Master Protects Radiant Light

Fang Qi felt that Liguang's grip on him wasn't particularly strong.

In fact, it could even be called light.

That little hand was merely resting gently on his wrist, soft and delicate.

He felt that with his current strength—enhanced countless times over—

With just a light flick of the wrist, he could break free!

...But he didn't dare.

Because at that moment, the silver-haired girl was tilting her head, looking at him.

From her empty right eye socket, the intricate metallic patterns gleamed with a cold light!

And her only remaining left eye, the amber one, was staring straight at him, dark and intense.

Fang Qi felt his scalp tingle!

...What are you doing, Wife?

Just moments ago, she had been meekly tugging at his sleeve like a soft, adorable little thing!

Now she's terrifying!

And...!

Fang Qi's peripheral vision swept across the room.

...The bluish fragments were gone!

Not a trace of their faint, twinkling glow remained.

Had they...

Been scared into fully retreating from this lab by his wife's expression?

"...Master?"

In front of him, Liguang called out softly again.

Her head tilted to the other side, her amber eye still fixed unblinkingly on him.

"Where... are you looking?"

Fang Qi snapped back to reality, meeting the deep amber gaze before him...

...Strangely, it felt even more unnerving than when she had her red eye!

"I'm not leaving!"

He quickly turned the tables, taking hold of Liguang's wrist!

"I'll never leave!"

He stared into her solitary, deep amber eye, his tone deadly serious!

"I just wanted to check out our surroundings, see why those things are avoiding us! I wasn't planning to go anywhere!"

Liguang said nothing.

She just kept staring at him, her gaze still unsettling.

The cold light in her right eye socket seemed to flicker.

Fang Qi's eye twitched.

"...I won't look anymore!"

He hurriedly moved closer to Liguang.

"It's not interesting!"

His other hand gently stroked the little hand that had just been gripping his wrist.

"I'll stay right by Liguang's side. I won't go anywhere—not even half a step away!"

Liguang stared at him for a few more seconds...

Only then did that spine-chilling look slowly soften. Something deep in her eye seemed to dissolve and fade away.

Her amber iris grew moist again, the watery light gently shimmering.

"...Hmph."

She let out a soft snort, released his wrist, and placed her hands obediently back on her knees.

She pouted and mumbled under her breath:

"Master is always trying to scare Liguang..."

Fang Qi: "..."

Wait, who's scaring who here?

Is there no justice in the world?

Is there no law?

...Actually, no.

This crazy woman had already scared off the rules here...

Fine.

Yeah.

Whatever my wife says is right.

Liguang's amber eye blinked at him, and then she turned to face the screen again...

Her delicate features turned serious once more.

And Fang Qi, standing beside Liguang, pressed his lips together.

All right...

Even without her red eye, his wife was still not to be messed with...

He let his gaze wander the room again.

Those bluish fragments had truly vanished from the room entirely.

The walls, the floor, the ceiling...

Every corner was spotless.

He checked carefully several times, making sure he hadn't missed a single spot.

They were truly gone.

...How strange.

He was slightly lost in thought.

Just moments ago, they had surrounded them like a tide, and now not a single one remained.

...What about outside?

Were the fragments still there in the corridor beyond the door?

He instinctively glanced toward the door.

...He felt an urge to step out and see.

But...

He looked down at Liguang, who was now focused intensely on the screen.

...Forget it.

Things were calm now—no rush. He'd wait until Liguang finished reviewing the data before checking together.

Otherwise, he had a feeling his legs really might get broken...

"Master, look."

Liguang's voice brought him back.

She raised her hand, her slender finger lightly tapping a data point on the screen.

Oh? Found something?

Fang Qi leaned in, following her finger to look.

On the screen appeared a set of waveform comparison charts.

The left side was labeled "Core 1," and the right side was labeled "Core 2."

Ah...

That would be his native core and the red eye?

Two waveform curves wound along the timeline.

Sometimes overlapping, sometimes diverging.

And at certain critical points...

The red eye's waveform would suddenly spike violently, causing the native core's waveform to fluctuate chaotically.

Liguang flipped to another page, pointing to another set of parameter tables.

Her sole amber eye meticulously scanned every number.

"Master, Liguang has found plenty of evidence from the red eye's data."

She spoke softly.

"Whether looking at the hardware interface specifications or analyzing the software architecture's compatibility..."

"This red eye is not an integral part of Liguang's native system at all."

She turned to another page.

Fang Qi looked...

It was a tree diagram, with countless nodes connected by endless lines.

He couldn't understand it.

The only part he could read was the title above it: "Core Architecture Tree Diagram."

Liguang pointed to a section outlined in red dashes:

"Look here, Master. This is the red eye's independent architecture module."

"Data interaction channels do exist between it and Liguang's native core, but all of them are one-way inputs."

"One-way inputs..."

Fang Qi murmured.

Meaning...

"Yes, Master."

Liguang nodded.

"The red eye can send commands to the native core, but the native core has almost no ability to control the red eye in return."

"And, Master—look."

