The person posing as Xia Yue's boyfriend posed as Xia Yue to talk to someone who might be Xia Yue's ex-girlfriend

For Lin Yu, there is now good news.

Judging from the words of the young woman in the beige loungewear, she didn't actually recognize him—she hadn't seen through his disguise.

She didn't know she was Lin Yu... She still knew "Xia Yue," and the reason she was called here was because she recognized "Xia Yue."

However, this is not entirely a good thing.

Because this also means...

Lin Yu had to continue playing the role of Xia Yue in front of this woman, pretending to be very familiar with her, without knowing who she was or what her background was.

This is difficult... Even though Lin Yu is very good at playing "Zhu Ming" and Xia Yue, his past acting experience will not give Lin Yu any new understanding of this person who is obviously a very close acquaintance of Xia Yue from the past.

But...

Now that things have come to this point, Lin Yu has no choice but to give it a try.

A somewhat sad expression appeared on his face.

"Why... why are you here?"

"Of course, I've encountered all sorts of unexpected events, just like you," the girl's eyes were also moist. She sniffed, then turned to the side, inviting Lin Yu to come in, "Anyway... come in and sit down."

Lin Yu silently followed the girl inside.

The room is a two-story duplex, and it doesn't look like the style of the Nether Void Realm. Instead, it looks like an Apartment commonly seen in the Real World —an open kitchen, a bathroom under the stairs, a living room with floor-to-ceiling windows, and a bedroom upstairs.

Although there are some decorative items such as cat and dog rugs and refrigerator magnets, they still can't overcome the coldness brought by the basic black, white and gray color scheme of the decor.

Overall, the Apartment, like the girl, was simple, minimalist, and a little plain.

Lin Yu followed the other person to sit on the sofa in the living room. The other person opened the refrigerator, took out two cans of soda, and somewhat awkwardly wiped the condensation on the cans on their clothes, trying to put on a cute smile.

Grapes or apples?

When the girl asked, Lin Yu casually replied, "Apple."

She raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised. "Hmm, I thought you'd choose grapes... You always love drinking grape drinks."

Even so, she still handed the apple soda to Lin Yu.

Lin Yu reached out and caught it, showing no sign of panic or offering any explanation for his actions.

He knew that simply choosing a different flavor of soda than his actual Xia Yue preferences wouldn't give him away, but if he appeared overly nervous now...

That's what will expose us.

People don't stay the same forever; it's been so long since you've seen me.

Lin Yu pulled the tab on his soda and took a drink.

The girl sat down next to Lin Yu, very close, but then moved a little further away. She opened her soda can and said softly, "I haven't seen you since graduation... Well, actually, I wanted to see you in my sophomore year, but... there weren't any good opportunities."

"Of course, even if I saw you, I'd probably forget you. I was already in a 'Death game' at that point, so even if I saw you, I wouldn't remember..."

Lin Yu was somewhat surprised. "So early...?"

Although Xia Yue called him "Detective Brother" and he called her "Veterinarian Sister" in the first [Instance], Xia Yue was actually older than him.

Lin Yu is still a sophomore in college, while Xia Yue has already graduated and has been working at a community pet hospital for a while.

Therefore, through this passage, Lin Yu can confirm once again...

The guy in front of me is very likely Player from the Previous Version.

"Huh, didn't you hear about my death?" The girl in casual clothes glanced at Lin Yu with some surprise. "I thought you would have heard..."

"I haven't kept in touch with my former classmates much since then, and I've encountered all sorts of things," Lin Yu took a sip of his soda. From what she had just said, he could deduce that this girl was most likely Xia Yue's classmate from middle school. "I knew you were gone, but I didn't inquire in detail about what happened..."

At this point, he looked down at the surface of the apple soda, slightly bubbly, inside the can, and said softly, "I'm sorry... I avoided talking about you back then."

"So I didn't ask about your cause of death, the time of your death, or how you were doing before you died..."

"It's okay, maybe this is proof that I'm important to you," the girl laughed. "Anyway, I've been avoiding you... I didn't go to see you after I entered the 'Death game,' did I?"

"Saying things like I was afraid of dragging you down was all a lie. The truth is... I was genuinely scared, Xia Bao —after learning that my life was hanging by a thread and I didn't have much time left, I became afraid to see you."

