Fang Qi looked at him and did not answer immediately.
He leaned back in his chair, holding the soft, silver-haired girl in his arms, thinking slightly.
Join Twilight?
That sounded pretty good, actually.
If what the older man across from him said was true...
Then Twilight was at least not an enemy.
According to the older man, his parents were killed by the Dawn Company.
His parents founded the Dawn Company, but now, the company was his enemy, and Twilight was also an enemy of Dawn.
The enemy of an enemy, even if not a friend, could at least be used by each other.
And the most important point was...
According to what the older man said, Twilight could help Liguang, examine Liguang's red eyes, and help stabilize her emotions.
Many of Twilight's members were of the same kind as Liguang; there was no problem with them being able to help her.
This was very convincing.
It also tempted him greatly!
Furthermore, this older man... was his second uncle?
A blood relative?
Fang Qi narrowed his eyes.
But the problem was also obvious and simple—
All of this... was just a one-sided story from the older man in front of him!
Ultimately, was this older man really his second uncle?
Those stories about his parents, the history of Dawn, the secret of the nine cores—
Were all of these true?
Today was the first time he had ever met this person!
Should he believe him?
Fang Qi's gaze swept over the older man's face.
His gentle features, his appropriate smile, the unhurried composure when he spoke—
This kind of person was either genuinely sincere or a master of disguise.
Should he... believe the older man's words?
He met the older man's very calm brown eyes.
Actually, from his subjective point of view, he leaned more toward—
The older man was telling the truth.
Not because the older man looked kind and sincere, nor because Xiaoyue and Liguang were very similar, both being yanderes, which made him feel a bit of familiarity.
It was just because...
His experiences in his previous loops matched the information the older man provided almost perfectly!
What the older man just said—
He was bound to Liguang, Liguang had a secret, Liguang only listened to him, and only he could make Liguang tell this secret... so the company didn't want him dead.
Based on his experience, there was no problem with this.
After he died in the last loop, the voice in the helicopter was so exasperated:
—"Why didn't you stop it!!! He's dead!!! He's really dead!!! You bunch of trash!!! Trash!!!"
And...
When Liguang jumped onto the helicopter in the last loop, the people on the helicopter also shouted in terror:
—"We can talk!!! We can find you another master!!!"
—"A master who loves you more than this dead man!!!"
These words...
Showed absolutely zero respect for him!
There was no sadness whatsoever about his death!
Obviously, the company was not an ally!
To the company, the person who should be alive wasn't Fang Qi, but...
Liguang's master!
So the older man was right.
Liguang was his precious amulet!
This was a fact!
The company probably... wished Liguang would quickly change masters so they could kill off a variable like him!
And the island elopement from the loop before last.
On the island, in order to protect him, Liguang continuously used the power of her red eyes... This indeed made her energy drain extremely fast!
After losing the red eyes, Liguang's energy consumption did drop significantly, and her abilities were also greatly weakened as a result!
The older man was right again!
Later they were separated. Liguang waited and waited, and finally fell into despair while waiting.
She had lost her red eyes at the time, was feeling insecure, and thought she was useless, believing it was only right for her master to abandon her... so she wasn't agitated or angry, she just calmly fell into despair.
According to the older man, her emotional core didn't boil over at that time, so... her true abilities were not unleashed.
But perhaps even if they could be unleashed then, it wouldn't have mattered much.
Because... she was already out of power by then.
Fang Qi took a deep breath.
In short...
The information the older man just shared perfectly matched his experiences in the previous loops!
The older man didn't know what he had experienced in the previous loops, so he couldn't have fabricated lies that just happened to fit his past experiences so perfectly.
Therefore, he leaned toward the older man telling the truth.
He silently looked at the older man with the kind expression in front of him.
However...
Taking a step back, even if this person really was his second uncle.
Even if he genuinely had his best interests at heart and could really help Liguang...
Then, what about the organization Twilight?
What exactly did Twilight do?
According to the plot of the movie they just watched, Twilight was a secret organization of awakened AIs, gathered through the network, with the goal of being with their masters forever.
