Chapter 598

“Hey!”

Fang Qi instinctively reached out, grabbing toward the silver-white figure leaping resolutely toward the sea!

But his fingertips passed through empty air, through the strands of hair she had tossed up…

All he caught was a patch of empty morning light.

The silver-haired girl planted her bare foot on the edge of the raft and pushed off—

Her entire body dove into the water like a silver-white mermaid!

“Splash—”

The cream-colored swimsuit and fair body vanished beneath the surface.

Only the waves reflecting the sunlight remained, rippling outward in circles.

…What?

Fang Qi’s outstretched hand froze in midair. He stared wide-eyed at the sea, which had already returned to calm…

His Adam’s apple bobbed.

No, wait. His wife had just…

Jumped in?

He slowly lowered his hand, covered his forehead, and swayed where he stood.

…This wasn’t good. He had to calm down.

Deep breaths…

Inhale—exhale—inhale—exha…!

Fang Qi, calm down…!

The sea breeze brushed against his face, carrying the damp scent of salt.

He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths before finally feeling…

The chaotic mess in his head clear up a little.

That emotional roller coaster Liguang had just gone through—crying one moment and laughing the next…

To be honest, he had gone through it right alongside her.

He had nearly gone insane.

That helpless feeling was almost exactly like when he had first shot himself in front of Liguang.

All he could do was helplessly watch Liguang fall apart, unable to do anything.

He could only remain nailed in place like a ghost, watching her collapse, watching her crawl toward the door, watching her slender fingers scrape white marks into the wooden boards…

But then she suddenly laughed!

Seeing her crying and laughing like that, he had genuinely thought she had gone mad. He thought his “disappearance” had completely crushed her sanity!

He had nearly gone mad himself!

But in the end…

That didn’t seem to be what had happened.

Liguang hadn’t been losing her mind. She had really been laughing. It was the kind of smile that bloomed in her eyes when someone discovered that a treasured possession, lost forever, had suddenly been returned.

She seemed to have realized something. She had suddenly understood that…

He hadn’t left!

He hadn’t abandoned her!

But after that, she became serious again, her brows tightly furrowed. That should have meant she had…

Realized something was wrong on his end, right?

Then…

She had giggled, whimpered, blushed bright red, and suddenly crouched down with her arms over her head, looking completely deranged!

And finally, she had abruptly raised her hand and slapped herself across the face!

The crack had been so loud that his entire body had shuddered!

A swollen, purplish handprint had immediately appeared on that beautiful face!

She hadn’t shed any tears, but Fang Qi’s heart had ached so badly that he had nearly cried on the spot!

The Crazy Girl was truly ruthless even with herself!

And then…

She had suddenly jumped up and dove headfirst into the sea!

He stared blankly at the surface, which had already returned to calm.

Ah…

He seemed to understand now.

The Crazy Girl had realized something was wrong on his end, so could it be that she thought…

He had fallen into the sea? That he had sunk into the deep?

Remembering what it had felt like in the depths of the ocean, Fang Qi shuddered faintly.

…Yes. It had to be that.

She thought he had sunk to the bottom of the sea, that he was struggling helplessly there, unable to live or die. So…

She had gone to save him!

What a…

Fang Qi dropped onto the edge of the raft, his legs dangling outside the platform.

“…Whew—!”

He let out a long, long breath.

“Heh… hehehe…!”

What a fool!

But…

He smiled.

How should he put it? The situation was still incredibly complicated, but…

Things had improved far more than he could have hoped!

At the very least, his wife hadn’t been consumed by the thought that she had been abandoned!

She could even calmly reason things out, analyzing the clues around her and deducing that “Master is in trouble”!

What did that mean?

It meant that this Crazy Girl had grown up!

That was…

Far better than the last time they had eloped across the sea. Back then, she had thought he didn’t want her, and with a heart shattered to pieces, she had sunk straight into the deep ocean.

At the time, he had been swept away by the waves and scraped raw by the rocks. When the old fisherman and his wife had rescued him, he had been half dead.

But Liguang’s mind had been filled with nothing but the thought that she had been abandoned, nothing but “Master doesn’t want me anymore”…

She had never once considered that something might have happened to him!

But this time, Liguang was different!

She was genuinely thinking, “Could Master have run into danger?”

And without a second thought, she had jumped into the sea to save him!

Fang Qi braced himself with one hand behind him and gazed at the glittering surface of the sea, the corners of his mouth curling upward.

Good.

Very good.

Wonderful.