She flipped another page, her finger pointing at a mess of confusing symbols.

Fang Qi: "..."

He couldn't make heads or tails of it.

Luckily, Liguang kept explaining:

"Within the red eye's underlying privilege structure, there's an encrypted remote access protocol."

"This protocol allows external devices to connect directly to the red eye through a specific frequency band."

She tapped the screen gently.

"Reading data, sending commands, or even..."

"Forcibly activating certain functions."

She lifted her head to look at Fang Qi, squinting even her eye socket missing the red eye.

"These..."

She said quietly.

"Are characteristic signatures of Dawn Corporation's technology."

"In the files that Miss An Lian showed Liguang, there was an identical encrypted protocol template."

"So..."

She turned her gaze back to the screen, her eyelashes fluttering slightly.

"Whether from the files Miss An Lian gave Liguang, or from the actual data in the red eye..."

"This red eye is an external core that Dawn Corporation installed on Liguang."

"There's absolutely no doubt about it."

Fang Qi stared blankly at her profile.

The red eye... really was installed by Dawn Corporation?

But...

"And as for their purpose..."

Liguang tilted her head.

"They probably wanted to use this red eye to influence Liguang's mental state."

"To keep Liguang..."

She pressed her lips together softly.

"From being too obedient to Master. And if necessary..."

The watery light in her amber eye trembled slightly as she murmured under her breath:

"...To directly take remote control of Liguang?"

Fang Qi's mouth fell open.

Remote control...?

Dawn could remotely control Liguang?

...Was that even possible?

If it were, wouldn't the massacre in that apartment back then have never happened?

"But then..."

She looked up again, winking her single eye at Fang Qi...

A playful smirk curled at the corner of her mouth!

"The company's plan has failed!"

"Miss An Lian had been helping Liguang suppress the power of the Red Pupil all along, so it never really affected Liguang!"

She even lifted her chin slightly.

"Liguang is very obedient to Master now!"

"Such a good girl!"

Her amber eyes sparkled as she gazed at Fang Qi!

She kept blinking at him!

— Master, Liguang is a good girl, right?

Fang Qi: "..."

Good.

Good, good, good.

So good that the first thing she did to me was "Eternal Bliss," "Chair of Confinement," and "Beloved in the Cage"...

Too good!

But that wasn't the point.

He was long used to his Wife being this "good."

But...

He furrowed his brow as he stared at the cryptic icons and data on the screen.

The Red Pupil had been installed by the company.

His Wife had reached that conclusion by examining the internal data herself.

The evidence was solid.

All evidence pointed to the same conclusion.

This Red Pupil was indeed a tool the Dawn Company used to restrict and control her.

That made sense — the one who had been tuning this Red Pupil was always his Sister An Lian, the Dawn Company specialist!

But...

His brow furrowed even deeper!

What about the fragments of memory in his mind, then?

That place that looked like an operating table, where he leaned over, fingers trembling slightly, gently pushing a crimson red pupil into her right eye.

The memory fragments told him he had done it himself.

He had personally forced the Red Pupil into her eye socket!

And that made even more sense, because since childhood, what he had always wanted was a silver-haired, heterochromatic-eyed older woman.

...How could these two things possibly be true at the same time?

Fang Qi frowned slightly.

Also, in his memory fragments, Liguang's eyes had originally both been amber...

How was that to be explained?

...Could the memory fragments be fake?

After all, they were just scattered images...

He stood for a long time under the harsh white light of the lab, turning over every possibility in his mind, but in the end, he couldn't make sense of it.

...Forget it. Thinking about it now was useless.

And anyway...

Fang Qi narrowed his eyes.

Gu Xi.

That Matchmaker Sister who kept shooting at Liguang's Red Pupil.

She must know something!

Stop dwelling on it!

First, figure out a way to get out of here!

He looked back at Liguang.

While he had been thinking, Liguang's hand never left the control panel.

She was... modifying something.

Adjusting parameters one by one?

"Lowering the emotional threshold ceiling to the native core's compatible range..."

She murmured softly.

"Manually disabling the remote access protocol..."

"Changing the data interaction mode with the native core from one-way control to two-way synchronization..."

Her movements were slow.

Her amber eyes focused intently on the screen, occasionally biting her lip gently.

Fang Qi watched her, and his mild anxiety subsided a little.

Yeah, his Wife's focused little expression was really cute...

"Click."

Finally, she pressed the last confirm button.

"Master."

She turned to look at Fang Qi, her amber eyes still carrying a moist glint of a smile.

"Liguang has finished the adjustments."

"I learned all these adjustment methods from Miss An Lian's files."

She lifted her chin, her tone carrying a touch of pride:

"This adjustment basically achieves the same effect as that time in the 'dream'..."

"When Miss An Lian helped Liguang suppress the Red Pupil's power."

She blinked at Fang Qi:

"The Red Pupil's abilities will be weakened, but it won't be as easy for it to influence the native core anymore!"

Fang Qi was momentarily stunned.

Oh, just like that time Sister An Lian tuned it...?

