He Fang had only ever lived with his parents. Due to his personality, he had never had any friends, let alone brought one home.
He Fang didn’t feel that he and the deliveryman were close enough for him to bring the man home. And yet, he had done just that.
He stared blankly as the young man stripped right in front of him without the slightest hint of reservation, then unhesitatingly climbed onto the bed. The man even hugged the blanket and rubbed against it a little, then revealed a face filled with blissful satisfaction.
He Fang unconsciously swallowed. Probably because the deliveryman seemed so out of it right now, his social anxiety had lessened significantly.
Although obedient, the deliveryman looked out of it, as if he wasn’t fully conscious. He Fang figured the guy probably had no idea what he was doing.
He Fang honestly didn’t want to stare, but he couldn’t stop his gaze from drifting toward that flawless physique. The deliveryman really did have a great body—not exaggerated with muscles everywhere, but now that he was relaxed, he looked soft and pliant. Yet every line, every detail, was beautiful to the point of seeming unreal.
He Fang stepped forward and pulled out the blanket that was pinned under the deliveryman. The guy had a fever, he couldn’t go without being covered.
Because of He Fang’s movements, the deliveryman shifted from lying on his side to lying flat on his back. His beautiful golden hair spread out behind him in a carefree yet uniquely elegant arc. When He Fang pulled the blanket over him, he caught sight of the man’s completely unguarded sleeping face. It was beautiful to the point of being sharp, but in sleep, all of that aggressiveness faded, leaving only a sense of gentleness and harmlessness.
He Fang thought the deliveryman was probably only half-awake; otherwise, he wouldn’t have yielded the blanket so cooperatively.
He Fang found a thermometer in his little house and took the man’s temperature. He did have a slight fever—38.2°C. When He Fang was little and had a fever, it could reach this temperature, too. The body would indeed feel a bit unwell, but it definitely wouldn’t get to the point of being mentally unclear.
Was it due to his physical constitution?
He Fang found some common medicines in his room and went to boil water.
He Fang knew that if he ever got seriously ill, going to the hospital would definitely be a hassle. To avoid having to talk to others, He Fang was the type to take his medicine on time. Although his daily routine was a bit chaotic from gaming, he had never really come down with any serious illness. At the first sign of trouble, he would immediately take medicine and rest.
But still…
There really was a huge difference between people who had to work and those who didn’t. Even in this state, the guy still pushed himself to work, not resting for even a moment.
He Fang brought over a cup of water and the medicine, placing them on the bedside table, then took a few steps back. He tentatively said, “Um… There’s medicine on the nightstand. Get up and take it.”
Just as He Fang had guessed, the deliveryman was probably still conscious, just a bit sluggish. After hearing He Fang’s voice, the deliveryman did indeed open his eyes. His gaze was still hazy. Tilting his head slightly, he spotted the medicine on the nightstand and then sat up.
The blanket, which had been properly covering him, slipped off disobediently again. A body like carved jade was suddenly laid bare. He Fang felt as if a white light flashed before his eyes. He immediately lowered his head and didn’t dare look again. Not being used to situations like this, He Fang was sure he was already blushing furiously.
But the deliveryman didn’t ask anything, didn’t say anything. He simply obediently took the medicine. That docile appearance was just like a marionette—an especially beautiful one at that.
He Fang glanced up and saw that not only had the deliveryman taken the medicine, but he had also finished the entire glass of water. A large cup, completely downed in one go. He even turned it upside down, not letting a single drop go to waste.
He Fang’s feelings were complicated. Was he… really that thirsty?
After thinking about it, He Fang took the cup and poured another glass of water.
The deliveryman drank it again without leaving a drop.
He Fang’s expression became extremely complicated. Then… he went to pour another glass of water.
After drinking four full glasses of water in a row, He Fang began to wonder if the other person was severely dehydrated. Just as he was about to pour a fifth glass, he heard the deliveryman let out what sounded like a satisfied burp. Glancing over, He Fang noticed the man’s stomach looked a little distended.
Suddenly, He Fang realized. It wasn’t that the guy wanted to drink water. It was just that he had poured it for him, so the deliveryman drank it all.
He Fang’s expression turned slightly awkward. Is it okay to drink that much water? It should be fine… right? Isn’t it said that sick people should drink more fluids?
