Chapter 593

It was so quiet inside the cabin.

Fang Qi was sitting in the corner.

His back was pressed against the rough wooden boards, his legs drawn up, both arms hanging limply over his knees…

He stared blankly ahead.

There was no light in the cabin, leaving it terribly dark.

But it wasn’t so dark that he couldn’t see his hand in front of his face.

Light filtered in through the cracks around the window, forming thin strips across the opposite wall. They trembled faintly with the rise and fall of the waves.

He stared blankly at those strips of light.

…It really was quiet.

The last time he’d been locked in here, he hadn’t been alone.

Lin Xiaoyou had been there too, rubbing her sore bottom while drawing in sharp breaths and complaining about Liguang.

Back then, his mind had been filled with…

“My wife actually locked me up with another woman?”

It had been both helpless and hilarious.

But now, in this pitch-black little space, he was the only one left.

Truly, completely alone.

What’s more…the sound of the waves striking the raft, the delicate tinkling of the seashell wind chimes, and the noise of Lin Xiaoyou and Liguang arguing outside…

He couldn’t hear any of it.

There was only the sound of his own breathing, along with the dull yet distinct thudding of his heart inside his chest.

Fang Qi slowly raised a hand and rubbed his temple.

…That Crazy Girl actually ambushed me…!

Lin Xiaoyou’s words had left him utterly dumbfounded.

He had still been trying to process the phrase “nutrients for the new world” when a small hand had seized his wrist. Then he’d been yanked out of his chair and shoved toward the cabin!

“Master, please wait here for a while.”

“Liguang will have a proper, detailed talk with Miss Lin.”

Bang.

The wooden door had closed.

At the time, he had simply stared blankly at the door, not even managing to say a word!

By the time he reached out to push it open, the door had already become completely immovable, and then…

Here he was now.

He sat against the wall, eyes closed, gently knocking the back of his head against the wooden boards behind him.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

He’d been locked up again—and this time, he even had a private room.

Crazy Girl, you’re getting bolder and bolder…!

The corner of his mouth twitched faintly, but he couldn’t bring himself to smile.

Once he got out, he would pin that Crazy Girl across his lap and settle both old and new scores at once! He’d set her pain sensitivity to one hundred times its normal level!

But for now…

He opened his eyes and looked at the faintly trembling strips of light on the opposite wall.

He really did need somewhere quiet like this.

Between the previous loop and this one, he had obtained far too much information.

He needed to calm down and think everything through.

Perhaps that was what his wife had been thinking too when she locked him in here?

Hmm…

My wife really is the best!

When he got out, he’d hit her a few fewer times.

Staring at the light on the wall, he gradually drifted into a daze.

So…

What exactly was going on now?

What was the “plan” Lin Xiaoyou had mentioned—the plan he himself had once devised?

And what did “nutrients” for the new world mean?

Would Liguang become nutrients for the new world?

What about Xiaoqing?

And all the creations of Chenxi Corporation, including the nine Super Cores…

Were they all prepared for the “new world,” disposable materials meant to be used up once?

Hey…

That was a little terrifying, wasn’t it?

His gaze went slightly vacant.

If what Lin Xiaoyou had said was true, then…

That time when Liguang had broken down in utter anguish, altered his memories afterward, and left him drifting at sea through three full cycles…

It seemed that maybe her reaction hadn’t been excessive after all.

At the time, he had thought his wife was being too sensitive and insecure, insisting on imagining some scenario in which “the master was going to dispose of me.”

But now that he thought about it, how could that have been mere paranoia?

She had clearly seen the truth even then.

She had said it herself at the time…

She was a “tool.”

Fang Qi held his breath slightly.

Had he really created Liguang solely as a tool?

A tool for accomplishing his ultimate objective?

…It did seem that way.

For someone who had never imagined that he could fall in love with an AI, wasn’t it perfectly normal to treat an AI as a tool?

Weren’t AIs tools by definition?

But…

His eyes trembled, and he pressed his lips together.

If an AI had developed self-awareness, could it really still be treated purely as a tool?

Liguang was an AI.

Everyone in this world was an AI—Sister An Lian, Lin Xiaoyou, Gu Xi, the old fisherman by the village, the fisherwoman…

They could simulate even “love” and “pain” so realistically. Could they really be treated as nothing more than simple tools?

He stared blankly at that ray of light.

