It's Still Better to Have a Real Woman as a Wife

“Liguang!”

Fang Qi shoved open the rooftop door!

He was breathing hard!

He had sprinted all the way up.

With the authority Liguang had given him running at full power, he could easily sense the condition of every inch of ground beneath his feet!

So even though gravel kept trickling down from beside his feet…

He made it all the way to the top without so much as a scratch!

Bang!

The rooftop door slammed hard against the wall!

The afternoon wind rushed toward him, carrying the smell of rust.

The blinding sunlight made him squint instinctively.

And through that blurred vision—

He saw that flash of blue again!

Pale blue, right at the edge of the roof, swaying gently in the wind!

Fang Qi panted rapidly, a surge of blazing excitement flooding his heart!

“Liguang! It really is…!”

He strode forward, his narrowed eyes struggling to adjust to the sunlight.

The patch of blue grew clearer and clearer, its outline more and more distinct. He reached out his hand…!

And then…

He froze.

…It was pale blue, all right.

But.

It was only a pale-blue plastic banner.

Pinned beneath a battered old signboard.

Fang Qi: “…”

His hand hung suspended in midair, his fingertips less than half a meter from the banner.

He stood there in that position without moving for several seconds.

A gust of wind blew past, lifting one corner of the banner and making it slap against the edge of the signboard with a rhythmic pap-pap.

The surface of the signboard was covered in a thick layer of dust. On it…

Was the name of a company he had never heard of, the lettering faded and mottled with age.

…It wasn’t Chenxi.

And printed crookedly across the banner were several large characters—

“Go, Blue Team!”

Beneath them was a smaller line of text…

“Third Employee Fun Sports Meet.”

Fang Qi remained silent for a long time before slowly curling his fingers inward.

“…”

He silently watched the pale-blue banner swaying in the wind. Standing at the rooftop doorway, he did not move for quite some time.

Then his eyes gradually focused again!

Pale blue, just like Liguang’s skirt.

The color was so similar to the house dress Liguang wore!

A coincidence? Impossible!

Maybe it was some kind of code…?

Maybe Liguang had deliberately left it behind as a clue?

Maybe…!

He immediately moved the signboard aside again!

“Cough, cough!”

The dust billowed up, making him cough twice.

Then he pulled the entire banner out from beneath the signboard and shook the dust from it…

He examined it over and over again!

The front said Go, Blue Team. The back was blank.

The fabric was the cheapest kind of synthetic material.

“…Liguang?”

He tentatively murmured her name again.

The banner continued to flutter in the wind, while the signboard lay silently on the ground.

“Liguang, is it you…?”

…Like hell it was!

This was just a cheer banner that some company had hung up during a team-building event God knew how many years ago!

The color really was similar, but…

That was all it was. The color was similar!

Fang Qi began to pant violently!

He bent over, bracing both hands on his knees, gulping down breath after breath!

It felt as though something were blocking his chest!

He had sprinted up more than a dozen floors without feeling tired, yet now he could not stop panting!

His heart was still pounding away!

But the excitement from moments ago had completely vanished!

All that remained was…

Disappointment.

And anger!

He straightened and stared at the banner still swaying in the wind!

…The vein at his temple suddenly throbbed!

Get lost!!

He snatched up the banner and hurled it away!

Who the hell told you to use the same color as Liguang’s clothes?!

The pale-blue plastic sheet spun wildly through the air several times!

Then the wind caught it and carried it lazily downward…

It soon disappeared into the weeds below.

As for Fang Qi…

He stood at the edge of the rooftop, his chest still heaving violently.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale…

Liguang’s authority gradually pressed down on his agitation.

…He had calmed down.

But the sense of loss had only grown heavier.

He slowly looked around.

The wind on the rooftop was strong, whipping his hair into a mess.

There were only a few odds and ends.

An iron bucket, woven sacks, plastic bags…

But not the figure he had been searching for all along.

Fang Qi: “…”

He stood there quietly for a long time.

Then he slowly walked to the edge of the rooftop.

…This was the place.

This was where it had happened last time.