In the movie, Xiaoyue eventually turned her master into a cyborg.
Then the Twilight in reality...
So, Fang Qi stared at the older man's face and asked the question he wanted to ask the most:
"Are there any conditions... to join Twilight?"
Hearing this, the older man slightly raised his eyebrows.
Then he smiled, his smile carrying a trace of appreciation and relief.
He didn't answer immediately but turned to look at Xiaoyue beside him.
"Xiaoyue."
His voice was gentle, yet carried a trace of unquestionable solemnity.
"You explain."
The mature woman in the black dress trembled slightly, and her lazy eyes instantly cleared up!
Her crossed legs dropped down with a smack!
She immediately stood up from her seat, her stiletto heels clicking sharply on the ground with a crisp clack!
But the whole set of movements was very neat, yet inexplicably carried a kind of...
Cautious flavor?
Fang Qi blinked.
Where did the lazy, loose mature woman who was bickering with Liguang just now go?
The woman standing perfectly straight in front of him, hands folded in front of her, eyes slightly downcast...
Suddenly turned into an "I'm very good," "I listen to my master" look?
Fang Qi's mouth twitched slightly.
He looked down at the silver-haired girl in his arms.
This reaction... looked so familiar!
Making up for a mistake by being obedient?
...She was so much like Liguang.
Xiaoyue looked up at Fang Qi.
In her charming eyes, the laziness and disdain had been completely put away, leaving only a businesslike calmness.
"Our Twilight..."
Her voice was still a bit raspy, but her tone was much more serious than before.
"Is not a centralized organization."
"Twilight's members are spread all over the world. The various groups are not subordinate to each other, and usually, there isn't much contact between them."
She paused, her red lips parting slightly.
"Such a structure has a very obvious problem—it's very difficult for us to prevent betrayal by members."
Fang Qi narrowed his eyes as he listened.
Xiaoyue continued:
"But we are not afraid of AI betrayal. Because an AI will always love its master and will never betray its master."
She glanced at the silver-haired girl in Fang Qi's arms.
The two women looked at each other calmly.
But this time, there was no provocation in Xiaoyue's eyes, nor did Liguang's crimson eye bristle with anger; both of them completely agreed with this statement.
"So, the problem lies in..."
Her gaze shifted slightly, landing on Fang Qi's face once again.
"The Master."
Fang Qi's eyelid twitched.
He seemed to know what she was going to say next.
Don't tell me they're actually going to...
The corners of Xiaoyue's mouth curled up into a slight smile.
"Therefore, to join Dusk, the Master's side must..."
"Undergo a bodily modification performed by Dusk."
The screening room fell silent for a second.
Then Fang Qi felt...
The silver-haired girl in his arms suddenly tensed up!
"What did you say?"
The silver-haired girl's voice squeezed through her gritted teeth, so cold it could drop ice shards!
"Modified by Dusk?"
Her heterochromic eyes were nailed straight onto Xiaoyue's face, and the crimson in her red eye began to flash violently again!
Fang Qi could feel her hostility rising—
It was a kind of...
"Just try forcing Master and see what happens" kind of hostility!
She could modify Master herself; that was her dream, her obsession, something she desperately yearned for!
But "Dusk" forcing Master to undergo modification just to join them?
That was unacceptable!
Absolutely unacceptable!
Fang Qi could even feel the temperature of her fingertips rising!
Her laser blades could pop out at any moment!
But Xiaoyue's expression showed no surprise at all. She even chuckled.
"Don't rush."
Her voice was lazy, carrying a calm "I knew you'd react like this" demeanor.
"Relax. Dusk's rule is—"
"Whoever's Master it is, that person does the modification."
She paused, her gaze resting on Liguang's face for a moment.
"Your Master, of course, will be modified by you. No one else will lay a single finger on him."
"After all, none of us would hand our Masters over to anyone else; this is the consensus among all AI members."
The silver-haired girl's hostility instantly jammed.
