"No matter the time, there will always be someone… someone loving someone else with all their heart, someone believing in something with unwavering conviction, someone desperately wanting to convey their feelings… So don't ever think that you abandoned me. Even if the world line changes—if you don't forget me, then I'll still be there."
Tears shimmered in Makise's eyes as she looked at Okabe.
She had finally convinced him to return the world to its proper course.
"I'll never forget you. No matter what, I'll never forget the most important person in my life! I love you."
For the first time, Okabe dropped his usual chuuni act. His expression was dead serious as he stared straight into Makise's eyes.
The next shot: their lips met in a kiss.
Ma Liheng stared at the screen, heart tangled in knots.
Makise… had won the love story in this show.
But Okabe had already made up his mind—to sacrifice her to save Mayuri.
At the final moment, as Okabe pressed the key to delete SERN's record of the time-text message…
Makise burst into the room.
Her face, beautiful and pale, was filled with resolve.
"Okabe… Okabe, I… I also… I…"
Because of her tsundere nature, she had never actually said "I like you," even after the kiss.
And now, at the very last second, in this world line where she was still alive, she wanted to finally say it.
But—
The world line shifted.
She never got to finish the sentence.
Watching this scene, Ma Liheng broke down in tears.
"Writer… Are you even human!?"
"Let her finish her line, dammit!!"
Beta World Line.
Makise never joined the lab in this timeline.
Only Okabe, Mayuri, and Itaru were lab members.
They had succeeded… but also failed.
"Now, Ragnarok has come to its end. I, Hououin Kyouma, the mad scientist, have achieved total victory over SERN through my mastery of time! The structure of the world has been reforged! A chaotic future awaits us—this is the choice of Steins;Gate!"
Okabe's familiar chuuni speech echoed once more.
But the tears streaming down his face betrayed his heartbreak.
This wasn't chuuni delusion.
It was real.
In the fan chat, Makise fans exploded.
They had waited a week—only to be met with this ending.
"It's over. I don't want to watch anymore."
"What's the point of a world line where Makise dies?"
"I can't take this. Maybe it's 'realistic,' but to me, without Makise, this show has no soul."
"Makiseeeeeee!!"
"My Makise…"
"Damn it. This writer isn't human. What's wrong with his brain!? He could've given us a happy ending! Why?! Why did Makise have to die?"
Ma Liheng let out a long sigh, his whole body feeling drained.
He'd been so emotionally invested in this show, and now… he couldn't accept this result.
"But I guess I can't blame Teacher Jing Yu. After all, Makise died in episode one. That means this outcome was planned from the beginning. It's not like he pulled a cheap twist just to mess with us."
"But so what? I'm still pissed. If I'm unhappy with what I watched, I'm damn well gonna complain."
With that thought, Ma Liheng reached for the remote.
He had no plans to watch the finale next week.
As incredible as the story had been so far… if Makise was gone, there was just no motivation to keep going.
But—
Just as his hand touched the remote—
An unexpected character appeared on screen.
Suzuha Amane?
The part-time warrior!?
"Okabe—in the future, Makise's research on time travel causes a global war between nations. If… the only way to avoid that war is to save Makise, who died on July 28th…"
Ma Liheng's eyes widened.
His heart, hollow from Makise's disappearance, suddenly thundered back to life.
"I've received a mission from Future Okabe. I took a time machine to return to this point in time—to work with you, Okabe, to save Makise."
"We'll head toward the only world line that escapes the convergence—the Steins;Gate world line!"
Ending credits.
But this time, instead of a normal ending song—
They used the show's original opening as the ending theme.
"Invasion of Steins;Gate"
The title theme has been playing since episode one.
As the melody rang out and the logo pulsed across the screen—
A wave of indescribable emotion surged through Ma Liheng.
So this…
This was where the story was going!?
In front of countless TV screens across Great Zhou, viewers erupted.
Fan chat blew up:
"That ending was insane!"
"Okay! I forgive Teacher Jing Yu for this cliffhanger. That hype is real!"
"Damn! I'm too uneducated to describe this properly, so just: WOW!"
"So that's what Steins;Gate means!? The title of the show is literally the final world line!"
"Someone give the writer a whole roast chicken—I need to apologize. I literally told my girlfriend earlier that only a brain full of crap could write an ending where Makise dies. Teacher Jing Yu, I was wrong!"
"So in the Beta line, it's not that SERN rules the world through time travel, but that every country goes to war over it?! What the hell? Is there no good timeline in the future!?"
"So the Steins;Gate world line is the only one where SERN doesn't control the world, and governments don't blow everything up for time machines? Is that even real!?"
"Such a chuuni name… but it got me so hyped I wanna scream!"
"I'm willing to sacrifice one minute of lifespan from every person in this chat if it means we can skip ahead to next Friday. I can't wait anymore!"
"I want to see how Makise is saved! I don't care if there are logic holes—just don't rush it. Jing Yu, go for it!"
"Everything… is the choice of 'Steins;Gate'!"
The entire episode had kept fans suffocating under a heavy emotional weight—
—until Suzuha's sudden appearance in the Beta world line blew it all wide open.
'Steins;Gate's rating this week: 5.80%
Given that the show had been airing for so long…
That its earlier episodes were now streaming for free on Yunteng TV's official site…
And that both 'Steins;Gate' and 'Hikaru no Go' were being replayed in various time slots, with word-of-mouth and ratings buzz only intensifying…
This week's jump in viewership was still phenomenal.
Meanwhile, 'You, Under the Cliff' saw its rating fall again—closing out at 6.24%.
Lin Bin, over at Huanshi TV, stared blankly at the numbers.
He had thought last week's 6.52% was already rock bottom.
But this week? It dropped even further?
Then, he noticed something that truly terrified him.
The gap in ratings between 'Steins;Gate' and 'You, Under the Cliff'…
Had shrunk to only about 0.4%.
If this trend continued—
Next week, in its finale, 'Steins;Gate' might actually overtake 'You, Under the Cliff'.
The show meant to undermine 'You, Under the Cliff's ratings—Steins;Gate—might end up overtaking it.
Lin Bin's face turned pale.
One phrase echoed in his mind:
"Total ruin."