This Text Adventure Game is Absolutely Toxic

In the jungle of Emerald City, a red shadow shuttled past, heading straight for the teleportation array.

"Vivian, why do you think Xiaoxue is at home?" Mu You had time to ask midway.

"You are entering a time cage. If she wanders to another world for some reason and returns to our world now, then it is said that she will appear directly in the last scene when she left this world."

 “The last scene…”

 Mu You somewhat understood.

Xiaoxue never left the time cage during the process, so she must have disappeared in the time cage scene.

 And their time cage scene is most likely the place where he lived when he was a child.

Pet shop is the most likely scenario. After all, he grew up in a pet shop and spent far more time at home than anywhere else on the planet.

"Of course, it's just my guess. You need to go back to know for sure." Vivian said.

"Um."

Mu You nodded and silently quickened his pace.

Soon, he returned to the abyss through the teleportation array in the Elf City, and returned to the earth through the space-time rift under the abyss...

Amid a feeling of dizziness, Mu You appeared on the teleportation array in the basement of the pet shop.

The basement, which was originally a bit messy, was now cleaned spotlessly, especially around the teleportation array, without any debris.

 I haven’t been back for more than a month, but the place is so neat and tidy that it seems like someone cleans it every day.

 “Meow, Muyou!” In the familiar cat’s meow, Coke emerged from the darkness under the table, excitedly jumped to his feet, and circled around his legs.

“Muyou, you’re back, Muyou!” Cola excitedly used the floor as a cat scratching post, leaving scratches on it.

“Keke, where are the people at home?” Mu You leaned over and touched its head.

 “Everyone is here, everyone is waiting for you to come back!”

Coke fell to the ground and exposed his belly for caressing, but he proudly asked for credit: "I knew you would come back from here, so I wait for you in the basement every day!"

“Thank you for your hard work.” Mu You smiled.

"Coke?! Why did you go to the basement again? I just finished mopping the floor..." A familiar voice came from upstairs.

The basement door was opened, and Xiaoya walked down the stairs, holding a bucket and mop in her hands: "Ah, as expected, I left footprints all over the floor, and I have to hit them again..."

Xiaoya's complaints suddenly stopped. When she got downstairs, she saw Mu You standing in the room. She was stunned and looked at him blankly. The bucket in her hand fell to the ground without realizing it. .

Mu You was stunned for a moment when he saw Xiaoya. After not seeing her for a month, she had obviously lost some weight. There was also some visible fatigue on her face, and she was not as energetic as usual.

"Well…"

Xiaoya looked at Mu You, and a huge grievance suddenly arose in her heart. She pursed her lips, choked and started crying on the spot. She wiped away tears with both hands, but more and more tears were wiped away.

"Xiaoya..." Mu You hurriedly stepped forward.

Xiaoya buried her head in his chest and cried more violently. Her tears quickly wet her clothes.

“Didn’t I promise that you would be back in five seconds? Why are you just now... Wow, I almost thought you wouldn’t be able to come back..."

“I’m sorry for making you worry...” Mu You patted her back and looked at the mop and bucket on the ground, feeling a little distressed.

He could imagine that during the month they disappeared, Xiaoya must have been on tenterhooks all day, staying in the store every day and cleaning the house over and over again, hoping that when he came back, it would be the first thing he saw. It's clean.

“Don’t worry, it’s okay.” Mu You comforted him with a smile.

"Um…"

After crying for a while, Xiaoya gradually calmed down and wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes. Then she raised her head and glanced at him, then looked behind him and said blankly: "Boss, why are you alone, where is Sister Xue?"

　　Mu You's heart suddenly skipped a beat when he heard this.

Did they guess wrong and Lin Xue didn't come back?

“Xiaoxue, she’s back.” At this time, a voice came from the top of the stairs.

The two of them looked up. Linglong was standing at the door of the basement, leaning on the door and looking at the two of them with a smile: "Noumenon, welcome back."

"Ah? Sister Linglong, you said Sister Xue has come back? Why didn't I see her?" Xiaoya was confused.

“Upstairs, in the study, he suddenly appeared a few minutes ago.” Linglong shook her head and said.

"Great! It's true that Sister Xue didn't show up even after she came back..." Xiaoya complained, but her face relaxed. Now that Mu You and Lin Xue are both back, she has been carrying the My heart can finally let go.

Mu You noticed the hesitation on Linglong’s face: “What’s wrong? What’s wrong with Xiaoxue?”

Linglong sighed: "Xiaoxue, something is not right. I called her out but she refused to leave. She insisted on staying in the study, saying that she had made an appointment with you and that she would wait for you there until you come back..."

 “Wait for me...” Mu You was stunned.

Linglong spread her hands and said, "I don't know what happened between you. Anyway, go and see her."

"good."

Mu You hurriedly walked out of the basement and rushed up to the second floor without having time to think about it.

In the study at the end of the stairs, when Mu You opened the door and walked in, Lin Xue was standing in front of the bookshelf, covering her heart, staring out the window blankly, motionless.

