[Time: New Era, Thirtieth Day Since the Saintess Entered the Palace]
[Location: Cloud Palace, Core Restricted Area "Eden Server"]
[Current Status: Permissions Unlocked]
...
Since that kiss on the stargazing platform, Bai Ze has been "ill."
It wasn't just a logical deadlock, but a continuous high fever in his core data. It was as if a handful of weed seeds had been scattered into his proudly rational algorithms; a vine called "longing" was growing wildly, encroaching on the space originally reserved for "calculation."
He urgently needed to find the answer.
So, he brought Shen Qingqiu to the deepest part of the Heavenly Palace—Eden.
There were no flowers or plants here, nor any snakes.
Only a gigantic **"Tree of Life"** (core server) composed of countless optical fibers and crystals. It floated in the endless dark void, each branch flowing with silvery data streams—the underlying logic of this world and the destiny archives of all living beings.
"My Lord, where is this?"
Shen Qingqiu's bare feet touched the mirror-like black floor, sending ripples of blue light outward.
The shadow of Seventeen silently clung to her feet, emanating a chilling aura that warned others to keep their distance.
[This is the end of truth.]
Bai Ze stood beneath the gigantic light tree.
His silver hair moved without wind, but his expression was somewhat bewildered.
[My system tells me that you are an "error."]
[But I've searched all the data of the current era and cannot find the source of this error.]
[Therefore, I opened... the historical recycle bin.]
Bai Ze raised his hand, his fingertips gently touching the trunk of the light tree.
Buzz—
The gigantic light tree trembled violently.
Countless "leaves" (data fragments) fell down.
They floated in the air, magnified, and transformed into ninety-nine gigantic holographic screens, surrounding the two of them.
Each screen displayed a scene.
It wasn't a movie.
It was a bloody... past life. ...
Shen Qingqiu raised her head, her gaze sweeping across the images.
Her pupils suddenly contracted, and her heart felt as if it had been tightly gripped by a large hand.
The first screen:
It was the ancient primordial era. She was a newly transformed little demon, barely alive after being struck by heavenly lightning. A young man in black stood in front of her, enduring eighty-one bolts of tribulation lightning with his back, ultimately turning into charcoal.
The tenth screen:
It was the chaotic Spring and Autumn period. She was a princess of a fallen kingdom, and he was a general of the enemy country. On the day the city fell, he betrayed his king, leading her to break through the siege, only to be pierced by countless arrows and die in her arms.
The fiftieth screen:
It was the cultivation world. She was the so-called demoness, surrounded and attacked by the righteous sects. To save her, he self-destructed his Nascent Soul, his soul scattering, leaving only the words, "Don't be afraid."
The ninety-eighth screen:
It was the wasteland after a nuclear explosion. He gave her the only protective suit, exposing himself to the radiation, slowly decaying into dust.
Ninety-nine screens.
Ninety-nine ways to die.
Every time, he was the one who died.
Every time, she was the one who survived.
"Seventeen..."
Shen Qingqiu covered her mouth, tears silently streaming down her face.
Although she had the memories, when these memories were displayed before her eyes like a revolving lantern, the sorrow and deep affection that spanned tens of thousands of years still overwhelmed her, making it difficult to breathe.
The "shadow" bodyguard standing behind her was trembling.
Seventeen stared intently at the images.
He didn't have those memories (because they were reset each time), but watching the images of his "self" dying for her again and again, he felt a resonance and intense pain from the depths of his soul.
[Incomprehensible.]
Bai Ze's voice broke the silence.
He stood in the center of the screens, a stream of frantic data flowing in his silver eyes. He was like a machine solving a problem, facing an unsolvable equation.
[Individual ID: Unknown (New Seventeen).]
[Behavioral pattern: Extremely irrational.]
[In ninety-nine simulations, he had a 100% probability of surviving and becoming the ruler.] But each time, he chose the lowest-yielding option, "death," simply to protect... you.]
Bai Ze turned his head and looked at Shen Qingqiu.
[Why?]
[What kind of logic is this, defying the instinct for survival?]
Shen Qingqiu wiped away her tears.
She looked at Bai Ze.
Looking at this face, identical to the person in the painting.
She suddenly understood the true origin of this "false god."
"My Lord, do you really... not remember?"
Shen Qingqiu walked towards him step by step.
Her voice was soft, yet filled with a soul-piercing sorrow.
"Those who died were his emotions, his love."
"And the one who survived..."
