“So… where to next?” Feng Bujue said, “It’s rare for us to hang out, and it’s the Labor Day holiday. Going to the movies would be a bit too…”

“Your place,” Si Yu interrupted in her usual cold tone.

“You… this… I…” The quick-witted and eloquent Jue-ge was at a loss for words.

“You’re overthinking it,” Si Yu added.

“Okay…” Feng Bujue replied.

How these two understood each other… probably only they knew.

“Oh, wait a second.” Feng Bujue said, taking out his phone and speed-dialing a number.

A dozen seconds later, the other end picked up, and Xiao Tan’s voice came through, “Hello? Jue-ge? What’s up?”

“Oh, nothing much, just wanted to invite you and the girl next to you to come out from behind the bushes and hang out at my place.”

…

Five minutes later, the four of them were sitting in Xiao Tan’s car.

Xiao Tan and Bei Ling sat in the front, while Jue-ge and Si Yu sat in the back, far apart from each other… supporting their chins with one hand in almost symmetrical postures, each looking at the scenery outside the windows on their respective sides.

“It must be you being reckless that got us discovered,” Bei Ling was still complaining.

Xiao Tan replied, “Don’t make a fuss when I’m driving. Oh… don’t forget to buckle your seatbelt.”

They had already taken off their sunglasses and hats, and their expressions were somewhat awkward.

“It’s not his fault,” Feng Bujue said from the back seat, “My counter-tracking skills have been systematically trained. Whether it’s theoretical knowledge or practical experience, you can’t compare. Even the local police…”

“Hey! Don’t just say that kind of thing!” Xiao Tan shouted, interrupting him.

“Ah~ forget it, it’s actually good this way. It’s rare for the four of us to get together,” Bei Ling said, “Besides, public places are crowded everywhere during national holidays like this. Going to the team leader’s place is indeed a good choice.”

“Yeah, that’s right, ‘A reclusive otaku’s home is a place that combines a movie theater, a board game room, a cafe, and a restaurant,’” Si Yu echoed in a reciting tone.

“That’s my…” As soon as Feng Bujue heard that, he remembered that it was his original line written in a novel.

“It’s what you wrote in your short story, *The Eye in the Attic*, three years ago,” Si Yu added.

“You believe it just because I wrote it…” Feng Bujue said.

“Of course, I don’t believe what you wrote. I’m just inferring how much of it is related to your real life based on what you wrote,” Si Yu said.

“If our genders were reversed… I could already call the police, right?” Feng Bujue squinted and glanced sideways at Si Yu beside him.

“I’m just speculating, I haven’t done any substantial investigation,” Si Yu said, “I never thought… I’d meet you in Thriller Paradise.”

“That’s what you call fate,” Xiao Tan interjected from the driver’s seat without turning his head.

…

About half an hour later, the group arrived at Jue-ge’s house. They arrived at this place that combined a movie theater, a board game room, a cafe, and a restaurant…

“Ah~ I suddenly feel like I’ve got a zero-dollar private booking…” Bei Ling jumped onto Jue-ge’s sofa without any reservation and stretched lazily.

“Yo, Arthas, you still have that aloof expression today,” Xiao Tan found the calico cat lying in the corner and squatted down in front of it.

“Eh? Does the team leader have a cat?” Bei Ling jumped up from the sofa again, ran over, and knelt down next to Xiao Tan, “Uh… this cat’s eyes are so arrogant…”

“Its expression is very similar to its owner…” Si Yu also came over.

Arthas, surrounded by three strangers, still went its own way, as if nothing had happened. It lay prostrate on the ground in a standard cat pose, glanced at everyone, then turned its head away and yawned.

“You guys really don’t treat yourselves like outsiders…” Feng Bujue walked in last, closing the door as he spoke.

“Hey? Team leader, do you have any toys to tease the cat with?” Bei Ling asked.

“I did buy some when I picked it up, but I never used them. This guy never scratches or bites; he doesn’t react to cat teasers or yarn balls at all…” Feng Bujue replied, “So, after a few days, I returned all the cat toys.”

