After the conversation that afternoon, the two of them did not look for each other that night.

  They returned to their respective homes and families.

  Jiaren Wu lay on the bed, her heart aching.

  She thought of something and suddenly climbed out of bed. Walking into the study, she turned on the computer.

  Jiaren Wu found the black icon on the computer and opened Parallel World. It had been a long time since she had logged into the game. After she opened the game, she realized that she needed to update it.

  She clicked on the update.

  The update took more than an hour.

  Jiaren Wu entered her username and password and logged in.

  Soon, a blue screen popped up.

  [Greetings, esteemed player ‘Beautiful Lady.’ Due to many reasons, Parallel World has been forced to be taken down and cannot be used for the time being. All good things must come to an end. I am very happy to have spent thirteen years with you. The green hills never change, and the waters flow forever. May we meet again someday.]

  Jiaren Wu was stunned upon seeing this.

  Jiaren Wu could not accept this news.

  She opened Baidu and entered the forum of Parallel World. When she opened the forum, she indeed saw many users discussing this matter.

  The game Parallel World had been around for many years. Now, more and more interesting games had appeared, and fewer and fewer people knew about Parallel World. Despite this forum being the official forum of Parallel World, the number of people paying attention to it was only 100,000.

  Jiaren Wu remembered that when this game had just been released, the forum had over 600,000 followers.

  Unknowingly, most of those people had left.

  Those who were still willing to stay in the old game were people who were attached to it.

  Sighing, Jiaren Wu opened the thread posted by the thread owner.

  It turned out that due to the huge operating fees and annual losses, the company could no longer hold on. Due to the lack of funds, they could only take down the game.

  Many people commented below—


  Benevolent Doctor: [The game has been running for fourteen years. I’ve known her for thirteen years. She accompanied me for three years, but I spent ten years on a game without her.]

  Jiaren Wu still had some impression of this friend called Benevolent Doctor. Back when Parallel World was more popular, this person and his girlfriend were a famous couple in the game. Back then, when the game held the simulation surgery competition, this person had also entered the top ten.

  Miracle Hand Rejuvenation: [In Parallel World, I’m a respected medical expert. In real life, I became a property salesperson. Back then, I failed my college entrance examination and returned to school for a year. I enrolled in business school. This game is over. My dream is dead.]

  Reminiscence: [The person who introduced this game to me five years ago has passed away. Now, this game has joined him.]

  She spent more than an hour reading all the replies on the twenty-eight pages.

  After reading all of it, Jiaren Wu felt extremely stifled.

  She thought for a while, then tapped her fingers on the keyboard and sent a message.

  Alluring Beauty: [I will never forget my first love. I still like you.]

  She closed the post and finally closed Parallel World on her computer desk. Turning off the computer, she picked up her phone and opened Wei Shuyi’s WeChat profile picture. After thinking for a while, she just sighed into her phone.

  ***

  The next day, Jiaren Wu accompanied Dongli Shenghua to work as usual.

  Early in the morning, his secretary came to report for work.

  She finished her routine and thought of something. Then she said, “Boss, here’s the thing. Miss Qiao Liya has been looking for you for the past few days. Look—”


  However, Dongli Shenghua glanced at Jiaren Wu outside the door and retracted his gaze. He looked up at the secretary and said, “Other than work, I won’t see anyone else.”


  The secretary was shocked.

  “Including Miss Dongjing and Miss Xingchen?” Both of these women were very close to Dongli Shenghua.

  Dongli Shenghua’s emotions did not fluctuate as he coldly acknowledged that.

  The secretary nodded and left the office.

  After taking a seat, the secretary secretly glanced at Ms. Wu, who was standing outside the CEO’s office.

  The secretary had not missed the way Mr. Dongli looked at Miss Wu just now.?

  ?

  Jiaren Wu had long realized that the secretary was peeking at her, so she could only pretend not to know about it.

  ***

  On the 1st of September, Dongli Shenghua brought Dongli Ao to school.

