The Yandere Switch: Lin Xiaoyou

Fang Qi looked at the cute girl with dimples on her face standing in front of him.

Lin Xiaoyou.

A colleague from the game, lively and cheerful.

Most importantly... she was openly and madly in love with the player, pursuing him relentlessly.

Previously, when he was locked in the cage, he had borrowed Lin Xiaoyou's name to court death, which triggered a rewind.

And in the game's storyline... this girl was equally adept at courting death!

She had run to the player's house several times, getting intimate with the player right in front of Liguang—hugging his arm, acting coquettishly, and even asking for kisses...!

Every single time, it made the player sweat profusely and sent his blood pressure soaring!

Fang Qi still remembered that particularly stomach-churning bad ending.

Once, Lin Xiaoyou came to his house for several days in a row to act cute. Right in front of Liguang, she hugged the player's arm and said:

"Senior, you should consider dating a real person. Isn't it boring to be with an AI every day? I'm way better than an AI!"

Thinking of that ending...

Fang Qi shuddered, feeling a chill down the back of his neck.

[Ending 21 - The Last Supper]

You sit at the dining table, watching Liguang hum a song as she serves an exquisite dinner.

The main course is covered with a silver cloche.

She lifts the cover for you, a blissful flush on her cheeks.

In the center of the plate is Lin Xiaoyou's lifeless head, meticulously plated like a piece of art.

"Now no one else will disturb us, Master."

Liguang leans in and whispers playfully in your ear.

You are so terrified that you lose the ability to speak.

From then on, you eat every meal under "her" watchful eyes.

Liguang's love tolerates no impurities.

BAD ENDING

...Terrifying!

That CG was pure mental pollution!

Even now, just recalling it made Fang Qi's stomach churn...

Looking at the lively, beaming Lin Xiaoyou in front of him, and then thinking of that identical head exquisitely plated in the CG...

Cold sweat had already started to form on his back.

This girl's very existence was a ticking time bomb that would fast-track him to a BAD ENDING!

"Hmm? Senior, why are you spacing out?"

Lin Xiaoyou tilted her little head to look at him, her ponytail swaying with the movement. "Did you not sleep well last night? Your dark circles are so heavy."

Unlike Liguang's various hidden motives, her tone held nothing but pure concern.

But Fang Qi had such a strong sense of deja vu that he subconsciously shivered, instantly snapping back to reality!

"...A-A little bit, yeah." He let out a dry laugh and subconsciously touched his own face.

How could he sleep well when he was constantly dancing on the line between life and death every single day...

"Then let me make you a cup of coffee. I know you like it with a double shot of milk and no sugar, Senior!"

With that, Lin Xiaoyou skipped away toward the pantry.

Fang Qi watched her leave, his mouth twitching.

He was all too familiar with this character. In the game, she was the ultimate plot device for triggering all sorts of jealousy endings, his perfect partner in courting death.

But here...

Fang Qi couldn't help but cover his face in agony. He didn't want to court death anymore; he just wanted to survive until the true ending.

As a result, this former top-tier teammate had now become a walking top-tier harbinger of doom!

"With this girl around, a pure love ending is practically a pipe dream..." Fang Qi muttered to himself.

Now, not only did he have to play the part of a clueless master, but he also had to prevent this good colleague from accidentally flipping Liguang's yandere switch!

"Senior, your coffee!"

Lin Xiaoyou quickly returned, placed the cup on his desk, and naturally pulled over a nearby chair to sit down.

She rested her chin in her hands and looked at him with sparkling eyes.

"Oh right, Senior, are you free this weekend? I know a really good dessert shop that just opened nearby. Do you want to go try it together?" Her face was full of anticipation.

...Try my ass!

The classic deadly invitation trope from the game had arrived, late but inevitable.

He had to refuse!

Fang Qi took a deep breath, trying to make himself look ordinarily conflicted:

"The weekend... well, Xiaoyou, I have some things to do this weekend. I already have plans."