“In that case… it’s quite well-behaved?” Bei Ling said.

“Apart from systematically planting shit mines and completely ignoring me, I guess so…” Feng Bujue said, “Speaking of which… why did I bring such a master back to serve…?”

“Because you’re lonely,” Si Yu left the cat and walked into the kitchen, “What do you guys want to drink?”

“Hey! Shouldn’t that be what the host asks?” Feng Bujue shouted.

“Hot water.” “Anything.” Bei Ling and Xiao Tan replied respectively.

“Eh? Why hot… pfft…” Xiao Tan was about to ask a question, but he was elbowed again.

“I can already imagine your married life,” Feng Bujue said coldly.

At this moment, Si Yu, standing next to the refrigerator, changed her expression slightly, frowned slightly, and turned to Jue-ge and said, “Why… are there… underwear in your refrigerator…?”

Feng Bujue was not embarrassed at all, and replied in a serious tone, “Ah… once you’ve worn ice-cold ones, you can’t go back to wearing warm ones…”

“So, the reason is that they’re comfortable to wear…” Si Yu pondered, a rare blush appearing on her cheeks, then her gaze returned to the inside of the refrigerator, “And they’re all boxer briefs…?”

“Hey hey… what’s with this strong sense of disharmony? The male and female attributes are reversed… Normally, it should be me painstakingly trying to peek at your underwear color, right?” Feng Bujue said.

“What’s normal about that…” Xiao Tan said from the side, “It’s just that the degree of perversion is different…”

…

That afternoon, the four had a great time talking and playing. The soundproofing in this building was good, and Feng Bujue lived on the top floor, so it didn’t matter how loud they were when playing board games, as long as they didn’t stomp directly on the floor.

Jue-ge’s house did indeed have the functions of various entertainment facilities. In addition to the things Si Yu mentioned, Feng Bujue’s game console collection spanned various platforms, and he had plenty of game cartridges… at his house, you could play all kinds of mainstream consoles from the 1990s to the 2050s.

Around five o’clock, while Feng Bujue was alone in the kitchen doing chuunibyou cooking, the other three watched Jue-ge’s “I’m a writer” video again. Although that episode had already aired on TV, and Si Yu had already secretly recorded it, she still watched this version very seriously…

The dinner that followed was naturally very sumptuous, and Feng Bujue’s cooking skills made the two girls sweat with shame. Of course, his various words and deeds while cooking were even more shameful.

After dinner, the group had no intention of disbanding, so, at Bei Ling’s suggestion, they used Jue-ge’s rather luxurious home theater to start singing karaoke… but it was almost all Xiao Tan and Bei Ling singing. These two rich kids were considered handsome men and beautiful women, and their voices weren’t bad either. To be fair, if they participated in a talent show, they would definitely make it to the top 20.

Feng Bujue’s mood was also very high today. He even sang a song called "What's the Reason for Love," "Actually, living alone isn't too bad, sometimes there's a little sadness, I think others can't see it, even if loneliness makes me sad, I will try to make myself think it's okay..." In every sense, he seemed to be responding to Si Yu's earlier statement – "Because you're lonely."

At nine o'clock in the evening, the three of them finally said goodbye, still not fully satisfied, and Xiao Tan took on the responsibility of taking the two ladies home.

…

After seeing his friends off, Feng Bujue was left alone in the empty house again.

There was still a pile of greasy dishes to be washed in the sink, Arthas’s cat litter needed to be changed, and Si Yu had deleted a lot of valuable video files when she “inspected” his computer earlier, which needed to be recovered…

But Feng Bujue just sat on the sofa, turned off all the lights in the house, and silently closed his eyes.

He seemed to want to bring this memory into his mind palace, seal it in an exquisite box, label it with happiness, and preserve it forever.

Feng Bujue was a pessimist, and he had also thought… maybe one day, the shadows in his mind would not only take away his fear, but also his wisdom, and even his life.

If that day really came, at least… he could still reminisce and wander in his mind palace during his last days.