He had held Liguang in his arms as she pulled loose the bun at the back of her head.

Together, they had leaped down.

He looked down.

It was high.

The stones on the ground looked like grains of sand.

From more than a dozen floors up, the wind rose around his feet, carrying a chill.

The last time he had stood here, he had held a warm, delicate body in his arms, with the sweet scent of strawberries at the tip of his nose. He had not been afraid at all. He had only felt thrilled and exhilarated.

He had even found it somewhat addictive.

But this time…

He suddenly felt his legs go weak.

With Liguang no longer standing beside him, this height…

Suddenly felt so unfamiliar.

Dizziness.

Fear.

Fang Qi: “…”

He took two steps back, planted his feet firmly on the center of the rooftop, then raised a hand and rubbed his face hard.

Fang Qi, don’t panic. Don’t be disappointed.

You just swore this morning before leaving that you would find Liguang again, even if you had to search the entire world!

How far have you really gotten?

You simply came to the wrong place. You simply misread the clue.

Chenxi had sent him an email, so this…

Fang Qi’s pupils slowly came back into focus.

This address had to mean something.

There was that Go, Blue Team banner on the rooftop. Maybe someone really had deliberately left it here!

There had to be a clue…

A clue connected to Chenxi!

He immediately began searching through the few things left on the rooftop.

The iron bucket contained rainwater and sludge that had accumulated for who knew how many years. He shook open the woven sacks. They were empty.

He went through one item after another, examining each in turn.

Nothing. Nothing.

Still nothing.

There was nothing at all that could make him think of Liguang—or of that company.

At last…

Fang Qi set down the final object.

He stood on the rooftop and fell silent once more.

In the distance, vast stretches of barren land in the outskirts extended all the way to the horizon.

He turned and walked back to the spot where he and Liguang had jumped together…

At the edge of the rooftop, he slowly sat down.

His legs dangled outside the building, suspended more than a dozen floors above the ground. The wind carried a faint smell of rust.

…He had found nothing.

He stared blankly at the distant horizon.

The clouds were drifting westward.

He could clearly sense the wind speed, the humidity, and the angle of the sunlight.

But he could not understand.

Why had Chenxi in this timeline sent him an address like this?

Just to toy with him?

But the wording of that email had been so respectful. It had called him “the most valuable player” and said they welcomed him to visit the company…

His head was beginning to ache.

He truly could not understand.

He did not expect to find Liguang right away. Even a clue would have been enough…?

Something to tell him that she was still somewhere in this world, waiting for him.

But why couldn’t he find even the slightest trace connected to her?

The wind blew for a long time.

He slowly lowered his head and looked at the patch of ground below—the place where he and Liguang had once died together.

Now there was nothing there but weeds and broken stones.

Fang Qi: “…”

He was all alone.

Liguang’s little figurine was probably sitting at home all alone, waiting for him too.

But what about Liguang herself…

…Wait!

Fang Qi’s eyes suddenly lit up.

A figurine.

Since it was an officially commissioned figurine, then…

There had to be a way to buy it!

Purchase records, order details, shipping addresses…

All of those could be clues!

He immediately pulled out his phone, opened his shopping app, and started searching through his purchase history.

He searched for “Liguang”…

No results.

He searched for “figurine”…

Several pages of assorted anime merchandise popped up, all featuring characters he didn’t recognize.

He searched for “Dawn Company.”

No results.

He went through his purchased orders from beginning to end, then from beginning to end again, and then one more time…

But still, nothing.

There was no record whatsoever of anything related to Liguang’s figurine.

Fang Qi stared blankly at the screen.

…Had he bought it from a physical store?

But the game was so obscure. What physical store would even stock merchandise from it…

“Ring—!”

His phone suddenly began to ring!

Fang Qi’s body gave a slight jolt.

…Who was it?

He took a closer look.

The caller ID read: [Junior Colleague at the Company—Lin Xiaoyou].

Ah…

The tension in his brow eased slightly.

It was the amnesiac genius.

What kind of good news…

could she bring him?

He answered the call at once.

“Hello?”

“Senior!”

