Sister

"You can... call me big sister."

An Lian looked at Fang Qi, her voice as aloof and clear as ever, as if she were saying "It's time for your checkup."

Fang Qi, however, was dumbfounded.

He hadn't even recovered from the tension of being on guard against the sniper...

And now he was completely stunned!

...Huh?

What did she just say?

Big sister?

This aloof, long-legged, mature female commissioner, this An Lian whom he had treated so terribly in the previous loop...

Was asking him to call her...

Big sister?

Huh?

Then he immediately felt...

That little hand by his foot, which had previously settled down, started acting up again!

It suddenly grabbed his pant leg!

The grip was astonishingly strong!

He could even feel that hand trembling slightly!

He subconsciously looked down—

The silver-haired girl had raised her head by now, her amber left eye... staring wide! The light in her pupil was shaking violently!

She looked at An Lian, then at him, then at An Lian, then back at him!

As if confirming it in disbelief...

—Master, what did this woman just say?

—What did she ask you... to call her?!

And then this crazy woman...

Quickly reverted to her meek and obedient expression!

Her amber eyes were cast down, her eyelashes fluttering gently.

But those five fingers... were still clamped dead onto his ankle!

The force was much heavier... than when she was drawing circles on his Achilles tendon earlier!

It hurt so much that his face twitched!

He could clearly feel... those five fingertips digging deeply into the hollows on either side of his ankle!

The grip was deadly tight; an ounce more force and his tendon would probably be snapped!

Under the pain, Fang Qi instantly snapped to his senses!

He almost forgot that earlier, to coax this crazy woman, he had said—

"Now, besides Liguang... no one else will want me."

—Something like that!

And right after he said it...

A "big sister" immediately popped out?!

And it was Liguang's "sworn enemy," her maintenance commissioner?!

Holy crap...!

Fang Qi fully realized the situation and instantly broke out in a cold sweat!

No, no, no...!

This wouldn't do!

He had to refuse!

Otherwise, wouldn't he have his tendons snapped by Liguang right on the spot and be forced to restart the loop?!

Even though An Lian was showing goodwill, and even though he felt sorry for An Lian...

But... he couldn't call An Lian "big sister" right now!

He immediately looked up at An Lian again, ready to open his mouth and refuse!

But just as the refusal was about to slip from his lips, he saw a face.

An earnest... and aloof face that carried a trace of expectation.

His refusal suddenly got stuck in his throat.

Looking at this face, his eyes slightly glazed over for a moment.

...Big sister.

...Big sister, huh.

He suddenly remembered...

What An Lian had done in the previous loop.

She had constantly been trying to persuade him.

Persuading him to save his own life, to give up on Liguang, to... return to his everyday life.

She kept trying to persuade him.

Endlessly.

Because of that, he had assumed at the time...

That it was the company's order.

The company didn't want him, a core client, to die in that conflict!

He had even questioned An Lian about it.

How did An Lian answer back then...?

—"Mr. Fang, please believe me!"

—"At the very least... I truly do not want to see you driven into a dead end!!!"

That was what she said.

He hadn't paid much attention to it at the time.

He was still immersed in the joy of discovering that the company wouldn't kill him!

He had been ecstatic!

He felt he was finally useful this time, that he could act as a meat shield!

He felt his plan could be perfectly executed!

But thinking back on it now, An Lian...

Actually genuinely wanted him to survive.

She truly didn't want him to die.

In the previous loop, from beginning to end... she had been trying to protect him in her own way.

She tirelessly tried to talk him out of it.

Even after nearly being strangled to death, she still chose to forgive him.

Just so he could... return to his normal life.

He thought back then... that this was just her setting.

That she was programmed to be so professional, so eager to complete the company's tasks, that she was just a super corporate drone!

But now An Lian told him that the reason she did all that was because, in her eyes...

He was still that six or seven-year-old boy who stuffed candy into her hand and called her "big sister."

That skinny, little, incredibly lively boy who wouldn't cry even when he fell... "Xiao Qi."

The child of her... savior.

Fang Qi stared blankly at this aloof face.

His breathing... became slightly unsteady.

...Wait?

Then how did he "repay" her in the last loop?

He had said... she was just earning a few measly bucks, why risk her life.

He had also let Liguang sever the tendons in her hands and feet.

He had grabbed her by the hair, hoisted her up from the ground, and pointed at the corpses strewn everywhere, telling her—

"All of this is because of you."

He made her look at that hellscape with her own eyes, and then told her—

"You are the one who got them killed."

And then... she completely broke down.

She slumped in the corner, her face covered in tears, screaming for him to kill her.

"It's all my fault!!!! Just kill me!!! I beg you!!! Kill me!!!! Don't hurt anyone else!!! I beg you!!!!"

At the very end, she had wanted to tell him some secret...

But her head was blown off by the company's sniper.

Right up until the very end, she was still saying "I'm sorry" to him.

Fang Qi's throat felt blocked by something.

Looking at the aloof, earnest face before him that still carried a trace of expectation, he suddenly felt...

The him from the last loop... was really not a fucking human being!

He even... didn't quite dare to look at An Lian's face anymore, his gaze darting away slightly!

The living room remained quiet for several seconds.

An Lian just looked at him, the light in her gray eyes...

Slowly shifting from expectation to calmness.

"It's fine if you don't want to call me that."

Her tone remained calm.

"I just wanted to tell you all this. I don't mean anything else by it, and you shouldn't feel any burden."

Then she slightly lowered her eyelids, her gray eyes moving away from Fang Qi's face.

"It's getting late."

She said, her voice returning to that aloof calmness.

"My story is finished. It's time for me to leave."

She stood up, the hem of her suit skirt swaying gently.

She straightened the edge of her clothes and walked toward the door.