  Dongli Ao was about to enter the first grade. He was especially excited. Wearing a gray suit and carrying a small school bag, he walked beside Dongli Shenghua. He was not even as tall as his father’s thigh. Jiaren Wu walked behind the two of them. She wore a loose black suit and was expressionless.

  Dongli Ao’s form teacher glanced at Dongli Shenghua and Jiaren Wu. He touched his heart.?

  After more than an hour, the registration procedures were completed. The class would officially start tomorrow.

  The three of them walked out of the school gate together. Dongli Ao wanted to go to a bookstore by the street to buy book covers. He insisted that Dongli Shenghua accompany him. Dongli Shenghua stared at the crowded stationery shop by the street and hesitated for a moment before nodding in agreement.

  Wherever their employer went, the bodyguards would follow.

  Jiaren Wu followed them. When she saw them enter the stationery shop, she stood outside.

  At this moment, a group of boys around 12 or 13 years old came over. They were wearing ripped jeans, and each of them had a cigarette in their hands. With just a glance, one could tell that they were gangsters. When they passed Jiaren Wu, they even blew a cigarette at her.

  Jiaren Wu acted on reflex and swiftly grabbed the arm of the boy closest to her. She swiftly removed the cigarette from his hand.

  The boy was speechless.

  When he came back to his senses, the young man scolded Jiaren Wu, “I just blew a puff of smoke at you. Is there a need to injure someone?!” She had grabbed his arm so hard that he wanted to cry from the pain. However, he didn’t want to lose face in front of his friends and had to hold it in.

  “Hey, let go of my bro!”


  The other boys fiercely looked at Jiaren Wu.

  The thirteen- or fourteen-year-olds were in a rebellious phase. All of them had arrogant looks on their faces and felt that they ruled the world. Even though Jiaren Wu’s skills shocked them, they were not afraid because they had more people.

  Jiaren Wu snorted and extinguished the cigarette on the floor with her leather shoe.

  “It’s forbidden for teenagers to smoke. Which school are you from? I’ll call your school’s director.”


  “Crazy!”


  The boys got a little angry. “Who cares!”


  “You should care!”


  Jiaren Wu subconsciously wanted to educate them, but at this moment, Dongli Shenghua walked out. He swept his cold gaze over the youths, who felt their hearts tremble.

  “Miss Wu, let him go.”


  Jiaren Wu hesitated for a moment before letting him go.

  “Pfft!”


  After spitting at Jiaren Wu, the teenagers fled.

  Jiaren Wu looked at their backs and frowned.

  Dongli Shenghua walked to her side and looked at those boys’ backs. He said calmly, “Why do you care about them? They are ruining themselves. What can you do?”


  Jiaren Wu replied, “If everyone thinks like you, then this country will be finished.”


  “Ha…”


  Dongli Shenghua narrowed his sharp eyes. He looked at the young men on the road and suddenly said, “The cigarettes are in the glass cabinet. No one is forcing the boys to smoke them. It is they themselves who cannot resist the temptation… Who is to blame?” He tilted his head and fixed his eyes on Jiaren Wu. “The manufacturers are not at fault. The market needs them. That is all.”


  “Today, they’ll go out to smoke out of curiosity. Tomorrow, they’ll be able to take drugs out of curiosity.” Jiaren Wu raised her head and looked up at Dongli Shenghua. She asked, “Then, do you think it’s not wrong for drug dealers to sell drugs? It’s just a market requirement?”


  This was a trap.

  Dongli Shenghua stared at her.

  Jiaren Wu’s eyes met his, and there was no hint of fear in them.

  She was like a porcupine covered in thorns.

  Dongli Shenghua suddenly laughed. “I’m talking about cigarettes. Why are you suddenly mentioning drugs?”


  “They’re all poison. One of them has a long incubation period, so it’s just slower poisoning. The other one will cause a longer addiction and poison the addict deeply.” Jiaren Wu shook her head and said, “You don’t understand.”