Lin Xiaoyou’s voice came through the receiver, filled with confusion and tinged with a hint of childish displeasure.

“Where is this game you were talking about?”

In the background, he could hear the faint tapping of a keyboard. She was probably still fiddling around at her computer while talking on the phone.

“Are you sure you weren’t messing with me? I searched for My Yandere Mechanical Wife, but the game doesn’t exist at all!”

Fang Qi: “…”

What a hopeless airhead.

“…It’s a very obscure game. Maybe it’s just difficult to find.”

“But I’ve searched so many times already!”

Lin Xiaoyou sounded even more aggrieved.

“I used all kinds of search engines and even asked several AIs. None of them had ever heard of it!”

“I also asked some coworkers who like playing games. They didn’t know anything about it either!”

Fang Qi’s brow furrowed slightly.

The genius girl in her current state was truly an idiot.

Yesterday, he had casually searched around and found several discussion threads buried in the corners of a forum. Yet she had struggled for so long and still couldn’t find anything?

In this state, Lin Xiaoyou’s brain was even less useful than his own…!

Still…

Fang Qi lowered his eyes slightly.

He did want her to play the game.

Maybe it would help awaken the genius mind that had been sealed away inside her?

“…I’ll find you a link and send it over.”

“Oh, okay! But, Senior, I could also just go to your place…”

Fang Qi: “…”

With a blank expression, he hung up the phone.

You didn’t deliberately fail to find it just so you could come to my house, did you?

Tsk.

He rested the phone on his knee and continued sitting at the edge of the rooftop, letting the wind blow against him.

Lin Xiaoyou’s interruption had helped calm his emotions somewhat.

He shook his head, picked up his phone again, and began searching for the link.

Lin Xiaoyou, my trail has gone cold, so…

Hurry up and play the game!

I need your brain.

He opened the browser, typed My Yandere Mechanical Wife into the search bar, and pressed Enter…

Then he froze.

…Huh?

He frowned and stared at the screen.

Nothing…?

All he found were novels and animations involving yandere characters and robots with vaguely similar names.

None of them had anything to do with the game.

…What was going on?

But then…

His brow relaxed again.

It wasn’t a big problem.

He had searched for it on his computer yesterday.

The links should still be in his browser history.

His phone and computer were logged into the same account, so he opened the browsing history directly—

And there they were: the pages he had visited yesterday.

He tapped one.

[404 Not Found]

Fang Qi: “…?”

He stared blankly at the error message on the screen.

…What did this mean?

His pupils slowly contracted as a frightening possibility suddenly occurred to him.

But he immediately shook his head hard!

…Impossible.

The problem was still not serious.

Dawn Company had sent him an official invitation email!

Even if the address had been wrong…

He immediately exited the browser and opened his email—

The inbox contained nothing but spam.

Fang Qi’s fingers froze.

He scrolled downward.

Nothing.

Then he scrolled back up.

Still nothing.

He went through the inbox from beginning to end, then opened the spam folder and checked the messages one by one…

They were all advertisements, promotional emails, and scams!

Fang Qi stared blankly at the list of completely unrelated emails on the screen.

Impossible…!

He remembered that email address!

He immediately opened the compose window and entered the address in the recipient field. After typing a few characters…

His finger trembled slightly as he clicked Send!

[Email failed to send. Address does not exist.]

Fang Qi stared at the notification.

His pupils slowly contracted.

…Ha.

What did this mean?

Why was it gone?

Why had that email disappeared?

Why had even the email address itself…

become “nonexistent”?

It was as if…

Fang Qi’s gaze trembled.

It was as if everything he had experienced before had never happened at all.

Fang Qi: “…”

A bone-chilling sense of dread slowly rose from the depths of his heart.

Why?

Why was this happening?

Why had everything disappeared?

Why did it feel as though…

as though…

Fang Qi’s breathing had completely stopped.

As though…

the timeline of his world had changed again at some point without him noticing.

Dawn Company was gone.

The game was gone.

Liguang…

Fang Qi’s eyes slowly widened.

Was Liguang gone too?

…Had she disappeared?

Wait…!

He suddenly held his breath!

