She Cannot Speak

Fang Qi...

was dumbfounded.

He was truly dumbfounded.

He understood what An Lian meant.

If he still couldn't understand her meaning...

then he would be too stupid!

The man and woman she mentioned...

were his "parents" in this world.

That "Xiao Qi" was this world's version of him...

in his childhood?

...?

What did that mean...?

He and An Lian...

had met when they were kids?!

He and the key NPC, Senior Commissioner Miss An Lian, had met when they were children?!

But...

His mind was a complete mess!

That wasn't him...!

That wasn't him!

He was a transmigrator!

He was a player!

He had played this game for 312 hours, and never knew...

the protagonist had this kind of backstory!

He didn't have any of the game protagonist's past memories at all!

What An Lian said—

running all over the yard, not crying when he fell, stuffing candy into her hand and calling her sister...

He knew absolutely nothing about it!

He had no impression of it whatsoever!

And he shouldn't have any impression!

But...

"Xiao Qi"...?

... "Xiao Qi"?

This nickname...?

Was she calling him?

A sudden chill shot up his back.

Goosebumps popped up one after another.

This wasn't right...

Before he transmigrated, this world... should have had nothing to do with him.

It was only after he arrived...

that the person "Fang Qi" existed!

Before his transmigration, this world should have been just a pile of data, or even... not existed at all!

Even if it did exist, the game protagonist shouldn't have been named "Fang Qi"!

But... "Xiao Qi"?

That couple, calling him by the nickname of "Fang Qi"?

If this world was just a game, if before his transmigration this was just a bunch of code...

then why... was there this nickname?

Why was there this... incredibly specific past that seemed to have truly happened?

The boy An Lian described as "skinny, small, exceptionally lively, and running all over the yard the moment he arrived"...

seemed... to have actually existed.

Moreover... it was quite similar to his own personality as a child.

And right now, he was wearing that very boy's face.

Fang Qi's Adam's apple bobbed.

He suddenly had a very strange feeling.

It was as if he... originally belonged to this world.

As if he hadn't "transmigrated" in, but had always been here.

Just that...

he had forgotten?

...Damn it!

Impossible!

The moment this thought arose, he snuffed it out himself!

How could that be possible!

Bullshit! Absolute bullshit!

He clearly remembered his life before transmigrating!

His phone, his computer, the one-bedroom apartment he had rented for two years...

and the jianbing stall downstairs, where he bought one every single morning!

Once, when he didn't show up and the boss couldn't reach him, the guy almost called the police!

He remembered it crystal clear; those memories were real!

After that crazy woman read his memories, she had even used them to build a world for him!

He was the player! He was the transmigrator!

Damn it...!

An Lian's words had almost dragged him into the trap of nihilism!

But...!

His thoughts were still incredibly chaotic... when suddenly, a tingling sensation came from his ankle!

...?

He subconsciously looked down.

The silver-haired girl was still kneeling by his feet.

Her silver hair tumbled over her shoulders, and the blindfold covering her right eye was still securely wrapped.

Her expression was as docile as a doll's.

But one of her hands, at some unknown point... had moved to his ankle!

Her slender fingertips were pressing exactly on his Achilles tendon.

Gently, stroke by stroke, she was tracing circles with her fingernail.

That spot...

Fang Qi's mouth twitched slightly.

In a previous playthrough, this was exactly where she had struck.

A flash of the laser blade... and his Achilles tendon had been severed.

Now, although she wasn't using a laser blade, the frequency and pressure of her fingernail tracing were clearly saying—

Master, you actually know that bad woman?

Master, you actually never told Liguang?

Master...

Liguang is very unhappy right now.

Fang Qi was now truly suffering in silence!

He genuinely didn't know! He was a transmigrator!

Where would he get the original owner's memories?!

He didn't even know what his "parents" in this world looked like!

How was he supposed to know he had visited an orphanage as a kid?

Or that he had stuffed candy into An Lian's hand?!

"Heh."

A soft, light chuckle.

An Lian looked at Fang Qi's expression, which looked like he had just swallowed a fly, and pursed her lips.

"It's normal that you don't remember."

Her voice returned to that faint, aloof coolness, but it was slightly softer than before.

"You were only six or seven at the time, and you were only brought to the orphanage by your parents to play a few times."

She paused, a flicker of something passing through her gray eyes.

"Among a group of orphans, there was one girl who didn't like to speak... How could you possibly remember her."

Fang Qi looked at her.

