“It’s snowing.” Raising his hand, Yu Sui pushed open the ventilating casement window, catching a tiny, frigid snowflake upon his fingertips. As the snowflake settled against his hand, it was impossible to tell whether his skin or the ice possessed a more flawless, crystalline purity. Ice and snow cascaded alongside the fireworks from the heavens down to the earth, though both proved equally ephemeral and fleeting.
“Many people say that wishes made upon the first snow always come true,” Yu Sui said with a smile. “Care to make a wish?”
Fixing an unblinking gaze upon him, Yu Baihua watched as the dim, shifting lights limned a delicate golden halo along Yu Sui’s profile, illuminating his amber pupils while reflecting a dusting of snow deep within his eyes.
Wearing a soft, gentle smile, Yu Baihua lowered his eyelids.
“I hope Yu Sui stays by my side forever,” he murmured in a voice so faint it was nearly imperceptible. “Will you make that come true?”
Yu Baihua spoke with such extreme softness that Yu Sui seemed not to have heard him at all. Simply gazing quietly to the very end of the fireworks and snowfall, he wrapped his arms around Yu Baihua’s waist and pressed a light kiss to his temple.
“Let’s go, let’s head home.”
Calmly lifting Yu Baihua’s slightly elongated bangs, Yu Sui brushed his thumb across the lingering redness at the outer corner of his eye before offering him one final, lingering look.
Lifting his gaze to meet Yu Sui’s, Yu Baihua rested his head against Yu Sui’s shoulder and answered with absolute earnestness: “Okay.”
Though his tone sounded docile and yielding, his expression was gradually hardening into deep shadow. Gritting his teeth, he forcibly suppressed the violent turbulence surging within his chest.
Silently clenching his fingers into the fabric of Yu Sui’s coat, Yu Baihua reassured himself that it didn’t matter Yu Sui wasn’t going anywhere.
“Such a good boy.” Seemingly repossessing his habitual unshakeable poise and elusive unpredictability, Yu Sui refrained from lowering his gaze to linger upon the man cradled in his arms, turning his attention toward the empty expanse of air instead.
The moment Yu Baihua uttered that wish, the conquest value hit 100% from beginning to end, the singular matter occupying his concern was whether Yu Sui might abandon him once more.
Time ground to a halt as Yu Sui heard 058’s prompt chime within his mind: “Host, it’s time for us to depart this world.”
“I’m not leaving this time, 058.” Adopting a rare, solemn and grave tone, Yu Sui addressed the small round sphere, gazing down at it as he whispered softly: “I’ve submitted my resignation to the Lord God; this time, I’m sending you back alone.”
Incredulous, 058 stammered: “But… if you do that, you’ll forfeit your eternal, liberated life.”
A smile bloomed across Yu Sui’s face. “Yet the sole reason I ever consented to join the Villain Department was simply to experience a broader spectrum of human lives. 058, the supreme art of magic lies in transforming the impossible into the possible, and for that pursuit I’ve already journeyed through countless thrilling, perilous adventures…”
Cupping the slightly irregular little sphere within the palm of his hand, he continued: “Yet having encountered the person I cherish, I am equally willing to spend a finite, mortal lifetime walking alongside him.”
“Eternal life is dreadfully lonely,” Yu Sui murmured softly, “and Yu Baihua is an absolute idiot who perpetually manages to get himself injured.”
Aggrieved, 058 protested: “You still have me, plus everyone else back in the Villain Department.”
Yu Sui flicked it squarely on top of its round head. “You lot do nothing but cause me headaches; you can’t hold a candle to our President Yu.”
With tear-filled eyes, 058 wailed: “You biased, double-standard bastard, Yu Sui… wuwuwu, but I’m still going to miss you.”
“It’s not as though we can’t visit.” Smiling warmly, Yu Sui accepted 058’s accusations. “If you run into trouble, don’t come crying to me; just make sure you set aside my retirement welfare share when the time comes.”