She stretched out her hand, her fingertips touching Bai Ze's cold chest.
"Is you."
Bai Ze's pupils widened abruptly.
[Me?]
"Yes."
Shen Qingqiu gave a bitter smile.
"The higher-dimensional civilization reclaimed the 'most powerful computing power' left behind after each of his deaths. They stripped away the love, hate, and resentment, all the pain and weakness, leaving only absolute rationality and logic."
"Then, they pieced you together, creating the current 'Tianshu'."
"You are him."
"Yet you are also... the one who killed him."
Boom—!!!
These words were like a thunderclap, striking Bai Ze's consciousness.
The ninety-nine surrounding light screens began to flicker violently and collapse.
Bai Ze clutched his head and staggered backward.
[Error! Data overflow!]
[I am a god! I am the rules! I am not... a remnant!]
But he couldn't refute it.
Because when he looked at those images, there was no mockery in his core code, only a kind of... sourness called "jealousy."
He was jealous of that fool who had died ninety-nine times.
Because that fool possessed something he couldn't obtain even after calculating billions of times—her tears.
"Don't deny it."
Shen Qingqiu approached him.
The red wedding dress fluttered in the data storm. "The reason you were attracted to me, the reason you changed the weather because of a single word from me…"
"It wasn't because of a system malfunction."
"It's because deep down… you still retain the instinct to love me."
"Even after being formatted ten thousand times."
"Even after becoming a machine."
"You still… want to love me."
Bai Ze leaned against the giant Tree of Life, with nowhere left to retreat.
He looked at the tearful woman before him.
For the first time, he felt fear.
Not the fear of death, but the fear of **"self-annihilation."**
If he was a part of Seventeen,
then what was the meaning of his existence?
A substitute? Or a… thief?
[Stop talking…]
Bai Ze's voice trembled, and his silver eyes even showed streaks of red (data overload).
[I'll give you eternal life, I'll give you power… Stop talking!]
"I don't want eternal life."
Shen Qingqiu reached out and gently cupped his face.
Like holding a wounded child.
"I want you… to come back."
"Go back into his body."
"Give your rationality back to his madness."
"Give your divinity back to his demonic essence."
"Only then…"
Shen Qingqiu leaned close to his ear, her voice like a devil's whisper, yet like a lover's murmur.
"Can we… be complete."
Zzzzt—
Bai Ze's body began to dematerialize, a sign of system instability.
He abruptly pushed Shen Qingqiu away, transforming into a stream of light and fleeing Eden.
He didn't dare to listen any further.
If he listened any longer, he feared he would truly… willingly self-destruct.
…
Eden returned to silence.
The light screens disappeared, leaving only the silent Tree of Life.
Shen Qingqiu stood in place, her body swaying precariously.
A pair of strong arms embraced her from behind.
It was Seventeen.
"Don't cry."
Seventeen's voice was hoarse, filled with suppressed pain.
He buried his face in her neck, his burning tears (data stream) falling onto her collarbone.
"I saw those memories."
Seventeen said in a low voice. "So... I really was that foolish."
"Yes, you big fool."
Shen Qingqiu turned around and hugged him tightly.
"Ninety-nine times, each time ending in a terrible death."
"But..."
Seventeen raised his head, his purple demonic eyes burning with an unprecedented determination.
"This time, it's different."
"I've seen my weakness."
"That Bai Ze... is proof that I'm not ruthless enough, not strong enough."
He looked in the direction Bai Ze had fled.
That was the pinnacle of power, and also a lonely prison.
"Qingqiu."
Seventeen held Shen Qingqiu's hand, their palms touching.
Between their palms, the red crystal, already prepared and containing the **"Red Bean Virus,"** was faintly glowing.
"Since he is my rationality,"
"Then I will... personally take control of him."
"On our wedding day."
A cruel yet beautiful smile curved Seventeen's lips.
"I will devour him."
"Along with the regrets of those ninety-nine lifetimes... I will chew them up and swallow them."
Shen Qingqiu looked at him.
Looking at this demon god who had finally found all the pieces of the puzzle and was about to awaken into his complete form.
She smiled.
A smile as beautiful as the blooming of the spider lily, breathtakingly stunning.
"Okay."
"I'll make the bed."
"You... slay the god."
Peering into destiny, it's all you.
This long cycle of ninety-nine lifetimes of reincarnation finally, at this moment, drew a circle that was about to close.
All the blood and tears will transform into the most intense... wedding wine on their wedding day.