“…What are you planning to do?”
After a moment of silence, Fang Qi finally asked the most important question.
“The method… is on that mountain!”
Lin Xiaoyou’s voice over the phone was still as lighthearted as ever.
“Senior! We still need to go back to that mountain first!”
“Once we get there, just watch me work!”
Her tone was brimming with confidence.
“When the time comes, I’ll just go up, down, up, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, B, A…!”
Fang Qi couldn’t be bothered to listen to her nonsense.
So it really was that way.
They still had to go back—to that space where the rules were in complete disarray.
It made perfect sense.
Hadn’t they ended up on this worldline in the first place because Lin Xiaoyou had made a “wish” there?
And in the previous loop…
After being swallowed by that pitch-black darkness and sent back to the beginning, Lin Xiaoyou had suddenly become incredibly excited!
She had said that she’d discovered this world was unique, and that they could finally create a perfect world!
The answer to everything was indeed there.
It was just that…
Fang Qi pursed his lips.
That mountain was simply too far from the city!
In the previous loop, it had taken them the entire afternoon to make the trip. Going there was a real hassle.
So…
“What exactly did you do there back then?”
Fang Qi asked in a deep voice.
He had to get a clear answer!
This time, he absolutely could not stumble into the same trap again without knowing what was going on!
“…I want to ask you the same thing, Senior!”
But Lin Xiaoyou suddenly turned the question back on him!
“Senior, what did you experience when you fell in?”
Fang Qi froze.
What had he experienced?
He’d closed his eyes, opened them again, and then been sent straight back to the beginning?
If he’d experienced anything, would he need to ask her?
“…Don’t answer my question with another question!”
Fang Qi had no intention of letting Lin Xiaoyou get away with any evasive nonsense!
“You tell me what happened to you first!”
“…What could have happened to me?”
Lin Xiaoyou’s voice over the phone suddenly became incredibly aggrieved!
“I got locked inside that darkness again!”
Then she became angry all over again.
“I almost thought Liguang had come to collect my life!”
“It scared me half to death!”
Fang Qi was stunned.
“Again?”
“…Wait! Are you saying…”
He asked tentatively:
“That darkness we fell into before was actually…”
“It was the place where Liguang locked me up back then!!!”
Lin Xiaoyou practically shrieked the words, her tone full of resentment.
“Senior! Since you brought that up, I can’t help but say something!”
She was starting to sound exasperated.
“During that long, long period when you and Liguang were being all lovey-dovey…”
“You—must—have—been—very—happy!”
She forced each word out through clenched teeth.
“You two were having a great time, but what about me?”
“Back then… I was absolutely miserable!”
“Unimaginably miserable! Miserable beyond description! Miserable to the point of no return!”
Her voice grew louder and more aggrieved with every sentence.
“Liguang locked me in that darkness, where I couldn’t go anywhere or see anything!”
“There was nothing around me but a void!”
“I called out to Heaven and earth, but no one answered! It was a million times worse than being in prison!”
Fang Qi: “…”
Uh…
Lin Xiaoyou continued her tirade.
“I almost thought I was going to grow mold and mushrooms in that pitch-black place!”
“How are we calculating compensation for my emotional distress, Senior?”
She finished with a heavy snort.
“If Liguang hadn’t tacitly allowed me to make those little moves, if she hadn’t let me ‘make a wish’…”
“I really would have had to fight her to the death!!!”
Fang Qi opened his mouth, but had no idea what to say. In the end, he muttered:
“…You’d really dare to fight Liguang to the death?”
“Of course not.”
Lin Xiaoyou admitted defeat without the slightest hesitation.
“I wouldn’t dare.”
Fang Qi: “…”
She really was good at bending with the wind.
What a genius young lady.
Still…
Lin Xiaoyou’s mention of it suddenly brought that period back to his mind.
Those full hundred days of…
A chaotic yet dreamlike experience.
Every morning, Liguang would kneel on a yoga mat and watch him with her amber eyes, waiting for him to wake up.
Come to think of it, although Liguang had deceived him terribly, those hundred days…
Had truly been happy.
So happy that he had nearly decided never to leave.
Fang Qi tightened his grip on the phone and took a deep breath…
Then he blinked.
So, during that entire period…
Lin Xiaoyou had been trapped in that darkness the whole time?
Uh…
“…Ahem!”
He coughed awkwardly.
To be honest, he had been completely immersed in his world with Liguang and had never even considered where Lin Xiaoyou had been locked up…
Honey, that really had been just a tiny bit too much.
No wonder Lin Xiaoyou had been deliberately provoking Liguang these past few days.
But…
“It wasn’t that long! It was only a hundred days!”
“Besides, the reason we went there was to save your life, wasn’t it?”
He still had to defend his wife.
“You can just think of it as spending a hundred days in the hospital!”
He argued his case with all the confidence he could muster.
“The treatment was a success. Aren’t you alive and bouncing around now?”
But then…
The other end of the phone suddenly fell silent.
Fang Qi waited several seconds.
The other party still didn’t say a word.
…?
Unable to hold back, he called out:
“Hello?”
Why wasn’t she saying anything?
Was she angry?
Ahem…!
“…Forget it. Don’t talk about that anymore.”
Fang Qi steered the conversation back to the matter at hand, asking as he thought:
“Tell me what you did after we fell into that darkness.”
“It was only a few minutes, wasn’t it? What could you have done?”
If Lin Xiaoyou had been able to accomplish something in that darkness…
Why couldn’t he?
To save Liguang, he had to work harder.
No—he had to.