He Fang felt a bit guilty. Looking at the man still sitting upright on the bed with no intention of lying down, He Fang tried saying cautiously, “Sleep now.”
Golden hair spilled over the deliveryman’s shoulder, his pale pink face showing signs of fatigue. As soon as he closed his eyes, his entire body slumped backward, as though he was utterly exhausted, like he finally couldn’t hold on any longer and fainted.
He Fang was startled and rushed over, only to find that the deliveryman’s breathing was still fairly steady. When He Fang covered him with the blanket, the man even instinctively hugged it and shifted into a more comfortable position to continue sleeping.
He Fang found a fever-reducing patch in his room. He had intended to wake the man and let him apply it himself, but recalling how completely drained he had looked when collapsing just now, He Fang hesitated.
He quietly moved around to the front of the man’s sleeping face as he lay on his side, but found himself frozen, still staring.
He Fang had never tried to touch anyone—not even his parents.
He gently lifted a stray lock of hair from the man’s forehead. The golden strands felt unexpectedly cool and soft, with a texture like silk, exactly how He Fang had imagined golden hair would feel.
He Fang noticed there were no darker roots at the base of the hair. Was it just a really good dye job? Or was that his natural color? A mixed-race background, maybe?
Before he knew it, He Fang had been staring at another man for an embarrassingly long time. Realizing this, he blushed deeply at his own boldness. Hastily, he stuck the fever patch onto the man’s forehead and rushed out of the room.
He could feel his heart pounding furiously. Was this taking advantage of someone’s vulnerability?
He Fang touched his own cheek. He didn’t even need a mirror to know just how red his face was right now.
Because of this problem, he’d once been mistaken for being drunk and harshly scolded by a disciplinary teacher who hadn’t known the truth.
Later, once everyone found out that it was just a natural issue he had, things only got worse. People would intentionally get close to him just to watch his embarrassed, crimson face and laugh at him.
He Fang hated having others see him like that—face flushed, overwhelmed. Because of this, he didn’t even like taking the bus. Instead, he saved up and bought a very cheap bicycle, choosing to ride to and from school every day, rain or shine.
Thankfully, the deliveryman probably hadn’t seen his expression just now.
The more He Fang thought about it, the more disheartened he felt.
Even though he had impulsively brought the man home, at the end of the day, they were really just internet acquaintances who happened to interact in real life through business. Could this even count as a kind of “meeting in real life”?
But He Fang knew himself that he was boring, with a personality that didn’t attract people. He was terrified that once the deliveryman saw who he truly was, he’d look at him with disgust.
And if it really came to that… He Fang figured he might not be able to bear it. He’d probably move away.
He Fang’s apartment was a standard one-bedroom unit: one living room, one bedroom, one kitchen, and one bathroom. With the deliveryman occupying the bedroom, He Fang could only sleep on the sofa in the living room. But the frustrating part was that both his sensory simulation pod and his computer were in the bedroom. In the end, he had no choice but to sneak in and quietly retrieve his gaming console so he could play outside, connected to the TV.
Ever since he got the sensory simulation pod, every time He Fang logged into his account on the computer, it was just to check the event stats—eating takeout while watching the full city landscape of “Ruins Without Restart” on the TV.
On the console version of “Ruins Without Restart”, all you could really do was build; most of the quests weren’t accessible, and you could only get a rough idea of things. To do all the varied and rich missions, you had to use the pod.
He Fang curled up on the sofa, watching the TV screen.
In the game, a day and night could pass in just a short amount of time. As He Fang looked at this scene, he felt as if he had returned to the time when he had just started playing the game.
“Ruins Without Restart” was a game with beautifully crafted scenes. Even the movement patterns of the tiny NPCs inside were quite interesting.
He remembered that once, he had tracked a little character on the screen. He watched the character enter a clothing store and then waited. The sun went down, yet the person still hadn’t come out. Curiously wondering whether the NPC would refresh, He Fang expanded the view into character perspective to observe. To his surprise, he discovered that those who entered the clothing store would actually come out again in a different outfit. So from his top-down view, he hadn’t seen anything at all!
This game was so exquisitely designed that it could practically be described as obsessively meticulous.
He Fang was just socially anxious. It didn’t mean he could truly stay away from people. He didn’t dare sit in the middle of a crowd, but in the game, he could fully experience the feeling of bustling passersby walking past him.