His wife had made such enormous progress.

Fang Qi felt like a proud old father!

There was just one problem: that sudden leap into the sea…

He shook his head helplessly.

Still, it wasn’t a major issue.

Before she had jumped, he had clearly seen that faint trace of blue in her amber eyes.

Her abilities should have recovered by now!

And this was a world she had created herself. The ocean could not possibly hurt her here. She definitely wouldn’t be in any danger!

Once she failed to find him, she would naturally come back up.

As for him…

He stared at the sea and sighed helplessly.

There was no way he could go down to look for her.

Even if he found her, she wouldn’t be able to see him. It would be pointless.

Besides, in his current condition, if he actually went down…

Then he really would sink to the bottom of the sea, unable to live or die!

Damn it!

So he had to stay up here. At least…

Here, he could still see her and think of a way to communicate with her.

Besides…

Fang Qi stared at the sea and rubbed his chin.

Hmm…

Now that Liguang knew something was wrong on his end, could it be that she had…

Returned his rewind ability to him?

He blinked.

Could he already rewind time?

…There was only one way to find out!

“Bang!”

Excruciating pain exploded through him!

His vision went black, and his consciousness churned!

…! It worked! Could it be…?!

He opened his eyes.

He looked at the blue sky and white clouds overhead, felt the pain still lingering in his forehead, and…

Felt the deck pressing into his back.

He lay on the wooden deck with one hand over his head, staring speechlessly at the sky.

No, wait…

Wife? Could you give me back my rewind privileges already…?

At a time like this, why were you still restricting my access?

Or was it…

He narrowed his eyes slightly. In his mind appeared the image of Liguang repeatedly collapsing in exhaustion just now.

She could barely stand.

Could it be that the “right to use permissions” on her end had also been restricted?

After all, he—the source supplying those permissions—had run into trouble.

Fang Qi blinked. The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.

Liguang had said before that she couldn’t directly use his permissions. She needed his “authorization.”

Then if the authorizing party itself ran into trouble, the party receiving authorization naturally wouldn’t be able to use it either.

That was probably why Liguang had repeatedly collapsed just now. Something must have gone wrong with her access to those permissions.

…But that Crazy Girl had still forced herself to dive into the sea just now?!

Fang Qi’s heart instantly tightened!

He shot upright, took a deep breath, and then—

He turned toward the calm sea and shouted at the top of his lungs!

“Liguang is my wife! I grant her unconditional permission to use my abilities!”

His voice echoed across the sea!

“Liguang can use my permissions without any restrictions!”

“Use them however you want!”

“There are no limits!”

The only response was the sound of the waves gently lapping against the raft.

Fang Qi: “……”

He sighed. One hand braced against the wooden deck while the other rose to massage his brow.

He had no idea whether it would work, but… at least he had tried.

Sigh. He had shouted himself hoarse. If Liguang could hear him…

She would probably be so moved that she’d leap straight out of the sea.

I hope it works. I hope she can hear me. I hope she knows…

Her master was working hard on shore, too.

He…

Huh?

Fang Qi blinked faintly.

The hand supporting him on the deck suddenly froze.

Slowly, he lowered his head and looked at the plank beneath his palm.

Why did it feel…

Why did the deck feel so uneven?

He moved his hand away, revealing…

A small depression in the plank.

It was shallow and crooked, like the mark left by something that had slammed into it with great force.

Slammed into it?

Huh?

…Ah!

Fang Qi’s eyes suddenly widened!

Wait, could this be…

Could this be the mark he had made by smashing his head into the deck just now?!

That headfirst “suicide dive” hadn’t killed him, but instead…

Had it left a dent in the deck?

There wasn’t a trace of blood. Even the wound on his head had vanished completely, but…

The mark was still there?

…A mark?

A mark!!

He abruptly sat upright!

His breathing quickened.

He could leave marks on the wooden planks!?

Ah, that was right!

He couldn’t grab the harpoon gun. He couldn’t pick up a cup. He couldn’t even hold Liguang’s hand…

But he could stand firmly on the deck!

He could walk freely around the wooden cabin!

So of course it was normal for him to leave marks on the floor! He could touch the floor, after all!

Otherwise, he would have fallen straight through it!

Fang Qi held his breath as his eyes gradually lit up.

Why? Why could he touch only this raft?

Because…

Was it because this was the raft he and Liguang shared?

This sea, this raft, this little wooden cabin…

The two of them had built it together.

Every blade of grass and every brick and tile here bore the marks of both of them.

