Radiant Light Will Not Leave Its Master

"So, Liguang, you really don't feel anything at all?"

Fang Qi and Liguang were already lying on the yoga mats.

The two of them were idly chatting about what had just happened.

"No, Master."

"Then where did the extra electricity come from?"

"I don't know."

"Think harder?"

"Mm... can't remember. Thinking too hard is exhausting."

"..."

Fang Qi helplessly pinched her soft cheeks.

Fine then.

Liguang was really ditzy right now—asking her wouldn't get him anywhere.

All he knew was that her battery was indeed rising, but the reason was a mystery.

He wasn't sure whether this was a good thing or a bad thing, but at least...

It wasn't heading in a bad direction.

Battery going up instead of down was better than it plummeting.

As for the reason...

He'd just have to keep an eye on it.

He really was tired today.

The two of them had wandered around for ages and collected more than enough.

Yeah.

Time to rest.

He glanced down slightly at his arms.

Liguang was nestled in his embrace, fully dressed.

Her silver hair fanned out across his chest, and the white gauze over her right eye had been replaced with a fresh one—he had just re-bandaged it for her.

Today, neither of them had done what they did yesterday.

Fang Qi pressed his lips together.

Holding her, his mind drifted back to the moment before they lay down.

At the time—

Liguang had been kneeling beside the yoga mat, staring up at him with expectant eyes.

Her amber eye sparkled, her small hand gently tugged at his shirt, and her cheeks were flushed pink.

That expression, those eyes...

Exactly the same as when she had invited him to "rest" yesterday!

...Who could resist that?!

Fang Qi's hand was already raised—

But then Liguang suddenly shook her head frantically, muttering over and over:

"No, no, no! Miss An Lian said we need to practice restraint!"

"Master needs rest! Doing that kind of thing every day is not acceptable!"

"At least not here! Master still needs to... find a way out!"

"Liguang is too ditsy to help now, but I can't hold Master back either!"

"So—no!"

And with that, she obediently kept her clothes on and nimbly nestled into his arms.

Burying her face in his chest, she mumbled one more thing:

"Master has to hold back too, okay?"

Fang Qi: "..."

You crazy girl, you really are @#￥%&!

Ugh...!

Honestly, he was a little disappointed.

But...

Yeah.

He held back too!

Sister An Lian's words made sense!

And besides, this was a special situation—he needed to observe Liguang's battery levels, so...

It wasn't like he could do something that might be that energy-draining, right?!

...He'd endure it.

Endure.

Endure...!

The warmth in his arms still stirred something restless in him.

Argh...!

He took a deep breath and pressed his fingers to his brow.

Alright, he needed to distract himself.

So he reached over and grabbed the notebook lying at the edge of the workbench.

The one he'd gotten from the archives.

His mother's diary, with its worn leather cover.

He opened it to a page.

Those originally neat and elegant handwritten characters were still nothing but blurs of fuzzy mosaic.

Leaving that room hadn't made things any better.

He'd already taken a look before bed.

He thought giving it more time might help, but now...

It was actually worse.

The pages were starting to stick together.

Several pages had completely smeared into one, and the moment his fingertip touched them...

The edges crumbled into fine fibers.

All those bits and pieces about Xiao Qi, the later half he'd never gotten to read...

All of it was an unrecognizable mass of color blocks.

Fang Qi turned the pages in silence.

Page after page.

Liguang tilted her head against his chest, quietly watching the notebook too.

Looking at those blurred words, the restlessness in his heart gradually subsided...

And a faint melancholy rose in its place.

...How strange.

In the earlier playthroughs, things had always been urgent—he never had time to really think about his situation.

But now that things had calmed down.

Now that he had time.

Thinking it over carefully...

It was really strange.

This world was a digital world, right?

That much had been thoroughly confirmed.

He had torn apart the fate collar woven from code with his own hands, and he'd seen way too many code-based judgment statements.

Everything was woven from ones and zeros.

That was a settled fact.

So...

Everyone here—Lin Xiaoyou, An Lian, Gu Xi, his Liguang, including the old man and woman in the seaside fishing village, the people who'd helped him, the people he'd killed...

They were all AIs with self-awareness.

This world was truly remarkable.

A complete worldview. A complete history.

Two robotic uprisings, the Dusk Organization, the Dawn Company.

A complete social structure. Complete human emotions.

Then...

Fang Qi's eyes trembled slightly.

Where did this world come from?

Did such technology exist in reality?

No.

Not only were there no AIs with self-awareness like this in his reality—there weren't even any self-aware AIs at all!

But this world...

Had countless of them.

The technological levels of the two worlds were vastly different.

This world's "tech" far surpassed his real world.

Digital lifeforms with self-awareness weren't even a proper theory in his reality, yet here they were completely mundane!

Did that make sense?

The gap couldn't be closed in just a few decades.

How did he even end up in a world like this?

It was... wondrous and strange at the same time.

And besides...

He looked down at the notebook in his hands.

This was written by his mother of this world.

Her handwriting was graceful and tidy, her tone lively and gentle—she'd poke fun at her husband, squish her son's cheeks to de-stress, and tuck her son's ugly crayon drawings into the notebook.