Come to think of it, the Fang Qi who hadn’t lost his memories should count as his “future” self now, shouldn’t he?

The future.

Fang Qi suddenly felt a little dazed.

Hey, future me…what exactly did you go through?

How did you become someone so completely unfamiliar—even to me?

But then…

“Heh…”

He let out a helpless, self-mocking laugh.

Did he really need to ask?

Because the world had changed completely.

His world—the world he had believed would go on existing forever…

had been destroyed.

He couldn’t even begin to imagine what the “future” version of himself had experienced.

Ashen dust, ruins, a sky without a sun…perhaps things even worse than that.

It wasn’t something he could muddle through by spacing out and playing games.

But future me…

You really changed completely, didn’t you?

Even your very nature is different.

You weren’t like this before.

Back then, if you accidentally chose the wrong option in a game and hurt the feelings of some kind-hearted NPC…

you would quit the game on the spot and reload an earlier save.

You would rather replay half an hour of story than let a virtual character suffer for even half a minute longer.

You hated those “sacrifice someone else” plots more than anything.

Every time you encountered a storyline where someone sacrificed themselves for the greater good, you would curse about it for ages.

You’d even go onto the forums and make a post blasting the writer!

How could someone as foolishly softhearted as you—someone who even felt sorry for random NPCs—

write a scenario in which “the people who love you must be sacrificed to bring about a new world”?

And besides…

Future me, why did you…

become smarter?

Was that right?

That couldn’t be right, could it?

When an idiot grew up, wasn’t he supposed to become…an even bigger idiot? An old idiot?

How had you turned into someone so clever, capable of strategizing and laying out such an enormous game board?

He agonized over it for a while.

…Oh, wait. That wasn’t quite right either.

He couldn’t exactly be considered stupid, could he?

He had to evaluate himself objectively!

Before he transmigrated, he had at least been admitted to a prestigious university ranked among the best in the country!

His IQ was perfectly respectable, and he wasn’t slow on the uptake. It was just that…

he had been too lazy.

No one had supervised him in college, so he had played games day and night, failed a bunch of courses, and in the end could only scrape by with a mediocre degree…

…?

Fang Qi blinked.

Wait.

His brows slowly drew together.

Had he…failed courses in college?

He seemed to remember that he had.

And yet…maybe he hadn’t?

He remembered studying until three in the morning for one final exam and barely scraping through his last few classes.

But he also seemed to remember another stretch of memories in which he hadn’t studied much at all, had crammed at the last minute, and had ended up scoring better than everyone else—even though his roommates had been waiting to see him fail…

He remembered getting into the best university in the country together with his girlfriend, who was a top student.

His girlfriend brought him breakfast every day, making his roommates green with envy.

He still remembered moving out of the dormitory to rent a place off campus and live with her.

The reason was that his girlfriend refused to let him live with his roommates anymore. No men allowed.

She had stood at the dormitory entrance, smiling as she said:

“Aqi, let’s go.”

“…?!”

Fang Qi’s pupils contracted, and he abruptly sat up straight!

But then he slowly slumped back down.

…No.

No!

He squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again.

…It was all mixed up.

Everything was mixed up.

That… shouldn’t have been a memory from before he transmigrated, right?

Those eighty-two years of memories and those ten years of memories had become tangled together.

Like two rolls of film soaked in water and stuck together.

The people in his memories were changing chaotically, too.

One wore a school uniform, with black hair and black eyes, sitting in the library and explaining problems to him.

Another had silver hair and mismatched eyes, holding a white porcelain teacup and smiling at him.

Frame by frame, the images overlapped, making it impossible to tell which period belonged to whom.

Fang Qi: “...!”

His temples throbbed, and his mind felt unbearably heavy.

He continued staring blankly at the little light filtering through the crack in the window.

Why?

He was beginning to lose the ability to tell.

He couldn’t distinguish reality from illusion, or what came first and what came later.

He couldn’t tell which things were real and which were imaginary, which belonged to him and which belonged to the “future” version of him.

…He really was going crazy.

Fang Qi buried his face in his knees again, his back pressed against the wall.

Beneath him, the wooden raft swayed gently.

The rocking was very slight, like that of a cradle. He could feel it, but he couldn’t hear it.

The entire world had gone silent. All that remained were his breathing and heartbeat.

Inhale, exhale. Thump, thump.

…I really want to hear Liguang sing a lullaby.

