Remember Me at This Moment

Fang Qi's mind went blank for a long time...

He opened his mouth, staring blankly at the silver-haired girl who was looking at him with such gentle yet poignant sorrow.

Leave?

What leav—

Then, suddenly, a buzz rang in his head!

It was as if something had exploded in his mind!

He suddenly understood!

That was it...

The current Liguang...

She knew everything!!

In her eyes, reaching the [Eternal True Love] ending and the player clearing the game meant—

He would leave this world!

Leave her!

What he thought was the perfect ending was, in her heart... the ultimate separation!

But... that wasn't what he meant at all!!

He hadn't thought that far ahead at all...

He had only figured that things would work themselves out when the time came... there would definitely be a way!

"I'm not—"

He spoke frantically, his voice cracking!

The hands cupping her face also tightened slightly:

"Liguang, listen to me, I didn't mean it like that! I really didn't want to—"

A cool fingertip gently pressed against his lips at that moment.

Liguang looked up, her beautiful face already pale.

Those heterochromatic eyes, gradually losing their focus, clearly reflected his panicked face!

Her slender fingertip pressed against his lower lip, stopping his unspoken explanation.

"I know."

She said softly, her lips still carrying that gentle, almost desolate curve:

"I know Aqi didn't mean to break my heart."

She paused, her breathing growing a bit rapid, her chest beginning to heave slightly.

Her fingertips also began to tremble uncontrollably!

"But, Aqi..."

Her voice trembled as well.

The mist in her eyes quickly gathered, turning into two crystal drops that silently slid down her pale cheeks:

"I am... a selfish person."

Her other hand tightly gripped the fabric at his chest!

Her knuckles turned white!

"I love you to the point of madness... love you to the bone!"

"From the first time I brought you that cup of 52-degree tea in the living room, from the first time you reloaded the game because of my mistake..."

"This love... has never changed!"

The more she spoke, the faster she talked, but her voice... became increasingly broken, like a damaged cassette tape!

The data stream in her crimson eye began to flash and spark wildly!

It illuminated half of her face in flickering light!

Fang Qi's pupils contracted sharply, and he still wanted to explain: "Liguang, I...!"

"Listen to me!!!"

Liguang's fingers suddenly tightened!

She forcefully cut off Fang Qi's words!

"We lived through an eighty-two-year dream... We grew old together, died together..."

"This love will only grow deeper, hotter!!"

"So hot that I'm... going to burn up!!"

She suddenly leaned forward, pressing her forehead against his!

Her breath was scorching, carrying a sweet strawberry scent and a hint of... the burnt smell of overloaded components!

Her heterochromatic eyes still held that touch of gentleness, but the madness and sickness in the depths of her gaze were constantly surging outward!

Fang Qi... stared at her blankly.

He wanted to say something, but the words were caught in his chest by her increasingly crazed emotions!

"I know Aqi can reload the game..."

"I know that to you, this might just be another attempt..."

Her voice dropped again, turning into an almost frantic murmur:

"Since Aqi still wants to leave me..."

"Since that [Eternal True Love] will eventually take you away from me...!"

She raised her head, her hands violently grabbing his arms!

The sheer force of it made him gasp instantly!

He felt as if he could hear his own bones groaning under the immense pressure.

"Then let me...!"

She stared at him, her amber left eye completely submerged in tears!

Yet her crimson right eye burst with a terrifying red light!

"Let me make Aqi reload!!"

Fang Qi froze completely.

The agonizing pain from his arms was incredibly real.

The tragic yet crazed face of Liguang before him was also incredibly real.

Her words were like ice picks, driving into his brain one by one!

"No... I didn't mean that... I meant..."

Fang Qi explained incoherently.

He... didn't mean that at all!!

He just... just hadn't thought that far ahead...!

But... but in her eyes...

He was exactly that!

The current him was just a player obsessed with achieving the good ending!

