Sniper

"Was she... killed by a sniper rifle?"

Lin Xiaoyou murmured, the focus in her almond eyes slightly scattering.

...A sniper rifle?!

Fang Qi's pupils instantly shrank.

...?

The words "sniper rifle" suddenly popped out of Lin Xiaoyou's mouth...

The sense of incongruity was off the charts!

Moreover...

How did she know?!

But he didn't show any shock, nor was he in a hurry to speak.

He couldn't rush now.

There was no need to rush.

Lin Xiaoyou...

Couldn't run away!

He took a light breath and slightly lowered his head to look at the silver-haired girl by his feet.

Liguang was still kneeling there, a docile smile on her lips.

But her heterochromatic eyes were slightly narrowed. There was no obvious red glow in her crimson eye; she was hiding it.

However, the data stream hidden deep within her pupils was flashing rapidly!

Fang Qi calmly dropped his right hand, his fingertips lightly touching Liguang's shoulder.

Liguang's eyelashes trembled, the light in her crimson eye flashing intensely for a moment, and then...

She shook her head slightly.

Master, no lying detected.

Fang Qi frowned slightly and looked at Lin Xiaoyou again.

The round-faced girl in front of him was still furrowing her small brows in bewilderment, muttering something that he couldn't quite hear.

Then...

"I...!"

Lin Xiaoyou suddenly slapped her own cheeks hard!

With two loud slaps, it actually sounded quite forceful!

"What on earth am I talking about...!"

She rubbed her face vigorously, turning her cheeks red, then looked up at Fang Qi with a miserable little face:

"I'm so sorry, Senior! I, I, I, I..."

Fang Qi pursed his lips, watching her.

Lin Xiaoyou wasn't lying.

...He trusted Liguang's detection results.

After all, Lin Xiaoyou was a complete human who hadn't undergone any modifications, so her physiological indicators were reliable.

Therefore...

She truly believed that An Lian was killed by a sniper rifle!

And she also truly felt that... she had remembered it wrong!

What did this mean?

It meant her memory had indeed been tampered with!

And on the basis of having her memory tampered with... she had also had several dreams about the previous time loops!

But in her subconscious, she still retained that piece of memory, that dream, the dream about An Lian's death!

"I, I, I... I don't even know what I'm saying!"

She was so anxious that her voice changed pitch, her hands gesturing wildly.

"I just... suddenly lost my mind!"

"What sniper rifle, how could I think of such a thing...!"

"It must be... because I had that super-long nightmare about going to work yesterday, and now my brain is all messed up!"

The more she spoke, the more agitated she became, her small face turning bright red!

"Good thing... good thing I didn't go to work today, otherwise who knows what I would have done!"

"Oh my, oh my! Senior... Senior, I... I didn't mean to say your friend died...!"

She suddenly stood up from the single sofa!

Blushing furiously, her eyes filled with shame, darting around erratically!

Her whole person exuded a vibe of shame and panic that screamed, There must be something wrong with my head, what kind of nonsense did I just say in front of the senior I like, I really want to find a hole to hide in!

"My, my condition is so weird right now! I'm sorry, Senior! I, I, I..."

"I'd better leave first!"

Saying this, she took a step towards the entryway.

Fang Qi immediately raised an eyebrow!

Hey! Don't go!

At least let me get something out of you before you leave!

He immediately spoke up to keep her there:

"Hey, hey, Xiaoyou, don't be in such a hurry to leave! Didn't you just get here? Sit for a while longer!"

As he spoke, he immediately rubbed Liguang's soft silver hair as she knelt by his feet.

"Liguang, quick, go pour a cup of tea for our guest!"

He looked down and blinked at Liguang. Wifey, quick, help me keep her here, we have to get something out of her!

The corners of Liguang's mouth curled up slightly, then she rose gracefully and bowed slightly to Lin Xiaoyou:

"Please wait a moment, Miss Lin. Liguang will go brew a cup of soothing tea for you right away."

The curve of her lips remained gentle and obedient:

"It can help relieve your fatigue."

Hearing this, Lin Xiaoyou...

Immediately pulled back the foot she had stepped out with!

"Oh, oh, okay!"

Her face still carried an unfaded blush, looking somewhat embarrassed:

"Then... then I'll trouble you, Liguang! I really do need some soothing tea, thank you, thank you!"

Saying this, she quickly sat back down in the single sofa, shrinking herself into it.

Her small face was still flushed, and her eyes stared at the coffee cup on the coffee table, not daring to look at Fang Qi.

Fang Qi was speechless.

Good heavens, you never actually intended to leave, did you!

You were just waiting for me to ask you to stay!

Forget it...

"...Sit a bit longer, Liguang's soothing tea is very good!"

He immediately smiled and said to her.

There was a problem. And a huge problem at that!

Lin Xiaoyou's memory was confused, he knew that.

But even so, it couldn't explain how she knew... that An Lian was killed by a sniper rifle!

Fang Qi narrowed his eyes, staring at Lin Xiaoyou's side profile.

