Note: "Xuesheng" means "student" in Chinese.
Chapter 2
To say that she looked like a mess would be an understatement. Horrified, Feng Lan stared at herself in the mirror, focusing particularly on the ridiculous red blotches surrounding her puffy eyes. She'd never cried so much in her entire life.
How in the world am I going to hide this?, she thought miserably. A knock on the bathroom door interrupted her sinking depression.
"Ah! J-just a minute, I'm-"
"Xiao Lan?" the soft voice of her mother filtered through the door. "Are you alright?"
She bit her lip savagely to keep tears from forming in her eyes yet again. "I guess word travels fast in Second Life, huh?"
Her mother opened the door and fixed her with a gentle smile. "It does when the news concerns Prince."
Xiao Lan's vision blurred once more. "I...I..."
"Hush," her mother chided softly, stepping forward to envelope her daughter in a hug. "You can always recreate him. It's called Second LIfe for a reason, hm? This isn't the end."
Xiao Lan stared over her mom's shoulder for a brief moment, and then gave a tiny smile before returning the embrace. "Yeah...I suppose you're right."
Her mom pulled away to smile at her. "There, see? Now then, let's get rid of those red eyes of yours."
Later...
Lan slowly followed her brother along the sidewalk, heading toward XX University with the air of one approaching their own doom. Thoughts of her character being erased had suddenly taken a back-burner in comparison to the memory of her promise to Gui.
Why in the world did I promise him that!, she wailed inwardly, horrified at herself. Now what am I going to do?
"Sis, can we get to school sometime before the New Year, please?" her brother huffed irritably in front of her, holding his bag over his shoulder and tapping a foot impatiently.
She scowled at him. "Oh, just go on without me. I'll be right behind you."
He eyed her dubiously, his brown eyes filled with concern. Lan gazed back at him seriously, and he heaved a sigh before turning back towards the university. "Whatever, just don't blame me if you get in trouble for being late."
Yang Ming took off jogging towards their school, while she continued at a sedate pace far behind him. She stared at her feet as she walked, rather than keeping an eye on the direction she was heading in, while inwardly dreading the sight of her professor.
Maybe he's a total mess at losing Prince and decided to skip school, she thought half-jokingly. But then her amusement slowly faded as she thought back to the sight of his tear-streaked face pleading with her not to install the ND program. You promised him, Xiao Lan. Might as well get it over with.
With a heavy sigh, she raised her head and sped up her pace, heading for her first class of the day.
The hallway outside her Chinese Literature class was pure, unhindered chaos.
"Wha...what in the world?" Lan murmured in awe, eying the mass of photographers and reporters that were all attempting to surround the entrance to her classroom. She spotted her best friends at the outskirts of the throng, and quickly jogged to meet them.
"Good morning," she greeted them breathlessly. "What-"
"Xiao Lan!" they both cried, whirling around to envelope her in a massive hug. Her breath rushed out of her at the crushing blows.
"Guys, what the heck!" she managed to squeak.
Jing and Yun Fei both drew away from her with teary-eyed looks. Jing opened her mouth to say something, but then blinked and glanced back at the throng of reporters before making a frustrated noise and closing her mouth without speaking. Yun Fei simply eyed her with uncharacteristic solemnity.
Lan smiled at her devoted friends. "I know. And thank you, but I'll be okay."
They both returned her smile, and then Yun Fei gestured over his shoulder at the shouting mass of people. "They're interrogating the professor about Prince's disappearance from the Second Life player records."
Lan's eyes widened. "They don't know why, do they?"
Her friends both shook their heads, and she sighed in relief before focusing on the words behind the raised voices.
"Do you know of any reasons Prince may have had for deleting his character?"
"Is Prince getting tired of all the attention his fame has garnered?"
"Will he be re-making his character?"
"Do you know Prince's real identity?"
"How do you feel now that your team leader is missing?"
The questions made her scowl in anger. "Don't they know when to quit?"
From the center of the throng, she could just barely make out the sound of their panicked professor: "Please, I'm trying to teach a class! I have no comment, so please leave me alone!"
"How long have you known-"
"-at this time, are there any-"
"Do you think-"
"-any comments regarding-"
"Are you sure that-"
"-when will-"
Okay, that's it!
Though she would never possess the brute force of her male counterpart, Lan managed to shove her way through the throng of people and make it to her professor's side. Just as one particularly ardent reporter thrust a camera in Gui Wen's face, she drew back her arm and fiercely slammed her palm into its front, shattering the lens around her fingers.
