A Horror Story

"I’m the same. I’ve been targeted too!"

Lin Xiaoyou suddenly raised her hand and shouted, her voice crisp and loud!

In the quiet apartment, it was jarringly out of place!

...?!

Fang Qi was so startled by her yell that his shoulders twitched!

Liguang beside him also flashed her crimson pupils!

An Lian’s cold gray eyes widened slightly.

All three of them turned their gazes sharply toward the round-faced girl standing by the coffee table, her right hand still raised.

"You...!"

Fang Qi immediately shot her a glare and lowered his voice:

"Keep it down, will you! This place is—!"

His eyes unconsciously darted toward the door and the windows.

This was Chenxi’s territory, after all!

"Hey—!"

Lin Xiaoyou let out an "eh," lowering her hand.

"Senior..."

She tilted her head, her little round face carrying an unbothered grin.

"What are you so nervous about? My home is right in the building next door!"

She pointed out the window, her tone incredibly relaxed!

"I know this place like the back of my hand! When I was little, my dad would often take me for walks downstairs!"

She said this, her almond-shaped eyes slightly curving.

"He even specifically introduced me to the elderly folks in the neighborhood, asking them to look after me."

"Those old people should still be around, maybe..."

A rare hint of softness crept into her voice.

"They still remember me."

Then she immediately put her hands on her hips and looked at Fang Qi!

"Senior, my memories of this place are all warm and fuzzy!"

"There’s no way I can get tense here!"

Fang Qi watched her carefree demeanor and twitched the corner of his mouth slightly.

But after her interruption and teasing, the originally tense atmosphere had indeed loosened up a bit.

An Lian’s tightly knit brow also eased slightly.

Her cold gray eyes turned to Lin Xiaoyou with some surprise.

"Your father is...?" An Lian asked softly.

"Lin Zhouyuan!"

Lin Xiaoyou said with a smile, her tone clearly proud!

"Sister An Lian, you should know him, right?"

An Lian’s expression shifted from surprise to sudden understanding!

Then, a rare hint of warmth appeared on her cold face.

"So you’re... Lin You? Uncle Lin’s daughter."

Her voice softened, and the corner of her mouth gently lifted.

"I’ve heard Aunt Su talk about you. She really likes you. She always says you’re the smartest little girl in Chenxi..."

Halfway through her words, An Lian’s lips suddenly pressed together.

Her gray eyes quickly turned toward Fang Qi, a faint flicker of panic in them.

It was clear she realized she had mentioned Aunt Su—Fang Qi’s late mother.

Her fingers instinctively curled, and her mouth opened slightly, as if...

she wanted to say something to make up for it?

Fang Qi’s heart tightened for a moment!

It’s okay, Sister An Lian!

I don’t even remember her!

He quickly took over the conversation, his tone as natural and relaxed as possible:

"That’s right, that’s right! She’s Lin You!"

He gestured toward Lin Xiaoyou with his hand.

"She’s the junior from the company I used to work for. Keeps calling me ‘Senior’ all day long, it’s annoy...!"

...Wait!

Mid-sentence, he suddenly stopped.

He stared hard at Lin Xiaoyou!

Hey, genius girl, is this really the time for chitchat!

They were here to save An Lian’s life!

The image of the explosion’s fire was still burned into his retina!

Lin Xiaoyou met his questioning gaze but shrugged nonchalantly.

"Oh, Senior, don’t worry about it!"

That same infuriating grin was plastered on her little round face!

"Sister An Lian has been staying home the whole time, and she hasn’t died yet, so it should be safe for us here too!"

With that, she turned to Liguang and blinked.

"If you don’t believe me, just ask Liguang!"

Fang Qi tilted his head slightly.

Liguang had been sticking close to him since entering the door, almost never leaving his side.

Now, her crimson pupils flickered steadily, streams of scarlet data flowing slowly in the depths of her gaze.

She had already scanned the entire apartment!

Every corner was within her perception.

"Liguang hasn’t detected any danger so far."

Her voice was soft and docile, but then she paused slightly, her crimson pupils turning toward the balcony sliding door.

"But..."

She looked back at An Lian, her pretty face earnest and sincere.

"The last time I was here, Liguang’s crimson gaze was jammed."

Her eyelashes drooped slightly.

"The company can block Liguang’s perception with her crimson gaze. So now..."

"Liguang doesn’t fully trust her own perception."

Fang Qi’s fingers tightened slightly.

That’s right.

That was from the first round.

In An Lian’s apartment, Liguang’s crimson gaze had been jammed, and they were surrounded by the company’s armed forces.

Then a lot happened.

In the end, he pulled the trigger on his temple.

That living room, that glass door, and...

He looked at An Lian.

An Lian had also heard Liguang’s words, her pupils trembling.

Fang Qi lowered his brow slightly.

And... An Lian’s final expression before being hit by the sniper shot.

All those images were still vividly etched in his mind.

"So..."

Liguang raised her eyes again, looking at An Lian.

"Liguang will always keep an eye on our master. But Liguang also believes..."

Her tone was completely frank.

"Sister An Lian would never harm our master."

An Lian’s expression wavered for a moment.

She looked at Liguang, something shaking faintly in those usually cold, steady gray eyes.

"Liguang... you also had the same ‘dream,’ didn’t you?"

She murmured softly.

Fang Qi could see her fingers trembling slightly.

"Then..."

An Lian’s voice grew even softer.

"What about the other dreams?"

She looked up at Fang Qi, murmuring.