There was no disappointment on An Lian's face; she was merely stating a fact.

She seemed to understand perfectly well that while that memory was profound to her, to the man in front of her...

it was just a few blurry frames from childhood.

It was very normal, and she understood.

But Fang Qi felt even more stifled inside.

Understand what?!

It's not that I don't remember, it's that I never had this memory in the first place!

But could he say that?

He could only hold it in.

At his ankle, the pressure from that small hand actually lightened a bit because of An Lian's words.

Liguang seemed less angry now.

Because An Lian had said, "the girl you didn't know who didn't like to speak."

Because she had confirmed... that An Lian was just a random passerby in her master's childhood.

Mm. Very good.

But his mind right now... was still a total mess!

What in the world was all this!

Opposite him, An Lian sat up slightly straighter.

Her cool face regained a bit of professionalism, and her eyes held a touch of solemnity.

"My story ends here."

She looked at Fang Qi, her tone serious.

"What I want to tell you is—"

"It is precisely because of your parents that I was able to walk the path I am on today."

Fang Qi snapped back to reality and looked at her.

Because of his parents...?

But An Lian didn't elaborate. She simply lowered her eyelashes gently, her gray eyes staring at the cup of completely cold tea on the coffee table.

"Anyway, I joined the Dawn Corporation," she said.

"I worked hard for many years, climbing my way up from the very bottom."

"And then—"

She raised her eyes to look at Fang Qi.

"I received the news of their deaths."

"And then I saw that you had custom-ordered 'Liguang' at the company."

She looked again at the silver-haired girl kneeling on the floor.

"So... I volunteered and applied to become Liguang's maintenance commissioner."

The living room was quiet for a few seconds.

The little movements on his ankle vanished as well.

The silver-haired girl was now sitting properly. Her two small hands were folded over her knees, her back was perfectly straight, and her amber eyes were cast downward.

A perfect, docile AI companion without any abnormalities.

The crazy woman still had some reaction to the words "maintenance commissioner," and immediately became much more well-behaved.

Fang Qi, on the other hand, narrowed his eyes slightly.

Dawn Corporation... maintenance commissioner... Liguang...

He recalled the words An Lian had said in the previous playthrough.

She had said... his parents did not die in an accident.

Saying that his parents... left him a top-tier custom AI qualification, limited to only nine spots worldwide.

And that phrase...

"You will... just like your parents... and my predecessors... choose the same path..."

Fang Qi's Adam's apple bobbed.

He had thought at the time that his parents were connected to the Dawn Corporation.

Deeply connected!

Now, he was even more certain!

It was because his parents were connected to the Dawn Corporation... that An Lian had followed in their footsteps and joined the company.

But in the game's background lore...

The player's parents were established as ordinary merchants.

How could the player, as their own flesh and blood, not know his parents' true identities?

...A secret identity?

"An Lian."

He spoke subconsciously, asking softly:

"My parents... who exactly were they?"

An Lian's eyelashes trembled slightly.

Her gray eyes, however, were unnervingly calm.

"Ordinary merchants,"

she said.

"You know better than anyone that they died in a tragic car accident."

Fang Qi stared into her eyes.

An Lian nonchalantly shifted her gaze away from his face, and then...

looked toward the window.

He followed her line of sight.

The window was closed, and the curtains were drawn. No one from the outside should be able to see in.

Yet, a sudden chill crept up his spine!

He remembered the previous loop—just as she was about to reveal something... a sniper rifle had gone off.

A headshot. Killed instantly.

So... she couldn't say it.

And he couldn't ask.

Fang Qi pressed his lips into a thin line.

He remained silent for a few seconds, and then...

"Yeah."

"Right, a car accident."

His voice was equally calm.

An Lian looked at him, a trace of complex emotion flashing through her gray eyes.

It looked like relief, yet also... a faint sense of sorrow.

But she didn't say anything.

The living room fell quiet for a few seconds.

An Lian lowered her gaze, looking at the cup of tea on the coffee table that had gone completely cold.

"Fang Qi, I... deeply respect your parents."

"If it weren't for them, I probably would have died seventeen years ago."

Her voice was very soft, but every word was crystal clear.

"Without their help, I wouldn't have become the person I am..."

"Anyway..."

She looked up at Fang Qi.

"I've always treated them as my own parents. As the role models I strive to emulate."

"So..."

She looked at Fang Qi, her eyelashes fluttering.

"If you are willing..."

"You can... call me your older sister."

...?

Fang Qi froze in stunned silence.