Chapter 83

A kiss in exchange for passing the level?
Gu Yi'an felt like choosing not to pass.
After all, the game was set by this guy.
Whether she passed or not was entirely up to him.
So, Gu Yi'an decided not to bother with the game anymore.
What mattered was that she had just realized something.
She noticed that Lu Zize was becoming increasingly bold.
Before, he was always fixated on dates.
Then they went on a few dates.
Now he was always fixated on this.
This time, Gu Yi'an absolutely would not soften her heart again.
Dates were fine, but this? Not yet.
Gu Yi'an didn't speak. She lowered the shoulder he was pressing on.
Her attitude was clear from her actions.
Lu Zize had always been quick to read the situation. He withdrew his hand accordingly.
But he still stayed very close, deliberately asking slowly by her ear, "So, what do you think?"
He hadn't given up on his earlier idea.
His voice was intentionally lowered, gentle and pleasant, as if carrying lingering affection.
As Gu Yi'an heard his words, she could feel the side of her body warming slightly.
She couldn't let him say any more.
No matter what Gu Yi'an was thinking inside, she remained calm on the surface.
She hadn't even expected herself to appear so composed.
Gu Yi'an said lightly, "Not happening."
Her cold voice instantly dissipated the deliberately crafted atmosphere someone had tried to create.
The other person’s eyes immediately took on a hint of grievance.
Gu Yi’an couldn’t see his face, but her intuition told her he must look like that right now.
She couldn’t look at him.
If she did, she might change her mind.
Gu Yi’an restrained herself, her gaze falling somewhere she herself wasn’t even aware of.
She said, "I want to watch the sunrise with them."
She voiced her wish to the god.
She believed the god would grant it.
This was her wish, and also the wish of her entire class.
A wish from the past, one that had lingered for a full year.
Due to an accident, she had missed that trip with them before.
This time, she wanted to make up for it.
A gentle breeze brushed past.
Gu Yi’an felt the person beside her lightly take her hand.
In the blink of an eye, the scenery around her completely changed.
A slightly dilapidated mountain temple appeared before her.
The sky was dim, the temple’s signboard barely legible, with faint candlelight flickering inside.
A woman’s voice, one that existed only in Gu Yi’an’s memories, came from behind her.
"An’an."
That voice was all too familiar.
It almost felt like an illusion.
Gu Yi’an froze for a moment.
It had been so long since she last heard her friend’s voice.
Was she really going to see them again?
Just as she was about to meet them, Gu Yi’an suddenly felt a hint of trepidation.
Would they still be the way she remembered them? But she felt as though she had become completely different from her past self.
She was no longer the person they remembered.
Gu Yi’an couldn’t help but glance at Lu Zize beside her.
He stood next to her, smiling as he looked at her.
Lu Zize’s eyes held understanding, he had grasped Gu Yi’an’s emotions.
He knew she was somewhat afraid to meet her old friends.
Lu Zize voluntarily released Gu Yi’an’s hand.
He said gently, "You are the one they’ve been waiting for. Go and see them."
No matter how much Gu Yi’an’s personality might have changed over the past year, deep down, she was still the person worth their year-long wait.
The person who, upon hearing their wish from a stranger, was willing to come and see them.
She must be the one they had hoped to wait for.
And they knew she would surely come.
Because this was their shared wish.
"Alright."
Hearing Lu Zize’s words, Gu Yi’an realized she had been overthinking.
Because she cared so deeply, she had overcomplicated things.
People often acted this way when it came to those and things they valued.
Gu Yi’an smiled at Lu Zize, signaling that he needn’t worry about her anymore.
Then, without hesitation, she turned around.
Since she had decided to meet them, there was no room for delay.
The sky was about to darken, with only a sliver of daylight left, visibility low, but this level of brightness was enough.
One smiling face after another appeared before Gu Yi’an.
They stood not too close to her, grouped in twos and threes according to their relationships from when they were alive, scattered across the front courtyard of the mountain temple.
Her high school classmates, all of them were here.
The entire class, all present.
What should she say to them?
Her usual composure seemed utterly useless at this moment.
A bittersweet emotion welled up in Gu Yi’an’s heart.
She glanced back at Lu Zize.
Lu Zize was right beside her. He smiled slightly and said, "Don’t look at me. They’ll think I bullied you."
Gu Yi'an could tell Lu Zize didn't want to interfere with her reunion with friends.
She followed his suggestion and turned back to face the enthusiastic figures waving at her.
Their warm enthusiasm seemed to dissolve the distance created by time.
These were friends who had been waiting for her for so long.
Gu Yi'an smiled and said, "Long time no see."
Long time no see, my friends.
The figures before her no longer wore the familiar school uniforms she remembered, but their own casual clothes instead.
Yet their faces remained the slightly youthful ones preserved in Gu Yi'an's memory.
Because they were forever frozen at that age from the past.
The figure closest to Gu Yi'an was a round-faced girl wearing a light-colored shirt and dark jeans, who had been watching Gu Yi'an with a constant smile.
When Gu Yi'an's gaze fell upon her, the round-faced girl pretended to scold, "An'an, why did you bring your boyfriend along? I wanted to share a tent with you, but now that's impossible."
The round-faced girl broke character after just one sentence, exclaiming with genuine delight, "An'an, it's really wonderful that you could come."
Her words prompted responses from the other figures.
"That's right. We were only missing our top student Gu."
"It's so great that our whole class could gather together."
Hearing the round-faced girl's voice, Gu Yi'an nearly lost her composure.
She stepped forward and tentatively reached out to hug her.
Seeing Gu Yi'an's cautious approach, the round-faced girl proactively opened her arms and embraced her.