So he often watched like this, finding a quiet, unoccupied corner in a park, sitting there and watching for an entire afternoon. And during that time, little interesting things would always happen in front of him. For instance, a child who usually followed a fixed route while playing with a ball would suddenly have the ball roll off course, crossing the road and landing at his feet.
He Fang moved the direction controls and patrolled the main city. The people in the main city were still living happily, but this time, He Fang clicked on a train and shifted his view to Angel City.
Angel City was a completely different kind of high-rise from the main city, so it appeared semi-transparent. As long as He Fang selected a certain floor, the other floors would become fully invisible. Then, He Fang suddenly noticed that a part of Angel City was under construction.
He focused his gaze and saw that it was an NPC from the main city who was hanging a supermarket sign at the entrance. He Fang raised an eyebrow. People from his main city really would find every possible way to open a store anywhere, completely unafraid of unfamiliar places.
He Fang checked Angel City’s statistics and found that its happiness level was unexpectedly low, and progress was very slow. He Fang frowned slightly.
Logically speaking, they no longer needed to live in fear, and their “sparks” now had better methods of care. Previously, things had always been improving—so why had everything come to a halt now? Did something happen?
He Fang decided that once he logged back in, he would go check on the situation in Angel City. It was only right to ensure that both cities could thrive and prosper.
In the end, He Fang shifted the entire view over to Hope City. It just so happened to be nighttime, yet the entire Hope City was brightly lit—the whole city was abnormally lively.
When he was inside the sensory simulation pod, He Fang hadn’t noticed it, but the moment he switched the view to the television and looked at the city from a top-down perspective, he saw lights blazing everywhere and crowds bustling all over. It was like a city that never slept.
He Fang zoomed in on the view and saw that street vendors selling snacks, treats, and trinkets were everywhere. The supermarkets were also open 24/7. Even inside the residential buildings of Hope City, almost every home had lights on, with silhouettes moving in the glow.
He Fang was a bit surprised. As he zoomed further into the city, he discovered that there were three places currently the most lively: the snack street, the hospital, and the educational institutions.
It was probably because a large number of new arrivals had poured in, and the original residents of Arrival City were already in poor health. They needed to work during the day, so nighttime became the best time to recuperate. Meanwhile, the education centers were now seeing the most foot traffic. Back then, the old, weak, sick, and disabled residents of Hope City mostly spent their time farming. But after the people from Arrival City arrived, it was as if something suppressed in them had suddenly been released. They were full of curiosity about the knowledge of the world.
He Fang noticed that it was during learning that the happiness of Hope City’s residents rose the fastest.
But people need to sleep! If they pushed themselves like this, especially when they already weren’t in good health, wouldn’t things only get worse?
His city hadn’t even officially entered its high-speed development phase yet, and they were already getting swept up in this competitive wave, one after another.
He Fang’s heart was full of worry. He even wondered if he should simply issue a decree requiring everyone to get sufficient rest. But the more he thought about it, the more unscientific it felt. If he were to issue such a rule, who would enforce it?
Besides, these people were studying of their own volition. He couldn’t just force them to stop learning, could he?
Looking over the whole city, He Fang felt a vitality completely different from that of Angel City.
He Fang thought for a moment—it was probably because of their experiences. The people of Hope City and Arrival City had all gone through extreme suffering and oppression, so they cherished the present even more. Meanwhile, Angel City, which inherently possessed faith and power, had suddenly lost its label as a tourist city. At first, that might have been manageable, but over time, the shortcomings of the city gradually became apparent.
He Fang’s gaze was suddenly drawn to a figure kneeling in front of the landmark statue. Perhaps because he had seen so many, certain recognizable NPCs could now be identified at a glance—and that figure was clearly Shen Houyun’s mother.
Mother Shen’s back looked tired, yet every time He Fang saw this mother, she always tried her best to smile at those around her.
He Fang zoomed the view closer, stopping right in front of Mother Shen. Her expression was deeply devout—like the most devout believer in the world. She wasn’t crying, but perhaps it was precisely this lack of tears that made people feel the desperate strength she was forcing herself to maintain.
As He Fang watched, he opened his phone to check whether the video he had posted had gained any reactions. But when he saw the explosion of comments far beyond the usual, He Fang was momentarily stunned.