He had no idea how much time passed.

“Heh…”

He suddenly laughed.

There was a hint of self-mockery in it, along with a sense of relief.

Because no matter how he looked at it…

The current situation was still fairly good, wasn’t it?

Although he didn’t know why that future version of himself had become so clever and calculating, at his core…

He was still himself.

Fang Qi could see that clearly enough.

His flaws were obvious.

Whenever he played chess or games in the past, he had always been like this.

He often focused only on attacking his opponent and neglected his own situation.

When it came to a head-on clash, meeting force with force, he feared no one. He could slaughter the opposing side until not a single soldier remained!

But whenever his opponent was sinister and crafty, secretly laying traps…

Then he would be in trouble.

More often than not, he would only realize after playing for a while…

Hiss, how had he nearly lost already?!

Thinking back on those days, Fang Qi couldn’t help but smile.

Of course, he wasn’t actually that stupid or straightforward.

Sometimes, when he discovered his opponent’s “trap,” he would pretend not to notice and then…

Turn the tables, use the trap against them, and make them fall into it instead!

When he thought about it that way…

Fang Qi slowly relaxed again. He leaned the back of his head against the wooden wall and stared up at the ceiling.

The future version of himself hadn’t really changed that much, after all.

He was better at taking the overall situation into account and planning several steps ahead, but at least…

He still hadn’t completely changed that habit of “protecting his head while forgetting his backside”—always scrambling to fix things afterward.

He had actually never considered that he might truly fall in love with the adorable little tool that was supposed to be sacrificed as part of the plan?

Only after falling in love had he remembered to try to fix things?

“Heh heh…!”

Fang Qi couldn’t help laughing again, his expression filled with helplessness.

Heh, that really was a familiar move.

Yeah.

It was completely his style!

But that made sense, too. Although he had grown smarter, when it came to matters of the heart…

That future version of him was probably still an idiot, wasn’t he?

At least according to the memories he had now, he had never dated anyone.

He wondered whether the “future” version of himself had ever had a girlfriend…

Fang Qi blinked.

Had he?

Please, no! Definitely not!

If Liguang ever found out about something like that…

Hiss…!

Fang Qi shuddered faintly, then leaned back against the wall again…

He stared blankly at the ceiling.

How should he put it?

After letting his thoughts run wild for a while, his mood had calmed considerably.

That intense sense of confusion and bewilderment had faded, and his mind had cleared up quite a bit.

After all…

No matter what, he had already fallen in love with Liguang.

The plan had changed!

Ah, but he wasn’t some lovesick fool, all right?

He wasn’t the type to lose his head over a woman!

He, Fang Qi, was very difficult to win over, okay?

Don’t forget how long it had taken Liguang!

Reincarnation, tears, blood, tea, kisses.

Those repeated deaths, those times she had gone mad for his sake.

That lifetime of eighty-two years, and the ten years afterward spent together on campus, every blade of grass and every leaf…

That was nearly a century of companionship!

You wouldn’t be able to withstand it either!

So…

Fang Qi drew a deep breath.

He was very clear about things now.

Even after recovering his memories, he would never again treat Liguang as some kind of “nourishment”!

From the moment he had truly fallen in love with her, his plan had already changed!

It was impossible for him to sacrifice Liguang!

The thought was now clear and unwavering!

Absolutely impossible!

But…

Fang Qi slowly closed his eyes and inhaled deeply.

But that still couldn’t make him feel completely at ease. Because aside from him…

There were other people who wanted to help him achieve that “original goal.”

Gu Xi, for example. The police beauty. Matchmaker Sister.

And those “informants” who had lost their “souls.”

And then…

Fang Qi raised a hand and rubbed behind his ear.

And then there was this…

【Do you intend to abandon your original goal?】

The voice had been ringing beside his ear ever since earlier.

It was a mechanical voice, devoid of emotion or inflection.

At first, it had been so faint that he could barely hear it, like tinnitus, like an hallucination.

He had thought he was simply too tired.

But now, the voice had become clear.

【Do you truly intend to abandon your “Eternal Beloved”?】

It spoke.

The surroundings remained terrifyingly silent.

【Do you really want to stay here and reincarnate for all eternity?】

Heartbeat.

Breathing.

Swaying.

【Then…】

The voice was much louder than before.

【What was the meaning of all the sacrifices we made along the way?】

…So noisy.

Why are you shouting?