Chapter 1 A Missing Piece

Di—di—

On the morning of November 21st, the buzzing of an intercom woke Brother Jue from his slumber.

Since he was sleeping in the living room anyway, it was convenient for him to go and open the door.

About fifteen seconds later, Brother Jue, wearing pajamas and yawning, walked to the door, pressed the talk button on the device on the wall, and asked, "Who is it?"

"Hee hee hee... you have a package." Such was the reply from the intercom.

And that sentence instantly sobered Feng Bujue up.

"You are..." Although it was coming through the intercom, Brother Jue quickly identified the owner of the voice, "Woody?"

Ka—du—du—du—

Before Feng Bujue could finish speaking, the sound of hanging up and a series of busy tones came from the other end of the intercom.

"What is this guy doing?" Brother Jue didn't understand... Why would a guy like Woody, who could teleport and basically had no sense of courtesy, even use the intercom?

Bang bang—

The next second, two knocks suddenly came from the door panel beside him.

This time, before Brother Jue could say anything, the person outside the door laughed loudly through the door, "Hee hee hee... you have a package..."

"What the hell are you doing?" Feng Bujue cursed as he opened the door and spoke to the outside.

Standing outside the door was Woody, wearing a courier uniform and holding a large package.

"Hee hee hee... I'm here to deliver a package to you." Woody replied with a smile.

"So... why didn't you just teleport in?" Feng Bujue asked.

"Hee hee... how could I?" Woody laughed. "This house has a single man and a single woman, what if I interrupted something good..."

"Ha!" Feng Bujue chuckled dryly and continued, "Since you mentioned that so-called 'something good'... I have to remind you, I won the bet, right? When are you going to pay off your debt?"

"Hee hee hee... don't be so anxious, won't you invite me in first?" Woody replied.

"Come in, come in." Feng Bujue said, turning around and walking towards the living room while stretching.

When he returned to the living room, Ruoyu's door happened to be opened, and Ruoyu, wearing the same style of pajamas as Brother Jue (both were long-sleeved, long-legged flannel pajamas with buttons, but Feng Bujue's set was blue, while Ruoyu's set was pink), walked out of the room, sleepily asking, "Who is it? Knocking on the door so early in the morning."

"See for yourself..." Feng Bujue tilted his head and replied casually.

Then, Ruoyu looked over Brother Jue's shoulder and saw the visitor...

In that instant, her expression changed drastically, and the spiritual energy within her body burst out almost instinctively, entering a state of readiness for battle.

"Hee hee hee... as expected of a descendant of the Shui family..." Woody pushed the glasses on his nose. "Although she hasn't undergone very systematic training, her combat instinct when facing danger is still extremely outstanding..."

Ruoyu ignored him and looked at Feng Bujue, asking two words succinctly: "Woody?"

"Yes." Brother Jue seemed very calm, giving a definite answer.

Hearing this, Ruoyu strode sideways a couple of steps, sized Woody up and down, and muttered, "The last time we saw you... you didn't seem to look like this, right?"

Indeed, compared to the last time they met at the carnival venue (see the side story - Halloween Adventure for details), the Woody in front of them looked slightly different. Of course, this "difference" did not refer to the difference in appearance... The "look" that Ruoyu was referring to was "the look seen when observing with spiritual vision"; that is to say, on the level of "spiritual appearance," Woody at this moment was very different from that time.

"Hee hee hee... naturally there's a reason for that." Woody replied with a smile, "That day was Halloween after all, and it was an outdoor activity, if I was too sharp... it might cause some not-so-good catastrophic phenomena. So, I suppressed my aura the whole day, and the spiritual appearance you saw was weaker."

"Oh..." Ruoyu nodded, responding emotionlessly, "Then what brings you here today?"

"Hmm?" Suddenly, a white light flashed on Woody's glasses. "I say... why are you imitating Feng Bujue's way of speaking to ask me questions?"

"I'm not..." Ruoyu replied.

