Remote Wilderness, Yet Somehow Familiar

"You, you, you..."

"You actually dared to... drive without a license...!"

Finally out of the car.

In the middle of nowhere.

Fang Qi's legs felt like jelly.

Leaning against the car door, he tremblingly crawled out of that pink demonic vehicle.

Stepping onto the solid ground, he even...

Felt a sense of unreality!

...Alive?

He actually... didn't respawn...

"Ugh—!"

He covered his mouth and rushed to the side of the road, leaning against a crooked tree...

"Blargh—!!!"

He bent over and started vomiting wildly!

The shrimp dumplings, chicken feet, spare ribs, and shumai he had just eaten... he threw up most of it!

His stomach was churning violently!

Lin Xiaoyou, you freaking...!

He had just prepared himself to be flattened into two dimensions and then return to this morning!

"Blargh..."

He retched again.

However...

Fang Qi's heartbeat was also pretty fast right now!

He had to admit... it really was quite thrilling...!

A bit exhilarating...

But exhilarating or not, it didn't stop him from being so dizzy he wanted to throw up!

This Lin Xiaoyou drove way too crazily!

Her skills were too terrible!

Even tofu would have been smashed to pieces!

Couldn't she be a little steadier!

At this moment, a cool little hand immediately pressed against his back, patting him gently.

"It's okay, Master. Liguang is here!"

The silver-haired girl's voice was full of heartache.

Her other hand wasn't idle either, gently rubbing his lower back to help him catch his breath, her movements incredibly tender.

"Cough, cough—"

Fang Qi coughed twice and looked up, only to see that Liguang wasn't looking at him.

She tilted her head slightly, her heterochromatic eyes glaring intently at the two women not far behind them!

The crimson in her red eye was flashing wildly, and the curve of her mouth was extremely friendly!

But she also seemed a little excited...?

...His Liguang wouldn't be picking up bad habits from this delinquent girl, would she!

"Tch."

A clear clicking of the tongue.

Xiaoqing stood not far away, her arms crossed, tilting her head as she looked at him and Liguang.

Her face was full of disgust.

"So useless."

She lazily spat out the words.

Fang Qi: "..."

What the...?!

Whose fault is this?!

He was just about to look up and shoot back a few angry words—

"Oh my, oh my! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

A figure zoomed right over to his side!

Lin Xiaoyou clasped her hands together, raised them above her head, and bowed repeatedly to him and Liguang!

Her small round face was full of apology!

"I'm sorry, Fang Qi! I'm sorry, Liguang!"

Her ponytail bounced up and down with her movements!

"We almost crashed into that big truck just now! So I thought... I had to prove my driving skills!"

She looked up at Fang Qi, her almond eyes full of embarrassment!

"To prove that I am actually very reliable, otherwise how would Senior dare to cooperate with me~"

...Huh?

Fang Qi leaned against the tree, slowly raising his head to look at the small round face filled with sincere apology in front of him.

...You call this reliable?

Haha...?

"You really are..."

You can't hit a smiling face; he gritted his teeth and straightened up!

"So, re, li, a, ble!"

Lin Xiaoyou blinked and grinned.

"Oh, don't be angry, Senior~ We arrived safely, didn't we~"

"Besides, I don't usually drive like this! Today was just to show Senior..."

"So I went just a tiny bit faster..."

She smiled playfully, pinching her thumb and index finger together to make a tiny bit gesture.

Fang Qi: "..."

Forget it...

It doesn't matter!

You're not afraid of dying, so what am I afraid of!

Moreover...

It really was quite thrilling!

It's just that it would be better if her skills were a bit better and she was a bit steadier!

He leaned against the tree to straighten up, wiped the corner of his mouth with his sleeve, and looked around.

By the way, where is this?

The surroundings were no longer a city landscape.

There were no high-rise buildings, no heavy traffic.

There was only an... asphalt road that wasn't too wide.

On both sides were dense trees, and...

A mountain?

Not a very high mountain, but lush and green.

...Did we really come out to the middle of nowhere?

"Lin Xiaoyou, you brought me to this middle of nowhere..."

He turned to look at Lin Xiaoyou, his brows furrowed tightly.

"What do you want to do? Is this your secret base? On a main road in the middle of barren mountains?"

Lin Xiaoyou immediately waved her hands.

"No, no, no, we aren't there yet, don't be impatient, Senior!"