The alarms signaling 058’s forced extraction from the minor world grew increasingly frantic as it pressed the query one final time: “Host Yu Sui, do you confirm your decision to remain in this minor world?”
“I confirm.”
Soaring from his palm up into the empty air, 058 cast one final look down at the two figures locked in a quiet embrace, deciding it had no further words left to offer.
Drifting across the turbulent currents of spacetime anomalies, it left Yu Sui behind in his own simple, blissful world.
Abruptly, Yu Baihua felt something slide past his fingertips before locking securely and seamlessly into place deep at the base of his finger, carrying the cool metallic chill of a band, though devoid of any discomfort.
Dazed and uncomprehending, he raised his hand: it was a remarkably unpretentious plain-band ring, save for a shimmering, silvery-white gemstone inlaid directly into its surface a variety so rare even Yu Baihua failed to identify its lineage.
“This is…” Finding himself momentarily robbed of speech, he couldn’t force a single coherent syllable past his lips.
The smile blossoming across Yu Sui’s lips grew increasingly radiant as he locked eyes with him and said: “I have a wish of my own, though I’m uncertain whether it can be granted.”
“I hope… Yu Baihua stays by my side forever.”
This ring was a parting gift left behind by 058, forged from materials far surpassing any standard system store inventory, having been painstakingly gathered by Yu Sui across a vast expanse of time.
Through every single spacetime continuum he traversed along the drifting corridors of transit, he would pluck a microscopic speck of stardust from the surrounding nebulas a primordial gem of spacetime itself, collected piece by piece solely to secure his journey back to Yu Baihua’s side.
“I promise you.” Yu Baihua answered swiftly and decisively, before repeating the vow with absolute conviction: “I will.”
Cupping Yu Baihua’s face in his hands, Yu Sui whispered gently: “Yu Baihua, do you know you’re actually a rather dense student? You grasp neither the genuine meaning of life nor how to properly cherish yourself…” Pausing for a beat, he added softly: “No matter, I happen to excel at teaching, and I’ll instruct you step by step.”
“—Why refuse to take your medicine even when you’re hurting yourself?”
“Because if I did, I wouldn’t be able to see Yu Sui.”
Reaching out with his index finger, Yu Sui pressed it lightly against Yu Baihua’s lips to halt whatever the man intended to voice next, before lowering his head to seal a lingering, snow-drenched kiss with this hopelessly dense student.
The inception of their tale dated back to that magic trick Yu Sui performed for Yu Baihua beneath the dim, moody lights of the bar. Armed with effortless, breathtaking sleight-of-hand, Yu Sui captivated the entirety of Yu Baihua’s attention with brilliant artistry, cementing their encounter. Across the seven years that followed, Yu Sui conjured countless wondrous illusions for Yu Baihua—white doves, blossoming roses, snowflakes materializing out of thin air, and blazing sparks erupting within freezing tanks of water.
Beneath every single falsehood uttered by Yu Sui lay an anchored core of truth, yet he unfailingly ensured no one ever realized they were being deceived.
The tenderness of a magician invariably invites delightful illusions; Yu Baihua had once believed Yu Sui loved him, only to be shattered by the ruthless awakening of that rainy night.
Yet in the end, he realized Yu Sui was truly a master-class magician of peerless genius conjuring a ring out of thin air on this snowy evening to seamlessly encircle and claim every facet of Yu Baihua’s existence for the rest of time.
As for what was currently running through Yu Sui’s mind:
The most successful magic trick I’ve ever pulled off in this lifetime, he thought, is making you believe—
Making you believe that I will accompany you for a lifetime, and making you believe that I love you dearly.
Ahead of them still lay an expansive, enduring lifetime through which to enact a grand, romantic romance.
Time Administration, Villain Department Division
“Say that again? Yu Sui isn’t coming back ?!”
Having returned to headquarters to file the report regarding Yu Sui’s decision to anchor himself in a minor world, 058 found itself ambushed before it could even brief the other hosts, instantly seized by a frantic colleague who shook it back and forth demanding an immediate explanation.