“No wonder your city is doing so well, City Lord, with how much you care about it.”
“Among all the city lords I follow, this one treats NPCs with the most gentleness. I think the reason why the stories this city lord tells are so moving is because he genuinely and wholeheartedly loves his NPCs—that’s the only way he can show them to us with such vivid personality. Honestly, I’m starting to wonder if this is even a game, or if it’s real people.”
“Wuwuwu, I cried watching this. Shen Houyun truly is a man with noble ideals, but he’s also quite selfish. I don’t understand why he had to attack the city lord for the sake of his mother and his city. Why take such an extreme path? I feel like this was dramatized just to make his character more complex, but in essence, he’s just a selfish person. The city lord’s city couldn’t possibly handle such a huge influx of people all at once. If it weren’t for the citizens’ love and willingness to share the burden for the city lord, the one suffering the most right now would definitely be him. Meanwhile, Shen Houyun just lay there without fear.”
“I can understand Shen Houyun’s feelings, but I can’t accept what he did. Even if he sacrificed his life in the end, dragging others down with him was truly disgusting. If my city had an NPC like this, I absolutely wouldn’t want to revive him. If he wants to be righteous, then let him stay righteous forever. But this is the city lord’s city, and I think the city lord just has a kind heart. I’m going to see if I can find a way to revive NPCs in my own save file.”
He Fang read through a lot of the comments and noticed that although everyone wrote long paragraphs expressing dissatisfaction with Shen Houyun, they would always, in the end, shift their tone and say they’d try to see if there was a way to revive NPCs. It practically looked like a screen full of people saying one thing with their mouths and doing the opposite with their actions.
“To be honest, having both the brain and heart—those two most vital organs—pierced and still hanging on to life? That already feels unscientific. It seems like the city lord’s city isn’t one based on pure science, but rather one that contains some sort of mysterious power. Maybe it’s worth trying to use that mysterious force.”
“I once had a city, too. It was a city of superpowered beings. Back when superpower research first succeeded, the city went through a crazy fast development phase. But things got out of hand and a super-powered mutant was born. The randomness was extremely high, and it just so happened that the superpowered being we got had a twisted personality. Humans and supers united to fight the mutants—but in the end, the world was destroyed. My save file was gone. I’m saying all this because, in that city, healing-type superpowers did exist. As long as someone wasn’t dead yet, they could regenerate from bare bones. This proves that full healing is allowed in the game. City Lord, you should give it a try.”
“Same here. I built a medieval city, with priests who could pray to the gods and gain healing powers. There were even necromancers! The undead could actually revive the dead! But due to the world setting, gods and demons appeared, and oh boy—the gods-and-demons war ended with my city completely destroyed. Save file wiped.”
He Fang read the comments one by one and discovered that most of the other players’ cities had already been destroyed. Some of them didn’t just lose their cities—it sounded like they lost their entire worlds.
But everyone consistently mentioned that healing was possible, and even resurrection existed. This proved that in the world of “Ruins Without Restart”, reviving NPCs was feasible as long as the setting allowed for it.
City settings, huh?
He Fang hugged his knees and thought about the settings of his own city.
His original direction had been a realistic one, but after “Ruins Without Restart” went online and fully networked, it had naturally shifted into a fantasy genre. In fact, if he had chosen to set it as a superpower-based city or a divine-demonic city from the start, things might have gone even smoother.
Superpowers definitely matched well with a post-apocalyptic theme. But divine and demonic forces—could they really be compatible with it?
He Fang narrowed his eyes. Or perhaps… could it be that the apocalypse surrounding his city was actually a world shaped by the algorithms of “Ruins Without Restart”?
Thinking carefully, the most unreasonable elements in his city were the Landmark and the Rainbow Squad’s beacon poles. But the mech systems of the beacons were still compatible with the concept of mobile cities in the post-apocalyptic setting. The overall background was probably a steel-clad world of technological ruins, so having mechs made perfect sense.
The only truly out-of-place element… was the Landmark.
He Fang recalled that the Landmark had been keeping Shen Houyun alive all this time. But he himself had never issued any command for it to do so. That meant, from the very beginning, the Landmark must have responded to Shen Houyun’s mother’s prayers, which was why it was sustaining his life.
