Chapter 87 Farewell forces out a system clone that doesn't belong to oneself...

The air was eerily still.

Only Gu Pei's unconscious murmurs lingered in the living room like a ghost.

"Yi Lou..."

[Abnormal data accessed; abnormal data is being cleared.]

The system's previous warning sent a chill down his spine, and it felt as if all the blood in his body was flowing backward.

Yi Lou...why did he come here?

Did they come with Gu Pei?

Fu Yanli's face instantly turned even paler than before, almost transparent.

He instinctively reached back and grabbed Xu Wenci's arm tightly, then shook his head.

Xu Wenci immediately noticed Fu Yanli's unusual behavior. He no longer cared about pressuring the distraught Gu Pei, and focused all his attention on Fu Yanli.

He felt Fu Yanli's hand gripping his hand trembling violently, and he lowered his eyes.

"Fu Yanli?" Xu Wenci frowned, his voice lowered. "What's going on? What is Gu Pei saying?"

Fu Yanli opened his mouth, but his throat seemed to be blocked, and he could not make a clear sound.

"Tap...tap...tap..."

Clear and rhythmic footsteps came from the quiet, open space not far away, neither hurried nor slow.

Gu Pei suddenly slid off the wall and onto the ground, curled up, covered his head with his hands, and buried his face deep in his knees, as if this would help him avoid what was about to happen.

He stopped muttering to himself, curled up into a ball, and trembled.

Xu Wenci's eyes sharpened. Although he didn't know who was coming, he immediately shielded Fu Yanli behind him and tensed all his muscles, facing the door in a defensive posture.

Fu Yanli leaned against Xu Wenci's back, barely managing to stand up with his support.

He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down, his deep purple eyes fixed on the area of ​​interlaced shadows by the doorway.

The footsteps stopped a meter away from the three people.

The brief silence, like the calm before a storm, stretched out every second to an unbearable length.

A figure stood in the doorway, backlit by the overly bright light from outside.

Its silhouette is long and slender, obscuring its features, yet it exudes an indescribable sense of alienation, as if it were out of place with its surroundings.

He stood there quietly, his gaze seemingly sweeping lightly over Gu Pei, who was curled up on the ground, then past Xu Wenci, who was on full alert, and finally landing on Fu Yanli, who was being protected behind Xu Wenci but whose face was pale.

"I've found you."

A gentle voice, even with a hint of amusement, rang out and clearly reached everyone's ears.

Fu Yanli narrowed his eyes, frowned, and suddenly stepped forward, shielding Xu Wenci behind him. He then smiled abruptly.

"Yi Lou, I know where the most crucial part of the operating system is now."

I suddenly understood what Xu Wenci's plan was.

I suddenly understood why Xu Wenci breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that the world had collapsed.

I suddenly understood why Xu Wenci was so indifferent to the collapse of the world.

"That world collapsed only if the entire plot collapsed, and there was no intervention from the operating system."

Therefore, the core operating system clone resides in Yi Lou.

He should have thought of that sooner.

How could the letter left by Yi Lou's younger brother, Yi Zhi, be just to tell Yi Lou that he was the villain?

Moreover, why did the system clone on Gu Pei tell him that the clues on Xu Wenci's grandmother's side were crucial?

Because Xu Wenci's grandmother also has a system clone.

However, that clone should be on Xu Wenci now.

Fu Yanli's gaze slowly moved down and landed on Xu Wenci's tightly clenched fist, in which he was holding the crucial cufflink.

“However, there is another system clone,” Fu Yanli’s voice carried an almost cruel certainty, “which should be on Xu Wenci now.”

It's not a question, it's a statement.

The air seemed to have been completely sucked out, and even the sound of dust settling to the ground could be clearly heard.

Xu Wenci's breathing paused almost imperceptibly.

He met Fu Yanli's all-knowing gaze, his amber eyes narrowing sharply, churning with emotions Fu Yanli couldn't decipher.

He neither admitted nor denied it, but his jawline tightened even more, and the knuckles of his fingers gripping his cufflinks made a slight cracking sound from the excessive force.

