I Want It All

“Lin Xiaoyou, I’ll f kill you!!”

Fang Qi let out a roar!

The most furious shout of his entire life!

The sheer volume made the coffee table tremble slightly!

“Oh my, Senior!”

Immediately, Lin Xiaoyou on the other end of the line started yowling too!

“What are you saying?!”

“How can you say something like that to a girl?!”

“That’s so rude!”

She screeched and squawked!

“And here I was, calling you up specifically to check on you!”

“Talk about no good deed going unpunished!”

???

No good deed going unpunished?!

Fang Qi gripped his phone tightly, feeling like his hair was about to stand on end!

This girl—she was way, way too asking for a beating!

Just now, she had nearly scared him into cardiac arrest!

So what?!

Just because Liguang isn’t here, you think you can do whatever you want, huh?!

But...

“Phew...!”

Fang Qi slowly sank back into the sofa, letting out a trembling breath.

He had to admit...

He felt like he was alive again.

...Good.

That was so good.

He quietly closed his eyes.

The frantic anxiety and terror from just moments ago...!

Had now, largely, dissipated.

...Lin Xiaoyou. She still remembered Liguang.

Even Sister An Lian had forgotten Liguang. Just now, he had genuinely almost thought...

That he was the only person left in this world who still remembered her.

Not only had he lost Liguang, but the entire world had forgotten her too...

That was too terrifying.

He felt like he was one second away from going completely insane.

...That feeling, he never wanted to experience even once more in his life.

But...

Thankfully.

On the other end of the line, Lin Xiaoyou was still squawking away, throwing accusations of being “ungrateful” and “burning bridges”...

Fang Qi rubbed his brow.

At least Lin Xiaoyou still remem...

...Huh?

His brow furrowed.

Wait a second!

...Why did she still remember?

His eyes narrowed!

Sister An Lian didn’t remember!

Sister An Lian was Liguang’s maintenance specialist, and just like Lin Xiaoyou, she was a “key NPC” who could retain her memories!

Even she had forgotten Liguang completely...

So why did Lin Xiaoyou, of all people, still remember?

...Why?

Fang Qi slowly widened his eyes!

D...o...n...’t... t...e...l...l... m...e...!!

“Lin Xiaoyou...!”

Fang Qi lowered his voice, his tone suddenly turning heavy!

“Th...is...!”

Fang Qi gritted his teeth, enunciating each word!

“You wouldn’t happen to be behind this, would you?!”

The cackling voice on the other end suddenly froze.

A silence lasting two seconds.

Fang Qi could hear her breathing—soft and slow.

Then...

“Oh, how could that be, Senior!”

Lin Xiaoyou’s voice came again, her tone oozing innocence!

“I don’t have that kind of power at all!”

“I have no idea why this happened either!”

“I really am so confused. How come, after I woke up, the whole world had changed so much?”

“It’s amazing!”

Fang Qi squinted.

Coming out of her mouth, he didn’t believe a single word!

And what was with that two-second silence just now? What was that supposed to mean?!

“Hey hey, Senior, do you know?”

Lin Xiaoyou suddenly changed the subject!

“Today, I was actually woken up by my mom!”

Her tone was full of novelty, and when she said the word“mom,” there was a distinct awkwardness in her voice.

Fang Qi：“...?”

Mom...?

The voice on the other end kept chattering:

“When I opened my eyes, she was standing right by my bed, asking me why I was still lying in bed and that breakfast was already made!”

“That tone, that expression—“

“Wow, it really was Mom!”

“What a new experience!”

Fang Qi：“...”

Listening to Lin Xiaoyou’s words...

He felt a slight daze.

Lin Xiaoyou’s... mother?

He’d heard about her before.

Her mother had passed away before Lin Xiaoyou could even form memories.

She had no impression of her mother at all, only having seen the gentle woman in photographs left behind by her father.

But in this world line...

Her mother had actually come back to life?

