Chapter 73

At the moment Shu Fu asked that question, her personal protective shield was silently activated, enveloping her in an intense sense of security. She felt her emotions stabilize a bit, allowing her to observe the person sitting beside her with more calmness.

It seemed like just a moment, and the soft, nostalgic light in Lu Zheng’s eyes suddenly faded away.

He turned to look at Shu Fu, slightly stunned. “What did you ask?” His expression was gentle, his gaze clean, with nothing unusual about it. He didn’t seem to be playing a trick, nor did he show any disturbing or odd expressions. He just looked a little confused and bewildered, as if he hadn’t realized what he had just said.

Shu Fu stared at him, as though trying to read him through sheer force: “You said we drank together before, and it was raining that day?”

As Shu Fu spoke, Lu Zheng seemed to fall back into his memories. After thinking for a moment, he nodded slowly and said, “Yes, I remember… When we drank together last time, the glass window of the private room was rattling from the heavy rain… You even said you really liked the sound of rain hitting the glass, that it gave you creative inspiration…”

Shu Fu looked at him, and this time, she froze.

She had definitely said that, but it absolutely couldn’t have been in this world.

In this world, she was just an ordinary college graduate—what creative inspiration could she possibly need!?

She reached out and grabbed Lu Zheng’s arm.

At that moment, Lu Zheng in front of her felt like a huge bug in the system!

After Lou Yuncheng’s “Shu Fu” who didn’t recognize her, the second bug appeared—Lu Zheng.

Shu Fu’s mind was racing. Even if she had said those words, it couldn’t have been in this world—it had to be a memory from her original world!

In her original world, she was a screenwriter, and only the “her” from that world would say something like that!

But why did Lu Zheng know about this? He was from this world—how could he know what she said in that other world!?

Unless—

Unless he, like her, wasn’t from this world!

He came from the same world as her!?

Not only that, but in that world, he knew her, had met her!

That’s it! Since her awakening, she had suspected this, because her appearance was exactly the same as it was in her original world. Every detail matched completely, as if she had been transported directly into this world.

So, did he get confused?

But why did she have no memory of him?

…

In just a few seconds, countless thoughts and guesses flew through her mind like meteors.

Shu Fu tightened her grip on his arm and pulled him closer to her. With a voice as soft as possible, not wanting to disturb his current state of memory, she slowly asked, “Are you sure you heard this yourself?”

“Mm.” He nodded, his expression calm, seemingly unaware that he had confused his memories…

“Are… you still Lu Zheng?”

This time, he looked at her with a puzzled expression. “Why are you asking that? Of course, I am.”

“Then when we drank together, where was Lu Ce? Was he there too?”

“Lu Ce?” Lu Zheng furrowed his brows, as if genuinely trying to recall.

But if things were exactly as Shu Fu suspected, then the very idea of him thinking about this was flawed.

Earlier, he mentioned the director and the female lead. She had already roughly figured out the situation—it must have been some kind of gathering for the main crew of a film.

She wasn’t the head screenwriter, so she didn’t attend many of the dinners. But since she was attractive, occasionally when the lead actor had a temper tantrum and didn’t show up, the producer would call her to help fill the void.

It was a work-related event, so it would have been impossible for underage family members to attend.

Moreover, Lu Ce was from this world!

The settings of the original world and the people from this world should never have crossed over in the same dimension. It shouldn’t even be worth thinking about. But the Lu Zheng in front of her was seriously considering it, and soon his face changed to one of confusion.

This wasn’t the kind of confusion one would feel from just physical disorientation—it was his expression, a crack in his demeanor, as if his memory from two dimensions was starting to collide. Or perhaps he was finally realizing something was wrong: the things he knew didn’t align with what he should know!

He shouldn’t have drunk with her, he shouldn’t have seen her in that black dress, and he certainly shouldn’t have heard her say those words…

He had been a university student studying in Suicheng, working part-time as a delivery driver, living with his younger brother in a cheap rented apartment. She was their neighbor, a senior at university. Not long after they got to know each other, heavy rains started, and the whole city of Suicheng was eventually flooded…

What… what was happening?

Who did those memories belong to?

His memories?

Then, who was he?

Suddenly, he felt Shu Fu release her grip on his fingers. Her body leaned slightly backward, her eyes fixed upward, unblinking, staring at something above his head.