This silent response is already the best answer.

Gu Pei, who was curled up on the ground, suddenly raised his head. His face was completely drained of color. He looked at Fu Yanli, then at Xu Wenci, and finally stared in horror at Yi Lou, who was standing against the light at the door. His dark brown eyes were filled with terror.

He thought he had seen through the entire plot, but he never imagined that he was just an insignificant pawn in this game, even a pawn being used.

"Haha...hahaha..." Gu Pei suddenly laughed softly, his laughter dry and desperate, tinged with tears, "So...so that's how it is...we were all...we were all included..."

Yi Lou stood there quietly, clapped his hands, and said, "You guessed right."

He suddenly grinned.

Unfortunately... it's too late.

High concentration of abnormal data aggregation detected; initiating a highest-privilege cleanup process.

The cold system notification sounded abruptly again, more urgent and shrill than ever before.

Fu Yanli gripped the burning hot cufflink again, watching Xu Wenci's face blur in the distorted light, and his heart sank.

He gripped his cufflinks tightly, his fingertips almost digging into the metal.

The betting game has begun.

Xu Wenci, everything we've prepared is about to be unveiled.

The light began to distort and fold wildly, the walls of the room rippled like melting wax figures, and the edges of the furniture blurred and disappeared.

Xu Wenci smiled, squatted down, and picked up the dagger that Fu Yanli had brought to his feet from under the rocking chair.

Upon seeing the dagger stained with a few drops of blood, Gu Pei's expression froze, and an indescribable light flickered in his eyes.

Does Xu Wenci still intend to cause the world to collapse by killing Fu Yanli?

No...that's not right...

This world is on the verge of collapse. The system's cleanup program has been activated, so killing Fu Yanli again would be pointless.

What exactly was Xu Wenci's purpose?

In fact, Xu Wenci did not know how many clones the world's operating system had, nor did he know whether only by gathering all the clones could the operating system be purified, or whether the control of the world could be completely handed over to these characters.

However, he knew that the system clone in his grandmother's body absolutely could not be left behind in that world.

If they were left there, that world wouldn't collapse, and Fu Yanli's plans and his schemes would all come to naught.

All of this seems to be part of the system's setup.

But then again, it doesn't seem so.

As Fu Yanli watched Xu Wenci pick up the dagger, his heart felt as if it were being squeezed even tighter by an invisible hand, the pain almost making it hard to breathe.

He reached out, trying to grab Xu Wenci, but grasped only air. He could only shout hoarsely, "Xu Wenci! What are you doing?!"

Xu Wenci didn't look at him, but instead stared down at the dagger in his hand, his fingertips gently brushing over the few blackened bloodstains on the cold blade, the smile on his lips gentler than ever before.

Fu Yanli had never seen Xu Wenci smile so gently.

No, he had seen him once before.

It was when Xu Wenci hid the dagger behind his back and invited him to watch a movie together.

The light began to distort wildly again, as if the entire villa was groaning under the strain, about to completely disintegrate at any moment.

Fu Yanli's pupils trembled violently, and the words Xu Wenci had spoken to him when they went to the movies together in that world flashed through his mind:

I will not take advantage of you.

Shouldn't we take advantage of him?

What does it mean exactly?

Does that mean you will no longer kill him according to your own will, and you will not let him die?

“Grandma’s clone cannot remain in that world.” Xu Wenci seemed oblivious to the despair on Fu Yanli’s face, speaking softly as if explaining, or perhaps talking to himself, “That system clone… as long as it remains in that world, the collapse will not be complete, and the system can use it… to recalibrate, or even… pull us back into the loop.”

He raised his eyes and finally looked at Fu Yanli. In his amber eyes was a calmness that Fu Yanli had never seen before. All the struggles, all the pain, and all the frozen emotions flowed slowly in this moment.

Only Fu Yanli, the only one allowed to approach, could see where his stone had been placed in this amber-colored river.

“It’s with me now.” Xu Wenci gently tapped his heart with the tip of the dagger, his eyes calm. “I…snatched it.”

Fu Yanli's blood froze instantly.

He seemed to understand.

