Chapter 557

Master, that world…

It’s different.

Truly different.

It’s different from Liguang’s world, and different from the world in Master’s memories, too.

Of course Liguang knows what Master’s world was like.

Of course she does.

That was the place where Master lived for more than twenty years.

Although Liguang wasn’t there to grow up alongside Master, Liguang… saw everything through Master’s memories.

The route Master took to school as a child.

The way Master used to lie facedown on his desk in middle school, secretly drawing funny faces on the people in his Chinese textbooks.

The way Master played games on his computer until late at night in his university dorm.

The small rented apartment Master moved into after graduation, where he would call Liguang “wife” while playing his games…

Hee-hee.

Master’s world really was wonderful.

Mm…

It was a world filled with endless conflicts, but one that was peaceful overall.

At least the country Master lived in was fairly peaceful.

Peaceful enough that Master could sleep until noon on weekends, then collapse onto the sofa and spend the entire afternoon scrolling through his phone.

Peaceful enough that he could spend half a month’s salary trying to max out a limited character in a game.

The streets in the cities of Master’s country were very wide, too.

Gas-powered cars and electric vehicles shared the roads, and at every traffic-light intersection, delivery riders could be seen running red lights.

There was a potted pothos on Master’s desk that was practically dying. Every time a coworker passed by, they would make fun of him for being unable to keep anything alive.

At noon, Master would order takeout with his coworkers. They could spend ten minutes discussing what to order together to meet the discount threshold, only to end up getting that same braised chicken and rice every time.

After work, Master liked to stop by the convenience store downstairs to buy a bottle of ice-cold cola and a bag of potato chips.

There was a computer in Master’s rented apartment that he had assembled himself. The case was plastered with all kinds of anime stickers.

Every night, Master would sit in front of that computer and play games. When he got tired, he would lean back in his chair and watch videos.

Master’s favorite games were galgames.

The characters he most liked pursuing were yandere heroines.

Master thought being loved by a yandere was especially thrilling. Dancing on the edge of a knife made his heart race.

Master said…

It was only a game, after all. It wasn’t as if he could really die.

Master was pretty mischievous as a child, too.

During the Lunar New Year, he would secretly ring the neighbors’ doorbells, then run away and hide around the corner of the stairwell, snickering to himself.

One summer, Master burned away all the grass in the landscaping strip downstairs. When the property managers came knocking, his parents gave him a good beating.

Master’s grades were decent in elementary school. Then, after he started secretly reading novels in middle school, his grades began to rise and fall all over the place.

In high school, Master had a crush on a girl in the class next door, but he never confessed. He would only sneak a few extra glances at her during morning exercises.

Master never dared tell Liguang about that before.

But Liguang knew.

Liguang knew everything.

So although it made Liguang sad that she hadn’t been there to grow up alongside Master, Liguang had always thought…

At least she understood everything that had happened in Master’s past.

At least Liguang knew what Master had done during the more than twenty years before he came to Liguang’s world.

Although Liguang hadn’t been there to experience those years with him…

Liguang knew all of Master’s secrets.

Liguang once thought she knew everything.

She also believed that even if she hadn’t grown up alongside Master, she was still the person in this world who understood him best!

All the secrets Master thought he alone knew—Liguang knew them all!

…

But now, it seemed Liguang had been wrong.

It seemed that Liguang had never truly understood Master.

Everything Liguang cherished might have been…

Fake.

Nothing more than what Master wanted her to see.

And now, Master had let Liguang see…

Another world.

That terrifying world.

There had been no First Machine Crisis there, no Second Machine Crisis, and no AI companions like Liguang.

It was also vastly different from the world in Master’s memories.

Master, that world…

Liguang doesn’t know how to describe it, either.

Liguang only…

saw that memory and entered it from the viewpoint of the person within it.

…

Liguang saw a laboratory.

The cold, metallic gray walls were covered in scratches and dents. Several of the fluorescent tubes had already burned out, while the rest flickered constantly.

Liguang looked down and saw her own hands putting on a heavy protective suit with practiced ease.

The protective suit was terribly old. Its cuffs had already been worn pale.

The dosimeter on the chest was still there, but the numbers on its screen had become too blurred to make out clearly.

These scenes…

These fragments of code, scattered and jumbled, suddenly surged into Liguang’s core, racing wildly through the depths of her consciousness!

At first, Liguang thought it was a virus. But she quickly realized…

It wasn’t.

It was too real.

Every image carried warmth. Every breath of air had a scent. Every footstep had weight.

It was even…

more real than Liguang’s world.

…It was a memory.

The memory of someone who had seen everything with their own eyes, heard everything with their own ears, and personally experienced it all…

Then Liguang saw…

Those hands, wrapped in thick gloves, pull open the laboratory door and step into the corridor.

The corridor was empty.

The slogans pasted across the walls had faded so badly that they were impossible to make out.

