milk carton on the table, and reached out to touch its edge.
“Um… how much for the meal? I’ll pay.”
She pushed the milk slightly toward Lin Du.
“But I don’t need the milk.”
“Consider it a freebie.”
Lin Du pushed the milk back.
“Drink more… it’ll help you grow taller.”
White Li froze.
Was he treating her like a child?
“So you really think I’m short.”
She pouted, reluctantly picked up the milk, and hugged it to her chest.
The corner of the carton pressed against her chest, so she shifted it to rest in the crook of her arm.
Lin Du gathered the empty plates from the table and carried them into the kitchen.
The faucet turned on, and the sound of running water mixed with the clinking of dishes drifted out from the kitchen.
White Li sat at the dining table, tore the straw off the plastic wrap on the milk carton, poked it into the opening, and took a sip.
The milk was cool and slightly sweet.
She took another sip, then set the milk down, picked up the soup bowl, and continued drinking.
The soup was no longer hot; she downed half of it in one go, set the bowl down, and wiped her mouth with a tissue.
She stood up and carried her own used bowl and chopsticks into the kitchen.
Lin Du was standing at the sink, wearing gloves and washing dishes.
White Li placed her bowl on the counter beside him and stood behind him for a while.
Watching his busy back, she didn’t know what to say, so she simply turned and walked out.
She sat on the sofa with the milk in her hands, chewing on the straw.
Her tail swept back and forth across the sofa, occasionally hitting a cushion and pushing it aside.
Lin Du finished washing the dishes, dried his hands, and came out of the kitchen.
He didn’t linger in the living room; instead, as if in a hurry, he crossed the hallway and entered the bathroom.
Soon the sound of running water began.
White Li listened to it, finished the last sip of milk from the carton, crushed it, and tossed it into the trash.
She stood up, smoothed out the wrinkles on the sofa, and wiped the water stains on the coffee table with a tissue.
By the time she finished, the sound of water in the bathroom had stopped.
Lin Du came out, changed into clean pajamas, his hair falling over his forehead, water droplets dripping from the ends.
He dried his hair with a towel and nodded to White Li.
“Rest early. I’m going to bed.”
He walked into the bedroom and closed the door.
“Oh, good night…”
White Li stood there, a little puzzled.
Lin Du was going to sleep this early today.
She heard the sound of the wardrobe door opening and closing from the bedroom, then the creak of the mattress being pressed down, and finally, everything fell silent.
Lin Du sat on the bed, took the silver-gray wristband from the paper bag on the nightstand, and held it in his palm.
The metal felt cool against his skin.
He fastened the wristband around his wrist, and the buckle clicked shut.
Lin Du lay down, closed his eyes, regulated his breathing, and let his body relax bit by bit.
Darkness surged in from behind his eyelids, but his consciousness remained clear, like a taut string.
‘Think of it as a game? That’s actually a fresh perspective… A game that can be replayed infinitely, but each death is piercingly real.’
His breathing slowed.
His heart rate dropped from over seventy beats per minute to sixty, then fifty.
Lin Du tried to push his consciousness toward that world, like pushing against a very heavy door.
Red light seeped through the crack, hot air poured out from the gap, and the red gem on his wristband flickered.
Lin Du’s brow relaxed.
He waited in the darkness, waiting for that world forged of flames to emerge from the depths of his consciousness.
Waiting for that black dragon.
Twentieth attempt.
Start over.