Firstly, he wants to go back to university to study mathematics; he hasn't yet cracked the last code his parents left him. Even if it weren't for the code, he's always been interested in mathematics.
Secondly, he wants to become a game instance architect, an industry he loves but which was once unattainable. Now, entering the industry is very easy; he knows Rick and Yu Jin, and once the ban is lifted, he can go abroad. He could even formally apply for a job on the development team of "Survival Space".
In addition, he actually quite likes live streaming, and it seems like it would be nice to be a streamer occasionally.
The third one is related to Bei Sining.
He said he hadn't had time to discuss this matter with Bei Sining yet, but he had heard that Bei Sining had led a group of local cat demons to open a cat food company, intending to lead the demon race to wealth.
If Bei Sining is too busy, he said he's considered following him instead.
Old Liu listened quietly until the end.
"Young friend Wen, would you like to hear my advice?"
Zhang Jincheng brought over water and filled their teacups.
White mist curled up, and Old Liu spoke very slowly.
“From the organization’s perspective, they definitely want you to spend more time with Mr. Bei. We have an agreement not to interfere with any of his actions, but it’s an extra layer of security and peace of mind.”
He paused for a moment: "From my personal point of view, I would prefer you to continue your studies. While studying at university, you can also take on some part-time jobs to pursue your ideal career. This way, you can live more independently, integrate into society, and become a free and easy person, instead of just being entangled in a relationship."
After Mr. Liu finished speaking, Wen Zheng thought for a moment, then stood up and said, "Thank you, Mr. Liu. I will consider it again."
Old Liu nodded: "No rush."
As they were leaving, Old Liu called them back: "By the way, the memorial service for the martyrs will be held in half a month. It's something you've been waiting for a long time."
***
The conversation lasted less than half an hour. When she came out, Bai Shuang stretched out her arms wide with one hand.
The weather was fine and sunny, making people sweat, but Bai Shuang maintained the same pace, walking as if someone was deducting health from his body every second he sped up.
"Little Zhengzheng, give me a heads-up, what are you really thinking?"
Hearing this, Wen Zheng didn't answer, but squinted and walked forward: "I should be asking you, flying a hot air balloon? I really don't believe your nonsense."
"Ha, really? It's an essay I wrote in fourth grade—My Ideal! It's still on my bookshelf in my room; it's all my calligraphy."
Wen Zheng: "…………"
Old Liu's words actually made a lot of sense, and Wen Zheng understood that it was for his own good.
However, emotions are the things that cannot be controlled by reason.
He used to say he wouldn't keep a cat all the time, but what did he do after he found Dahei? He just earned the title of the number one self-contradictory maniac on the internet.
The two finally made their way back to the medical center under the blazing sun. Bai Shuang let out a long sigh of relief: "I should have worn sunglasses. I'm hungry, what should we eat for lunch?"
Both of their hospital rooms are on the twelfth floor. After exiting the elevator, there is a menu posted on the wall, which doctors and nurses often visit.
Wen Zheng and Bai Shuang have recently resumed their normal diets, so they stopped to look over.
Just then, a doctor in a white coat came up from behind. It was the same doctor who had given Wen Zheng an IV drip in the Arctic. He tiptoed over and glanced at it, muttering in disappointment, "Why is it bean sprouts with pork again? You stingy bastard, what's wrong with adding some tripe... sigh."
He was caught off guard when someone grabbed his wrist. He looked closely and chuckled, "It's you, Wen Zheng, right? Have you cleared the water out of your head yet?"
Wen Zheng: "..."
Wen Zheng's train of thought was almost swayed, but fortunately he quickly regained his composure: "I have something to ask you, do you have time?"
"What's wrong? Why don't you ask?"
Wen Zheng glanced around, not avoiding Bai Shuang, and whispered, "Were you there on the day of the apocalypse?"
"yes."
"Did you see me come out?"
"Look, it's all bloody. Your dream partner brought it over, tsk tsk," the doctor shook his head, "It almost punctured the kidney, how dangerous."
Wen Zheng took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to complain, and asked in a low voice, "Did you see Bei Sining later? Right after she brought me here?"
The doctor gave him a strange look: "Wake up, where am I supposed to go? I'm busy giving you emergency treatment!"
Wen Zheng had nothing to say, told the doctor to go eat bean sprouts with braised pork, and walked back to the ward with a slight disappointment.
Bai Shuang stood still.
"What's wrong?" Wen Zheng turned around curiously.
Bai Shuang smiled and said with a complicated expression, "You asked about that? I saw it."
Wen Zheng's heart skipped a beat. He grabbed Bai Shuang's uninjured arm and pulled him into the stairwell, his voice tense: "Tell me."
“…Actually, it’s nothing,” Bai Shuang thought for a moment before saying, “I saw him turn into a cat.”
Wen Zheng looked at him, gesturing for him to continue.
"That's why I said I felt he liked you. I noticed it a long time ago. During the anchor conference, we were having dinner together, and Xiaoyu told a joke that made us all laugh. I was peeling shrimp at the time, and when I looked up, I saw him looking at you."
"There's a saying that when a group of people laugh together, the first person they look at is the one they like. Although it's a bit mystical, I really believed it that time. His eyes couldn't be faked. Even if it wasn't deep love, he definitely liked her."
“That day, I was carried out before you. After being treated, I was placed in a corner, right facing the door. I was in a daze at the time, and I saw him rush in carrying you and gently put you on the bed. Then a group of people surrounded you, and I couldn't see you. Instead, Bei Sining was pushed out.”
Bai Shuang leaned back against the wall: "He didn't look well at the time. Although he's usually very fair-skinned, he was almost blindingly pale then. I thought he was frightened and wanted to call out to him, but I couldn't speak. Then I saw him fall to the ground."
