Chapter 6: THE TRUTH?

Late night, deathly silence.

In the room, Qiuli held the girl in her arms, a satisfied smile hanging on her lips. No one could see her face clearly, only occasionally glimpsing those flickering, crimson pupils.

What day was this in the apocalypse?

Qiuli couldn't remember.

Day after day, the high-pressure environment of survival had nearly broken her. She had never shown her vulnerable side in front of Qinghe. All this time, the “her” that Qinghe saw as strong was, in reality, fragile too.

Only every night before sleep, during her embrace with Qinghe, could she feel a little relaxation.

That adorable girl. Whenever she saw that petite, delicate little girl, like a doll, she felt a sense of healing from the depths of her heart.

She wanted to possess the girl, to destroy the girl, to make the girl… completely become… an obedient plaything.

“Xiao He? Asleep?” She gently patted the little cutie in her arms.

She couldn't quite define her feelings towards the little one in her arms.

The little one was cute, fun to tease, but there was one thing she disliked. What she truly hoped for was…

To make the little one into a soulless doll that completely obeyed her commands.

Qinghe seemed to be truly asleep. Qiuli began her own actions.

She withdrew her arm from under the covers, carefully reaching towards the girl's soft body.

Qinghe kept her eyes tightly shut, not daring to move a muscle, yet her heart was pounding wildly.

Was Qiuli going to steal the diary now?

The diary was inside her underwear!

Wuwu…

Slightly cool fingers touched Qinghe’s skin, causing her body to tremble uncontrollably.

Whether in this life or the last, this was the first time she had been this close to a girl, let alone being touched in such a sensitive place by one.

In the darkness, feeling the warm, jade-like softness, Qiuli’s lips curled into a slight arc.

Qinghe had always been a deep sleeper. Qiuli had tested this many times before, so her actions were quite bold.

“Anyway… since it’s already like this… let’s touch a little more…”

Qinghe pressed her lips together, lightly biting her tongue. In the pitch blackness, her small face was already flushed crimson.

…She wasn’t asleep!

Stealing the diary was one thing, but why was she doing this too…

Creepy woman!

Wait… the diary!

Qinghe’s face paled as she suddenly thought of something.

Qiuli had only come to find her after she finished writing in the diary. And before that, she had left a hint for tomorrow’s herself in the diary, intending to tell herself that Qiuli was peeping from outside the window.

But later, Qinghe learned that the person outside the window wasn’t Qiuli at all!

If tomorrow’s Qinghe received this wrong information, then her actions would be restricted everywhere…

What to do?

Thinking of this, Qinghe felt at a loss. Find a chance to modify it? But she had left the pen in her own room, and there was no light here either.

“…”

Suddenly, an unexpected move by Qiuli almost made Qinghe cry out.

Qiuli’s somewhat large hand covered the girl’s chest, a thread of coldness spreading throughout her body.

The diary was slowly pulled out, its somewhat rough cover rubbing against Qinghe’s chest, making her whole body go weak.

Her cheeks were burning, a strange feeling rising from the depths of her heart.

What… what was this feeling?

Qinghe could only barely endure and stay still.

A low laugh from Qiuli reached Qinghe’s ear.

The diary was taken… What would she modify?

No matter what she modified, she would have recorded the diary entry Qinghe wrote today. Even if Qinghe found a chance to modify the diary tonight, by tomorrow night… it would be discovered!

If tomorrow’s Qinghe received the wrong information, she would waste another entire day!

Tomorrow’s Qinghe might also choose to write some diary before Qiuli returned, so the fact that the “feeling of being watched” wasn’t from Qiuli might be very hard for her to learn.

Qinghe unconsciously bit her lip.

Was it only the first day after crossing over, and things had already developed to this point?

Was it, was it that Qinghe’s initial direction was wrong from the start… She, she seemed…

To have no way to resist Qiuli at all?

Qinghe suddenly discovered a cruel truth.

Outside was the wilderness; inside the village were evil people. The Qiuli beside her was a pervert. Leaving Qiuli meant facing the evil people in the village, the zombies and ogres outside… She simply couldn’t leave Qiuli…

But at the same time, as long as Qiuli discovered her vigilance, discovered she was making small moves, the consequences would be something Qinghe absolutely couldn’t bear…

Coldness crept from the soles of her feet to the top of her head.

For a moment, Qinghe’s mentality was on the verge of collapse.

Even though she had rewritten the diary earlier, even though she had left hints for herself, even though she had tried so hard, hiding food in her own bed…

There were still, still so many loopholes.

These loopholes, relying on Qinghe alone, simply couldn’t be plugged. Even if Qinghe, relying on her modern memories of the game’s plot, could salvage something, the corrupted ending, or the death ending, would just come a little later.

But Qinghe didn’t want to die, and she didn’t want to become a pet.

She didn’t want to!

Qiuli’s icy palm brushed past, making her feel cold all over.

Was it truly either death, or step by step becoming a pet?

Either death, or madness.

The sound of getting up. The bed loosened as Qiuli got out of bed.

“Creak—” Qiuli stood by the window, diary in hand, using the faint light to write in the diary with a pen, the sound scratching softly.

[Today, all my food ran out. Sister said she could help me, letting me go live with her at her place, just needing me to do some work for her…]

Qiuli was in a pleasant mood.

She flipped to the previous page of the diary, gazing at its contents.

For a while now, she had felt something was off about Qinghe. The girl seemed different from before, her vigilance growing higher and higher.

Qiuli didn’t know the reason, but she guessed it had only happened recently, so…

She stared at the diary.

In the very center of the left and right pages, some extremely faint traces of torn paper revealed what Qiuli had done.

The diary entries from the past week had all been torn out by Qiuli.

In the night, Qinghe lay in bed, quietly turning her head to glance at Qiuli by the window.

Qinghe had a terrible guess.

That was, her Sanity value was probably truly only fifteen.

According to the game’s settings, Sanity value at night takes three days to fully deplete, but pain can temporarily stop it from decreasing.

But earlier, Qinghe had discovered that relatively light pain was no longer effective.

Now, she had to pinch her inner thigh hard just to feel a bit of clarity.

Qinghe felt the likelihood of that guess was quite high.

Could it be that she had crossed over much earlier?

It was just that the “her” from before had let Qiuli sense her vigilance?

…After Qiuli discovered Qinghe’s vigilance… she tore out several diary pages?

Therefore, today’s Qinghe would think she had just crossed over?

So…

Her Sanity value was this low!

Although Qinghe felt her mind was clear, her consciousness firm… she had lost her memories from the past few days. That meant, having lost those memories, subjectively it was hard for her to feel whether her consciousness was healthy and clear or not.

And the evidence of her extremely low Sanity was that even when Qiuli did nothing, just being near Qiuli would make her feel dependent, make her want to be with her always, make her feel…

A thought as hard to shake as an addiction!

Perhaps those weren’t the original host’s conditioned reflexes, but came from Qinghe herself!

Qinghe felt suffocated.

If that was the case, with only fifteen Sanity, what terrifying things would happen by the next day?

What should she do in the future?

If Qiuli later discovered her vigilance again and tore out the first few pages of the diary once more, then… wouldn’t she be finished?

What if her Sanity dropped below ten?

Below ten… she might lose the ability to think!

Thinking of this, a chill ran down Qinghe’s spine.

For Qiuli, she had infinite room for error. For Qinghe, she had none!

Was there a way? Any solution?

Qinghe thought of something, but that method made her heart race wildly.

Perhaps it came with an even deeper abyss.

Actively become… Qiuli’s pet.

Of course, pretend to. Try to… gain her trust.