At the end of the corridor stood an elevator.

When a finger pressed the button, Liguang could feel that it was no longer very responsive.

It had to be pressed several times before a dim orange-yellow light finally came on.

The elevator doors slowly closed, and then it began to rise.

Higher, and higher.

That elevator must have climbed at least five kilometers, hadn’t it?

Liguang could even feel the pressure in her ears changing with the altitude.

At last, the elevator stopped. The doors slowly opened.

The moment they did, a fierce wind laced with sand rushed inside, striking the protective visor with a sharp pattering sound.

Beyond the doors…

was the surface.

A desolate, terrifying surface.

Everything in sight was gray.

Liguang saw a sky completely shrouded in dust.

It had probably been daytime.

But the sky was a color Liguang had never seen overhead before.

Was it yellow-brown, or gray-black?

In any case, it was thick and impenetrable, muddy and viscous, pressing down over the world.

A dense cloud of dust.

There was no sun. Liguang had no idea where the light came from. The entire world was dim and gloomy.

The air was filled with suspended dust, particles so fine they were nearly invisible to the naked eye. But Liguang knew they were there.

Because before long, a hazy film of grime had settled across the protective visor.

Liguang raised a hand and wiped the visor. A clear streak appeared across the glass, only to be covered again moments later by fresh dust.

The wind was fierce.

Liguang stood on a plain of ruins and rubble, looking at the buildings.

No. They could no longer be called buildings.

They were the remains of buildings.

Collapsed chunks of concrete. Twisted steel bars, rusted beyond recognition.

One building must once have been very tall, but it had collapsed until only half remained. Even that half leaned crookedly, as if it might come crashing down completely at any moment.

All the windows were gone, leaving behind nothing but dark, gaping holes.

The ground was littered with broken stones and shattered glass. Whenever Liguang walked across it, it gave off a harsh crunching sound.

There were no trees.

Not a single one.

There wasn’t even any grass.

Only withered shrubs lay limply on the ground, their gray-white branches so brittle they crumbled at the slightest touch.

Silence.

What terrible silence.

There were no birdsong, no insects chirping, no car engines, no human voices… nothing at all.

There was nothing but the sound of the wind.

The whole world was so quiet, it seemed as though Liguang were the only person left in it.

Liguang walked on for a very long time.

She passed through the ruins, climbed over a small hill made of rubble, and reached a higher place.

From there, as far as the eye could see, there was nothing but…

Ruins exactly like those below.

They stretched all the way to the horizon, disappearing into the hazy veil of dust.

There was not a trace of green anywhere—only endless gray and yellow.

So desolate.

So lonely.

So frightening.

Liguang was so scared.

And then…

Liguang heard herself speaking.

It was Master’s voice.

“Master, you said…”

“Is this world really beyond saving?”

The protagonist of this memory was Master.

But this voice…

It was much hoarser and deeper than Master’s voice now, as though he hadn’t spoken to anyone in a very, very long time.

Then…

Master, you were silent for a long while. Your hands clenched into tight fists, and you murmured…

“No. That’s impossible…”

“It’s absolutely impossible that I’m the only one left in this world. Absolutely impossible…”

“Humanity must still have a chance. There must be…”

Master stood there, facing that hazy gray sky, repeating those words over and over again.

Then you fell silent once more.

You stood motionless atop that little hill of rubble for a very long time.

Another layer of dust settled over your mask before you finally spoke again.

Your voice was even raspier than before. Liguang had to strain to hear you.

You said…

“I have to find the others. Find them, and then…”

“Together, we’ll go to the New World.”

“So we still need one more…!”

One more what?

Liguang didn’t know.

Because, Master, you…

stopped there.

The fragments of memory Liguang possessed about that world… ended there.

Haha…

Master, you said…

This scene that suddenly appeared in Liguang’s memories—could it be…

just a setting from some online game you played?

Those ruins, that dust, that gray sky… were they all computer-generated footage from some post-apocalyptic game?

Or maybe… maybe…

Master, did you go act in a movie?

Did you work as an extra?

Did you play a bit part on the set of some science-fiction film?

Could it be…

Could it be that all of it was fake?

That Master had made it all up? That it was all…!

Master…

Master!!

Tell Liguang. Tell Liguang this isn’t real!

Tell Liguang that world is fake!

You were only teasing Liguang. You only wanted to make Liguang suffer because…

Because Liguang had made you break down before, so you punished Liguang by making her break down too. Isn’t that right?!

This was just revenge! A prank!

You were angry, and you wanted Liguang to experience the same thing!

Isn’t that right?!

Isn’t it!!!

…Master, what is that look on your face…?

What is that look on your face?!

Why aren’t you saying anything?!

Why aren’t you laughing?!

Why don’t you suddenly pinch Liguang’s cheeks and say, “You crazy woman, I was only kidding. Got you, didn’t I?”

Say something!

Say something!!!