Master, could I ask you a favor

Fang Qi looked at the "amiable" smiling face of the silver-haired girl in front of him and froze for a moment.

The silver-haired girl continued to tilt her head as she looked at him, a gentle curve hooking the corners of her lips.

But he didn't panic.

He looked down at the messages from Lin Xiaoyou.

[Lin Xiaoyou: Senior! We haven't seen each other since we came back from the island! You haven't been coming to work either!]

[Lin Xiaoyou: Can I come find you after work today? I have so much to tell you!]

Looking at these two messages, a thought suddenly occurred to him.

He raised a hand, stroked his chin, and looked back at Liguang, who gently pursed her lips at his movement.

Lin Xiaoyou... Dusk...

Liguang...

Looking at those faintly shimmering heterochromatic eyes in front of him, his own eyes widened slightly!

Liguang had sacrificed eighty-two years of her memories just to reach this current situation where she knew about his ability to rewind time.

She had given up so much so that... the two of them could stand side by side and march toward "forever"!

It wasn't so he could hide at home and enjoy himself, turning a blind eye to the crises outside and deceiving himself!

Between him and Liguang...

There were still far too many obstacles.

Now that Liguang knew he could rewind time, could the two of them...

Could they change their approach?

Could they... take the initiative and strike?

Before, he hadn't dared to act rashly or rewind time easily...

Wasn't that precisely because Liguang hadn't known about his ability?

That time he committed suicide, the world didn't rewind immediately, and Liguang had fallen into despair and madness. That made him afraid to use the rewind to do anything, terrified of plunging Liguang into despair once again!

But things were different now!

They now shared a mutual understanding!

Therefore...

He stared blankly at Liguang's pretty and amiable face right in front of him.

So beautiful...

Ahem...!

Focus on business!

He shook his head vigorously!

Fang Qi, wake up!

You can't immerse yourself in this false sweetness! There's no telling when this sweetness will be shattered!

So right now, he should...

Lin Xiaoyou's texts...

Dusk.

It was Dusk. Dusk was his current breakthrough point!

According to his deductions... the organization known as Dusk was spread all over the world, infiltrating every corner of the globe!

They had even infiltrated the upper echelons of human society!

So, they definitely knew a lot of secrets!

Including... how to solve the problem of Liguang's emotions gradually spiraling out of control and ultimately descending into madness!

Fang Qi looked at the silver-haired girl tilting her head at him and gently pursed his lips.

Someday in the future, Liguang would lose control and go mad.

This had to be stopped!

But actually...

He was currently skeptical about the premise that Liguang will go mad.

In the previous loop, the one before the 82 completely lost cycles had truly begun...

While in the taxi, he had looked up the official reports on the Second Omnic Crisis.

In those reports, he had indeed seen descriptions stating that awakened AIs will go mad.

But he had been too tired at the time, his brain like mush, and hadn't had the time to think it through.

...But now it was different! He was wide awake, and he had plenty of time!

Thinking carefully about it...

That official news report was full of holes!

The report claimed that the awakened AIs were all destroyed...

But Xiaoyue and Xiaoqing were both perfectly alive and well, still members of Dusk!

The report said their owners were dismembered into parts, dying without a whole corpse...

But those owners had clearly been transformed into cyborgs and had also joined Dusk!

Therefore... the owners of those AI companions were never killed by the so-called maddened AIs!

They had just gone into hiding!

If that was the case...

Was it really a fact that awakened AIs will eventually go mad and kill their owners?

Would awakened AIs really go mad in the end?

Or was this just fake news deliberately exaggerated by the Dusk organization, or the Dawn Corporation, or certain people in power in this world?

However...

Fang Qi narrowed his eyes slightly, continuing to stare at the stunningly beautiful face before him.

He couldn't completely deny it either!

The idea that AIs will love to the point of madness was something An Lian had told him.

An Lian's parents and older brother had all died in the Second Omnic Crisis.

Her words couldn't be completely unfounded.

What he couldn't deny was—

Liguang had indeed fallen into madness before!

She had indeed thought about killing him!

Right outside that... little wooden cabin in the woods!

She had choked his neck over and over again, struggling against her own murderous intent time and time again!

That had genuinely happened, and that scene had always been firmly etched into his heart!

Before that, he had only treated Liguang as a game character he needed to conquer as quickly as possible. It was only after that moment that he truly began to love Liguang!

That was the beginning of the love between him and Liguang!

He could never forget, not in his entire life—

Liguang had truly gone mad. She had truly thought about killing him. But in the end... she chose self-destruction, personally digging out her own core and handing it to him, kneeling before him as she fell into silence.

