After a long silence, Aoki suddenly recoiled as if shocked.
“Ah… I’m clearly the death soldier here; I’m the one who should be protecting Miss, right?”
He didn’t dare meet Lin Qiyou’s eyes and, wanting to find something to do, quickly grabbed the bowls and chopsticks and started stuffing food into his mouth.
The taste was bitter now—though it hadn’t been just moments ago.
“I’ll be stronger than you soon. I told you.”
Lin Qiyou said calmly, and only then did Aoki remember that the earlier sentence had been waiting for him all along.
“Really? I’ll work hard too.”
Aoki answered with a trembling voice.
He didn’t understand.
This girl… this seventeen-year-old girl, what was going on?
Why did she suddenly say that?
What did she mean by protecting herself… how could she possibly know how much grievance he had suffered?
It was voluntary, just to get stronger. Where was the grievance?
The hardships in this fantasy world didn’t concern him; the situation would resolve itself.
Besides… it was all fake.
Not just the feelings, but this world too.
Don’t think about it, don’t think about it.
It was clearly all fake.
Why then…
“You must be feeling really disdainful right now, huh?”
“No.”
“I’ll make you brave enough to speak out, to say all the grievances you’ve had enough of.”
“There’s no grievance. Who dares to claim injustice?”
“I swear, no matter where you’re bullied, I’ll help you.”
“That’s a bit exaggerated!”
“Pinky swear!”
Seeing Aoki keep his head lowered, Lin Qiyou slid her chair over beside him and extended her pinky.
“I swear… after two more treatments to my spirit vein, once I breakthrough… I will definitely save you. By the time I’m eighteen, I won’t let the Linjia control you anymore.”
“Heh, at eighteen, huh?”
Aoki found it absurd and also extended his pinky.
“My spirit vein will be healed soon! You’re not the genius—I am.
Once my spirit vein heals, I’ll definitely be stronger than you, so I’ll protect you!”
The tone was a bit boastful, and Lin Qiyou’s voice sounded almost cute.
But to Aoki’s ears, it was heart-wrenching.
It was nothing.
Eighteen was Lin Qiyou’s wish and his as well.
Their fingers intertwined and tugged, finally locking pinkies with a firm tap.
Lin Qiyou was surprisingly strong.
“Pinky swear, hanging by a thread, never break it for a hundred years.”
Like children, they finished the pinky swear and let go.
Looking at each other again, both were somewhat dazed.
Just yesterday, their relationship had been cold and distant.
“Well then, the silver bell, teach me how to use it.”
Lin Qiyou pointed to the silver bell on the table. Aoki was momentarily stunned, then took out his own silver bell and placed them side by side.
“It has a special spell…”
Aoki spent a while teaching Lin Qiyou how to activate and use the silver bell.
Lin Qiyou took her own bell, infused it with spiritual energy, and shook it in her hand. Aoki’s bell vibrated and emitted a faint chime.
Perhaps because a wish had come true, Lin Qiyou smiled.
She smiled beautifully; it might be an exaggeration to say her every smile could overshadow the world, but it was enough to make one’s heart skip a beat.
Lin Qiyou kept shaking her bell as Aoki’s bell echoed nonstop.
In fact, Aoki had feared this from the start.
If he had still lived next to Lin Qiyou back then and taught her, she would have immediately used the silver bell to torment him rather than kick the wall and shout his name.
But, as Lin Qiyou said, she wasn’t stupid.
After a few more shakes, she seemed satisfied, then thought for a moment and tucked the bell back into her chest, saying:
“As long as I shake this bell, I’ll know where you are.”
That was exactly what Lin Qiyou had said on her birthday two years ago.
Should he say she had a good memory?
She really remembered a lot.
It felt like Lin Qiyou had prepared herself for this because after all that was done, she suddenly slipped into a flushed, dazed state like someone who’d finished a mission and couldn’t stay indoors.
So she found an opportunity to say goodbye to Aoki.
“You… behave yourself, wait one more year, until you’re eighteen.”
With that, Lin Qiyou left.
Aoki stared out the window at Lin Qiyou’s small running figure, suddenly bursting out laughing, only for the smile to vanish moments later.
He looked at the broken vegetable basket, glanced at the food on the table, and recalled Lin Qiyou’s promise—feeling nothing but absurdity.
A fairy’s awakened promise, a future seemingly full of hope, was actually an illusion, destined to become a bubble.
A promise born from the false feelings of spirit vein transplantation.
There was no hope for the future; only the ending where he died on the operating table.
And because of his death, the spirit vein would belong solely to Lin Qiyou, and the false feelings would vanish too.
Even though he knew the ending was destined to be ridiculous and laughable, Aoki felt that as long as Lin Qiyou still mistakenly believed she liked him, he might as well do something she wanted.
Consider it… her comforting reward?
Think he felt wronged?
You virtual character, you’re quite something…
*****
Snapping out of the simulation, Aoki returned to the real fantasy world.
A month ago, he’d discovered he had hit a bottleneck—his normal human form could only last about forty minutes at most, with no further progress.
After some tests, he suspected his injured body was the problem and decided to wait until the simulation ended.
He left the jade bed, stretched, stared at the elf goddess statue and the magical barrier for a while, then inspected the various items in the room.
He’d done this countless times and was utterly bored.
However, he usually woke up around this time, so naturally, he had other plans.
When the time felt right, Aoki returned to the jade bed and quietly waited.
After a short while, footsteps approached, and he crept open his eyes a sliver to see a wood elf.
The wood elf wore a hat and neutral clothing, carrying a basin of water.
As Aoki watched silently, the wood elf slipped, falling squarely on his backside—and the basin of water drenched him from head to toe.
The wood elf was unlucky, and Aoki even more so.
He shivered in fright, and the wood elf noticed.
With a startled “Ah!” the wood elf quickly got up and came close to the jade bed.
“Lord Aoki, you’re awake? Hey?”
Sensing someone speaking right in front of him, Aoki pretended to remain comatose.
He thought to himself how stupid he was.
But there was no other choice; this body had been wrecked by his yandere little aunt, so it was normal it was uncontrollable.
What to do now? What to do!
If this guy found out he was awake, then Yuelan would definitely know too!
At that time, everything would be over!
“Lord Aoki, you’re awake, right? You scared me just now, you know?”
The wood elf’s voice was devilishly mischievous. Aoki felt like he could already picture Yuelan going wild over his body.