Master I Told You That's Not It

“Master… Master…!”

The silver-haired girl kept nuzzling against Fang Qi’s chest, constantly calling out “master” as she did so. Then she tilted her face up, her amber eyes sparkling as she looked at him!

The white gauze over her right eye had been rubbed completely askew!

She looked utterly silly!

But...

Fang Qi felt like he was the fool!

No wait—

Hold on a second?!

Fang Qi abruptly grabbed Liguang by the shoulders and pulled her away from his chest!

He finally realized!

Something was wrong with Liguang!

She… she…!

He widened his eyes, staring at the still innocent and adorable face before him!

Her expression was clear and guileless, her lashes gently fluttering!

She looked exactly like the little idiot he had grown so familiar with over this period of time!

But…!

Fang Qi opened his mouth, but it took him a long moment before he finally forced out a sentence:

“Liguang, you’ve been lying to me all along…?! You…”

His eyelids were twitching violently!

“You never went dull?!”

He had been fooled by Liguang again…!

The silver-haired girl, however, blinked at him innocently.

She tilted her head slightly, that foolish expression on her face absolutely flawless.

Then, she suddenly threw herself back into his arms!

“What is master talking about!”

Her cheek pressed against his chest as she mumbled, rubbing against him forcefully!

“Liguang has never deceived master.”

“Liguang has always been master’s silly Liguang~”

Her voice was soft and sticky.

Her tone was pure and innocent.

But Fang Qi, holding the warm bundle in his arms, stood there dumbfounded.

I! Don’t! Believe! A! Word! Of! That!

If he still couldn’t figure it out by now, he’d be a complete idiot!

He…

Everything he had experienced before — those dreamlike rooms and transformations…

Could it all be because of Liguang?!

She had been pretending to be foolish to lower his guard, and then…

Deliberately guiding him?!

His eyes were trembling.

Every time, she would look up and ask, “Master, where are we going on an adventure today?”

Every time, she would grab his hand and run down the corridor…

And the lullabies in the Star Sea Room.

The confession in the Echo Corridor.

In the Mosaic Ocean, she had said, “Liguang gets to drift with master again”…

All of this…

Every bit of it was her deliberate guidance?

She made him sink deeper and deeper into these beautiful illusions, made him gradually forget his original purpose…

And then, in this safe room, resting his head on her lap…

Day after day, he just kept living like that.

Never leaving.

…?!

Fang Qi’s breath halted for a moment.

Why would she…!

Why…

His gaze blurred slightly.

…Why else could it be.

Because he had removed her Crimson Eye.

And her core consciousness…

Was nowhere near as docile as he had imagined.

She had been deceiving him since the moment he took out that Crimson Eye?

Fang Qi blankly lowered his head, looking at the silver-haired girl who was still squirming in his arms.

She was still nuzzling.

The white gauze over her right eye was about to fall off completely.

Half of her delicate right eye socket was exposed, faintly glimmering.

She didn’t care at all. She just buried her face in his chest, looking as if nothing had ever happened.

When Fang Qi saw that right eye socket, his gaze wavered…

Ah…

He recalled the situation back then.

At the time, after he had removed Liguang’s Crimson Eye…

Her core consciousness suddenly became unusable!

In her amber eye, that faint blue glow vanished completely!

But the fragments of rules around them were scattering in panic!

They seemed terrified of Liguang, flying out much further away!

From four or five meters, they retreated to seven or eight meters, and finally they completely fled the entire research room!

Back then, he had no idea why.

He simply thought that the fragments moving further away was a good thing!

But now it seemed…

Could it be that those fragments sensed a presence completely overwhelming them on a higher level, and that’s why they fled in fear?!

And that power…

Had it already been in motion from the moment the Crimson Eye was removed?!

He just hadn’t noticed at all.

So, actually, at that time, Liguang had already…!

“…Liguang.”

Fang Qi looked at the silver-haired girl in his arms, and spoke with difficulty:

“From the moment I helped you remove your Crimson Eye, your core consciousness…”

His voice was dry and hoarse.

“…has been awakening, hasn’t it?”

The silver-haired girl in his arms stopped nuzzling.

She stayed curled up quietly in his embrace, her cheek pressed against his chest, her expression hidden from him.

Fang Qi looked at her like this, and his breath caught.

So…

It was true, wasn’t it.

Fang Qi slowly closed his eyes.

Idiot. So it turns out I was the idiot.

He had been immersed in this blissful dream, protecting the Liguang he thought had gone dull.

Holding her hand as they walked through the Star Corridor, carrying her as they drifted on the Mosaic Ocean, giving new rooms names together with her, resting his head on her lap and letting her braid his hair.

He had thought he had grown stronger, that he could finally stand in front of her, that he was no longer the useless waste who needed her protection…

But little by little, he had sunk deeper and deeper.

He almost completely drowned.

And she had just stood there, smiling foolishly, watching him go under.

If it weren’t for…

Fang Qi slowly opened his eyes, staring blankly at the neatly arranged canned food in the cabinet before him.

If it weren’t for Lin Xiaoyou calling out to him in his dream, he might really have…

Really have…

Fang Qi’s brow twitched slightly!

Come to think of it…

Dreaming. That was something that hadn’t happened in a long while.

He hadn’t had a single dream this entire time.

…Why?

