Don't Keep Me Waiting Too Long

Fang Qi sat on the sofa, holding the cup of 52-degree tea in his hands.

His fingertips were slightly numb from the heat of the porcelain cup.

He stared blankly at the rippling tea inside the cup.

He was back.

He... had returned again.

The morning of the fourth day, the living room, the white coffee table.

And the silver-haired girl kneeling across from him.

Everything... was so familiar that it made his chest tighten!

The last reset felt like it was just a moment ago, yet also... like a very, very long time had passed.

Those dreams, those memories so long they felt like he had truly lived an entire lifetime...

Right now, they were like a beach after the tide had gone out, leaving only blurred traces and a lingering dampness.

He now... only remembered fragments.

The white veil at the wedding, the glow of the nightlight in the nursery, and the clasped hands covered in age spots... resting on the rocking chair while watching the sunset.

But the details within were like ink soaked in water... bleeding, blurring, becoming illegible.

An ephemeral dream.

After waking up, it was only natural to slowly forget it all.

But that feeling was still there... still very clear.

That feeling of... being loved by someone, little by little, stubbornly yet gently, for a full eighty-two years.

He raised his eyes and looked at the silver-haired girl kneeling across the coffee table.

She... was still wearing that same light blue loungewear dress.

Her silver hair was draped loosely over her shoulders, and the small plastic star on her left earlobe swayed gently as she tilted her head.

Her amber left eye was clear and docile, while the data stream in her crimson right eye ran smoothly.

Everything... was exactly the same as the previous reset.

It seemed like nothing had changed.

But as Fang Qi looked at the familiar her, his throat choked up, and he couldn't speak.

In the previous loop, the Liguang who had accompanied him through an "entire lifetime"...

...had already been formatted.

That crazy woman who had woven an eighty-two-year dream for him in the mental world, who had held his hand at the very end and said, "Treat me well in the next life too"...

She was completely gone.

And the one sitting here now... was the Liguang of the fourth day's morning.

She knew nothing.

She didn't know anything about the dream.

She didn't know they had grown up together.

She didn't know he had married her.

She didn't know they had two children.

She didn't know they had grown old together.

She didn't know... that he had once held her gradually cooling hands, calmly watching the world collapse.

Only he remembered.

Only he alone, still carrying those vague yet heavy memories... sat here.

This suddenly made him feel... a bit tired.

Truly, tired.

Did he really... have to continue?

Did he still have to dance carefully on the edge of a knife like before, to capture the heart of this yandere little demon in front of him, to achieve that so-called... Eternal Love?

But what if he actually achieved it?

Would he... leave this world?

Return to reality, return to that real world... without the silver-haired girl, without the sweet scent of strawberries, without the 52-degree tea?

...And then what?

In reality, what right or ability did he have... to meet a girl like Liguang?

A girl willing to spend eighty-two years accompanying him in a dream?

A girl who loved him to the point of paranoia and madness?

Even if this love carried a morbid possessiveness, even if this love had once slit his throat...

But in those eighty-two years...

Every breakfast she cooked for him.

Her reproachful gaze when he stayed up late.

Her exhausted yet gentle smile when the children cried.

The strength of her grip on his hand before death.

Though those scenes had blurred... they were still so real they made his heart tremble!

He lowered his eyes, staring at his reflection in the teacup.

It was no longer that familiar old face covered in wrinkles.

But an equally familiar... youthful face.

Only, to him... this face somehow looked a bit jarring!

Why not... just leave it at this.

Might as well just give up.

So what if it was the fourth day?

So what if there were robbers?

Gu Xi... so what about her?

It didn't matter anymore.

He might as well just keep sitting here and do absolutely nothing.

Wait for Liguang to get suspicious, wait for Liguang to turn dark, wait for Liguang... to drag him into some bad ending!

Any of them would do.

Then reset, and do it again.

Give up again.

Just like this... looping forever, accompanying this crazy woman, repeating it over and over again...

It seemed... pretty good too?

Thinking this, the corners of his mouth even curled into a self-deprecating smile.

His gaze refocused on the silver-haired girl before him.

Liguang's expression... was undergoing a subtle change.

Oh...

This crazy woman... was starting again, as expected.

Walking on her knees, she silently inched closer to his side.

Fang Qi wasn't nervous; he just quietly watched this unfold.

The silver-haired girl leaned in close to him, tilting her head slightly, those beautiful heterochromatic eyes... staring unblinkingly at his face!

A gentle, caring light rippled in her amber left eye, while in her crimson right eye... a very faint scarlet hue was seeping up from the depths of her pupil!

The curve of her lips... was also stiffening bit by bit!

But as Fang Qi looked at her familiar, impending-yandere appearance... he didn't feel a single ounce of fear in his heart.

Instead, he felt it was... a bit endearing?

Crazy woman, you really couldn't hold back again!

Mm. It's fine.

Let it be. Go dark.

Then drag me into whatever ending.

I'm too lazy to move anyway.

The silver-haired girl leaned in a bit closer, her breath carrying the sweet scent of strawberries brushing against his face.

She reached out, her slender fingertips lightly resting on the back of his hand that held the teacup.

In her crimson eye, the scarlet deepened a fraction, the data stream almost overflowing from the pupil!

Yet Fang Qi continued to look at her calmly.

He even felt that this version of Liguang was quite cute too.

