Fang Qi looked at Gu Xi, who was lying on the ground with lifeless eyes.
She had died a "sudden death."
Not because of any natural cause of her own.
But because...
She had said things she shouldn't have.
She had crossed a line she shouldn't have crossed, spilling things that were meant to remain unspoken...
About the "invader," about the "final goal," about "leaving"...
She had told him everything.
So... the rules of the world killed her?
Just like deleting a bugged variable.
Fang Qi clenched his fists.
The silver-haired girl still stood obediently by his side.
But those heterochromatic eyes were staring straight at him again!
Even though she had just been frightened by his seriousness, still...
She was still waiting for his explanation!
Well... he really did need to explain.
Otherwise, who knew what kind of crazy things his wife might conjure up in her head...
To explain...
"...She suddenly died."
Fang Qi said softly.
"I held her face, wanting to check what was going on."
"To see if she was still breathing, if she had a pulse, and then..."
"You came in."
"I didn't mean to touch her. It just happened so suddenly, I didn't think much."
He looked at those faintly shimmering heterochromatic eyes before him:
"It's Master's fault."
He gently squeezed Liguang's small hand and said softly:
"Liguang, forgive Master this once... okay?"
The silver-haired girl's eyelashes fluttered.
She stared into Fang Qi's eyes for a few seconds, and then...
The smile on her lips finally softened genuinely.
The faint blue gleam in her amber left eye also grew gentle and peaceful.
"Master, I..."
She murmured, and then...
With a bend of her knees and a swirl of her skirt, she dropped straight to her knees!
"Thud."
Her knees lightly bumped against the wooden floor.
She knelt at Fang Qi's feet, her hands obediently folded on her lap, and bowed her head.
"Master is not wrong."
"It is Liguang who is wrong."
Her voice was muffled and soft, carrying a sense of...
A mixture of self-blame and coquettishness!
"Liguang was being unreasonable again."
"Liguang knew very well that Master had a reason, yet still questioned Master..."
"Someone clearly died, Master's matters should clearly have taken priority..."
"Liguang failed to fulfill her duties as an AI companion."
She knelt perfectly straight, bowing her head even lower.
"Please punish Liguang, Master."
That strand of ahoge sticking up swayed gently atop her head.
Looking completely ready to accept her Master's punishment!
Fang Qi looked down at the little silver creature kneeling straight before him...
The tension in his heart immediately eased a great deal!
No matter what had happened...
His wife was just so cute!
She knelt again.
The standard apology posture of a yandere.
It seemed that his slight seriousness just now...
Had really frightened this little yandere!
What was there to punish!
You are forgiven!
But...
He rubbed his temples.
His mind was still such a mess...!
Compared to Gu Xi's death, what made him even more unable to calm down right now...
Were the things she said while she was alive!
He stared at the lifeless-eyed woman on the floor, his breathing unconsciously growing lighter.
Gu Xi.
The beautiful police officer.
An Lian's best friend.
—"You only need to love your Liguang, and that is enough."
—"Leave this place. Return to where you belong."
These words... were truly deafening!
Fang Qi rubbed his temples vigorously!
To think she...
Knew everything.
Knew the "rules" that were supposed to be known only by him, and by Liguang who once knew everything!
The rule that once he achieved [Eternal True Love], he could leave!
Come to think of it, how did he himself...
Know about this rule in the first place?
Oh, he remembered.
That rule had surfaced in his mind on its own.
The very first moment he crossed over into this world.
[Clear the game and enter the true perfect ending, "Eternal True Love," and you may leave this world.]
[Otherwise, you will be trapped here forever.]
[Trapped in an eternal cycle of reincarnation, enjoying your beloved yandere forever.]
This rule had taken root in his mind.
Telling him the rules, telling him the goal, telling him the conditions to clear the game.
Later, another one was added:
[Hint: Liguang's daily morning tea is a save item; drink it to save your progress.]
Right, that was it.
And after that...
Nothing.
They never appeared again.
These "rules" rooted in his mind hadn't been "updated" for far too long.
So long that... he had come to treat them as common sense belonging only to him, only to the "player."
But clearly, he was wrong.
Because Gu Xi knew too!
And she had known all along, from the very beginning!
She had even been helping him complete this "goal"!
...She wasn't an ordinary NPC. She never was.
In the game, she was a key NPC who helped the player reach the good ending.
And in this world...
She had been doing the exact same thing.
Matchmaking him and Liguang, pushing their relationship forward, helping him...
Step by step, toward that so-called [Eternal True Love].
He had always thought those were just coincidences.
He had called her "Matchmaker Sister," but it had only ever been a joke!
But now he knew...
His joke had come true!
It wasn't a coincidence at all! Much less an accident!
From start to finish, she had been consciously and systematically pushing him and Liguang together! Pushing him toward that ending!
She knew who he was!
Knew he didn't belong to this world!
Knew that as long as he loved Liguang deeply enough, as long as he achieved that damn [Eternal True Love]...