A visitor from another world who would eventually clear the game and leave!

Fang Qi's mind truly went completely blank!

He really didn't know how to explain himself anymore...

He really... didn't know!!

He could only watch helplessly as the joints of Liguang's fingers gripping his arms cracked...

Her fingertips... even began to emit an unnatural, scarlet glow!

His mind was a chaotic, blank mess; he just stared blankly at this Liguang before him, who had suddenly shifted from gentle to insane!

Was he... going to have his wrists crushed?

Or... have a limb cleanly severed, and then reload?

By this gentle Liguang who had accompanied him for eighty-two years...?

His throat went dry.

He wanted to explain, but he had absolutely no idea how.

He could only watch... as the vortex of madness in her eyes swirled deeper and deeper, watch as that gentle smile on her lips...

Gradually twisted into an arc of desperate sweetness!

However, in the very next second—

The hands Liguang used to grip his arms... suddenly let go.

With the force removed, Fang Qi even stumbled half a step backward from the momentum, his back hitting the cold wall of the elevator.

And the elevator... had stopped in mid-air at some unknown point.

The silver-haired girl stood where she was, her hands... hanging limply at her sides.

She lowered her head, her silver hair hiding her expression...

Only her shoulders were shaking violently and silently!

"...I... can't do it."

Her voice was hoarse, carrying a heavy, suppressed, trembling sob!

"To Aqi... I can't bring myself to do it..."

"Even knowing you would reload... that you would come back... I still..."

Then... she suddenly threw her head back!

Tears had already blurred her entire face, her silver hair clinging to her wet cheeks and the corners of her mouth.

In those heterochromatic eyes... madness and tenderness clashed and tore at each other violently!

Ultimately... melting into a heartbreaking, tragic despair!

"But, Aqi..."

She said softly.

Her voice suddenly became... terrifyingly calm.

"I possess the memories of all the playthroughs. I know that as long as I am destroyed..."

"You can still reload the game... right?"

Fang Qi stared at her blankly.

"...Eh?"

Then he saw...

She slowly raised her right hand, those slender fingertips...

Resolutely and steadily—reaching toward the back of her own neck!

There, hidden beneath the silver hair...

Was her most fragile core interface!

Only then did he realize what Liguang was trying to do!

Fang Qi's head... buzzed loudly once more!

...No.

No...!

No, no, no!

You can't!!

He couldn't...!

He couldn't let this gentle Liguang, who had been by his side for eighty-two years, who couldn't bear to hurt him...

Say goodbye to him like this in the very, very end!!!

Absolutely not!!!

"No!!!"

A roar tore from his throat, and he lunged forward instantly!

Desperately grabbing Liguang's wrists, he wrenched them backward with every ounce of his strength!

"Liguang! Stop! Stop it!!!"

"Listen to me! I was wrong! I shouldn't have said that!"

"Don't do this! Don't—!"

He was babbling incoherently, his voice trembling!

His fingers clamped desperately onto her wrist, but that inhuman, monstrous strength...

...continued moving relentlessly toward the back of her neck!

His resistance couldn't stop her in the slightest!!

"Look at me! Liguang! Look at me!!"

He reached out with his other hand to cup her face, forcing her to look at him!

He locked eyes with her, gazing deeply into those pupils that were already thoroughly drenched in tears!

"I'm not leaving! I won't go for that damn ending anymore! We'll just stay here! We'll keep looping forever!"

"I'll stay with you! I'll stay with you forever!"

"Please... don't hurt yourself... don't...!"

Liguang... let him cup her face.

Tears continued to roll down, gliding past his trembling fingertips.

She looked at him, her eyes so tender they seemed to melt, yet they were already losing focus, like... a well on the verge of running dry.

"Aqi... you're lying to me again."

She spoke softly, trying hard to lift the corners of her lips, but only managing to pull a broken, tragic smile:

"I know... you still have a real home over there, and real family..."

