It wasn’t until they disappeared that Xia Chi realized he was left standing there alone, with the notebook still lying on the table.
He got up from the cold floor of the hall, wiping his tears as he reached for the notebook.
‘Wuuu, my chest feels warm and full. What a touching scene. Even after encountering life’s darkest moments, he still helped himself.’
‘But why did they leave me here? I also want a bath, clean clothes, and a good night’s sleep.’
‘Wuuu, Li Mi, I know you’re touched, but could you stop crying for a moment?’
[Ding! A transition point has been detected. Would the player like to proceed with the time skip?]
The system’s voice appeared without warning, and Xia Chi had never been so eager for a time skip.
As time moved forward by a few hours, the dark sky gradually turned bright.
Morning had come.
Xia Chi looked around and found that he had been moved from the hall to the dining room.
He sat at one corner of the dining table, and Tan Yue, who had been missing for a while, had appeared beside him.
The table was filled with a sumptuous spread of food, and sitting across from him were two identical young men.
They were wearing matching, stylish suits—one with a cold and distant expression, the other looking obedient and cute.
It was easy to tell who was the young master and who was Li Mi based on their demeanor.
Li Mi, having never received such hospitality, was extremely nervous and uncomfortable.
The young master’s face and eyes were filled with unconcealable affection. From time to time, he would pat Li Mi’s head and constantly pile food onto his plate.
“Do you like pudding, Li Mi?” the young master asked with a smile.
Li Mi initially shook his head, then quickly nodded. “Yes.”
The young master’s eyes instantly lit up. “I knew you’d like it. I’m you, and you’re me. What I like, you wouldn’t dislike either. So, your taste must also lean towards lighter flavors, right?”
The young master chatted familiarly, and under his gentle tone, Li Mi gradually relaxed. The stiff smile on his face softened, and he quietly responded, “Mm, I like shrimp the most.”
“I love shrimp too,” the young master immediately replied. “No meal is complete without shrimp. I need shrimp at every meal.”
Xia Chi held his chin, watching the two interact across the table. It was quite a pleasant sight.
Someone tugged on his sleeve.
Xia Chi turned his head and found it was Tan Yue.
Tan Yue narrowed his eyes and said in a low voice. “Watch your expression.”
Xia Chi: “What’s wrong with my expression?”
Tan Yue: “You’re looking at them like a mother watching her daughter and son-in-law. Tone it down.”
Xia Chi: “…”
The young master was genuinely kind to Li Mi.
It wasn’t the kind of fake kindness but a sincere one from the heart.
Xia Chi stayed by their side all day and even rejected the system’s reminder to fast forward time.
Xia Chi wished that Li Mi could truly live in this world, and live happily ever after with the young master.
But everything eventually has to return to its proper course and all things must follow their logic.
Just like how Li Mi was the protagonist of the story—others could leave, but as the main character, Li Mi had to continue the story.
When there were only five hours left until the end of the game, Li Mi’s figure had become as fragile and transparent as a rainbow-colored bubble.
The young master held Li Mi’s face in his hands, “Li Mi, remember what I said. Even if you’re always alone, you’re not truly lonely. You have yourself as a friend and family.”
Li Mi’s eyes were red, “Young master, will we meet again?”
The young master hugged him tightly, “Yes, we will definitely meet again. I’ll wait for you.”
“Wait for me, I will come back,” Li Mi said his final words before his figure completely disappeared.
Perhaps it was because Xia Chi and Tan Yue never belonged to the world in the book.
Perhaps it was because they were just supporting characters that suddenly appeared.
Neither of them returned to the book world.
Xia Chi found a quiet place and opened the notebook. The previously blank pages now began to fill with printed text.
Words appeared one by one, but this time, it was no longer Li Mi’s controlled life. It was the life Li Mi had chosen for himself.
Li Mi finally found new materials and finished his graduation project on the last day, successfully graduating.
He was a sculpture student, and his graduation piece was a sculpture of two people embracing each other, titled “Self”.
Not only did the piece carry deep emotions, but Li Mi’s sculpting skills were also excellent. The rough, dry cement was crafted with such precision that it evoked the delicate texture of skin and lively expressions.
As soon as the graduation piece was submitted, it received great admiration from his teachers.
Li Mi’s teacher helped him enter this piece into a prestigious national sculpture competition.
The work not only became an outstanding graduation piece but also won the Gold Medal in Sculpture Design.
Opinions about the piece varied.
Some said it conveyed the theme of “loneliness”—a person who could only embrace themselves has a heart full of endless solitude.
Others said the theme was “strength”—one giving warmth to themselves showed that they had never given up and that life was full of power.
Li Mi became famous overnight.
After his rise to fame, several entertainment companies tried to sign him due to his good looks, offering to turn him into an artist or a semi-celebrity in the world of sculpture. But Li Mi refused them all. He didn’t like the spotlight, he preferred to focus on his work in the studio.
Xia Chi flipped to the last page.
Later, Li Mi’s work received international acclaim. With the success of his works, his life improved greatly. He bought a house in the city, brought his aging parents to live with him, and opened his own studio.
The story ended here.
At the end, the words “The End” were written.
When Xia Chi saw the words “The End”, he felt a sudden sense of loss.
It was as if he had lived through Li Mi’s life, and was both relieved and reluctant to part with him.
He thought of something and flipped back to the first page.
The beginning was still the same opening written by the man with the teardrop mole.
