-1-
[Now, System World, Observation Department, Deep in the Warehouse]
An interface recording another time and space and world floated gently in the air, and an overly pale hand dragged across the progress bar.
The black-haired girl stepped briskly into the passage to that world, and walked out humming a song. The passing light spots bloomed like brilliant sunshine, and the picture was relaxed and freehand.
——But the progress bar was dragged quickly, as if this beautiful and relaxing picture was just a waste that needed to be fast-forwarded.
Besides, it’s not sunny outside the picture.
In the pitch-black warehouse, the floating data reflected a crimson glow. This unnatural color robbed the already pale hand of its last trace of color. In the crimson glow, the hand controlling the playback looked like a ghost crawling out of a well.
-2-
...No, not a water ghost.
Because it's not damp at all, it's more like a "sculpture".
The kind of sculptures that would be erected in monastery gardens, hands sculpted from pure white marble, often holding a heart or a dagger.
Terribly pure.
…If such a pale hand were to move, if it were to slowly pluck the strings of a zither, revealing the vitality of a “hand”—
Presumably, it would terrify humans.
But most humans don't look at a person's hands that closely; they tend to focus on brighter, more innocuous features like blond hair or blue eyes.
The one with blond hair and blue eyes is a prince, not a creepy sculpture.
-3-
Only M looked at it very carefully.
She even suggested that if a hand was bitten, it should be a glaring red and blood beads should roll out.
——But under the dim light of the hotel, the pink showing through the fair skin was too dazzling. She easily put aside her doubts and indulged in biting small marks on it with her teeth.
-4-
She really likes pink.
-5-
——Of course, M’s habit of putting doubts behind her does not mean that she is stupid, but rather that she has strong self-confidence that “no matter what consequences the doubts may cause, I can solve them, so if I can’t figure it out, I will just ignore it and wait until it finds me.”
And Mr. P never underestimated her confidence.
His boss could indeed solve everything, he was absolutely sure—
However, it was not until today that he confirmed what her excessive self-confidence meant.
Whether it's [dating] or [love].
There are no forbidden words in the life of a madman.
She can rashly throw herself into a relationship with an unknown future without paying attention to any deeper meaning.
Here, he spent countless calculations to locate the time coordinates of that past period, and watched her enter and exit the world countless times as recorded by the system world.
In that world of subtle numbers.
Back and forth, over and over again, endlessly shuttling back and forth—
——Falling into a scam called "Long-term Relationship".
-6-
Mr. P dragged the progress bar with his pale hands.
The crimson light also reflected on his face, which was actually as pale as his hands—when Mr. P no longer added the right amount of healing smile to his face and adjusted the upward angles of his eyebrows and eyes, his face would become as pale as his hands.
Like a sculpture.
...Of course, there was no need to put on any special expression when I was alone in the observation department, watching the world shuttle scene at a certain point in the past.
Mr. P never wastes extra energy.
-7-
After all, smiling is the most difficult thing for him now.
-8-
"Have you checked it, P?"
Mr. P's eyebrows moved, and then he continued to smile politely and gently.
"Sorry. This may take a while... Thank you for granting me access to the Observation Department's data warehouse, Director @#."
The head of the Observation Department, a robot with ID @#, slowly crawled over.
The supervisor's walking tool is a caterpillar track, and it looks like a mini tank. The yellow signal light on his head flashes when he speaks.
——This was very fortunate, because as the flashing yellow lights above its head approached, the place finally added some bright colors.
Even in this deserted warehouse in the world of the dead, the paleness just now was terrifying.
-9-
"I'm surprised."
@# said, the yellow light flickering, his narration in a serious tone: "P is a good employee. A good employee would actually choose to overstep his authority and come here without telling your supervisor to retrieve video recordings from years ago."
Mr. P smiled and said, "Not really. I'll report all the call records here to my supervisor later. It's just that Miss M's whereabouts are currently unknown, so I can't get direct approval for the time being."
"Okay, P. You're a good employee, and I always trust you."
"Thank you for your trust."
“…”
They were silent for a while, and on the screen, the black-haired girl continued to jump back and forth.
Anyone could see that she was happy—anyone could see that she was wearing different little dresses and carrying different little bags, and was going on great dates.
-10-
Mr. P put down the hand that was dragging the progress bar. He turned and looked at @# who was parked nearby: "I'm sorry. This record seems to be the private property of my direct supervisor. Is there anything else you need to stay here, senior?"