Wen Zheng clenched his fist, his Adam's apple bobbing.
"It was too chaotic, and I couldn't move, so I could only watch him out of the corner of my eye. Then it got beyond my comprehension. I watched him slowly shrink, until he finally curled up into a cat... Was that Big Black?"
Wen Zheng nodded.
"Ha, indeed. The world is so vast." After sighing, Bai Shuang continued, "The cat lay motionless on the ground. I was afraid it was dead, and also afraid it would get stepped on in the mess, so I kept watching it. Unfortunately, watching it didn't help. It was still stepped on by someone I didn't know."
"..." Wen Zheng's breathing quickened, his eyes fixed on Bai Shuang: "And then?"
Bai Shuang smiled wryly and made a pause gesture: "Don't look at me like that. Did I think that? It was just too chaotic at the time. Even someone as capable as him wasn't keeping an eye on things... There's nothing else. It got stepped on and probably woke up. It found a corner and lay down on its own. I don't know what happened after that. I probably passed out."
Looking at Wen Zheng's expression, Bai Shuang said after a long while, "So, what do you really think about what Old Liu asked you? Don't be misled by what I said. I actually think going to school is good, and studying your math will also benefit you as an architect."
These words went in one ear and out the other, and it took Bai Shuang a while to hear a reply.
"Stop trying to persuade me..." Wen Zheng's voice was extremely hoarse, as if he had been on fire for a short time, and carried a chillingly bloody smell.
“I never intended to change my mind from the beginning.”
"Before Bei Sining came along, I wanted to be a professor like my parents. Or an architect like Yu Jin. Even flying a hot air balloon would be nice, or I could go back to my old job, it didn't matter."
“But I have Bei Sining,” Wen Zheng stared at Bai Shuang with bloodshot eyes, “Do you understand? There are no other options.”
“I only said those words to Old Liu to make myself seem more normal. Actually, I didn’t think about anything at all. I didn’t need to think about anything, and I didn’t want to think about anything. I just wanted to be with him every minute and every second.”
"I gambled so much for the chance to be with him, and now that I've won, why would I put the cart before the horse and do something else?"
"I have fulfilled the responsibilities that I had to bear, and nothing can stop me now."
Bei Sining stood quietly outside the stairwell.
Upon hearing this, he turned and went back to the ward, straightened his clothes, and sat down in the chair he always sat in.
After a while, footsteps sounded, and Wen Zheng pushed the door open and came in, his tone as usual: "Awake? Are you hungry? Should I have someone bring you food or go to the cafeteria to eat?"
“Let’s talk,” Bei Sining said, standing up.
***
When the Demon King isn't joking, it's no exaggeration to describe him as having extraordinary bearing.
Wen Zheng followed him and actually felt a bit of an uncontrollable intimidating force.
He couldn't help but feel a little uneasy, wondering why Bei Sining was suddenly so serious. After thinking it over, his heart skipped a beat.
Did they overhear what we just said?
...That's not exactly a bad thing, is it?
There is a beautiful little garden in the south of the base, very close to the canteen. It is a place where Bei Sining takes a walk and sunbathes after steaming buns.
There was a small pavilion by the artificial lake. No one was there at noon. Bei Sining led Wen Zheng in and cast a protective barrier.
Wen Zheng was startled. He stared at the surrounding scenery, which seemed to be the same, yet something seemed off.
"Didn't you overdraw your energy?" Wen Zheng frowned at him. "Your stomach doesn't hurt anymore?"
Bei Sining sighed, "It's not my stomach, it's my dantian." She then waved her hand and said, "It's okay. The power used for such a small barrier is only a penny compared to the difference between a hundred million and a hundred million. It won't have any impact."
Wen Zheng stared at him for a while, making Bei Sining feel uneasy, before finally sitting down.
"You even came all the way here and set up a barrier. Is there something you can't say here?"
This time, Bei Sining didn't rush to explain; instead, she closed her eyes.
Three seconds later, a ball of liquid shimmering with a strange silver light suddenly appeared, which Bei Sining controlled with her divine sense and suspended in the air.
"..." Wen Zheng looked at him and then at this, his face turning pale: "Wait, this is yours..."
"My demon core."
Wen Zheng's heart pounded, and he shouted, "Put it back in!"
"...It's alright. As long as it stays close to me and is not removed from my body for more than three days, it won't have any effect." Despite saying this, Bei Sining still awkwardly stuffed the liquid demon core back into her body.
Next, he briefly explained the relationship between physical condition and demon core, as well as the solution for subspace.
The core law that gave birth to the subspace did not actually disappear, but was instead stored in the palm of his hand as if he had subdued the Cave Immortal's Relic Palace.
This law is not yet tamed, and Bei Sining needs to use her own power to refine it.
Without the companion stone, the demon core is both his lifeblood and an important source of power.
As long as the law is not fully refined, it will draw energy from the demon core every day. The demon core is depleted every day, and will naturally feel unbearable pain due to overdraft and desiccation.
Wen Zheng asked anxiously, "What should we do? What if one day it suddenly increases the amount of energy you take, and you don't have enough?"
“No,” Bei Sining thought for a moment and used a very confident analogy: “When you buy a house and take out a loan from the bank, the monthly mortgage payment will only decrease, not increase. That’s the principle.”
Wen Zheng: "……"
Who taught him that?!
"So don't worry, I'll be fine." Bei Sining suddenly turned her head away shyly, stammering, "You don't have to... follow me around all the time, insist on being with me every minute and every second... Do you like me that much...?"
Wen Zheng's face flushed red.
So I really did hear it! No wonder I was so eager to explain.