Boundless – Chapter 79

Seeing Mu Lian enter the mental domain, stunned by the scene before her and looking around, Wen Qianshu asked, “Have you thought it through, 2333?”

2333: “…”

It was truly the first time it had encountered this kind of repairer. It was so angry and scared it couldn’t speak.

A dim mental domain, filled with chaotic and complex information.

The blood and tears, the warmth and pain experienced across four worlds.

Laughter and crying.

But Wen Qianshu turned a deaf ear—she was always like this. As long as she didn’t speak, no one could see through what she was thinking.

She smiled, watching nonchalantly, her words and actions appearing so heartless.

The vulnerability of her youth had been diluted by the torrent of time, buried with the years. The little that remained had departed with the few tears she shed when she first arrived in this world.

Wen Qianshu—even at her most painful moments, she would only shed a single tear, and upon waking, she would continue to chat and laugh, carefree and at ease.

But the indifferent shed tears, and the heartless are moved.

The rare, extremely scarce displays of emotion in her life were all given to Mingyue.

She couldn’t hide it anymore.

How could she possibly hide it?

Hide her love for you, her craving for you, the desire born from you and the pain that desire brought.

Wen Qianshu stood just like that in the darkness, silently watching Mu Lian, watching her frown and reach out to pull Song Huan up. “What did you do?”

Song Huan said wretchedly, “Something’s not right here—it was never right to begin with—”

Mu Lian hesitated, wanting to move, but raised a hand to her forehead.

She seemed a little dizzy and asked, “Xiao Shu?”

No one could describe the look in Wen Qianshu’s eyes.

So deep, so heavy, joy and sorrow intermingled, indistinguishable from one another.

2333 said, “Wen Qianshu, it’s not that we wanted to hide it from you, it’s just—”

“Tell me the truth, 2333.” Wen Qianshu lowered her eyes. “You have no right to make decisions for me.”

She took a step. “If you don’t tell me, I’ll go find the answers myself—and you might not want to see that happen.”

2333: “Stop!”

Wen Qianshu paused for a moment before continuing forward. 2333 hurriedly said, “Yes, she can remember! Because the system core is merging!”

Wen Qianshu stopped and listened as 2333 continued, “This is the system core of File No. 0. Of course it wouldn’t just stay obediently inside you.”

“It’s trying to return to File No. 0, but since you’re bound to the system core, it can only try to merge you with File No. 0.”

“If the Main God wasn’t suppressing it, the merge would have succeeded long ago.”

“But when the world line space is unstable, the Main God’s control over the world lines weakens, and it can’t suppress the system core. That’s when it secretly merges some memories.”

Wen Qianshu asked, “What will happen if the merge is successful?”

2333 replied, “Senior will remember everything, and you… you will completely become a system, never able to return to being human again.”

Wen Qianshu said, “I see.”

She continued walking toward Mu Lian. 2333 was terrified and quickly said, “Wen Qianshu, this is absolutely no joke! You will enter an endless cycle of reincarnation together. You know how difficult the world lines Senior handles are—”

“I know,” Wen Qianshu said. “So what? Do you think I care?”

2333 said, “That’s because you’ve experienced too little! Do you know how many repairers have sworn to continue repairing indefinitely, only to break down midway?”

“Once you become root, no one will be able to help you delete your memories. You’ll have to bear all the pain on your own.”

“You still have time—as long as the merge isn’t complete, you can still hand over the system core and live out the rest of your life happily in any world.”

“Wouldn’t that be nice?”

“If you haven’t had enough, you can even go to a few more worlds. When your wishes are fulfilled, or when you grow tired, you can still put it all down.”

“You’ve gone from an apocalyptic world to a peaceful era. What if you go from this world to an apocalypse? Everyone in this world is very good to you, but what if in the next world, you are betrayed and abandoned by everyone—”

Wen Qianshu smiled. “Oh? So that was your plan?”

2333 froze. “I, we—”

Wen Qianshu said, “No wonder the person arranged for this world has the same name as me.”

Having been exposed, 2333 forced itself to remain calm. “No, we—”

But Wen Qianshu didn’t wait for it to come up with an excuse, simply saying to herself, “2333, this world is very good.”

“Thank you for letting me experience this kind of familial love.”

The family portrait, the warm sunlight, the steaming scallion noodles.

The flowers that represented “hope.”

Year after year of waiting without giving up.

The Wen family’s parents, her brothers, the sharp-tongued but soft-hearted Wen Qianhua—

“But none of this is mine.”

Wen Qianshu said, “This was all for someone else.”

Another, gentle Wen Qianshu who grew up in this family.

Not this one.

Not her.

Having traveled through so many worlds, Wen Qianshu had long understood that so-called lifelong happiness, forever free of worries, was just a lie.

Throughout history, across heaven and earth, among all living beings.

Fame and power, profit and influence.

Love and harm, trust and betrayal.

Different pasts and different futures.

Unattainable desires and the inability to let go.

The mortal world has always been imperfect, often making one’s wishes run contrary to one’s life【1】.

Yet, even though she saw through the pain and sorrow of this world, she still wanted to continue.

Because Mingyue was waiting for her, Mingyue was watching her.

Sometimes, for that little bit of beauty, it seemed all other pain and disappointment became unimportant.

Besides, the world held more than just this beauty, there was more—

Much more—

The verdant years on campus, the bittersweet banter and laughter.

