Liar

In the cramped basement, two rows of arcade machines stood against the wall, their screens flashing vibrant promotional animations, casting a camouflage fluorescent glow across the dimly lit space.

Above the row of machines, an old ceiling fan creaked and groaned as it turned.

The first dim rays of morning sunlight filtered through the white blinds, landing on Silver Wolf's somewhat messy silver-gray hair. She rolled over, burying her face in the Hoomas doll that Bai Heng had won in a gaming competition.

But no matter how unwilling she was to accept it, the alarm went off as usual.

She had initially set her favorite theme song from "War Wheel 32" as her alarm, but as her beautiful dreams were interrupted by it time and time again, Silver Wolf would cringe whenever she heard the music.

Impatiently reaching out, she silenced the alarm clock, then threw back the gray cashmere blanket covering her, revealing the rabbit hood of her black pajamas drooping over her forehead.

She rubbed her sleepy eyes, pushed back the hood, revealing her fluffy long hair, her vision gradually clearing.

She looked at the alarm clock:

"6... 6 o'clock... 7:15!?"

Steadying herself, Silver Wolf snapped out of her daze, her voice trembling:

"How is it so late... Brother! Brother? Where did you run off to again?"

While looking around for Bai Heng, Silver Wolf put on her white school uniform socks and changed into the black uniform that had been neatly folded in advance.

She found a hair tie in the cabinet next to the game console, gathered her messy long hair behind her head, and tied it into a neat single-turbine ponytail.

After quickly tidying up, Silver Wolf pulled open the rusty rolling door of the basement and went to the fast food restaurant on the first floor.

The fast food restaurant was not yet open at this time, and the door was also tightly closed. Silver Wolf originally thought that Bai Heng would be on the first floor preparing the ingredients for today's business.

But after searching for a long time, she didn't see Bai Heng. She only found hot milk and toast hot dog bread still spinning in the incubator, and a note that read: "Don't always forget to eat."

"How long-winded... Hmm, did he leave so early?"

Silver Wolf wondered, took a couple of sips of the mellow milk, then grabbed the toast bread in her mouth and hurried to catch the school bus.

The daily routine of going to school was as boring as ever, listening to music on her Walkman on the school bus, and listening to the teacher's spittle-flecked lectures at school...

The only difference was that some classmates gave her birthday wishes.

Silver Wolf then remembered that today was her birthday.

After school, Silver Wolf took her birthday gifts and took the school bus home as soon as possible.

Rather than hosting a boring birthday party, she was more looking forward to Bai Heng taking her to experience the new series of "War Wheel". Of course, she was also looking forward to what birthday gift Bai Heng had prepared for her.

5 p.m.

Silver Wolf pushed open the glass door of the fast food restaurant, which was now full of customers.

Many of them were old customers of the store, and knowing that today was Silver Wolf's birthday, they had specially prepared birthday gifts for her.

Even the decoration of the store had a bit of a birthday atmosphere compared to the desertedness of the morning.

After thanking everyone for their gifts, Silver Wolf went to the back kitchen to look for Bai Heng, but only saw the busy hostess Windsor.

"Why isn't he here... Sister Windsor, where's my brother?"

"He..." Looking at the excited Silver Wolf, Windsor looked a little awkward, as if she didn't know how to start.

Seeing this, Silver Wolf suddenly realized and said:

"Oh, I know, he's preparing some kind of Easter egg, right? Sister Windsor, you don't need to tell me, let Silver Wolf decipher it herself."

She seemed to be in a playful mood, blinking her gray eyes excitedly, and hopped down the steps to the basement.

But strangely, there wasn't a single player in the basement today, as if it wasn't open to the public.

Could this also be part of the decryption?

Thinking so, Silver Wolf began to search the basement.

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Before long, Silver Wolf found a paper bag and a stack of cards in the most conspicuous place in the basement.

For a game, how could the real reward be placed in such a conspicuous place?

So she didn't have much expectation for the paper bag and packaging bag on the table.

