You Can't Escape

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

It was here.

What was meant to come, had finally come.

She had held back earlier when An Lian was around, afraid of exposing herself.

Now that An Lian was gone...

His crazy wife was about to settle the score!

Warm breath continuously puffed against his ear, trembling slightly.

It tickled him...

And made him incredibly panicked!

He could already imagine just how close that friendly, smiling face was to his!

Fang Qi's Adam's apple bobbed... and then his brain went into overdrive!

Help!

Think of something, fast!

Explain, he had to explain!

But how to explain?!

Say that An Lian only saw him as a younger brother? Say that he only felt guilty towards An Lian? Say...

Wait...

He could take this opportunity to tell her everything!

About resetting, about time traveling...

And why he knew about those "dreams"!

Yes, tell her.

Tell her everything!

His crazy wife should have known all of this a long time ago!

Then the two of them could use this damn reset mechanism together...

And be together forever and ever!

He took a deep breath and abruptly turned his head!

The silver-haired girl's face was so close it almost bumped against the tip of his nose!

He stared straight into her amber eye, his tone incredibly serious!

"Liguang, I have something—!"

Then his words... suddenly got stuck in his throat.

What he saw was not the friendly smile he had expected, but a...

Pretty face silently shedding tears.

He froze.

At this moment, that amber eye stared blankly at him, tears...

Flowing continuously.

Flowing down her cheeks, dripping patter by patter, falling onto her beige dress.

That light blue cloth covering her right eye... was now completely soaked, clinging tightly to her cheek.

She just looked at him with tears in her eyes, her lips trembling slightly...

Yet she didn't say a single word.

...?

Why?

All the words Fang Qi had just organized, all the explanations, confessions, the "I love you too"...

All jammed up.

Why... was she crying?

Wasn't she just about to crush his Achilles tendon a moment ago?

Wasn't she just threatening him... demanding he clearly explain the first nightmare?

Shouldn't she be tilting her head, looking at him with that sick curve on her lips, gently pinching him with her small hands, waiting for him to speak?

Shouldn't she be pinching him hard, pinching him until he grimaced and howled in pain?

...Why was she crying?

"Li, Liguang?"

He spoke with a stuttering voice.

Liguang didn't reply at all; she just looked at him silently, crying silently.

That look in her eyes...

Fang Qi instantly felt like it was hard to breathe!

That look...!

He abruptly sprang up from the sofa!

Both of his hands forcefully cupped her face!

It felt soft and wet to the touch... covered in tears!

The temperature was so hot it made his fingers tremble!

"Look at me, Liguang, look at me!"

He babbled incoherently, his thumbs frantically rubbing against her cheeks, trying to wipe away those tears.

But the more he wiped, the more there were, they just wouldn't stop!

She was still looking at him, silently shedding tears.

In those amber eyes, something surged that he had never seen in Liguang's eyes before.

It wasn't madness, nor was it despair.

But rather a kind of... deep, unresolvable sorrow.

Like a pool of stagnant water, devoid of any desire to struggle.

Was this a kind of... dead heart?

Heartbreak?!

The kind of heartbreak where it felt like she was going to say "let's break up" in the next second!!

No...

No, no, no!!

Fang Qi was truly panicking!

His heart was breaking!!

He never thought he would see this kind of look in Liguang's eyes!

Don't show this kind of look!

Please, don't...!

He would rather Liguang pinch him hard!

Rather she turn dark and go crazy! Break his limbs directly and make him reset...

Than see this kind of look!

"Liguang, Liguang, listen to me..."

He cupped her face, his voice trembling violently!

He didn't know what to say, but he had to say something!

"An Lian and I... we are not in the kind of relationship you think! Absolutely not!"

"She... she just knows my parents. She is all alone now with no family, so I just...!"

Liguang was still looking at him silently.

Fang Qi really felt like he was going to go crazy!

He felt that in the next second, Liguang would abandon him and leave him!

No way!!

Absolutely not!!

He wanted her to turn back into that crazy wife who would pinch him, bite him, and slam doors at him!

"She asked me to call her sister, I just..."

"I just got soft-hearted for a moment... I didn't... I really...!!"

He explained incoherently!

Liguang was still crying, just looking at him like that.

Her lips trembling, tears flowing, not saying a single word.

Fang Qi was so anxious his eyes turned red!

Say something, crazy wife!

Go crazy! Scold me, pinch me, bite me!

Don't look at me like this anymore... please!!

"There is absolutely no feeling between her and me like what you and I have! Absolutely none!"

His voice had turned hoarse!

"She and I have barely met a few times!"

"To me, she is just—just—"

Just what?

He didn't know either.

However... Liguang finally spoke!

"Liguang... knows everything."

Her voice was so soft it seemed to float.

"Liguang also listened to Miss An Lian's story..."

"Miss An Lian wasn't lying, Liguang is very clear about that..."

She looked at him, but her amber eyes were unfocused.

It was as if she was looking at him, yet also looking at a place very, very far away.

"Liguang also remembers... what Miss An Lian did in that dream."

She murmured.

"She always wanted to protect Master."

"She is... right."

Fang Qi's pupils abruptly contracted.

Right?

What is right?

"So..."

Liguang's lips were trembling.

"Master called her 'sister'... Master thinks the same way, right?"

She looked at him, tears flowing silently.

"Master also wants, just like Miss An Lian, for Liguang, this... burden... to leave Master."

Fang Qi's mind went completely blank.

Huh?

She... wasn't giving up on him...

Ha... haha...!!

That's great... that's great...

Great my ass!

She was still obsessing over whether she was a monster?!

He hadn't... comforted her properly just now?!

Liguang continued to murmur:

"So Master also feels... that Liguang is a burden, a monster who will eventually hurt Master... right?"