“If model worker Yu Sui decides to quit, do you have any idea how much my workload is going to spike? Go drag him back here right this instant!”
“Reinhardt… Reinhardt Eletis! Let go of me, you maniac!!” Wriggling free from Reinhardt’s clutch, 058 hovered in midair and sneered coldly: “In your dreams! Your upcoming mission queue is next. If you dare slack off and mess around this time…”
“Tch.” Standing his ground, Reinhardt irritably raked his fingers through his hair. Once shoved back into place, his pale golden locks revealed a striking set of facial features sharp contours, clear-cut jawlines, accompanied by a pair of striking, ocean-blue eyes peering out from behind the heavy black-framed spectacles resting upon the bridge of his nose.
Unquestionably, this fellow possessed a remarkably handsome facade, though he perpetually insisted on sweeping his golden fringe down across his forehead and strapping on those thick, heavy glasses, stubbornly masquerading as a textbook otaku whenever he stepped out in public… Fortunately, he cleaned up his act and adhered strictly to character requirements whenever deployed on active missions.
“Is this mission genuinely mandatory?” Reinhardt inquired. “And you better ensure you don’t miscalculate the timeline allocation this time around.”
Though he routinely dragged his feet and engaged in bureaucratic slacking during operations, his success rate maintained perfect step with departmental benchmarks at a pristine 99%… As for that remaining 1% of failed assignments, Reinhardt firmly attributed the blame to 058’s chronic navigational incompetence rather than any deficiency in his own professional proficiency.
Guilt prickled across 058’s mechanical core as it fluttered its digital wings; after all, 058 bore partial responsibility for Reinhardt’s previous failed deployment.
Reinhardt’s prior assignment had placed him as a villain within the Zerg universe—a mission specifically curated and reserved for him by his colleagues: the protagonist was a Zerg of the Zerg race’s female caste, while the villain was an imperial aristocrat of the male caste belonging to the ruling government faction. By all reasonable metrics, securing victory should have proved effortless.
The protagonist, Lucifer Zesia, was an individual of obscure bloodline within an ancient female-caste Zerg family, abandoned by his kin in childhood yet maintaining unyielding resilience until he finally earned imperial recognition and ascension to the rank of Major General through sheer military merit which marked the precise point where the narrative diverged.
The noble male Zerg, Reinhardt Eletis, selected Lucifer as his primary spouse, subjecting him to relentless torment and humiliation. Enduring years of calculated abuse, Lucifer ultimately exacted bloody vengeance by slaying Reinhardt and overthrowing the male-centric sociopolitical hierarchy.
A textbook narrative of the oppressed rising to power.
The sole complication was that 058 had mistakenly dropped Reinhardt into the timeline precisely at the moment Reinhardt chose Lucifer as his spouse, rather than… back when Lucifer was still an abused, unloved little outcast of a male leaving Reinhardt stranded a full five years ahead of schedule.
This forced Reinhardt to meticulously maintain his character facade across the Zerg capital star system while wrestling with an endless mountain of bureaucratic administrative headaches.
Naturally, subjecting Reinhardt to five years of mandatory overtime was out of the question; thus, barely two months following his arrival in the Zerg universe, Reinhardt ditched his assigned identity and skipped town.
In theory, the plan carried zero flaws: spend a few years enjoying leisurely freedom before returning to torment the protagonist right as the main plot kicked off. Consequently, despite trading blame back and forth for ages, 058 and Reinhardt had happily reached a consensus Reinhardt would go enjoy himself outside while 058 returned to the system space to play cards with the vacationing Yu Sui.
That was, right up until Reinhardt whimsically picked up a stray Zerg off the street and brought him home.
Right up until that stray little cat-like Zerg he adopted turned out to be none other than the protagonist, Lucifer Zesia, whom he completely failed to recognize at the time.
To summarize, the ensuing entanglements grew impossibly convoluted. Yet Reinhardt could state with absolute certainty on one singular point: he desperately… desperately wished to avoid crossing paths with that Zerg ever again.