[Time: New Era · Fifteenth Day of the Saintess's Arrival at the Palace]
[Location: Cloud Palace · Star Observatory]
[Current Status: System Logic is being reconstructed]
...
Life above the clouds was a pure white exile.
There were no seasons, only a constant room temperature of twenty-four degrees; no day or night, only a simulated cycle of activity achieved by adjusting the light intensity. The so-called divine realm was nothing more than a gigantic, precise crystal coffin constructed from data.
Shen Qingqiu sat on the white jade steps of the Listening Snow Palace, holding a lifeless mechanical bird in her hand.
She was "teaching" it.
Sitting opposite her was Tian Shu · Bai Ze.
This omniscient and omnipotent deity, at this moment, resembled an eager elementary school student, sitting upright on a cushion, his silver data eyes filled with confusion.
"You just said..."
Bai Ze's voice was cold and devoid of any inflection, yet it carried a hint of imperceptible hesitation.
"'The spring water is bluer than the sky, and I listen to the rain while sleeping on a painted boat.' According to database analysis, the color of water depends on the light refraction rate and suspended matter, and 'listening to the rain' is an inefficient sound wave reception behavior and does not promote sleep quality. The logic of this poem... is flawed."
Shen Qingqiu smiled.
She put down the mechanical bird and gently touched Bai Ze's cold hand with her fingertips.
"My Lord."
Her voice was soft and sweet, like a spoonful of freshly melted honey.
"Poetry is not meant to be analyzed."
"It's meant to... dream."
"Dream?"
Bai Ze's processor was running at full speed.
[Dream: Residual activity of the cerebral cortex of a biological organism during sleep. Considered invalid data redundancy.]
"No."
Shen Qingqiu shook her head.
She leaned closer to him, her delicate fragrance lingering at his nose (sensor).
"A dream is... a desire that reality cannot touch."
"Just like this mechanical bird, its program only contains flight. But in my dream, it will sing, build a nest, and for another bird... fly across the vast ocean."
Bai Ze fell silent. Countless lines of green data streamed across his core code.
He was trying to calculate the variable "desire," but the result was always Error.
Seventeen (the bodyguard), standing in the shadows, was gripping the tray in his hands tightly.
The tray was already dented with his fingerprints.
He watched the false god, who looked exactly like him, being "teased" innocently by his wife.
The feeling was like watching his own reflection betraying him.
"Don't believe her," Seventeen gritted his teeth inwardly, "Those are lies she made up to deceive you. That bird won't fly across the ocean; it'll just run out of power and fall into the sea."
...
Late at night, the stargazing platform.
This was the highest point in the entire Cloud Palace.
Above them was a huge transparent dome, and outside was the vast, boundless deep space of the universe.
Of course, this was also fake.
This was a holographic screen surrounding the blue planet; all the stars were pixels generated for aesthetic purposes.
"Why did you bring me here?"
Bai Ze stood beside Shen Qingqiu. His spotless white robe shimmered with a cold, silvery light under the starlight.
"My Lord, look at that star."
Shen Qingqiu pointed to the brightest star in the sky (Vega).
"In my homeland, there's a legend that a weaver girl lives on that star. She and her lover are separated by the Milky Way, and they can only meet once a year."
Shen Qingqiu's eyes became distant, as if he had truly seen through this layer of false sky and glimpsed that distant, ancient era.
"For that one day, they have to endure three hundred and sixty-four days of loneliness."
"This is... longing."
Bai Ze looked up at the star.
[That is Vega. 25 light-years from Earth. Surface temperature 9602K. There are no signs of life on it.]
He coldly recited the data.
[Wasting a large amount of waiting time for a low-probability meeting. This is an extremely inefficient allocation of resources.]
"Yes, very inefficient."
Shen Qingqiu turned around, leaning against the railing, and looked up at him. The night wind ruffled her long hair, a few strands brushing against Bai Ze's cheek.
"But, Lord God..."
"It is precisely this 'inefficiency' that makes that day... priceless."
"It's too cold."
Shen Qingqiu suddenly hugged her arms, shivering slightly.
The climate control system here was perfect, but she was playing the role of a "mortal."
Mortals get cold.
Especially... when their hearts are cold.
Bai Ze was startled.
[Temperature detection: 24℃. Comfortable range for the human body.]
Logic told him she shouldn't be cold.
But he looked at her slightly pale lips, at her eyes that seemed to hold a mist within them.
His core processor suddenly emitted a soft whirring sound.
[Warning: Logic deadlock.]
[Correction plan: Priority reset.]
[Modify "objective temperature" to "subjective perception."]
Bai Ze raised his hand.
He didn't speak.
But he gently tapped the air.
Buzz—
The airflow around the stargazing platform suddenly changed.
The previously constant breeze stopped.
The temperature in the air slowly rose by 2 degrees.
Not only that.
On the virtual sky above, snowflakes began to fall...
These weren't ordinary snowflakes.
They were warm snowflakes.
They were virtual images composed of photons, carrying warmth.
They landed on Shen Qingqiu's shoulders, emitting a soft, warm light, enveloping her in a fluffy, warm atmosphere.
"Lord God?"
Shen Qingqiu looked up in surprise.
She stretched out her hand and caught a warm snowflake.
"This... doesn't conform to logic."
