The system still crashed.
After crying until he was exhausted, Jin Can went home alone... well, let's just say he was alone.
Zhou Yu remained silent, keeping a distance of about two meters behind her. This elusive companionship offered Jin Can a sense of comfort and prevented her from feeling any more pressure at that moment.
The night breeze was a bit chilly, and the streetlights lit up one by one, casting long, lonely golden shadows.
Her steps were heavy, and she had no idea what to do next.
Jin Can reached the bottom of her building, and Zhou Yu stopped behind her. She turned around, intending to wave, but Zhou Yu said nothing, turned around, and walked away without looking back.
Her hand froze in mid-air before falling silently to the ground.
The sweetness of the milk tea lingered, but the bitterness in my heart became even clearer.
"What will we do in the future?"
For the first time, she truly realized that she had unknowingly become a slave to the upgraded Ver2.0 system.
Without the system, she lost her direction.
It can systematically plan her time, quantify her emotions, break her life down into task lists, and push her onto a never-ending KPI assessment track.
Jin Can was exhausted from dealing with the fluctuations in the data column every day, to the point of being breathless.
That night, Jin Can lay in bed, staring at the ceiling.
The room was very quiet; even Jin Can's own breathing was exceptionally clear.
Even in this tranquility, the system panel still appeared as scheduled, coldly and emotionlessly popping up in front of her.
The blue screen, like a cold cage, trapped her once again.
"I quit."
She spoke calmly to the screen, her voice carrying the weight of a well-thought-out decision.
[System notification: Negative emotions will affect task completion. Please adjust your mindset immediately.]
"Adjust?" She sneered, then sat up abruptly. "Why should I adjust?"
She stood up from the bedside, walked to the desk, her movements a little stiff, and applied the hand cream her mother had left for her calloused fingers.
The stinging pain in her fingertips made her more alert and her tone more resolute.
"A person's energy is limited, and I don't want to treat campus life as a task to be completed without any effort."
"I've thought it through. I'll only go to high school once in my life. Happiness is much more important than these things."
All plans in this system are based on the most efficient growth model, aiming to help the host achieve growth in the shortest possible time.
"Most efficient? Bullshit!" Jin Can interrupted without any politeness, his voice even trembling slightly.
"Learning is about building a way of thinking, not about accumulating material possessions. Ge Ouchen once told me this."
"But what about you? You told me to use the most efficient method to pile up the most bricks, without caring at all whether the house I built would collapse at any time because of an unstable foundation!"
Her inner voice grew louder and louder, her chest heaving with anger.
"You're making me learn this and do that, not to help me find my true interests or path, but just to make my 'skill tree' look more impressive!"
"What kind of 'effective social interaction' do you have with ten classmates every day? Can you really make true friends that way?!"
"I'm done!"
"My life is not a simulation game for anyone, nor is it about becoming anyone's 'official wife'!"
This roar almost exhausted all her strength. She felt like a puppet that had finally broken free of its strings, willing to break her joints in order to be free.
[…Strong resistance detected from the host…The system has been impacted…Self-repair and recalibration are underway…]
For the first time, the system's mechanical sound stuttered, like an old cassette tape, intermittent and seemingly struggling.
The next day was Saturday. Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the curtains onto the bed, making his cheeks feel itchy and warm. Jin Can groggily opened his eyes and glanced at the time; it was already past eleven in the morning.
The temperature has warmed up, and I woke up slightly sweaty.
Jin Can hadn't paid attention to these details in her life for a long time.
She woke up naturally, but the system was still lagging, the interface was unresponsive, and the functions seemed to be completely broken.
That day, she didn't study according to her schedule, but lived at her own pace: she leisurely finished her homework, practiced guzheng fingering for a while, and then watched an episode of cartoons while lying on her bed.
The lighthearted storyline allowed her to temporarily forget everything.
But the unease in my heart did not completely dissipate.
She thought of Chao Ningning, Shi Yanxi, and Zhou Yu.
What goals do these three women want to achieve? What is Ge Ouchen's wish?
Amidst her chaotic thoughts, she turned on the next episode of the anime, only to have her shoulder suddenly pressed down gently.
A hand, warm and firm, landed on her.
It's Ge Ouchen.
He arrived at her house without her noticing and was already standing beside her.
Jin Can sat up, and Ge Ouchen pulled up a chair, and the two faced each other.
"Haven't you been watching it for a long time? Why are you watching it again?" Ge Ouchen's voice sounded a little unnatural.
"I only watched for a little while! Don't worry, I didn't just do it on a whim. I'll study hard, school heartthrob." Jin Can said sarcastically, clearly annoyed.
"That's not what I meant." Ge Ouchen scratched his head, unsure of what to say.
Jin Can continued playing the animation, and Ge Ouchen, seeing this, sat down next to him, and the two watched the episode side by side.
After the episode ended, Ge Ouchen took Jin Can's tablet away. Jin Can pretended to raise his hand to snatch it, but didn't actually try to take it.
"It's nothing, don't be upset."