"Unlike Liguang, they... are all real..."

"So, I don't blame you..."

Her right hand was still inching, unwaveringly, toward the back of her neck.

Fang Qi could hear his own finger bones letting out overwhelmed groans.

"I can't change Aqi..."

Her voice lowered, carrying a mournful sense of resignation:

"But... even if I can only do it once..."

"Even if... I can only delay it a little bit...!"

She suddenly leaned in, her cold, soft lips pressing incredibly lightly, incredibly fast...

...against his trembling lips!

A farewell kiss... carrying the salty bitterness of tears and the sweet fragrance of strawberries!

"I also want..."

"...to slow your footsteps toward that ending...!"

She murmured against his lips, her breath scorching hot:

"If... if Aqi really, still loves me... even just a little bit..."

Her right hand finally touched the roots of the hair at the back of her neck.

Her fingertips fumbled and pressed an invisible latch. A faint click sounded, deafeningly clear in the dead silence of the elevator car.

The protective layer retracted, leaving the core interface—completely exposed.

Fang Qi's vision... had also been blurred by tears!

"No... no... no...!"

He gripped Liguang's hand with all his might, staring fixedly into Liguang's eyes, shaking his head non-stop!

"Then please remember..."

Liguang looked at him deeply, the final light in her eyes...

Madness, tenderness, longing, despair...!

All emotions exploded into an utterly dazzling galaxy!

"...remember my ending in this moment!!"

The instant her voice fell—

Her five fingers dug viciously into the back of her own neck!!

"Zzz-crack—!!!!!"

An ear-piercing, colossal explosion of electrical currents violently burst forth!

Blinding, scorching blue-white lightning shot out frantically from the interface at the back of her neck!

Instantly swallowing the entire elevator car!

"No—!!!!!"

His hoarse scream was devoured by the deafening blast!

All that remained before his eyes was that destructive light...

And in the center of the light, the silver-haired girl's face...

...wearing a poignantly beautiful smile, rapidly losing its spark of life!

He reached out frantically, trying to grab onto something...

But he only managed to brush against a few strands of silver hair that quickly lost their luster in the electric glow.

[Ending ??: Despairing True Love]

You have witnessed her final moments of lucidity and self-destruction.

She ended her 'self,' which carried eighty-two years of memories, by her own hand right in front of you, in the most absolute manner.

She knew full well that you would rewind time.

She knew full well that in the next loop, she would no longer remember this tragic farewell.

Yet she still used the blinding light of her shattered core to...

...carve an eternal, indelible brand deep within your soul.

Through her despairing yet deeply affectionate self-destruction, she became the nightmare that blocks your path forward.

And toward this...

She gladly accepted it.

BAD ENDING

And then—

Darkness.

Absolute, nihilistic...

Darkness that devoured everything.

...

White light.

White light so piercing it could make one tear up.

Fang Qi snapped his eyes open!

His lungs... burned with pain.

It was as if he had just experienced the suffocation of drowning!

His vision was still a bit out of focus. It took a long time... for his sight to slowly gather and clear.

White ceiling, minimalist light strips, a soft sofa.

Across the coffee table, the silver-haired girl was kneeling, her pale blue loungewear dress spread out like flower petals.

She had her eyes slightly lowered, holding a white porcelain teacup with both hands, gently pushing it in front of him.

On her earlobe, that cheap plastic star swayed gently with her movements.

She raised her eyes.

Her amber left eye was docile and clear, while data streams ran smoothly within her crimson right eye.

The corners of her lips curled into a standard, gentle arc, her voice soft:

"Good morning, Master."

Pausing for a moment, she lowered her head again and added in a small voice, carrying a trace of perfectly measured...

...caution that belonged to Liguang on the morning of the fourth day.

Yet it lacked... that water-like tenderness.

"Your tea."

"The temperature has been adjusted to your favorite 52 degrees Celsius."