Jiang Yan buried his head under the blanket, sleeping until noon the next day. It wasn’t until he felt extremely hungry that he struggled to open his eyes and picked up his phone to order takeout.
As soon as he opened his phone, a WeChat message from his mom popped up.
[Yan Yan, have you had breakfast? Remember to eat breakfast.]
[Your dad went fishing with his old classmates today. Don't just stay at home; go out for a walk when you have the time.]
While Jiang Yan replied to his mom, he glanced at the date—it was the 17th of this month.
That meant he had come out of the game on the 16th, and he remembered entering the game on the same day.
In other words, the time in the game and the time in reality were separate.
After replying to his mom's WeChat, Jiang Yan got out of bed and poured himself a glass of water. Just then, his phone buzzed again:
[Yan Yan, how is it going with Li Yun?]
Jiang Yan's long eyelashes trembled slightly as he replied,
[It's okay.]
Li Yun was a blind date arranged by his parents.
After his divorce from Yu Xiu, his parents saw that he had been single for half a year, didn’t like going out, and had no hobbies. They worried he might get into trouble staying home alone, so they decided to introduce him to someone new.
After all, he had been single for half a year, and it was time to move on. Although their son had shown no signs of sadness or distress after the divorce, this was what worried Jiang Yan's parents the most. Their son had always been normal and obedient to the point of being somewhat abnormal.
Jiang Yan was not introverted; he had plenty of friends, but he often seemed lackluster, as if he had no interest in anything.
This was also why Jiang Yan was exceptionally obedient; he didn't care much about anything, so he usually followed his parents' and elders' opinions.
Except for marrying Yu Xiu.
At first, Jiang Yan's parents couldn’t understand how their son suddenly liked a man.
And this man had striking green eyes that made it clear he wasn’t an honest person.
They intended to oppose the relationship, but for the first time, they saw a steadfast determination in their son’s eyes.
So, they agreed to Jiang Yan marrying Yu Xiu.
After they got married, they lived happily together; Yu Xiu was smart and attentive, taking good care of Yan Yan.
Seeing this, they relaxed, thinking of Yu Xiu as a second son.
But then, unexpectedly, the couple decided to divorce just like that!
The reason for the divorce was something Jiang Yan had never clarified with them. Since their son was unwilling to talk, his parents felt heartbroken and chose not to pry any further.
In the end, they divorced, and as parents, they didn’t want to reopen old wounds for their child.
[That’s good. Just remember to avoid any unnecessary complications in life. As long as you're safe and sound, your mom will be happy.]
[Okay.]
[By the way, have you seen the news? There have been earthquakes and typhoons everywhere recently. Don't sleep too deeply at home alone; if you feel the house shaking at night, get outside.]
[Got it.]
[Yan Yan, why don’t you come home? Your dad and I are worried about you being alone out there.]
Jiang Yan flopped onto the sofa and replied,
[No need. Yu Xiu's specimen room needs maintenance from time to time. If I move back home, you and Dad will be scared.]
After a long silence, Jiang Yan’s mom replied:
[Yan Yan, do you really want to pursue things with Li Yun?]
[Yes.]
[Mom knows you really liked Yu Xiu, but since you’ve broken up, you should focus on living your own lives.]
[Okay.]
Jiang Yan didn’t tell his mom that he and Li Yun had actually never started anything.
Li Yun was considered "perfect" in terms of appearance, education, work, personality, and family background.
He didn’t mind Jiang Yan’s "second marriage" status and was very pleased with Jiang Yan's easy-going nature. After they had known each other for a week, he suggested they try dating.
Jiang Yan realized he couldn’t find anything wrong with Li Yun. After hesitating for a minute, he asked, "Do you like cats?"
Li Yun, puzzled, smiled and said, "I do."
After hesitating a bit longer, Jiang Yan asked, "Do you like small animals?"
Li Yun replied, "Do you like small animals? If you like them, then I naturally will."
Jiang Yan nodded and added, "I don’t like them that much, but I have many animal specimens at home that I can't throw away."
"Oh, and some of them are human."
Li Yun answered understandingly, “That’s fine, I don’t mind.”
