Chapter 15 Approaching New Year's Eve

In the blink of an eye, half a month had passed, and Chinese New Year's Eve was approaching.

S City had always been a terrible place for climate, not only with cold winters and hot summers, but also, the more intense the cold and heat, the more humid and sticky the air became.

This year was no exception…

Even though the weather was cold and damp, and the wind cut to the bone, people still had to go out and hustle and bustle for a living.

Day after day, they walked along the streets with biting winds, squeezed into subways packed like sardines, stepped into lifeless offices, worked a whole day of tedious and boring tasks, and then dragged their tired bodies back home, exhausting the last bit of their energy in front of a cold screen…

And the next day, it would all start again.

This was the truest face of life—hard and bitter, but people still had to endure it. This endurance was not only for survival, but also for the little moments of happiness in life.

Of course, there were also some people who were paying and fighting to grasp the phantom called "dream" that had not yet dissipated.

But in the end, very few people could truly reach the destination they originally wanted to reach…

The vast majority of people were eventually lost on the road of life. They were worn down by the years, they forgot their original intentions in the process of chasing their dreams, and they turned from extraordinary children into mediocre adults.

…

January 15th, noon, on a street in the center of S City.

The gloomy weather seemed to darken people's moods as well.

The expressions of the pedestrians could be roughly divided into two types: those in a hurry and those who were pale and numb.

And among these people, there was one person… who was different.

This was a woman, an obese woman.

Even aside from the factor of obesity, this woman's appearance couldn't be described as "beautiful"; moreover, she wasn't wearing any makeup at the moment, making her look five or six years older than her actual age.

She was wearing a thick down jacket and jeans, both of which looked very cheap, and her short, thick legs seemed to be about to burst the jeans open, making them difficult to look at directly.

With this kind of image, the rate of heads turning on the street was naturally not high.

However, this was exactly what she wanted—she didn't want to attract attention in the first place.

"This is… the so-called…" she walked slowly on the sidewalk, muttering to herself, "...'real world'?" Her eyes shifted around, collecting all the images that could be obtained visually, and in her eyes… there was a white, flowing light, "Compared with other universes composed of disordered natural evolution sequences… apart from being a little more boring, what else is there to recommend?"

No one heard her muttering to herself; presumably, even if someone did hear it, they wouldn't care or would ignore it as chuunibyou.

"If 'fate' hadn't connected our universe with this one, and established a 'superior-subordinate' relationship, the so-called 'dimensional difference' wouldn't exist," she said, looking down at her hand and trying to make a fist, "And in terms of 'power', we Derivatives are obviously more…"

At this point, her expression suddenly changed, and at the same second, the color of the flowing light in her eyes became a bit mottled and dim.

"I've been detected so quickly?" she muttered in a deep voice, expressionlessly, "As expected, given the current situation, it's still too difficult to move around 'here'…" She sighed softly, "Oh… I originally wanted to see 'him'… Oh well, there will be opportunities in the future."

After saying this, the flowing light in her eyes quickly disappeared.

The next second, the woman's expression changed drastically, and along with it, her standing posture, the temperament between her eyebrows, and so on…

After this change occurred, she immediately looked around with a panicked expression, and her hands instinctively crossed and hugged each other, as if to protect herself.

Her reaction was very much like someone who had just woken up from sleepwalking…

…

At the same moment, in another part of S City, at Feng Bujue's home.

Knock, knock, knock—

"Dinner's ready." Jue Ge knocked on his own room door, while raising his voice to call out.

Although it was his room, since Ruo Yu had moved back in recently, Jue Ge had returned to those days of… "Having to knock on the door to enter the room, and only being able to sleep in the game pod at night."

"Ah… coming…" A moment later, a weak reply came from inside the room.

A full five minutes passed, and by the time Feng Bujue had served the food, set out the cutlery, and sat down, the door to the room finally opened.

There, Ruo Yu, with a flushed face and a sickly look, wearing a set of pajamas and a blanket wrapped around them, swayed out of the room.

"Actually… if you need it, I can divide the food and bring it to your bed." Feng Bujue's tone seemed very calm, it seemed he had gotten used to the current situation.

"It's just a cold… no need to go that far… hiss…" Ruo Yu said, sniffing, "Besides, getting up and moving around is good for the body."

"What I find surprising and curious is…" Feng Bujue looked at Ruo Yu, who was walking slowly, step by step, and continued, "You cultivators can also catch colds?"

"First of all, I'm not a cultivator, I'm a spiritual ability user." Facing Jue Ge's teasing, Ruo Yu was now able to cope with ease, "Secondly, even if I was a cultivator, I haven't trained my spiritual abilities to the point where I can kill cold germs."

After saying this, Ruo Yu just happened to walk to the table, pulled out a chair, and sat down.

"Well…" Feng Bujue said, "Considering that you are still in a state where you 'can't have physical contact with others', you certainly can't get normal medical treatment, so what if you suddenly have a persistent high fever?"

Ruo Yu heard this, thought for a few seconds, then put down the chopsticks she had just picked up, and held out a hand to Jue Ge, "Why don't you try holding my hand."

"Hey, hey…" Feng Bujue immediately backed away a few steps, "What are you doing? It hasn't been just one or two times my arm's dislocated these past two weeks…"

"It's already been two weeks, the symptoms may have lessened; and… I feel very weak now, I can't exert any strength…" Ruo Yu continued, "You try first, if touching hands to this extent is okay, as long as you're careful on the road, you should still be able to go to the hospital to get some medicine."

"Well…" Feng Bujue groaned again, and thought for a few seconds, "Alright…"

As soon as the words fell, he also put down his chopsticks, and then took Ruo Yu's hand.

"Eh?" Two seconds later, Jue Ge's eyebrows widened, "It seems like it's really okay!"

In the past ten days or so… especially in the first few days, Feng Bujue had tried to touch Ruo Yu's body more than once, of course… mainly grabbing her hand or shoulder; however, Ruo Yu was like a perverted AI in a fighting game with a built-in parry technique, and every time contact occurred, she would instantly return a grapple move.

Unexpectedly, this time she didn't make a move…

"Wait…" But Feng Bujue was only happy for less than five seconds before he felt a pain on the top of his foot.

He looked down under the table and found that Ruo Yu was stepping on his foot.

"What are you…" Jue Ge only asked half a question.

Ruo Yu interrupted, "My foot moved on its own, I can't help it."

"Oh… so that means…" Feng Bujue then recited in a summarizing tone, "The natural reaction you have after physical contact with people has changed from 'taking your dog's life' to 'punching you to death with my little fists'?"

"Mm…" Ruo Yu nodded, "But it's not yet certain whether this is caused by the cold, or because I have adapted to your touch to some extent."

"Hehe…" Feng Bujue laughed when he heard this, "Then I'll try changing the position, method, and strength of the touch next." As he spoke, his eyes also shifted restlessly to various places on Ruo Yu's body.

There was no doubt that Jue Ge was being cheap, and if you asked him why he chose to be cheap at this time and place… he wouldn't be able to answer himself.

A master who had brought the power of cheapness to the realm of man and cheapness as one didn't need to think before acting…

Just like those commentary experts, as long as there was a flaw, they would instinctively comment on it, and wouldn't be happy if they didn't.

The current Feng Bujue was also in this situation, so after he was done being cheap, he received a single-handed arm twist throw from Ruo Yu that wasn't out of instinct…

In any case, he had confirmed in a special way that the other party's condition wasn't too serious; lying on the ground, feeling the pain from his arms and back, Jue Ge's heart was still relieved.