Wait...!

Fang Qi abruptly sat up straight!

Didn’t she just mention her father earlier?!

Lin Zhouyuan!

Her father was alive again too!

And also...

Sister An Lian’s family were all alive as well...

Parents alive and well, her older brother never starved to death on the streets, the whole family happy and harmonious.

Wasn’t this—!

Fang Qi’s mind snapped into sharp focus, as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over his head from top to bottom!

Wasn’t this exactly what Lin Xiaoyou had always wanted to do?!

To prevent the Second Machine Crisis from ever happening!

To bring her father back!

To return the world to how it was before the disaster!

Wasn’t the wish she had excitedly declared—that “regrets should not be let go”—while tears reddened her eyes, exactly this?!

“Save everyone.”

This world line had no Machine Crisis, no disaster that took countless lives...

Wasn’t this the world she had always wanted?!

So...?!

“...Lin! Xi! Ao! You!”

Fang Qi’s voice was squeezed out from between his teeth!

He could feel his brain trembling!

“This matter...”

“Really has nothing to do with you, huh?!”

Another silence came from the other end.

This silence was longer than the last.

So long that...

Fang Qi could hear his own temples throbbing!

Lin Xiaoyou... she couldn’t actually be...!

“Um... Senior...”

Lin Xiaoyou finally spoke again.

Her tone suddenly became a little embarrassed, like a little girl caught red-handed stealing a snack.

Fang Qi’s temple gave a violent twitch!

That tone...?!

“Actually, I’m not entirely sure...”

She stammered.

“Maybe... maybe it does have...”

“Just a tiny little bit to do with me?”

Her tone was sheepish.

Fang Qi’s eyes flew wide open!

“Lin Xiaoyou, you son of a—!”

“It’s not my fault!”»

Lin Xiaoyou suddenly wailed again.

“It’s all because your Liguang kept me locked up in that pitch-black chasm!”

She started listing her grievances, her voice full of indignation!

“There was nothing in there! I was bored out of my mind, Senior, do you even know how torturous that kind of boredom is?!”

“I felt like I was turning into part of that void myself!”

“So Senior, this is all your fault!”

“It’s all because you couldn’t keep your own wife in line!”

Fang Qi：“...”

I fing...

I... I...

Tch.

“So anyway, I just...”

Her tone went from angry to cautiously careful.

“Took those chaotic rules in that chasm, and I fiddled with them just a teensy bit...”

She murmured quietly:

“Just added a tiny little bit of my own small wish into them...”

“Not much, really not much at all, just a little smidge...”

Her voice trailed off.

But as for Fang Qi...

He clutched the phone, feeling his brain tremble!

...What?!

So it really was Lin Xiaoyou’s doing!!

It really was you!!

“You...!”

“Oh, Senior!”

Lin Xiaoyou quickly cut him off.

“I had no idea it would turn out like this!”

She immediately began rationalizing:

“Besides, this whole thing has Liguang’s seal of approval!”

“Liguang knew everything back then!”

“She controlled all the rules of that entire space. Do you think I could have done anything right under her nose without her knowing?!”

“She never stopped me! Not a single warning!”

“So you’re telling me, that means she’d already given her tacit consent, right?”

“So you can’t blame me entirely for this! Don’t you agree, Senior?”

Fang Qi’s mouth was frozen open.

He couldn’t muster a single word.

…What?

Liguang… had given her tacit consent?

Liguang had allowed Lin Xiaoyou to tamper with the chaotic rules, and then…

It had come to… this?

Liguang was gone herself?!

What kind of logic is that?!

Liguang, sacrificing herself for the sake of the entire world?!

Are you kidding me?!

Absolutely impossible!

That little yandere — since when did she have such noble convictions?!

Everything in her head was about being with him forever!

Before the rewind, she was still thinking about “the eyes of the world”!

She—!

Fang Qi felt like his brain had been churned into a pile of mush!

