Chapter 131: Short-Legs and Luo Hanyai

"Huh? Does it feel different?" Luo Hanya suddenly shivered, feeling as though the temperature had dropped significantly.

Suddenly, the system prompt tone rang out:
[Scenario completed, tallying rewards.]
[Experience points gained: 70,000, Game coins: 10,000]
[Items/Equipment obtained: None]
[Quests completed/accepted: 1/1]
[Special ending reward: None]
[Special and hidden quests completed: None]
[Your scenario rating is A.]
[Achievement points gained: 10,000]
[Achievement bonus experience: 10,000, Game coins: 0]
[Scenario clearance reward: Tarot Card (The Madman)]
[Tallying complete, please proceed.]

You have advanced to level seventeen; your maximum health limit has increased.

[Name: Tarot Card (The Madman)]
[Type: Special Item]
[Quality: Perfect]
[Effect: Instantly grants yourself a Madman buff lasting for one minute. When used, it significantly increases movement speed and attack power while granting extreme calmness. After the buff ends, your mental state will plunge into madness.]
[Remarks: The madman on the tarot card is always watching you. He mutters that the mad person is actually the calmest one, waiting for you to descend into madness together with him.]

"Is it over just like that? Or did someone deliberately send me out ahead of time?" A beam of light enveloped Luo Hanya, teleporting him away.

Mental exhaustion struck Luo Hanya's mind like wave after wave of giant rollers.

"Sigh... I might as well log off." Although Luo Hanya had many questions about the game, he knew very well that staying here would not solve anything, so he decisively and cleanly chose to log off.
…………
Luo Hanya stepped out of the gaming capsule, feeling as though all his strength had been drained away. He slumped limply against the wall, his eyes seemingly unable to adapt to the clear images yet. He slowly massaged his eyes, though in reality, his gaze never left the gaming capsule for even a second.

"Woof woof woof!" Shorty seemed to have been waiting for Luo Hanya all along. Seeing him so listless and acting rather strangely, it ran up to him and sized him up with its dark, glossy eyes.

"Sigh... This is really baffling." Luo Hanya gently patted Shorty's head, his mood too heavy to bother with the little creature running back and forth in front of him.

"Woof woof woof!" Shorty seemed angry. It jumped directly onto Luo Hanya's body and patted his cheeks with its front paws.

"Hey! Shorty, why are you slapping my face with your paws..."

"Woof woof woof!" Shorty let out a few triumphant barks, thinking this would make Luo Hanya turn to play and frolic with it, thereby shifting his heavy mood away.

"Stop messing around, I really am not in the mood to play with you right now..." Unexpectedly, Luo Hanya remained just as listless, not even raising his hands to stop Shorty's actions.

Shorty stared at Luo Hanya in puzzlement, tilting its little head as if trying to figure out why Luo Hanya was so depressed.

Luo Hanya pulled Shorty into his arms, keeping his eyes fixed on the gaming capsule, and muttered like someone talking in their sleep, "Tell me, if one day you suddenly found out that you weren't really you, but rather a complete stranger, what would you do?"

"Heh... I really must be crazy. How could it possibly talk?" Luo Hanya suddenly gave a bitter laugh, patted his own head in resignation, blinked at Shorty, stroked its head, rubbed its chubby face, and forced out a smile that looked even worse than crying. "It's fine, go play for a bit first. I have some things I need to think over carefully."

Shorty unexpectedly grew quiet. It simply sprawled motionlessly across Luo Hanya's body, its dark, glistening eyes staring into Luo Hanya's vacant gaze, as if it could see right through his soul.

"Woof woof woof!" Shorty let out a few more barks at Luo Hanya, lying flat against his chest with one ear pressed toward him.

"You mean you want me to tell you the things I can't figure out?" Luo Hanya looked into Shorty's eyes, feeling a sudden, slight lift in his chest as he voiced his guess in bewilderment.

"Woof woof woof!" Shorty barked happily a few times, confirming Luo Hanya's guess.

Luo Hanya closed his eyes, holding Shorty tightly in his arms, and rambled in a disjointed, rambling manner about a story he had concocted himself.

"You know what? I've been playing a game these past few days, right inside this big guy in front of you."
"I experienced a lot in there and encountered many things."
"Just a moment ago, a character in that game told me that it wasn't just a game, and that everything in it is actually connected to reality."
"Heh, don't you think that's crazy? A game that lots of people are playing, and suddenly I run into a guy claiming the game is linked to reality."

"You know what? Haha, he even tried to threaten me back then, trying to make me afraid of death."
"That's right! Normally I'm quite afraid of dying! I've said more than once that I'm a coward!"
"Yet he wanted me to surrender under those circumstances? To make me play the coward? I may be timid, but I'm not someone you can boss around! At the time I thought, what on earth do you think you are?"
"So I picked a fight with him and blew him to pieces."
"Yet everything remains so illusory, the truth is still as mysterious as ever, separated from me by countless veils."
"And there are still some fellows up there making trouble."

Luo Hanya opened his eyes, cast a casual glance at the ceiling, scratched Shorty gently under its chin, and a trace of a smile curved the corners of his mouth.

"I also met a girl, you know? She is so truly beautiful, just like the image of the goddess I imagined in ordinary days."
"Woof woof woof!" Shorty unhappily kicked at Luo Hanya, seemingly rebuking him for showing off affection.

"Hahahaha, I'm a single dog too, I was just admiring a goddess, wasn't I?" Luo Hanya froze for a second, then burst into hearty laughter.

Shorty wriggled out of Luo Hanya's arms, shook its head with a trace of disdain, and looked down at him from above as if to say he wasn't a single dog at all.

"Huh?" Luo Hanya's expression turned very colorful. He pushed himself up against the wall and stretched his sore neck.

He walked over to the window, gazing blankly at the vibrant scene outside, while Shuiyue's words echoed in his mind—"No one dares to treat you as a chess piece."

"Little Luoluo~ Dinner is ready~" A familiar voice interrupted the wandering thoughts in Luo Hanya's mind. He pressed hard on his temples, temporarily banishing the wild thoughts from his head.

Luo Hanya didn't rush downstairs; instead, he adjusted himself in front of the mirror for a moment, trying his best to look as natural as he usually did so as not to worry his parents...

"Let's go, Shorty, time to eat."
"Woof woof woof!"
"Ow! You bit me!"
…………