Hearing the voice behind him, Lin Xue trembled and turned around mechanically.

 When he saw Mu You entering the door, a smile finally broke out on his nervous face.

 “You’re back...I knew it would be successful...”

Lin Xue's voice seemed to be very pleased, with a clear sense of relief.

Lin Xue said, and walked towards Muyou impatiently, but ended up stumbling like a patient who had been bedridden for a long time. He just took two steps and fell to the side as if he had exhausted all his strength.

Mu You hurriedly rushed over and caught her before she fell to the ground.

Mu You was a little surprised. At this time, Lin Xue's body was as soft as a ball of cotton. She had no strength and was very weak. It was only when he got closer that he could see clearly. Her face was pale, her eyes were bloodshot, and her eyes were thick with dark circles. This was a long-term condition. Symptoms of lack of sleep.

Lin Xue didn't care about herself, but looked at Mu You with a smile, with a kind of satisfaction in her eyes.

“Xiaoxue, what on earth happened to you?” Mu You couldn’t help but ask.

 “Xiao Xue?”

Lin Xue seemed to be surprised by this title, and the smile on her face stopped suddenly, revealing a sad expression.

"As expected...you don't remember anything...right?"

"I activated the archiver, so the memory is..." Mu You was a little embarrassed.

"All? Are you really...can't remember anything about us?" Lin Xue looked at him expectantly.

"I..." Mu You hurriedly searched his mind, trying to find a few memories.

 Unfortunately, no.

  The role of the archiver is absolute. Everything he has experienced in the past month has been completely deleted.

However, looking at Lin Xue's expectant expression at this time, Mu You didn't know why but he really didn't want to disappoint her, and even subconsciously wanted to lie to comfort her.

But soon he realized that lying was useless, Lin Xue could read minds, and his brief silence at this time actually answered everything.

The expectation in Lin Xue's eyes gradually disappeared, and she suddenly covered the left side of her heart. A look of violent pain flashed across her face for a moment, but she didn't seem to want Mu You to notice, so she hurriedly changed her expression and squeezed out a forced smile: "Forget it. It’s nothing…at least we are all alive, that’s enough…”

Lin Xue tried very hard to hide the pain under her smile, but at such a close distance, how could she escape Mu You's eyes.

At this time, Lin Xue was sweating slightly on his forehead, and kept covering his chest with one hand, obviously suffering from some severe pain.

"Xiaoxue, are you injured? What happened in our time cage? How did you..." Mu You had too many questions to ask.

 Even the Fairy Queen and the others couldn't see the scene in the time cage, and he lost his memory, so now the only one who knows what happened is Lin Xue. "We... have gone through a lot of things... We have spent two thousand years together in the realm of cessation..." Lin Xue said intermittently, but with each word, the pain on his face became more intense.

 “Two thousand years?” Mu You was a little surprised.

 They only spent two thousand years together? But didn’t he stay there for 3 billion years? Did he spend the rest of the time alone?

 “The rest of the time...I...well!”

Lin Xue seemed to have recalled something bad and groaned. The pain on her face could no longer be concealed. She covered her left chest with both hands. She was sweating profusely from the pain and had difficulty breathing.

"Okay, I won't ask anymore. If you're not feeling well, we won't talk about it." Mu You was startled and hurriedly offered words of comfort.

For some reason, when he saw Lin Xue's painful look, he suddenly felt a strong heartache. He hugged her tightly almost instinctively, and touched the side of her face with his right hand.

 Immediately I realized that this action was inappropriate, it was a little too close, and I subconsciously let go.

Lin Xue looked at him steadily and grabbed his hand that he pulled back, with some surprise in her eyes.

“You still remember, right?” Lin Xue looked at him expectantly again.

"I..." Mu You was also a little confused. The action just now was like an instinctive reaction of the body, done without going through his brain at all.

Lin Xue was not disappointed this time, but smiled: "You forgot, but your body still remembers..."

Lin Xue said, taking the initiative to grab his hand and put it on the side of her face. Then she tilted her head and leaned her weight on his hand, feeling the warmth of his palm.

"Mu You...I'm so tired...I really want to take a rest..." Lin Xue said weakly.

"Then go to sleep, don't force yourself." Mu You nodded quickly. Even he could clearly feel Lin Xue's mental fatigue. She had almost reached a limit. At this time, she wished she could rest as soon as possible.

"But, I dare not close my eyes...I'm afraid..."

 “What are you afraid of?”

"I'm afraid that when I open my eyes, you'll be gone again...I'm even more afraid that I'll forget you again..." Lin Xue's eyelids had begun to fight, but she still insisted on looking at him and said in an almost pleading voice: "Promise me, if I'm asleep, don't leave me..."

Mu You was confused, but he nodded quickly and promised: "Okay, don't worry, I promise I won't leave, I will stay here with you!"

