The Meticulous Loli on the Verge of Tears (Three-in-Two/Still Owe 5 More Updates/Thanks for the 230 Big God Certification)

4 PM.

Twilight Café.

Lin Mu woke up.

A new day had begun.

The first thing she did after waking up was grab her phone.

She checked the "friend messages" sent by various mini-programs.

Then, she tested whether her mental state had worsened.

Normally, when she felt down, a good night's sleep would help ease her discomfort.

But today, in her field of vision,

the message center of "Melancholy Music" still displayed a glaring red notification.

Yin Ci P: "Lin-chan, you've been practicing well."

?

?

"Huh?"

Faced with the message that hadn't dissipated into thin air,

Lin Mu felt a bit dizzy.

"Strange."

She frowned slightly.

Silently,

she felt that

perhaps the way she got out of bed today wasn't quite right.

Maybe she got up too abruptly.

…

How to determine if she was truly awake?

It was actually quite simple.

Lin Mu suddenly got up, put on her nightgown and tights, pulling them up to her thighs, then adjusted the hem of her dress. She reached for the cigarette pack and lighter on the table,

walked to the kitchen downstairs, and lit a Seven Stars cigarette.

—Then, she pressed the burning tip against her left arm.

【Sizzle—】

Without hesitation.

A quick touch and release.

"...Mmm."

Yes.

It hurt.

Looking at the red mark,

breathing slightly heavily,

Lin Mu leaned against the wall.

Her gaze was hazy.

…

Smoke swirled around her.

She forgot to turn on the range hood.

The ash grew longer,

she hadn't taken a single puff.

She just watched it burn on its own,

until the ash reached the limit of what the air could bear,

finally breaking off and falling to the ground.

"..."

How to describe her feelings at this moment?

The girl tossed the cigarette butt into the sink, rinsed it briefly with running water, and then reached up to her messy hair.

Utterly perplexed.

"Ah..."

Two years.

It had been two whole years.

Could it be that "he,"

really, truly, had come back?

Just as she had firmly believed, as she had been convinced, had he returned to her side?

"No."

"It's impossible."

"That doesn't make sense."

"Right, maybe the account was hacked? That's possible."

"Accounts that haven't been used for a long time are easy targets for hackers. Hah, maybe it's some scammer trying to trick me out of money. Because I'm rich."

Lin Mu brainwashed herself in this way, grabbing her phone again and staring at the message from Yin Ci P on the screen, scrutinizing it repeatedly.

Trying to find any signs of foul play.

"Although the nickname is correct, and the tone is fine, online scams are evolving with the times.

It's hard to guard against.

What if the hacker went through my previous chat records and tailored the message to me? I might easily fall for it.

If Yin Ci P's next message was 'Can you lend me 200,000 yuan?' I'd probably transfer the money without hesitation."

Lin Mu muttered quietly.

Reminding herself to stay rational, not to transfer all her pocket money to Yin Ci P.

Right.

"No. Absolutely not. I need to test this further, see if it's really him."

Lin Mu said to herself:

"Don't think you can easily fool me."

"I'm not easy to fool."

She believed

she was being cautious.

Treating this illusion as carefully as she treated every note while playing.

A top bassist wouldn't play a single unnecessary note,

and even the duration of each note had to perfectly match the standard requirements, not a millisecond more or less, or else it wouldn't have the right "groove."

So.

"Don't treat me like a child. Why would a 'god' who hasn't spoken to me in two years suddenly compliment me? And at midnight, no less, with a tone that suggests he's watched all my videos. Hah, scammers, don't underestimate me."

Lin Mu made up her mind and immediately typed out a difficult question:

【What kind of bass do I use?】

This was the first verification question.

She believed only Yin Ci P knew the full name of "Saintess."

If it was a hacker, they wouldn't be able to answer correctly.

"Haha..."

Before she could feel smug,

the next moment.

Yin Ci P: 【A Zon M245, a limited edition handmade from Japan.】

"?"

"..."

Lin Mu frowned slightly.

She let out a soft hiss.

…

"No way, absolutely no way."

He replied.

And he got it right.

No.

He probably took a screenshot of my video and used AI image recognition. Hah, with how advanced ChatGPT is these days, a professional scammer could easily integrate an image recognition tool to identify the instrument and trick me.

Just getting this right doesn't mean anything.

