I quickly thought about when Ji Yuan's biological father got involved in the underworld, and my mind was full of mixed emotions.

So, I raised both kids in the wrong way?

Before I could snap out from the memory of Ji Yuan's once pure and gentle demeanor, Shen Jiaojiao stepped forward and fiercely grabbed my throat.

"Why do you have so many helpers!"

"Clearly, I am the heroine!"

She snatched a small knife from a burly man and waved it near my neck, her eyes full of jealousy, seemingly convinced that Ji Yuan wouldn't dare to shoot.

As the blade got closer, my heart was in my throat.

Suddenly, under Ji Yuan's cover, a black shadow appeared out of nowhere, taking everyone by surprise.

Shen Jiaojiao knew things were going wrong, her face twisted as she looked at me, and she raised the knife, ready to strike.

The next second, I fell into a warm and broad embrace. I took a closer look and saw Xie Rui's left arm bleeding profusely, quickly staining a large area.

But Xie Rui's face was gloomy. He gently pushed me towards Ji Yuan. Shen Jiaojiao, eyes wide with rage, lunged at me, but Xie Rui immediately kicked her in the knee and then pressed her head down forcefully as she knelt.

His voice was filled with anger:

"Shen Jiaojiao, are you looking for death?"

"How dare you touch her?"

.......

I saw Xie Rui's eyes, red and full of tears, and the pain from the dream where I knew I was just his mission target welled up again. My eyes were blurred with tears, recalling Xie Rui's haggard and exhausted face as if he were a dying flame walking serenely towards death on a quiet, moonlit night.

Under the autumn moon and the splendid stars, I had once made a promise to young Xie Rui: "I came for you."

At that moment, I realized the weight of the red poppy's language—life and death are intertwined.

It turns out that Xie Rui had always, from beginning to end, held my ashes.

The Li Zhi who took him out of the darkness but foolishly believed in the power of the plot and was utterly disappointed, planning to abandon him.

After a deathly silence, Xie Rui looked up at me, and there was a hint of tears in his eyes.

His voice was almost as low as dust, barely audible:

"It took me so much to finally...see her."

(End of the main story)

Xie Rui's Extra Story:

"If you could get on a time machine, when would you most want to go back to?"

Walking in the desolate wilderness holding Zhi Zhi's urn, I suddenly thought of this ridiculously absurd question.

I was only fifteen and a half years old when my family went bankrupt and became a laughingstock.

In an instant, my life was turned upside down.

The people who used to curry favor with me changed their attitudes after the fall of the Xie family. They would laugh and step on me, as if it would bring them honor. Even Shen Jiaojiao, who used to be gentle and considerate, turned her back on me, humiliating me like stepping on a puddle of mud.

It was in these moments of embarrassed distress that I saw Li Zhi standing at the alley's entrance, looking at me with serious and straightforward eyes.

......

It wasn't the first time I heard the electronic voice from Zhi Zhi.

The system machine coaxed Zhi Zhi to adopt me, educate me, redeem me, and reform me.

At first, I disdainfully and humorously watched her busying herself for my sake, eavesdropping on her conversations with the system, as if it would give my uneasy heart a despicable excuse:

"See, she doesn't love me at all, she's just here for the mission."

"Then I don't have to repay her."

"It was her initiative."

Until that time when the debt collectors came, without the interference of the system, she knelt for me without hesitation.

I think it was that day, in that lonely moment, when I looked at the moon, it felt like my life had a reflection.

I convinced myself that Zhi Zhi loved me. After all, she said, "I came for you" herself.

She descended into this world like a deity, ventured deep into hell to save me.

She should've stayed with me forever.

Until the day Shen Jiaojiao returned to the country, I approached her and heard:

"Whether to leave this world."

When I saw her gentle and smiling eyes, it felt absurd. Isn't it ridiculous? She would leave me?

But my mind involuntarily started questioning each of her love confessions, wondering if they had been timely calculated.

Those annoying electronic voices repeatedly told me that I was just a character written by others, with a tragic and lonely destined end.

Could I, a thoroughly analyzed madman, ever receive a bit of moonlight from the moon I so longed for?

Later, I was controlled by an irresistible force to move closer to Shen Jiaojiao, and even lost control of my body temporarily due to a prop, recklessly harming Zhi Zhi.

I could only watch myself become unrecognizable, seeing Zhi Zhi's eyes grow colder, no longer filled with the love I longed for day and night.

Later, ah, Zhi Zhi died.

The powerlessness and despair overwhelmed me, forcing me to cough up a mouthful of blood.

At that moment, the restraints on my body seemed to be lifted, and I finally staggered towards my Zhi Zhi to hold her properly.

Everyone around said I was crazy.

I captured Shen Jiaojiao, questioning her again and again about the system and the plot line she mentioned. She was tormented by me to the point of insanity. When she was clear-headed, she would only shout that she was the heroine.

Sometimes I wish I never met Li Zhi, that way, I could sleep peacefully at night.

But most of the time, I don't regret it.

Even though I know I'm just a character in this book;

Even though I know Zhi Zhi is a missioner.

Even though I thought it was a flourishing island from afar; only to find it was a mire when I jumped alone.

But at fifteen and a half years old, under my seemingly arrogant exterior, she was the only one who saw the sign on my back that read “Save me.”

So when everything restarted, I opened my eyes and heard the voice I've longed for day and night whisper in my ear:

"I can save you."

"Are you willing to be my dog?"

I suddenly remembered the urn in my arms before I committed suicide, the dry, light gray ashes that drenched my entire life.

"I am willing."