"Um…"

Lin Xue seemed to finally feel at ease, showing a smile, her eyelids could no longer hold up, closed them together, and soon fell into a deep sleep.

Mu You was sure that she was really asleep, so he picked her up and put her on the bed in the study.

Originally, he wanted to help her take off her shoes and socks, but found that Lin Xue was still holding his hand tightly even if she fell asleep.

Once he tried to break free, Lin Xue in the dream would frown with a fearful expression on his face.

Mu You had no choice but to give up and stay aside obediently, letting her hold her, so that Lin Xue's expression would become calmer in her sleep.

 When he came back to his senses and looked at Lin Xue who was sleeping soundly, Mu You also had a headache.

He still doesn’t understand what happened. From his perspective, just a few minutes have passed. Lin Xue seems to have completely changed. The calm and independent Lin Xue has become very emotional and... clingy?

Of course, for Lin Xue, she had really spent two thousand years in the past ten minutes. Such a long time is naturally enough to completely change a person.

 And the instinctive reaction of his body just now also proved that he and Lin Xue might have been very close...

Mu You shook his head, shook off these messy thoughts, looked at Lin Xue, and first checked her status with the omniscient crystal.

 As a result, her life was full, with no external injuries, and she did not show any unhealthy state such as poisoning or hallucinations.

“There is no external injury, could it be internal injury?” Mu You thought.

Since entering the room, Lin Xue has been covering her left heart from time to time, which is obviously the source of pain.

　　After thinking about it, Mu You opened the Golden Crow Eye and looked through Lin Xue's body's organs and flesh, especially the heart.

 As a result, no injuries were found, and all the organs in her body were intact.

"how so?"

Mu You frowned. There was obviously no injury, so why was there such obvious pain?

“The body is not injured, but the soul level is not certain.” Linglong’s voice came.

Muyou looked back and saw Linglong and Xiaoya appearing at the door.

The two of them had actually been here for a while. They just saw the interaction between Lin Xue and Mu You just now, so they were too sensible to come in and disturb them.

“Do you know what’s going on?” Mu You asked hurriedly.

"I can probably feel it a little bit." Linglong nodded, walked into the room, came to the bedside, and looked at Lin Xue on the bed: "When I first met Xiaoxue just now, I had noticed that there was something abnormal about her soul, but she I’m hiding it intentionally, so I can’t check it.”

　　Previously, the goblins had finished carving the major statues of gods and sent them to the earth. Players now have a richer choice of beliefs.

The faith that Linglong chose was Lin Xue’s statue of the God of Death, so she mastered some of the God of Death’s magic, including the talent of opening the Soul Eye to directly observe the soul in the body.

 “What to do?” Mu You asked.

"Original body, you first use the power of heaven to suppress her death power, and then I can see the condition of her soul." Linglong said.

Within the same theocratic system, there are strict hierarchies. As the Death Walker, Lin Xue is the highest-level believer in the Death God series. If other ordinary believers want to overcome her, it is almost impossible to directly use the Death God magic spells on her to be effective.

Mu You nodded and cast some heavenly power on Lin Xue.

Linglong next to her opened her soul eyes in cooperation and observed Lin Xue's entire soul.

"Um?"

Linglong quickly frowned.

“What’s wrong?” Mu You asked hurriedly.

 “A part of her soul is missing!”

 “Missing?”

"Yes, the soul at the heart has been cut with nineteen wounds!" Linglong said solemnly: "These are permanent injuries, and I'm afraid they cannot be recovered..."

 “Nineteen knives…”

Mu You was worried when he heard this. He clenched his fists subconsciously, and a ball of anger rose in his heart.

“Who did it?” Mu You asked coldly.

Besides being angry, he was also a little strange. There should be no danger in the world... Vivian said that she was living in another world. Could it be someone from that world did it?

“No, this kind of wound only hurts the heart, but other parts are intact. In fact, it is unlikely that it was done by an outsider..." Linglong hesitated.

“What do you mean?” Mu You frowned.

“This kind of neat wound can only be achieved by herself...” Linglong said.

 “Herself? Self-mutilation?”

Mu You frowned upon hearing this. Nineteen knives? And why would she hurt herself?

Linglong didn’t answer, but looked at him with a strange expression.

“What?” Mu You was stunned.

 “See for yourself.”

Linglong put her hand on his shoulder and synchronized the scene she just saw to Mu You.

 Mu You closed his eyes, and the image of Lin Xue's soul body appeared in the perspective, and he followed Linglong's perspective to patrol all the way.

Sure enough, all other parts of Lin Xue's soul were intact, except for the heart, which was scarred by some kind of sharp blade. The scars were horrific and shocking.

 However, these nineteen stab wounds were distributed very regularly.

Mu You suddenly opened his eyes, a little surprised and uncertain. He finally understood why Linglong looked at him like that just now.

The knife marks on Lin Xue’s heart just formed the trajectory of two Chinese characters—‘Muyou’.

   Nineteen is the number of strokes in his name... (End of this chapter)