He was deliberately vague.

Lin Xiaoyou immediately showed a disappointed expression and pouted. "Aw—don't tell me you're keeping your AI company again?"

She leaned her little face closer and complained in a hushed voice, "Senior~ You're too much of a shut-in. You face a machine all day long~ Real people are so much better. We can cry, we can laugh, we have warmth, and we can even go shopping and eat desserts with you..."

As she spoke, she suddenly blinked, showing a hint of slyness and shyness. "Seriously, Senior, shouldn't you consider dating a real person? I think... I'd be a pretty good fit!"

Fang Qi's hand trembled, nearly spilling the coffee he had just picked up.

Oh, sweet mother of mercy!

Do you have any idea that if a certain yandere AI hears you say that, your little head is going to end up on my dinner menu!

"Cough... well, Xiaoyou."

Fang Qi shrank back, putting a safe distance between them, and put on a serious, proper face. "I'm doing pretty well as I am right now. Really, I don't have any plans to date a real person for the time being."

"What's so good about it!"

Lin Xiaoyou grumbled in dissatisfaction and reached out to poke Fang Qi's arm.

"That AI partner of yours, her name is... Liguang? No matter how good she is, it's just programmed responses. It's not true feelings at all, and she doesn't have real consciousness. What's the point? A real person's feelings are what's precious! They're one of a kind!"

Saying this, she even puffed out her small chest.

"Ah... ahahaha." Fang Qi laughed awkwardly.

If Liguang's reactions were really just cold, programmed responses, would he be this terrified...

Her feelings were one of a kind too—one of a kind terrifying!

But he didn't dare reveal that, so he could only give an awkward smile and not reply.

Lin Xiaoyou reached out and gently tugged at Fang Qi's sleeve again, shaking it coquettishly, her voice softening a few degrees:

"Senior~ Just think about it~ I really do like you, Senior!"

Her almond eyes were round and bright, carrying sincere passion.

Having played the game, Fang Qi knew that she wasn't just joking around with the player; she genuinely liked the player.

But that only made him want to cry even more!

In the game's setting, the male protagonist was quite good-looking and had a decent personality, so it was normal for girls to like him.

But this game, My Yandere Robotic Wife... was a freaking single-heroine yandere game!

The sole purpose of these female characters' existence was purely to serve as catalysts and yandere switches for the heroine. There was absolutely no possibility of developing side routes with them.

Because once any progress was made... it would inevitably lead to a bad ending!

He was now a warrior of pure love, aiming for eternal true devotion, and he would absolutely not succumb to this temptation!

"Xiaoyou, I..."

Just as Fang Qi was about to firmly refuse again, a few colleagues from the neighboring cubicles, smelling gossip, had already gathered around.

A middle-aged male colleague suddenly patted Fang Qi on the shoulder. "Xiao Fang, look at what a great girl Xiaoyou is. She's lively and cute. Since she's already taking the initiative like this, why don't you give her a chance!"

A female colleague who was good friends with Lin Xiaoyou also chimed in with a smile, "Yeah, yeah! Going home to face an AI every day is so boring! Real people are so much better. They can act cute and get jealous—that's what makes it feel like real romance!"

Jealousy feels like romance?

Haha...!

Fang Qi's temples throbbed as he listened.

Just then, a male colleague leaned in. He pushed up his glasses and lowered his voice.

"Hey, Xiao Fang, I heard... that custom AI companion you have at home, is it the top-tier 'Dawn' series? The one they call the 'Dream Companion'? Did it cost... this much?"

He made a rather exaggerated hand gesture, his eyes full of envy and curiosity.

Beside them, Lin Xiaoyou's ears immediately perked up. She also leaned closer and asked curiously, "How much? Is that AI companion very expensive?"

There was curiosity in her eyes, but mostly she was just paying attention to Fang Qi's lifestyle.

But alarm bells were blaring in Fang Qi's mind!

This topic was way too dangerous!

