This Text Adventure Game is Absolutely Toxic

Chapter 732: The End of the Past (2) The Green Forbidden Fruit

 “哐…”

The kettle fell to the ground with a clang, and part of the water droplets splashed onto Lin Xue's skirt, while part of it was suspended in the air and was stopped.

Lin Xue, who was originally standing still like a figure in the painting, quietly walked out of the painting, her eyelashes slightly moved, and she woke up.

Lin Xue's eyes changed from dull to smart. She looked at Mu You in front of her, at her own attire, and then at the familiar but unfamiliar environment around her.

 After a brief daze, she quickly came to her senses.

“By the way, we walked into the time cage together…”

 “So here it is…”

Lin Xue glanced around curiously and recognized that this was the back garden of her grandma's house, and judging from its condition, it should have been a few years ago.

Lin Xue was a little happy. She looked up at Mu You again, but noticed the trace of vicissitudes of life in his eyes that had not completely dissipated. She was stunned: "How long have you been here alone?"

 Now besides repeating the monotonous work, he has a new pleasure, which is to observe Lin Xue.

Lin Xue paused as she spoke, then changed her tone. She glanced at Mu You quietly, then quickly moved away. She played with the long hair on her chest with both hands and said something pointedly.

 In the normal world, wasting time is "shameful", but here, wasting time is a virtue. Slowing down the pace of life and spending time quietly in various inadvertent ways are essential qualities to survive here.

She knew Mu You had good intentions, but since she decided to follow Mu You in, she had made plans to accompany him from beginning to end.

　　Next, Lin Xue simply packed some clothes and personal belongings at home, rode her bike, and took her back to the pet shop.

"...How about we study the rules of stopping together?" Lin Xue hesitated in the first half of the sentence, but suddenly became serious in the second half.

Lin Xue rubbed the cover of her notepad, recalling what she had seen these days: "Moreover, there are many details in it that are difficult for me to think of without actual experience... I can't think of anything to add for the time being."

Lin Xue covered her mouth in surprise, wondering if her position was so difficult to find?

“Besides, if two people are together, they can usually do some… more interesting things… as a break…”

 A thick stack of notepads was piled on the table. Mu You used one every year, and now he has accumulated a total of seventy-seven notebooks.

But neither of them is in a hurry. The most important thing they don't lack here is time.

In fact, without Lin Xue, Mu You might have been able to persist longer if he had been alone from the beginning. But because of Lin Xue's 'hope', whenever he felt lonely, the idea of ​​'waking up Lin Xue' would come to him like this. Like a curse, it kept lingering in his mind, which indirectly weakened his willpower.

Lin Xue read these simple diaries with only a few lines of records every day for three whole months.

Lin Xue thought about it and found that Muyou’s current living system seemed to be the optimal solution for living here as a single person.

"so long…"

"What's next? Are you going to stay here, or..." Mu You asked Lin Xue's opinion.

“You have the right idea. A regular life helps to maintain a good mental state.”

 After returning home, Lin Xue asked for the diaries he had recorded, saying that he wanted to read them from beginning to end. This was the fastest way to integrate them into his life.

One day three months later, Lin Xue turned the last page, closed the notepad in her hand, exhaled, and took off her glasses. There was some emotion in her eyes, as if she had really spent those 76 years with Mu You.

"That's the situation when you are alone. If there are two people, it is completely different. To survive in this world where everything is static, the most important factor is to create changes. And between two people, just verbal communication between people can Endless possibilities can be born.”

Mu You is not in a hurry. During this period, he continues to live according to his previous rhythm, working during the day and taking regular breaks at night.

Lin Xue did not answer in a hurry. She walked through the garden first and went to the direction of the main house.

　　Reading seventy-seven diaries is no small task.

The two of them would stay in the hall downstairs during the 'day', each doing their own thing and rarely communicating. But even if they didn't talk to each other every day, they would just look at each other occasionally, thinking that there was someone with them in this world, that kind of limit. The loneliness caused will be naturally eliminated.

They have to spend 5,000 years here, which is less than a hundred years ago. There is still plenty of time to get along. It is impossible to live separately in two places, so there is no point in coming together.

Lin Xue walked to the white-haired old man, squatted down, and grabbed the old man's wrinkled palms with both hands.

“No matter what, I can relax a little now.” Mu You smiled with relief.

 “Something more interesting…”

  Along the way, Mu You had briefly told her about his experience during this period.

Mu You recited it silently, looked at the girl opposite, and swallowed: "What do you mean?"

 “Don’t you want to comment?” Across the table, Mu You handed over a cup of coffee.