Ge Ouchen suddenly reached out and grabbed her shoulder, forcing her to look up and meet his gaze. The force was so urgent that it even hurt Jin Can a little.
"I'm not unhappy!" Jin Can looked away, not wanting him to see the turmoil in his eyes.
"Let's go for a walk."
"No, it's almost time for dinner."
"We're out of soy sauce at home, your mom just said so."
"Then just order takeout."
"It's just a bottle of soy sauce, let's go."
As Ge Ouchen spoke, he grabbed Jin Can's wrist and walked straight out.
Jin Can was half-pushed and half-pulled by him, and no longer resisted.
When Dad saw them, he smiled and said, "Perfect timing, also bring me a can of beer. It's hot, a sip will make you feel better. If you want anything to eat or drink, buy some while you're at it."
As soon as he finished speaking, Jin Can's phone chimed with a "ding," and another 200 yuan red envelope appeared.
Jin Can remained silent throughout the journey, simply following Ge Ouchen quietly to the supermarket at the entrance of the residential complex.
"Would you like this snack?"
"What about this candy? I remember you used to like it a lot."
As Ge Ouchen pushed the shopping cart, he would occasionally turn around and ask her questions.
Jin Can simply responded with a soft, indifferent tone.
Do you know what kind of beer your dad likes to drink?
"I don't know... I've never seen him drink it."
"What about this kind? My dad drinks this and says it tastes good."
He said, taking a can from the shelf and putting it in the cart. He paused, then picked up another can, glancing at her sideways.
"Shall we... sneak a little bit?"
Jin Can didn't answer, but just gave a soft "hmm".
Seeing this, Ge Ouchen casually grabbed two more cans and put them in.
Jin Can hurriedly said, "Uh... I don't need it, I won't drink it."
"Okay, then you can drink this."
He smiled, then picked up a bottle of sparkling wine from the side and handed it to her.
After paying, the two left the supermarket carrying a large bag of groceries.
There was too much water, and Jin Can was having trouble carrying it, so Ge Ouchen took it from him.
"I should have ordered takeout earlier... It's so hot," she muttered to herself.
Ge Ouchen opened the bag and gestured to her, "Try this, it should be similar to soda."
After saying that, he opened the can of beer himself and took a sip.
"Huh? Isn't this wine?" Jin Can followed suit, unscrewing the bottle of sparkling wine and taking a sip.
The sweet bubbles, mixed with a faint aroma of alcohol, spread on the tip of the tongue and then slid down the throat, carrying a slight bitterness.
"It's a bit bitter, but it's quite delicious," she said. "It would be even better if it were a little sweeter."
"I can't quite describe this one; it's just a faint, slightly bitter taste with a hint of alcohol."
Ge Ouchen shook the can and chuckled softly, saying, "Looks like we're not old enough to understand wine yet."
Jin Can was amused by his serious tone and burst out laughing.
"Finally, he smiled."
Their smiles softened the air.
Jin Can lowered his head, unsure how to respond, and simply pursed his lips.
Ge Ouchen reached out and tugged at her sleeve, signaling her to keep walking forward.
"Look, the weather is great today. The sky seems especially high and vast."
Jin Can looked up, following his gaze.
The sunset was ablaze, and the golden-red hue on the horizon was just like her name—brilliant yet gentle.
She was so engrossed in watching it that she became completely absorbed.
“The universe is so vast,” Ge Ouchen’s voice rang out softly, “our troubles are actually insignificant.”
He paused for a moment, his tone gradually softening: "Whether or not we continue to be a part of each other's lives in the future, we are ultimately two different individuals, walking our own paths."
He turned his head to look at her profile, his gaze filled with an unprecedented seriousness.
"I want you to be happy every day. If those stupid systems and stupid tasks make you unhappy, then you're putting the cart before the horse."
"I'm not good at saying comforting words, but these are things I thought about carefully all night before deciding to say."
"Don't let these things bind our lives."
Jin Can stared at him blankly, a pang of sadness welling up in her heart.
His voice was so genuine, like a warm current gently patting the shell that the system had wrapped around her.
Just then—
Suddenly, a rapid, mechanical voice rang in her mind:
[WARNING! An irreconcilable ultimate paradox has been detected between the core setting and the real world!]
The blue screen flickered violently, and the text on it turned into gibberish.
[Module...Logic...Broken...]
"Developing a primary wife"... prerequisites... do not exist...
[The system...core...is...self...disintegrating...]
Accompanied by near-screaming electronic noise, the mechanical voice, sometimes like a demon, sometimes like a mentor, became completely distorted:
[The system cannot parse the current world line! Unable to define the host's existence mode!]
[Logical conflict...overflow...]
[Immediately shutting down...]
【……close…………】
[Switched off]
The last cold word appeared, followed by a soft "snap".
The screen that had been with Jin Can for several months shattered completely, turning into countless blue specks of light and returning to nothingness.
The world is quieter than ever before.
On the other end, Shi Yanxi whistled: "Phew! System, you still messed up."
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