CH 75

“So Nanxi is a time traveler?”

Ren Shuhan suddenly realized something, but it was just a little off, he couldn’t quite connect all the details.

“I don’t think so,” he said puzzled, because the original story he saw from the system didn’t mention anything about time travel. He even sighed at one point, amazed that Nanxi was the only protagonist he’d encountered who didn’t have superpowers or special abilities.

“You can think of it this way,” Qu Chong explained calmly, “because even he doesn’t know, it’s normal that you can’t tell.”

“How did you figure it out then?”

Ren Shuhan now looked at Qu Chong, and the two behind him who seemed to have their intelligence drastically lowered, and felt a sense of displacement.

They used to come to him for help, now it seemed like he was asking them for explanations…

His protagonist halo has disappeared, hasn’t it? = =!

“We are professionals, so of course we can analyze this situation,” Qu Chong took out a strange little box from the pocket of his lab coat and waved it at him, displaying the data recorded on it, “These theories are all supported by data. Through collection, analysis, and calculation, we meticulously analyzed every move of Nanxi, thereby deducing his psychology, estimating his number of fans, and ultimately concluding that his popularity and personal charm are not proportional to his career success. Each step is quite complex.”

“…That sounds a bit harsh,” Ren Shuhan said.

But it was a bit funny too.

“Isn’t it illegal for you to collect his information like this?” Ren Shuhan asked, deeply suspecting that his own words were also being collected, and how could his sweetheart join such a cold-hearted research institute?

“We are directly under the Mainframe, and all our actions are either approved by the Mainframe or entrusted by its will,” Qu Chong said calmly, “So it’s not illegal, because he may be carrying potentially hostile items that even he doesn’t know about. These things involve the safety of our civilians and even threaten the entire Alliance, so we can only analyze him covertly, doing our utmost to ensure his human rights and privacy.”

…They even have reasons and justifications!

And talking about hostile items, it sounds impressive, but it’s just the protagonist’s halo, isn’t it…

Ren Shuhan was speechless.

“We’re also thinking about everyone’s safety,” Yan Huan added very sycophantically for his admired mentor, “Nanxi carries a terrifying invisible device that can manipulate people’s minds!”

Chu Lu coughed and nodded, also pretending to agree.

Ren Shuhan silently watched their performance, thinking: Oh, they’re just afraid of Nanxi winning over people.

“So, have you come up with any conclusions from your research?” Ren Shuhan asked again. “What are your plans to counter this device in the future?”

“Not yet,” Qu Chong pushed his glasses, “But once we find a way to interfere, we will immediately intervene and mediate, serving the safety of the interstellar people to the end.”

Sounds quite self-sacrificing…

Holy cow!

Suddenly, Ren Shuhan realized.

Didn’t they already go through a few worlds…!

They really risked their lives, just like him, throwing themselves into different timelines, attempting to stop the protagonist’s halo, right???

Ah…Ren Shuhan immediately thought expressionlessly—

Their interference seems to have been completely fruitless!

One by one, either they were mesmerized by the protagonist’s halo, or they went crazy fighting over the protagonist, following the tragic plot of the original story. It feels even more pathetic!

But this explains why each of their characterizations suddenly collapsed—

For example, Qu Chong now looks like a teacher with a fairly high rank, but in other worlds, he’s just a minor character. This can actually be explained by the fact that he needs more autonomy, so he should be given easier roles.

Then there’s Yan Huan, who got assigned the most miserable role, always teetering on the edge of illegality in every book, and has to say some extremely embarrassing lines like “Kiss me, I’ll give you my life”. This is probably because he…is an intern!

It seems that no workplace is exempt from this, huh.

“I have one last question,” Ren Shuhan rubbed his forehead and said, “Didn’t you say you were protecting people’s privacy to the fullest? Why did you tell me so easily?”

Ren Shuhan was really afraid that Qu Chong would suddenly say, “We hope you can help us participate in disrupting Nanxi’s experiment.” Because if he really went through so many worlds for such a reason, that would be too absurd!

He didn’t mind experiencing these things himself, but it was different for his sweetheart. He didn’t want Qingqing to feel any bitterness, not even for a minute.

“Because you are Jiang Qingyue’s husband and also an Alliance General, with a special status, we can tell you,” Qu Chong smiled. “And Jiang Qingyue will be a core force in our research institute in the future. He insisted on not keeping any secrets from you, or he wouldn’t come to work in the research institute, so we naturally had to agree to his request.”

Ren Shuhan suddenly lowered his head, touched his nose, looked away, and said somewhat embarrassedly, “Fiancé, not husband yet.”

It seems that in Qingqing’s heart, his career is not more important.

“If you haven’t changed your mind, then you already are,” Qu Chong said, tapping the terminal on his wrist. “And according to the calculation results, the probability of you changing your mind is zero. Congratulations, happy newlywed General.”

Ren Shuhan suddenly realized that it was already past midnight.

He turned around, and Jiang Qingyue was running towards him, diving into his arms.