“But even so, I only persisted for less than a hundred years... The Time Cage really deserves its reputation.” Mu You sighed.

Under the shade in front of the main house, Lin Xue's grandma was sitting in a rocking chair, holding a cattail leaf fan in her hand, with a kind smile on her face, and her eyes were looking in the direction where Lin Xue was standing just now.

But then she realized that it was not that her location was remote, but that Mu You had not woken her up, probably hoping to delay it as much as possible so that her time in the cage would be shorter in the future.

 The feelings of the two people are indeed different. The moment he woke up Lin Xue, his whole person seemed to suddenly come to life. His tired and dusty mind instantly became brand new, and the novelty of life returned to his body again.

 “For example… take this opportunity, the two of us, together…”

After staying with grandma in silence for a moment, Lin Xue stood up and looked at Mu You: "Let's go, I'll go to your side with you."

Lin Xue put on her glasses and sat on the desk in front of the window, reading page by page carefully in the sunshine, feeling the changes in her mood every day before Muyou.

　　　…”

"You are forcing yourself too much, but you don't have to be like this..." Lin Xue sighed and shook her head.

“In 1976…” Mu You didn’t hide anything and told the truth.

"What's wrong? Why do you look so disappointed?" Lin Xue tilted her head and looked over, looking a little confused.

 “Ahem, it’s nothing…”

Mu You smiled dryly and admitted that Lin Xue's somewhat ambiguous words just now, coupled with her behavior, successfully made him think wrong.

At this time, he had to be lucky that Lin Xue was not a mind reader, otherwise it would have been so embarrassing.

“Of course I have studied the rules of the limit…”

Mu You got up and went to the bookcase to look for some notes he had jotted down before.

But he didn't notice that behind him, Lin Xue looked at his back as he left in embarrassment, stuck out his tongue, and showed a sly smile.

The rules of the stop are not unfamiliar to them, but the time cage is not a stop in the strict sense. The time here actually flows at an extremely slow speed, so the rules will be different from the formal stop.

For example, all devices involving electricity cannot be 'resurrected' by them here, but mechanical devices can. As long as the equipment is not too large or complex, it can resume operation after direct contact with them.

With Lin Xue’s help, the two quickly experimented with more detailed rules: for example, most chemical reactions will not take effect here, but there are a very few instantaneous reactions that are exceptions.

  For another example, a lighter cannot be ignited here, but you can use the burning flames of this world to ignite actual combustible materials such as matches or sticks.

At the same time, all burning must be carried out when they are close to the burning object, otherwise it will only be a stopped flame, with only its shape and no heat.

 In addition, it is the study of themselves.

 The objects and static people in this world cannot be restored after being destroyed, but they can.

If they are injured, the wound will slowly recover within a few seconds to an hour depending on the severity of the injury. Even if they are near death, they can recover quickly. Therefore, in this world, it is impossible to commit suicide by physical means. The only way to die here is to have a mental breakdown and then be eliminated by the rules of the cage.

 In terms of research, Lin Xue is more professional than Mu You.

In just three days, the two of them had already figured out the rules of this place to a close, discovered many detailed rules that Mu You had not noticed before, and developed some good usages.

In short, Lin Xue's arrival brought a lot of changes to Mu You's originally boring life. Ever since Lin Xue appeared, the feeling of emptiness has never appeared again. It seems that there are many new things waiting for him to do every day.

Lin Xue lived in the small building next to Mu You's house and renovated the building into the style of residence he liked.

　　The two began their life as neighbors.

The two of them calibrated their clock time, got up on time every morning, had breakfast, and then went out separately to do things they liked or had planned, such as reading, collecting usable materials in the city, cleaning up household garbage, etc.

In this world, everything that has been artificially changed cannot be restored, so garbage must be disposed of as soon as possible, otherwise the whole city will soon become a mess.

 A comfortable and clean living environment can also help stabilize their mood.

 The two of them hardly communicated much during the day and rarely disturbed each other's affairs.

Only at night every day, the two of them would gather in the open-air restaurant downstairs to prepare dinner together and share each other’s experiences of the day during dinner time.

Like this day after day, a year passed quickly, and both of them gradually got used to the life here and to each other's existence.

In addition, there is another thing that surprises Mu You: with Lin Xue joining Zhijie, the number of readable books in the entire world has increased significantly.

Lin Xue's usual reading volume and knowledge reserve are much greater than Mu You's, and her reading range is even more jaw-dropping. She covers astronomy and geography, chemistry and medicine, mechanical physics, even flower potting, clothing design and other miscellaneous subjects. Get involved.

It can be said that Lin Xue brought a library to this city by himself, most of which contained content that Mu You had never read. These books alone were enough for him to kill a long time.

