Why was it you?!
Why was it you again?!
The fleeting image that appeared in an instant nearly scared Huai Shi into blurting out foreign languages.
That eerie way of appearing without a sound, without even the sound of footsteps or breathing, suddenly emerging from some corner when one wasn't paying attention...
The whole tone changed out of nowhere!
Huai Shi stiffly turned around and looked at the White Emperor Child's phantom. After a long while, he sighed helplessly. "Long time no see... Say, could you give me a heads-up before you respawn next time?"
"Hmm, a long time?"
The phantom tilted her head in confusion. "Has it been that long?"
"..."
Huai Shi froze, counting on his fingers. It seemed, perhaps, maybe... it really hadn't been? Not even forty-eight hours had passed.
And yet, so much had happened in that short time.
"It just feels like it's been a long time," he murmured.
"Mm, that's true."
The phantom nodded, seeming to agree. "It has indeed been a very, very long time, Huai Shi."
"Hm?"
The subtle meaning in her words confused Huai Shi. Yet she seemed unwilling to explain, merely pointing at the screen in his hand. "Aren't you playing anymore? You only just started."
"Oh, right. What do you want to watch? Keep decorating the house? Or go fishing?"
Huai Shi lowered his head and began operating it. Yet when a breeze drifted in from afar, he caught a scent that should not have existed here.
It was so faint.
A strand of fine, long hair brushed across the tip of his nose, soft as a whisper.
It tickled a little.
Wait...
"Fuck!"
Huai Shi's expression changed drastically as he spun around. "You finally materialized?"
"..."
In the brief silence, even the White Emperor Child couldn't handle Huai