But…

Forget all that noise — none of it mattered!

“…Lin Xiaoyou!”

He rubbed his brow hard, pressing his fingers into the skin!

Right now, all he wanted was to find Liguang!

“What exactly did you do back then?! And how the hell are we supposed to get ba—!”

Knock, knock, knock.

A knock at the door.

It was the voice on the other end of the phone.

“Youyou? Why are you holed up in the bathroom so long?”

It was a woman’s voice.

“Come out and eat breakfast already.”

Tender, with a trace of gentle scolding — a mother’s concern dripping from every word.

Fang Qi’s voice got caught in his throat.

This was…

Lin Xiaoyou’s mother?

That woman, who in Lin Xiaoyou’s memory only ever existed in photographs.

“Ahh, I’m almost done!” Lin Xiaoyou hastily replied, her voice unconsciously pitching up a notch.

“Who’s she on the phone with?”

A man’s voice came through — farther from the receiver, somewhat muffled, but laced with wariness and suspicion!

“Locking herself in the bathroom this early in the morning, and she won’t even let us listen in?”

Fang Qi’s hand, holding the phone, tightened ever so slightly.

Lin Xiaoyou’s father.

…Lin Zhouyuan.

The middle-aged man in the keycard photo, the one with glasses and a small mole at the corner of his eye.

…Now he was alive.

And right now, he was worrying about who his daughter was secretly calling at the crack of dawn.

“Big sis, hurry up!”

A little boy’s voice came through too!

“I’m starving already, we’re all waiting for you!”

His voice was loud, his tone impatient.

…?

Fang Qi blinked.

Was that…?

“Coming, coming! I’ll be right there! You guys go ahead and eat!”

Lin Xiaoyou covered the mic and shouted.

Then she brought her voice close to the phone again — low, hushed, rapid-fire:

“Senior, let’s talk about this later, okay?”

“My mom and the others just called me for breakfast…!”

“Oh, right, Senior!”

Her voice suddenly turned a little brighter, and she giggled as she bragged:

“It turns out… I have a little brother now!”

“Heh heh! A biological little brother!”

“The one hollering just now — that’s him. Annoying as hell.”

Fang Qi opened his mouth.

…He didn’t know what to say.

This was…

A picture-perfect, happy family, indeed.

“Hey, Senior?”

Lin Xiaoyou’s voice pulled him out of his daze.

“You still there?”

Fang Qi’s lips trembled.

There were so many questions he wanted to ask, so many things he wanted to say.

But…

“Lin Xiaoyou, you’re not…”

He spoke with difficulty, his grip on the phone tightening.

“…thinking about staying here, and not leaving, are you…?”

On the other end of the line…

It fell silent again.

This time, the silence stretched longer than any before it.

Listening to the faint sound of breathing coming through the receiver…

Fang Qi fell silent too.

Countless thoughts turned over in his mind.

In this world, Sister An Lian’s parents adored her. Her brother had gotten married, and had a child as well.

She was no longer that lonely girl in the orphanage’s corner, always reading by herself.

Lin Xiaoyou’s parents were both alive and well. She even had a little brother now. A family filled with warmth and joy.

The Second Intelligence Crisis had never happened here. There was no catastrophe that claimed countess lives.

Everything was so happy, so perfect.

A peaceful world.

The world almost everyone wanted.

Also…

The world Lin Xiaoyou had always wanted.

For this goal, she had gambled her life, played the madwoman, had her neck snapped by Liguang, and died falling from a seven- or eight-story building.

Now, this wish had finally come true.

If…

Fang Qi closed his eyes.

If she chose not to help him.

If she said she wanted to stay.

If she told him, “Senior, this is what I wanted”…

He couldn’t blame her for it.

He had no right to make Lin Xiaoyou give up the happiness she’d fought so hard to get.

Parents, both alive; a warm home — these were the things she had lost completely ever since she could remember.

She had spent all these years yearning for them, chasing them, going mad for them.