“What’s wrong, Shu Fu?”

What’s wrong?

Shu Fu stared at the flashing white light above his head, feeling another shock. She had only just realized—What was going on?

She looked at the white light strip above the other person’s head, moving in sync with his actions, and realized that the two previous times she had seen this were not just a case of her eyes playing tricks! A flashing light strip, just like Chen Fa’s, had appeared above Lu Zheng’s head, and the flashing frequency was gradually decreasing, becoming clearer, as if it were stabilizing little by little.

Because the flashing frequency had decreased, she was finally able to see the full shape of the white light strip.

It was a—progress bar!?

The entire progress bar was transparent, with the white light strip representing the progress. In the short time just now, the white part had extended forward a little. It existed in the air above his head, like a completely illogical bug that she couldn’t touch or block.

Unreal, and eerie.

She discreetly took out a small mirror from her waist pouch and handed it to him, asking if he noticed anything unusual.

He looked at the mirror and shook his head, seemingly still unable to shake off the chaotic memories of the two dimensions.

“Didn’t you see something above your head?” Shu Fu directly asked.

Lu Zheng looked at the mirror again, his expression puzzled as he asked, “What’s above my head?”

He couldn’t see it—or rather, only she could see it.

So—Shu Fu suddenly had a thought.

Could it be that this white light strip was a progress bar just for her to see?

What exactly did the progress on it represent?

---

Later that night, the rain lightened a little.

The rainfall in the northern plateau of Huaguo was one of the lowest in the entire country, so compared to Suicheng and Lou Yuncheng, the periods when the rain eased would be slightly more frequent.

Shu Fu sat at the table in the container house, using the dim light from her phone to squint at the black mini notebook in her hands.

【Lu Cheng No. 3 Trading Post clock-in task completed, received 4th level raft 15% progress bar; additional 15% progress bar bonus; received 4 chances for a lucky draw. (Current raft 4th level progress: 75%)】

This time, not only had the progress bar increased by 30% all at once, but she also got 4 chances to spin the wheel.

Adding one accumulated from before, she now had a total of 5 chances for a lucky draw.

The rewards were so generous that, even though she had a pile of questions in her mind, she couldn’t stop feeling elated. Shu Fu hesitated between holding back and spinning the wheel, finally deciding to return to her “cute” self first.

The lights in the container house were off. She checked the locked door and nearly sealed window, then entered the bathroom.

She didn’t linger in the bathroom but headed straight to the iron door on the other side. This door led to the outer side of the building area, towards the salt lake. In simple terms, it faced away from the residences of the other town’s people, located in a blind spot for visibility.

Shu Fu activated her wristband, remotely turning on the protective shield of the floating island house, then started arranging the raft. She precisely controlled the placement angle, then opened the iron door leading outward from the bathroom.

Outside, the raft’s aft deck was pressed tightly against the door frame, with almost no gap between them.

She gently stepped out, effectively stepping onto the raft. With the protective shield active, the floating island house had zero presence, so even if someone saw the raft, they would subconsciously ignore its existence.

But low presence didn’t mean completely invisible, like a stone blocking the wall—a passerby would see the stone but wouldn’t notice it. Likewise, they wouldn’t be able to see the door on the wall behind it, and even less so, detect that someone had quickly moved from inside the wall to the raft outside in a split second.

As long as the shield remained on, no one would ever realize she wasn’t in the container house but had used this sleight-of-hand method to sneak into her secure floating island house.

Counting the days, it had been around 20 days since she had last been on the raft. But when she opened the back door and entered the house, she realized just how much she missed this eternally peaceful and comfortable safe house.

When outside, even with a raincoat on, if she stayed outdoors for too long, the rainwater would always seep through the gaps. She had grown used to letting her clothes get wet and dry again without batting an eye.

Even when she hadn’t showered or changed clothes for several days, she could still sleep soundly. But at this moment, as she took off her waterproof boots and stepped barefoot into the floating island house, she immediately felt something was off.

The small wooden house was bright and clean, with spotless floors, and a faint fragrance of gardenias in the air—it came from a scented candle placed in the living room. There were no damp, moldy walls, no rusted window frames, and no muddy, soiled floors. Even the disturbing stench of rotting fish and bothersome flying insects was absent.

It was clean and fresh, like a space from another dimension.