However, when she casually opened the paper bag, she found something inside—an Aetherium Chip that she had been dreaming of for a long time.

"Fake? Bootleg? It's quite realistic."

This was Silver Wolf's first reaction after recovering from her surprise. She stretched out her small hand, pinched the Aetherium Chip with two slender fingers, and was about to observe it carefully.

Footsteps came from behind, Silver Wolf turned her head and saw that the person who came was Sister Windsor. Thinking that they were too busy upstairs, she put down the Aetherium Chip and said:

"Sister Windsor, are they too busy upstairs? I'll go up and help."

"No, Silver Wolf, wait a minute." Windsor squeezed out a stiff smile and said softly:

"What's wrong?"

Silver Wolf felt that the atmosphere was a bit strange and blinked her eyes:

As if she had made enough preparations, Windsor stepped forward a few steps, bent down, put her hand on Silver Wolf's soft silver-gray hair, and said softly:

"Silver Wolf, White Fox, he's gone... This isn't to say he's abandoning you, it's just that, well... he has his own things to do, so he wanted to entrust you to me, to take care of you for a while."

Windsor's language skills were a little lacking, and it took her a long time to express herself clearly.

However, Silver Wolf still understood the main point Windsor was trying to convey. She stood there blankly, her voice very low:

"Brother, left? Gone... somewhere else?"

"Yes." Windsor finally managed to say those words, looking a little relieved.

"For how long?" Silver Wolf asked softly.

Windsor shook her head, biting her lip, and said:

"He didn't say when he left... it might be a long time."

After an unknown period of silence, Silver Wolf nodded, as if she was a sensible child.

The narrow space in the basement was a little stuffy, and the fan overhead was still spinning non-stop, making that unpleasant noise.

Neither of them spoke. Silver Wolf silently turned around and noticed the few cards on the table.

She reached out and picked up the one on top, on which a line of small characters was written in black ink:

"Happy tenth birthday, Brownie. Sorry, I had to leave so suddenly. The convoy's departure time was this morning, so I couldn't spend your birthday with you, but I'll make it up to you later. Also, that chip isn't fake or a bootleg, it's the Aetherium Chip you've been dreaming of, as your birthday present, remember to take good care of it."

After reading the note, Silver Wolf put the birthday card at the very back. However, as she was about to look at the other birthday cards, three photos accidentally fell out of the folded card.

Silver Wolf placed her fingers on the photos, which were three group photos.

The first one was in the cozy little nest in the truck, a small nest piled up with various sundries and cardboard boxes. She was hugging her brother's neck, her face dirty, as if she had just rummaged through a trash can, and her brother was looking at her with disgust.

The second one was in the slum's church. After receiving a charity meal, the church workers took a picture of them holding food, to promote their good deeds. But she, who was only five years old at the time, had been timidly hiding behind her brother, clutching his clothes, like a small radish poking out of the ground.

The third one was in this narrow but warm basement. There was no truck's constant bumping, no cold rain drifting in from outside the church. They were huddled in front of an arcade machine. The screen of the arcade machine showed that she had scored higher than her brother for the first time in Interstellar Cheetah, so she suggested taking a photo as a souvenir, and she even specially kept the cat ears as a sticker when printing it...

Staring blankly at these three photos, Silver Wolf suddenly muttered in a hoarse voice:

"Liar... liar... liar..."

She had no parents. Since she was born, she had been with White Fox, holding his hand, and had traveled to many places... the snowy fields of the Great Wilderness, the ruins of Scrap Mountain, and this city that seemed to have no boundaries, like an isolated island in the mist.

She seemed to be used to White Fox being by her side, used to putting her hands in his pockets when she was cold, leaning on his shoulders when she couldn't walk, and breaking off bread and handing it to him when eating...

But now, he had left alone.

Windsor silently looked at the small child in front of her, feeling sorry for her, so she stepped forward and gently hugged Silver Wolf.

And her action caused Silver Wolf's slightly red eyes to completely burst. Hot tears slid down her nose, like a broken string, one drop after another, wetting the photos she held tightly in her hand.

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