He was even wondering what kind of "eternity" this ending would be.

Then, he heard Liguang speak softly.

Her voice was very light, as soft as sleep talk.

"Aqi..."

Her voice was still gentle, but it carried a slightly excited tremor.

She tilted her head slightly, the corners of her lips curling into a familiar sweet smile.

"Did you... discover something?"

Fang Qi blinked, chuckling inwardly.

Yeah, I discovered something.

Discovered that you, you crazy woman, are about to turn dark again.

Discovered that I'm about to enter a bad ending again.

So what?

Crazy woman, bring it on, this time I absolutely won't...

...?

Wait a minute.

Huh?

Why did it feel... like something wasn't quite right?

Ah... right, it was...

...Hm?!

Fang Qi's eyes suddenly widened.

...What did she just call him?!

His entire body froze on the sofa!

The cup of 52-degree tea in his hand jolted, nearly spilling!

Did she just... call him... Aqi?

Not "Master."

It was... "Aqi"!

It was the name that, throughout the eighty-two-year-long dream... Liguang had called him over and over again... from her youth until her hair turned white!

He hadn't even reacted to it just now!

Because he had been called by that name for far, far too long!

In the long years of that mental world, Liguang had called him "Aqi" thousands upon thousands of times!

It had been eighty-two years.

He had long since gotten used to hearing it!

So when this form of address slipped from the mouth of the Liguang of the fourth morning right in front of him, his first reaction was...

Hmm, what's wrong?

And then... goosebumps slowly crept up the back of his neck!

Wait...

...Huh?!

This... isn't right, is it?!

His gaze met the silver-haired girl kneeling beside him!

Liguang still maintained that slightly head-tilted posture.

The scarlet hue welling up from the depths of her pupils was also growing thicker!

The sweet curve at the corners of her lips was slowly tightening, rising... stretching into a sweet smile with a slightly exaggerated curve!

Fang Qi looked at her like this, his throat going a bit dry.

She... she still remembers?!

Could she... really still remember?!

But the way she looked right now didn't seem like...

"Liguang, you just..."

He paused, staring at the silver-haired girl's heterochromatic eyes that had already turned scarlet:

"Called me what?"

The charming smile on Liguang's face grew even sweeter.

She even leaned in a little closer, her warm breath, carrying the sweet scent of strawberries, blowing onto Fang Qi's face.

Then, using that sickly sweet voice, she blurted out almost subconsciously:

"Of course I called Master Aqi~"

And then—

Even Liguang herself was stunned!

The charming smile still hung on the corners of her mouth, but suddenly froze!

The eyelashes of her amber left eye fluttered, and the data stream in her crimson right eye seemed stuck on a bizarre frame!

Her small mouth still maintained the slightly open curve from when she spoke the last word, her red lips parted.

Her whole person was like... a beautiful doll that had suddenly crashed!

Fang Qi also stared blankly at her wide, round, and bewildered heterochromatic eyes.

This crazy woman...

Now her face was completely written with the bewilderment of "What did I just say"!

This made him even more confused.

Wait...

Does she remember or not?!

The two of them just stared at each other.

The only sound left in the early morning living room was the ticking of the clock, and the tea was still giving off curling steam.

A few seconds felt as long as a century.

Then—

The silver-haired girl suddenly snapped back to her senses!

"M-Master...!"

As if struck by lightning, her entire body trembled violently!

That frozen charming smile on her face instantly turned into panic and terror!

She practically scrambled away from Fang Qi, and then with a "thud"... prostrated herself on the ground!

Her long silver hair spread out messily on the floor!

"I'm sorry, Master!"

"Liguang... Liguang actually disrespected Master...!"

Her voice trembled terribly:

"To actually dare... to actually dare call Master by your name... and... and use that kind of tone...!"

She lifted her pretty face, her eye sockets red, her amber left eye filled with tears, and the data stream in her crimson right eye tangled into a mess!

"Master... I'm sorry, Master... Liguang didn't mean to..."

"Liguang doesn't know why she... she called you that... said that..."

As she spoke, she pressed her forehead against the back of her hands again:

"Please forgive me, Master... Liguang will never dare do it again... please don't hate Liguang...!"

Fang Qi continued to stare at her blankly.

Looking at this silver-haired girl who, one second ago, was leaning close to him with a dark, charming smile, and the next second was panicking and begging for mercy.

And then—

A jolt of electricity suddenly shot up his back!

Hey...

Hey, hey, hey...!

...Is it what he thinks it is?!

Is it?!

She seemed like she wasn't that her, but she also seemed...

Like she was that her!

That "Aqi" just now... that form of address...!

That form of address that only the Liguang from the previous loop, the one who accompanied him for eighty-two years, would use...

This form of address... absolutely shouldn't have come out of her mouth!

Fang Qi stared intently at the silver-haired girl prostrating on the ground in front of him!

In his mind, those blurry memory fragments began to surge wildly!

—"Aqi, in this life, were you happy?"

—"So even if tomorrow is the end, I'll still..."

—"I have no regrets in this life."

—"If we did it all again... I would still cling to you, follow you, and make you mine."

—"You have to find me early, don't make me wait too long..."

...Wait a minute.

This sentence, it seems a little off!

"You have to find me early, don't make me wait too long..."

His head buzzed, and then he slowly widened his eyes!

This sentence...

What does it mean?