Chapter 54

After rereading the article "Universal Dimensional Co-frequency" once more, Tao Shushu filled an entire page with notes. Angus had only proposed the conjecture that energy exchange between two dimensions is possible during "co-frequency," and the dimensions referred to here are not the conventional three-dimensional or two-dimensional "dimensions", the term was merely borrowed without delving into the conditions for co-frequency.
But Tao Shushu could still consult the system. The system had mentioned from the start that money from Blue Star couldn’t be directly converted into in-game gold coins, yet the energy she gained from studying could be transformed into gold coins.
For now, Tao Shushu couldn’t precisely define this energy, but based on how Su Momo’s aura vanished after her public embarrassment, she speculated that the energy might be related to emotions like public recognition.
The more she thought about it, the more convinced Tao Shushu became that Nan Yuan also existed in a real dimension.
And she had often ruffled Nan Yuan’s head and ears, watching him lie down in bed every night before logging off.
Tao Shushu covered her face, feeling as though she had already died of embarrassment hundreds of times and could no longer face her cub.
Putting away her notes, clinging to the slim hope that her cub might just be an artificial construct, she decided to ask the system right away.
As she stood up, she saw Qin Rui with his eyes closed, sniffing his wrist with a slightly creepy expression.
Tao Shushu let out a short gasp. "President Qin, I’m sorry. Next time, I’ll make sure to let you know before I turn around."
The moment Qin Rui heard Tao Shushu stand up, he reflexively pulled his hand away.
"Sorry to disturb you," Tao Shushu said, skirting the edge of the rehearsal room wall and giving Qin Rui a wide berth as she left.
Qin Rui inwardly scolded himself for reflexively letting go and regretted missing the chance to explain. He wondered why Tao Shushu had acted as if he smelled bad, the perfume was handcrafted by a master in France, so it couldn’t possibly be the issue.
Even as rehearsals and blocking began, Qin Rui still hadn’t found the right moment to explain.
For this rehearsal, the TV station had sent a crew to do some preliminary filming.
Although Qin Rui quickly averted his gaze from Tao Shushu, everything on stage was magnified through the camera lens, making it impossible to hide. The director shouted from offstage, "Alright, we’re starting for real now. Focus on your own performance, boys, no looking at the girls."
After the run-through, the teacher coordinating with the TV station said, "Shushu performed very well, not a hint of stage fright. Qin Rui was good too, keeping an eye on Shushu on stage, it really shows the camaraderie at Huiwen."
Qin Rui’s expression stiffened. The teacher was referring to the moment at the beginning when the director had called him out for looking at Tao Shushu.
Although both the director and the teacher assumed he had glanced her way out of concern that she might be nervous during her first recording, no one knew it was actually a mistake, he hadn’t gotten into character the very first second.
But for someone who considered himself a prodigy, this was already hard to accept.
In Tao Shushu’s mind, the system suddenly spoke up, [Shushu, you outshone him on stage.]
[You can talk now?] Tao Shushu asked. Previously, the system had gone silent the moment she came into contact with Qin Rui, and it hadn’t responded when she tried to ask earlier.
[Gained Professor Angus’s favor. Reward: Gold Coins × 1000, Primary Clarity Card × 1.] The system issued a task.
Tao Shushu threw herself back into training. Watching Qin Rui's sudden aggressive demeanor, she suspected he had received the same mission, and she absolutely couldn't let him succeed.
Thanks to the two student representatives' wholehearted dedication, the rehearsal ended earlier than expected.
This gave Tao Shushu a chance to communicate with the system. [System... is Nan Yuan from the real dimension?]
The system fell silent for a while, so long that Tao Shushu thought it had gone to download some philosophy books. [How do you define reality? If you can interact with it, it's real; if you can't, it's not. I've tried my best to hint at this before.]
Tao Shushu let out a mournful cry and covered her face. [If I claim I had amnesia before, do you think you would believe me?]