Yet the Landmark’s designation was “Deity of Faith”. A god should treat all believers equally. So, it shouldn’t have been able to completely grant Shen Houyun’s mother’s request.
But what if it was him?
He Fang could directly input commands into the Landmark. Didn’t that mean he might be able to use the Landmark’s current faith value to directly revive Shen Houyun?
He Fang thought it was worth a try.
As he kept watching, his mind filled with thoughts. Eventually, he drifted off on the sofa, eyes half-closed in sleep.
Meanwhile, that very night in the main city, everyone suddenly discovered a serious problem:
The Landmark was gone!
Though the statue still stood in its place, everyone knew that the Landmark was no longer obediently stationed there—it had vanished without a trace!
“Damn it! That so-called Divine Lord guy hasn’t been back since he hijacked the Creator’s takeout!”
“That sly Divine Lord! Don’t tell me he’s done something improper to our beloved Creator?!”
“Ahhhhh you guys would never guess what I just saw. The Creator left the house!! I’m the Creator’s neighbor. The moment I heard the sound of the door opening, I rushed to peek through the peephole. You have no idea—the moment I saw the living, breathing Creator, my heart nearly jumped out of my chest! Wuwuwuwu the Creator is just too beautiful, you cannot imagine how gorgeous he is!”
“The Creator went outside?! What’s going on? Is there a video?! Did anyone record the Creator’s voice? Please, I’m begging you—just let me have a look! Just one look! Help me, I’m about to perish. If I don’t get new footage of the Creator, I’m going to die right here and now!”
“Even though I’m super happy the Creator came out… you guys won’t believe this—the Creator was tricked by the Divine Lord into coming out! I saw it with my own eyes! The Divine Lord pretended to be sick, lying next to the flower bed, then he started acting all cutesy so the Creator would feel sorry for him—and I watched the Divine Lord get led into the house by the Creator!!”
In an instant, the entire city let out a collective gasp—three sharp breaths in a row.
Everyone’s minds went blank.
Someone who had previously been calm started pacing anxiously, biting their nails. “Damn that Divine Lord. That sly, scheming Divine Lord. Since when has he been plotting to get into the Creator’s house? How could our pure and innocent Creator be so easily deceived by someone like him? This is too much… way too much.”
Another person exploded with rage: “No one stopped them? No one?! I know you all probably lost your minds and went weak in the knees the second you saw the Creator—but you should’ve stopped the Divine Lord from sweet-talking the Creator! Why didn’t anyone call the cops the moment they saw that guy? Why didn’t someone drag him off to a hospital?! How could you just stand there and let the Creator invite the wolf into the house?!”
Some people got more and more angry, more and more heartbroken, until they started crying on the spot.
Chaos erupted across the entire main city. And then, suddenly, everyone heard a voice.
In an instant, every expression was wiped clean. Gone were the outbursts, the breakdowns, the sorrow, the despair. Every single person began to walk in an orderly line along the designated paths, one by one, each of them entering NPC mode.
And this sound was the notification chime for the Creator’s login to the game. The moment this sound rang out, everyone was in the place they were supposed to be—Zhu Yan was at the research institute, Yuan Zhiran was at the military district, Lu Hu was at the Ministry of Finance, and Guo Miaofeng was in the government. Everyone quietly remained in a fixed place, on a fixed path, and they were nothing more than NPCs.
Long after that, the footsteps of all the NPCs in the main cities grew lighter.
They knew that their Creator was now peacefully asleep.
Even though they knew that inside the game, their footsteps couldn’t be heard by the Creator who watched them through a television screen, instinctively, not a single NPC was willing to make even the slightest noise that might disturb the peaceful slumber of the Creator they cherished.
He Fang woke up once in the middle of the night. Seeing that the game was still on, He Fang blinked his drowsy eyes and shut it down.
Forcing himself to stay awake, he got up from the sofa. He Fang picked up the thermometer and went to check the delivery man’s temperature again. He peeled off the fever-reducing patch from the man’s forehead and took a quick reading. He checked several spots just to be sure and, to his surprise, found that the fever had already subsided.
At that moment, with the light of the living room casting a glow, He Fang lowered his head and looked at the delivery man. The man seemed to be deeply asleep and didn’t respond to any of his movements.
He Fang stared at that face—handsome, almost like a crafted work of art. But instead of being stunned by the beauty, what he felt more was a strange and inexplicable sense of contentment.