@# replied electronically: "Nothing. Just gossip."
Mr. P: “…”
@#: "Wow. I didn't expect M to have been in a relationship before."
Mr. P: “…”
@#: "Did meteorites rain down on the system world during those days? According to a long-standing saying, when M falls in love, meteorites will rain down on the system world. According to record analysis, my body was indeed damaged by 30% during those days, so it's very likely that I was hit by a meteorite."
Mr. P: “…”
-11-
"Miss M has never been in love."
Mr. P looked back at the shuttle surveillance footage playing on the screen: "It's obvious that this was a scam that ended tragically."
@# slowly flashed a yellow light: "According to record analysis, M at this stage is not worth being deceived. She does not have your salary card, nor does she have your dormitory residency rights. Her clothes were looted from R and the main system. As for what humans call 'chastity', M seems to have little regard for it, so she is also not worth being deceived."
Mr. P: “…”
Mr. P took his hand away from the progress bar and squeezed his fingers hard.
-12-
"What the senior said makes sense. However, my boss isn't the type to be swayed by emotions. This is a scam—even though I can't find any internal records of that world and can only see the footage of her entering and leaving there in the system world—but, there is no doubt that she was deeply deceived by the other party."
@#: "...M was deceived, but wasn't M deceiving the other person's feelings? P, there seems to be something wrong with your linguistic logic. Did observing the fact that your 'direct supervisor was in a relationship' cause a shock to your brain?"
Mr. P shook his head without showing any anxiety or impatience.
He carefully marked out the shuttle data table beside him and pointed it out to @#: "The number of shuttles, the time spent working in the system world, the time points of the return trips... Combining all this, I calculated that she has been in that world for at least a full year."
"There's no way Ms. M would have fallen into a year-long relationship with a human. He tried to deceive her under the pretext of 'love'—no matter what he was trying to deceive her with, it must have been a deeply complex scam."
@#: "According to analysis, I don't think..."
Mr. P: "Senior, please think carefully. What kind of human could endure spending a whole year with Miss M? She's not the type to condescend to disguise herself as a harmless sheep and blend in with 'humanity.' Therefore, it's safe to assume that the male human who tolerated her for an entire year—he had ulterior motives and was concocting a deception."
@#: “…”
-13-
Yes.
The robot suddenly realized something, manipulated the spring, and nodded its head.
-14-
"M has fallen into a scam." The electronic soundboard narrated: "M is so pitiful."
Mr. P said softly, "Yes. So we must find the human who set up this trap to deceive her."
"But that was an ordinary human being who existed many, many years ago..."
"I don't think that's an ordinary human. How could an ordinary human dare to set up a trap to deceive Miss M?"
@#: “…”
@#: "But you just said, assuming the other person is an ordinary human..."
Mr. P: "Let's stick to the facts, Senior. Ms. M was deceived, and that's what matters most."
@# I'm a bit confused.
Is this the logic of human love?
Humans are so complicated.
-15-
After abbreviating the data table, Mr. P reached out again to drag the progress bar.
——He is actually a patient guy who can watch hundreds of episodes of soap operas at double speed, but he has been standing here dragging the progress bar for a whole year—why is he dragging the progress bar of the video recording at this time, and keeping his hand on the progress bar key.
Is it because I am impatient or I can't bear to watch it.
...Who knows.
Maybe it's to get off work early.
-16-
This time, under @#'s gaze, Mr. P dragged even faster.
The black-haired girl kept appearing and disappearing, her light jacket gradually turning into a coat—
——After a whole year, the progress bar is almost at the end.
@# Can't help but sigh: "It really lasted from spring to winter..."
Mr. P suddenly stopped.
"Wait. What's that dark shadow behind Ms. M?"
-17-
In the surveillance record, Miss M once again clumsily referred to the coordinates set by the main system and opened the shuttle channel.
She has never been good at moving around and finding her position. She was wearing a beautiful coat with pearl trim and lace laces, and a pair of satin gloves on her hands. Her dress was much more formal than before. Compared with Miss M's casual clothes, it could even be called "formal dress".
The surveillance camera even captured the bright lip gloss on her lips - she was wearing makeup.
Makeup, dress up...
@#: "According to analysis, she's going on a formal date. Compared to previous dates, this one is much more formal—she hasn't dressed like this in the past year."
Mr. P: "Thank you, senior. I don't need you to remind me that I have eyes."
@#: "I know you have eyes, P, I just adjusted the clarity of my camera."