The lives of the two of them lived so unremarkably, like a bowl of clear water, plain but with a bit of sweetness.

  One year…

 Two years…

 Three years…

 …

During their long-term relationship, the two gradually realized that their personalities were in perfect harmony: they were both rational and mature people with stable emotions. Even if there were occasional frictions, they could restrain each other and give in to each other, so there was almost no conflict. What major conflicts have arisen?

At the same time, the long time is like a clear spring, washing the hearts of the two of them, and the only cracks in their personalities have also been washed away, making each other perfect and seamless.

Gradually, Mu You felt that the relationship with Lin Xue had become more subtle. The two still lived as close neighbors. Except for some greetings in the morning and evening, they did not disturb or interfere with each other, leaving each other enough private space. When we were alone, we never had any cross-border contact.

But Mu You often feels that from an outsider's perspective, they are now more like an old couple whose relationship has been sublimated to the point where they have returned to their original nature. They don't even need to communicate with each other verbally for many things. They can understand each other with just one look and one movement. need.

He believed that Lin Xue had a similar feeling. A hazy emotion gradually took root in the hearts of the two of them. However, both of them unanimously did not identify it and allowed it to sprout and grow in their hearts. On the surface, they still maintained their old friendship. Relationship.

 Time passes like water.

 Five years…

 Ten years…

 Thirty years…

 …

No matter how harmonious the relationship was, the two of them finally began to feel bored after having maintained it for thirty years.

Until one day, Lin Xue took the lead in breaking this calmness.

This 'evening', the two of them ate at the dining table as usual. Mu You, as usual, told Lin Xue the short story he had just written yesterday.

 This is a new pleasure that the two discovered a year ago. Every once in a while, they each write some stories or novels and then share them with each other.

As Mu You narrated with a faint smile, Lin Xue was bored, playing with a piece of steak on the plate with a knife and fork, and her mind was wandering.

When Mu You's narration came to an end and it was Lin Xue's turn to speak, Lin Xue suddenly raised her chin, looked at Mu You, and asked him an unexpected question: "Have you ever lifted up another girl's skirt?"

Mu You’s face looked a little strange. He knew that the ‘girls’ Lin Xue was referring to were those women in Zhijie who were being stopped by time.

Mu You quickly shook his head calmly: "No."

 “Really not?”

Lin Xue looked suspicious. In such a world where there is no supervision and restriction at all, and there are countless beauties on the street for you to pick, it is hard to imagine that any man can resist this kind of temptation for a long time and has never crossed the line for hundreds of years.

"No."

Mu You shook his head calmly. This was true. It was not that he was a gentleman, but that he understood that indulging in **** was the first step to spiritual depravity.

 There may seem to be no consequences for doing this kind of thing in the realm of cessation, but every time it accumulates a certain sense of guilt in your heart.

 And this kind of thing is like a drug. Once you start it, it will be difficult to stop. Even if the guilt every time is trivial, if accumulated, sooner or later it will become a force that can crush the soul.

So since Mu You entered the realm of tranquility, he has been strictly restraining his various evil thoughts and trying his best to keep himself in a Buddhist state of low desire.

"Are you feeling guilty..." Lin Xue played with the food and muttered to herself without asking any more questions.

Mu You looked at his watch at this time: "The time is up, okay, let's stop here today."

 At eight o'clock in the evening, it is their designated time to go home and rest.

The two of them cleared away the dishes and chopsticks in a familiar manner, tidied the dining table, and packed away the trash. After saying good night to each other, they walked towards their respective homes.

Mu You came to the door of the pet store and just opened the door when he suddenly felt something and looked back.

Lin Xue was following him, head lowered, holding the corner of his clothes with one hand.

 “Xiao Xue?”

 "Then do you want to...see it for real..."

Lin Xue lowered her head, her bangs blocking her face, but Mu You could still see Lin Xue's bright red ears through the gap at the ends of her hair.

 “Huh?” Mu You didn’t understand for a moment.

"With the woman's consent...then...you won't feel guilty..." Lin Xue said, her voice getting smaller and smaller.

If the surroundings were not quiet enough, Mu You might not be able to hear the second half of the sentence at all.

“…” Mu You looked at Lin Xue blankly.

There was silence between the two of them, and the sound of needles falling could be heard around them, which further highlighted their breathing and heartbeats that were getting heavier at the same time.

In a charming atmosphere, Mu You suddenly reached out and grabbed Lin Xue's hand.

Lin Xue's hand trembled, but she did not refuse and allowed the power of this hand to bring her into the house.

 The door of the house closed immediately…

 (End of this chapter)