The system didn't share Tao Shushu's sorrows or joys. [For just one million gold coins, you can cross dimensions and time to have a real, close encounter with your cub. Special player price: nine hundred thousand gold coins. Don't miss out~]
Tao Shushu: ...
Saving up even ten thousand gold coins was already a struggle for her, let alone nine hundred thousand.
Besides, right now, she just wanted cub to lose his memory. What had she done during the time she treated him as a game NPC?
At this moment, only immersing herself completely in studying could save Tao Shushu from her socially awkward, crumbling heart.
She evasively finished two workbooks, got praised once in Li Xin's class, insisted on memorizing vocabulary on her way home, and even brushed through two specialized Chinese practice tests after returning, without even touching her phone.
All her homework and exercises were done.
Mother Tao cautiously knocked on her daughter's door. "Shushu, it's too late. How about studying more tomorrow?"
"Going to sleep soon, Mom," Tao Shushu had to say.
The system popped up as well. [Perfect score on the specialized Chinese test. Congratulations on earning 5 gold coins. Only... away from nine hundred thousand gold coins...]
[I can count!] Tao Shushu shouted.
No matter how much she procrastinated, bedtime had arrived. She was long accustomed to exchanging goodnights with Nan Yuan every day.
And she knew that if she didn't log in, Nan Yuan would keep waiting. She used to think it was a little trick by the game company to boost online activity, but now, knowing Nan Yuan was real, she felt strangely uneasy.
Once she knew Nan Yuan was a real person, she couldn't bear the thought of him waiting alone in the dark, eyes wide open.
Better a sharp pain than a lingering one. The one who did all those cringeworthy things was herself, and there was no escaping it no matter how hard she tried.
Gritting her teeth, Tao Shushu opened her phone.
The first thing to pop up on the screen was over a dozen WeChat messages from Li Anyu, sharing tons of men's suit designs from various major fashion brands.
Looking at these messages now, Tao Shushu felt even more awkward.
She brushed aside the chaotic thoughts in her mind.
[System, next time I save up ten thousand gold coins, I'm definitely changing the appearance.] At least looking at the chibi version of the cub would ease some of the weird feelings inside her and let her keep treating Nan Yuan like an adorable chibi character.
Tao Shushu finished replying to her unread messages, took a deep breath, and opened the game.
Nan Yuan was indeed still awake.
The only source of light in the room was a glowing energy sphere.
In the dim light, Nan Yuan still managed to capture Tao Shushu’s attention the moment she looked in.
He had taken Tao Shushu’s advice and trimmed his hair slightly shorter. The sharpness of his brows and eyes, no longer hidden by his bangs, was now more pronounced.
The temperature there was a bit low, and he was wearing the khaki trench coat Tao Shushu had specifically bought for him, sitting alone in his room.
His posture was very proper, and everything in the room was neatly arranged, reflecting the disciplined nature of someone raised in a military environment.
The only things out of place were the three small dolls representing him, Tao Shushu, and the little lion.
The golden fur of the lion doll had been combed into a slicked-back style, as if its owner had fiddled with it many times out of boredom. In contrast, the doll representing Tao Shushu remained meticulously neat, as if its owner treasured it too much to disturb it carelessly.
Tao Shushu’s heart gave a sudden jolt.
She gently tapped on the desk.
Nan Yuan immediately stood up. “Shushu?”
“Sorry, cub, I’m late today,” Tao Shushu said. Seeing Nan Yuan’s smiling face, she couldn’t bring herself to say that he shouldn’t wait for her anymore.
“It’s fine, I just finished up too,” Nan Yuan said, casually smoothing the lion doll’s fur to make it look as though she had just returned to the room.
Tao Shushu’s heart ached with a bittersweet feeling. “What did Nan Yuan do today?”
She could have checked the event log just by touching him, but Tao Shushu felt too embarrassed to make physical contact with the cub now.
What would it look like to keep touching him now that she knew he was a real person?