He…!
“…Oh…!”
Lin Xiaoyou suddenly let out a soft “oh” from the other end of the phone.
It was a sound of realization, as if she had suddenly figured something out.
“…So that’s what it was…!”
Fang Qi: “?”
Huh?
What did she mean, “that’s what it was”?
“I knew it…”
Lin Xiaoyou continued to mutter:
“Liguang is so, so jealous, yet she insisted on leaving me by your side…”
“Even after I did so many things to anger her, all she did was…”
“She beat me up?”
Then she laughed.
A delighted, enlightened giggle.
“You know, Senior… When Liguang drew that knife, I was already prepared to be slowly cut to pieces!”
“I’d even thought of my last words. I was planning to shout, ‘Sister Xiaoqing, I’ll still be your master in my next life!’”
“…But what happened?”
Her tone was filled with disbelief.
“Liguang really only beat me up!”
“I thought she’d felt guilty… Or maybe my genius brain had finally moved her?”
“I even thought she’d decided I was too clever to kill…”
Fang Qi: “?”
Huh?
Wasn’t that the reason?
Wasn’t it because you were smart that she let you help me?
“So…”
Her voice sounded somewhat dazed.
Then she suddenly laughed again.
“Oh, so that’s why…”
“I have such a wonderfully special use after all…!”
Fang Qi was completely lost, his head full of question marks!
What…?
“Lin Xiaoyou, what are you talking about? What exactly—?!”
“Senior! Meet you at the steamed-bun shop!”
Lin Xiaoyou’s voice instantly returned to its usual cheerful tone.
“The steamed-bun shop by the entrance to the complex—the usual place! I’ll go grab us a table!”
“Wait—?!”
Click.
The call ended.
Fang Qi sat frozen on the sofa, phone still in his hand.
Why did riddlers even exist in this world?!
Fang Qi took several deep breaths, staring at the dried tea-stain message on the coffee table.
Liguang.
Wife.
Would you consider descending to the mortal realm one more time?
First, I’m breaking her legs!
At last, he drew one final deep breath, picked up the still-warm cup of tea—
And downed it in one gulp.
Then he abruptly rose to his feet.
Lin Xiaoyou…
You’d better have good news!
…
At the steamed-bun shop by the entrance to the complex, white steam still curled lazily from the bamboo baskets.
The air was thick with the mixed aroma of fermented dough and savory meat filling. At the next table, an old man held a bowl of soy milk and slowly blew across its surface, while the proprietress bustled behind the counter, making change for customers.
Everything was exactly the same as last time.
Except for one thing.
The beautiful black-haired girl with the bun-shaped hairstyle was nowhere to be seen.
Fang Qi stood in the doorway, scanning the busy staff.
That familiar face was missing.
His wife hadn’t “descended to the mortal realm” today.
What a disappointment…
Fang Qi looked away and spotted the round-faced girl in their usual seat by the window.
Lin Xiaoyou had already arrived.
Two bamboo baskets of steamed buns sat in front of her, and she was holding one she had already eaten halfway through, her cheeks bulging with food.
When she saw him enter, she raised an oily hand and waved.
“Senior, Senior! Over here!”
Fang Qi walked over and sat down across from her.
Lin Xiaoyou swallowed the bun in her mouth, lifted her soy milk, and took a big gulp. Then she flashed him a grin.
“Senior, eat something too!”
“…I’m not hungry.”
Fang Qi leaned back in his chair, arms folded across his chest, his expression stern.
“Get to the point!”
Stop eating, damn it!
“Mmm…”
Lin Xiaoyou swallowed the bite in her mouth and finally began to speak.
“Senior…”
She looked at him and blinked her almond-shaped eyes.
“It wasn’t a hundred days.”
As she spoke, she picked up another steamed bun and took a vicious bite.
Fang Qi froze.
“…What?”
What did that mean?
What wasn’t a hundred days?
Her cheeks puffed up as she chewed several times before speaking indistinctly.
“Senior, I have a very accurate sense of time.”
“When I was in there… everything around me was pitch-black. I couldn’t see a thing. All I could hear was my own heartbeat…”
She took another bite of the bun, chewing this time with great force.
“So I was so bored that all I could do was count my own heartbeats to pass the time.”
Her almond-shaped eyes fixed on Fang Qi, utterly serious.
“I was locked in that darkness by her for…”
“At least five years!”
Fang Qi: “…?”
…Huh?
“Five years!”
Lin Xiaoyou slammed her hand on the table.
“Five years!”
The bang drew a glance from the old man at the next table.
“Senior, do you know what those five years were like for me?!”
She took another savage bite of her bun, her round cheeks puffed out as she glared at him.
“It was not one hundred days!!!”
Fang Qi stared at her, stunned.
…?
“And another thing, Senior!”
Lin Xiaoyou glared at him again.
The half-eaten bun in her hand had been squeezed completely out of shape.
“It wasn’t just a few minutes either!”
She ground out the words through clenched teeth.
“It was several hours!”
Fang Qi: “?”
His brain was beginning to lag.
Lin Xiaoyou continued, still gritting her teeth.
“After I fell into that darkness, I stayed there…”
“I was in that darkness for at least several hours!”
“At the time, I thought… Liguang had captured you again and made you her husband in some mountain stronghold!!!”
Her almond-shaped eyes went wide.
“I thought I was going to spend several more years in prison! I was scared half to death!!!”
Her round little face flushed red with anger.
“You bastards!!!”
“If you two want to show off your love, don’t make me sit in prison because of it!!!”
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