CHAPTER 287: CHAPTER 287: VERY HEALING VIDEO

"I woke up."

"A hurried knock on the door."

"I opened the door and saw a beautiful girl standing outside."

"She threw herself at me, forcefully pinning me down on the bed, and sealed my lips with her soft ones."

"We wrestled fiercely on the bed, then I reached into my backpack for a Durex..."

Lin Hongyu, sitting on the bed, shook his head and glanced at the comforter caught between his thighs, then expectantly looked at the door of the adjacent room.

It wasn’t until the paused alarm clock rang again that Lin Hongyu muttered, reluctantly accepting one fact: only the first sentence of the good things in his dream had come true. And the timing was just before the juicy part!

It was now 5:55 AM, but Lin Hongyu had already gotten out of bed. He spent ten minutes washing up and dressing, his movements gentle so as not to wake his tired mother. He left home at 6:05 AM and took another eight minutes to reach the subway station, but still missed the first train of the morning.

He sighed. Too late now, nothing to be done. He took out his phone to connect to the subway Wi-Fi and browse.

Although Lin Hongyu attended a prestigious provincial high school, his home was very far from the city center. Since morning self-study started early, he had to catch the first subway to avoid being late.

Therefore, he was often late.

While checking his phone, he ate the bread he had bought on the way. Lin Hongyu looked at the notification bar and saw a reminder from the video app—

"’Ren Naiser’ posted ’Midnight Walker’."

"Ren Naiser updated?!"

It had been over twenty days since Ren Naiser’s last post. That video had let the whole world know that apart from the Supernatural Organization Fairy Palace, Earth also had another hidden organization of Magicians—the World Tree!

Because seven Secret Realms had suddenly appeared around the world, Magicians revealed themselves to the public. Their purpose was to cleanse these realms of Demon monsters. They forged swords from their bones and prisons from their fingers. Born from Death, they sought no reward, sacrificing themselves to save the world!

That video made Lin Hongyu daydream. If only I could join the World Tree, then I could participate in dangerous battles to protect the world...

Compared to the ethereal Fairy Palace, young people actually preferred the World Tree because the World Tree... seemed weaker.

The individuals from Fairy Palace appeared too invincible. In contrast, the Magicians from the World Tree could be injured, feel pain, die, and make sacrifices. Young people felt a greater affinity with the World Tree, and because it seemed weaker, it also appeared easier to join.

After all, both Fairy Palace and World Tree were lofty supernatural organizations. It was like comparing a blonde, twintail-sporting, tsundere heiress from a wealthy family to an ordinary, friendly, and cute girl-next-door. Ordinary people would naturally find the latter more approachable.

I wonder if this new video by Ren Naiser will be related to Magicians?

Lin Hongyu opened the video and found that it had ten parts. The first part had a total duration of 63 minutes. Watching it would take him almost all the way to school, so he put on his headphones and started watching.

The video began at night in a park. That’s when Lin Hongyu remembered the video’s title—’Midnight Walker’.

Nighttime and ghosts again. Could this be a supernatural video?

But since it was early morning on the subway, even if Lin Hongyu was scared of such videos, he wasn’t panicky and watched quietly.

The camera slowly approached a Ghost Stall on a small path in the park. Lin Hongyu’s eyes lit up. Wow, the stall owner is beautiful, exactly my type! And in an apron, she’s irresistible!

"What would you like to eat?"

"You haven’t written how much it costs." A hoarse voice, making it difficult to distinguish age or gender, seemingly synthesized, entered Lin Hongyu’s ears from an extremely close distance.

Lin Hongyu was slightly startled, then quickly realized. It’s a first-person perspective! And it’s the perspective of a customer dining at the Ghost Stall! I can only see the female stall owner, but I can’t see the customer!

At that moment, the female stall owner patted the Ghost Stall’s sign. It read in Japanese, English, Russian, Chinese, and four other languages Lin Hongyu didn’t recognize: "One lifetime, one meal. Pay first, eat later. Small business, strictly no credit."

"A bowl of luncheon meat and egg instant noodles, and a bottle of mineral water."

Then, the customer began to recount his life. This point of view was quite interesting. It was adopted in some adult films or certain new anime series featuring cute female neighbors as a selling point, creating a strong sense of immersion.

Moreover, for some reason, that hoarse, synthesized voice sounded exactly like Lin Hongyu’s own internal monologue. The life experiences it narrated felt as if Lin Hongyu had lived through them himself.

He lived in a single-parent family, unwilling to admit his own feelings of inferiority. Afraid of burdening his mother and reluctant to show his weaknesses, he always put on a brave smile. He played the clown to get his classmates’ attention, yearning to be noticed but having no one to confide in about his troubles. The happiest moments of his day were when he was asleep—the only time he didn’t have to worry, and perhaps he could even have a good dream.

He even thought of killing those annoying people, and also of killing himself...

By the time the customer’s life story ended, Lin Hongyu, sitting in the subway, had tears streaming down his face, his eyes as red as a rabbit’s.

The passengers beside him looked with some astonishment at the student who was watching a video and eating bread until he cried.