Her high heels made crisp "clack, clack" sounds on the floor.

One after another.

Fang Qi watched her back as she walked toward the door.

Her long black hair draped over her shoulders, swaying slightly with her steps. Her back was perfectly straight, like a solitary tree.

His mind was an absolute mess!

The images from the last loop surged up again—

She was slumped in the corner, her long black hair messily plastered across her face, a dark hole in her temple, those gray eyes looking at him, her lips still moving.

She had treated him... as that little brother who stuffed candy into her hands when they were young.

She had wanted to protect him in her own way, yet he had—

"Clack."

The sound of the high heels stopped.

An Lian had reached the door. She raised her hand and grasped the doorknob.

Fang Qi's mouth suddenly moved.

"Wait!"

Before he even realized it himself, the voice had already squeezed out of his throat.

An Lian's back paused slightly.

She didn't turn around, but her fingers gripping the doorknob tightened just a little.

And Fang Qi felt... the small hand on his ankle suddenly tighten again!

The force was so great that his face twitched!

But this time, he couldn't care about that.

He stared at An Lian's back, at her cascading black hair, at her straight spine—

He opened his mouth, the word rolling around in his throat a few times, until finally—

"...Sister, take care."

He said it anyway.

Perhaps out of guilt, or perhaps... to win over this crucial NPC?

Regardless, he said it.

His voice wasn't loud, even a bit dry.

But in the quiet living room, it was piercingly clear.

An Lian's back stiffened slightly.

That straight, aloof figure just froze in place. Her shoulders trembled ever so slightly.

Then she turned her head.

Only half of her profile was visible.

Her eyelashes were trembling, and those gray eyes... were actually darting away.

She... didn't dare to look at him?

Fang Qi was stunned.

To think this aloof, mature specialist would show such an expression.

And right at this moment—

Hiss.

A sharp pain shot up directly from his ankle!

Fang Qi almost cried out!

The silver-haired girl's slender fingers were now digging fiercely into his ankle!

The force was astonishing!

He could even hear his own bones making faint creaking sounds!

Damn it...!

It's going to break, it's going to break, it's going to break!

Cold sweat instantly broke out on Fang Qi's forehead!

He snapped his head down to look at the silver-haired girl at his feet!

Liguang still maintained her docile and obedient appearance, a meek smile even hanging on the corners of her lips.

But the small hand clutching his ankle was shaking violently!

Her fingertips were deeply embedded into the hollows on both sides of his ankle!

Fang Qi turned pale from the pain!

Crazy girl, don't...!

It'll trigger a reset...!

But the next second, the force of that hand actually slowly loosened a fraction.

Loosened a fraction more.

Finally... it let go completely.

...Huh?

Fang Qi paused.

He looked down at Liguang.

She still had that docile look, not even glancing at him.

But she was trembling. Trembling all over.

From her fingertips to her shoulders, from her eyelashes to her breathing... she was trembling faintly, desperately suppressing it!

She didn't snap, she didn't actually crush his Achilles tendon.

She held back?

Ah...

Because of An Lian.

The woman in front of them was her maintenance specialist, someone from Dawn Company, the person who came to their door every month to inspect her and test her emotion module.

So, she didn't dare expose herself in front of An Lian.

For the sake of her and her master's future... she endured it.

Fang Qi's heart trembled.

Crazy girl... I'm sorry.

I made you feel insecure again!

Once An Lian leaves, I'll definitely explain everything to you properly!

The relationship between An Lian and me is absolutely nothing like what I have with you!

It's not even remotely the same!

Then, he looked back at An Lian.

An Lian was still standing there, head turned, eyelashes trembling, gray eyes darting away.

His eyes twitched slightly because he saw...

Her eyes were slightly red.

Just a little bit of red.

She quickly lowered her eyes, hiding that hint of redness.

Fang Qi suddenly understood... why An Lian wanted him to call her Sister.

He had Liguang, he had a crazy girl who treated him as her entire world...

But... what about An Lian?

Her parents were dead.

Her brother was dead.

The couple she treated as her second parents, his parents—

She followed in their footsteps into Dawn Company, climbed all the way up, and finally...

They died too.

She was now completely all alone.

She wanted him to call her Sister not to take advantage of him.

She truly... just wanted family.

Fang Qi opened his mouth.

But An Lian had already turned back around, facing away from him.

Her back returned to being straight and aloof, but her shoulders still had a tiny... almost imperceptible tremble.

"In the future..."

Her voice remained cold and professional, as if nothing had happened.

"If anything happens in the future, you can come find me."

She didn't look back; she just started walking.

Her high heels clicked rapidly against the floor—clack, clack, clack!

So fast it was as if she were fleeing!

"Bang."

The door closed.

The living room fell into dead silence.

Fang Qi just sat there on the sofa, staring at the tightly shut door.

His mind was buzzing.

An Lian was gone.

She had asked him to call her sister.

Her eyes had turned red.

She ran away.

She...

He just kept staring at the door, completely immersed in the complex emotions from just now—

Guilt, heartache, and a tiny bit of an indescribable softness.

Sigh...

Then, the very next second—

A warm breath suddenly brushed against the shell of his ear.

Soft, ticklish... carrying a faint, lingering scent of sweet strawberry.

That familiar, soft and sweet voice...

sounded right beside his ear.

"Mas...ter...?"

Trembling slightly, carrying a hint of cloying sweetness and amiability that made his scalp tingle.

...!!!

Fang Qi's back instantly stiffened into a straight line!

In the living room...

It was terrifyingly quiet.

He didn't dare to move.

He didn't dare move a muscle!

He just sat frozen on the sofa!

Behind him, that warm, soft breathing continued gently, rhythmically...

puffing against his ear.