“Mhm, okay,” Flora said.
“Here.” Xueli handed over twenty coins. She didn’t want Fufu to pay anymore.
Even if Flora was the one who invited her, she was still just a commoner, and Xueli didn’t lack money. She didn’t want a regular person spending that much.
“Alright, have a seat over there,” the store owner said, pointing to the bench.
Flora and Xueli walked over together.
“The person on the left controls movement, while the person on the right controls everything else. Good luck!” the store owner added.
“What do you want to control?” Flora looked at Xueli beside her and asked gently.
“Hmm… I’ll handle movement, and you handle the rest. I’ll sit on the left.” After speaking, Xueli sat on the left side of the chair.
*Hiss*, ‘This bench isn’t very long.’
Flora looked at the remaining space to Xueli’s right. It wasn’t wide, barely enough to manage a seat. If they sat together, it looked like they would be pressed very close to each other.
‘I’ve never sat this close to Xueli before.’
Flora obediently walked to the right side of the bench. Of course, her obedience in this situation also carried a hint of nervousness.
Flora moved somewhat slowly. By the time she reached the right side, Xueli had already turned her head and was looking up at her. Caught by that gaze, Flora also turned to look back.
Their eyes met, and for a moment, both girls stared at each other. Time seemed to stand still.
Even under a disguise, Xueli’s eyelashes were still so long.
The warm sunlight slanted down, hitting Xueli’s eyebrows and casting sparse shadows. In those shadows, her eyes were half-hidden and half-lit, revealing a touch of mystery.
Looking down from above, her eyelashes seemed to be surrounded by a faint mist, and the sunlight made her entire eyes sparkle with fragmented light.
It was so dreamlike.
A moment later, Flora realized how long she had been staring at her.
A rush of shyness and nervousness surged to her head, and a blush bloomed across her face. A feeling of not knowing what to do lingered in her heart.
‘I actually looked at Xueli for that long… I was entranced by her eyes. And while staring into them, I wasn’t even aware of myself. I’ve never felt like this before.’
‘Oh no, what do I do? How am I supposed to face her? She definitely noticed.’
However, the image of Xueli still lingered in Flora’s mind—those exquisite eyelashes and those ethereal, clear eyes, like something from a dream.
“Why are you dazed? Sit down already.” Her voice was very calm and ordinary, as if nothing had just happened and she was simply addressing someone who had spaced out.
Xueli wasn’t looking at her, but her voice changed the moment it reached Flora’s ears. What was supposed to be a calm voice became clear, soft, and melodious.
‘Wait, what’s wrong with me? Am I under a charm magic spell?’
“Oh, oh, okay,” Flora quickly responded and sat down beside Xueli.
The two girls sat tightly together—or rather, they were pressed against each other.
Flora could accidentally touch the other’s skirt and legs. Their soft arms would sometimes cross or brush against one another.
They were so close they could even smell each other’s scent.
From Xueli’s direction came a faint hint of white rose.
The scent was very light, like a morning breeze carrying dew—cool and crisp. Within it, there was a trace of ethereal sweetness that perfectly matched Xueli’s quiet temperament.
Being this close made Xueli feel a bit uneasy as well. Except for her mother, she rarely had such close physical contact with anyone, let alone a “stranger” she had just met.
***
At the same time, another extremely faint fragrance drifted from Flora to the tip of her nose.
It was the scent of gardenia.
It was warm and cozy, with a bit of sweetness like something dried in the sun. The smell was soft, dense, and delicate. As the scent lingered around her nose, it made her feel exceptionally warm.
‘This girl… smells quite nice.’
Xueli was the first to snap out of it, saying, “Alright, let’s try it out and see how the controls work.”
Hearing Xueli’s reminder, Flora blinked and then quickly looked at her control area.
Jump, camera rotation, bending down to pick things up, and placing items.
‘Hmm, doesn’t look like much.’
Soon after, the screen in front of them lit up.
The screen showed a third-person view of a small character. They could see the surrounding environment: flat ground and steps.
The scene was very ordinary—or rather, a bit crude. There were almost no decorations, as if everything was built out of blocks.
“Looking at the big picture, it’s a cooperative parkour game,” Xueli analyzed calmly.
“Yeah, it looks that way.”
“Do you see that arrow?” Xueli pointed to a sign visible on the screen, which had an arrow symbol pointing toward a flight of steps.
“It should be telling us to go this way.”
“Yeah, probably.”
Xueli first controlled the character to walk in front of the steps.
“Next, we need to press jump and move forward at the same time. I’ll count three, two, one. We jump together when I hit one.”
“Okay.” Flora agreed to Xueli’s plan.
“Alright. Three, two, one!” After speaking, Xueli pressed the forward button.
Hearing Xueli reach “one,” Flora also pressed the jump button.
The character moved forward slightly and then jumped quickly, leaping forward in an arc and landing precisely on the first step.
“Yay! It doesn’t look that hard after all!” Flora raised both hands above her head and let out a cheer as if she had already won.
“Don’t celebrate too early.” Xueli reflexively spoke the words she often said. Her tone was icy and even carried a hint of reprimand—it was the way she usually spoke to others.
“Eh? Okay…” Flora was startled by the sudden and heavy tone. She hadn’t even processed it before Xueli had suddenly spoken with such coldness.
“Sorry, I got a bit intense just now. My apologies. Let’s continue.” Xueli also realized what she had just said. That was how she habitually spoke to those ministers who weren’t cautious enough in their work.
‘I actually said that to a regular girl? Really… I need to be more careful in the future.’
Next, following the same rhythm as before, they jumped up step by step until they reached a platform.
There was a square block on this platform. According to the prompts, they were supposed to carry this block forward.
Flora controlled the character to bend down and pick it up.
As it turned out, the distance was too far; the range wasn’t enough to grab the block. The character bent down and hit its hands straight against the ground before standing back up.
The posture had a strange sense of comedy. Watching the hands hit the ground and then pop back up was actually quite funny.
“Haha…” Xueli let out an extremely tiny laugh.
“Ah, why is it like this? And you’re laughing! It’s clearly because your positioning was wrong. Stop laughing and adjust it quickly!”
Flora was already a bit annoyed watching the character slowly bend down and hit the ground. When Xueli laughed like that, she naturally got a little angry.
“Alright, alright.” Xueli quickly adjusted the position. This time, they should be able to pick it up normally.