Jiang Yan found himself unable to come up with a reason to refuse, so he agreed to try dating Li Yun.
Just like he had told Yu Xiu before, marriage is fine as long as you feel at ease.
However, in the second month of their attempt at dating, while visiting a friend in the hospital, Jiang Yan inadvertently saw Li Yun pushing a boy in a wheelchair for a walk downstairs.
As he hesitated about whether to say hello, the two in the sunlight… kissed openly.
Watching the boy's water-blue eyes gleaming like jewels in the sun, Jiang Yan felt that this world was a bit unreal and melodramatic.
Thus, his second chance at love abruptly came to an end.
Jiang Yan's mother continued to remind him to eat well and take care of himself, to which Jiang Yan responded with perfunctory replies.
After dealing with his mom, he began ordering takeout.
Jiang Yan couldn’t cook; before getting married, they had a maid, and after getting married, it was Yu Xiu who cooked.
After placing his order, he idly turned on the TV, where the news was reporting on a recent major earthquake.
The reporter was interviewing a group of locals, and the excited chief wearing a wild chicken feather headdress said, “The end of the world is coming! A prophecy! A prophecy from the gods!”
His face was painted with strange symbols as he chanted, “The last deity is about to fall, and the entire universe will collapse!”
In the next second, the camera cut back to the studio, where the news anchor’s expression was solemn and grave as he said that humanity should respect and understand nature, and we should scientifically protect our mother earth.
Jiang Yan listened dully while hugging a pillow, waiting for his takeout.
Just then, his WeChat notification chimed again.
Jiang Yan picked up his phone to see a message from Li Yun.
Furrowing his brows, he clicked into the chat box and instantly widened his eyes at what he saw—
“Jiang Yan, do you know about the game ‘Jian’?”
Jiang Yan slightly frowned and replied, “Yeah.”
Li Yun didn’t reply after that, and Jiang Yan didn’t push for more details, as he had no interest in meddling in other people's affairs.
However, he was curious about this game.
What kind of person could create such strange and chaotic things?
At that moment, the news footage shifted back to the earthquake disaster site, with the reporter sadly reporting on the losses and casualties caused by the quake.
In the background, the chief with the wild chicken crown was still shouting, “The gods are about to fall! The end is near!”
Gods?
Aren’t gods supposed to be high up, enjoying offerings from all beings, and only acting on a whim?
Things like directly granting human wishes but demanding a price in return should be the work of the devil, right?
Jiang Yan casually picked up a bag of potato chips from the coffee table, tearing it open while bored.
Just then, a card lightly floated down to his feet.
At first, Jiang Yan thought it was just a scratch-off ticket from the potato chip bag, but when he picked it up, he froze—
It was a photograph, featuring a pink sky and a sun resembling a salted egg yolk, looking warm and sweet.
For an ordinary person, it was just a regular landscape photo, but the moment Jiang Yan saw it, his heart jumped into his throat, and his eyes turned red.
Such photos lined an entire wall in his study, taken by Yu Xiu.
From the day they met, he had recorded every sunset. Sometimes it was cloudy or hazy, and he would also take photos of the bare sky, diligently writing down the date beneath each photo.
Jiang Yan never understood this practice; he felt it was reasonable to capture beautiful sunsets, but what was the point of photographing a barren sky?
Yet Yu Xiu took it very seriously: “It may not seem special to others, but for me, that was another day spent with Yan Yan. I want to remember every evening we’ve shared.”
Through Yu Xiu’s relentless effort, they ended up with hundreds of photos documenting their “days” together.
If they had argued on a particular day, Yu Xiu would annotate the photo with notes like, “Today, Yan Yan argued with me about not eating vegetables!” or “Yan Yan received a love letter today; I was really upset.”
But then, they got divorced.
Jiang Yan discovered a photo was missing while tidying up the room. He searched the entire apartment but couldn’t find it. He thought Yu Xiu had intentionally taken it, but he never expected to see it here today.
Staring at the photo in his hand, his eyes reddening, he was bewildered.
Why had it suddenly appeared on the floor?
Just then, the main system’s voice echoed in his ear:
【Congratulations, NPC Jiang Yan, you have obtained an item——】
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