Chapter 77: The Missing Design

After lunch, Zhou Ruoyu clung to Ling Bo, asking her to explain how a proposal should be written. Ling Bo didn’t refuse. Instead, she sat down at the computer and enthusiastically began her explanation.

“Let me see your design and sketch first~”

Ling Bo asked. Zhou Ruoyu immediately handed over the sketch. Ling Bo glanced at it, and her eyes lit up. She never expected the girl to draw so well.

Zhou Ruoyu’s design incorporated many common elements from MMORPGs. The ethereal white veil fluttered like a celestial maiden descending to earth. The jade pendant at the waist exuded an aura of nobility and elegance. The sketch’s opulent beauty gave a sense of sacredness, meant to be admired from afar, not profaned.

Ling Bo’s eyes widened in surprise, then she suddenly lowered her voice and whispered to Zhou Ruoyu:

“Xiao Ruoyu, you’re a genius! You should transfer to the art department~ That’s amazing. Do you have more detailed explanations for this costume concept? Is the sketch available digitally?”

“Ah~”

Zhou Ruoyu scratched her hair shyly, then waved her hand honestly:

“I just taught myself a bit of drawing. My skills are far from a professional artist’s. I can’t work in art! The sketch is only on this paper; I didn’t have time to make a digital version. As for the design concept, I jotted down a few notes in Word. I’ll probably need to organize it into a proposal.”

“Mm…”

Ling Bo lowered her head, lost in thought for a moment. Then she lifted her head again, opened the proposal she had used earlier to explain to the girl, and began to elaborate based on the Word document.

For some reason, Zhou Ruoyu felt that Miss Bo’s speech was a bit strange this time. Normally, she was crisp and concise, but now it was as if she feared the girl wouldn’t understand anything. She repeated the same sentences over and over, the text dense to the point of becoming verbose. Soon…

The little loli with long black hair—who hadn’t slept—felt her eyelids twitching uncontrollably… She started nodding off. Gradually, gradually… In no time, her vision went dark, and she fell into a deep sleep…

Mmm—

When the girl opened her eyes again, all she saw was a black screen. She jolted awake, instantly recalling what happened before she fell asleep. She quickly looked around, only to find in surprise…

Where… where did Xiao Bo ge go?

Why did she suddenly disappear?

Looking out the window, she saw the sunset. Zhou Ruoyu was startled and grabbed her phone to check the time. Hiss—

How is it already past five?

Oh no, oh no, oh no. How could I fall asleep? I haven’t written my proposal yet. Hiss… Why didn’t Xiao Bo ge wake me up before leaving? Could it be that she thought I was too tired and wanted me to rest more?

But… sleeping for so long without writing the proposal means all my hard work these past days is wasted!

The girl’s face flushed red as she scratched her head. After a moment’s thought, she decided: forget the proposal. She’d just submit the sketch and concept for the competition! After all, participating is better than not participating!

So she hurriedly searched for her sketch. But strangely enough, Zhou Ruoyu searched everywhere but couldn’t find it on the cluttered desk. The little loli with long black hair grew frantic. It took a while to calm down and think carefully before she remembered…

Wait…

Where did she put it?

No, forget it. Zhou Ruoyu shook her head and quickly turned on her computer. Even without the sketch, her concept explanation should be enough for the competition. The sketch was just optional.

But just as she was about to copy the file, she suddenly discovered… the concept explanation document was also missing!

Zhou Ruoyu blinked in confusion, then checked again. Yes… it was in this folder. How… how is it gone again?!

She checked other folders—nothing! She checked the recycle bin—nothing!

Finally, she did a full disk search but still couldn’t find it. When she tried to open the recent files in Word, she got a message: [This file is damaged or does not exist.]

What…

Was she still dreaming? How could everything just vanish?

The girl angrily pinched herself, then gasped in pain. Her thigh hurt, confirming she wasn’t dreaming. The costume design she worked so hard on… was gone?

Why?

She lowered her head, thinking for a while, then suddenly had a guess: Could it be that Xiao Bo ge saw her sleeping, thought she was too tired, couldn’t bear to wake her, and on her own initiative finished the proposal, then submitted it along with the sketch and concept explanation? And the missing concept document might be because Xiao Bo ge accidentally cut instead of copied?

Thinking of this possibility, Zhou Ruoyu let out a sigh of relief and wiped the cold sweat from her forehead. That must be it. Xiao Bo ge is really such a kind person. Phew—I was so scared just now. You know, I didn’t even back up those files. If they really vanished due to some weird computer bug, all my work these days would be for nothing.

After calming down a bit, Zhou Ruoyu stood up but still felt uneasy. For some reason, a strange panic lingered in her heart. After a moment, she decided to go check if her design had really been submitted by Xiao Bo ge. She went to the office responsible for the online game costume design competition—actually, it was just an office in the art department. Following the banners, she found the place. A young woman was packing up to leave. Zhou Ruoyu asked softly:

“Um… excuse me, did you receive a costume design submission from Zhou Ruoyu? I mean… a friend might have submitted it for me just now…”

“Uh… Zhou Ruoyu? I don’t recall that name…”

The young woman scratched her head, then checked the computer table and shook her head: “Sorry, there’s no such name on the list. Seems it wasn’t submitted.”

“Ah?”

Zhou Ruoyu blinked in confusion, then her gaze swept to a pile of design sketches nearby. She immediately spotted a familiar sketch.

“How… how is this possible? That’s mine!”

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