She was sitting on the bay window of the room, with Xu Qingzhu's pile of dolls behind her.
He wasn't in a good state and seemed a bit down.
She looked at Xu Qingzhu. "Have you been drinking?"
Xu Qingzhu nodded, pressing her temples as she said, "I had nightmares all day."
"What nightmare?" Liang Shi asked. "Can you tell me?"
"I dreamt that you were going to kill me," Xu Qingzhu said. "My heart aches so much..."
Xu Qingzhu was drunk, and she spoke with sadness and grief: "I feel like I'm being torn apart. One half of me is saying that you're not that kind of person, while the other half keeps replaying the scene of you killing me."
"Kill you?" Liang Shi pursed his lips, his voice deep. "What tools?"
Xu Qingzhu stared at her on the screen: "Knife."
Xu Qingzhu's eyes lit up immediately, "A very sharp knife."
"Do you believe it?" Liang Shi asked.
Xu Qingzhu paused for a moment, then slowly shook her head.
But after a moment, she looked confused and pained, "But it hurts so much."
"Where?" Liang Shi asked.
Xu Qingzhu pursed her lips and answered very slowly, "My heart, and here... here..."
She pointed to behind her ear and her heart.
“I…I feel like I’m being influenced by something.” Xu Qingzhu tried to distinguish between the two states. “I can’t resist it. Once I start to resist, that thing will relentlessly entangle me…I…I can’t do anything about it.”
Her brows furrowed.
Liang Shi remained silent after hearing this.
Both sides were silent for a long time before Liang finally said, "I still stand by what I said: I will never hurt you."
Xu Qingzhu looked at her in astonishment and asked blankly, "How can I believe you?"
"If I had a knife in my hand," Liang Shi said, "the blade would inevitably be pointed at myself."
Her tone was firm, and her gaze was fixed on Xu Qingzhu.
It seems that the camera was trying to convey strength to Xu Qingzhu.
Liang Shi solemnly called her name: "Xu Qingzhu, you know I won't lie to you."
"Then you..." Xu Qingzhu looked at her, "do you know something?"
Xu Qingzhu asked, "You're so calm about my current state, so what do you know?"
Liang Shi was at a loss for words.
A moment later, Liang said, "You don't need to know this."
“You said you wouldn’t lie to me,” Xu Qingzhu said.
Liang Shi: "..."
“I’m not the person you should be with.” Liang Shi said these words with great difficulty. She closed her eyes. “You should be with someone else. You will have two lovely daughters. That person is talented and capable. You will love each other very much.”
"Then... can one person love two people at the same time?" Xu Qingzhu asked her very seriously.
Liang Shi paused: "That won't work, will it?"
Xu Qingzhu said, "So... why would I love someone else?"
“Even in love,” Xu Qingzhu said, “there should be a proper order of arrival.”
Liang Shi: "..."
Xu Qingzhu's tone was serious and earnest, making it impossible not to follow her lead. Liang Shi also sighed, "Yes."
"So I've fallen in love with you." Xu Qingzhu couldn't understand; her mind was slow after drinking, and she asked with unusual seriousness, "So why are there other people? Where are all these 'shoulds'?"
“But now you can’t love me anymore, can you?” Liang Shi knew she wouldn’t remember anything after waking up; her habit of blacking out when drunk made him feel confident enough to say, “You’ll think I’m going to hurt you, so you’ll start to doubt me and distance yourself from me…”
"No." Xu Qingzhu stared at her, then suddenly smiled, her voice softening as it had softened from its previous coldness: "Teacher Liang."
Liang Shi was taken aback: "Huh?"
"Have you ever heard a saying?" Xu Qingzhu asked her.
Liang Shi: "What?"
Xu Qingzhu pursed her lips and answered almost word by word, "I will go against my instincts and continue to love you."
In Xu Qingzhu's world, there are not so many "shoulds".
What she had to do was very simple—love Liang Shi.
//
Liang Shi didn't sleep well all night and tried to call the dog system, but received no response.
I talked to Xu Qingzhu on the phone for more than three hours last night, until my phone died.
She woke up very early in the morning. She lay in bed with her eyes open, her mind clear, but she just didn't want to get out of bed.
