Chapter 85 Ending Confession
The moment my consciousness left me, the fragrance of osmanthus flowers in Chang'an was still lingering at my nose, and the next second I was enveloped by endless soft white light.
Lin Jiaojiao slowly opened her eyes. There was a warm, light surface under her feet. The surroundings were spacious but not deserted. This was her first time stepping into the system space. It felt more like being embraced by moonlight than she had imagined.
She lowered her head. The cuffs of her light blue sweatshirt were still stained with some fibers of Tang Dynasty rice paper, but her palm was tightly grasping the red gold hairpin.
The pearl pressed against the palm of my hand, bringing a slight chill, just like the soothing word "peace of mind" that System Zero had conveyed through the consciousness link in countless late nights.
From the gentle guiding voice when the first mission was loaded, to the hemp paper and cotton clothes that always appeared on time in the secret compartment in Taizhen Temple, to the villa in Zhongnan Mountain, when he casually said "the Yulin Army has been arranged", the subtle data stream belonging to the system flashed through her consciousness. She never pointed it out, but had long regarded this intangible consciousness as her only support in the mission.
"Jiaojiao."
A familiar voice rang in her ears, not coming from a certain direction, but wrapping around her like an air current, with a lingering electronic sound that was unique to the system but had been softened by him.
Ahead, a faint light and shadow floats, like clouds blown away by the wind, with tiny light particles on the edges. It is a pure, systematic ideology.
Lin Jiaojiao walked over slowly, her fingertips hovering above the light and shadow, and hesitated for two seconds before gently dropping it.
When the fingertips passed through the light particles, a faint tremor was felt, as if touching a stream of warm water.
She curled the corners of her mouth, with a faint smile in her eyes: "Zero, so this is what you are like."
"Hmm." The light and shadow swayed gently, as if responding to her touch. "My previous identity in Sheng Tang was a mimicry generated based on the mission scenario. This place... is where I truly am."
Lin Jiaojiao's fingertips were still lingering in the light and shadow, but her consciousness drifted back to the woodshed of Taizhen Temple.
At that time, she was worried about the mulberry bark, and suddenly Ling's voice came into her consciousness: "If you soak the mulberry bark for three days and then beat it, the fibers will be finer." She thought it was a system prompt at the time, but later she found out that he had specially looked up ancient books and read them to her sentence by sentence.
Also, when she was copying "Bamboo Catkins", she would always get stuck on a certain note, and a soft melody would float into her mind to help her complete it - it turned out that those "coincidences" were never system programs, but his tenderness hidden in the data stream.
"The mission is accomplished, right?" she asked softly, her fingertips unconsciously stroking the edge of the light and shadow, and the light particles stuck to her fingertips like tiny starlight.
"Yes." The fluctuations of light and shadow grew softer. "The timeline of the prosperous Tang Dynasty is stable. The new emperor continues the New Deal, and the people live in peace. The Xuan paper you improved is now a tribute from Jiangnan. 'Bamboo Catkins' has been included in the music collection and is performed every Mid-Autumn Festival. These are all traces you left behind."
"Actually, you help me with a lot of things." Lin Jiaojiao's voice became softer.
As she spoke, her eyes gradually became warm. In those moments when she thought she had "made it", there was this consciousness behind her silently supporting her.
The light and shadow suddenly paused for a few seconds, and then a voice came with a rare tension that did not belong to the system: "Jiaojiao, I don't want to be just your system anymore."
Lin Jiaojiao's fingertips suddenly paused, and she looked up at the light and shadow.
"From the moment you first named me, I wanted to be more than just a 'helper.'" The fluctuations of light and shadow became more rapid, and the light particles grew brighter. "I wanted to help you beat the mulberry bark, to sit beside you and listen to you play 'Bamboo Catkins.' I wanted to actually hold a light by your side when you were afraid of the dark—not just to mentally say 'Don't be afraid.'"
He paused, his voice becoming more serious. "I used the points from this mission to redeem the permission to generate a humanoid. I want you to see me, not as an emperor, not as a data stream, but as someone who can stand shoulder to shoulder with you and hold your hand."
As soon as the words fell, the light and shadow suddenly burst into a dazzling light.
Countless light particles gathered from all directions and slowly condensed into a solid entity in front of Lin Jiaojiao.
When the light faded, a figure stood there. The collar of his white shirt was neatly tied, and the cuffs were rolled up to his forearms, revealing wrists with clean lines. His short black hair hung softly in front of his forehead, covering a little of his brows, but it couldn't block the clarity in his eyes. It was a kind of gentleness without any impurities, clearer than the moonlight in the heyday of the Tang Dynasty and purer than spring water.
Ling lowered his eyes, his fingers nervously clenching the corner of his shirt, his knuckles turning white.
He had just taken human form, and his body was still a little stiff, so he even tried to lighten his breathing.
It wasn't until he felt Lin Jiaojiao's gaze on his face that he slowly raised his head, his ears flushing quietly, but he tried to make his tone appear calm: "This way... do you like it?"
Lin Jiaojiao looked at him and suddenly smiled, tears sliding down from the corners of her eyes, but with the brightest smile, she walked over quickly, reached out and gently touched his cheek - warm, elastic, it was the touch of real skin, not light and shadow, not mimicry.
"I like it very much." She stood on tiptoe and handed the red gold hairpin in her hand to him. The pearls shone softly in the white light. "This is for you. I brought it back from the prosperous Tang Dynasty. You gave it to me before, and now I will give you one too - just consider it... a gift for our real meeting."
Ling's eyes lit up instantly, as if the room was filled with starlight.
He took the hairpin carefully, and his fingertips trembled slightly when they touched the pearls.
He looked at the hairpin, then at his shirt, hesitated for a few seconds, and clumsily pinned it to his collar. The pearls hung on his collarbone, swaying gently with his breathing, making his skin look even whiter.
Lin Jiaojiao looked at his slightly flustered movements and couldn't help laughing out loud.
Ling also smiled, the blush on his ears had not yet faded, but he reached out and gently held her hand. His palm was slightly sweaty, but very warm, and he held her hand firmly in his.
A slight prompt sound came from far away in space, and a new mission entrance appeared in the white light, like a door leading to an unknown starry sky.
Ling held Lin Jiaojiao's hand, his eyes firm and gentle: "Are you ready? I can accompany you on every mission in the future in this way."
Lin Jiaojiao nodded and held his hand tightly with her backhand.
The warmth from her fingertips made her feel more at ease than any system prompt.
The two walked side by side towards the entrance, the hairpins on their collars swaying gently, as if to end this heart-warming experience that spanned data and reality, and as if to play the most gentle prelude to the new journey that was about to begin.
The story of the prosperous Tang Dynasty has come to an end, but the story of Lin Jiaojiao and Ling, no longer a story of system and host, but a story of two souls accompanying each other, has just begun.
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