He himself had a system clone, so he was well aware that a system clone could not be easily separated from its host. Xu Wenci must have paid a considerable price to separate his system clone from his grandmother.

Xu Wenci, of course, hid the system clone in a vessel and brought it here.

So... that clone's consciousness... is now inside the dagger...

However, that clone wasn't Xu Wenci, so it was impossible to force that clone out and make it purify the operating system according to Xu Wenci's wishes...

Fu Yanli's eyes widened instantly.

He slowly turned his head, and a drop of blood splattered onto his eyelid.

He instinctively closed his eyes, and the red mole on his eyelid stood out.

It's in the same location as the faint mole on Xu Wenci's eyelid that's almost invisible.

Suddenly, silver code appeared around Gu Pei's body, and he accelerated abruptly the moment Xu Wenci picked up the dagger.

A cold white light flickered in his eyes, finally rushing towards the person who intended to destroy or completely purify the operating system.

Countless data streams, like silver tentacles, surged toward Xu Wenci even faster.

"It's too late." Xu Wenci looked at Fu Yanli's approaching figure and the overwhelming silver torrent behind him that represented the ultimate annihilation of the operating system. He repeated Yi Lou's words very softly.

Xu Wenci gripped the dagger tightly in his backhand and, without any hesitation, plunged it into his own heart.

It was another completely different, yet still cold, mechanical voice.

The sound of a sharp blade piercing flesh was so faint as to be almost inaudible amidst the roar of the collapsing world and the piercing alarms of the system.

Yet it was so clear, it exploded deep within Fu Yanli's soul, causing his body to tremble along with his soul.

A flash of white light.

Fu Yanli could see nothing anymore.

He could only hear a faint sigh:

"goodbye."

Author's note: We're now really in the final stages.

Up until now, I don't know if everyone minds that Xu Wenci didn't care about the collapse of that world and the disappearance of everyone, but I really want to explain for him. With his personality, it would be a lie to say he wasn't sad, and it would be a lie to say he didn't use others. As for saying he didn't care at all, that's true, and that's something that can't be whitewashed.

He could exploit the rules and loopholes of the novel's world with a clear conscience, and could write the note to kill Gu Pei without any burden. Subconsciously, he was actually the same as Gu Pei, believing that he and everyone else were just a string of code. Therefore, he didn't care about Gu Pei's life or death, and was even more certain that he would meet the others again in the next world. Perhaps his mother was indeed a soft part of his heart, but his mother didn't know the constraints of this world, nor did she know the truth, so she wouldn't suffer. She would simply come to the next world to continue loving him, the only difference being that she wouldn't have the memories of her previous life.

He wasn't hurt that Gu Pei treated him like a paper doll or a piece of code, because the moment Gu Pei entered this story, he saw him as a string of code that could help him increase his chances of success.

Fu Yanli is actually a complex person to the point that I find him pathological. He is calm, but sometimes frighteningly childish. He clearly loves Xu Wenci, but he only answers the questions he wants to answer, ignoring Xu Wenci's doubts and the hurt caused by his silence.

Was it because he didn't love her? Perhaps it was because he loved her too much. Loved her to the point of being terribly selfish, unable to bear the sight of Xu Wenci's fear upon learning that he was a soul from the previous world.

Neither of the two people gave each other a healthy or perfect love.

I've gone off-topic. My initial definition of the relationship between the two people was a sweet, mutually redeeming story.

Because they were controlled by the script, misled by the comments, and punished by the rules, they were essentially two wounded people licking each other's wounds. However, it was Xu Wenci's personality that first protested.

I wondered, would Xu Wenci really wait twenty years just to be redeemed? No. So, the story was almost exactly what I initially expected. The plot I envisioned—Xu Wenci and Yi Pei's close relationship causing Fu Yanli to become jealous—was never written in the end.

I've been studying descriptive writing techniques for expressions and mannerisms lately, haha, I feel like my writing has become more refined and detailed. I'm always incredibly satisfied with my own work, but my typing speed has decreased accordingly, and the pace has slowed down considerably. I'll try to improve that! [crying emoji]