Chapter 567

The waves came rushing from behind and hurled you into the sea.

No.

They hurled him into the sea.

Fang Qi heard a thunderous splash beside his ears, and his entire field of vision flipped into the water.

Salty, fishy seawater pressed in from every direction, wrapping him up completely.

His body was sinking. Current after current tugged at his ankles…

Dragging him toward the depths of the sea!

But he felt no fear. Not in the slightest.

He lay on his back and looked upward. The light on the surface still shimmered before his eyes with the movement of the waves.

But the deeper he sank, the farther away and blurrier that patch of light became.

The seawater was cold as it enveloped him.

He kept his eyes open, watching the last sliver of daylight slowly disappear. In his heart…

There was, unexpectedly, a trace of helplessness.

And a hint of irritation!

Because he could feel his memories being lost bit by bit once again!

The “switch” in his mind was being gently flipped.

By some restless little hand that was deliberately fiddling with it!

In the pitch-black seawater, Fang Qi forcefully exhaled a string of bubbles through his nose.

Crazy Girl…!

But the moment he opened his mouth, seawater immediately poured in, bitter with salt!

And yet, strangely enough, it didn’t choke him.

The seawater rolled around in his mouth and blocked his throat, keeping him from speaking, but it showed no intention of drowning him.

He tried it out. He could even breathe!

Right now, he was like a fish that could breathe through its gills.

What a bizarre feeling…

He continued sinking.

Under normal circumstances, how could anyone sink in the sea? Even divers needed weights to descend.

But he was sinking now, continuing downward without end. The laws of physics had already stopped applying in this sea.

He quietly watched the light on the surface being swallowed by the darkness, bit by bit.

That was only natural.

If Liguang didn’t want him to float, then he wouldn’t float.

Buoyancy formulas, seawater density… they were nothing more than lines of code that could be changed with a casual gesture.

As long as Liguang refused to let him rise, all he could do was sink little by little.

Sink all the way to the seabed, sink even deeper, sink until he reached the place Liguang decided was “deep enough.”

Fang Qi gazed at the increasingly dim light above him, somewhat dazed.

This place… was ultimately different from the real world.

Even if the seawater tasted just as salty and the sunlight was just as glaring… it was still different.

The real world wasn’t nearly so beautiful.

A gray, murky sky where the sun could not be seen.

Rubble, clouds of dust, and a desolate silence maddening enough to drive anyone insane.

That was the real world.

Still…

It was quite silent here, too.

The pressure of the seawater grew heavier as the depth increased.

But he felt not the slightest discomfort from it.

He only felt as though his body were wrapped in a thin membrane. The seawater pressed in from every direction, yet it was never able to harm him.

And besides…

It was dark.

Far too dark.

He couldn’t see a thing. All he could feel was the current carrying him deeper and deeper.

Within this pure, absolute darkness, Fang Qi’s senses became extraordinarily sharp.

He felt the movement of the currents and the changes in temperature. Then…

He heard something else.

The sound rose from even deeper beneath the sea. It was a low, slow hum that made the seawater tremble ever so slightly.

The sound was drawing closer.

Closer and closer…

Fang Qi held his breath.

So close.

So close that… perhaps if he reached out his hand, he could touch its skin.

Something was right in front of him.

He couldn’t see it, but he knew…

It seemed to be an existence so enormous that it defied imagination.

So enormous that his entire body might not even equal a single one of its scales.

It was right beside him now, perhaps even directly before his eyes…

Breathing slowly.

Perhaps a pair of enormous eyes was staring at him from the depths of the sea…

Watching him in silence.

The seawater drifted gently.

That deep hum was so close, so very close…

But…

The corners of Fang Qi’s lips curved upward.

Should he be afraid?

No. There was nothing to fear.

He trusted Liguang. This was Liguang’s world—what danger could there be?

He trusted even more that no matter what this colossal creature was, it would never harm him.