She pointed to the mountain.

"We can't drive the rest of the way, we have to..."

Her finger moved up, pointing halfway up the mountain.

"Climb up!"

Saying this, she pursed her lips and sighed:

"Sigh, blame it on me being poor. If I had money and could afford a hoverbike..."

She was muttering again.

"But that thing is just too expensive. If Senior could support me a little after cooperating with us..."

Fang Qi completely ignored her words as if they were nonsense.

Following the direction of her finger, he looked up at the mountain peak in front of him.

The mountain was not too high, the vegetation was dense, and some exposed rocks could faintly be seen.

At the foot of the mountain, there was a winding mountain path extending deep into the forest.

Fang Qi looked at this winding path into the mountain, his brows furrowing tighter and tighter.

No...

What was going on with this Lin Xiaoyou?

She didn't explain anything clearly and wanted to take him directly up the mountain?

Are you running a mountain scam here?

What is the informant?

And what is the secret base?

At least she should reveal something to him first!

"Lin Xiaoyou, you...!"

"Master."

A slightly bewildered voice came from beside him, interrupting his words.

Fang Qi was slightly startled.

He turned to look at the silver-haired girl next to him.

Liguang was tilting her small head, staring straight at the path leading up the mountain in front of them.

The black and white maid dress looked a bit out of place on the side of the road in this wilderness. As the mountain breeze blew past, her skirt swayed slightly, and the edges of her lace apron fluttered along with it.

Her amber left eye shimmered with a bewildered watery light. Her crimson right eye was flickering slightly, a slow and confused flicker.

She seemed like...

She was trying hard to remember something.

...Hmm?

Did his wifey notice something unusual?

"What's wrong, Liguang?"

He immediately asked in a low voice.

The silver-haired girl's eyelashes trembled slightly.

She continued to look at the winding path up the mountain, her lips slightly parted, murmuring:

"Master..."

"Liguang feels that this mountain and this road look..."

She still stared blankly at the barren mountain in front of her.

"A bit... familiar."

Fang Qi blinked.

Hmm?

Familiar?

Here?

He also turned his head and glanced at the lush mountain.

...What was familiar about it?

"Liguang just feels..."

Liguang's voice carried a confusion she couldn't explain herself.

"Like I've... been here before?"

She finally turned her head and looked at Fang Qi.

The amber eye held bewilderment, and the crimson one was still flickering with uncertainty.

"Liguang feels like I really have been here before..."

Fang Qi looked at her blankly.

Liguang had been here before?

He turned his head again and looked at the lush mountain in front of him.

Had she been here?

Impossible, right?

Was it a memory he didn't know about?

Something he didn't know before he transmigrated?

...Tch.

It couldn't really be.

What should he do if he was feeling a bit annoyed.

Could it really be...

Hmm?

Wait.

The middle of nowhere? Familiar?

"But... Master."

Liguang spoke softly again.

Her brows slightly furrowed, and her breathtakingly beautiful face was filled with genuine confusion:

"Even if I had been here in a... 'dream', I should still remember it."

"I am not human, so I wouldn't forget any memories."

She murmured.

"But... why do I really not remember?"

"I don't remember when I came here."

"I just feel... it looks a bit familiar."

...Wait a minute!

Fang Qi's pupils shrank slightly!

Liguang's... forgotten memories.

He slowly turned his head and stared fixedly at the mountain in front of him.

Looking at the mountain like this, he really wasn't familiar with it at all.

But...

In his memory, had Liguang ever been to this kind of desolate wilderness?

...She had!

Of course she had!

He had come along too!

Wasn't it that one time!

The time Liguang stunned him with electricity, right after her crimson eye was shot by the police for the first time!

The time Gu Xi made her first move!

Liguang had taken his unconscious body out of the city!

Where did she take him?

Deep into an old, remote forest in the mountains.

Deep in the mountains, by a small stream, an isolated wooden cabin!

His ankle and Liguang's ankle were firmly locked together by an iron chain!

They picked wild vegetables and mushrooms together. Liguang used the gathered ingredients to cook for him, to make him soup!

They also stayed in that little wooden cabin, piecing back together the little star smashed by the robbers, bit by bit!

However... that star ultimately had one of its corners melted by the sparking electricity due to the malfunction in Liguang's crimson eye.

As for what happened after that...