"I've regretted it many times since I was trapped here... but thankfully, you showed up here, that's wonderful."

As the other person spoke, a genuine look of satisfaction and happiness appeared on their face.

Lin Yu also expressed his feelings with emotion. "Yes, I'm also very happy to see you again... I can hardly believe that we'll ever see each other again."

Having said that, Lin Yu continued, "Tell me about yourself... tell me about things I don't know."

"How have you been since you graduated? How have you been since you entered the 'Death game'... and how did you end up trapped here?"

"I don't want to run away anymore—I want to know all of this."

As Lin Yu spoke, the girl nodded gently.

"Okay, Xia... I'll tell you everything."

"After I couldn't help but confess my feelings to you on graduation day, even though you said we could still be friends, I blocked all your contact methods because I was afraid you would hate me... And then, I filled in all my college applications for cities that are very far away."

The other person's first words almost made Lin Yu crush the soda can in his hand.

He could actually sense that the girl in front of him treated "Xia Yue" in a very unusual way—the gentle warmth in her eyes and expression was definitely not the kind of feeling that ordinary friends would have.

However, Lin Yu could only think of Xia Yue school. In many situations, especially in high schools like those in Huaxia, which are often like pressure cookers, friendships between girls can become blurred under the pressure of the external environment, and the boundaries between friendships and even romantic relationships are ambiguous.

But he never expected that the reason the other person and Xia Yue "parted ways" would be because of a confession after graduation.

At this moment, Lin Yu was very glad that his performance and interpretation had been very conservative.

He could only say calmly, "It's okay, those things... don't matter anymore."

"Yeah, it's not important anymore," the girl nodded vigorously, then added, "I was admitted to Yanjing Normal University later, you should know that, right? It's okay if you don't, anyway... I did get into Yanjing."

"I've heard about that."

Lin Yu spoke.

The girl finally took her first sip of grape soda. "Well, anyway... this Apartment you see now is the one I rented in Yanjing. It's quite expensive, but it's very comfortable, and it's right next to the school."

"Because I was used to living there, and I had nothing else to do while I was trapped in Pure Ruins, I slowly replicated it."

Lin Yu asked curiously, "Why didn't you stay in the dorm? Did you not get along with your roommates?"

The girl was a little embarrassed. "Well... yes and no, it's just that, as you know, I always commuted to school in high school and never lived in a dormitory before. So after living in a dormitory for a month in college, I really couldn't adapt, so I moved out."

"Anyway, I always have my own income, and I can afford to rent an apartment in Yanjing... so I might as well make myself more comfortable."

Lin Yu nodded. "You've always been like this... but you've always been amazing, I admire you."

"Until recently, even after graduating and working for quite some time, my salary probably wasn't enough to cover the rent for the Yanjing Apartment."

Hearing Lin Yu's praise, the girl smiled slightly, pleased. "Thank you for the compliment... but you're not bad either, you just don't particularly pursue money!"

"If you want money, you can definitely earn a lot of money."

The girl spoke hurriedly and earnestly, as if afraid that Lin Yu might lose confidence because of this.

Lin Yu waved his hand. "Let's not talk about that, let's continue with your story."

The girl nodded again after hearing Lin Yu's words. "Okay... I understand."

"In short... I entered the 'Death game' because I was renting this Apartment off-campus by myself..."

Upon hearing this, Lin Yu frowned slightly. "Were you murdered?"

The girl quickly waved her hands. "No, no, not at all -- it was just an accident... um, don't laugh at me when I tell you, Xia Bao."

"One day, on my way home after dinner, I forgot my Apartment access card, so I thought I'd climb up from the second floor and climb through the window to get back in," the girl's voice trailed off, "Because I'd done this quite a few times before without any problems, so... um, but that day... I was a little careless... and then I fell headfirst..."

Listening to the other party's cautious words, Lin Yu roughly pieced together the cause of the girl's death after entering the "Death game".

He remained silent for a long time before finally speaking, "You're a complete idiot."

"He's not that stupid..."

The girl spoke, then sighed.

"Okay, I might have been a bit clumsy, I'm really sorry."

"It's alright, I'm in a similar situation," Lin Yu said, pausing for a moment, "So after joining this Game, how did you die a second time and get trapped here again?"