Because in this conflict, neither Liguang nor the other side could possibly harbor any ill will toward him.

He was quite confident.

After all, those other eight Cores were his…

…His what, again?

Fang Qi’s train of thought suddenly broke off right there.

He struggled to remember in the depths of the sea, but he couldn’t.

…Sigh.

He continued sinking, shaking his head slightly.

This feeling was truly unpleasant.

Wife, you really know how to play. Are you angry because you realized I played a trick on you, too?

You threw me straight into a trench?

…Don’t be like that.

Isn’t this just “returning the favor”?

A little back-and-forth between husband and wife is all part of the fun!

We only pulled one little trick on each other. What is there to get angry about?

You also made a complete mess of my original plan, and I didn’t say anything, did I?

Honestly, you’re always getting worked up over nothing!

The corners of Fang Qi’s lips lifted slightly as he allowed himself to keep sinking.

At some point, the enormous hum in the darkness had already faded into the distance.

It had left without a sound, just as silently as it had arrived.

He closed his eyes and felt his body being enveloped by the seawater.

Everything around him fell completely silent.

And then he thought of Lin Xiaoyou.

That silly sweetheart of a junior from his company. The moment she saw him, she would rush over calling, “Senior! Senior!” Even when he pushed her away, she would never give up.

That silly sweetheart.

His breathing gradually slowed.

Lin You.

Miss Genius.

The cleverest “soul” ever born from this world.

She had taught him the “memory switch”—a method that deceived the heavens, fooled the world, and even tricked Liguang.

But the “side effect” was truly no small matter.

Liguang, the “heroine” in his plan, had now reached out from inside the “screen” with that little hand of hers…

And grabbed his heart in one squeeze!

Now, he truly had nowhere left to run.

Fang Qi closed his eyes and sighed softly in the seawater. Tiny bubbles slipped from the corner of his lips.

Come to think of it…

There had been signs of this long ago—in Miss Genius herself.

Miss Genius’s silly sweetheart personality had fallen for him, which had led to…

Even after recovering her memories, Miss Genius now had some strange feelings for him as well.

What a troublesome fixation.

That kind of “liking” was a suggestion implanted in her when Lin Xiaoyou was born.

An ordinary, simple kind of affection.

But even so, Lin You, after recovering her memories, was still influenced by this “liking” written into her settings.

Miss Genius herself had never expected something like this to happen, had she?

Neither had he.

But now, he understood.

The person affected by that method, by that “switch,” had never been a different personality at all.

Lin Xiaoyou wanted to stay by his side, smile at him, and make those intimate, faintly flirtatious little gestures…

And Lin You wanted the same.

Because that was who she was.

They were simply different versions of her at different stages, carrying different memories.

…What about him?

His situation was even more extreme.

Lin Xiaoyou’s feelings for him were a suggestion she had planted in herself. They were part of her settings, and even that had managed to influence Lin You…

He had never planned to make himself fall in love with his own “heroine.”

Fang Qi slowly opened his eyes.

Points of light had begun to appear in the seawater.

Deep beneath the sea, those faint glimmers seemed to come from another world, flickering in and out of sight within the darkness.

Fang Qi watched the hazy specks of light and gave a bitter smile.

Back then, what did he know about love?

In his plan, what he wanted was to “conquer” her.

The kind of one-sided conquest found in old-school galgames.

The player reached the final ending with the heroine. It was happy, sure, but…

Then he could turn around and go after the other heroines—the kind of carefree “conquest” where nothing really mattered.

He had never thought of himself as some kind of pure-love warrior, or as a devoted man.

The heroine’s tears excited him. The heroine’s descent into darkness made his heart race. The heroine’s embrace filled him with pride…

That was who he was.

Then he would save his game, load it again, and open the doors to the other routes.

That was the kind of person he was.

A player who loved yanderes, chased thrills, and danced on the edge of a blade.

That was him.

He had never intended to truly fall in love with the “heroine” he had created.

