Chapter 175
Editor: Sahloknir
Shi Qing remained by Gong Yu’s side. He watched his initial obedience devolve into fear and then outright, heartbroken sobs.
He tried to talk to Gong Yu, but this was only a memory after all. How could Gong Yu hear anything he said? In the end, Shi Qing could only sit by Gong Yu’s side and tentatively reach out. His intangible hand hovered a fraction above Gong Yu’s shoulder, offering him silent comfort.
Having witnessed Gong Yu’s initial happiness to his current breakdown, it would be a lie to say Shi Qing didn’t feel even the slightest bit guilty.
He couldn’t understand how he could forget about Gong Yu.
Even if Gong Yu wasn’t human but just a character in a game, the youthful him of then definitely considered Gong Yu his friend.
Shi Qing was always present. He saw how his past self relied on, and trusted Gong Yu.
At first, he thought he had forgotten because of what happened to his family and his swift departure from the game. Perhaps not being able to play for a long time made Gong Yu slip his mind.
But after witnessing with his own eyes how well his past self got along with Gong Yu, how close they were…
Shi Qing dismissed the possibility.
He might seem cold and aloof at first glance, but in reality he was the type to always remember those who were even slightly kind to him.
And there was no way his memory could have become so bad anyway.
Although the youthful Shi Qing considered Gong Yu as just a friend, the far more experienced and worldly Shi Qing could tell there was something more.
His past self liked Gong Yu.
Ah, young love. How pure and unaware it was.
Youthful Shi Qing subconsciously chose to play with Gong Yu, to keep Gong Yu company, and drag Gong Yu everywhere with him.
His eyes shone the brightest when he was looking at Gong Yu.
And this was true for Gong Yu as well.
But Shi Qing couldn’t remember.
Had he ever liked anyone?
Why couldn’t he remember?
Why did he have the impression that he only met the main villain in this game and did not kill him?
Even though he’d seen with his own eyes his past self and Gong Yu’s interactions…
When he recalled the past, even Gong Yu’s face was a blur.
Gong Yu was still crying.
For the first time, he understood what sadness felt like. He cried for an entire day and night.
In the end, he cried until his tears ran out. He sat where he was before, frozen in place like a statue, staring obsessively at the spot where the youthful Shi Qing had vanished.
Shi Qing thought that Gong Yu would hate him.
After all, it was the youthful Shi Qing who had promised him that he’d stay. It was him who taught the naive Gong Yu the meaning of heartbreak.
It was like a person who had never eaten tasty food in his life. He ate only unappetizing stuff since he was born.
Then one day, another person gave him something tasty to eat. They even came back every day with more.
Then that person disappeared.
Naturally, the tasty food also vanished.
So that person had to go back to the unappetizing stuff he was once used to.
But how could he be satisfied now that he knew the wonders of tasty food? How could he not be tormented?
Gong Yu was in such a state at the moment.
He was once in h.e.l.l, but he didn’t understand how unfortunate he was.
The youthful Shi Qing pulled him out of h.e.l.l and let him experience the happiness and peace of heaven.
Then, he personally pushed him back into h.e.l.l.
But Gong Yu still couldn’t bring himself to hate Shi Qing.
He could only wait obsessively, firmly believing that vivid human would come back to him.
Gong Yu waited for another year.
Because he was no longer refusing to let the people outside open Myriad Flower Valley, players broke through. However, they were unable to approach the area where Gong Yu was sitting.
Gong Yu sat there, listening in on their conversations with something akin to greed. He tried to extract even a morsel of information about Shi Qing from them.
After an indeterminate amount of time, he finally got word of Shi Qing.
Two players happened to mention the Shi family in their conversation.
“Their chairman’s called Shi Qing or something, right? Becoming a chairman at his age…As expected, being born into the right family really trumps everything else.”
“Come on dude. You think it’s easy being a chairman? It was all over the news back then. When Shi Qing was eighteen, his parents were killed and he was shot too. I heard he was still playing a VR game when it happened. He almost died, and he’s spent all his time after getting out of the hospital on managing his company.”
“Think about it. Who at that company would be okay with taking orders from some sickly, inexperienced 18 year old, who has been sheltered by his family all his life? How much blood, sweat and tears did he need to regain control over the company?”
“I know about that. The news stories were how I learned of Shi Qing in the first place. His parents were both murdered by his uncle, right? His blood-related uncle, ah…how could anyone be cold-blooded enough to do such a thing?”
“Money makes people become beasts. I also know that this Shi Qing seemed to have played our game in the past. I heard that there was a Shi Qing on the Myriad Year Leaderboard a couple of years ago. But not many people have seen his face so I can’t be sure if it’s the same Shi Qing we’re talking about.”
“Who cares? He’s not playing anymore so it’s not like I can suck up to him.”
Like Gong Yu, Shi Qing listened quietly to the conversation of the two players.
