Epilogue: Trapped Forever.

After being rejected eighty-one times, a thoroughly heartbroken Giang Dữ finally boarded a flight out of the country. He threw himself entirely into his work, his net worth soaring into the stratosphere. Yet every now and then, he still couldn’t resist calling just to bother me. “Sister-in-law, don’t hang up… I miss you.”

Meanwhile, Chu Nghiêm and I lived a quiet, blissful life, occasionally spicing things up in the bedroom just to keep boredom at bay. Anyone looking in from the outside could only sigh in envy—our marriage was sweeter than honey.

As for whether the System would actually return in ten years, I honestly stopped caring. Because right now, I had my fortune, my very own “villain,” and a life where I didn’t end up a beggar.

—

Ten years flew by, and true to its word, the System returned to collect me.

[Dear host, I am System 001. Would you like to return home right now?]

Looking at its post-upgrade, crisp corporate-executive vibe, I nearly burst out laughing. “Wow, look at you, sporting the full CEO aesthetic now!”

The System shot me a cold glare: [This is standard protocol, miss. A simple ‘Yes’ will suffice. Excessive banter only brings heartbreak to the System.]

In truth, it desperately wanted to drag me back to my old world. But I had already built a life here. Here, I had parents who genuinely loved me, and the freedom I had dreamed of my entire life. I was no longer suffocated by a misogynistic family, nor was I haunted by the internet mobs that had once dragged me down into the abyss. I didn’t want to go back.

I teased it one last time. “How about you swap out your microchips and swing back in another ten years?”

The System vanished instantly, leaving behind one last fiercely “affectionate” line: [What, you think I’m your personal chauffeur?! Bye!]

The moment the System left, I was pulled backward into a warm, solid chest. Chu Nghiêm wrapped his arms tightly around my waist, his voice dropping low, thick with wounded insecurity. “I just had a nightmare… You left. You abandoned me all alone.”

I flinched slightly. The System was gone, yet he had still managed to dream the exact original script. It took me a long time of gentle, patient coaxing to finally calm him down. Yet a few days later, right in the middle of a corporate meeting, he suddenly called me to ask point-blank: “That night… were you really planning to leave?”

I stayed silent for a moment before answering softly, “I didn’t… leave.”

The line went dead silent. His voice rasped, heavy and broken: “Dung Chiêu Thu… what did you just say?”

It felt as though something fragile inside him had shattered. A sudden shudder ran down my spine. This scene was terrifyingly familiar—it was an exact replay of what happened ten years ago. Great, time for another round of coaxing. The man was truly the final endgame boss of being hard to soothe.

—

When did Chu Nghiêm figure out that Dung Chiêu Thu was “conquering” him? Perhaps… it was the moment he first fell in love with her.

That summer years ago, he never forgot the sight of a girl gripping a collapsible baton, slamming it hard against the bullies’ table just to protect an unwanted, illegitimate son like him. She was bright and radiant like the sun, while he was nothing more than an insecure nobody, abandoned by his own mother.

The very moment he finally nodded and confessed that he liked her was the exact moment he heard strange voices echoed inside his head:

[When is Chiêu Thu going to finish this mission?]

[Not anytime soon. The affection meter is only at 50%. Poor host, conquering this guy is such a pain.]

He froze, a cold numbness washing over him. So… all that warmth had just been a task.

He began avoiding her, but she refused to give up. Every single day, she chirped about how much she liked him, slipping notes filled with sweet professions of love into his hands. He tortured himself endlessly, knowing full well it was all an act, yet his heart betrayed him, fluttering secretly at every gesture. He secretly kept her hair ties and stole quiet kisses on the notes she wrote. A silent, hidden lunatic.

Then came the day he heard the voices again:

[She has to reach the ‘final step’ for the points to count. Otherwise, even if they love each other until their hair turns white, the mission will never be completed.]

In that fleeting second, Chu Nghiêm breathed a profound sigh of relief.

It turned out the secret to keeping her by his side was painfully simple. As long as he never crossed that line—as long as he kept playing the role of a man without desire, she would never be able to finish her task. She would be forced to stay beside him forever.

For ten long years, he used his fake “impotence” to trade for a lifetime beside the woman he loved most.

Forever.

(The End)