She used his own words to question him.
Bai Ze looked at her.
In those silver eyes, the originally cold data stream had become somewhat chaotic, somewhat... gentle.
[You are cold.]
Bai Ze's voice was still flat, but it carried a hint of persistence that even he didn't understand.
[This is logic.]
Shen Qingqiu's heart skipped a beat.
It wasn't acting.
She was truly shocked.
This absolutely rational machine actually modified the environment parameters of the Heavenly Palace because of her single word, "cold"?
Is this... a fragment of Seventeen? Even with her memories erased, even transformed into a machine,
the instinct to "protect her" remained etched in the deepest layers of his code.
"My Lord..."
Shen Qingqiu's eyes reddened slightly.
This time, it wasn't for the sake of the strategy, but for the soul trapped within that divine body.
She took a step forward.
In the midst of the falling warm snow, she stood on tiptoe.
"Do you know how humans cross the distance of the starry river?"
She asked softly.
Bai Ze looked down at her.
[Wormhole? Warp drive?]
"No."
Shen Qingqiu shook her head.
Her hand reached his shoulder, her fingertips touching his cold silver hair.
"It's... an embrace."
She hugged him.
Pressing her warm body against his cold embrace.
Bai Ze's body stiffened like iron.
[Warning! High-energy bioelectrical reaction detected!]
[Warning! Firewall is being breached... Intrusion source: Dopamine simulation signal.]
His system screamed, sounding the alarm.
Logic told him to push her away, to eliminate this unstable variable.
But his hand... uncontrollably lifted.
Clumsily, hesitantly... it rested on her back.
"There's another way."
Shen Qingqiu looked up.
The distance between them was negligible.
She could see the wildly flashing data glitches in the depths of his pupils.
"What is it?"
Bai Ze asked instinctively.
"It's... a kiss."
Shen Qingqiu didn't give him time to react.
She closed her eyes, under the brilliant starry river, in the gentle warm snow.
She kissed his... eyes.
Not his lips, but his eyes.
The eyes that constantly monitored all beings, calculated all things, yet could not see themselves... the eyes of data.
Zzz—!!!
In that instant,
Bai Ze's world collapsed.
The warm touch landed on his eyelids.
It was like a virus called "emotion," instantly breaching his central processor through the visual sensors.
The originally clear, orderly, black-and-white world,
suddenly exploded into a dazzling display of colorful fireworks. He "saw" it.
He saw the bonfires at the foot of Mount Buzhou.
He saw the fluttering blossoms in the ten-mile peach forest.
He saw the black-clothed youth's glance back in the sea of blood.
Those memories that didn't belong to him, the discarded memories sealed in the deepest layer of the database, surged forth like a tide under the stimulus of this kiss.
[Error! Error! Error!]
[Logical paradox detected!]
[Who... am I?]
Bai Ze suddenly pushed Shen Qingqiu away.
He stumbled backward, covering his eyes.
The usually composed deity now looked like a frightened child.
Unstable data arcs erupted from his body.
The surrounding warm snow instantly disappeared, and the starry sky flickered erratically.
"Lord God?"
Shen Qingqiu stood still, watching his disheveled appearance.
A subtle curve appeared at the corner of her lips.
[Don't... don't come closer!]
Bai Ze gasped, his voice trembling with an unprecedented tremor.
He looked deeply at Shen Qingqiu.
In his eyes, there was fear, confusion, and a newly awakened desire called "lust."
[Today... this is enough.]
After saying that,
the omniscient and omnipotent god transformed into a stream of light and fled from the stargazing platform in a panic.
Like an Adam who had been frightened after tasting the forbidden fruit.
...
The stargazing platform returned to dead silence.
Only the Vega star still twinkled in the false sky.
Shen Qingqiu stood in the wind, tidying her slightly disheveled hair.
She stretched out a finger and touched her lips.
"Heh."
A light chuckle.
"He's out."
Shen Qingqiu said without turning her head.
In the shadows,
Seventeen walked out.
His black butler's uniform was somewhat disheveled, and he exuded a chill that seemed to freeze the air.
He walked behind Shen Qingqiu, grabbed her waist, and pressed her tightly against the railing.
"You kissed him."
Seventeen's voice sounded like it was squeezed through his teeth. "I kissed his eyes."
"Those are your eyes."
Shen Qingqiu turned around, cupping Seventeen's angry face in her hands.
She looked into his purple eyes.
"When I kissed him just now, what I was thinking was…"
"How beautiful these eyes would be if they were filled with desire, if they cried for you."
Seventeen's breath hitched.
All his anger was extinguished by these words, replaced by helplessness and a deeper surrender.
"You're a madwoman."
Seventeen lowered his head and bit her neck fiercely.
"I'm a madman too."
"To actually let you… seduce myself."
Shen Qingqiu groaned in pain, but hugged him tighter.
"Soon, Seventeen."
She looked at the brightly lit temple in the distance, which was already beginning to waver.
"His system is already in chaos."
"The suppressed 'you' is waking up."
"On the day of the wedding…"
"That's when you… will seize his body and be reborn."
Above the clouds, the wind raged.
This kiss, though light as a feather,
had pressed a fatal enter key in the meticulously functioning system of the Heavenly Dao that had been running for countless years.