When Nguyen Thanh An placed his hand on the wall, the dark green characters 'x09' shimmered with a firefly-like light.
She subconsciously looked at the fireflies floating in mid-air.
The next moment—consciousness was instantly dragged into it!
When she opened her eyes again, the place where she was standing had transformed into a vast and brilliant starry sky. The Milky Way hung down, and the countless stars in the sky were like silver ribbons, their dazzling light faintly revealing a dark green hue.
The dark green was like a secluded forest, its deep green almost condensing into a jewel-like luster, making it exceptionally beautiful.
At the very center, connected by countless data streams, stood a tall man who had always been suppressed at the bottom of the Administration Bureau.
His entire body was covered in dark green electronic patterns, shimmering with the crystalline quality of data, and the data streams, almost solidified into chains, tightly bound Xie Huainan's muscular body.
This is clearly a scene from the past.
Because at this moment, the Administration Bureau was already a desolate wasteland, and the main gods who suppressed those collapsing small worlds had long since disappeared.
Separated by an almost insurmountable distance, Ruan Qing'an gazed at the tall man in the past scene with her leaden gray eyes, the emotions in her eyes too complex to discern.
"You've sent me away again, Xie Huainan."
"What exactly do you want me to do, or rather... what are you hiding from me? I don't believe you would really be willing to die alone for the sake of these three thousand worlds."
Ruan Qing'an paused, then spoke in a deep voice. Although her tone was unusually calm, her trembling fingertips betrayed her panic—she simply couldn't believe that the man who was willing to drag her down into the abyss with his love would be willing to abandon her and die on his own.
Just after she finished speaking, as if something had been triggered, the past scenes began to move little by little.
The man, tightly bound by the dark green data stream, suddenly raised his head. His eyes, flashing with electronic data, were like deep green gems, carrying a seductive yet dangerous light.
"Ruan Ruan, I knew you would come."
"..."
Ruan Qing'an didn't speak, she just looked at him. The man's gaze was directed at her, but there was nothing in it.
She knew all too well about this tactic; it was just a lingering image of condensed power. Xie Huainan had known all along that she would return to the Administration Bureau after the mission, discover the truth, and come back here, where she would definitely see him again.
Therefore, Xie Huainan gathered his strength in advance and left behind this video, but it did not have any function of communication.
However, it was as if he had anticipated her reaction.
“I know you don’t want to talk to me, and you definitely don’t want to talk right now—I know you too well, and neither do we, Ruan Ruan.”
"...You don't need to say so much."
Still feeling resentful at being sent away, Ruan Qing'an said rather irritably, but before she could finish speaking, Xie Huainan spoke up again—"I said all this just because I missed you."
"I really, really want to."
Startled by being interrupted, Ruan Qing'an paused, looked up at Xie Huainan, and waited for him to continue.
The bound man lowered his eyes and said, "You will find the virus carrier, Ruan Ruan. I have always known that, and the moment you find it, you will understand the truth."
“I believe you can do it. You will find out even without me explaining, but I should tell you everything instead of hiding it from you, so I am telling you everything.”
Xie Huainan paused, then said softly, "That virus vector is indeed my backup data, and I am the virus."
"The former chief god was indeed ruthless enough. It was only before I told you that I finally found out about this matter."
"Isn't it ridiculous? I thought I was saving the world, but I never expected that it was my own existence that spread the virus to every corner. As long as I live, as the chief god of the Administration Bureau, I will never be able to eliminate the virus."
Hearing this, Ruan Qing'an spoke softly, knowing full well that this was just a memory of the past and that Xie Huainan wouldn't respond, but she still said, "So..."
"Before we went to the Western fantasy world, everything you said was just to put my mind at ease. Finding the virus carrier is useless because you already knew where the real virus was."
Xie Huainan was silent for a moment before speaking, "Under the arrangement of the previous chief god, it only gave me two endings."
"First, I live, and then I drag the entire Three Thousand Worlds and the Administration Bureau together, and they all perish and disappear."
"Secondly, I will die and be buried with it, in exchange for the disappearance of this virus that is threatening the three thousand worlds and the survival of the world."
There are only these two options.
The atmosphere was tense. Ruan Qing'an stared intently at the silent man before her, while Xie Huainan's aggressive face suddenly curled into a cold and sarcastic smile: "Guess what I'll choose, Ruan Ruan?"
"...You won't choose."
Seeing the chilling killing intent in the man's eyes, she whispered.
The next moment, Xie Huainan said, "Yes, I won't let it do as it wishes. I hate these kinds of choices, so—"
After a moment of silence, Xie Huainan chuckled softly.
When he spoke again, the sky and earth collapsed instantly. The entire star-studded night sky shattered like glass, as if overwhelmed by an excessively powerful force.
Ruan Qingan's steps involuntarily retreated.
Her leaden eyes were filled with astonishment and uncertainty as she stared blankly at the apocalyptic scene before her.
Xie Huainan, who was originally sealed away, is gradually breaking free from the dark green data stream. That was a shackle he had put on himself, a cage that imprisoned him.
But at this moment, he was actively breaking through all the restrictions that bound him, shattering the Bureau around him and the three thousand worlds surrounding him into large, crystal-clear pieces, which were scattered across the starry sky.
Fragments also flew past Ruan Qing'an. She subconsciously looked back and saw what appeared to be a complete little world within the broken pieces.
But at this moment, all that remains is to scatter and vanish.
However, Xie Huainan's actions were not simply destruction; rather, he shattered everything and dragged it to its end. At the end of the Milky Way lies the endless cycle of rebirth and death.
Watching these past scenes unfold.
Ruan Qing'an found it hard to imagine just how big of a mess Xie Huainan had gotten himself into. Even she couldn't quite figure it out. So, generally speaking, don't push a madman to the brink.
It wasn't until Nguyen Thanh An noticed the scene receding into the distance.
She suddenly realized what was happening, and just then she heard the man standing at the end of the starry river speak—
"Ruan Ruan, I've reset everything."
"Do you understand? It's like when restarting or shutting down your computer doesn't work, you just reinstall the system or get a new computer—going back in time, I will still exist, and the world we walked through together will still be fine."
"You will return to the small world where you were once a native, living a peaceful and ordinary life, while I will become the system I was when I first left the factory."
"It's like rewinding everything and starting over."
"Please forgive me, this is the only way I can think of to let us both live. I wanted to take you with me to die, but I found... I can't do it at all, Ruan Ruan."
After the last sentence disappeared, everything around him accelerated, and Ruan Qing'an couldn't help but widen his eyes, feeling panicked and bewildered.
"Xie Huainan, are you fucking insane?!"
"If I'm the only one in the whole world who remembers everything that happened between us, you might as well let me die with you!"
But a strong sense of rejection had already arrived, completely disregarding Ruan Qing'an's breakdown; she was forcibly expelled from the place, and after her figure disappeared—
The man standing before the illusory image of the shattered world looked up.
His dark green eyes held a complex mix of emotions.
"If... we can still... find..."
His voice was so soft that it was almost inaudible.
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