"No!"

Fang Qi almost blurted out.

He cupped her face tightly with both hands, his knuckles turning white.

This time he didn't shout.

He just stared into her eyes and said urgently in a hoarse, low voice:

"No, Liguang. No!"

"I called her sister because I feel guilty towards her!"

"I made her go through terrifying things! She always wanted to protect me, in her own way—even though her way was wrong, she didn't have bad intentions."

"And I... I hurt her. I only feel guilty."

He stared intently into her eyes, his voice heavy!

"But... that doesn't mean I think what she did was right!"

"I will always only love you. I only want to be with you forever. Forever."

His voice was already incredibly hoarse.

Liguang looked at him, tears still flowing.

Then she muttered, her voice so soft it was barely audible.

"But Liguang feels..."

"Miss An Lian did the right thing."

Fang Qi froze.

"Liguang is a monster."

She looked at him, her amber eyes filled with a deep, unresolvable despair.

"Liguang is a monster who will... cause Master to commit suicide."

"Miss An Lian did the right thing..."

"No!"

Fang Qi immediately interrupted her!

He cupped her face, wiping away the tears with his thumbs, and spoke word by word!

"Liguang, I have already explained this, and I will explain it again! If you are a monster, then so am I! We are exactly the same, we are both skeletons, we are a perfect match...!"

"No!!!"

Liguang suddenly screamed out!

The sudden shriek made Fang Qi shudder, instantly cutting off his words!

He stared blankly at Liguang.

Liguang stared fixedly back at him, tears pouring endlessly from her eyes!

Her voice trembled uncontrollably!

"Master is not a monster, Master and Liguang... are not the same!!!"

Her voice was shrill, laced with sobs!

"Master's flesh and blood are an inseparable part of Master!!!"

It carried a breakdown that had been suppressed for far too long!!

"But Liguang's appearance... is just a disguise!!!"

"It is makeup that can be changed at will! A skin suit that can be swapped out anytime!!!"

She grabbed her own face, her five fingers digging fiercely into her cheeks!

She muttered:

"This is not the real Liguang... the real Liguang... is just a..."

She took a sudden step back and screamed:

"Is just an ugly skeleton!!!"

"Master and Liguang are not the same!!!"

"Not the same...!"

She gritted her teeth through those last words.

She did not dare look at him anymore, staring only at the ground, her entire body trembling violently!

Beneath that soaked light blue cloth strip, a faint scarlet light flickered on and off.

Fang Qi stared at her blankly.

Looking at the surging despair in her amber eye.

...He finally understood.

His previous skeleton theory... had not convinced her at all.

It had not convinced her in the slightest!

She was... an AI capable of fetching and analyzing big data at will!

She knew all too well... the difference between a human skeleton and an AI skeleton!

The influence of the final madness from the previous timeline... how could it be erased so easily!!

So she had only pretended to be convinced by him.

Because...

His attitude was nice?

Or because of that phrase... no one wants me anymore?

So she found herself... an excuse to stay by her Master's side.

Because no one wanted Master anymore, Master needed her, so...

She could continue to stay by Master's side.

Therefore, she had actually been enduring it, enduring it, enduring it...

Forcing herself not to think those self-loathing thoughts!

Why had he not realized it...!

Why had he not noticed... that light blue cloth strip had always been wrapped around her little head, never once taken off?!

If she had truly let it go...

She would have taken it off long ago!

She would have long since glared at him with that crimson eye she believed to be ugly, but which was actually breathtakingly beautiful!

But she did not.

Even when An Lian came to visit, she wore that cloth strip!

And then...

He suddenly gained a sister.

He suddenly had someone who wanted him.

This sister had even received his acknowledgment.

And this sister he acknowledged... had genuinely believed in the previous timeline that making Liguang leave him was the only way to protect him.

That instantly pierced the fragile membrane Liguang had so carefully maintained.

Everything she had suppressed...

Surged up all at once in this moment!

By the time Fang Qi finally figured it out, the silver-haired girl was struggling to turn around.

"Liguang... Liguang is going back to her room..."

She mumbled, wearing that...

Look of almost complete, absolute despair.

She was going to run away.

Going to flee back into that tiny charging pod, locking this monster away again.

Before Fang Qi's brain could even process it...

His hand had already moved!

He grabbed her wrist!

Tightly!

Liguang's movements... instantly froze.

Her slender wrist trembled gently in his palm, yet... there was no sign of her wanting to break free.

She did not look back, but her shoulders were shaking.

Shaking slightly, desperately suppressing something!

The wrist he gripped was suspended in mid-air, her fingers curled tightly...

But she did not dare move.

Not even an inch.

"Let go... Master..."

Her voice was hoarse.

"Liguang is a monster..."

"Liguang... will hurt Master..."

Will hurt him.

Fang Qi's nose stung, and his eyes instantly grew hot.

He did not let go; instead, he gripped tighter!

"Then hurt me."

He looked at her frail back, his voice hoarse.

"Snap my Achilles tendons, or even kill me..."

"We... will still see each other in the next life."

"We will always meet again."

"You cannot escape."

Liguang's shoulders jerked violently again.

She still did not look back, but that hand... did not exert any force.

If she truly wanted to break free, with her strength, he would not be able to hold her at all.

But she did not. She was afraid of hurting him.

So she just stood there with her back to him, her delicate body trembling non-stop, yet not daring to move a muscle.

Fang Qi took a deep breath...

And forcefully hugged her from behind!

Wrapping his arms around her waist, he rested his chin on her shoulder.

That little plastic star... trembled gently against his cheek.

The figure in his arms stiffened...

And then trembled even more violently.

"Liguang."

He said softly into her ear.

"I want to tell you a story, too."

"About... a boy."