He Fang had never once looked at someone’s face so closely before. When he lived in the university dorms, he hadn’t even dared to look directly at others’ appearances, let alone stare at someone’s sleeping face while they were unconscious.
Because he seldom looked at other people’s faces, He Fang’s memories of anyone’s appearance were always extremely vague. So now, being able to observe someone’s features up close and in such detail unexpectedly gave him a rare and quiet sense of peace.
No one would mock him. He wouldn’t be overwhelmed by the fear that came from making eye contact. Just looking like this, He Fang already felt deeply satisfied.
Even if it lasted for only a single day, for He Fang, this was already a memory to be cherished.
He Fang quietly left the delivery man’s side and carefully closed the door behind him.
When He Fang woke up in the morning, he found himself lying on the bed, with a blanket covering him. As his memories slowly returned, He Fang suddenly realized that the blanket on him was the very same one he had used to cover the delivery man the night before. And now he was lying on the bed that the supposedly sleeping delivery man should have been occupying!
He abruptly sat up, instinctively trying to look for the delivery man’s whereabouts. But his room was only so big—small enough to take in the whole space at a glance—yet it was completely empty.
The delivery man was gone.
He Fang felt his heart skip a beat. More than the relief of not having to deal with social interaction, what filled him was a sense of inexplicable loss.
He sat in silence for quite a while before it felt like he was finally emerging from the strange mood he’d been in since waking up.
There was really nothing to feel so disappointed about. Weren’t there already countless disappointments in his experiences with socializing?
Every time someone approached him to chat, he would feel joy and excitement at first. But the moment he faced the person, that joy would be instantly crushed by fear. Time after time, he missed the chance to make friends, failed to accept the goodwill of others, and in the end, was often misunderstood. Hadn’t things like this happened too many times to count?
He Fang scratched his head. It was just that…
He felt a little embarrassed, that was all.
He Fang got out of bed, planning to go wash up in the bathroom.
But his footsteps suddenly paused. Turning his head, he saw—on the dining table in his living room—there was actually a breakfast waiting for him!
It was still warm, and it was from his favorite bun shop. The buns from that place had thin skins, were stuffed full, and tasted incredible—especially the spicy pepper soup, which was exactly to his taste. Whenever he managed to wake up early enough, he would order breakfast from that shop. Though, most of the time, he’d sleep straight through until noon when the place had already closed.
The one who left it there had to be the delivery man!
Next to the breakfast, there was also a key. It was the same key He Fang had casually placed on the table after coming home yesterday.
He Fang, whose mind had been somewhat hazy, gradually cleared up. He then realized: he was clearly supposed to have been sleeping on the sofa, yet he had woken up on the bed. If the other person really disliked him, then why would he carry him to the bed and even cover him with a blanket?
And besides, no matter how deeply he had slept, if someone had moved him, he shouldn’t have had absolutely no reaction. The other person’s movements must have been extremely careful. Didn’t that prove that the other person didn’t actually dislike him?
A delivery man delivers so many orders every day, and yet he still remembered He Fang’s preferences. Plus, He Fang didn’t even order that often. He must have stood out to the delivery man, right?
He Fang told himself he was probably overthinking things, but every small detail made his heart flutter with joy.
He Fang didn’t go wash up after all. Instead, he returned to his room and took out his phone.
And under the delivery man’s profile picture, there were quite a few messages.
When He Fang opened them, he saw a string of voice recordings. Instead of being annoyed, he felt immensely at ease.
He Fang played the voice messages one by one.
“Customer, thank you for taking care of me while I was sick, for giving me medicine, and letting me sleep in your bed. You’re truly the kindest person in the world!”
“I owe you so many favors, customer. When will I ever be able to repay them all? Don’t worry, customer, this humble one shall repay your kindness with my entire life!”
That last sentence was deliberately spoken in an exaggerated tone, with a dramatic flair. The playful tone made He Fang laugh out loud.
“Customer, I took your key to go out and buy breakfast. I used it without permission, so I want to say sorry first. Please forgive me.”
“Customer, your home is so clean. Customer, you’re such a neat and tidy young man!”
He Fang’s cheeks flushed red. He did have times when he was messy. He had just happened to tidy up a bit earlier, that was all.
