How could she possibly not care?

How could they possibly live well?

Bai Youwei knew the answer, clear as day.

Even if Shen Mo didn’t mind her leg, the two of them would not have a good outcome together — because the illness didn’t only damage her body, it damaged her spirit and her will.

When she became mean, sensitive, dark, and selfish… how could he possibly go on caring for her? Even her own birth mother had found her unbearable and handed her off to a nanny. How much feeling could Shen Mo possibly have to spare for her to consume?

— Why couldn’t she just make herself more positive, more optimistic, stronger?

It was like a rich man asking a roadside scavenger: Really? Is it that bad? If you work hard enough, use your head, you could earn so much more — why suffer over a few coins?

In short: utter nonsense.

If change were that easy, what would people know of suffering?

Bai Youwei closed her stinging eyes, turned quietly, and faced Shen Mo, burying herself in his arms.

“I want to sleep,” she said, her voice small and muffled. “Hold me…”

Shen Mo held her.

She spoke again: “A little tighter…”

The corner of Shen Mo’s mouth lifted. He smiled and tightened his hold. “Is this tight enough?”

“Mm… that’s tight enough.” Bai Youwei kept her eyes closed, her voice soft. “Good night.”

“Good night.”

……

The next day, they drove back to Shanghai.

Without rushing too much, they stopped to rest two or three times along the way, and it was dark by the time they reached Shanghai.

The sight of the city left them stunned.

Because the roads on both sides were lit with light.

There was electricity.

No one could believe it. They pressed their faces against the car windows, repeatedly questioning themselves — was that candlelight? Were those some kind of items?

It wasn’t until they saw Yan Qingwen coming out to meet them, and asked him directly, that they finally accepted it as real — the city had genuinely returned to normal.

The power that had vanished, the signals that had gone dark — all of it had come back.

And they felt, at last, the true significance of a king claiming territory.

Bai Youwei didn’t like the word “claim,” actually. Because this land had never belonged to any one person — or rather, it belonged to every person who lived here.

She thought there was a better word for it. Something like “reclaim.”

To reclaim their world from the hands of the doll game.

Yan Qingwen said: “Knowing you’d be coming back today, I’ve been here waiting since this morning. Professor Song is eager to see you.”

Shen Mo asked him: “How are things in the city?”

“The areas covered by puzzle pieces have all returned to normal.” Yan Qingwen looked toward the lights on both sides of the road and said quietly: “As you can see, all the power systems are running, signals are back, and a temporary network has been set up to cover basic communication needs… Some of the people who’d evacuated to the countryside have also returned. There are quite a few people in the city now.”

He paused, then added: “Though it might be hard to keep them. More people means more disorder, and food supply is an issue too — in that regard, the city can’t compare to the countryside in terms of being self-sufficient.”

Du Lai spoke up nearby: “Do we also need to go see Professor Song?”

“Everyone should go.” Yan Qingwen glanced at Fu Miaoxue beside him. “Kings and subjects alike — you’ll probably all need to take a look at what Professor Song has found.”

What he had found?

Everyone exchanged glances, uncertain, then followed Yan Qingwen toward the base headquarters.

……

With electricity restored, conditions at the base had improved considerably. Bai Youwei and Shen Mo walked into the well-lit building and saw many newly relocated instruments and facilities.

Now that the puzzle pieces linked Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, and other cities, access to research equipment had grown substantially, and there was no longer a need to worry about supply convoys running into games along the road.

Professor Song’s laboratory had security personnel stationed outside.

Having apparently been informed in advance, the guards saw Yan Qingwen leading the group back and opened the door without hesitation.

Inside: endless rows of computers, instruments, and displays of every kind.

And every screen was frozen on the same image —

A rhomboid geometric shape, suspended in midair.

—