After saying this, her expression changed slightly, and after two seconds, she muttered softly in an unsure tone, "Uh... am I not?"

"Hee hee..." Woody laughed slyly upon seeing this, and walked towards the sofa, "It seems you two get along very well." With that, he sat down boldly and placed the package on the coffee table.

"Don't think you can forcibly change the topic by beating around the bush." Feng Bujue took two steps and sat down opposite Woody, "This kind of thing is my forte, don't try to show off in front of an expert."

"That's right." Ruoyu also came to Brother Jue's side in a few steps and sat down next to him, watching Woody across the coffee table like they were interrogating a criminal, "Answer my question first."

"Hee hee hee... alright, alright~" Woody spread his hands and shook his head, "I really can't do anything with you two." He paused slightly for a second, then continued, "I'm here today with many things to do, let's talk about them one by one..." As he spoke, he reached out and patted the package on the table, "First of all, as the boss of Somnus Company, I'm personally here to deliver the competition prizes to you."

"What are the prizes?" Feng Bujue immediately asked.

"In addition to the preliminary round prize that hasn't been shipped yet—the limited edition t-shirt—there's also the champion prize." Woody replied, "Hee hee hee... considering that your team of five often meets, I've sent all the team's prizes to you here."

"So..." Ruoyu continued in her usual cold tone, "What exactly is it?"

"Hee hee... the prizes for the five of you are different, you should unpack them and see for yourselves." Woody replied.

"Sounds pretty mysterious~" Feng Bujue added.

"Hee hee hee..." Woody laughed, "The prizes I've given are all selected according to your respective tastes... you definitely won't be disappointed."

"Hehe..." Feng Bujue also chuckled dryly, "Like you gave a certain chuuni youth a Pegasus Cloth?"

"A Bronze Cloth is nothing rare." Woody laughed, "Hee hee... in the end, the truly strong people are strong even without wearing the Cloth."

"I'm not discussing whether he's strong or not with you..." Feng Bujue said, "My point is... is it really okay to give this thing out as a prize?"

"I already said that thing isn't rare." Woody replied, "When truly rare divine weapons appear in the world, they will cause many forces from all realms to compete for them... but things at the level of the Cloth, even slightly more powerful characters wouldn't be interested in touching..." He counted on his fingers, one by one, "First, there are too many limitations... you have to be recognized by the Cloth's own will, and you have to have a resonance with the small universe, and only humanoid creatures can wear it; second, the defense is too weak... not only can it be frozen by low temperatures, but it can also be shattered by various physical attacks. Although it has the ability to self-repair and grow, both are too slow; third, and also the most speechless point... many times, this thing is just used to show off, and it doesn't greatly improve combat power, and in the end, it still depends on whose small universe is at a higher realm."

"Got it." Feng Bujue snapped his fingers at this moment and continued, "Even if you give the thing to Little Ma, he can't do anything with it, and he won't be targeted by any supernatural power because of it. So... giving it is giving it."

"Hee hee hee... exactly..." Woody replied.

"Okay, that's the first thing." Ruoyu said at this time, "Please tell us the next thing."

"This second thing... hee hee hee..." A white light flashed on Woody's glasses again, he turned his face away, deliberately lowered his voice, and said to Feng Bujue, "Is it appropriate to tell her about this...?"

"Hmm..." Feng Bujue frowned and pondered, as if thinking.

"Hey." Ruoyu immediately poked Brother Jue's arm with her elbow, looked at the latter, and said, "He hasn't said anything yet, and you already know?"

"I..." Feng Bujue also knew that he couldn't hide it here, "I know some things, roughly."

"Oh." Ruoyu glared at him, "Then what makes you decide whether it's appropriate to tell me about this or not?"

"Okay~" Feng Bujue avoided the other party's gaze, "I'll just tell you..."

"Hee hee hee..." Woody continued, "Then I'll say it."

"Say it quickly." Brother Jue urged in a rough tone.

Woody chuckled a few more times, then looked at Ruoyu and said, "You know about Feng Bujue's 'fear' being sealed, right?"