He would disappear from this world and return to where he came from!
So...
Fang Qi looked at the dead Gu Xi.
Miss Police Officer, are you...
A "helper" of the world's rules?
And those guys Lin Xiaoyou called "informants"...
Were they all... too?
Fang Qi felt cold sweat breaking out on his back.
He had previously been guessing the identities of the "informants."
He had guessed many: Dawn Company, Dusk Organization, the official police...
He had always thought they were monitoring him because of Liguang! Because Liguang was an awakened AI, and he was just dragged into it!
But now it seemed...
Perhaps they were monitoring him, right from the start, not because of Liguang.
But because of him!
Because he was an "invader"! He could make this world "reload"!
After he died, or even just suffered irreversible harm...
The entire world would rewind and start over for him!
Those traces of his constant attempts, failures, and restarts across countless playthroughs, to this world...
Were probably like constantly scratching a CD?
So as "locals," as "natives"...
They wanted him to leave!
They didn't want him messing up their world!
So, Gu Xi had been helping him capture Liguang's heart all along! Matchmaking him and Liguang, pushing him... toward that [Eternal True Love] ending!
Gu Xi...
Fang Qi looked at Gu Xi on the ground with her lifeless eyes.
Was she really a "helper" of the world's rules?
An "NPC" planted in this world by the world's rules... specifically to guide and urge him on?
An NPC trying to make him achieve [Eternal Love] as quickly as possible so he would get the hell out?
Or maybe...
Fang Qi's eyelids twitched slightly.
She wasn't some helper of the rules; she was just a native of this world, actively...
Protecting her own homeland?
—"Why can't you just achieve your goal and get the hell out of our world?!"
Her emotions were so real.
She didn't seem like an NPC at all.
She was a real person.
Everything she did, everything the organization she belonged to did...!
"Master."
A soft voice sounded, interrupting his wild thoughts.
Fang Qi subconsciously looked down.
The silver-haired girl was still kneeling by his feet, looking up at him with her pretty face.
Her hands gently tugged at the hem of his shirt, and then tugged again.
She was cautiously seeking his attention.
Fang Qi stared at her blankly.
...So cute.
Truly cute.
Gu Xi, are you protecting your world?
So, you wanted to set me and Liguang up, to make me achieve [Eternal Love], to make me leave this world...
But...
I don't want to leave!
I don't want to achieve Eternal Love!
I just want to be with my Liguang, forever!
I don't want to leave...!
...?
...Together forever?
Eternal Love...
Fang Qi's lips trembled slightly.
When it comes down to it, what exactly is that Eternal Love...?
The silver-haired girl looked at his expression and tilted her head.
In her amber left eye, a faint blue stream of data flowed slowly.
She tugged at Fang Qi's hem again and said cautiously:
"Master, can you tell Liguang..."
"Did this police lady suddenly die because..."
Her heterochromatic eyes were also trembling slightly:
"Master talked to her about the 'dream'?"
Her small hands clutching Fang Qi's hem tightened slightly.
...Dream?
Fang Qi stared at her in a daze.
What dream?
Ah...
The dream.
Right.
He had wanted to talk to Gu Xi about the "dream" earlier.
It was just that later...
The conversation had suddenly gone off track.
He stared blankly at Liguang's pretty face.
Then he noticed a flash of panic in Liguang's eyes.
...Panic toward the "rules"!
She was scared!
Fang Qi's gaze immediately sharpened!
Wait a minute...
He needed to confirm one thing first!
He crouched down and held the silver-haired girl's shoulders with both hands!
Beneath his palms, her slender body was trembling slightly.
Her face was a bit tense, carrying a trace of fear.
Fang Qi looked at her...
His expression was extremely serious!
"Liguang, just now when you were outside..."
He narrowed his eyes and said in a deep voice:
"You weren't eavesdropping, were you?"
The silver-haired girl shuddered, and then...
She immediately knelt even straighter!
Her hands gripped his hem, gripping it very tightly!
Her volume also rose significantly:
"No! Liguang absolutely did not eavesdrop! I didn't hear a single word!"
"Liguang only chose to rush in after detecting that the police lady's vital signs had disappeared!"
She stared fixedly into Fang Qi's eyes!
Her small mouth pursed in grievance, biting her lower lip!
"Master, Liguang really didn't hear anything!"
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!
e school belle recognized by the whole school, a genius girl from the kendo club. She also has a hidden identity, the youngest legendary demon hunter. Chen Shuo just transmigrated and found himself turned into a weak, helpless little vampire. He was caught by Su Xiyen and taken home at the very beginning. Since then, Chen Shuo's life creed only had two items. "First, classmate Su Xiyen is always right." "Second, if classmate Su Xiyen is wrong, please refer back to item one." Many years later, Chen Shuo, who had turned back into a human, led a pair of twins to appear in front of all the vampires to share the secret of how he turned back into a human. "It's simple, I tricked a female demon hunter into becoming my wife!"