Fang Qi clenched his fists.

Anyway...

That time was on a mountain! A mountain in the middle of nowhere!

Liguang said this place looked familiar, could it be...

Is this that very mountain?!

It was perfectly normal for him not to be familiar with it... because he was carried up the mountain while unconscious!

He had never even looked at this mountain from the foot of it!

...?

Could it really be...?

No, no, no...!

Fang Qi suddenly pinched his temples!

Pressing hard with his fingertips!

No, no, no!

Liguang shouldn't have this memory! She shouldn't find it familiar!

That memory never even became Liguang's "dream"; it should be a completely buried memory!

In all the subsequent loops, Liguang never mentioned that mountain, that wooden cabin, that repaired and then shattered...

...?

Never?

Fang Qi looked at the barren mountain in front of him, his breathing hitching slightly.

No.

She had remembered all of this.

In that... eighty-two-year mental illusion.

She had personally told him later!

She said she really remembered everything!

It wasn't that she "read his memories" when linking with his mind, but during those long eighty-two years of life, she gradually remembered "everything that belonged to her"!

Because of this, Liguang's concept at that time shifted from initially "not considering the Liguang of other loops as herself" to "all Liguangs are me"!

If the Liguang back then could remember, then the current Liguang could as well...

No.

She hadn't truly remembered.

It was just that some fragments from that time still lingered in her subconscious, so...

She found it "familiar"?

Fang Qi clenched his fists tight.

...Is that it?

"Hey~~~!"

A crisp, drawn-out voice suddenly came from his side.

A round little face popped out from next to his shoulder!

Lin Xiaoyou had sneaked up beside him at some point.

Right now, she was tilting her head, blinking her almond eyes at him and Liguang!

"What are you two spacing out for?"

Her small mouth pouted slightly.

"Let's go up quickly! Time waits for no one!"

She leaned in a bit closer, her almond eyes sweeping back and forth between Fang Qi and Liguang.

"Our 'secret base' is right up there~"

"Once we get up there—"

Her gaze fell on Fang Qi.

"I will tell 'Senior' everything you want to know."

Her tone was still lively and brisk.

Yet those almond eyes carried a seriousness that didn't belong to the "silly, sweet, and innocent Lin Xiaoyou."

Then she turned to look at Liguang, tilting her head slightly.

Her almond eyes narrowed slightly.

"And also..."

The corners of her mouth curled into a half-smile.

"Liguang, did you just say..."

"'Dream'?"

Liguang's crimson eye flashed instantly!

Lin Xiaoyou kept her head tilted, grinning at Liguang.

"I've had lots and lots of strange 'dreams' too."

Her voice was very light, her tone casual.

"Once we go up..."

"Maybe we can have a good discussion about it?"

After saying that, she blinked again.

Fang Qi snapped back to reality.

He took a deep breath, forcing himself to pull away from his chaotic thoughts!

...I won't think about this for now!

At the end of the day, these were all just his guesses!

Just based on Liguang saying "familiar," his imagination had run wild... but these were just his own speculations!

What if...

Liguang just thought this mountain looked like a picture she had seen on the internet?

Practice brings true knowledge!

Anyway, let's go up and take a look first!

As for the "dreams" Lin Xiaoyou wanted to discuss with Liguang...

Fang Qi glanced at the round-faced girl who was currently smiling with her head tilted.

Xiaoyou, listen to your senior's advice, you can't handle this.

If you really find out...

You're going to have to forget!

"Dreams" can only be "dreams"! They shouldn't be memories!

But regardless...

There's no use dwelling on this now!

He reached out, grabbed Liguang's small hand, and gave it a firm squeeze!

That slightly cool, soft touch calmed his heartbeat a little.

"Alright!"

He looked up at Lin Xiaoyou, the corners of his mouth turning up in a grin.

"Since Liguang finds it familiar—"

He looked at the silver-haired girl and raised an eyebrow.

"Then let's climb up and take a look!"

He looked at Lin Xiaoyou and Xiaoqing again, lifting his chin.

"Once we get to your 'secret base'—"

"We definitely have to discuss things thoroughly!"

Lin Xiaoyou immediately giggled!

"Of course!"

She clapped her hands together with a crisp sound!

"I will take everything Senior wants to know—"

She extended a finger, tapped her lips, and winked at Fang Qi.

"And tell Senior all of it!"