It seemed she had been caught in an embarrassing moment. Bai Youwei yanked the curtains shut in a flash, her silhouette vanishing instantly. Whether she stayed hidden behind them, continuing to peek — that was anyone’s guess.

“Not bad at all,” A’da said with an envious tone. “Having such a beautiful wife, and she was willing to risk everything to transfer from the residential zone to the competitive zone just for you — that’s definitely true love~”

Shen Mo smiled faintly. “When we eventually get out of here, you’ll be able to meet your own fiancée too.”

A’da heard this, curved the corner of his mouth, flicked some ash from his cigarette, and said nothing.

After a while, A’da asked him: “Before Weiwei came looking for you, did you ever think about her?”

Shen Mo listened, recalled for a moment, then said: “I didn’t even know she existed — how could I have thought of her? …When I first arrived in the competitive zone, I couldn’t remember anything. I only had a faint, vague feeling that there was some important person or thing I had forgotten, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t recall it. Later, Yuri told me about the world above. He said that as long as you got to the world above, your memories would return.”

Shen Mo raised his eyes, glanced at the second-floor window, and smiled lightly. “Fortunately, she still remembered me — and she found me.”

A’da teased him: “See? You don’t remember her, but she remembers you, and she even crossed zones to find you. Doesn’t that mean she loves you more than you love her?”

Shen Mo was mildly startled.

He thought about the question quite seriously, then slowly said: “What you’re saying isn’t without possibility. If that’s truly the case… then I can only do my best going forward to love her twice as much.”

“Oh come on, a grown man going on about love~” A’da laughed and shook his head. “It’s enough to make your teeth ache.”

Shen Mo smiled with indifference and asked: “What about you? Missing your fiancée?”

“Just a blurry shadow — I can’t really say I miss her or not…” A’da took a drag of his cigarette, exhaled the smoke, his expression carrying a helpless resignation. “It’s less that I miss her and more that I feel unwilling to accept it… Every night when I close my eyes, there’s that blurry figure. But I don’t know her name, I can’t make out her face, I can’t remember what we went through together — and yet I never stop thinking about her. That feeling of unwillingness — you understand, right?”

“Mm…” Shen Mo let his smile fade, and said slowly, “The people left here probably all feel that way. Yuri, Natasha — the feeling of having your memories stolen isn’t something anyone can bear easily…”

A’da dropped the cigarette butt to the ground and ground it out in silence. His voice dropped a few notes: “Yuri said he’d ask a friend for help. I actually know who that person is.”

Shen Mo raised an eyebrow and looked at A’da.

“He’s a former teammate of Yuri’s, someone who joined even earlier than Natasha. Because he had decent skills, another team poached him.” A’da let out a laugh tinged with sarcasm. “How fortunes reverse — the Shake the World team keeps getting better and better, while that guy’s team can’t even crack the top 100 on the monthly rankings.”

He moved his foot aside; the charred ash of the cigarette butt remained on the ground.

“Yuri is sentimental. If that guy wants to join, what do you think… would Yuri kick us out?”

Shen Mo frowned. “Let’s wait and see. It’s too early to be suspicious of him now.”

“A bit early, sure — but I’m used to planning ahead.” A’da’s tone was cool. “Natasha has been with him the longest, and she’s a woman — Yuri definitely won’t push her out. So… he’d probably choose between the two of us: either me, who’s only been with the team a month, or you, who came with a wife.”

A’da lowered his head, staring at the ash on the ground, his voice dropping to something almost like a murmur: “As for me… I’ve job-hopped so many times, switching to another team wouldn’t be anything surprising. As for you… you came with a wife, so kicking you out would be like getting two open spots in one go. After all, Yuri is a veteran of the competitive zone, he knows a lot of old friends, and spots matter a lot to him…”

Shen Mo was silent for a long while, then replied: “Sometimes, the depth of a friendship can’t be measured by how long it’s lasted.”

—