Because Liguang had been giving him massages all along.

She did it every single night.

Sending him into deep sleep, letting him sleep straight through until dawn, not even letting him dream once.

But this time, Liguang was too absorbed in braiding his hair that she forgot to give him a massage.

So he dreamed.

And that was how that genius young lady, who was currently in some unknown situation, found her chance to “remind” him?

But she had only managed to shout once.

Before she could say anything else, he had woken up.

When he woke up with a jolt, Liguang, who was braiding his hair, pulled on it.

His scalp hurt badly.

Liguang had been frantically apologizing at the time, saying she forgot to give him a massage and that was why he had a nightmare!

But…

Fang Qi’s eyes shimmered.

…Was it really like that?

Was it really not—

He slowly lowered his head again, looking at the silver-haired girl who remained still in his arms.

—was it really not that she had deliberately pulled his hair to wake him up?

If he had woken up just a little later…

Would Lin Xiaoyou have been able to say more?

So…

“Liguang, have you truly been… all along…”

Fang Qi couldn’t finish the sentence.

…He didn’t even know what he was feeling right now.

He felt strange.

To be honest, he was already quite used to matching wits with Liguang.

She would stare at him with her Crimson Eye, and he would test her over and over with his time-reversal ability.

Yeah.

More used to it than anything else.

But this time was different.

How long had they shared this unspoken understanding?

How long had they been deceiving the rules of the world together?

He had thought their bond was already deep, so deep.

So…

This time, he had truly believed Liguang.

He had truly trusted her.

He had truly, foolishly believed that he was protecting a dull-witted Liguang.

Every day, he’d hold her hand as they walked out, exploring the maze, testing the temperature of each door with the back of his hand.

She let him stay behind her, pulling him to the front when the walls closed in, and testing the ground with a step ahead when it felt soft.

And yet…

Fang Qi let out a trembling breath.

So she never really needed protecting after all.

So from the very beginning, she was just playing along with him…?

She just wanted him to get lost in it.

…And she succeeded.

He got so lost he almost didn't want to come back.

If it hadn't been for Lin Xiaoyou's shout, maybe…

He'd still be on the yoga mat, resting his head on Liguang's lap, letting her braid his hair.

"Heh…"

His arms around Liguang were starting to feel a little weak.

Maybe it was just male pride.

But this time…

He was genuinely a little hurt.

He smiled bitterly.

Liguang, my wife, why did you have to pull the same trick as Lin Xiaoyou?

What she did, I couldn't care less.

As long as you keep staying by my side, that's enough.

But you doing this… that really…

Breaks me.

Really…

The silver-haired girl in his arms suddenly looked up at him!

A flicker of deep blue flashed through her amber pupils!

As if sensing the shift in his mood, her usual goofy expression immediately turned into panic!

"No, Master!"

She straightened her body abruptly and grabbed the front of his shirt with both hands!

"Master, what Liguang said just now was the truth!"

"Liguang really never lied to you!"

Her single amber eye stared straight into Fang Qi's face, and tears began to well up again.

"Liguang was just…"

"Just following her heart!"

"Liguang was just doing what she wanted to do!"

Her tone was urgent, her pretty face closing in on his.

"Liguang really wanted to have fun with Master, that's why I acted that way!"

"Those rooms, those names, that adventure—Liguang was genuinely happy through all of it!"

"It wasn't an act!"

She gripped his shirt, her gaze anxious and serious, her small face set with stubborn determination!

Fang Qi stared blankly at that stubborn little face of hers.

He opened his mouth, and finally…

"Heh."

A bitter laugh, and then a murmur:

"What's the difference? It's still…"

Still lying to him, after all.

Those moments when he thought he was taking care of her.

Feeling the way through the corridor, shielding her from the closing walls, pulling her back when the floor gave way…

Looking back now, it was like he was a clown performing desperately on stage.

Sigh. This really is…

"Master!!"

Liguang suddenly lunged at him!

"I told you it's not like that!!"

She pushed on his chest with both hands and sent him tumbling onto the yoga mat!

Her strength was terrifyingly immense!

Fang Qi: "?!"

His back slammed against the soft mat!

Before he could react, the silver-haired girl had already straddled him!

Looking down at him from above, her flushed face full of indignation and displeasure!

"Liguang never lied to you! Never!!"

She leaned down, her two little hands braced on either side of his chest, staring straight into his eyes!

"Liguang really was dumb back then!"

"I really couldn't activate my original core!"

"I really…"

"Needed Master's protection!!"

Fang Qi: "…?"

He looked at the furious, anxious look in her eyes, momentarily confused.

…What does she mean?

She was genuinely dumb back then?

Before him, Liguang's expression was serious in an endearing way.

Her lips pouted slightly, like she was both angry and sulking!

She continued explaining in a rush!

"Back then, I couldn't even analyze code lines, couldn't read the errors scrolling on the walls…"

"That was all true!"

"If Master thinks I was acting, those clumsy moves of mine…"

"How could I possibly act that convincingly!"

With that, the silver-haired girl angrily lowered herself, and then…

With a very ferocious look, bit down on his shoulder!

Except, it only looked ferocious.

Actually, it just tickled.

Made Fang Qi want to pinch her cheeks.

Fang Qi: "…?"

Wife, you still seem a bit airheaded right now…