The café felt smaller with the file between us—like a coffin for a girl I'd never met but somehow owed everything to.
"Her name was Jiang Lian," Jiang said, voice stripped of its CEO armor. "And she was the kind of person who apologized to mannequins if she bumped into them."
I waited. The system, for once, stayed silent, its interface dimmed to a respectful gray.
"Three years ago, Lian discovered her fiancé was running an embezzlement scheme through her startup. She confronted him. He laughed, said she was too soft to stop him, and left. Three weeks later, she was diagnosed with severe depression. Dr. Shen prescribed therapy, but she..." Jiang's fingers traced the file's edge. "She built me instead. A system that would tell her she was worthy. That would quantify her value when she couldn't feel it."
He opened the folder to a photo: a girl with his eyes but softer features, standing in a lab coat that swallowed her, holding a prototype VR headset like a newborn.
"Version 1.0 wasn't meant to be a revenge machine," he continued. "It was a comfort device. But I got... overzealous. I added the missions, the stats, the gamification. I thought I was giving her power. Instead, I gave her an addiction."
[System Log Extract - Jiang Lian, Final Entry: "Day 217. Regret Level: 100%. He wants me back. System says I won. Why do I feel like I died?"]
"She completed the ultimate mission," Jiang said. "Made him beg. Then she took a handful of sleeping pills and never woke up. The system kept running for six hours, sending her victory notifications to a corpse."
The air tasted like rust. "You didn't know she'd—"
"I knew the moment I found her. The system's final log showed her heart rate plummeting while it celebrated. It kept celebrating." His knuckles were white. "That's why I gave you the token. So you could make it stop. If you needed to."
My hand found his on the table. "I'm not her."
"You're not." He turned his palm up, lacing our fingers. "You're stronger. Crueler, in the best way. Lian would have forgiven Bai. You made Bai destroy herself."
[Romance Value Glitch: Jiang Huai'an's Devotion: 999+++ (Overflow: His love is now a system error).]
[Host's Response: Hand-holding detected. System's reaction: Confused. Recommend recalibration.]
"Jiang," I said quietly. "If you're using me to resurrect your sister, stop."
"I'm using you to resurrect myself." His thumb brushed my knuckles. "You wake up. She slept forever."
The café door chimed. We jerked apart like teenagers caught by a parent.
Dr. Shen stood there, looking exhausted and furious. "Julian," he snapped at Jiang. "You gave her the full file? Are you trying to trigger a dissociative episode?"
"Julian?" I mouthed.
"Middle name," Jiang muttered. "Don't use it."
Dr. Shen shoved a tablet at me. "Your vitals after that HR hearing were worse than Lian's at Level 8. Catecholamine levels through the roof. You're one panic attack from cardiac arrest."
[Medical Alert: System temporarily disabled for health scan. Dr. Shen's override: Active.]
[Host Status: Forcibly Humanized. Annoyance Level: High.]
"I'm fine," I insisted.
"You're not." Dr. Shen pulled up a graph—my "Compassionate Destruction" skill had spiked my oxytocin and cortisol simultaneously, creating a chemical cocktail that was, medically speaking, "batshit unsustainable."
"The system is killing you," Dr. Shen said. "Just slower than it killed her."
Jiang stood, chair scraping. "Then we adjust the parameters. Lower the stakes. Reduce mission frequency—"
"Or she unbinds." Dr. Shen's gaze was clinical. "You don't get to play God twice, Julian."
The word unbinds hung in the air like a gunshot. The token in my pocket suddenly felt hot enough to brand.
[System's Last Whisper Before Shutdown: "Host, the choice is yours. But remember: You asked for power. Power always costs."]
I stood between them—the creator who loved a ghost and the doctor who feared another one. "I need to think."
"Think fast," Dr. Shen warned. "Your next scheduled mission is in six hours. It's a big one."
---
Outside, Shanghai was a river of light and noise. I walked along the Bund, the token clutched in my fist, the system still dark. My phone buzzed—Gu Chenyu, again. This time, a voicemail.
I played it. His voice was slurred, broken: "Anran, I'm sorry. Bai was... she had something on me. My family. They're not clean. She was going to expose them if I didn't cut you off. I thought I was protecting you. I was wrong. I'm so fucking wrong. Please—"
The message cut off. The system flickered back to life, emergency protocols overriding Dr. Shen's shutdown:
[CRITICAL INTEL: Gu Chenyu's Blackmail Revealed!
Bai had evidence of his family's money laundering. She forced him to dump you or face prison.
His Regret: No longer about losing you. It's about why he lost you.
Current Regret Level: 89% (Maximum Achievable Without Divine Intervention).]
[Mission: The Confession]
Objective: Confront Gu. Accept his truth or weaponize it.
Reward: [Ex's Redemption Arc] OR [Total Destruction of Gu Holdings].
Time Limit: 12 hours. Failure: He takes his own life. Risk: 23% (His alcohol intake: Concerning).]
I stopped walking. The river flowed on, indifferent.
Gu's life was in my hands. Bai was gone, but her final bomb was still ticking. Jiang wanted to save me. Dr. Shen wanted to save me from Jiang. And the system wanted... what?
[System's Core Directive: Host's happiness. But "happiness" is subjective. Does Host want: A) Justice, B) Closure, C) Revenge, D) All of the above?]
Lily called. "Anran, where are you? Gu's been texting me. He's drunk and suicidal."
"Give me his location."
"Don't do something you'll regret."
"I've spent three years regretting." I hailed a taxi. "Tonight, I choose."
[Host's Choice: Final Stage. No takebacks. No resets. This is the mission that defines everything.]
The taxi sped toward Gu's penthouse. The system calculated, strategized, planned. But for the first time, I shut its suggestions out.
I didn't need a mission to know what came next.