Rongrong, Will You Marry Me?

[The Simulation continued.]

[When you returned to the cave, Ning Rongrong was already awake. She sat beside the campfire, roasting meat from a Soul Beast Xiao Tian had hunted. The calm look on her face sent a sudden ache through your heart.]

[Your eyes met. After so many years together, Ning Rongrong could read everything you left unsaid.]

[Ning Rongrong quietly handed you a skewer of roast meat. The two of you ate in silence, the mood heavy and strange.]

[Once she had eaten her fill, Ning Rongrong began taking Hidden Weapons from her Soul Tool without a word. Tang San had made each one specifically for her. She strapped them on one by one, and as their mechanisms clicked into place, you understood what she intended.]

[Once fully equipped, Ning Rongrong's bearing changed so sharply that anyone who did not know better would have taken her for a Battle Soul Master!]

[Yet her gaze was still gentle when she looked at you. She wanted to ask you to comb her hair one more time.]

[You agreed and took her to the mountaintop. The moon shone bright among scattered stars, and a soft evening breeze carried the calls of nightingales. The night felt unexpectedly peaceful and romantic.]

[Ning Rongrong's hair was long and silky. This time, you combed it with particular care, etching her presence deep into your memory.]

[After a while, Ning Rongrong spoke. On reflection, she said, you were not a direct member of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. Now that the sect had been destroyed, you ought to look to your own future. You knew she had decided to go to Yellow Dragon Mountain to save Ning Fengzhi and Chen Xin. But this journey was certain to be one-way, even if you went with her. That was why she had said those things: to leave you no reason, and no place, to follow her to your death.]

[Faced with Ning Rongrong's words, you chose...]

[1. Persuade Ning Rongrong not to throw her life away. As long as the green hills remained, there would be no shortage of firewood.]

[2. A wise man knew when to yield. Spirit Hall only wanted the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect destroyed. Sever your ties with Ning Rongrong at once and have nothing more to do with her feud with Spirit Hall.]

[3. Rongrong, will you marry me?]

[Attention: This is your final choice. After choosing, you will experience everything in first person and will be unable to reduce pain or other bodily sensations. Choose carefully!!]

Gao Yang stared at the system prompt, unable to answer for a long time.

By any reasonable measure, the right answer was either one or two.

He had read the original story closely. He knew all too well how far this plot had gone off the rails.

After he had saved Xiao Wu and Tang San in the Heaven Dou Forest, the two of them had gone straight to Sea God Island with the other Shrek monsters.

But there was one crucial detail: Tang San had not stopped the Heaven Dou Palace Coup in the Simulation. That meant he had never obtained the key to becoming the Sea God—that Vast Sea whatsit.

In other words, their side would be short one god-level fighter in the future!

And Spirit Hall? It had an Angel God and a Rakshasa God.

What was more, Heaven Dou had already fallen into Xue Qinghe's hands. No—Qian Renxue's.

The tide was running entirely in Spirit Hall's favor.

Their only hope of turning it back was for Tang San to become the Asura God.

But that hope was vanishingly slim.

Only now did Gao Yang grasp how terrifying the butterfly effect could be.

What if Tang San never meets Tang Chen?

And that was the future. What about the danger right in front of him?

Qian Renxue was sure to have cast a net across heaven and earth on Yellow Dragon Mountain, waiting for him and Ning Rongrong to walk into it.

Three Spirit Hall elders would be there, each a Level 95 Super Douluo.

Gao Yang had no confidence that he could defeat them.

But he knew just as clearly that if he chose one or two,

he and Ning Rongrong would part ways for good.

"System, tell me something. If I die in the Simulation, will I die in reality too?"

[Host, you've asked me that before. Of course you won't! But if the pain you suffer exceeds your brain's threshold, you might end up an idiot...]

"Okay. Thanks."

Before making his choice, Gao Yang looked back over the entire Simulation.

And he realized...

He seemed to have fallen in love with the mischievous, adorably headstrong Ning Rongrong.

He loved her in her finery, and he loved her when she was bold and unrestrained.

He loved every bit of her!

The Simulation had been short, yet it felt as though he had spent his whole youth with her.

The more he remembered, the firmer his gaze became.

He no longer saw this Simulation as a game.

"Maybe in another parallel world, there really is a Gao Yang combing Ning Rongrong's hair right now."

"I spent so long on forums in my last life trashing Tang San's character. I can't start weighing the pros and cons the moment it's my turn to give everything for someone I love."

"It's only one life! To hell with it!"

"The Ning Rongrong in the Simulation is worth it!"

"System, I want to ask Ning Rongrong to marry me!"

[...]

[You know that the sect matters more than anything to Ning Rongrong, don't you?]

"I know!"

[You know she asked you to comb her hair and told you to find your own path because she meant to say goodbye, then go to Yellow Dragon Mountain alone to save her father, don't you?]

"I know!"

[You know that if you choose to marry her, you'll have to go with her to your death, don't you?]

"I know!"

[Then you're still choosing three?? Do you care that little about your life?! Look closely! I'm the Evil God System, not the God of Love System!! Choosing pure romance goes completely against my style. Your score and your rewards will all be cut. Do you understand?!]

"Then why was there a third option?" Gao Yang sneered. "Let me guess. This Simulation should have ended the first time Ning Rongrong and I slept together."

[...]

"Anyone who's played a galgame knows that once the special CG is unlocked, the player enters sage mode and stops caring about the rest of the story," Gao Yang continued. "But the Simulation kept going. That means what happens next is beyond your control, isn't it? And you weren't the one who added this option either."

[...]

"Not talking? Looks like I got it right."

"If the plot has already gone off the rails, then the ending you think is certain death might still change."

"So stop wasting time. Continue the Simulation with my choice."

"My Rongrong is waiting for me!"

[Fine, fine, fine. You've got nerve.]

[I want to see whether you have what it takes to come back alive from Yellow Dragon Mountain!]

[The Simulation continued!]

[First-person perspective engaged!]

Gao Yang's vision blurred. When it cleared, he saw a graceful figure with her back to him.

Her sweet scent made his heart sway.

"As Rongrong's boyfriend, I really have no reason to go with you to our deaths."

At his words, the girl trembled.

A flicker of relief and disappointment crossed her eyes.

She had heard the answer she wanted most, yet pain still tore through her heart.

"That's right. As Brother Gao Yang's girlfriend, how could I drag you to your death with me?"

A measure of relief softened Ning Rongrong's composed expression.

"Exactly. But if we're going to die, we ought to give us a proper name first!"

Ning Rongrong: ???

"So, Rongrong, will you marry me?"

Gao Yang turned to face Ning Rongrong and looked straight into her beautiful eyes.

Ning Rongrong: !!!