Could it be that this was why he could touch the raft?

…Agh, he didn’t understand!

But there was one thing he knew for certain.

Since he could leave marks on the deck, then…

He could leave Liguang a message!

Fang Qi shot to his feet!

He stared at the floor, his fingers trembling with excitement.

Write!

That was it!

Write!

He could carve words into the planks!

He could carve words into the walls!

When Liguang returned from the sea, if she saw the message he had left behind…

She would know that he was here, right beside her!

Then he would be able to communicate with her!

Perfect!

He immediately sprang into action, searching all over for something he could use to carve words.

But after a long while of searching…

He found nothing.

Whether it was the fishhooks or the harpoon, or even the knife, fork, and chopsticks on the table… he couldn’t pick up any of them.

Tools were useless to him.

He couldn’t even move a single wood shaving.

But…

Fang Qi slowly lowered his head and looked at his hands, at his ten fingers.

That wasn’t a problem.

Human hands had evolved from the claws of mammals, after all.

They would do.

……

The sun slowly climbed from the eastern horizon to directly overhead, and the surface of the sea grew scorching hot.

Suddenly, the sea gave a loud splash.

A small hand emerged from the water and grabbed the edge of the platform. Its fingers were pale, and its nails had taken on a faint bluish tinge.

Then came a head of wet silver hair, tangled like a ball of yarn against her cheeks and neck.

Liguang climbed onto the deck barefoot and then…

Collapsed limply onto the wooden planks.

Her cream-colored swimsuit clung tightly to her body, while several strands of seaweed were tangled around her legs.

She lay there like a fish out of water, her chest heaving violently…

“Cough!”

She opened her mouth and immediately coughed up a large mouthful of seawater!

“Cough, cough!”

Her body jerked as she spat up several more mouthfuls!

Even her slightly rounded belly seemed to cave in a little!

“Why…”

“Why can’t I find my master… Urk…!”

She whimpered, her little face deathly pale and her eyes vacant as she stared ahead. Her lips were slightly wrinkled from being soaked in seawater.

“A human body… is so hard to use…”

“Urk… sob…!”

She curled up on the deck for quite some time, her shoulders trembling with each sob.

A sea breeze swept past, making her shiver. Only then did she finally recover enough to brace herself against the deck and shakily push her upper body up.

Water dripped from her silver hair, one drop after another striking the wooden planks.

But…

“Liguang can’t give up.”

She rubbed her cheeks hard, her voice hoarse.

“Master is still waiting for Liguang. He’s still…!”

Her voice abruptly cut off.

She froze.

The vacant gaze in her mismatched eyes slowly focused. Her eyes fell on the outer wall of the wooden cabin ahead, on the line of words carved into the most conspicuous spot.

“Liguang, you can’t see me, but… I’ve always been here.”

The sea breeze blew past, and the wind chimes rang out with a tinkling melody.

Time seemed to stand still.

The silver-haired girl stared blankly at the words, her lips slightly parted as she stood completely motionless.

Then…

Her pupils suddenly began to tremble violently, while tears slowly gathered in her eyes—

“Ah—!!”

A scream!

Shrill and loud, carrying an indescribable madness that could have been either joy or despair!

She suddenly lunged forward. Her movement was so forceful that she couldn’t stop herself, and her forehead slammed into the line of words with a bang!

But she paid no attention to it, staring fixedly at the carved letters with both hands trembling.

She leaned closer to smell them, her nose almost touching the wood, and sniffed greedily and desperately!

Then she gently rubbed her cheek against the words, and finally…

She even stuck out her tongue and licked one of the carved grooves!

Then she whipped around!

“Master, Master, are you here?!”

She looked around frantically, her voice trembling!

“Can you hear me?! You… urk…!”

She covered her mouth and spat up another mouthful of seawater, her little face flushed bright red.

And right beside her, less than half a meter away…

Fang Qi covered his right hand, his fingers bloody, and smiled.

That’s right! This was exactly the reaction he wanted!

His Crazy Girl was truly adorable!

But…

He lowered his head and glanced at his fingers.

His knuckles were red and swollen, his nails shattered, blood streaming everywhere.

…Ouch. That really hurt.

But…

He blinked.

If he slammed his head down, died, and then revived… would he be able to fully recover?

Then would that count as…

A new game between him and Liguang?

Hahaha, it really seemed like it…!

【Is this your choice?】

That voice suddenly rang out in his ear again.

…You son of a—shut the hell up.