The day after the funeral, a piece of news from Neverwinter stirred up the whole engineering team.
His Majesty had prepared a visiting party for them. All the workers who had completed the three-month working period would get a paid day off, and their long-lost families would arrive at the terminus of the Misty Forest from Neverwinter and spend the precious day together.
Everyone was grateful for such a considerate decree. As soon as the news arrived, cheers of "Long Live the King" could be heard everywhere, and they worked even harder.
Snaketooth was one of them.
In fact, when the foreman found him and looked at the contact list, he could not believe his eyes.
At the end of his row on the list, the name "White Paper" almost caused his mind to go blank.
"Hey, do you agree to this arrangement or not?" Snaketooth clearly remembered the foreman's slightly impatient urging, or rather, the foreman had recorded every detail from seeing the list to signing the name. Every time he recalled the past, he could not help but grin. "Let me make this clear. If you have any objections, you can fill in another name. The Administrative Office will ask again. But if you're rejected, your holiday will be canceled."
For the sake of saving time, the foreman naturally hoped that the list could be approved in one go. But Snaketooth knew that the man did not understand his feelings at that time.
He wanted to hug the Administrative Office official who had compiled the list and give him a kiss, let alone raise an objection.
"I agree, 100% agree!"
"What? If you agree, you should have said so earlier. Don't just stand there like an idiot." The foreman rolled his eyes at him and went to find the next person after Snaketooth signed the name.
Snaketooth stayed where he was and stared blankly at the hand holding the pen for a long time.
Until now, he still had the thought, "If this is a dream, I might as well never wake up."
Unlike when he saw Paper in Neverwinter by chance, he did not dare to greet her because he was afraid of being rejected. Now, Paper was a member of the Witch Union, and her clothes and complexion were not the same as the skinny girl from before. If Paper did not want to have anything to do with Rats, his presence would only cause her more trouble.
However, the fact that Paper's name was on the list meant that the Administrative Office had asked for her opinion beforehand, and she had agreed to the visit.
What he was most worried about did not happen, and he even got a chance to be alone with her. For Snaketooth, nothing could be more pleasant than this!
In the next few days, he was in a state of eagerness and excitement.
Due to the large number of visitors and the limited capacity of the train, excluding the goods, it could only transport about 100 people at a time. Therefore, even though he was on the first list of visitors, by the time the day arrived, it was already a week later.
"Kid, it's your turn today?"
"She's dressed so cleanly. Is she a girl?"
"Don't forget the time tonight!"
Snaketooth ran out of the door, blushing under the teasing of his roommates.
Only when he boarded the train with the nameplate did he heave a sigh of relief. No matter what, there were only two hours left before he could see Paper.
Someone in the carriage kept reading out the precautions for visiting, such as not leaving the security perimeter of the forest terminus without permission, meeting after eight o 'clock at the latest, and not exceeding the prescribed time. In case of an emergency, they should immediately act according to the instructions of the First Army, and so on. However, Snaketooth had heard it many times from people who had been here before, so he was very familiar with it.
With a long whistle, the train finally slowly stopped at the platform of the last station in the Misty Forest.
"Get off the train and line up. Don't push!" The station staff shouted, "This isn't grocery shopping. You'll get your share!"
The crowd burst into laughter.
Snaketooth felt his heart pounding.
The more he tried to restrain himself, the stronger it would be.
He had imagined countless scenes of their meeting and rehearsed them over and over again, but when it really came to this moment, he still felt his mouth go dry and he was as clumsy as a fat pigeon.
However, when the pretty figure appeared in front of him, Snaketooth found that everything he had imagined disappeared without a trace. He could only smile foolishly and could not say a word.
"It turns out that you live in Neverwinter. That's great!" The girl trotted over with a smile and grabbed his hand. Without hesitation or dislike, the estrangement of two years melted with this smile. Everything was just like the past.
At that moment, Snaketooth felt that coming to Neverwinter was the right choice.
…
"So, you came here soon after you reclaimed the Longsong Area?"
The two of them walked side by side on the forest path. Unlike the noisy center of the camp, this place was much quieter and had a more solitary atmosphere. She, who had not seen him for a long time, seemed to have a lot of things to say to him, as if she wanted to fill in the blank space she had missed. Snaketooth answered all her questions. Compared with the former boss and follower, they were now more like a pair of partners.
"Yes, the Rats were completely eradicated and there were many job openings posted on the square. If we continue to do what we did before, we'll be finished sooner or later." Snaketooth nodded. "Tigerclaw and I discussed it and came to Neverwinter. It's the same job, but the salary here is higher, and..."
"And I can be closer to you." However, these words just flashed across his mind, and he did not say them out loud.
"No wonder I couldn't find you. You're not in that place anymore," Paper said with emotion.
"Did you... go to the Longsong Area?"
"I asked someone to go there," the girl said slowly. "When I learned that the entire Darkcorner Alley had been demolished, I thought you had already left the Western Region."
"So... that's what happened."
"But since you came to Neverwinter, why didn't you look for me?" Paper asked.
"Well, this — it's a long story." Snaketooth coughed. "At that time, Tigerclaw and I had nothing. In order to have a permanent residence, we were busy from morning to night, so we forgot about it."
Even he himself felt this excuse was clumsy. If he had forgotten about it for two years, what was the difference between that and not remembering at all? However, he could never say such shameful things as being too embarrassed to greet her and deliberately avoiding her when he saw her.
Fortunately, Paper did not pursue the matter further. "Me too. When I first came to Neverwinter, I was also very busy. I helped the construction team speed up the solidification of cement, assisted Lady Agatha, and helped the chemical plant make all kinds of strange things. " She counted on her fingers and said, "His Majesty said that my ability can speed up the reaction process and increase the energy level of the chemical bond. I'm very curious about how he knew that. According to the book, those particles are much smaller than sesame seeds. Can you imagine it? If you look at an atom as big as an Opera House, its core is less than the size of a walnut... "
Hearing these words that he could not understand, Snaketooth could only nod in agreement. For a moment, he did feel the change in Paper and the difference between them. But more than that, his gaze lingered on the other party's every frown and every smile — those sparkling eyes, those slightly raised eyelashes, the thin tip of her nose, the opening and closing of her lips … Everything was so captivating.
He felt an impulse in his heart ready to burst forth.
"By the way," Paper changed the topic after telling him about her experience. "After knowing that you were in Neverwinter, I asked Miss Scroll to check the files and found that Sunflower and the others were also here. That's great. We can get together often in the future... "
Snaketooth did not hear the latter part of Paper's words. At this moment, his mind was completely occupied by one thought.
So he said it out loud.
"I like you, Paper!"
After blurting it out, he realized what he had done.
An indescribable sense of nervousness immediately wrapped around his body, and his entire heart was in his throat.
For a moment, Snaketooth even regretted his impulse.
But to his surprise, he soon got a response.
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