"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" she snarled angrily, the resounding sounds of shattered glass punctuating her words. The entire mass of people were stunned into complete silence, staring at the short girl who could so boldly interfere. She drew herself up to her full height (which, admittedly, wasn't much) and gave the group of reporters her frostiest glare. "I think you've harassed Professor Min quite enough for one day. Now...BEAT IT."
Taking advantage of the frozen throng of shocked onlookers, Lan quickly grabbed Gui's arm and dragged him through the group into their classroom – where Jing and Yun were waiting to happily slam the door behind them.
She glanced up at the professor with a tentative smile, releasing his arm. "Are you alright, Professor Min?"
Gui stared down at her with wide eyes, speechless.
After several moments of silence, she began to worry he'd gone into shock somehow. "Um...professor?"
He blinked sharply as though startled, and then smiled down at her. "Ah- yes. Thank you, Feng Lan."
"You're welcome," replied Lan, before she turned to head to her customary seat.
"Wah- Xiao Lan, you're bleeding!" Jing exclaimed, her wide eyes staring at the floor where a small trail of red droplets marked her path.
"Hm?" Lan looked down at the floor and followed the source of the dripping red liquid to her palm. "Oh, oops. It must've happened when I broke that guy's camera."
Funny, Lan thought with slightly amusement. I guess Second Life has increased my pain tolerance a bit. I didn't even notice.
"Let me see!" their professor ordered urgently from behind her, and he hastily grabbed hold of her wrist in order to critically examine her hand. "There's still glass inside. You need to go to the infirmary, Feng-xuesheng."
She waved her free hand. "No, no, I'll be fine! I'll just wrap it with-"
"Feng Lan!" Gui interrupted her sternly. "Go to the infirmary this instant."
Lan stared up at him for a moment, once again caught by the striking similarity between the professor and his Second Life counterpart. "I...okay. I'll go."
"Aren't the reporters still out there?" her brother inquired dubiously. "Someone should go with her."
Gui nodded at him. "Thank you, Yang Ming. Please escort her to the infirmary."
Ugh, could this day get any worse?
"No, I'll be fine. I'm sure they've given up by now," Lan hastily protested, before making a beeline for the door. True to her suspicions, the reporters had moved on down the hallway and appeared to be in a heated argument with the university's dean. She swiftly shut the door and strode in the opposite direction towards the infirmary, taking care not to jostle her left hand too much.
She didn't make it far.
"The CEO of Life Industries, owner of the internationally popular online game Second Life, has just made an important announcement."
Lan's steps slowed and then finally stopped, as she turned to look through the windows of the school cafe towards the vid-screen. Several students enjoying an early lunch had abandoned their lunch at the first words and were all staring at the screen with baited breath. An older man bearing a slight resemblance to Lolidragon appeared moments later on the screen, half-hidden behind a podium draped with his company's logo.
"I would like to announce that Second Life will be taken offline for several days due to an extended maintenance period. Due to overwhelming customer complaints regarding their characters being erased and being unable to log in to the game, we have decided to take the game offline in order to accurately fix these issues. I am happy to announce that all players experiencing this issue will have their Second Life counterparts restored to the game, with all data up to the last backup point, at the conclusion of the maintenance period."
Various students in the cafe let out a whooping cheer and started clapping. Lan felt like joining them, her heart fit to bursting, as she grinned at the vid-screen.
Prince isn't gone! I can-
"However, it is with great regret that I announce our inability to restore the data for the popular character known as Prince."
The cheering abruptly stopped. In the silence, Lan could almost hear her heart stop with them.
"We made a grave error when Prince's character was created, and ignored one of the most important rules placed in Second Life to protect its playerbase. Ignoring rules and making exceptions is one of the causes of the difficulties we are now experiencing, and thus we will not be restoring Prince's character or reinstating him as Second Life's spokesman. We ask for our customers' understanding in this matter as we-"
A strange buzzing filled Lan's ears, making it nearly impossible to hear the CEO's next words. How strange, she thought. Why...why can't I hear...
Her chest felt too tight. Her throat ached. Suddenly, it was much too hard to breathe.
No. No, you can't cry in the middle of the hallway. Get it together, Xiao Lan.
But where could she go?
She covered her eyes with her uninjured hand, trying hard to hold in the sobs fighting to break free of her burning throat as tears coursed down her face once again.
Where can I-
An image of a warm, furry smile popped instantly into her mind, and she dashed away in the direction of the infirmary – leaving drops of blood and tears in her wake.