They couldn’t hold back any longer.

One by one, they secretly took out their phones and started recording.

Seeing this scene, who could resist!

Watching a student cry uncontrollably while eating bread and looking at his phone on the subway made these adults reminisce. They recalled their own youthful days when they, too, had felt so crushed by the pressures of studies and life that they wanted to cry.

"Your luncheon meat and egg instant noodles."

After the customer finished talking about his life, the female stall owner handed him the prepared noodles. He picked up the chopsticks and poked the sunny-side-up egg in the noodles, piercing the yolk so that its thick contents oozed out.

Mixing the yolk with the instant noodles, he lifted the golden, oily strands to his mouth. SLURP. SLURP. The sound of him eating the noodles, the chewing as he bit into them, made Lin Hongyu hungry just listening.

He took the first bite, then the second.

And at that moment, Lin Hongyu heard a hint of a sob in the sounds of eating.

A droplet suddenly fell into the noodle soup on the screen, creating a faint ripple. Then ’he’ scooped up that spoonful of soup and drank it.

The aroma of the luncheon meat and egg instant noodles and the bitterness of tears seemed to travel through the Wi-Fi signal into Lin Hongyu’s mouth.

Seeing this scene, hearing this sound, tasting this flavor, Lin Hongyu could no longer hold it in.

Just a moment ago, ’he’ had been able to recount his life to the female stall owner so calmly. But now, facing no one but a bowl of luncheon meat and egg instant noodles, eating alone, ’he’ finally revealed his innermost vulnerability.

I can’t take it anymore!

Lin Hongyu quickly dug out tissues from his backpack, pressed them to his face, and covered his mouth to muffle his sobs, only emitting very soft sounds. WHIMPER. WHIMPER. He turned his head away so that other subway passengers wouldn’t witness his embarrassing display.

In fact, the other people felt awkward seeing this and lowered their heads to mind their own business, trying their best to give him some private space to cry in this public place.

’He’ quickly finished eating, lifted his head to look at the female stall owner, his voice calm once more, showing no trace of emotion, "Some parts were too bland, others too rich. Just average."

This 60-minute video segment featuring the luncheon meat and egg instant noodles customer lasted only 5 minutes, yet Lin Hongyu looped it over a dozen times, only stopping when he reached the subway station for his school.

"Hongyu!"

A close classmate saw Lin Hongyu and ran over, greeting him loudly. Lin Hongyu turned around and responded with a smile, "Good morning!"

"What’s up? Your eyes are all red. Stayed up late?" his classmate asked with a laugh, seeing Lin Hongyu’s red eyes. "Or did you cry because you didn’t do your homework?"

"Nothing much. The breakfast I just had, some parts were too bland, others too rich, that’s all." Lin Hongyu patted his shoulder. "Come on, we’re going to be late!"

"You’re still happy even though you’re late? Today is the English morning reading session. Mrs. Zhang will definitely remember you."

"Justice can be late, why can’t I?" Lin Hongyu rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, perking up and grinning widely at his classmate, "By the way, Meijing really doesn’t have a boyfriend, right?"

"No... why, you interested?"

"Definitely!"

His classmate was taken aback. He remembered Lin Hongyu had always been timid—why the sudden boldness today? He laughed. "What’s the point of just telling me? It would be something if you actually dared to confess."

"How could I just confess? That’s too embarrassing. What do you say we invite them out for karaoke sometime? Build some rapport first."

"Seriously? Alright, since you said it, Fei Qiu, Gao Lao, and the others will definitely help out. I’ll talk to them in a bit. You better not chicken out then." His classmate was genuinely surprised this time, chuckling, "What happened, dude? You’ve completely transformed."

"Like I said, I just had breakfast and suddenly felt... I should probably be a good person, right?"

His classmate laughed loudly, patting the back of Lin Hongyu’s head, "Giving yourself a ’good guy’ card, huh!"

Lin Hongyu chuckled. "Exactly! So I need to let Meijing see not only my handsome appearance but also my interesting soul."

"Suddenly narcissistic?" his classmate clicked his tongue.

"What narcissism? This is just me!"

Reaching the school gates, Lin Hongyu saw a female student walking quickly ahead and suddenly shouted, "Chen Meijing!"

The girl in front turned her head in surprise and saw Lin Hongyu wave at her. "Good morning!"

"Oh, good morning... We’re almost late, aren’t you going to hurry?" Chen Meijing replied, still a bit dazed, then quickly walked towards the teaching building.

At this moment, his classmate finally felt something was truly amiss. "Lin Hongyu, you seem to have changed a lot."

"Changed? Not really," Lin Hongyu replied. "Wasn’t I always like this?"

His classmate thought for a moment. The Lin Hongyu from before was indeed very outgoing and humorous, but compared to now, it’s like... just like the difference between an Ancient Beast and a Tyrannosaurus Beast.

"So, what exactly happened? Well, never mind if you can’t say."

Lin Hongyu blinked, thought for a moment, then clapped his classmate on the shoulder, saying, "I’ve got a very healing video here. Want to see?"