Bengtie: My death fueled their madness.

Seeing this, Ruan Mei's not-so-long fingernails dug deeply into her palms.

At this moment, she desperately wished that Qi Zhimu would release all his resentment and hatred towards his teacher.

However, no.

He had no expression, as if he had stopped thinking, and his body did not exude any emotional aura. He remained motionless in place.

Late at night, Qi Zhimu arrived at the wine cellar with stiff steps, took all the plum blossom wine aged three years or more, and returned to the window of the bamboo house.

He sat there mechanically, opened the wine jar, picked it up, tilted his head back, and drank.

Before he had even finished the jar, he was already showing signs of being drunk.

But he didn't stop. After drinking two jars in a row, a smile appeared on his expressionless face as he slowly stood up.

Ruan Mei had no idea what he was going to do next, and many guesses flashed through her mind.

But to everyone's surprise—

Qi Zhimu returned to the medical room and stopped in front of the control panel.

Without any pause or hesitation, they began writing the same programming code they had used before.

"No, no..."

Ruan Mei couldn't help but sob and plead.

No matter how much she pleaded, those were memories of the past, and they would not stay or change for her.

For Qi Zhimu, it was not only about reliving the collapse and despair of more than 150 years ago, but also about reliving the boundless pain of personally stripping away his own self.

Even now, Ruan Mei still couldn't see a trace of resentment or hatred in Qi Zhimu.

Please, say something...

Okay...?

As if her pleas had traversed time and space and the sea of ​​stars, the young man, who was beginning to peel away his memories, lowered his eyes and murmured to himself.

"If only we hadn't made plum blossom wine that was aged for more than three years..."

"If only the teacher hadn't saved my life..."

"If only the teacher... hadn't taken me back..."

"It's all my fault...it's all my fault...I made the teacher unhappy..."

Under the light, Qi Zhimu's shadow slowly writhed, eventually shrinking completely into his body.

An aura of solitude and loneliness quietly enveloped him.

Upon witnessing this unexpected turn of events, Ruan Mei's pupils suddenly contracted.

She had met a certain faction of pathfinders and knew what this phenomenon meant...

At this moment, Qi Zhimu stepped into the shadow of nothingness and became a self-destructor.

Those who self-destruct often share common characteristics: all their attributes of existence—body, cognition, memory—will gradually perish on the journey of self-destruction.

Some people's skin becomes like rotten, withered wood, covered with scars and holes.

Some people's endocrine system begins to malfunction, making them unable to distinguish between pleasure and pain, and they become numb to everything.

Some people have lost their memories, some have lost their senses...

They seemed to have been stripped of the meaning of life by some being, and could only see their own figures in dreams and hallucinations, disappearing into a black hole at the end of the horizon.

She had seen such self-destructive individuals in the clinical cases of the Chaos Doctor.

Those who have just entered the shadow of nothingness generally show no obvious symptoms and are no different from normal people.

Reaching that severe stage will be an irreversible, gradual process.

Ruan Mei's lips curled into a deep sadness.

How ironic!

Qi Zhimu is dying, but because he is in the early stages of self-destruction, his death won't be too gruesome.

But wouldn't it be less unsightly to die like this?

"It wasn't your fault at all..."

It's all the teacher's fault, it's all the teacher's fault...

The pain of stripping away memories is just like that year.

But for those who have lost all hope, none of it matters anymore.

While waiting, Qi Zhimu looked up to check the progress, then took out a piece of white paper and began to write something.

A sticker on the center console serves as a reminder not to revisit forgotten memories.

On the last one, Ruan Mei could not make out what was written.

Even after the memory stripping process reached 100% and the sealing was completed, Qi Zhimu still hadn't finished writing.

He suddenly froze, the pen in his hand trembled, and finally slipped from his fingertips and fell to the ground.

"This is…?"

Why does my heart feel so painful...?

Clutching the paper, Qi Zhimu returned to the window and discovered the plum blossom wine on the ground, a strong urge welling up within him.

—Drink it.

—Drink it all!

Before long, not a drop was left.

He picked up the zhongruan hanging nearby, held it in his arms, and played a jumble of melodies.

A slightly sweet and fishy taste gradually appeared in Ruan Mei's mouth.

Drinking plum blossom wine can improve your mood, even if you drink until you're completely drunk and unaware of what you're doing.

She already understands this.

But Qi Zhimu's mood did not improve; the strings he plucked were filled with loneliness, sorrow, and desolation.

…Yes, the power of nothingness.

He was already a self-destructive being, so how could he be affected by the special effects of plum blossom wine?

He plucked the strings tirelessly until his consciousness faded and all movement ceased.

The sky leaks, and I know not where to mend it; the earth is lowly, and I feel my life is fleeting.

The raging rain, combined with darkness, completely engulfed the bamboo house.

Upon waking, Qi Zhimu forgot all the past pain, only remaining puzzled by the mess on the ground.

Ruan Mei thought so too, until she saw what he had written last night and heard the melody he played next.

That melody sounds familiar... Ah!

Ruan Mei suddenly looked up. When she gave Qi Zhimu the ruan, the latter had played it once.

Only once.

After more than a hundred years, the lyrics have finally been completed.

The lyrics and music blend seamlessly.

Qi Zhimu's expression unconsciously turned gloomy, and his voice became low.

"As autumn deepens, the sound of leaves fades in the empty courtyard, a solitary cup remains untouched, waiting for someone to turn their head."

"Three years of longing, yet never uttering a word, ultimately succumbing to despair and sorrow, bidding farewell to the waiting..."

"A cup of burning passion wine goes down my throat, what more could I ask for than a kindred spirit? My heart is torn to pieces."

"In my drunken stupor, I entrust my longing to the moon, and ask you from afar if you know."

"With just one glance, my obsession remains unresolved; the past year has flowed by like a river, and you have gone far away alone."

"Alas, love runs deep, but it's unknowable; spilled water cannot be gathered up again..."

"Autumn has come again, at the end of the long night, I drink a pot of wine and hope that my old friend will turn back."

"My love has lasted so long, yet I've never spoken of it. I can't escape the lingering infatuation and old sorrows; I've bid farewell to my waiting..."

"A cup of burning passion wine goes down the throat, what more can the departing one ask for, for the heart is torn to pieces."

"In my drunken stupor, I entrust my sincere heart to the moon, and ask you from afar, do you know?"

"A single thought of knowing each other is like a curse; we remain strangers, and I never see you turn back."

"Alas, deep affection goes unnoticed, love vanishes into nothingness..."

"A thousand cups of burning passion are swallowed, but the one I long for is nowhere to be found; whose heart is torn to pieces..."

"Having drunkenly ruled the world, do you know this, my lord?"

Looking back on this life, after waiting through life and death, are you willing to stay by my side?

"Alas, our deep affection is known; our love has finally blossomed into a life together..."

The song ended.

Ruan Mei was plunged into deep confusion.

Not mentioning it in words, yet inseparable from it in sentences.

For the first time, she felt incomplete as a human being.

Her understanding of love might be wrong, or perhaps... it's not wrong.

She knew the love of her family and the love of her teachers, but she never understood the love that came from her students.

She had no idea when she had developed feelings of love for Qi Zhimu.

In a daze, my grandmother's vague words echoed deep in my memory.

"Ah Ruan, being there for each other is the most enduring expression of love..."

……

Today is both Christmas Day and a Thursday. Such a wonderful day—a chance to treat Hackie Chan to KFC and give Christmas gifts—is rare. I hope everyone cherishes this opportunity and gives away what they have—otherwise…

I need your phantom image...