His mind exploded with a deafening boom!

Wait a second…!

If all of those things were gone…

Liguang…?!

No, no…

There was still one thing!

That little figurine of Liguang, the one with the tiny star on her earlobe!

Was she…

Was she still there?!

She wouldn’t have disappeared too…!!

Fang Qi suddenly sprang to his feet. He nearly stepped off the edge of the rooftop and slipped over!

Liguang’s permissions were still active, but he was completely incapable of remaining calm!

He raced toward the rooftop door!!

…

…

“Bang!!!”

Fang Qi shoved open the door to his apartment!

The door slammed heavily into the wall!

He didn’t even bother closing it or taking off his shoes.

He rushed straight toward the gaming room!

No, no, no, no!

Don’t disappear!

Please, don’t let Liguang’s little figurine disappear too…!

Please, don’t disappear…!!

He charged into the room.

And then he saw it—

That crimson eye.

It was glowing faintly in the darkness.

Liguang’s little figurine was kneeling peacefully on the gaming desk, both hands cradling a tiny white porcelain teacup as she smiled sweetly.

Those heterochromatic eyes, one amber and one crimson…

were quietly watching him.

“Hah—”

Fang Qi stood in the doorway, gasping for breath.

He stared blankly at the little figurine that was still smiling at him.

His vision trembled slightly.

Ah…

…She was still here.

His legs suddenly felt weak.

He slowly walked over, his hands trembling slightly as he lifted the little figurine from the desk and held her in his palms.

The crimson eye continued to glow faintly.

The tiny star on his earlobe reflected a faint crimson gleam from his scarlet eyes.

He cradled the figurine against his chest, pressing its tiny silver head to his heart…

Then, slowly leaning against the desk, he slid down to the floor.

His back rested against the cold desk leg.

His heart was still pounding, and his breathing had yet to steady…

But he felt much better now.

Thank goodness.

Thank goodness…

It took him a long while to calm down.

The figurine in his arms had grown warm from his body heat.

It was still with him.

At least Liguang’s figurine was still here.

The game had vanished, the company had vanished, the emails had vanished, but…

This little star was still here.

Fang Qi gently pressed his face against that tiny head of silver hair and closed his eyes.

“Liguang, where in the world are you…”

“Senior?!”

Suddenly, a startled voice came from the doorway!

“Uh… wh-what are you doing?”

Fang Qi: “?”

His body stiffened slightly as he slowly turned his head.

A round-faced girl stood in the doorway.

She was wearing the familiar pink jacket, and her almond-shaped eyes were now opened as wide as saucers!

Her gaze swept back and forth several times between him and the little figurine in his arms!

Fang Qi: “…”

Lin Xiaoyou: “…”

The two of them stared at each other, wide-eyed, for several seconds.

“…What are you doing here?”

Fang Qi finally managed to break the silence.

Lin Xiaoyou opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again.

“…You said you’d send me a link, Senior, and then you disappeared…”

“You wouldn’t answer your phone or reply to my messages…”

she murmured, still visibly bewildered.

“So I thought… I’d come find you myself?”

She stared blankly at the figurine in Fang Qi’s arms, blinking several times.

“…Senior, is this… Liguang?”

Fang Qi slowly lowered his head and looked at the scarlet eyes still glowing faintly in his arms.

Then he raised his head and looked at Lin Xiaoyou, who was standing in the doorway with her eyes wide.

All at once, his expression turned solemn.

“That’s right.”

He nodded with utmost seriousness.

“Liguang is my wife.”

Lin Xiaoyou: “…”

The atmosphere grew strangely awkward.

Fang Qi sat on the floor, clutching the silver-haired, heterochromic-eyed figurine tightly to his chest, his expression utterly solemn.

The round-faced girl stood frozen in the doorway, still holding a convenience-store bag in one hand.

“…Um, Senior, I think…”

She, too, struggled to speak.

“It’d be better to have a real person as your wife…”

Hmm…

Fang Qi’s eyelid twitched.

…That sounded awfully familiar.

In his arms, the figurine’s scarlet eyes continued to glow faintly.