“Husband—” Jiang Qingyue whispered in his ear with a breathy voice, “Call me by that too.”

But Ren Shuhan replied, “Wife.”

Jiang Qingyue tapped him lightly, still very happy, cheeks flushed, breaking free from his arms and looking at his colleagues behind him, saying, “How was your conversation?”

“Great,” Qu Chong said. “He’s as friendly as you described.”

Indeed, as a half-artificial intelligence, Qu Chong ended the conversation with just two sentences, leading his students away, leaving them alone.

“What about you, honey?” Ren Shuhan picked up Jiang Qingyue and walked to the new room, just like he had been carrying him for years. “What did you talk about with my friends?”

“They’re all super nice,” Jiang Qingyue said excitedly. “They all really like merfolk!”

Ren Shuhan: !

Dare to like randomly, I’ll teach these guys a lesson when we get back!

“They said you’re really amazing,” Jiang Qingyue counted his achievements on his fingers, “You’ve defeated many tough monsters, like…”

Ren Shuhan didn’t want to listen after just two sentences. It was too embarrassing, but he couldn’t dampen his wife’s enthusiasm, so he let him continue, picking up the pace and carrying him into the house.

But when they were about to enter the bridal chamber, Jiang Qingyue was busy backing up the terminal again, as if he had just copied a bunch of videos.

“What’s all this?” Ren Shuhan said helplessly.

They were all his battle videos.

“They just shared with me your combat records. I haven’t had time to watch them yet, but I want to watch this one tonight.” Jiang Qingyue picked out a relatively short one from the directory, looking at him with a “I’m very considerate, right?” expression.

“What’s so interesting about them!”

What a shameful display!

“I just like watching them…” Jiang Qingyue said with a bit of grievance, “I really like humans too.”

Ren Shuhan rubbed his hair, wanting to say “Baby, you just really like me”, but he held back without bursting his bubble.

And Ren Shuhan had just glanced over, and found that the video with the most views was the recording of them when they were watching the concert together. Among them was a small animated gif, showing him sitting on a mecha, looking elsewhere, wiping off a bit of blood on his face with the back of his hand, then turning back to the video and smiling.

“You watched it so many times?” Ren Shuhan laughed out loud. “Do you like it that much?”

Jiang Qingyue realized he had been seen checking the view count and turned away without speaking to him.

Ren Shuhan could only hug him from behind, accompany him to watch the video, and tell him what happened that day.

When Jiang Qingyue heard about Nanxi, he couldn’t bear to watch the video anymore, turned around, and said seriously to him, “Don’t bother with him. He’s got issues. Just stay away from him.”

“I know,” Ren Shuhan pinched his cheek. “Your teacher and classmates have already told me.”

“I suspect he has lost some of his memories, and now he’s acting and speaking based on intuition. So, I want to create a program to help him recover,” Jiang Qingyue said seriously, “Because if he can remember things from his past life like you, it can be preliminarily confirmed that in the worlds you’ve traveled through, the cheaters who can affect everyone else are all him. This can prove that the switch for traveling through worlds might be with him. As long as we control him, you won’t have to continue being forced to travel through worlds.”

At first, Ren Shuhan didn’t understand his logic, but as he listened, he realized that Jiang Qingyue wanted to set him free.

“Darling,” Ren Shuhan couldn’t help but hold him tightly and shake him gently, “I love you.”

Jiang Qingyue didn’t know why he suddenly said this, but still blushing, he softly replied, “I love you too.”

“Don’t worry, no matter which world I travel to, I will always find you and love you forever.” Ren Shuhan cradled his face and placed a kiss on his lips, cherishing him deeply.

On this day, they officially became partners. Because of the many events of the day, Jiang Qingyue didn’t pay much attention to the last thing he said.

…

In the blink of an eye, decades passed, and they experienced even more in their lives. This sentence had already been thrown into the deepest corners of memory, gathering dust. Jiang Qingyue’s later life was just as he had planned in his youth, half given to his beloved and half to research. He immersed himself in love and work every day, feeling very content.

But he couldn’t remember from which day it started, maybe from some day in the years or decades after his marriage, his memory suddenly became blurry. Although the days went by as usual, it felt as if his soul was lost.

It was like God suddenly stopped writing the script and only left behind a line, “From then on, they lived happily ever after.”

Scientific achievements became significant day by day, technology became more advanced, and love deepened, but Jiang Qingyue felt nothing.

He had lost his ability to judge long ago, and was not even aware of it. Later, when he remembered, he realized that his story had ended long ago, and if it weren’t for the unexpected day, he and this world might have ceased to exist long ago.

It was on that day that he first realized his insignificance.

That afternoon, he was recording data in his office at the research institute as usual when suddenly someone broke in, covered in snow, wearing a robe and boots as if they had just come from a movie set. With long hair tied back, a sword at his waist, he looked like an immortal or a knight. He stood at the door for a moment, then stepped forward and hugged him tightly.

“Qingyue, I finally found you,” he said.

What the???? I have no idea what happened at the end????

Thank you for reading