บท 14: A Distant Memory
After a round of getting teased by the conceited second prince, Xixi finally returned to the palace with the virtuous pretending villain. Her lean waist was sore for wearing the corset for so long and from being hugged by Ziran who shamelessly gave her the excuse of windy weather.
The wind-control button was covered by his robe sleeves.
Ziran was more than happy noticing the empty palace that indicated the party was already over.
Xixi furrowed her brows and bit on her lips mulling over quietly. "Regretting coming back already? Well....if you want I can take you to the cherry blossoms tree? Of course only if you are willing." Ziran said lazily stretching his hands like a sleepy lion seemingly uncaring.
Xixi rubbed her palms together shivering from the cold breeze.
"I want to go back to the main castle." Xixi craned her neck to look at the tall figure approaching her at a steady pace.
Ziran rested his eyes on the little grudging bunny glaring at him. His lean fingers burning with desire brushed aside her tiny locks of hair. Xixi stood stunned. The scorching heat from the tip of his fingers travelled to her skin and she couldn't help but wish to cherish the second. The glare dimmed in her hazy eyes as a look of helplessness mixed with perplexity took over.
Her small stature reopened a fond memory of his.
"Enchanting Forest hills, everyone please gather around to solve the mission task!" The guild message popped up on the screen of each member.
The taskbar was 75% in progress. the last part required a couple arena war participation. Ziran was about to opt out when he noticed an avatar of Zhong Sihao, the heavenly scholar. His interest piqued. 'EtheralSilver' the female player with Zhong Sihao avatar performed a skilled archery and then entered the dungeon without a partner.
Ziran had a look of disbelief. This was not a gaming platform that allowed any type of cheats or hacking. He tapped on her profile that displayed a weird animal's chibi. He couldn't resist sending a friend request which was accepted almost immediately.
"How did you do it?" the straightforward text went into the chat box before he could rethink.
A cloud of sorrow engulfed Xixi. She felt the gentle person infront of her was searching for someone else through her. 'Does he take her as a substitute only?' She wondered in her mind.
Ziran froze momentarily and retracted his fingers quickly.
"Let's go back." Ziran's authorative voice rang by her ears.
Xixi finally understood why Riwansa described him like that. He was emitting a coldness that prevented anyone from getting close to him. His warmth a moment ago appeared to be nothing but an illusion.
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"Reliottttttt, What to do? My heart is confused, why do I feel bad about him loving someone else? It's so embarrassing, I even thought I was special for him. Tch, just how delusional I was!" Xixi, half lying down on the bed poured her entire resentment to the tiny dragon attentively looking at her.
"Nevermind, it's not like I will be able to understand your language." Xixi said lovingly tapping on Reliott's button nose.
"qui chi qui qui" a puff of fire came out as she roared loudly.
Xixi laughed out entertained by its antics.
"Right, I need something to write stuffs on, even if I can't bring it back at least it's going to help me remember better." Xixi wondered as the realisation that she has done nothing notable related to research for the past few months hit her.
She grabbed a new dictation voice-typing box from the desk and started noting down.
Reliott occupied a generous amount of space on the study table unwilling to part with her.
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"Hey, I thought you won't be coming back tonight?" Steven eyed Ziran and threw the solved puzzle ball at the poor Lucas, who was caught of guard.
Lucas rubbed his forehead which was a bit swollen with the metal puzzle's hit. He harrumphed before getting off the sofa.
"Lucas, you know IP address tracing, right?" Ziran asked expressionlessly.
"Yeah, why? You found something suspicious on that girl Steve was talking about? I knew it there is no way, you out of all would fall...." Lucas stopped as he looked sideways to find both brothers' synced in disdainful look on him.
"What's with that look? Fine, tell me what do you need help with?" Lucas ruefully said.
"Track this gaming platform's Cratic server and locate this IP address's location in the past few years. Try my IP as the opening thread." Ziran handed out a slip to him.
'These two brothers are too much, always despising him, even when they needed his help.' Lucas remorsed in silence.
"Did you confess already?" Steven was on his gossip mood as always.
"I heard Riwansa is getting married?" Ziran was unwaveringly merciless.
Surprisingly rather than poking fun at him, he continued, "You either lose once and move on or get stuck at the same place forever in fear of losing. Think about it, it very well could be the last chance for you." He patted on Steven's shoulder encouragingly.
"I got it." Steven gave him a light smile.
"Err.. this game has been taken down at least 7 years ago! There is no single trace left. How am I supposed to locate a gamer from here?" Lucas's voice held some doubts.
"You can't hack some old user's database to look for it?" Ziran asked casually.
Lucas tapped on the keyboard for a while before turning around and asked cautiously, "Ziran, exactly what are you trying to search? The gaming platform has been removed from everysingle site out there including the delete logs. I can't even access your account."
Ziran knitted his brows and dashed outside the room.
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