November 18th, Sunday, cloudy with a chance of rain.
As night fell, a drizzle began to descend upon Heavenly Lotus Academy. Raindrops pattered onto the balcony, splattering like tiny fragments of silver against the tiles before flowing along the slightly sloped surface into the drainage channel, gurgling into the downpipe.
"It's the Five Consecutive Cuts! Retreat, retreat, let the NPC take the front!"
"She's transforming into her Second Form! Enchant quickly, eat the green herb!"
In the living room of Ren Suo's House, Ren Xingmei sat on the sofa holding Little Jiu, occasionally shouting a reminder or two.
Little Jiu was intensely focused on the TV screen, gripping the game controller, directing her Knight character to confront the final boss—rolling, raising her shield, sneaking in a couple of hits, but also occasionally getting too greedy for damage and being swept to death by the boss, forcing her to load the game and start over.