"After that... I kept repeating the same day over and over."

In those gray eyes was a weariness and confusion Fang Qi had never seen before.

"At first, I thought they were just dreams. But later, I realized..."

Her eyelashes fluttered.

"Whatever happened in the dreams would actually happen in reality that day."

"The news reports, the roadside accidents, even a coworker accidentally knocking over a kettle..."

"All exactly the same."

She bit her lip lightly.

"I thought I was trapped in some strange loop..."

Her gaze froze for a moment.

"Oh, right, there was also one later..."

Her lips trembled.

"A morning that looped nearly a hundred times...?"

Fang Qi: "..."

Ah, that time...!

"I’ve had that too!"

Lin Xiaoyou immediately raised her hand again!

Looking like she couldn’t hold it in any longer, eager to spill!

"Working the morning shift over and over! It directly gave me a phobia of going to work!"

Her face was full of righteous indignation!

"Every morning for that period, opening my eyes, I just wanted to scream—‘Here we go again! How is it still today!’"

"But my body wouldn’t listen—I just had to go to work!"

As she spoke, her expression turned utterly terrified!

"It was seriously the most horrible nightmare!"

Fang Qi: "..."

Come on, you’ve ranted about this so many times already!

And...

Fang Qi turned his head slightly to look at the silver-haired girl beside him.

Liguang’s expression froze for a moment when Lin Xiaoyou mentioned the phrase "nearly a hundred times."

Then...

Fang Qi’s pupils contracted!

Because he saw, in her amber left eye...

There was a faint, extremely faint glimmer of deep blue light, flashing and vanishing in an instant.

Huh?

The native core had awakened?

The silver-haired girl’s eyelashes trembled slightly, and her lips pressed together just a little.

Fang Qi took a quiet breath.

He knew what she was thinking.

Those eighty-two cycles.

Those eighty-two resets were her sacrifice.

What they had bought...

Was her right to stand by his side!

That was how they now had...

The capital to touch these secrets!

An Lian closed her eyes.

She took a deep breath, her chest rising and falling gently beneath that loose white T-shirt.

When she opened her eyes again, those gray irises had returned to a certain calm.

She looked at Fang Qi.

"Xiao Qi."

Her voice was very soft.

"Can you tell me the truth?"

Her eyelashes drooped slightly.

"Of course, if you don't want to, I won’t force you. I just—"

She clenched her fist just a little.

In her clear gray eyes, her gaze flickered faintly.

"Just... want to help you. I... I promised Aunt Su."

The living room fell silent.

Fang Qi quietly watched An Lian before him.

She was wearing that same loose white T-shirt, the same outfit she had on when he hurt her.

She had just died twice, torn apart by a truck, yet she was still standing here, asking him in that almost pleading tone—could he tell her the truth.

Not for herself.

It was... to help him?

He took a deep breath and sat up straight on the sofa.

Liguang immediately leaned over gently, her cool little hand covering the back of his hand, squeezing silently.

He squeezed back, feeling the familiar warmth, and then looked up at An Lian.

"...Alright."

"Sister An Lian, let me tell you a story."

...

...

The main character of this story is a game player.

He likes playing full-immersion adventure games with a VR helmet.

The game has save points. When his character dies, it’s not a real death—instead, the whole world rewinds for him.

It goes back to his latest save point, and he starts over from there.

Most NPCs in the game wouldn’t remember his "rewind."

But perhaps because of the game’s protagonist, a few key NPCs close to the main character...

Had awakened.

They wouldn’t forget what happened in the previous save.

They would rewind along with the game’s protagonist, carrying their memories.

Now, one of the NPCs who was kind to the protagonist, the in-game sister of the main character...

Had been discovered as an anomaly by the vile game administrator!

The administrator wanted to delete her, to eliminate this bug.

Wanted her to die.

And the game player... wanted to save her.

...

...

The story ended there.

The living room fell quiet once more.

Fang Qi looked at An Lian’s trembling gray eyes, a tightness in his chest.

Was this even a story anymore?

He didn’t know.

Maybe he had told the real truth in the form of a story.

But he couldn’t tell if An Lian understood, or if she was willing to understand.

An Lian was silent for a long time.

Her black hair spread over her shoulders, and the loose white T-shirt made her look somewhat frail.

She looked at Fang Qi, her gaze trembling, her lips parting and closing again, as if she wanted to say something but didn’t know where to start.

Beside her, Lin Xiaoyou was also unusually quiet, just resting her chin on her hand, her almond-shaped eyes holding a subtle glint as she silently watched the scene.

"The ending of this story is simple."

A gentle, obedient voice suddenly broke the silence.

The three of them were slightly startled, all looking at Fang Qi’s side.

The silver-haired girl sat primly beside Fang Qi, her hands folded demurely on her lap, a warm smile on her delicate face.

The corner of her mouth lifted gently, and the crimson in her scarlet eyes flickered with a cheerful rhythm.

"The game player saved his sister, cleared the game, and then wanted to log out."

She gave Fang Qi a light glance.

"This act was seen as betrayal by his in-game wife."

"His wife broke his limbs and made him..."

"Stay forever in the game world."

She tilted her head slightly, the silver bun swaying with the motion.

"The end. Happy ending."

Fang Qi: "..."

An Lian: "..."

Lin Xiaoyou: "..."

Fang Qi’s eyes went wide as he stared at the smiling face beside him.

That was over the top!

Does that look like a happy ending?!

This ending is way too horrifying!