Chapter 6: Final Instructions

The first day I met Xie Chu… was also the day of the first snowfall.

When the game first entered beta testing, everyone rushed toward the city center to admire the dazzling graphics and special effects. I was the only one who happened to notice a little boy huddled in the corner of a street.

I clicked on him.

The information that appeared was simple:

Seven years old.

Mother deceased.

Homeless for one year.

Almost instinctively, I checked my in-game wallet.

I was dirt-poor.

The beta version didn’t even allow players to buy currency yet.

I rummaged through my inventory forever and eventually found exactly one thing I could give him—a bowl of rice.

The day I stabbed Xie Chu… was also the day of the first snowfall.

He collapsed onto the ground. Blood poured from his chest, so bright and red it hurt to look at. The light slowly faded from those dark eyes, leaving only the snow drifting silently outside the window.

“Xie Chu!”

I ran through the entire house looking for him.

No answer.

“Xie Chu!”

From the first floor to the second. The study. The home theater. The music room.

Every room was empty.

【He isn’t here.】

The system was still able to connect because the front door hadn’t been closed.

【Every year on this day, he goes to the storage room in the basement.】

I immediately ran downstairs.

The storage room was pitch-black.

Xie Chu was curled up inside a small cabinet.

Just like that little boy all those years ago—huddled in the darkness, with no one there to hold him.

The room wasn’t even cold, but he was still trembling.

I stepped forward and pulled him out.

He knocked my hand away.

I reached for him again.

He shoved me away again.

I grabbed his hand.

He clenched his fist so tightly, as if his life depended on it.

I tried to pry his fingers open.

Inside his palm was that ring.

The ring made from my ashes.

I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I burst into tears right there.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have treated you like that…”

I wrapped my arms tightly around him.

“I was wrong…”

It was all my fault.

Love wasn’t a knife. It wasn’t something you used to stab the person you loved until they bled to death.

“You’re not leaving again?”

His voice was so cold it seemed capable of freezing the air itself.

“I’m not leaving.”

I shook my head over and over.

“I’m staying with you.”

I knew it.

There was no way those notes from the system could have escaped his notice.

“I wasn’t lying to you. I came back… because I really wanted to see you. They told me you wouldn’t die… that’s why I stabbed you. And the part about not loving you… that was the lie.”

“I love you, Xie Chu. You’re the only one I love.”

My tears fell harder than the snow outside.

Xie Chu stared at me for a long time.

The hallway light spilled into his eyes, and for the first time, it looked as if a tiny flame had finally come back to life.

I leaned down and kissed him.

Once.

Then again.

Finally, he yanked me into his arms and kissed me back with a fierce hunger, as if he intended to collect every last bit of interest on the three years he’d spent waiting.

After that day, Xie Chu and I officially made up.

He stopped keeping me locked up. The windows that had been sealed shut were opened again.

But we still stayed at the estate.

Our life looked almost the same as before, but in reality, everything had changed.

We became more and more inseparable, practically glued together with industrial-strength superglue.

Eventually, I was allowed to touch the scar over his chest.

Even after all these years, it was still horrifyingly vivid.

The moment I saw it, my eyes burned with tears again.

Xie Chu said nothing.

He simply lowered his head and kissed me deeply.

Winter gradually faded, and little by little, Xie Chu became the man I’d once known again.

The corners of his lips knew how to smile.

There was light in his eyes.

Curious, I asked the system what his corruption level was now.

The system immediately exploded.

【How the hell would I know?! Tell him to take down that ridiculous security system already!!!】

Even though the windows were open again, as long as I was inside the house, the system connection still came and went.

Apparently, Xie Chu had surrounded the entire house with some kind of material that didn’t belong to this world.

It sounded like a villain had personally built his own anti-hacking server.

【And I’m seriously suspicious! That lunatic probably locked his corruption level too!】

“It’s back again?”

By now, whenever I suddenly went quiet, Xie Chu knew immediately that I was talking to the system.

His expression darkened at once.

He stood up and pulled the curtains shut.

【Tsk…】

The system hadn’t even finished complaining before the signal cut out.

I was just about to sit up when Xie Chu returned to the bed.

He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me against his chest, his husky voice murmuring beside my ear.

“Go back to sleep.”

Spring in the game world was ridiculously beautiful, the kind of romantic scenery you got when a graphic designer accidentally took an entire bottle of mood enhancers.

We started going outside more often.

Once, Xie Chu asked what my real world looked like.

So I drew him a portrait of it.

“Is it beautiful?”

Xie Chu propped his chin on his hand and stared at it for a long time.

Then he pointed out the window.

At the moon.

My heart gave a hard thump.

My face instantly heated up.

Seriously, how was I supposed to handle that?

The man I loved had just looked at me and compared me to the moon.

In April, the spring flowers bloomed in full glory.

Xie Chu took me to experience some of the most breathtaking sights that only existed inside the game.

We flew a fighter jet through Lovers’ Valley.

Cherry blossoms covered the entire mountain range. The tiny aircraft darted through the sea of flowers like a dragonfly.

I screamed until my voice went hoarse from sheer excitement.

In May, there was a meteor shower.

We spent the entire night lying inside a glass house perched on the cliff, watching the stars streak across the sky.

I took advantage of the opportunity to make every wish imaginable.

In June, the amusement park Xie Chu had built officially opened.

I dragged him onto the giant Ferris wheel.

When we reached the very top, we kissed.

And then he simply refused to let me go.

He held me there until the Ferris wheel completed another full rotation before finally releasing me.

I blushed as I stared out at the nighttime scenery.

Then, out of nowhere, he asked,

“When are you leaving?”

Xie Chu knew far more than we’d ever imagined.

Every transmigration mission had a time limit.

Complete it, and you received a reward.

Fail, and you were punished.

But whether the mission succeeded or failed, someone from another world could never remain here forever.

If they tried to stay, their soul would eventually disappear completely.

My first mission had lasted three years.

This time, I had only one year.

After hearing from the system that Xie Chu needed to continue opposing the male and female leads to keep the storyline moving, he merely said,

“Then I’ll play with them for a while.”

He said it with the casual attitude of a billionaire opening a farming game just to kill some monsters for fun.

What he cared about most was actually Wei Qing’s body.

【It can either be returned to the system as an ordinary NPC, or erased completely.】

I typed the system’s words onto the screen.

Xie Chu barely hesitated.

“Erase it.”

The game world grew hotter as June wore on.

Then, one early morning, the day I had to leave finally arrived.

I baked him another small batch of pastries.

The ultimate villain had a sweet tooth.

That was a secret only I knew.

I also replaced all the plants around the house and reminded him to take good care of them.

“I made this for you, too.”

While he was working, I’d secretly knitted him a white scarf.

“When the first snow comes, remember to wear it. And don’t wear that ring anymore. It’s bad luck.”

“I also stocked the refrigerator with food. You should learn to cook a few more dishes instead of eating the same things every single day. And one more thing, later I’m going to…”