In that time loop, the scene where An Lian was silenced by a sniper in the apartment building was something he remembered crystal clear!

An Lian, her face covered in tears, was just about to reveal the truth about his parents when a gunshot rang out outside the window, and then... her temple burst open into a bloody flower right in front of him!

And at that time...

Only he and An Lian were present.

Liguang wasn't even there! At that moment, Liguang was downstairs holding back those armed personnel.

It was only after hearing the gunshot that she rushed up, showed concern for his condition, tackled him to the ground, and then saw how An Lian had fallen after being sniped.

Later, when he and Liguang went downstairs, the people from Dawn on the helicopter said he murdered An Lian, pinning the blame on him.

But they never said that An Lian was killed by a sniper rifle!

So, logically speaking, the only people who could know that An Lian was killed by a sniper rifle were him, Liguang, and...

That sniper who flashed past the window of the adjacent building?

...Hmm?

Fang Qi stared at the round-faced girl shrinking in the sofa, blushing like an apple.

She was still feeling embarrassed about saying the wrong thing.

He held his breath slightly.

Her?

Lin Xiaoyou...

Was that sniper?

No matter how he looked at her, she didn't seem like a cold-blooded killer!

It had nothing to do with her personality, mainly...

Her arms and legs were so thin, this physical constitution... she was just an ordinary girl!

Are killers this physically weak?

That couldn't be right, could it?

However... there were other possibilities.

For example...

Was she right next to the sniper at the time?

Or did she have some relationship with the sniper?

After the sniper killed the target, they definitely reported it to Dawn!

Otherwise, the people in Dawn's helicopter wouldn't have been so certain that An Lian was dead and wouldn't have pinned the blame on him right then and there.

So, at least some of the higher-ups at Dawn also knew that An Lian was killed by a sniper rifle.

...But wasn't Lin Xiaoyou from Dusk?

That sniper should be from Dawn, right?

Or could it be...

Lin Xiaoyou was also in or around that apartment building at the time, hiding in some corner secretly monitoring them?

Fang Qi's frown deepened.

"Senior..."

Lin Xiaoyou's voice suddenly sounded, carrying a hint of cautious probing.

Fang Qi snapped back to reality and looked at her.

Lin Xiaoyou leaned halfway out of the sofa, looking at him eagerly with her almond eyes:

"Senior, I... I really didn't mean to say that just now!"

"You don't... think I'm weird, do you?"

Her small face looked on the verge of tears.

"...How could I."

Fang Qi's tone immediately relaxed, and he waved his hand casually.

"I just thought it was quite interesting!"

He looked at Lin Xiaoyou, who was fidgeting on the sofa, and said jokingly, "Xiaoyou, why would you think... An Lian was killed by a sniper rifle? Haha...!"

He laughed, a very casual laugh.

"That's so random!"

He leaned back against the sofa and crossed his legs.

"We live in a peaceful, law-abiding society now. How could something like that happen?"

"Did you have another weird dream?"

Lin Xiaoyou's face grew even redder.

She lowered her head, twisting the hem of her shirt with her fingers, and muttered softly, "I don't know either... I just suddenly felt that way... Ugh, it really is weird!"

"I've never seen a sniper rifle in my entire life, and I haven't even met this Miss An Lian you mentioned, Senior!"

She looked up at Fang Qi, her almond eyes filled with genuine confusion.

"I just suddenly felt like that was what happened. I don't even know why I would think that..."

Her voice grew quieter and quieter until it faded into a mumble.

"So weird..."

A thought struck Fang Qi.

He immediately put on a curious expression.

"So..."

"Did you actually have a weird dream about it?"

Saying this, he slapped his thigh and chuckled helplessly, "Sometimes I mix up dreams with reality too. I always get this feeling that what I'm doing right now has happened before. What's it called again..."

"Oh right, deja vu!"

Hearing this, Lin Xiaoyou blinked, then giggled, visibly relaxing.

"Aw, you're the best, Senior! You don't think I'm being rude and weird!"

"But..."

She leaned deeper into the sofa, hugged her knees with both arms, rested her chin on them, and tilted her head in thought.

"Now that you mention it..."

"I think I really did have a dream about it!"

She narrowed her eyes slightly, as if trying hard to recall something.

Fang Qi raised an eyebrow.

Yes!

It was a dream!

Hurry up and think, what exactly did you dream about!

"Hmm...?"

Lin Xiaoyou tapped her lips with a finger, her face full of frustration and bewilderment.

"I think I really did have one. But you know how dreams are, you forget them as soon as you wake up. All I have left are some hazy memories..."

"I just remember it was like..."

Her brows furrowed again.

"Like... a loud 'bang' from a gunshot...?"

Then she rubbed her temples, her tone growing a tiny bit frustrated!

"Ugh, it's so blurry! Why can't I remember...!"

"The more I think about it, the blurrier it gets!"

"Forget it, forget it! I'm not going to think about it anymore! It was just a dream anyway!"

Fang Qi: "..."

Tsk.

Maybe I should just resort to a violent interrogation.

Though for a violent interrogation, I'd first have to ask if she's into women!