it was a parallel universe since some characters have similar names, but after skimming the other novel it is different. Maybe the author purposely named the protagonists with the same surname Gu because they could be twin siblings with how similar they are (and the fact that in the world where RongRong was pretending to be his own twin, his nickname was Zaizai which is Gu Lin's nickname). At first, I thought it was a parallel universe because in this novel, when they grow up - for Gu Rong's birthday, Lu Li creates an album of floating bubbles that Gu Rong can tap and watch videos/glimpse into his adventures in the Game, but he said he doesn't recall some of the moments he watched, so the male lead explained that is his parallel -self. And then, I thought Gu Yuan (Gu Lin's brother) was Gu RongRong's dad cuz the name was similar but nooooo. And Qi Yuan, a star, is not the same as the Devil Lu Li LOL so both novels are separate and the protagonists are the author's children I guess LOL

From the start Gu Rong is a charming and adorable two-year old baby who saves the day. He collects the keys to free "the Devil Lord Lu" who is an arrogant three-year old sealed away and was nonchalantly like "yeah those keys are my bones" - and then, Gu Rong is left with a "Devil's Key". We also meet handsome men who pretty much form a child-raising club - although they are novice players and do not have props to track the cub, they are very lucky and show up in all the following worlds to take care of Gu Rong because they love him - they exist to hold and feed him while being handsome and fun LMAO - they are fanservice okay!? Like, as second male leads, they exist for readers HAHAHA - Zhuang Yu "big brother", Shen Hanxiao "little big brother" and my bias, Lin Xuezhuo whom the author describes as tall, handsome, long-legged, calm and composed.

Obviously there are some crazy people who want to harm the cub, but don't worry because it also introduces a new hot babysitter - Xie Lingjiu whom the baby calls "brother braids" LOL Also, somehow the NPC "dad" resembles Gu Rong's real dad hmm~? Also, the little Devil's reactions to seeing the little key seem mysterious...

Gu Rong plays the role of a traditional hopping zombie very adorably because he has to hop around otherwise he loses points for going OOC. The plot twist for this one was well-written. The male lead for some reason was in a coffin, so when the baby is in danger and happens to be nearby, the male lead's small hand will just grab him and hide him together LOL there's also a cute dog and we meet Shen Hanxiao's senior brother Zhao Jiuquan who doesn't like to talk, but makes gestures - this was played so well by the author because at some point Gu Rong memorized what the zombies were trying to communicate and re-enacted the charades to him and he understood LOLOL

So, since the main character is only 2 years-old, the horror elements are censored/seen as mosaics because he is a minor LOL. I felt this arc to be scariest one because there of the element of danger - there is a creepy villain with a parasitic insect (that consumed half his brain) that wanted to infect the baby so the baby had to quickly crawl through moving tunnels to escape... I also enjoyed the philosophy of this one - the "sleeping God" awakens and reveals that their existence is like humans to ants - and that humans that attacked it is akin to ants taking down a human... Gu Rong saves everyone and frees the God. It is either this arc or the one before it when Gu Rong wanted to give the Devil's Key to the toddler Devil, but the little Devil told him to keep them

This is the world with the fifth/final key. At some point, Gu Rong separated from the other players (he wanted to hide from the NPCs who didn't care about the players safety) so he was falling from the air and he is afraid of heights, but the male lead catches him and they talk - Gu Rong is no longer afraid of him and considers him his best friend. So when they jump and safely land, they play in a field of r*peseed flowers and the writing was beautiful. When the world collapses, the Devil hints to Gu Rong that to save the world he has to rebuild it

THE REAL WORLD ARC IS BEAUTIFUL AND SAD AHHHH.

Basically, we as readers experience the life Gu Rong lived before the novel started. So, he never made a deal with the Devil, but the Devil gave him the power to change his destiny and told him the sad and morbid truth that the keys have always belonged to Gu Rong... I won't spoil more because it was damn heartbreaking. Anyways, it is clear that he guided the child protagonist all along to collect the keys in order to resurrect him. Gu Rong is heartbroken to lose his best friend (because they are close in age he felt closest to him) so as they part the male lead said "kid, grow up safely" and with the promise that they will reunite when the game reopens, then he disappears... Gu Rong wakes up back in the past except, he unconsciously recreated the world without the zombie virus setting so no apocalypse happens and it is a peaceful world. However, he never forgot anyone and was very happy that system 006 followed him lol. (And Grandpa Ming still felt nostalgic when they meet again - so even if the memories are gone, the bonds still exist).

He grows up safely into a beautiful teenager, and when he goes on a field trip the museum he enters the Museum dungeon and reunites with the handsome boys who took care of him (his friend was like "why do all these men want to be his dad?" LOL) - when they all saw him they were like "this is what that cute child would look like when he grows up" LOLOL

He is indeed the Childhood Sweetheart because he knew Gu Rong in the real world and he pulls him into the Game to help him. In fact, only baby Gu Rong was able to see him in his world and they played together. So, the Devil Lu Li saves Gu Rong because he likes him and cares about him. He usually appears closer to the end of each Arc and appears when Gu Rong is in danger to rescue and guide him.

So, when Gu Rong grew up and returns to the game world by accident, he was very happy to reunite with the male lead. It was very beautiful and sad, so Gu Rong chose to "sacrifice himself" to free everybody from the museum, so when he jumps into a pond he wakes up in a winter snowy landscape and sees so many baby versions of himself playing in the snow - he touches one and it melts and says in his cute voice "oh, I melted!" LOL so it is implied the male lead was frozen "in time and place" as payment for sacrificing himself for the child protagonist, and that same child is the deepest obsession in his heart so he surrounded himself with many snowmen versions of the little Gu Rong (because that is the image engraved in heart from the many worlds they experienced together. Although he himself grew older, he preserves and cherishes the memories of this precious child). When Gu Rong freed him, he joins him in the real world and becomes his handsome "slightly older" neighbor, and Gu Rong's family adores him. He picks up Gu Rong from school, they have dinner at his home and he plays chess with Gu Rong's dad lol. Truly a Childhood Sweethearts romance! Of course, there's a classmate of Gu Rong who likes him and interrupted their walk so the male lead glares in annoyance cuz his personality is like that LOL. And, Gu Rong wondered if the male lead only loved his child version, but the male lead straight up tells him he only likes him - every version LOL (this is very sweet considering the Devil was able to see Gu Rong who was watching their past versions - so Lu Li probably knew they were always meant to be together in every universe).