He transmigrated into the body of the school heartthrob's spoiled ex-girlfriend, and he insiste

Chapter 0202 The Grand Finale: Jiang Ci's Secret

Number sixteen.

November 16th.

It is 3:14 AM.

Winter always comes early in City A. Outside the glass window, the rain is fine and dense. The sound of raindrops pattering against the French windows is like a tireless metronome, drip, drip.

I leaned back in the black leather chair in the study, an unlit cigarette between my fingers.

I've quit smoking.

From the day Ningning became pregnant, I gave up this habit. I didn't want her to smell any pungent odors other than disinfectant and milk.

But now, I suddenly long to smell the acrid odor of burning tobacco. Perhaps it's because only that smell can suppress the surging, almost drowning, dampness in my chest.

On the upper left corner of the desk was a rusty iron box.

The mottled little bear on the box lid, as if it had endured a century of hardship, was giving me a cryptic smile.

I've been looking at this box for eight years.

From the time she left three years ago, to our reunion in the ruins, and now, even though Xiao Niannian is fast asleep in the next room, I still keep it.

Wen Ning once asked me, "Why do you keep such a precious box containing only a broken old cell phone?"

I smiled and said to her, "Because it's your secret hidden in the corner. It proves that you once left some traces in this house that belong only to you."

After hearing this, her eyes welled up with tears, and she rushed over to hug me.

but.

She didn't know that I hadn't told her the whole truth.

I kept it, not just because it's a trace of her.

More importantly, it contains the mystery that I find hardest to let go of in my life, the mystery I most want to unravel but dare not touch.

……

That old white cell phone was actually completely broken.

It's not just about battery aging.

Three years ago, in a fit of rage, in a state of utter despair and collapse, after reading through the notes in my memo that were called "The Diary of Atonement," I did something incredibly foolish.

I smashed it.

The encrypted computer, along with everything else, was smashed to pieces.

I hate that phone.

I hate that it coldly tells me that my hatred over the past three years was nothing but a self-directed joke. I hate that it makes me clearly see how the woman I deeply love was driven to her death right before my eyes by a force I cannot understand.

later.

I won her back.

I used all the gentleness and patience I had in my life to warm that timid girl up little by little.

We got married and had Nian Nian. Limitless became a multi-billion dollar empire.

Everything was so perfect, like a dream.

That memory, I should have let it rot in the mud along with that smashed phone.

However, people are always greedy.

When you have all the happiness, you will start to fantasize about filling the voids that were once missing.

"system."

"Luck".

"Elimination".

These words are like tiny barbs, pricking deep into my nerves.

I am a coder.

I believe in logic, I believe in data, and I believe that all cause and effect in this world can be explained using 0 and 1.

But the words in her diary were beyond my comprehension.

and so.

Starting six months ago, behind Wen Ning's back, I pieced together the old phone that I had smashed.

My screen broke, so I replaced it with a new one. My motherboard broke, so I found one of the world's top hardware repair experts to do jumper soldering.

However, the flash memory chip that stored the underlying data was too badly damaged.

There was a piece of encrypted audio data inside, like a fossil, sealed tightly within the damaged sector.

For the past six months, I've been sitting here every night.

Using the most advanced algorithms I have, I deciphered and repaired the incomplete data line by line.

It's like this.

I'm trying to open a freezer full of canned pineapples.

I don't know when it will expire, or what it will contain when I open it—whether it will be sweet or rotten.

……

"drop--"

The computer screen emitted a very faint beep.

It stood out starkly in the quiet study.

I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at the screen.

That progress bar has been stuck at 99.9% for a whole month.

at last.

It jumped to 100%.

[Repair complete. File format: .wav]

[Play?]

My finger hovers over the left mouse button.

At that moment, I actually felt a pang of fear.

The time was 3:27 a.m.

If I press this button, I might hear something I should never hear in my life.

But I know that if I don't press it, this hidden data will become an ulcer in my soul that will never heal.

"Click".

I pressed the mouse button.

The audio has started playing.

At first, there was a ten-second-long, extremely piercing "buzzing" sound of electricity.

It seems like some kind of high-frequency signal is interfering with the microphone's recording.

Followed by.

Amid the crackling of electricity, a suppressed, intermittent sob could be heard.

That was Wen Ning's voice.

very young.

His voice was hoarse, a result of extreme fear and despair.

My heart felt like it was being gripped tightly by an icy hand.

That was her voice, but I had never heard her cry so bitterly, so helplessly.

"Don't push me..."

In the audio, Wen Ning's voice has a strong nasal tone, as if she is hiding in a small, enclosed space (perhaps a bathroom).

"Please... Ah Qi... I really can't do it..."

"That was his victory celebration...that was his happiest time...how could I humiliate him in public..."

Ah Qi.

What is this name? Is it a person's name? Or a code name?

Followed by.

A chilling sound appeared in the audio.

That wasn't a human voice.

It was a purely mechanical sound, without any inflection or emotion, like a piece of synthesized code.

[Host. Please correct your attitude.]

[Your heart rate has been detected to be severely exceeded. This is the final warning.]

[If you deviate from the original script and break ties with the male lead at tonight's celebration party, successfully provoking his hatred.]