His parents in this world...

Their faces and names were exactly the same as in his original world!

Fang Chu. Su Yue.

In reality, his father was also named Fang Chu, and his mother was also named Su Yue.

Even their faces were identical.

The first time he saw that photo hanging on the office wall, he almost couldn't tell reality apart from the virtual.

...But why?

If this world was digital, then his parents—these two people who had truly existed in this digital world, who had truly loved him, who had truly left behind this notebook—

Why did they exactly match his parents from reality?

His parents were ordinary people in reality.

...How strange.

It was as if...

This world had been created just for him.

Made specifically for him.

...Was that even possible?

Fang Qi set the notebook down, feeling a headache coming on.

He couldn't figure it out.

He really couldn't.

These tangled, convoluted mysteries were still too much for him.

He closed his eyes and held the warmth in his arms a little tighter.

Exhaustion washed over him.

His Liguang was still in his arms.

Yeah.

That was all that mattered.

Speaking of which... what had it been like when he first arrived in this world?

Oh, right.

He was supposed to achieve "Eternal Devotion" and then leave.

[Clear the game, reach the true perfect ending "Eternal Devotion," and you may leave this world.]

That was what the mysterious voice had told him.

...Oh wait, that wasn't the very beginning.

He'd crossed over long before that.

Born into this world.

He had been in this world since infancy.

He had simply lost his memories.

Before losing his memories, he had voluntarily asked Lin Xiaoyou to erase them all.

But...

For the him of now, that was the original him.

Knowing nothing, waking up before the coffee table, facing a silver-haired girl with heterochromatic eyes kneeling across from him, offering him tea brewed at fifty-two degrees.

Then came all the deaths, all the do-overs, all the dancing on the edge of a yandere's blade, trying to leave this world.

Looking back now...

He was so foolish back then.

Later...

Liguang pulled him into an eighty-two-year illusion.

So, he treated her as the wife he would spend his whole life with.

He couldn't bear to leave.

And then...

That led all the way to now.

He had been struggling alongside Liguang this whole time.

Hunted by the company, chased by fate, trapped by the rules in this crumbling maze.

Reset after reset.

Facing all kinds of trouble, one after another.

But somehow...

It didn't feel so bad?

Perhaps, precisely because he kept going through all these chaotic messes, kept being unable to live a peaceful life with Liguang...

He never had the chance to achieve that "Eternal Beloved."

Even by accident, it was impossible.

That was why he had stayed here all along.

Stayed by Liguang's side.

Seen that way, maybe he should be thankful for this life?

Thankful for all those messy things that kept him by Liguang's side.

Thankful for the pursuits, the broken rules, the inexplicable troubles...

They were what held him back, preventing him from unknowingly walking toward that "leaving" ending.

Thinking about it now sends a chill down his spine.

If he had truly achieved Eternal Beloved by accident, he would have gone insane...

He didn't want to leave.

He got married, entered the bridal chamber, and so many people came to attend his "wedding"...

Wasn't that pretty great too?

And now, too.

Trapped in the research institute, with no one disturbing their life together.

Every day, exploring the maze, looking for doors, patterns, supplies.

Thrilling, but not dangerous.

The walls would shrink but never truly crush them; the mosaics would swallow people but never truly hurt them.

And those weird, benign bugs...?

In any case, Liguang's charge level only went up, never down.

A few more days of this kind of life...

Wouldn't be bad either.

Sleepiness washed over him.

Fang Qi felt Liguang stir in his arms again, shifting into a more comfortable position.

Her warm simulated breath, puffing against his skin, one breath at a time.

Then he felt Liguang's massage.

Her slender fingers pressed against the back of his neck, working the acupoints in a steady rhythm, kneading the tension out of his muscles inch by inch.

Professional and gentle.

Then...

She began to hum softly.

That lullaby.

The one for coaxing the stars, for coaxing Chenchen, for coaxing great-grandchildren...

The one she used to soothe him with when he had a fever as a child.

So beautiful...

Half-awake, Fang Qi was still thinking.

This lullaby should only be remembered by the pre-amnesia Liguang, right...?

Liguang, you...

Ah, right.

Those eighty-two cycles...

His gentle, elegant wife had hummed it for him so many, many times.

Even though the old memories were gone, the memories of those eighty-two cycles remained.

So, the post-amnesia Liguang could hum it too.

So beautiful...

Fang Qi's slightly furrowed brow slowly relaxed.

Her voice was so tender.

As tender as in those eighty-two cycles.

As tender as the black-haired, black-eyed Xiaoguang.

Liguang...

He felt his consciousness slowly sinking into darkness.

Just before drifting off to sleep, he heard Liguang whisper softly by his ear.

"Aqi, you need to rest well."

Her voice was gentle, like coaxing a child who refused to sleep.

The corner of Fang Qi's mouth curled up slightly.

Then, he fell completely into slumber.

...

...

The next day.

Fang Qi lay on the yoga mat, slowly opening his eyes.

...He was awake.

How long had he slept?

He stared blankly at the ceiling, the light fixture still glowing with that steady, gentle white light.

His mind wasn't fully alert yet, so he instinctively reached out to embrace...