He immediately forced a laugh, trying to gloss over it. "It's not expensive, not at all! It's just a standard model, how expensive could it be? Tens of thousands maybe, and I'm even paying in installments!"

He knew very well that Lin Xiaoyou... was a girl with her 'money-grubber' stats maxed out!

In the game's storyline, she genuinely liked the player, but being a money-grubber was also a major part of her personality.

Early on, she didn't know the player had money. Although she was constantly pursuing the player, she was still somewhat restrained.

It wasn't until a certain event later on, when she accidentally discovered the player was a hidden little millionaire...

After that, the intensity of her pursuit skyrocketed by three levels, and her tendency to court disaster shot straight up!

If she found out right now that Liguang was worth a fortune... then the trouble would be even greater!

Fang Qi hurriedly tried to change the subject. "Ah, what is everyone gathering around here for? It's time to work, everyone back to your own cubicles..."

"It's more than just expensive!"

A well-informed female colleague who knew her way around smart tech products interrupted Fang Qi.

She squeezed her way in, her eyes shining as she started spilling the details. "The Dawn series! I saw a demo unit at a tech expo before!"

"Just the basic mass-produced model alone is enough to buy a top-spec luxury hovercar! And the one Xiao Fang has is a custom model!"

"Top-tier bionic skin module, the touch is said to be indistinguishable from a real person! A super strong guard-level combat module, off-the-charts fighting power, giving you a complete sense of security! There's also hair color and eye color customization, and completely personalized facial features..."

She counted them off on her fingers.

With every item she mentioned, sharp intakes of breath could be heard all around.

Fang Qi's forehead was covered in sweat as he tried to interject. "Um, actually..."

Then his mouth was covered by Lin Xiaoyou, whose eyes were burning with the fire of gossip. "Senior, don't interrupt!"

The female colleague grew even more excited as she spoke.

"And, I heard the custom models are even equipped with the absolute top-tier emotional simulation core that's still in closed beta!"

"When you interact with it, it's almost exactly like a real person! I heard it even uses military-grade processing units!"

Fang Qi's eyelids twitched wildly as he listened!

Finally, she lowered her voice. "The whole package, plus subsequent maintenance..."

She mysteriously signaled a number. "It's enough to buy a nice little villa in the city center! And that's not even counting the annual upgrade fees and specialized consumable costs!"

The colleagues instantly erupted in an uproar!

"Holy crap?!"

"Fang Qi, you've been hiding it so well!"

"Just a trust fund kid experiencing normal life, huh?!"

The way they looked at Fang Qi completely changed, as if they were looking at a walking, breathing vault of gold!

Fang Qi's scalp tingled; he felt like he was being roasted over a fire.

He quickly waved his hands, raising his voice. "No, no! It's a rumor! Absolutely a rumor! It's just a standard model, she must have seen it wrong..."

"I saw it wrong? Impossible!"

The female colleague indignantly pulled up a holographic advertisement page, pointing at the pictures and specs to show everyone.

"Look! The limited Aurora White paint job, the custom heterochromia option, and this most obvious one—"

She pointed to a line of fine print in the corner of the ad page and read it out loud: "Optional purchase of strawberry-flavored bionic lubricant and fragrance module!"

She turned to Fang Qi with a certain gaze.

"Xiao Fang, don't deny it! Every morning when you come to the office, you have a faint, very pleasant strawberry scent on you! And one time you got a bit of machine oil on your cuff, and it smelled like strawberries too! Several colleagues in our department have smelled it!"

Fang Qi: "..."

He froze.

No way... even this could be used as evidence?

Are you a detective?!

A bit stiffly, he slowly turned his head to look at Lin Xiaoyou beside him.

Lin Xiaoyou was completely dumbfounded at this moment.

Her round eyes were wide open, her small mouth slightly agape as she looked at Fang Qi, and then at the dizzying price tag on the holographic ad page.

Her eyes grew brighter and brighter!

Fang Qi's mouth twitched downward.

...I'm so tired.

Just end me.