He had indeed been shot, but luckily he clung on to life despite his sickly body at the time. After regaining consciousness, he sensed something was off about his uncle. He purposely pretended to be frightened and weak-willed to fool him, even proposing to hand the company over to his uncle.
Then he simply wrote up a will. If he died, all of his a.s.sets would be donated to charity. His uncle, who was supposedly his only remaining family member at the time, would get nothing.
If he died, his uncle would get nothing. If he lived, his uncle could manage the company.
This was how the eighteen year old Shi Qing, who had been well protected by his parents all along, saved his own life.
He played the fool for two years after that, only discarding the facade once he regained control. He sent that b.a.s.t.a.r.d straight to prison.
Then, once the situation in the Shi family had stabilized, he began cycling through various VR games. Never did he ever recall anything about Gong Yu again.
Shi Qing immediately attributed this to being shot.
He couldn’t have suddenly forgotten about Gong Yu, nor would anyone be capable of making him forget. All his life, Shi Qing had never been the chatty type. At the time, he should’ve been the only one who knew about Gong Yu’s existence.
Since no one knew about Gong Yu, naturally no one would be out to erase Shi Qing’s memories of him.
So it could only have been an accident.
Being suddenly forcibly ejected from a VR game would definitely result in some degree of injury to the brain. However, since he was also shot and the shooter was that b.a.s.t.a.r.d uncle of his, it was probably overlooked.
So that’s how parts of his memory were lost.
Shi Qing became silent after thinking things through.
After stabilizing the company, he had almost become obsessed with VR games. He had to try every new game that came out, and he loved to go after the main villain each time, switching to a different game once he beat them.
Shi Qing used to think that this was just a hobby of his.
However, a new possibility had emerged.
He might have lost his memories of Gong Yu, but his presence still lingered in his subconsciousness.
Perhaps that was why Shi Qing couldn’t stop playing VR games and bouncing from one to another, going after the main villains each time.
But he didn’t know that there was a person who had always been waiting for him.
A twist of fate had made their paths diverge.
Shi Qing sat next to Gong Yu and observed his expression.
After hearing the news about Shi Qing, Gong Yu was ecstatic.
He listened in on the players’ casual remarks about events in Shi Qing’s real life with bated breath.
The players didn’t know that Shi Qing had sustained brain damage from being forcibly taken out of a VR game, so of course they didn’t mention it. All they talked about was how freely the Shi family chairman spent his money, how happy a life he led.
Touring on lavish yachts, owing luxury mansions and personal planes, buying an entire island to vacation on…
What seemed like a heavenly life to normal people must’ve been like needles digging into Gong Yu’s heart.
He was sitting here like a stone, waiting obsessively for someone that never came back.
But the person he longed for was having the time of his life in the real world.
Yet no anger or disappointment appeared on Gong Yu’s face.
His long eyelashes twitched. His beautiful features, which had remained neutral thus far, showed a bit of heartache and apprehension.
The sight stunned Shi Qing. Then his heart was flooded with sour and bitter emotions.
That’s right. This is who Gong Yu is.
Even if he’s abandoned, even if he’s forgotten, even if the culprit he wasted all this time waiting for was fooling around outside…
His first reaction would still be worry after hearing Shi Qing was shot.
Gong Yu never considered for a second that Shi Qing not coming back meant that he had forgotten him.
Something must have happened to him in the real world.
Not being able to see the person he wanted to was the only type of sadness he felt.
There was not a shred of grievance in his heart.
How could such a heartbreaking person exist in this world?
He never asked for anything and never complained. He only guarded his Shi Qing carefully like he was his only treasure.
Shi Qing watched Gong Yu get up and twirl around on the spot. His expression was a mix of joy and apprehension.
Gong Yu touched the place where he had originally put his little being, quickly asking, “Let’s go find him, alright?”
Naturally, he received no response.
But Gong Yu didn’t need one in the first place.
Knowing that Shi Qing was alright in the real world seemed to be the motivation he needed. He started to try his best to leave this world.
Alas, although he wanted to, he wasn’t human in the end.
Gong Yu couldn’t come up with a way out even after quite some time.
He could only wander around frustrated and sad like a headless fly.
Shi Qing had already gotten used to Gong Yu not being able to see him.
But despite that, he developed a habit of speaking to Gong Yu.
“Don’t fret, it’s not your fault.”
“Are you still not going to take a break today?”
“The new tanghulu available ingame looks great. Why don’t you buy some to try?”
He wasn’t sure if he was doing this to comfort Gong Yu or punish himself.
In any case, disregarding that last point, he would feel bad if he didn’t comfort Gong Yu.
Gong Yu had no luck finding a way out.
That was, until the day he heard some players gossiping.
They said that the Shi family chairman was seriously ill and dying.
Author’s Corner
Randomly sending out red pockets!!!
Good night, ya!