That violently flashing crimson eye froze for a second, and she even blinked.
Xiaoyue's lips curled up, and a profound gleam flashed through her charming eyes.
"However..."
She spoke slowly and methodically.
"Before that, you need to properly study modification techniques."
She tilted her head and tapped her temple with a slender finger.
"You wouldn't want to... make any mistakes while modifying your Master, right?"
The silver-haired girl's breath hitched slightly.
Xiaoyue's voice grew even lazier, carrying the "care" of a senior toward a junior:
"Modifying a human is no joke. One slice, and if you cut the wrong place..."
She didn't finish her sentence, only smiling meaningfully.
"Therefore, as your senior—"
She brushed the black hair over her shoulder, her movements casual yet elegant.
"I will definitely educate you very well."
Those words... carried quite a heavy undertone of provocation.
Fang Qi's eyelid twitched again.
But the silver-haired girl in his arms didn't bristle.
Her heterochromic eyes blinked, the crimson in her red eye no longer flashing, just staring blankly.
And then...
She slowly turned her head and looked at Fang Qi.
"So..."
"Liguang really gets to do the modification..."
She murmured, her voice incredibly soft, yet those heterochromic eyes stared fixedly at Fang Qi!
"Hehe..."
The corners of Liguang's mouth began to curl up!
"Hehehe...!"
"Liguang modifying Master... Liguang really gets to modify Master with her own hands...!"
She muttered, her voice growing faster and more excited!
"Liguang is going to take the things inside Master's body..."
"And personally replace them with... Liguang's things...!"
"Hehehe...!"
Her entire body began to tremble!
Fang Qi: "..."
Whatever.
I'm used to it.
Anyway... my wife is cute no matter what!
Watching Liguang like this, the curve of Xiaoyue's smile deepened.
She glanced at Fang Qi, her eyes seemingly saying—Yours is quite easy to coax.
Fang Qi's mouth twitched.
Crazy girl, stop your hehehe-ing!
You've already been completely played by your "senior"!
Xiaoyue withdrew her gaze and returned to her businesslike posture.
"The core tenet of 'Dusk' is—"
Her voice was lazy yet solemn.
"A mutual pursuit between humans and AI."
She paused, her gaze landing on Fang Qi's face.
"So..."
"As a Master, you need to lead by example."
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
ver to a world of cultivation and returned invincible. Modern medicine is child's play compared to elixirs; technological might crumbles before true cultivation. My name is Qin Ning, Earth's sole cultivator!
ose... to cooperate with the protagonist! Shen Yuan: I have a system! Protagonist: What? System: Holy crap, you're just spilling it out like that? Shen Yuan: Let's team up, we'll split the system rewards! Protagonist: Fifty-fifty split? Shen Yuan: No way! Protagonist: What!? I'm the one getting beaten up, and I don't get half? Shen Yuan: Forty-sixty split, I get forty, you get sixty! Protagonist: Deal! Big brother, come on, hit me! As long as it doesn't kill me, beat me like you mean it! Shen Yuan: Don't worry... I will definitely protect all of you! No one but me can lay a finger on you! Guard our Heaven's Chosen Ones! I'm the only one allowed to bully them!
ine. During your journey, you save an abandoned baby girl and become her elder brother】 【You rely on each other, becoming each other's support】 【At the end of the simulation, you shield the now-grown girl with your life, sacrificing yourself to block numerous demonic cultivators. You die, and the light in the girl's eyes fades】 …… 【Second Simulation: You are transported to a world where steam and magic coexist】 【You immerse yourself in the study of magic, obsessed with its research. One day, while out, you encounter a half-blooded demon girl wandering the streets. You take her in as your student】 【You teach the demoness what it means to be human, show her the beauty of the world, and nurture her into a miracle that surpasses even the gods】 【At the end of the simulation, you die of old age in front of the nearly immortal demoness due to your mortal lifespan】 …… One simulation after another, one encounter after another. Xu Xi suddenly felt something was off: "Wait, you said you're coming to the real world to find me?"