The Five Spirits Lines of Five Spirits Mountain that pierced heaven and earth, passing through waves of clouds, through willow branches, through the vast, boundless sea.

In the apocalypse, teammates who entrusted their lives to one another, cold firearms and warm palms, blood and smiles, tears and hope.

Oh, this world, this cruel yet beautiful world.

2333 said in vain, “Don’t go any further—”

But Wen Qianshu was already standing before Mu Lian.

She saw the panic on Song Huan’s face and Mu Lian’s wide-open eyes.

She felt a pang in her chest as a ring of silvery-white light flared up. Slender strips of code floated up from her body and moved toward Mu Lian.

The code connected them.

Memories flashed through her mind, flowing continuously along this connection and into Mu Lian’s mental power.

Wen Qianshu watched Mu Lian greedily, unmoving, as her brow furrowed slightly. She saw the confusion in Mu Lian’s eyes turn to surprise, and then Mu Lian looked up at her.

Song Huan might have still been speaking.

2333 might have been speaking as well.

Even in the outside world, the police officers might have been speaking.

But Wen Qianshu couldn’t hear a thing.

She just walked step by step until she was before Mu Lian, closer, and closer—

Their bodies pressed together, their breaths mingling.

She looked at her.

She raised her hands, pressing her palms to the other’s face, and whispered, “Sister.”

She saw the other woman’s mouth open, but no words came out. Instead, she was pulled into an embrace.

She thought, Mingyue remembers.

Without asking, she knew she had remembered.

“Sister, sister.”

Wen Qianshu called out to her softly, ceaselessly, as if she didn’t know what else to say.

She reached out and hugged her back, her cheek brushing against her neck as her mental power densely enveloped her.

Wen Qianshu asked, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“In the first world, when you remembered, why didn’t you tell me?”

“It’s not that I didn’t want to tell you, I just—” Mu Lian said, “I just didn’t want you to be sad.”

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to tell her, or ask her if she could stay, if she could keep her company a little longer.

But how could she say it? What could she do?

If she trapped her, if she didn’t let her live the life she wanted as she pleased, then what meaning would this new world created for her have?

Mu Lian looked at her, her light-colored eyes the same as ever. “I just thought, if you wanted freedom, I would give you freedom—a freedom without burdens, without being held back.”

“Go to as many worlds as you want; do whatever you want to do.”

“I won’t hold you back to keep you by my side anymore.”

“No, you’re not a burden, you’re not holding me back—” Wen Qianshu said. “You are the moon. You are my light.”

“The future I want, the freedom I want, has always included you.”

This person was always like this, always waiting for her, thinking of her, watching her.

Even after forgetting, she still wanted to protect her.

Wen Qianshu was clearly so capable, yet she always felt for her, saw through all her disguises, and embraced her.

But aren’t you sad?

You’re clearly very sad too.

And before that, in the days without me, how did you travel through so many worlds alone, witness countless partings of life and death alone, and guard the collapsing world lines all by yourself?

2333 always said Wen Qianshu couldn’t persevere, that every world was difficult and reincarnation was painful. But before her, Mingyue had already been doing this alone for a very long time.

Moon, aren’t you lonely?

Why don’t you say it?

“Sister, I’m very capable now, and my efficiency at repairing world lines is getting higher and higher,” Wen Qianshu said. “In the world lines to come, I’ll save everyone you want to save.”

“So, don’t save them anymore—stop saving them—”

Wen Qianshu wrapped her arms around Mu Lian’s neck. Their foreheads touched, their gazes met. “Save me, okay?”

“Save this poor soul. She loves you so much, she doesn’t know what to do.”

Mu Lian let her hold her, her hand resting on her waist, and asked in an equally breathy voice, “How do I save you?”

Wen Qianshu smiled, a mischievous glint in her eyes. “How to save me? Just pluck the moon from the sky and give it to her.”

She looked at Mu Lian.

Countless lights and shadows overlapped, as if returning to the very beginning, when the doctor with the light-colored eyes stood by her bed, looking down at her.

The sunlight was so gentle, kissing the doctor’s long hair.

Back then, she was still lying in a hospital bed—

What was she thinking back then?

Perhaps she was thinking—

How could there be such a beautiful person in the world?

Like the moon in the sky.

“Alright,” Mu Lian said. “I’ll give you the moon in the sky.”

“She is yours.”

Their gazes intertwined, their eyelashes brushing against each other.

Mu Lian’s hand tightened slightly, pressing firmly against Wen Qianshu’s waist as she continued the line of questioning. “Then what about the wind? Tell me, how do I catch the wind—”

“You don’t need to catch it, Sister—” Though they were already close, Wen Qianshu tightened her arms, pulling them even closer until their lips were almost touching. She smiled. “The wind doesn’t need to be caught—”

The wind blew from a place so very far away, blowing through the years of youth, through picturesque landscapes, through the chaotic mortal world, through all walks of life.

It blew past the bright, unchanging moon in the long, endless night.

She kissed her.

“The wind has been by your side all along.”

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Author’s Notes:

Note 1: “The turning candle, the drifting tumbleweed, a dream returns. I seek old traces, but lament the person is not the same. Heaven makes my wishes go against my circumstances.” — “To the Tune of Huanxi Sha” by Li Yu.

This line is an adaptation of this one.