Thinking this, she immediately exited "Melancholy Music" and opened WallSite instead.

She thought to herself:

"If you're really alive, you'd definitely check all social media platforms.

If I message you on a different platform, and you're a scammer, you'd only have hacked one account, maybe two. You wouldn't be able to reply on all of them unless you're a phone thief."

Lin Mu applauded herself for her thoroughness.

She immediately found Yin Ci P's profile on WallSite, opened the private messages, and sent:

【What's my favorite song?】

This was the second verification question.

The correct answer was something she had only told "him" once.

Even if it was him, after two years, he might not remember.

But then,

Yin Ci P replied instantly: "Tuyu—'The Child Being Compared.'"

……

"????"

Seeing this, Lin Mu's mouth fell open.

"This..."

Huh?

"..."

She knew a scammer couldn't possibly know this.

But it was also possible that her last cover video on WallSite was of this song.

If the hacker saw the video with the highest views, ranked at the top, and took a wild guess, it wasn't impossible.

"Just like this, you think you can get 200,000 yuan out of me? Dream on."

Wait and see.

Hah.

Lin Mu sneered, unwilling to give up. She opened the Douyin app and searched for "Yin Qing P's" account.

Today, I'm going to put you to the test.

She thought to herself:

"He never uses this platform. He only posted three videos and never logged in again. He doesn't like Douyin and didn't follow anyone. That's why, after going offline, he even forgot to change his ID from 'Yin Qing P.'

So if I message him here, he won't be able to reply, right? It's more likely he's already uninstalled the app. That must be it."

As she thought this, she took another cigarette from the pack, lit it, and took a deep drag.

At the same time, she sent a third "identity verification" question in the private message:

—【Why haven't you replied to me in two years?】

…

…

A personal topic + a fatal question.

For Lin Mu, this question was unsolvable.

It was a sharp spear that could pierce through any disguise,

and at the same time, it was the thing she wanted to know most deep in her heart.

It had no answer.

Or rather, only Qing could provide the answer.

If he didn't see her message or chose not to reply, then so be it. She would block all the accounts related to Yin Ci P that the scammer had taken over and then post personal diaries to the blocked accounts.

After all, she didn't want such private content to be seen by an outsider, someone who wasn't Yin Ci P himself.

All she needed was to find the memories of Qing, immerse herself in them, and pretend he was by her side. That was enough.

That was all.

But if Qing could reply to this...

"Hah, forget it, I'm being naive again."

Before she could even finish her fantasy,

Lin Mu let out a bitter laugh, cutting off her own naivety.

After all,

that one misstep she took back then had sent her tumbling into an endless abyss.

That half-step, for Lin Mu, was the most regrettable forward probe of her entire life.

If it hadn't been for that half-step, perhaps Qing would still be answering all her questions now.

He would still be patiently, gently responding to all her doubts.

Although, he wasn't obligated to do so.

No one knew.

After that day, she had adopted a "meticulous mode" for everything.

Playing the bass with meticulous care.

Baking with a meticulous process.

Making coffee with a meticulous approach.

Now, meticulously determining whether she was in a dream,

meticulously facing the scammer's tricks,

meticulously leaving the other party speechless.

Little did she know, this meticulousness,

at this very moment,

was met with an even more meticulous answer.

Yin Qing P: "Sorry, Lin-chan. At that time, my condition was quite severe. I was running between traditional Chinese medicine hospitals and top-tier psychiatric clinics every day, desperately seeking ways to alleviate my suffering. I had no choice but to put music on hold. I haven’t logged into Douyin (TikTok) since then, but luckily I didn’t delete it. Haha.

But why did you go through so many apps to message me? Isn’t that a hassle? Here’s an idea—I’ll give you my Feixin ID, and you can add me as a friend. From now on, if there’s anything important, we can just chat on Feixin. Here’s my account: QingL_XXXXXX… Oh, and I’ll give you my QQ number too: 7090XXXXX. We can use that for sharing files and stuff. In the days to come, I won’t just disappear on you again, okay? If you have any questions, you can reach me on either of these accounts—I’m available 24/7."

Thud.

In that very moment.

The usually meticulous and composed rich loli (wealthy young girl) plopped down onto the ash-covered tile floor.

Her face, which had always carried an air of arrogance, now showed a vulnerability that didn’t belong to a tsundere-like character—tears welling up in her eyes.

……

……