Liva's Illness

The entire game employs a reverse narrative technique.

Basically, every player understands this.

With a heart full of unanswered questions, time continues to push forward.

On the night before Liva and Johnny got married.

The two, dressed in formalwear, leaned against the lighthouse, chatting under the moonlight.

And on this very day, the lighthouse gained a name—Anya.

Bathed in moonlight, Liva and Johnny climbed to the top of the lighthouse.

Reflected by the lantern light, their shadows were cast upon the wall.

Riding the moonlight, Johnny earnestly taught Liva how to dance.

From night until day.

A gentle, soothing piano piece flowed like a stream alongside their dance.

It filled the game's atmosphere with romance.

The game's graphics might not have been top-notch.

But under the spell of the music and atmosphere, this scene felt incredibly romantic and beautiful.

"Damn, they danced the whole night through!"

Dong Zhen said, full of emotion.

He had to admit, for a moment, the doubts lingering in his heart were temporarily set aside.

Because at least in this moment, the game made even him, a grown man, feel something called romance.

Time moved to the next day. Before the now-named lighthouse Anya, Liva and Johnny officially became husband and wife.

On the way to the wedding ceremony, Liva saw a dead white rabbit that had been hit by a car. Her reaction was a mix of sadness and strangeness.

But Johnny didn't notice anything.

"So, is this why Liva kept folding paper rabbits later? But what's the connection?" Dong Zhen was puzzled.

Yet he had no leads.

He continued pushing the story forward.

Everyone at the wedding was overjoyed, but Dong Zhen noticed another detail.

During the ceremony, Johnny's mother called him by a different name.

In the game, Johnny's friend Nicholas also showed confusion.

Johnny's reaction was natural, explaining it was his grandfather's name, and his mother used Joey as a nickname in memory of him.

"Joey? That name—I'm sure there's something to it!" Dong Zhen narrowed his eyes.

Time moved forward bit by bit.

It arrived at the dating period before Liva and Johnny got married.

At this time, they were playing around at a horse ranch.

Riding gallant steeds across the field, Liva and Johnny laughed and enjoyed themselves.

This was based on a doctor's suggestion—that horseback riding might help alleviate Liva's condition.

Like most couples in love, they shared all kinds of intimate gestures.

And here, players finally understood what illness Liva had, confirming their earlier guesses.

"Asperger's Syndrome—that's Liva's illness?" Dong Zhen finally learned the name of her condition from the notebook clues.

But he had never heard of it before.

Glancing at the bullet comments, the livestream chat was clearly just as clueless.

"Patients with this condition have symptoms like difficulty with social interaction, trouble with verbal communication, rigid and stereotyped behavior patterns, and stubborn adherence to special, meaningless procedures and rituals."

"It really matches perfectly."

He felt a dawning realization. If she had this condition, then Liva's earlier strange behaviors could be fully explained.

But while the behaviors were explained, the meaning behind those actions remained unanswered.

At this moment, Dong Zhen was still full of curiosity.

Curiosity about Liva and Johnny.

What did the paper rabbits represent? What kind of story did Liva and Johnny share? Why did Johnny want so badly to go to the moon?

Playing up to this point, nearly two hours had passed.

Yet why Johnny wanted to go to the moon, why Liva would rather give up her life to finish building that house with a view of Anya, why she spent her entire married life folding paper rabbits and asking Johnny about them—these questions still had no explanation at all.

As the story progressed, it arrived at Johnny's teenage school days.

During this time, he got to know Liva.

And Dong Zhen noticed one thing—that platypus.

In high school, Liva always carried that platypus with her.

It seemed that this plush toy held some important meaning for her.

And this was also the medium through which Johnny first struck up a conversation with Liva.

With the help of his friend Nicholas, Johnny was pushed in front of Liva, who was crouched on the steps reading a book, to start a conversation.

'Hello!'

'Uh... hello...'

'Can you hear me?'

Standing in front of Liva, Johnny looked a bit awkward.

And then finally, Liva spoke: 'Yes.'

'Then why didn't you... forget it... um, that platypus is really cool.' Johnny tried desperately to find a topic to keep the conversation going.

But Liva just put down her book, glanced at the platypus beside her, and then returned her gaze to the book.

'Uh... what are you reading?' Johnny continued searching for a topic.

'A book... a book.'

'About platypuses?'

'No.'

'Oh... I, uh, I think that's cool too.'

Johnny looked extremely awkward. Clearly, he felt that Liva was far too aloof.

Judging by her behavior, Liva at this time really wasn't very likable.

You could even say she was cold and unfeeling. Even through the screen, you could feel just how awkward Johnny was at that moment.

And how cold the atmosphere was.

But through the game's flashback story, everyone understood that this wasn't the real Liva.

She was only like this because she had Asperger's Syndrome.

'Lighthouse!' Liva spoke up after a moment of silence, cutting off Johnny's words.

'This country has preserved a total of sixteen Level 2 Fenrir Lens Lighthouses. Nine of them are located in coastal areas, and one of those was converted from an old kerosene lighthouse.'

'Oh, so that's what you're reading? Well, actually... I was wondering, would you like to go see a movie with me?'

'I don't know.'

'That's fine, I can wait for you to think about it.'

'Can't think about it.'

'Why?'

'No date, no time.'

'Well... how about this Saturday at eight? Is that okay?'

'Okay.'

This only made Dong Zhen, playing up to this point, feel even worse in his heart, even a little pained.

As a normal person, there was simply no way to fully understand this.

To be honest, he couldn't truly empathize with how much pain the in-game Liva must have been suffering.

This illness—where you clearly wanted something in your heart but couldn't accurately express it through words or actions—just how agonizing must it be?