On my second playthrough, they were full of malice towards me.

It's like a cycle, repeating endlessly.

One day, after countless days of this repetition, an unexpected event occurred.

Chapter 277 Let's go, let's realize this dream together (Part 2)

It was during mealtime, while the maid was cooking for the father and daughter in the kitchen, when suddenly a very quiet, furtive knocking sound came from outside the door.

Thump. Thump thump

The knocking immediately attracted the attention of the little girl who was playing with her "father" while her mother was cooking.

The little girl hesitated at first, wanting to ask her father or call her mother who was cooking in the kitchen, since she had never experienced a stranger knocking on the door before.

But soon a very pleasant and sweet voice came from outside the door.

"Ling, open the door quickly, I'm your stepmother Lena."

Lena's stepmother?

Because the other person's voice was so pleasant and seemed to have a seductive quality, Ling couldn't help but walk over and turn the doorknob. The door, which was supposed to be "unopenable," was actually opened a crack by Ling this time.

Through the crack in the door, Ling saw a witch standing in front of the door. Her face was no less beautiful than her mother's, but her clothes were more revealing. She had pink hair and looked very alluring.

"Auntie, you..."

Ling Gang had barely opened his mouth when he was glared at by the pink-haired witch outside the door.

"Call me 'older sister'!"

"Sister, sister, aren't you coming in?"

"My sister wants to too, but unfortunately your mother probably won't welcome me," the witch sighed.

"So, sister, who exactly are you?"

"I am your father's first wife," the witch replied without hesitation, puffing out her chest in a boastful manner.

"Big Sister's Wife?"

Ling Da's eyes were filled with doubt, as if she didn't quite understand such a profound word.

"There's no time to explain, Ling. Quickly, just grab something from your person. Never mind, just give me two things!"

"Huh?"

"Do you want to go out? Do you want to see the vast world outside your little house? Let me tell you a secret: the outside world is actually free of evil spirits, and everyone is living a super happy life."

"Really?!"

Tempted by the witch's words, Ling eventually removed two buttons from her little dress and gave them to the witch across the door through the crack.

"What a good boy. Well, I'll be going now. Remember not to tell your mom about this. Well, I'll help you out and hide this memory for now. That way, when you're reset, this memory will still be preserved."

"Sister, what are you talking about?"

"It's nothing, Ling. Just remember one thing: when you feel an earthquake, a tsunami, or a tornado—I don't know what it will be like—just when you feel your 'home' is about to collapse, quickly grab your father's hand and don't let go. That's when your father can take you and your mother away from here."

"Then you'll have the answer to that problem you can't solve."

"Collapse? Holding hands? Daddy leading us away? The answer to the question?"

While Ling was still confused, the witch waved her hand, and the door closed automatically. The little girl seemed to be in a daze for a moment, and then she couldn't remember anything that had just happened.

Soon after, the maid who had finished cooking returned. Seeing Ling standing at the door, she beckoned her daughter and the young man to the dining table for dinner.

Boom!

boom---

squeak

Outside the window, lightning flashed and thunder roared, a violent storm raged, and the earth trembled; it seemed as if the world was about to be destroyed.

The gear-shaped house that housed the warm family of three seemed to be overburdened, with all the gears operating under overload and on the verge of collapse.

The mechanical wall clock had long since fallen to the ground and shattered into several pieces.

I remembered

She remembered.

This huge change seemed to leave "Mom" stunned and bewildered, while her "young father" remained unmoved, sitting there as if soulless, hidden under his cloak.

At this moment, it was actually the little girl, Ling, who was the first to react.

Memories of her past with the "witch" seemed to be unsealed, flooding back all at once. Remembering the witch's words, she quickly ran towards the "young man's father" and took his hand.

And it was at this very moment

The Consciousness Cube, along with the World Tree containing the consciousness of all the machine servants, and the World Tree containing "a portion" of Ling's consciousness, pulled Liao Ji's consciousness into the deepest part of Zero Dream through Ling.

which is

In this little house, which is considered "home".

Countless memories of "home" flooded into Liao Ji's mind through Ling, allowing Liao Ji to see the dream of "home" that Ling had been pursuing for hundreds of years.

