Luo Qingyan didn't used to like going to bed early—in fact, before she transmigrated, she loved staying up late. She fully embraced the motto "the night life begins at midnight," with one or two in the morning being the baseline, three or four being the norm, and five or six not unusual. Occasionally, when she was in the mood, she'd even pull an all-nighter.

So when she first learned that cultivators should ideally sleep at night, she scoffed at the idea.

With the System's help, her cultivation level was always among the top of the younger generation, so she didn't need the benefits of sleep.

Staying up late was an invincible path, so why bother with sleep?

But a few years ago, on a whim, she decided to sleep and ended up dreaming about doing some unspeakable things with Xiao Lin. Since then, she started going to bed on time every day.

Although after that, she only dreamt of Xiao Lin less than ten times, and the dreams were all very wholesome and innocent...

In any case, today Luo Qingyan lay down on her bed at the usual time.

Pulling up her little blanket, Luo Qingyan habitually began to let her imagination run wild, envisioning what she and Senior Brother would do together—thinking about something during the day leads to dreaming about it at night. Luo Qingyan believed this would help her have a dream that met her expectations.

Only when her cheeks flushed from the vivid images did Luo Qingyan reluctantly stop her fantasies, close her eyes, and quickly fall asleep.

The good news was, she did have a dream.

The bad news was, it wasn't the dream she was hoping for.

...

...

A quiet and tidy corridor, with soft lights casting a gentle glow from the ceiling. The walls on both sides were so white they seemed to reflect light, lined with rows of orderly doors marked as wards and consultation rooms.

Memories deeply buried in Luo Qingyan's heart resurfaced, and she even felt she could faintly smell the scent of disinfectant.

A young girl in casual clothes appeared in the corridor, quickly heading towards a certain ward.

The girl's features were quite similar to Luo Qingyan's, only younger.

Seeing this, Luo Qingyan immediately followed the girl.

The two entered a room at the end of the corridor one after the other.

Inside the room, an elderly woman lay on a hospital bed, engrossed in playing on her phone.

Seeing the old woman, Luo Qingyan's eyes instantly welled up with tears.

"Grandma, you're secretly playing games again."

Seeing the old woman on her phone, the girl immediately spoke with a hint of reproach.

"Huh? You little rascal, why didn't you knock before coming into the ward?" The old woman, upon hearing the voice, quickly hid her phone under the blanket.

But this obvious act of hiding was easily seen through by the girl, who stepped forward, took the phone from under the blanket, and said seriously, "The doctor told you to rest more, remember?"

"But I still have daily tasks to complete, sign-ins, and gifts to give to the characters," the old woman muttered softly.

"It's just a game, how important can it be?"

"It's very important! I played for a long time to get this character, it's a Five-Star Character Card."

"…"

The girl looked at the old woman's proud expression, about to speak, when the old woman suddenly started coughing violently. Alarmed, the girl quickly stepped forward to gently pat the old woman's back, helping her catch her breath. Once the coughing subsided, she picked up the medicine bottle from the table and helped the old woman take her medication.

"Cough, cough, see, you took my phone away and made me sick again, cough, cough, you naughty child, cough, cough, don't do it again."

"…"

The girl looked at the old woman forcing a smile, remained silent for a moment, then picked up the phone she had set aside and handed it back to the old woman. "Grandma, how about this, you teach me, and I'll help you with the sign-ins, daily tasks, and giving gifts to the characters, so you can rest more."

"But I want to do it myself…"

"Is it difficult? Then don't do it, I'll confiscate the phone."

"Hey, hey, hey, I'll teach you, I'll teach you."

"See, that wasn't so hard."

...

Standing quietly by the bedside, Luo Qingyan watched the old and young pair, wiped the tears from her face, and joined them.

"Look, tap here, then here... here... it will auto-play... then tap here... here..."

"Grandma, don't you think it's a bit troublesome?"

"What's troublesome about it? When I used to play the main storyline, the process was even longer."

"Then how about the gift-giving you mentioned, how do you do that?"

"It's this, you see, I finally got this Five-Star Character Card, Senior Brother Xiao Lin, isn't he handsome?"

"Well, he's alright."

"You young girls have no taste, let me tell you, you can skip everything else, but you must give him gifts every day and interact with him. Sometimes there are character storylines, and you must save those for me to play."

"Forget it, if there are character storylines, I'll play them for you to watch, Grandma."

"Alright, anyway, our goal is to max out his affection to a hundred."

"Okay, okay, I got it, Grandma, now lie down and rest."

"I want to play a bit longer…"

"No way!"

"Tsk, you child, such a buzzkill."

"Grandma, where did you learn all these things…"

Seeing the old woman obediently lie down, the girl helped her cover up, tucked her in, then pulled up a chair to sit beside her, starting to complete the unfinished tasks for her grandma.

Luo Qingyan reluctantly withdrew her gaze from the old woman, watching the girl's somewhat clumsy operations, her somewhat awkward interactions with "Senior Brother Xiao Lin." Though a smile tugged at her lips, her eyes grew moist once more.

In her gradually blurring vision, the scene before her began to change rapidly—

The old woman watched the girl play through the storyline with great interest, urging her to farm gift dungeons, celebrating the rise in character affection, smiling as if her illness had improved.

The girl, initially indifferent, gradually became serious, getting frustrated over choosing the wrong dialogue in interactions, farming a dungeon dozens of times for a specific gift, staying up late to research strategies and take notes for a perfect character storyline...

Finally, the scene froze on the girl raising her phone high.

"Finally, a hundred affection! Unlocking the final affection story!" The girl cheered, exited the game interface, and eagerly prepared to make a call.

But before she could, another call came in.

The girl answered the call with a puzzled expression.

Then, her expression changed from excitement to a daze.

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from "pawread.com".

The phone slipped from her hand, but she didn't seem to notice.

Luo Qingyan watched this scene quietly.

She no longer cried, just watched silently.

She watched the girl attend the old woman's funeral, watched her be taken home by reluctant relatives, watched her grow isolated and cold, watched her treat the game character "Senior Brother Xiao Lin" as her only friend, watched her whisper secrets to "Senior Brother Xiao Lin"...

Luo Qingyan raised her hand, wanting to say something to the girl.

Then, she woke up.

"Second Junior Sister? Second Junior Sister? Are you there?"

Hearing the voice outside the door, Luo Qingyan jumped out of bed and quickly went to the door, opening it.

"Ah, Second Junior Sister, I was just checking on you... Hey, hey, hey! Your clothes! Your collar is open! Close it!"

"…"

Luo Qingyan seemed not to hear Xiao Lin's words, just quietly looking at him, her gaze seemingly piercing through time and space, landing on some unknown distant place.