  Looking at her sorrowful face, Dongli Shenghua humbly asked, “What do you mean I don’t understand?”


  “I used to be an anti-narcotics police officer. I’ve seen too many tragic cases.” Jiaren Wu pointed at the road in front of her and said to Dongli Shenghua, “A living person who was addicted to drugs had hallucinations and was completely naked. He suddenly ran onto the road in the middle of the night and got hit by a car. His body landed five to six meters away, and his head was separated…”


  She pointed to a small hotel building diagonally in front of her and said, “Many people high on drugs also jump down from the building to end their short lives. Some of them are only in their teens.”


  Her fingers finally landed on her body.

  Jiaren Wu looked at Dongli Shenghua’s cold and emotionless eyes. She said, “My younger brother died before my eyes because he was in so much pain from taking drugs.

  “Mr. Dongli, you haven’t seen a person you love die in front of you with your own eyes. You don’t understand that kind of pain.” She pointed to her chest. “It’s a pain that goes straight to the heart, a pain that screams through the night and causes nightmares.”


  Something flashed in Dongli Shenghua’s eyes.

  “I’m sorry!” he said.

  Jiaren Wu looked at him in surprise and heard him say, “I don’t understand the pain you’re talking about.”


  “It’s normal not to understand.”


  If he could understand, he wouldn’t be a drug trafficker.

  After a moment of silence, Jiaren Wu suddenly said, “You don’t even know how despicable those drug traffickers are.”


  Upon hearing this, Dongli Shenghua seemed really curious. He asked, “What do you mean?”


  “Do you still remember the explosion on the night of the Binjiang River’s cruise party three months ago?”


  “Yes.” Dongli Shenghua nodded and said, “I heard that a few police officers from our public city bureau died because of it.”


  When Jiaren Wu heard this, her heart felt especially cold.

  He could even talk about the public city bureau so naturally. This showed how strong his mental fortitude was and how vigilant he was. He didn’t even leave any evidence behind when he spoke.

  Under normal circumstances, as a drug dealer, he would subconsciously use words like “your bureau” or “your team” when talking. However, he instead used the term “our bureau.”


  If not for the fact that she had already found out his true identity, Jiaren Wu would not have believed that this person was the hidden tumor in their country.

  “Yeah.”


  Jiaren Wu crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked around casually. She said softly, “During that operation, several people in our team died. Huang Junsheng, have you heard of him?”


  Dongli Shenghua pretended to be confused and thought for a moment before saying, “Is it the captain of the Municipal Public Security Bureau who made the drug traffickers panic?”


  “Yes, they used to call him Hypocrite Huang.” Jiaren Wu smiled bitterly.

  “He was a good person.” Dongli Shenghua sighed. “What a pity, what a pity!”


  Seeing that he was putting on such a good show, Jiaren Wu coldly laughed in her heart but did not show it on her face. She nodded and agreed with him. “It’s indeed a pity! When he was around, those drug dealers in our city had to hide in their shells.”


  When Dongli Shenghua heard this, his index finger twitched.

  Jiaren Wu added, “You can’t imagine how despicable those drug dealers are.”


  Dongli Shenghua exclaimed in surprise before asking, “How so?”


  “To keep us from getting the evidence, every time they’re in the middle of a bigger deal, they will put a bomb on site. Even if we get the message and run to catch someone, they can take the opportunity to destroy the drugs and the evidence so we can’t do anything about them.

  “You know, if we can’t find the drugs, we can’t force a conviction on them.” She let out a long sigh. “That’s how the team members died last time,” she said sadly.

  Dongli Shenghua was truly shocked.

  He said, “Those people are horrible.”


  “Yeah.”


  Dongli Ao ran out of the stationery shop and stood between the two of them, looking up at Dongli Shenghua. He said to Dongli Shenghua, “Daddy, I’m done buying. Let’s go.”


  Upon hearing this, Dongli Shenghua patted his head and led him to the car.