“I negotiated with the Bloodsucking Grass,” Nan Yuan said.
“Huh?” Tao Shushu was surprised. She scrutinized Nan Yuan carefully. “Were you hurt?”
“No,” Nan Yuan chuckled, rolling up his sleeve to let Tao Shushu check. “It was a peaceful negotiation.”
It was a gesture they were both accustomed to, but Tao Shushu reacted strongly, abruptly pulling his sleeve back down.
“What’s wrong, Shushu?”
Tao Shushu was also taken aback by her own reaction. She had just suddenly realized that Nan Yuan was, after all, a real person, and she ought to be more mindful.
“It’s nothing. It’s cold at night cub… Nan Yuan, keep yourself wrapped up so you don’t catch a chill,” Tao Shushu said.
Earlier, her finger had accidentally brushed against Nan Yuan’s forearm muscle, and the event log automatically popped up. Tao Shushu clicked to check it.
Nan Yuan was right, it really was a peaceful negotiation. He had given the Bloodsucking Grass some papers documenting the basic principles of the C1 star system, allowing the mother colony to study them on their own. In return, the Bloodsucking Grass mother colony agreed to hand over weapons left behind by previous attackers.
Nan Yuan suspected that Lin Wei had lost some important items during his encounters with the Bloodsucking Grass.
Tao Shushu decided she would later initiate an exploration mission to ensure the Bloodsucking Grass mother colony wasn’t hiding anything.
While Tao Shushu was checking the event log, Nan Yuan lowered his gaze in thought.
Shushu’s attitude had been a bit off these past couple of days. She had just instinctively called him “cub” before abruptly switching to “Nan Yuan.” A few days ago, she had formally mentioned changing how she addressed him.
Nan Yuan’s intuition told him that the reason for the change in address was also the reason Shushu had suddenly stopped being physically close to him.
“Cub” was usually a term used for young children. He was about to turn eighteen, there was no way he could be mistaken for a child based on his appearance.
So, there must have been some special reason why Shushu had previously treated him like a child.
For example, due to the cognitive peculiarities of her unique race, Shushu viewed all humans as cubs. However, she showed no particular favor toward Cheng Feimao and the others, nor was she particularly enthusiastic about the actual cub, the little lion. This possibility could essentially be ruled out.
The issue wasn’t with her, it had to lie with himself. Nan Yuan pieced together the various clues from the past: her limited understanding of this world, the fact that the creatures in his space wouldn’t harm her, the way she always seemed to touch things as if separated by something, the odd angle at which she poked the golden lion’s fur while petting it, her occasional slip of the tongue about earning money to buy things for him, the items she provided far surpassing the technological level of humanity’s peak era, and the identical marks on everything she gave...
A possibility Nan Yuan had long suspected suddenly struck him: Shushu was not in the same time and space as him. Moreover, it wasn’t a case of overlapping dimensions allowing her to appear by his side. The way she looked at him was as if through a screen, he was an observable subject she could see and exert force upon but never truly touch. That thing could even conceal his true characteristics.
The answer was on the tip of his tongue. Previously focused solely on training and study, Nan Yuan had never felt his knowledge of entertainment was lacking. Now, however, he couldn’t wait to ask Cheng Feimao what could possibly meet these conditions.
Tao Shushu watched as Nan Yuan made an agreement with the Bloodsucking Grass mother colony to hand everything over the next day. Eager to complete an exploration task, she hurried to check her list and pass it to Nan Yuan, fearing she wouldn’t have time to log in tomorrow amidst the busyness.
“Cub... Nan Yuan, you should sleep now. It’s very late. Goodnight,” Tao Shushu said.
“Goodnight, Shushu,” Nan Yuan replied, lying down on the bed as instructed.
Seeing Nan Yuan close his eyes, Tao Shushu yawned and quickly switched maps.
After waiting a few minutes and hearing no further sounds, Nan Yuan immediately got up, went to Cheng Feimao’s door, and knocked.