May 19th, Friday night.
As it neared 8 p.m., viewership across countless mid- and small-sized TV stations in Great Zhou began bleeding out rapidly. At the same time, ratings for Yunteng TV and Huanshi TV were surging like a tide.
By 7:50 p.m., Yunteng's rating had officially broken 5%, while Huanshi TV crossed the 6% mark.
In Great Zhou's TV drama industry, such a situation was almost unheard of.
Two shows, airing in the same timeslot, one breaking 6% and the other breaking 4%?
If 'Steins;Gate' and 'You, Under the Cliff' weren't being aired head-to-head, both would almost certainly have even higher ratings now. But since they collided in the same slot, it was destined to be a mutual battle of attrition.
Inside Huanshi TV, screenwriter Lin Bin's eyes were bloodshot.
After weeks of torment, he could only bitterly accept the damage 'Steins;Gate' had done to 'You, Under the Cliff's ratings.
Even though it had slipped to third place in the summer season's weekly rankings last week, as long as 'You, Under the Cliff' maintained stable ratings for its remaining episodes, its average across the whole run still had a strong chance to stay number one.
"Drop dead," Lin Bin cursed under his breath.
Last week, 'Steins;Gate' made what he considered a rookie mistake. No matter how talented this "newcomer" writer was, some traps were unavoidable.
Throwing a "choose one to save" dilemma at the audience right before the finale?
Did this guy think 'Steins;Gate' was a love triangle melodrama?
Ordinary romance dramas might have triangles, but it's always clear who's the real heroine. Through screen time and characterization, viewers can usually guess the outcome.
But 'Steins;Gate' wasn't like that.
It had spent almost an entire month of broadcast focusing on Okabe's desperate efforts to save Mayuri… yet emotionally, his relationship developed more deeply with Makise.
That created a problem:
If Mayuri dies now, it renders almost a month of the protagonist's struggle meaningless—audiences feel like their investment was for nothing. Next week's finale ratings would nosedive from viewer anger.
But if Makise dies instead—given how much more popular she is right now—the show risks alienating her fans just as badly.
"Any seasoned veteran knows that by the final two episodes, the script should stay steady—no risks, no mistakes. But here's 'Steins;Gate', still playing with fire at the finish line," Lin Bin muttered, taking a deep breath.
"It would've been so simple. Just save Mayuri, restore the Beta line. As for Makise, toss in a line later like 'she was only stabbed, not killed—just badly injured!' Happy ending, ratings secured. But no, he had to go for a life-or-death binary choice."
"Handled badly, 'Steins;Gate' is going to be labeled a botched ending."
And for Lin Bin, nothing would be more satisfying than to see that happen.
If Great Zhou's laws allowed vengeful spirits, his grudge against 'Steins;Gate' by now would've summoned Sadako from the TV screen.
8:00 p.m. sharp.
The two dramas began airing simultaneously.
Ma Liheng's heart was pounding. He loved this show deeply, but last week's cliffhanger had left him stewing for days.
He stared at Okabe's absurdly handsome face on the screen.
"If you really can only save one, save Makise. But if you can, please, please think of a way to save them both! Come on, Okabe—you're not just the protagonist, you're basically the writer too, right? Fire up that genius human brain of yours! Don't let it turn into pig brains now!"
This episode of Steins;Gate centered entirely on Okabe's inner torment.
He already had the old computer. All he had to do was infiltrate the "SERN"'s website and delete the intercepted record of the first text he'd ever sent. That single act would return the world line to the Beta path—where Makise dies.
If he did nothing, night would fall, and Mayuri would die in front of him again.
But if he deleted the data, the world line would shift, and Makise would die for sure.
Okabe's mental state was on the brink of collapse.
He couldn't choose. All he wanted to do was run—jump back 48 hours again using the PhoneWave.
Yes. That was all he needed. Do it again, and again.
As long as he stayed within these 48 hours, both Makise and Mayuri would still exist.
Forget convergence. If he wanted the world frozen in this window of time, then Makise and Mayuri could live beside him forever.
Makise saw through his instability. After repeated questioning, Okabe finally confessed why he refused to restore the Beta line.
The background music softened. The emotion in Makise's eyes shifted from shock to sorrow, and finally to calm.
Mayuri's phone call came through.
A seemingly ordinary, roundabout conversation.
Ma Liheng watched, confused—until one line made him break down in tears.
"If you think I'm a burden… please, you have to tell me."
The fan chats exploded:
"My heart…"
"From what we've seen, Okabe never told Mayuri she was going to die. After a world line shift, she forgets everything, but those déjà-vu feelings remain. Maybe because she's been with Okabe so long, she's slightly influenced. Like those moments where a place you've never been feels familiar, or you dream about things that never happened. She probably dreams of her own deaths in other world lines. So even if she doesn't fully understand, she must sense something."
"That's why her line broke me! Okabe is the one who messed with time and caused her to die a hundred times in Alpha. And now he hesitates? Just fix it already!"
"Create a miracle again, boy!"
"We accept only a happy ending. No one dies."
"Come on, Okabe! Hold on! You've already endured this day a hundred times. If you found a way to save Mayuri, loop it a thousand times and figure out how to save Makise too!"
The rest of the episode focused on Okabe and Makise spending time together.
They talked about many things. Okabe wanted to keep rebooting these two days, hiding forever in the cracks of time.
But Makise persuaded him.
Even if that meant guiding the world back to a line where she would die.
Finally—
"I… can't save you. I'm sorry." Okabe held Makise tightly, grief etched on his face.
"Thank you… for hurting so much for me."