"I know." Ruoyu replied immediately.

"Your 'love' has also been sealed, do you know that?" Woody said again.

After hearing this sentence, Ruoyu's expression changed, and after five or six seconds, she replied, "I don't know..."

"Hee hee... it's normal not to know, because your situation is different from Feng Bujue's." Woody continued, "Feng Bujue's 'fear' was sealed by me more than nine months ago; and your 'love' was sealed as early as when you were an infant..."

Woody paused for two seconds, observed the change in Ruoyu's eyes, and then said again, "Hee hee hee... don't look at me like that, your seal wasn't applied by me, but by one of my colleagues. As for the reason... at this stage, please excuse me for not being able to tell you."

Hearing this, Ruoyu thought for a moment, then looked at Feng Bujue again, "You already knew all this?"

"Ah, for some time now." Feng Bujue replied.

"You know that I don't love you and won't love you, why do you still want to date me?" Ruoyu didn't care that there was a devil sitting next to her, and asked directly.

"When I fell in love with you..." Feng Bujue replied in a calm tone, "I didn't know that your 'love' was sealed." He didn't care that there was a devil sitting next to him, and said without batting an eye, "By the time I knew, it was already too late." He looked directly into Ruoyu's eyes, and said with an argumentative tone, "I'm a very stubborn person... I won't give up halfway because of a little difficulty."

"Loving someone who can't love you, is that just 'a little difficulty' for you?" Ruoyu asked again.

"That's right." Feng Bujue said, glancing sideways at Woody, "Besides, I've already solved this difficulty."

Woody took over the conversation and said to Ruoyu, "Hee hee hee... yeah, he's really been working hard..."

In the next two minutes, Woody described the bet between himself and Feng Bujue to Ruoyu, and added some details about the seal. After speaking, he was silent for a moment, waiting for the other party to digest this information.

After listening, Ruoyu pondered for a long time before saying to Woody in a lukewarm tone, "So, the second thing you came to do today is to remove the seal in my mind?"

"Yes." Woody replied.

"Hmm..." Ruoyu nodded slightly, "I understand..." Then, she stood up, "I refuse."

After saying these three words, she turned around and left.

"What are you doing..." Feng Bujue also stood up quickly and grabbed Ruoyu's arm.

But Ruoyu simply shook off his hand, ignored Brother Jue's words, and replied in a cold tone, "I've also bothered you for quite a long time, it's time to go back."

These words caused Feng Bujue's expression to change several times, and his eyes flashed with many complex and indescribable emotions.

He seemed to want to say something... but in the end, he didn't say it.

"You guys chat slowly, I'm going to pack my luggage, so I won't keep you company." And Ruoyu... was saying this while walking back to the room and closing the door.

…………

That day, at dusk.

Woody had already left.

Ruoyu had also left.

Feng Bujue moved a chair with a backrest and sat in front of the window, bathing in the setting sun.

On the slightly uneven wall in front of him, the traces of Alsace's "big paw print" were still faintly visible.

In the living room behind him, the beautiful figure of a woman seemed to still be in front of him.

But now, they were all gone.

Although this wasn't a very large house, with two people gone, it felt... empty all of a sudden.

For so many years, Feng Bujue felt for the first time... that his heart seemed to be empty too.

Looking back at the large room, the days spent together by the two people and one cat were vivid in his mind. Although this period of time wasn't very long, thinking about it now... every day was worth cherishing.

The reason why people have that feeling of their heart being hollowed out is precisely because... their heart was once filled with some beautiful things.

However, we often overlook that bit of happiness, until... the moment we lose it.

"Did I do something wrong?" Feng Bujue slumped in his chair, looked at the setting sun, and asked himself a question.

"Perhaps..." Two seconds later, he answered himself.

"Isn't it enough to deceive and conceal? Isn't that what I'm best at?" Then, he asked himself another question.

This time, he was silent for a full minute before speaking again; "Compared to deceiving her... it turns out... I'm more willing to deceive myself..."