Xia Chi had once tried using the eraser given by the system to see if he could erase the words written by the man with the teardrop mole.
At first, he didn’t dare erase the main text and had tested it on some of teardrop mole’s useless monologues.
The eraser worked.
This meant that he could erase some of the things that had happened.
But just as he was about to erase some of the earlier descriptions of Li Mi, Tan Yue stopped him.
At the time, Tan Yue said, “How do you know that if you erase these things, Li Mi will still be the same Li Mi? What if he becomes someone else? You didn’t ask him if he wanted his past erased. How is that any different from the man with the teardrop mole controlling his life with a pen? Li Mi may not want his past experiences erased.”
By that time, Li Mi had already begun a new life, and everything was moving in a positive direction.
His painful past had turned into inspiration, giving his work endless depth and making him a rising star in the sculpture world.
In the end, Xia Chi hesitated and chose to put away the eraser.
Even without the eraser, Li Mi still lived a beautiful life.
It seemed there were two ways to resolve this storyline: one was to intervene with the eraser, and the other was to let Li Mi develop on his own.
Satisfied with Li Mi’s perfect ending, Xia Chi finally closed the book.
He looked at Tan Yue beside him, “If it were you, and you had painful memories, would you want to erase them?”
Tan Yue: “I’m not that fragile, and I don’t have any painful memories.”
Xia Chi looked at Tan Yue with a complicated expression, he wanted to say something but stopped himself.
“Young Master!”
A familiar voice called out. Xia Chi looked past Tan Yue’s shoulder and saw a familiar figure that shouldn’t have been there.
His pupils widened, “Li Mi?”
The young man in front of him was wearing a clean white shirt and linen pants, his soft hair fluttering in the wind.
He stood under the pear tree, where blossoms were in full bloom. They fell on his head, making his smile look especially pure and bright.
Xia Chi rubbed his eyes.
It wasn’t an illusion. It was really Li Mi.
But something seemed off.
Xia Chi suddenly opened the system, and his horror level was still at maximum.
Even in extreme horror, what he saw was the real Li Mi.
Li Mi waved at Xia Chi, “Cute, have you seen the young master? I promised him I would come back.”
Xia Chi looked through Li Mi and pointed behind him, “Look, the young master is right behind you.”
Li Mi turned abruptly.
The young master was standing on the steps, arms wide open, smiling at Li Mi from afar.
Their eyes met.
This time, Li Mi didn’t hesitate. He ran forward and hugged the young master tightly.
The same name.
The same preferences.
But different life experiences.
At this moment, they completed their happily ever after.
Xia Chi was so moved that he almost cried again.
At that moment, Tan Yue spoke softly beside him, “If you had changed Li Mi’s past life, according to the logical timeline, Li Mi wouldn’t have met us. He wouldn’t have awakened his consciousness, wouldn’t have found the man with the teardrop mole, and he wouldn’t have come to this world to reunite with the young master. There wouldn’t have been this reunion today.”
“We shouldn’t thank the suffering, but perhaps in his life, he met the best person in the midst of that suffering.”
Xia Chi looked up, silently staring at Tan Yue. His eyes flickered, though it was unclear what he was thinking.
The system’s voice echoed in his mind.
[Ding! Congratulations, player. Your task has made new progress. Please open the task panel to check.]
Upon hearing this, Xia Chi opened the task list.
[Main task—Help Li Mi complete his graduation project, progress 100%, completed.]
[Side task—Help Li Mi collect materials for his graduation project, progress 100%, completed.]
[Side task—Help Li Mi find the culprit who sabotaged the materials, progress 100%, completed.]
[Hidden task—Discover the truth of the world, progress 80%, not completed.]
Xia Chi stared at the hidden task.
[Hidden Task—The Truth of the World.]
[Progress 80%.]
[1. The player seems to realize that this is not the real world but a world within a book.]
[2. Li Mi’s state seems a little strange.]
[3. Other classmates’ attitude towards Li Mi seems strange.]
[4. The mysterious man with the teardrop mole seems to be the author of this book.]
It was still stuck at 80%?
What was the final clue for the hidden task?
But soon, Xia Chi let it go.
After all, it’s called a hidden task. If it were that easy to find, it wouldn’t be hidden.
Anyway, the main task was completed, and his score would surely be top-tier, absolutely S-level.
The two people over there were still embracing, and pear blossoms were swirling around them, as if it were a scene from a comic.
There were only 30 minutes left in the game, and everything was already set in stone, with a happy ending for all.
Just as Xia Chi was about to exit the game early, his pupils suddenly shrank, and he looked up in shock.
He heard a familiar sound.
—Shua!
The sound fell from above and entered straight into his ears.
In an instant, Xia Chi’s entire body was covered in goosebumps.
He glanced at the two embracing people and ran towards them with long strides. He pulled them apart in a frenzy and looked at the young master, “Young Master, I have a question for you!”
The young master frowned, “What question?”
Xia Chi: “What’s your name? What are your parents’ names? Where is your hometown? Where did you go to kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, high school, and university? Where are your parents? Why have I never seen them at home?!”
“I… of course, I’m called Li Mi,” the young master blinked, opened his mouth again, then suddenly closed it, his expression conflicted.
Xia Chi: !!!
‘Damn it, this world is fake too!’
‘Sister Sun Ning! You’re a devil! Are you playing with me?!’
