Linda Linda felt a sense of surprise when she heard this, wondering how their conversation could yield unexpected results.
"No way? This is different from what I found out from Sun Jack."
"It seems that his relationship with Hilda is not as good as he claims, she doesn't even know what kind of person Hilda really is," Xiao Ting said with a sneer.
"What kind of person is she in your eyes then? What has she done in her interactions with you?" Linda Linda steered the conversation further.
Xiao Ting glanced at her, "Go back and tell Sun Jack that Hilda could become one of the leaders of the Rat Alliance Battle Line not because she is naive but because she is cunning and sinister. No one who survives in Metropolis is simple."
"Really?" Although Linda Linda was not a gossip, she couldn't resist when it hit her directly in the face.
"It looks like Sun Jack, the idiot, was completely played by Hilda, haha...." Thinking about this possibility, Xiao Ting could no longer restrain her smile.
"That might not be the case," Linda Linda offered another perspective, "It's also possible that Hilda only wanted to show Sun Jack her bright side, planning to keep her darker side hidden from her partner."
"That's impossible! What is Sun Jack, huh? Why would Hilda do that for him? Is he the boss of the Rat Alliance Battle Line?!" Xiao Ting stood up abruptly.
Linda Linda looked innocently at her, "He is, didn't you know?"
The words left Xiao Ting speechless; she stood up, no longer wanting to waste words with the other party.
"Leaving again? Won't you go to visit Hilda's grave?" Linda Linda's words rooted Xiao Ting to the spot.
"I know Hilda is important to you, so I went out of my way to get this information for you, a hard-earned piece from AA. Let me take you there," she said.
Xiao Ting stood still, seemingly hesitant, but Linda Linda took her hand and started walking outside.
"Come on, I know you want to see her again."
The two got on the company's Hover Car and flew toward the suburbs; memories of the past continually flashed through Xiao Ting's mind, making her expression increasingly complex.
"Why must three-dimensional affairs be so complicated, why can't the whole world be as simple as the two-dimensional one." She moved away from Linda Linda and secretly wiped the tears from the corner of her eye.
Although Linda Linda saw it, she also pretended not to notice.
When they arrived at the great quarry lake, Linda Linda and Xiao Ting temporarily shut off their breathing systems and walked step by step towards the water.
The system's radiation warning didn't deter Xiao Ting; her swimming speed increased instead.
As soon as she saw a mound of earth in front of her, she couldn't wait to start digging.
Linda Linda wasn't idle either, lending a hand in the digging.
Half an hour later, Xiao Ting saw Hilda, life-like preserved under the high-radiation water.
Seeing this scene, Xiao Ting could no longer hold back and was about to throw herself forward, but she stopped just as she was about to.
Watching the other's face that resembled one who was sleeping, she swung her right hand, delivering a slap across Hilda's face, producing a crisp metallic clinking sound.
Her voice was angry yet filled with grievance, "You promised me! We were supposed to play the game together! You liar!! A big liar!!"
Linda Linda silently watched this scene, not interrupting, and though not much was said, she could roughly understand the situation from various small details.
In the end, Xiao Ting still threw herself onto that cold mechanical body, the considerable height difference making her look like a baby embraced by her mother.
"I told you that you would die! Why don't you ever listen! Aren't you usually very smart? Why don't you leave any way out for yourself in a situation like this? Why?!"
It was only after the other party gradually calmed down that Linda Linda swam over, gently stroking her back.
"It's okay, it's okay, don't be sad, everything will get better."
Not wanting to reveal her vulnerability in front of others, Xiao Ting reburied Hilda and, holding back her emotions, turned and left.
Once back in the Hover Car, the soaking wet Xiao Ting sat there quietly, letting Linda Linda control the mechanical bird to help dry her off.
The current state of the other girl stirred pity in Linda Linda, "Is there anything I can do to help you?"
"Hilda is dead, can you bring her back to life? If not, then you can't help me with anything." After saying this, the severe anguish made Xiao Ting disconnect the link to reality, retracting her consciousness back into the comfort of the online world.
The network was a wall that isolated her from the real world, shielding her from the negative emotions of real life as long as she was online.
She opened her self-constructed anime world, letting her anime self also immerse in it.
Throughout her life, whenever she faced anything upsetting, no one comforted or cared about her; only the anime world provided solace.
This had been her way of overcoming any trouble she faced, the method she used to dissolve her negative emotions.
Just as her heart's anguish was gradually being dissolved, an abrupt alarm from the real world forcefully snapped her out of her predicament.
When she exited the network filled with rage, the sight before her instantly stunned her in place—it was Hilda, alive, lying sidelong on the Hover Car's seat, smiling at her with that metallic tail.
Then she saw Hilda slowly lean in, gently embracing her and softly whispering in her ear, "Don't be sad, I'm here, it's okay, everything will pass."
She recognized, this wasn't Hilda, it was Linda Linda, who had donned Hilda's facial armor and prosthetic body.
Linda Linda, wearing Hilda's face, let go and then leaned down, pecking her lips repeatedly.
She reached out her hand to stop her, but was gently grasped by the other, the grip soft yet unbreakable no matter how she tried to release it.
She could have pushed her away, but somehow couldn't muster the strength.
Linda Linda's bifurcated tongue extended out, exploring inside Xiao Ting's lips, then, trailing a translucent mucus, it moved from the corner of her mouth, across her chin, down Xiao Ting's slender neck, continuing downward.
"Don't be afraid, it's okay, leave everything to me, leave everything to me...."