Mr. P: “…Oh. That’s good.”
-18-
M in the surveillance footage was clearly a little uncomfortable with the formal attire.
She opened the passage much more slowly and was distracted to confirm the coordinates several times.
"It's right here... Behind, behind Miss M, there's a dark shadow..."
Mr. P's hand, stretched out to point, suddenly stopped.
It froze in mid-air, just like its owner's face, frozen into a pale, cold sculpture.
-19-
——Because a man’s head slowly emerged from the gradually expanding black shadow behind M.
He was a handsome man with black hair and black eyes.
He quietly emerged from M's shadow, then reached out and pushed her shoulder violently——
M suddenly fell into the shuttle tunnel, and the man stopped at the entrance of the tunnel, slowly withdrew the hand that pushed her shoulder, grabbed something glowing in his hand, and raised it in front of his eyes.
It was what he grabbed when he pushed M just now.
The man stuck out his tongue at the mass.
-20-
Licking, biting, and then——
He swallowed it straight away.
Look intoxicated.
-twenty one-
Mr. P watched this scene.
This happened many, many years ago, and was recorded by the surveillance of the system world.
The indigo data points were reflected in his blue eyes—the image was still floating gently, the progress bar nearing the end—
-twenty two-
However, just when all the video recordings were about to end.
The man who was swallowing something with his eyes closed raised his head and looked in the direction of the surveillance camera.
He smiled, spread out his ten fingers, and sucked them one by one in front of the monitor.
His black eyes were fixed on this place.
Dear puppy.
It's bottomless.
-twenty three-
[A long time ago, in a certain world, on Christmas, at midnight.]
Miss M suddenly appeared on the street.
…She looked around blankly and found that it was snowing and she was wearing a very beautiful coat.
Huh.
How did I get here?
...I drank too much, and when I lost my memory, I robbed R's closet, and then ran into the world to play?
She paused and thought.
But after a few seconds, he immediately shrugged and decided not to think about it.
——Since you are here, just have some fun. What is there to think about?
Moreover, it is rare that she wore such a beautiful coat today.
-twenty four-
Miss M walked forward leisurely, humming an unknown song.
It was snowing, the wind was cold, it was very late at night, and there was no one on the road.
But M didn't care, she was inexplicably in a very good mood.
What should we do? Find another bar for a drink? Or go dancing? Build a snowman, too. Building a snowman would be awesome in this weather.
Suddenly, Miss M stopped.
-25-
At the end of the deserted street, under a pale streetlight, a boy stood quietly.
There was thick white snow on the collar and shoulders of the boy's windbreaker, and his golden eyelashes shone brightly under the street lights.
He was like a statue buried in the snow - and in his pale hand, instead of a heart or a dagger, was a bunch of pink tulips of a very gentle color.
Miss M likes pink tulips very much.
I also like the stray dogs buried in the snow.
-twenty four-
So she whistled at him.
The boy standing quietly under the streetlight looked over, his eyes a little surprised, and a little delighted—the corners of his mouth curled up slightly, as if he was very happy. Miss M felt that his face was really suitable for this kind of expectant and happy expression—
It’s like seeing the person you’re waiting for.
Even though she was already late.
-25-
"Hi, kid."
Miss M came over with a smile: "Nice to meet you. I'm M. Would you like to come to the hotel and get a room?"
The boy blinked.
Golden eyelashes and golden hair shook off some white snow.
He looked at her without saying a word, and the corners of his mouth were just straightened quietly.
Well, somehow, Miss M thought of the big dog's wagging tail and quietly fell back to the ground.
Just like the snow that no longer falls and the maple leaves that are no longer blown by the wind.
-26-
But the boy didn't look sad.
She had the inexplicable feeling that his tail had fallen back - but in fact, he just stopped smiling at her brightly.
The boy, no longer laughing, spoke, his voice still gentle: "I'm sorry. I only check in with girlfriends who are getting married."
"What a fusty kid—Hey, are you waiting for your girlfriend? Standing here with flowers, it's already midnight, she won't come, you're so pitiful. Why don't you just come with me to get a room…"
“…”
He picked up the pink tulip.
-27-
Then, he handed it to her arms.
"I knew she wouldn't come. Thank you."
“…For me?”
"Yeah. No one else has given it to me, so I'm giving it to you."
-28-
Miss M took the bouquet of tulips with some surprise.
This is the first time I have received tweed - she suddenly thought so, feeling a little happy for no reason.
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