“Customer, I already took out your trash for you!”
“Customer, you look super cute when you’re asleep!”
“Customer, I’m off to run deliveries now! Remember to eat your breakfast when you wake up!”
But the moment he saw that last message, He Fang felt like his brain exploded. Ah… it suddenly hit him. Hadn’t the two of them technically already seen each other?
Even if it had happened when both of them weren’t quite fully conscious, he had stared at the delivery man while he was sleeping like that. Did that mean the delivery man might’ve also stared at him while he was asleep?
He Fang felt his thoughts spiraling, his face growing redder and redder, becoming more and more embarrassed.
After thinking for a moment, He Fang sent a message:
“Are you feeling better? Maybe you should take a day off and rest more?”
He didn’t use voice. He typed it out, like he always did. Right now, he felt so shy he couldn’t have spoken out loud even if he wanted to.
As soon as the message was sent, a reply came instantly: “I’m totally fine! I just get fuzzy-headed when I have a fever, but it’s already gone now. No problem at all!”
He Fang was slightly stunned for a moment. It felt like he could almost see that golden hair gleaming once again in his mind.
After a bit of hesitation, He Fang sent another message: “You might not be fully recovered. Don’t take it lightly. Take your medicine, rest, and get plenty of sleep.”
But the other person quickly replied again: “Don’t worry, customer! If I get a fever again, I’ll come wait downstairs at your building so you can pick me up and bring me home again!”
He Fang couldn’t help but burst out laughing, completely disarmed by this shameless comment.
He Fang had never felt this peaceful and at ease before.
“Don’t keep replying to messages while you’re out delivering. Stay safe on the road.”
The reply came instantly: “Got it, don’t worry! I’m a top-tier delivery pro—100% positive reviews, 0% late deliveries, super outstanding delivery guy!”
He Fang didn’t dare reply this time. Somehow, just reading between the lines, he could practically see that delivery guy’s tail wagging proudly up into the sky—completely lacking any sense of humility.
He Fang was worried that if they kept chatting while the other person was working, something might actually happen on the road. So, he decided not to reply.
After washing up, He Fang sat down at the dining table. The breakfast had cooled a bit, but that didn’t take away its deliciousness. He Fang ate while smiling to himself.
To be honest, he had been a little worried that facing the delivery man in the morning might feel really awkward. It had been so long since he last talked to someone. What if his behavior came off too strange and made the other person uncomfortable?
But now, they had already seen each other—technically—and there was no need for awkward face-to-face interactions. And they were both sincerely grateful to each other.
Deep down, He Fang was really thankful for this opportunity.
He had bravely taken the first step toward making a friend and he hadn’t messed it up.
This wasn’t the kind of interaction that used to fill him with fear. He didn’t know whether the other person had done it on purpose or not, but even in such a brief time, their interaction had filled him with a warm, comforting feeling.
He felt that this, right now, was just right.
And at that very moment, the location marker full of contentment and the nearby passing NPCs…
“Aiya, I thought something serious had happened! Had me all worried for nothing. In the end, they just slept in separate rooms for one night without even exchanging a single word! The Creator had the game running all night and fell asleep on the sofa. Ugh, it’s infuriating! That damned Divine Lord actually dared to sleep in the Creator’s bed and let the Creator sleep on the sofa? Just who gave him the courage?! Doesn’t he feel any guilt? Does he really think he has the right to sleep in the Creator’s bed?! Shameless!”
An NPC passing by the landmark muttered on and on. Although it sounded a bit like gloating, the resentment in their tone was almost tangible.
The landmark didn’t react at all.
“Just as we always believed, the Creator is gentle and kind-hearted, always helping those in need without hesitation. That is the most perfect trait of our Creator. But those vile people who take advantage of the beloved Creator’s nature will one day face their reckoning!”
“The Divine Lord is a perfect example of being shameless. Our Creator acted purely out of goodwill, and yet he dares to look so smug, like some petty man elated by undeserved favor. Nothing even happened, so why does he act like that?”
Yet no matter how much the passing NPCs muttered nearby, deliberately raising their voices for the landmark to hear, that landmark stood tall and proud, expression fresh and spirited like the morning dew. Even the sacred beast beneath his feet looked high-spirited and full of vigor. That punchable look of his made everyone grit their teeth in hatred.