And Liguang’s “twisted love” for him—that was the setting he had given her!

The heroine was supposed to love the player forever, wasn’t she?

So…

That mad Crazy Girl who had severed his leg at the slightest disagreement and turned him into a doll—that was the setting he had given her from the very beginning.

That was what the “heroine” in his plan was supposed to look like!

A perfect work of art, painstakingly crafted by him.

His body continued sinking.

He could no longer feel the pressure of the seawater.

All around him, there was nothing but those points of light and the sensation of falling endlessly.

Fang Qi felt as if he were floating among the clouds. It was comfortable.

But he still let out a soft sigh.

Because everything had changed.

Liguang had changed.

And so had he.

His plan had actually gone very well.

Nearly everything had developed exactly as he had anticipated.

The world had continued moving steadily forward. There had been only one mistake…

He himself had failed.

He had failed to keep himself from falling in.

The “player” in the plan had actually been conquered by the “heroine.”

How embarrassing.

Truly embarrassing.

He was the player—the one who planned everything, arranged everything, and treated everyone as pieces on a chessboard.

And yet, in the end, now that he had regained his memories, he actually felt the urge…

The urge to remain here with Liguang forever, just like the foolish, clueless idiot he had been while his memories were gone!

To ignore everything, to take on no responsibilities!

To stop caring about what was happening outside or whether anyone was waiting for him!

To live an easy life with Liguang, occasionally being locked up by his jealous yandere wife and thoroughly doted on…

Wouldn’t that be wonderful…

It really would.

The thought made his entire body go limp.

But no.

He took a deep breath. Although seawater blocked his throat, he could breathe without difficulty.

He… had… to…!

Suddenly, something solid pressed against his back.

The impact broke his train of thought.

He lay there, feeling the surface against his back.

…Had he already reached the seafloor?

He didn’t know. He couldn’t see a thing.

The darkness of the deep sea was like a heavy blanket, smothering him completely.

And then…

His gaze went blank for a moment.

What was it that he had to do…?

His memories were fading badly.

The thoughts that had been so clear only moments ago now remained only as vague outlines.

He couldn’t remember.

He had forgotten again.

He was about to become that clueless fool once more—the happy idiot who knew nothing except that he wanted to stay with his wife forever.

Just like Lin Xiaoyou, knowing nothing, stupidly…

That was a kind of happiness too, wasn’t it?

But…

“No, I can’t…”

Fang Qi lay on the seafloor and murmured.

His voice was muffled beneath the seawater, mingling with the bubbles and becoming indistinct.

Liguang, just now, you asked me…

“Isn’t this exactly what you wanted?”

Don’t pretend.

I know.

That “narrator” who has been speaking to me all this time—the one who can conjure choices out of thin air…

That’s you, isn’t it?

You’re the goddess of this world. If it isn’t you, who else could it be?

I’m answering you now.

No.

This isn’t what I want.

Wife, you don’t need to test me anymore.

That was what the me from the past wanted, not what I want now.

Even after recovering my memories, I don’t want this anymore.

I don’t want it at all.

I don’t want to…

Trade you for a “new world.”

I want this world, this life, and this person—I want all of it.

I want to leave with you and return together to that place that needs me.

Don’t you want to come with me and see the real sun?

Don’t you want to see those trees sprouting in the spring breeze?

Liguang, my Crazy Girl…

Let’s walk together toward the “new world,” all right?

Trust your Master. Trust your husband.

Fang Qi blinked beneath the sea. The icy water scraped across his eyes, stinging them.

I’ll find a way.

I don’t want to become a widower.

I absolutely refuse to…!

Don’t… don’t…

Don’t what?

The darkness around him gave no answer. The deep sea was utterly silent.

His memories were still vanishing faster and faster.

He felt… as if he were about to turn back into that clueless, blissfully bubbling idiot once more.

Fang Qi felt the cold deep-sea water enveloping him and stared blankly into the darkness before him.

…Huh?