His arms were empty.

...?

His gaze froze for a moment, then he hugged again.

His arms closed around nothing but air.

...Huh?

He patted the yoga mat with his palm, feeling around—nothing there.

Only the cool surface of the mat.

Wait...

Huh?

He stared at the ceiling for a long while.

The remnants of last night's lullaby still lingering in his mind, his whole being not yet fully pulled out of deep sleep.

Then, his pupils suddenly contracted!

He shot upright!

"Liguang!!!"

"Ah! What's wrong, Master? I'm right here!"

Liguang's voice came from beside him.

Wha—!

Fang Qi whipped his head around!

There she was, standing by the lab bench.

A light blue home dress, her silver hair loosely tied in a bun at the back of her head, the white gauze over her right eye slightly askew.

In her hand, she held a glass stirring rod, and in front of her...

Were a few opened cans?

A spirit lamp on the lab bench was burning with a small flame, and steam was bubbling up from a beaker.

She looked completely flustered!

Her left hand was stirring whatever was in the beaker, while her right hand was about to add some kind of seasoning...

Her movements were clumsy, and she nearly knocked over the salt shaker beside her!

She turned her head to look at him, her amber left eye blinking...

That expression was so innocent!

"Master, you're awake! Liguang is making breakfast for Master!"

Fang Qi stared at her, dazed.

Breakfast?

"I didn't make it the past two days because that was a special situation!"

Liguang turned back around and continued clumsily stirring whatever was in the beaker.

"Master was too exhausted back then and needed an immediate energy boost."

She kept muttering under her breath.

"But starting today, even here, Master can only eat breakfast made by Liguang!"

"Eating canned food directly is too unnutritious! It needs to be heated, balanced, and... whoa!"

She flailed around as she worked!

The flame of the spirit lamp flickered wildly from her stirring, and some of the liquid splashed out of the beaker!

She quickly reached out to wipe it, only to burn her fingertip.

She immediately pulled her hand back, blew on it, and then went back to stirring.

Fang Qi finally caught the scent of the canned food.

The smell of canned meat.

And a faint hint of strawberry.

He stared blankly at her busy back...

Then his body went limp, and he lay back down!

"Thud."

His back hit the yoga mat again.

Damn...

He raised his arm and covered his eyes.

"Liguang." he said in a muffled voice.

"From now on, when I wake up..."

"You have to be in my arms...!"

"Did you hear me..."

No sooner had he finished speaking than he heard footsteps.

Moving his arm aside slightly, he saw the silver-haired girl already kneeling beside him.

Her amber eye was gazing at him with a smile.

"Master is so cute!"

She laughed, both pleased and satisfied.

"You got scared when you woke up and couldn't find Liguang!"

Her tone was so smug, her eyes curved into crescents!

"But Liguang has been right here with Master the whole time! Over there making Master's breakfast, just a few meters away."

She reached out, her slender finger gently tapping the tip of Fang Qi's nose, winking at him playfully:

"Master, you really can't bear to be away from Liguang, can you~"

Fang Qi glared at her.

His arm was still covering his eyes, only one eye peeking out to glare at her!

"Liguang will never leave Master, ever."

Liguang's voice suddenly softened.

Her fingertip slid to his cheek, stroking it gently.

"Never, ever."

She said softly:

"Wherever Master is, Liguang will be there."

"When Master wakes up, Liguang will always be right beside you."

She leaned close to his ear and whispered:

"Always."

Always.

Fang Qi covered his eyes with his arm again.

Mm.

Always.

He took a deep breath...

Then abruptly sat up again!

"Liguang's breakfast smells amazing!"

"Slap! Slap!"

He vigorously patted his own cheeks, forcing his eyes wider.

Really, he'd had enough...

Since when did he get so sensitive and sentimental?

How strange!

"Time to eat!"

He waved his hand.

"After we finish, we'll continue today's exploration!"

"Mm!"

Liguang immediately stood up and scampered back to the lab table, carrying over the cans and beakers.

Her movements were still just as clumsy, nearly spilling the soup again!

"Hey, hey, careful!"

Fang Qi quickly took the can she handed him—still warm.

Like the tea she brewed for him.

He stared at the chunks of meat in the can, then blinked suddenly.

"Oh, right!"

His eyes lit up, and he immediately looked up at the silver-haired girl smiling before him.

"Let's eat together, Liguang—you eat too! It can restore your power!"

He remembered his guess from yesterday!

Liguang's current computing consumption was extremely low, about the same as an ordinary human—maybe she really could restore energy by eating!

But Liguang just blinked at him, then giggled.

"Liguang doesn't need to!"

"Master, look!"

With that, she knelt properly, turned around, lowered her head, and reached up to part the silver hair at the nape of her neck.

Her hair bun was gently shifted aside, revealing the delicate faux-skin beneath.

...Huh?

Could it be...?

Fang Qi looked over and saw:

[Remaining Power: 25%]

Fang Qi stared blankly at that number.

...What?

Ah.

It went up again.

...Went up again?

He tilted his head, feeling like his brain was struggling to keep up.

So...

Did they even still need to find Liguang's charging pod now?