Sister An Lian, are you about to lose your job?

...No.

Fang Qi's eyes trembled.

He suddenly realized — An Lian had handed that file to him, to Liguang, back then...

Wasn't that exactly for this purpose?

Back then, she had died several times because of it.

So, she had told them the core data and tuning methods, so they could...

Even "without her," still tune Liguang's core on their own.

Fang Qi's breath quivered.

Sister An Lian, truly...

Thank you.

"Master?" Liguang's soft, almost sticky voice sounded.

Fang Qi instinctively looked at her.

Liguang was smiling warmly at him, eyes curving like crescent moons:

"Master, isn't Liguang amazing?"

Ah...

Fang Qi snapped back to attention!

...Amazing!

Too amazing!

Without a second thought, he raised his hand and vigorously rubbed her fluffy little head!

He rubbed it so hard her head bobbed up and down!

"Amazing, amazing, so amazing!"

Liguang squinted her single eye from the rubbing, pressing her head harder into the palm of his hand.

Fang Qi rubbed her head while looking at the Red Pupil still connected to the instruments...

His eyes narrowed slightly.

Wherever this Red Pupil actually came from, in any case...

It didn't seem like something good?

"Liguang."

He turned to look at her again, asking seriously:

"Can you adjust to being without the Red Pupil now?"

Liguang's movement of nuzzling his hand paused briefly. She looked up at him with her amber eyes.

"Should we..."

Fang Qi kept rubbing her hair and winked at her:

"...Hold off on installing the Red Pupil for now?"

Liguang's amber eyes widened slightly, her gaze shimmering.

He quickly explained:

"Anyway, this stupid thing is just an external core the Dawn Company used to restrict you!"

"Now that we've finally taken it off, there's no rush to put it back on!"

He looked around again.

In this research room, the blue fragments were already completely gone, not a single one left.

"See, those rule fragments ran off on their own, so now we don't have to worry about random teleportation."

"So..."

He turned his gaze back to Liguang and rubbed her hair once more.

"How about we not install the Red Pupil for now, and first go outside to see what's happening?"

Liguang blinked her single eye.

"But Master..."

She lowered her head, looking at her empty hands, and spoke softly:

"Liguang is really too weak right now."

Weak...

Fang Qi fell silent.

That was true. Without the Red Pupil, and unable to use the power of the native core...

Even now, she had to read the data on the screen page by page, slowly.

"Master..."

She looked up at Fang Qi, her amber eyes trembling slightly:

"Even though I don't know why those fragments were afraid of Liguang, or why Liguang's native core can't be used, but..."

She bit her lip:

"If we encounter other dangers, if something tries to hurt Master..."

Her hand tightened on the fabric of Fang Qi's sleeve.

"Liguang, in my current state, can't protect you at all."

"Liguang doesn't want that...!"

"Slap!"

Fang Qi raised his hand, slapping his own bicep loudly, cutting off Liguang's words!

The silver-haired girl before him was momentarily stunned!

"But your Master has become stronger now!"

Fang Qi raised an eyebrow at her!

"I tore that collar apart with my bare hands!"

"I shouted a pulled-out soul right back in!"

"My strength has also increased!"

"So this time..."

He looked seriously into Liguang's slightly dazed amber eyes, clenching his fist!

"It's Master's turn to protect you!"

"It's time to let Master show what he can do!"

After all, he couldn't always let his Wife take the hits for him!

Liguang gazed at him, stunned.

A faint shimmer of watery light rippled within that amber-colored single eye.

And then...

"...Pfft!"

She suddenly burst out laughing!

Her brows curved like crescent moons, and the corners of her lips curled upward.

That smile was soft and radiant, making Fang Qi’s mind go momentarily blank.

The black-haired girl who always sat by the window in the library used to look like that when he made her laugh—those same curved brows and bright eyes.

Xiaoguang, you're adorable.

He took a deep breath.

"Liguang, I've been thinking..."

His tone turned serious again as he continued to convince her:

"In our current state, if I held your hand..."

"Could we get through the entire research facility without any obstacles?"

"Or even..."

His eyes narrowed slightly.

Just walk straight out and leave this place?

...Would it work?

He didn't know.

But it was worth a try!

"And besides, if I put the Red Pupil back in now..."

He furrowed his brow, voicing his real concern:

"Would those fragments of the rules stop being afraid of you?"

"Would they swarm around us again like before, randomly teleporting us to strange places, or even..."

He tightened his grip on Liguang's hand, his voice dropping.

"Separate us again?"

Liguang didn't have much power left—she couldn't afford any more trouble!

That Red Pupil thing was anything but good!

He looked at her intently, waiting for her reply.

The silver-haired girl gently pressed her lips together, then...

"...Alright, Master."

She rose gracefully, the metallic patterns in her right eye socket as beautiful as ever.

Then...

She softly slipped her small hand into Fang Qi's palm.

It was slightly cool to the touch.

"This time..."

Her amber eye curved into a sweet arc as she gazed at him with a smile.

"Master will protect Liguang."