The rejection reaction of the world line will be triggered immediately.

Worldline?

Rejection reaction?

I sat in the leather chair, feeling my blood slowly cooling down.

The audio is still playing.

Wen Ning's crying became even more intense.

"But I love him! I don't want him to hate me!"

"He's such a proud person... If I said those things in front of everyone, his pride would be shattered! He wouldn't be able to handle it!"

He won't die. But you will kill him.

The mechanical voice coldly interrupted her.

He is the protagonist of this world; his destiny is constant. You, however, are cannon fodder; your very existence is frantically draining his destiny.

Look at the panel in front of you. The Limitless data breach is just the beginning. If you don't leave, the subsequent plot repair mechanism will arrange a car accident.

He could lose his legs, or he could lose his life.

[Host, do you want him dead?]

"Bang."

The mouse in my hand fell to the ground.

car accident.

Luck and fortune.

Smoking.

These absurd words, at this moment, were like heavy hammers, shattering all the materialistic worldviews I had built up over the past thirty years.

It turns out that what she wrote in her diary was not her imagination, nor was it any metaphor.

it is true.

There really is something above us, using my life to blackmail her.

In the audio, Wen Ning's crying stopped.

A long time passed.

It went on for so long that I thought the recording had ended.

I heard her take a deep breath.

It was the sound of someone swallowing all their weakness before making an extreme decision.

"it is good."

Her voice became very soft and hollow.

"I'll go."

"As long as he can live...as long as he can live in peace year after year."

Even if he hates me to the core in the future, even if we never see each other again in this life.

"I accept it all."

The recording ends with the sound of a door lock turning.

She pushed open the bathroom door and walked towards her "execution ground".

And so I went to the victory celebration that had plunged me into the abyss.

"drop--"

The audio will stop automatically after playback is complete.

The study fell silent once again.

Only the sound of rain outside the window continues to patter down.

I sat in the chair.

I felt like someone drowning in the deep sea, surrounded by icy, bone-chilling water that was suffocating me.

I remembered that night three years ago.

In that magnificent banquet hall.

She was wearing that garish red dress, holding Zhou Xu's arm, looking down at me with an air of superiority.

She said, "Jiang Ci, don't you feel tired? But I'm tired of watching."

She said, "You think I really love you? I just wanted to try something new."

She tossed the ruby ​​necklace into the champagne tower with an indifferent look, as if she were looking at a piece of trash.

At that time, I struggled like a madwoman, questioning her whether she had a heart.

I hate her.

I hate her so much I want to tear her apart and devour her.

but.

I had no idea.

When she said those words, her heart had already shattered into dust.

How much strength did she have to hold back her tears and put on that snobbish face?

How deep must her love be to watch me be trampled underfoot, just to give me a sliver of hope?

"Wen Ning..."

I covered my face.

Tears welled up between my fingers without warning.

I thought that during those three years of separation, I was the one who suffered the most.

I thought that when I found her, gave her all my assets, and cherished her, I would have made up for all my debts.

But, until this moment.

Until I listened to this recording that spanned eight years.

Only now do I truly understand.

In this game called "fate".

She was alone, fighting against the rules of the entire universe for my sake.

She was a bird that was born without feet.

She stopped because she met me.

But that damned system told her that if she stopped, the tree she was perched on would wither.

So, she had no choice but to cruelly break her own wings and fall from the tree, covered in blood.

"Jiang Ci, oh Jiang Ci..."

In the darkness, I let out a bitter laugh that was even more painful than crying.

"What have you done to deserve this in your life...?"

The rain outside the window gradually stopped.

A faint, fish-belly-like white light appeared on the horizon.

I stood up.

My legs are a little numb.

I walked to the table.

Delete that audio file from your computer completely.

Then, I picked up that old phone.

Use both hands to exert force.

"Click."

The screen is shattered and the motherboard is broken.

This time, I really ruined it.

Those secrets about the system, about destiny, about annihilation.

Those past events that caused her unbearable pain.

Let it disappear from this world forever and completely.

I don't need to know what that system is.

There's no need to investigate whether this world is actually a book.

I only know one thing.

In this pre-programmed, cold system.

With her heartfelt sincerity, stained with blood and gore, she carved out a path to survival for me.

I pushed open the door to the study.

Heading towards the master bedroom.

The corridor was dimly lit.

I walked very lightly.

Push open the door.

On the bed, Wen Ning was lying on her side, sleeping soundly.

Her breathing was even and deep, and there was even a faint smile on her lips.

I walked to the bedside.

She slowly lay down.

I didn't wake her.

He simply reached out and, with utmost care, pulled her into his arms.

My hand was pressed against her back.

Through her thin nightgown, I could feel her warmth and the beating of her heart.

Hot.

Live.

mine.

I buried my face in the crook of her neck.

He took a deep breath of her scent.

"Ningning."

In my heart, in a voice only I could hear, I spoke to her.

"Thank you."

"Thank you for not giving up on me back then."

"Thank you for lying to me."

in this world.

If canned pineapple expires, if saury expires.

If all data can be tampered with.

But there is one thing.

will never.

That was the resolve you had when you cried and said "I'm going" in the bathroom.

That's what you left me, transcending time and rules.

Love that never expires.