Shu Fu stepped back outside. Taking off her shoes wasn’t enough. She placed her bag and waterproof travel bag under the back door eaves, then equipped her electric card and entered the bathroom.

She planned to shower first, then enjoy a nice hot bath.

The shower turned on, and warm, clean water poured down from above with no strange smells. The refreshing sensation made Shu Fu sigh in relief. She never expected that a simple shower could bring her such immense happiness.

Twenty minutes later, Shu Fu leaned back in the bathtub, leisurely enjoying the fragrant bubble bath. Watermarks covered the glass floor-to-ceiling window, with new rain tapping against it. The rain sounded soft and continuous, like a natural symphony on this quiet night by the salt lake.

From time to time, she stretched out her hand to grab a sip of the brown sugar pearl iced milk tea from the bathtub shelf.

The brown sugar pearls were so much tastier than regular pearls, and since they came from the milk tea gift pack, the quality was particularly high. Every pearl in the drink was chewy and soft, without that plastic-like firm texture. The more she ate, the more addictive it became.

Next to her, the washing machine for outdoor clothes was washing the clothes she had worn recently. Even though the clothes she had changed out of were cleaned with rainwater treated with purification tablets and then dried with fire, the conditions were still limited, so for her now, it was almost like they hadn’t been washed at all.

She didn’t know how long she would stay in this salt lake scenic area. She had grown too lazy to test the boundaries of new places. Anyway, when there was a task, she would follow the task, and when there was no task, she would go along with Chen Fa and the others’ movements.

If they wanted to stay a few more days, she would stay with them. If they wanted to leave, she would go too. If they got stuck in a “wall” situation, she could just find a water area to release the raft and lie down.

After enjoying a relaxing bath, Shu Fu had finished washing her clothes. She took them out to hang in the dryer, dried her hair, applied glittery scented lotion all over her body, and changed into clean, soft home pants and a T-shirt.

Then, she walked over to the control panel and used the “one-click dust removal” function. She lit the gardenia-scented candle in the living room, adjusted the lights to a soft brightness, and finally connected her phone to the Bluetooth speaker, selecting a particularly soothing and beautiful song.

Shu Fu performed all the rituals she could, and then, with a sincere heart, she began her five consecutive spins.

First spin, green fourth prize: One-week electric card.

For Shu Fu, who had already gotten two “one-month electric cards,” a one-week card didn’t seem quite enough, but—better than nothing. She still had four more chances to go, so she had to maintain her sincere attitude.

Second spin, green third prize: Raft delay usage card (24 hours).

Shu Fu: …

This prize was somewhere between good and bad. It was a good card, but she didn’t really need it right now…

Third spin, red third prize: Barbecue gift pack ×10.

Shu Fu’s mood lifted. It had been a long time since she had eaten barbecue, and although she had other fresh meats stored in her space, she could cut them herself into suitable barbecue pieces, it still required time to cut and marinate.

Plus, she had already tried this barbecue gift pack and knew that it came with lettuce, garlic, and seasonings. High-quality snowflake beef, French-cut lamb chops, and lamb skewers—she didn’t have much of those stored in her space.

However, ten gift packs meant ten large boxes, which would take up a lot of space, and she couldn’t take them out just yet. She’d have to leave them in the space for when she really needed them later.

She thought about whether she should organize her space after the lucky draw and move out some furniture to temporarily store in the underwater bedroom. After all, she wouldn’t be staying down there while she was on land.

But overall, the trend of the prizes was looking up.

Shu Fu pressed the button again, and this time, the pointer landed on the dazzling gold.

Fourth spin, gold second prize: Floating bottle personal protective shield (1-hour experience card).

Shu Fu was so excited she almost teared up. This was exactly the personal protective shield she most wanted to draw at her current stage!

Recently, things on land had been unstable, and she had been using the protective shield almost every day. Even though she was quite frugal with its use, opening and closing it, the time left was decreasing bit by bit.

Especially after today, the remaining time was almost under 30 minutes, which made her feel unsafe. But now, with the protective shield’s time accumulation at 90 minutes, it felt like she was carrying 90 lives with her.

Indeed, ritual matters were very important. Shu Fu proceeded with her final spin in high spirits.

Final spin, blue second prize: Compressed display cabinet (portable, 10 compartments).

Shu Fu: !!