"Don't worry, darling, I'll handle it. I'll fix everything. We...we won't be apart. Our home will be back together."

The maid in the cabin tries to stabilize this world that is about to "collapse," but at this moment, the young scientist who was once like a "mechanical puppet" does something that is completely outside the scope of the zero instructions.

Liao Ji stopped the maid.

The maid with silver-gray hair, spiral twin tails, and exquisite features froze at this moment, as if her computer had crashed.

Then, under the watchful eyes of the maid and the little girl, the young man took off his cloak for the first time.

This time, what was beneath the cloak was no longer a face shrouded in shadow and indistinct.

Instead, it was a very clear, very young, and very handsome young man.

"zero"

"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting so long."

The storm outside had stopped, the tremors had ceased, and everything seemed to have returned to calm. The only thing that was not calm was perhaps the heart of the maid inside the house.

"Dad, this question is so hard, Lingling doesn't know how to do it. Can you teach Lingling?"

The little girl placed a workbook in front of Liao Ji.

What's written on it is nothing other than...

It was Ling's death that led to the disappearance of the Ash Emperor and the endless cycle of reincarnation for tens of thousands of machine servants.

If Ling is the embodiment of Ling's dream, then it represents her deepest desire for happiness.

This workbook represents the reality that Zero subconsciously doesn't want to face, which is why it remains unsolved and unsolvable.

but

"Oh, I see! Daddy is amazing! I understand now!"

"No, that's not right. Ling can't call him Dad anymore, since neither Big Brother nor Sister Ling are Ling's parents."

"Ling is really happy to have Sister Ling who is willing to take care of me and be my mother. It's a pity that Ling has died and can no longer be with her mother."

"Ling hopes that you and your brother can have a real child. Ling will bless you both. Good luck, big brother!"

"Well, that's about it. Ling wants to go out into the world and see the world that the pink-haired sister talked about, a world without chaos where everyone can live happily!"

"Sister Ling, can you open the door for Ling?"

The little girl looked at the maid with longing eyes, but the maid dared not look directly at her, and simply lowered her head, her silver-gray twin ponytails covering her entire face.

"Yes, I'm sorry, Lord Ash, I...I..."

"It's okay, everyone dreams sometimes, and besides, I really like Zero's dream."

So if possible

"Let's go into reality and make this dream a reality together, okay?"

Liao Ji took the maid's hand, and the maid looked at Liao Ji with a surprised expression, looking at her Ash Lord, who had once been an indifferent and silent gray-robed man.

Liao Ji was quite helpless about this.

The young man shrugged.

People always change.

"Lord Ash, no, you can't lie!"

"I never lie."

"You can't fool the machines either."

"We won't lie, we won't lie!"

Amidst their playful bickering, like that of an old married couple, Liao Ji and Ling, standing at opposite ends of Ling's path, each holding the little girl's hand, walked together toward the door.

The door to this "home" has been opened.

Chapter 278 Little sister, don't be afraid, master and brother will protect us.

The old world with its blood-red sky has vanished completely, marking the end of the Zero Dream.

After delving into the deepest part of the "Zero" dream and bringing the maid out of the "home," Liao Ji opened his eyes again and found himself back in the real Dream City.

It seemed that there were still only 86 and the killer in the room, but the next moment, all the electrical appliances and machines in Liao Ji's room started to flash, and the abundant blue light quickly gathered in front of Liao Ji, eventually forming a familiar figure.

She wore a black and white maid outfit, silver-gray spiral pigtails, and butler glasses perched on her straight nose. A chain extended from one side of the glasses and hung quietly on her ear.

The only difference from the "home" in the dream was perhaps the expression on Zero's face, which returned to the familiar, expressionless face that the maid in the game often had.

In terms of facial expression management, Jiuyou and Ling are actually quite similar; both of them don't have many facial expressions on their faces in normal times.

However, the difference between the two is that the Dragon Girl's face is as cold as ice, she is truly unapproachable, unwilling to talk much, and only thinking about things related to battle and martial arts.

However, Zero's expressionless face is more like a kind of self-cultivation of a mechanical species. In fact, when Liao Ji recalled the amount of dialogue in the game, Zero could be said to be one of the top two among them. She was definitely a chatterbox.