"Whether you love me or not, it doesn't matter."
"We'll be together."
He said softly, "We will."
At first, I didn't understand what he meant by that.
It wasn't until I recovered and he took me to the laboratory he had set up that I froze when I entered.
There were many large, bright screens, numerous white mice being used as test subjects, and many complex, incomprehensible instruments... but that wasn't the point—the point was the people.
The researcher closest to me was using pliers to extract a white mouse's brain, reporting like a robot: "Subject 72 failed."
Two researchers walked over, holding two flattened mice, no, they were already as thin as paper.
"According to the test results, the teleportation process causes the subject to become two-dimensional."
They walked away.
I stood there in a daze.
"I've had them looking for a way to travel between different worlds. They haven't found it yet, but I think it will be soon."
Valentine turned around, satisfied, and grabbed my arm. "If you don't want to stay, I'll go with you."
"When it's time, I'll be with you in your world, and we'll live there forever, together." He stared at me intensely.
His eyes were as mad as those of the researchers. I took a deep breath, "Valentine, I—"
"Look up, baby."
Valentine smiled and pointed at the ceiling, "Look at the name I gave this laboratory."
LOVE.
"I love you," he said.
Looking at his slightly reddened eyes, I finally realized that I was wrong.
I had underestimated his obsession with me. I had also underestimated his love.
I thought that someday, Valentine would walk out from the shadow of my leaving, become the aloof Mr. Ashford, living a long, prosperous life.
I didn't expect that before he could walk out, he had already gone mad from this "love." I was wrong.
Completely wrong.
I took a deep breath, raised my arm, and hugged Valentine around the waist.
"We can do this, we'll always be together, let's keep going!" He smiled.
The smile was full of warmth, and he reached out to embrace me back, whispering, "When it succeeds, I'll go back with you."
My body froze.
I understood what he was implying: Before the research succeeded, I could only stay by his side.
---
I used to think that forcing him to release me from the basement meant I won, that I could at least gain a little initiative in this relationship.
I didn't expect it to be a chain reaction. I was still tightly gripped in his hands.
One day, while shopping, I bought a cup of cola and sat in the resting area, propping my face on my arm, carefully counting the number of bodyguards outside the floor-to-ceiling window.
One, two, three... There were at least ten I could see.
I took a sip of cola, unsure of what to think. Suddenly, a person sat down across from me.
I didn't recognize him, and I couldn't even describe his appearance. I could see him, but his features didn't register in my mind.
"Hello, Miss Anthea."
He smiled at me and said, "I'm the system's avatar in this world."
The system required me to stop Valentine from carrying out the experiment.
"The main characters cannot leave the world, or the world will collapse, and all living creatures within it will be annihilated."
His voice was emotionless but resolute: "You must stop him."
What came to my mind, however, was something else:
"He can't leave, but I can travel haphazardly between worlds. Does that mean my world also has a main character? Am I just an insignificant NPC?"
He said nothing. I understood.
There was no real feeling of bitterness, just a moment of silence, and then I shook my head.
"I'm sorry, I can't stop him."
"This mission was assigned by you, so the consequences should fall on you, not him."
"I've already wronged him enough. I can't do anything that would hurt him further." The smile faded from the system's face:
"So, you can watch as everyone in this world dies?" I opened my mouth, unsure of what I was even saying:
"They're just a bunch of NPCs..."
"NPCs?"
The system sneered:
"They are NPCs, but they don't know it. They live their lives happily, and who can say that kind of life is meaningless? Miss Anthea, are you really going to let so many people die in your love game?" He leaned slightly forward:
"Right now, the wild horse herd is desperately saving their foals from the wolves' jaws. In the deep sea, a great white shark has just caught a dolphin, disemboweling it and eating with relish."
"Your university professor just went to abroad with his wife to attend their son's wedding."
"Your high school crush just got a promotion, bought his parents bracelets as gifts."
"Every living creature in this world is going on with their lives, and you want to destroy all of it for the sake of your so-called love?"
---
I couldn't.
That was why I was torn, in pain, and upset.
If Valentine couldn't go to my world, the only path left for me was to stay. But...
I sat there dazed, for a long time.
The system didn't rush me, just tapped its fingers on the table, watching the guards outside the window with vigilance. It said: "I told you back then not to leave, but you left without hesitation."
Half a year after you left, Valentine went mad, and in the bathroom, he slit his wrists. If it weren't for me...
"What did you say?" I interrupted. "Suicide?"
"You didn't know?"
The system looked at me in surprise. "Otherwise, why would I have brought you back?"
"Did you never notice that long, ugly scar on his wrist after all this time?"
