"ah--"
Chu Shangli looked around——
"Really, it seems that it is possible——"
"It looks like you gave it a try." The Cheshire Cat said approvingly, "A wise choice. But I can't rule out the possibility that you weren't perfect before, and only became perfect after I reminded you. I'm very clear about this point."
"You are too suspicious." Chu Shangli smiled unnaturally.
"Same here. You're complaining about my paranoia, but you don't even know how many different nodes you've saved. It's clearly the same time period, yet you want to see every development. That feeling—yeah, I feel like I understand."
“…”
Chu Shangli showed a weak look and breathed softly.
"Don't look at me with such a frightening look, it's just a normal human reaction. I've failed countless times before, and I've thought that if I had a save file, I'd definitely try every option. After all, no matter how many options a game has, it's impossible to cover every possible scenario. And if you really click on every single one, you'll find that the number of options that don't affect the subsequent plot is overwhelming—because there are people who like simple stories and don't like to go back and make changes after they've progressed too far. In reality, the range is much wider—it's exciting just thinking about it."
The Cheshire Cat took a deep breath—
"But in reality, you should also know that this excitement doesn't last long. People always get excited when they get new toys, but once the excitement is over, the desire to get rid of the old things will come up, and they will want to throw away the old things and keep getting new ones. Even if they are covered in dust, there will be no fluctuation at all—"
The Cheshire Cat's eyes moved a little -
"Once the excitement wears off, it's easy to stop saving frequently, leading to corrupted files. But you can't write it down on paper—after all, it's easy to find. Even having multiple passwords on your computer doesn't guarantee absolute security—at that point, you might have to start all over again from afar—but I don't think many people have that kind of patience."
The Cheshire Cat paused and chuckled.
"And then, because there were so many previous save slots, I couldn't distinguish the subtle differences between them, and they kept overwriting. The pain was indescribable. After all, even with the existence of SL, even a reborn person like you, it's impossible to say that you didn't encounter anything that made you happy in your previous life, right?"
“…”
Chu Shangli wanted to deny it, wanted to deny it by imprisoning herself in a birdcage - but she suddenly discovered that, at the end of the birdcage, her heart was surprisingly calm -
That's right, even in a life of captivity, one cannot say that there is no joy at all.
Even though my nerves are constantly tense and I’m constantly working hard, I can’t say that I don’t have any joy at all.
It’s better to say that after getting used to it, I feel that it doesn’t matter even if I can’t go out.
Even though it was just a fleeting depressing thought, Chu Shangli could not deny that it was also a thought that had been spinning in his mind countless times.
"Look—can I take your silence as a tacit agreement?"
“Hmm…”
"Frequently returning to the past means that not only the unpleasant things, but also the pleasant things and beautiful memories will disappear together - are you really prepared for that?"
The Cheshire Cat spoke lightly, but it seemed as if he was interrogating her.
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