She lingered for a long time before finally sitting up, clearly in a bad mood.
I tried to call the system again, but still received no response.
That's so mean.
As she finished washing up, a strange mechanical voice suddenly echoed in her mind: "Hello, host! What is it you need, Xiao Tong? Have you collected all the evidence? Xiao Tong will definitely submit the materials to the Interstellar Court, please rest assured!"
Liang Shi: "..."
This isn't a cheat system at all.
He's just a debt collector.
You only interact with her when she assigns or completes tasks; otherwise, she's just a useless person.
Liang Shi didn't even have time to complain about it; he had more important things to do right now, "not about evidence."
System: [What is that?]
"If you want to forcibly change the world's consciousness, that is, the original plot, is there any way to do so without being harmed?" Liang Shi said, "What I know now is that if I change the original plot line, I will actually suffer the same harm, which is what you call the balancing mechanism. Is there any way to change the original plot line without being harmed?"
The long message confused the system.
However, Liang Shi didn't know if it was confused or unwilling to answer her. In any case, the system remained silent for a long time before seriously saying: [Host, you need to understand one thing before asking this question.]
Liang Shi: "What?"
System: [Each dimensional world has its own set of operating rules, and as the administrators of all dimensional worlds, we cannot change these rules. Furthermore, with you, this unstable factor, being introduced, this creates a Schrödinger's cat-like dimensional world.]
Liang Shi: "..."
I never expected to receive such knowledge here.
But Liang Shi probably understood.
"In other words, everything happening in this world right now is unknown. The laws governing this dimensional world are maintaining its original order, and I, as a 'variable,' will be targeted by this dimensional world? Does that mean my best option is to conform to the existing laws governing this dimensional world?"
The system paused for a moment before replying: "That's how it is according to the rules, but the law won't target you; it applies equally to everyone."
"Then why did you put me in here? Or rather, why did you swap me with the original owner? Is this swap in accordance with your operating rules?" Liang Shi's mind was racing, and he really wanted to get something out of the system.
The system responded readily: 【Not applicable.】
Liang Shi: "...?"
But over tens of millions of years, countless people will make wishes, and if your wish is heard by God, you will be one of the lucky ones.
[If those chosen by God do not cherish what they have and cause too much harm to the fate of others, the Management Bureau will step in to balance things out, but the Management Bureau will not interfere with the original operation of the dimensional world.]
Liang Shi: "..."
Liang Shi finally understood.
In summary, the laws governing the operation of the dimensional world cannot be changed, meaning there is no way to change the current predicament.
But back then, with Chen Liuying... didn't she get through that too?
In the original book, Chen Liuying's ending wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either; she was a popular female celebrity.
But what about now?
She's already in jail.
So the system was right; it is Schrödinger's dimensional world.
What will happen is up to her.
She was just worried about hurting Xu Qingzhu...
She herself is alright, having weathered many storms.
Liang Shi asked the system, "Then why is Xu Qingzhu, whom you are supposed to protect, still being interfered with by the other world? And why is she suffering so much, with your will being forcibly interfered with?"
Xu Qingzhu's dream was probably about what the original owner did to her in the original storyline.
Even if it doesn't happen in reality, she'll dream about it frequently to interfere with her judgment.
It's one thing to dream about it, but why make her experience that pain firsthand again and again?
Liang Shi couldn't sleep well at all; all he could see when he closed his eyes was Xu Qingzhu's pained and confused face.
The system fell silent again.
A moment later, the system replied: [Xu Qingzhu is not someone the Bureau is protecting. Her fate is closely intertwined with yours and the original owner's. You must make amends for everything the original owner did to her. The original owner's body and soul have been recovered, while you remain intact in your original world.]
"Since I and the original owner were swapped, why should I be responsible for compensating her?"
As if he were determined to get to the bottom of things, Liang Shi asked the questions relentlessly.
Actually, I wanted to see if the system would give anything away.
Liang Shi interpreted this as a maze; even if it is intricate and complex, there must be a way out.
Just like with Chen Liuying's incident, if the system hadn't malfunctioned, she wouldn't have suffered so much injury.
Moreover, she probably had other solutions that day, but she chose that one.