"An'an, don't be sad, I'm doing just fine. Let's set up the tent together. After we're done, we can have a nighttime chat and watch the sunrise together."
The other figures began their own conversations upon hearing this.
"Time to set up tents. Don't even think about slacking off."
"You're one to talk - you're the biggest slacker here."
"I report that the class representative is slacking off."
"Class monitor, come quick and defend me."
They bantered back and forth, teasing and criticizing each other while carrying tents from who-knows-where, beginning their challenging tent-pitching endeavor.
Those familiar nicknames, those familiar communication styles between familiar people, quickly helped Gu Yi'an reintegrate into this group of figures.
"An'an, look, Fatty never wins against the monitor."
Gu Yi'an heard this and, by the moonlight and the light from the bulb connected to the mountain temple, saw the round-faced girl referring to Fatty, who was being chased and hit by another figure.
This scene overlapped with the images in Gu Yi'an's memory.
Gu Yi'an couldn't help but laugh. "When has he ever won? He always ends up with the short end of the stick."
Time spent with friends always makes one forget the passage of time.
Gu Yi'an glanced unintentionally toward the front of the mountain temple and noticed that Lu Zize had disappeared.
He probably didn't want to disturb her time with her friends.
Gu Yi'an didn't dwell on it further.
By midnight, everyone had managed to set up the tents.
Gu Yi'an set an alarm on her phone, planning to wake everyone up at that time in the morning to watch the sunrise.
That was the plan, but Gu Yi'an didn't sleep, as no one wanted to sleep in the tents, they all just wanted to play games. Gu Yi'an wanted to play games with her friends too.
She might not have realized it herself, but the smiles she had that day surpassed all the smiles she had in the past year.
Since she wasn't using her phone, Gu Yi'an decided to put it, with the alarm set, into her backpack.
As she unzipped her backpack, the outline of a familiar notebook came into view.
It was Lu Zize's.
He had been with her all along.
Gu Yi'an stared at it for two or three seconds before she heard the chatter of her other classmates.
She zipped the backpack back up.
Time always passes too quickly.
They played a few rounds of chasing games until Gu Yi'an seemed too tired to run anymore, so they stopped to chat.
Gu Yi'an quietly listened as they gossiped about past teachers and revealed who had dated whom in their class.
At one point, a boy sighed and mentioned that many guys in their class had wanted to pursue Gu Yi'an, and he even started to list their names.
But immediately, the others glared at him, scaring him into silence.
Everyone had noticed that Gu Yi'an had come with her boyfriend this time.
Bringing this up now wasn't appropriate.
Before they knew it, a faint light appeared on the horizon.
Sunrise was approaching.
After chatting all night, the classmates unanimously turned their gazes to the sky.
"Let's watch the sunrise together."
No one knew which classmate said it, but it was exactly what everyone was already doing.
They were watching the sunrise.
They watched as darkness was devoured by light, as the massive yet not scorching sun slowly rose above the distant horizon, and as the entire world brightened.
The morning breeze was at its most refreshing.
The air was crisp.
Clear, melodious birdsong echoed around them.
"An'an, we have to go."
Gu Yi'an froze and looked at the figures beside her.
The familiar faces around her now wore expressions of contentment and satisfaction.
The round-faced girl closest to her said, "An'an, our wish has been fulfilled. It's time for us to leave."
Leave?
Where could they go?
The figures noticed the concern on Gu Yi'an's face.
They smiled, and one of them said, "We shouldn't linger in this world and trouble the living any longer. It's time for us to move on to reincarnation."
As soon as those words were spoken, the others glared at the speaker.
They could tell that Gu Yi'an was no longer human either.
Saying something like that only made things difficult for her.
The person quickly added, "What I mean is that our wishes have been fulfilled, and it’s time for us to leave. You still have attachments in this world, so you must stay."
Gu Yi’an gave a faint smile and said, "Yes, I will."
She was going to stay with the god.
The round-faced girl looked at Gu Yi’an, her eyes filled with reluctance, and said, "An’an, you must be happy every day. Be with the one you love and live joyfully."
"Yes," Gu Yi’an nodded earnestly.
After the round-faced girl spoke her blessing, the other classmates took turns expressing their well-wishes for Gu Yi’an.
Gu Yi’an thanked them one by one.
She was grateful that, even before leaving, they still cared about her future.
When the last classmate finished speaking, they glanced at the increasingly intense sun and smiled at Gu Yi’an once more.
Gu Yi’an sensed the impending farewell in her heart.
Then, in the next moment, the farewell happened.
Before her eyes, the figures who had just been smiling and talking to her turned into golden dust one by one, vanishing without a trace in the wind.
A gentle breeze whispered by.
Gu Yi’an stood alone on the mountaintop.
She lifted her head to look at the sky again.
The sunlight was already somewhat dazzling by then.
Gu Yi’an lowered her gaze, closed her eyes for a moment to ease the sting from the brightness.
A few seconds later.
Gu Yi’an opened her eyes again.
A handsome and gentle young man stood before her, Lu Zize.
He looked at her, reached out to tidy the stray strands of hair that the breeze had tousled on her forehead, and softly promised, "Don’t be sad. I will always be with you."
His voice was soft, fading away in the wind almost instantly.
Sunlight bathed the exposed mountaintop, casting a gentle glow over the young man before her.
It made one want to draw closer.
Gu Yi’an looked at Lu Zize, then suddenly took a step forward and said, "Lower your head."
A flicker of confusion crossed Lu Zize’s eyes, but he did as Gu Yi’an asked.
Then, in his eyes, the girl suddenly drew even closer.
His cheek was lightly brushed.
She had kissed him.