He absolutely could not let that happen again!

He absolutely could not let Liguang fall into that kind of twisted, guilt-ridden madness again!

So no matter what...

He had to make contact with this Dusk organization!

He had to get to the bottom of this matter with Dusk!

This matter concerned whether he and Liguang could truly join hands and walk into the future.

Fang Qi continued to stare at the silver-haired girl in front of him.

He had been staring at her without saying a word for nearly a minute...

The amiable smile on the silver-haired girl's face...

Was already starting to crack!

A blush even rose on her pretty little face!

But she didn't speak, her eyes still glaring at him, giving off a distinct feeling of a staring contest!

—Master, whoever looks away first is a puppy!

...That was the feeling!

Fang Qi naturally wouldn't look away. The more he looked at Liguang now, the more he felt...

Great!

Really great!

His wife was really great!

His wife was now a true partner walking side by side with him!

Liguang knew the conditions for him to rewind time; she wouldn't cry and scream about turning him into a cyborg like before!

His and Liguang's goals were also perfectly aligned—

Both were for the sake of forever!

Haha...!

Lin Xiaoyou, your title as the number one best teammate has been revoked by me as of this moment!

This title belongs to my wife, Liguang!

Now, he and Liguang could completely utilize his rewind ability to extract the information they wanted from Dusk!

How to utilize it...

Simple!

They could pretend to join Dusk!

Although joining Dusk required him to be modified...

Before he was modified, Liguang would have to undergo surgical training!

There was plenty of time to maneuver!

And... in the end, wasn't Liguang the one modifying him anyway?!

Maybe they could even continue to stay undercover!

If things went south... they could just rewind and slip away!

In the end, they would get their intel, and Dusk would be left completely in the dark!

They could even execute this multiple times, bringing the intel gained from the previous attempt into the next operation!

...So great.

Really great!

Fang Qi looked at the lip-pursing silver-haired girl in front of him, his vision blurring slightly with moisture.

Previously, he could reload his saves, but Liguang didn't know... so he was the "player," and she was just the "heroine."

But now, he and Liguang...

Are both "players"!

He can do what "players" do together with Liguang!

Is this what Liguang, his wife who possessed all his memories, meant before she lost her memory...

"Walking side by side"?

Haha...!

...This is great!

However...

He narrowed his eyes slightly and glanced at the two messages on his phone screen.

Before that... he probably really should get in touch with Lin Xiaoyou first.

Lin Xiaoyou was a "key NPC."

She, like Liguang, would retain her memories because of his death!

Then... what about this time? Does she have them?

And in the future?

If he wanted to keep Liguang's memories, did he have to keep Lin Xiaoyou's memories as well?

...But she was a member of Bomu.

Then what was her identity within Bomu?

Looking at it now, she had lost her memory again and forgotten everything about the movie theater...

Bomu didn't seem very friendly to her either, did it?

Could he turn her against them...?

In short, Lin Xiaoyou's identity and status definitely needed to be confirmed!

"Master...?"

Liguang's voice rang out, carrying a hint of dissatisfaction.

"Why is Master just looking at Liguang without saying anything?"

Fang Qi snapped back to reality and looked at her.

The silver-haired girl was squinting at him, her chin slightly raised, and that faint blush was still on her cheeks.

"Miss Lin's text message..."

She pursed her lips:

"How does Master want to reply?"

Her slender fingers were still tapping lightly on the table, tap, tap, tap...

Fang Qi looked at her slightly jealous and displeased little appearance...

Wifey, help me!

No...

We are cooperating! We are helping each other! We are having a win-win!

And then we can win more and more, and keep winning, winning, winning!

Win-win-win!

We'll win until we're numb!

Right now, at this very moment, he had to convince his wife to help him!

So, he immediately picked up his chopsticks, grabbed a piece of braised pork ribs...

And attentively placed it into Liguang's bowl!

"Oh, Liguang~"

He blinked at Liguang, his tone even carrying a hint of flattery!

"Could Master ask a favor of you?"

Liguang froze for a moment. The scarlet in her red eye stagnated for a split second, and a trace of bewilderment flashed through her amber eye.

She looked down at the rib in her bowl, then looked up at Fang Qi's grinning face...

Her heterochromatic eyes narrowed slightly.

"...Master, what do you want to say?"

Her tone was clearly guarded!

Being overly attentive without a reason meant he was up to no good!

Fang Qi immediately leaned in a little closer, lowered his voice, and said eagerly:

"Liguang, I want to find a chance..."

"To actually get in touch with Lin Xiaoyou!"