And now, those things were right within her reach. Who was he…

…to demand she give them up?

But—!

Fang Qi took a deep breath!

His nails dug into his palms!

But his Liguang — she was gone!

Lost!

Non-existent!!

He could not — would not — accept this timeline!

Never! Never in a million years!

He had to find a way back!

He had to get Liguang back!

Whatever it cost, however many rewinds it took, whatever mysteries he had to untangle…!

He would find her again!

And if Lin Xiaoyou wouldn’t help him…

Then he’d do it on his own!

He’d do it alone!

Even if he was the only one in the whole world who wanted to bring her back…

He would never, ever give up!

Fang Qi snapped his eyes open!

He took a deep breath and said in a low voice:

“I understand, Lin Xiaoyou. I’ll do it myse—”

“Who said I was going to stay here, Senior?”

Lin Xiaoyou’s voice suddenly cut through on the other end.

Soft.

A little relieved, and laced with a trace of self-mockery.

Fang Qi froze.

“Senior.”

Lin Xiaoyou’s voice was very gentle.

“My wish… hasn’t been fulfilled at all.”

“Here…”

The teasing, playful tone from earlier was completely gone now.

“…is also not the world I wanted.”

She whispered softly:

“Senior, don’t forget…”

Her voice dropped low, carrying a raw, carefully buried bitterness.

“You lost your Liguang. But I, too…”

“I lost my Sister Xiaoqing.”

Fang Qi’s eyes flickered with a tremor.

…Right.

The Dawnlight Corporation didn’t exist here.

Liguang was never built.

…Neither was Xiaoqing.

That “Sister Xiaoqing” who had been by Lin Xiaoyou’s side for years — had been erased along with this world-level rewrite.

But…

“But, you gained a happy family…”

Fang Qi murmured.

“That’s what you’ve always wanted, isn’t it…”

And in that other world, Xiaoqing had forgotten everything.

She had no memories with Lin Xiaoyou anymore.

She had never called her “Sister Xiaoqing,” and had always called her “Xiaoqing.”

Give up the happiness of this world, all for the sake of bringing back a “Xiaoqing” who wouldn’t even remember what they used to share…?

“Yeah, Senior.”

A soft laugh came from the other end of the line — Lin Xiaoyou’s laugh.

“Dad is alive. Mom loves me. And I even have an adorable little brother.”

There was something tender in her tone, something heavy with weight.

“When Mom woke me up this morning, I almost thought I was still dreaming.”

“The way she touched my forehead…”

“Just like Aunt Su used to.”

She kept murmuring.

"That's really wonderful, Senpai."

"Really wonderful."

Fang Qi listened quietly, remaining silent.

On the other end of the phone, there came another deep breath.

"So—!"

Then suddenly, her voice rose, and her tone took a sharp turn!

"If there were also a Sister Xiaoqing, wouldn't that make it even more perfect?"

Lin Xiaoyou's voice suddenly returned to its playful, teasing tone!

"Right, Senpai? Don't you think so?"

Fang Qi was dumbfounded for a moment.

...Huh?

He couldn't quite keep up with her train of thought.

"Senpai, you see, I'm a very greedy person!"

On the other end of the line, Lin Xiaoyou's proud voice came through!

"Back when I did experiments, I always had to get the most perfect results!"

"Not even a single flaw would do!"

"If even one set of data didn't match, the whole experimental plan would have to be thrown out and redone!"

"That's what you call, the basic quality of a genius!"

Her tone grew lighter and more cheerful!

"So, Senpai, it's the same this time!"

"I want it all!"

"I want my parents!"

"I want my little brother!"

"I want Sister Xiaoqing too!"

"And Aunt Su! Uncle Fang!"

"I want them all!"

"Not a single one can be missing!"

"If one is missing, then it's not perfect!"

"As a genius, I'm definitely going to make this 'experiment'—"

"A COMPLETE SUCCESS!"