Another sleepless night.
The living room was dim before sunrise, devoid of light.
Lu Qing collapsed on the sofa, resting his neck against the backrest, still savoring the feeling of seeing his favorite virtual character brought to life.
Until now, he never understood why Wen Le was so obsessed with virtual streamers, but today, he finally began to comprehend.
"It's Vera's voice... or rather, it is Vera herself."
He muttered repeatedly.
Vera—a popular character from the hit otherworldly online game "Maid Rhapsody," was set as an outer realm nightmare, an omniscient puppet who, after being tamed by the divine male protagonist, changed her appearance according to his aesthetics and became the feared head maid of the palace.
Having enjoyed the company and care of her divine master for thousands of years, she gradually developed feelings of dependence and admiration. However, these innocent, entangled emotions were constantly suppressed due to the presence of the Crow God, leaving her unable to express them.
Until the deity fell and entered a second reincarnation without memories, she finally found him and conveyed these unrequited feelings, ultimately gaining his understanding and love. They merged, she "contaminated" him, and they achieved their happy ending.
It must be said that Hoshizuki Rina portrayed these complex emotions perfectly—
Nostalgia, anticipation, confusion, desire, satisfaction... Only someone thoroughly familiar with the original "Maid" novel could understand Vera's state of mind at that time.
For someone to achieve this level of character portrayal, Lu Qing had every reason to suspect that she might be the original voice actress invited by the officials and author when the novel was adapted into a game...
"Hoshizuki Rina..."
After repeating this name several times, Lu Qing felt his mind becoming hazy.
How could this be?
He was a realist who supposedly could never be affected by virtual streamers, and he was convinced he would just take a quick look at the stream, never expecting to actually fall for it.
None of the anime characters Wen Le had recommended to him before had interested him at all.
So why did she create such a chemical reaction in him?
Lu Qing had always been introspective, and he didn't want his mind to be controlled by any woman inexplicably, so subconsciously, he attributed it all to "the side effects of superior voice acting skills."
"It must be coincidence; I let my guard down. But it's fine, I'll only be struck once. As long as I don't watch her streams again, I won't truly fall into this. Yes."
He shook his head vigorously, then went to the bathroom to wash his face, studying himself in the mirror for a long while.
"Since I can't sleep anyway, I might as well go downstairs to take out the trash."
After calming down a bit, he rubbed his eyes and decided to get some fresh air.
At this moment, the wall clock pointed to four-thirty in the morning.
Lu Qing tiptoed past his sister's room, left the door slightly ajar, then picked up several garbage bags by the door, grabbed his keys, and opened the door.
Click.
Just as he put on his shoes and turned to close his apartment door—
Suddenly, the neighboring door opened coincidentally.
"Hey, good morning."
A young woman wearing pink fluffy pajamas appeared, yawning with one hand while holding several empty takeout bags in the other, turning her head with slight surprise.
"Bai Xing?"
"Mm-hmm."
"What are you doing out so late?"
"Taking out the trash, of course. There's no cleaning lady in the apartment, so we have to do it ourselves."
"...But it's four-thirty."
"Aren't you taking out the trash at this hour too?"
"..."
He was only out because he couldn't sleep, a completely random occurrence that might happen once every two years.
But this girl... was she actually a night owl who regularly took out the trash at four in the morning?
No wonder she couldn't wake up for early classes at school...
"Fine."
Lu Qing nodded skeptically, reluctantly accepting her explanation.
They walked side by side toward the elevator.
Tap, tap, tap...
Their footsteps echoed distinctly in the empty corridor.
From the corner of his eye, he could inadvertently see her bunny ear slippers, her pearl-like toes exposed, smooth and soft.
The sweet fragrance of perfume emanating from her petite frame was moderately pleasant, with an inexplicable Japanese essence that was hard to resist.
Walking together, she deliberately maintained the appropriate distance between a junior and senior student, even though no one else was around.
However, Lu Qing vaguely felt that she seemed to be secretly observing him.
...Was it just his imagination?
He wasn't sure.
...
The Tianhe Platinum Apartments had three elevators on each floor, available for all residents to use simultaneously.
Despite being able to take separate elevators in the dead of night, Bai Xing smiled and followed him into the same one.
The elevator interior was cramped, with the two standing left and right, watching the doors slowly close, creating a suddenly subtle atmosphere.
"Hey, senior, have you thought about yesterday's matter?"
The young woman broke the silence, looking at Lu Qing's profile.
"About the group? Well... whatever you want, I don't have anything to lose anyway. But let me be clear, you can join my group, but you absolutely cannot disturb my life, can you manage that?"
He emphasized.
"Oh~? So... does that mean senior has a girlfriend living in his room?"
Bai Xing's eyes sparkled with curiosity as she casually steered the conversation toward what interested her.
"No, that's my sister—I don't know if we share the same father but definitely different mothers. She had nowhere else to go, so she's staying with me for a while."
Although there was no need to tell his junior such private matters, Lu Qing figured that as neighbors of two years, she would discover it sooner or later anyway. Better to explain than let her misunderstand.
"Oh~! I see! So it's your sister! That's what it was."
Upon hearing this, Bai Xing let out a relieved sigh, and for some reason, her expression seemed even more delighted.
"What a strange woman."
Lu Qing found it puzzling but didn't say anything more.
"Senior, since we're going to be in the same group now, shall we exchange contact information?"
She changed the subject, pulling out her warm phone from inside her pajamas and tilting her head to ask.
"Sure."
Lu Qing tried not to look at her pure face, simply displaying his QR code for her to scan.
[Beep Beep]
[You have successfully added "Rina" as a friend, go ahead and say hello!]
"Wow, senior's FeiXin ID is 'Unknown Void'? I thought it would be something like 'Blue Sky' or 'Clear Sky'~"
The young woman's words made Lu Qing's body shudder, instantly awakening his previously drowsy mental state as if injected with adrenaline.
"What's going on..."
Just now, whether it was an illusion or something else, he vaguely heard that when Bai Xing spoke the latter half of her sentence, the tone... no, the voice she used seemed to perfectly match that of Hoshizuki Rina from last night.
He opened his mouth, but before he could ask anything, he realized the elevator doors were already slowly opening on the first floor.
The young woman walked out first, quickly placed her trash in the designated area, then turned back with a smile:
"Well then, Senior Lu Qing, looking forward to working with you. I'm off to buy breakfast, see you~"
With that, she left him standing there dumbfounded as she ran out the building entrance without looking back.
...
...