In the morning, Liu Ran was lying silently on her bed, her eyes locked on her game, her fingers moving rapidly, as she dealt with a giant squid-like boss monster.
"Does he really think his broken mirror is the only fun thing?" She murmured as she fought with the boss.
"Ahh..." Suddenly, she threw her console at the wall, breaking it into pieces.
"Liu Ran, what did you break now?" Their mom's voice came.
"Nothing," She replied as she walked out of her room in frustration.
She went down and sat at the breakfast table while her brother was already in the middle of his meal.
She sat on a seat without a word, but Liu Zhi devoured his food quickly until he was scolded by their dad.
"Where are your table manners?"
"I don't have time to eat slowly," Liu Zhi replied, disgruntledly.
"You…"
"I am done; I will get going." Liu Zhi, finishing his breakfast, quickly rushed out of the house.
"Just one month more and I would be free, Haha… first let's deal with this old man today." Liu thought, running excitedly across the street.
Once he reached the garden, he started walking casually, his hands in pocket as he strolled through the surroundings.
As usual, the old man approached him from behind, with light footsteps which were instantly noticed by Liu Zhi, but he acted as if he didn't hear them and continued strolling.
Woosh!
The Old man swung the sword at Li Zhi's neck.
Bang!
Liu Zhi didn't even dodge this time as he kicked straight at the old man's chest. He broke the wooden sword into two pieces, and the old man grabbed his foot and tried to twist his ankle.
Liu Zhi rolled his body in the mid-air, using the rotational forces to deflect the old man's grip.
His hand supported his body as he gave him a round of kicks, causing the old man to use all his strength and speed to dodge them.
Liu Zhi used the momentum to end the battle instantly. With his extreme speed, he was already in front of the old man, carrying a piece of a broken wooden sword, and pointed it at his neck.
"The old man, I don't think you have anything to teach me, so from now on, stop bothering me."
"Liu Zhi, your talent is more than I expected. I try have the eyes for talent. Haha…," the old man shifted the broken wood pointed at his neck a bit as he started praising himself like a psycho.
The Old Man took out his phone and called someone excitedly, and started boasting about the hard work he put in training a martial arts genius.
…
In the home, Liu Ran was sitting alone in her room, staring at the paper lantern, which she had gotten from a simulation.
Little orange flames were burning inside the lantern, emitting a warm halo around it.
Slowly, the light in her room started to dim, and the darkness started to cover the whole room. Until the whole room fell into the darkness, leaving the paper lantern the only source of light.
The Blue Particles started to flicker in the darkness like the stars, before being sucked inside the paper lantern, and the light inside the lantern vanished, and the room turned normal again.
"What! Does it fail again? She quickly grabbed the lantern and started shaking it.
As she saw a tiny blue dot of light falling from the lantern, it quickly went below her bed like it was trying to hide from her.
"Hey, little one, come out," Liu Ran bent down, looking for this tiny dot of light.
It was hiding at the corner of the wall, in fear of her. She quickly extended her hand, trying to catch it, but before she could reach it, it burst apart like a soap bubble.
"No… not again."
"Fuck, why am I so unlucky?"
She lay on the floor, her hand still below the bed.
Just like his sister, Liu Zhi was also walking back with his head low, as he remembered the old man's shamelessness.
"Why, this world is like this, can't these people be like those simulations, little bit whole sum, why do all of them always love forcing their own beliefs on others. At least in the mirror worlds, I could deal with them easily."
When he came back, he couldn't even get to relax as his 6-hour-long lesson began, right after his training.
…
Finally, in the evening, Liu Zhi was free from all the labour, as he went to grab some snacks before hopping into simulations.
"Mom, where is Liu Ran?"
When he got down the stairs, he didn't see Liu Ran there. While she was used to waiting for his classes to end, and start nagging him for a simulation.
"She should be in her room, playing her games." Their mother replied, casually.
"Oh,"
Liu Zhi grabbed an extra plate for her too, before going back.
He went into her room, only to find her lying like a dead dog on the floor. She gave him a glance and continued lying there.
"Want some snacks?"
"No," She replied, turning her head away.
Liu Zhi walked in and grabbed her collar, lifting her off the ground with a single hand.
He placed her on the bed, letting her sit on her own, and stuffed the snacks into her mouth.
"Um!"
She ate the food with her cheek puffed up.
"Hey, what is this?"
Liu Zhi picked up the paper lantern, which was lying on the floor, and started looking at it with some interest.
Liu Ran didn't say anything and continued eating. Liu Zhi, out of the habit of playing with every new toy, started putting his spiritual energy into the lantern.
As he put the spiritual into it, a little fire lit inside it. But it wasn't the end, because the lantern was a bottomless pit devouring Liu Zhi's energy, but not reaching the end.
He was already used to using every weapon or treasure to its maximum potential, so he started pouring more and more spiritual energy into it.
With such a huge amount of spiritual energy, the flames burned through the paper, creating a mini sun, as the whole room fell into absolute darkness. With this burning lantern being the only source of light.