"I have found someone I love, and I will live my life with her in the future. I called you here just to tell you this!"

Many years later, Bai would still clearly remember this scene.

In her eyes, her big brother was holding a big sister with a smile on his face, standing in front of her.

She had seen that big sister before, her name seemed to be, seemed to be:

"Charley?"

In a moment of uncertainty, Bai called out the big sister's name for the first and last time.

Why was it like this?

Bai did not verbalize the confusion in her heart, but her mind always felt a sense of dissonance, as if she had forgotten something, something was not quite right.

It seemed that, based on her understanding of her big brother, it should be her standing in Charley's position now.

And in the end, does her big brother really like this sister?

In Bai's memory, there seemed to be no recollection related to this.

"..."

With her head tilted, Bai seemed to silently ask her big brother, asking him when he had begun this familial relationship with the big sister.

"When did you ask me about this... All I can say is: I chose Charley out of a promise, because it had already been decided!"

A promise?

These two words made Bai feel particularly familiar, even though the ideas that surfaced in her mind made no sense, she still, based on intuition, raised a question:

"No, it wasn't a promise with her! Big brother, it was, fifty years, it was..."

Just as Bai was about to recall something important, her little head suddenly felt a pain, preventing her from continuing to remember.

Looking at this little girl in this state, Wang Xiaole understood to some extent:

The alteration of Bai's memories by the Memory Scale Loss had not been completely effective.

Indeed, this was the best method proposed by Myin (Memory Scale Loss) to fulfill Wang Xiaole's wish.

Wang Xiaole was about to leave this world, and before that, he wanted to do something so that Bai, who had lost herself, would not feel pain in the future.

The fundamental solution proposed by Myin was to diminish Wang Xiaole's position in Bai's memory; to achieve this, Myin had to resort to some methods to make adjustments to Bai's memories at a deep level.

In the end, Bai was forced to selectively forget some things; to be precise:

Her current memories were incomplete, only retained up to the point after her mother's death;

In other words:

Bai lost memories related to the agreement with "big brother" and the important memories of being saved by him multiple times.

As a response to the loss, Bai received a false memory.

In that memory, she paid off all her debts to big brother and returned to Little Bai City with him.

However, as soon as Bai returned to the hotel in the city, big brother suddenly called her into the room and informed her that he had found someone he loved.

Big brother was about to start a new life with his "beloved", and for this reason, the continued mode of interaction between them had to change.

To put it more bluntly, as Wang Xiaole put it:

"Bai, you don't have to follow me anymore in the future. Just live an ordinary life as a girl."

During her time as an assassin, Bai had saved up a considerable amount of money, enough to sustain her in the future.

And in that city, there was no third person who knew her previous identity. As long as she kept a low profile in the future, peacefully living out the rest of her life should not be a problem.

To have Bai leave without understanding the truth was the last kindness Wang Xiaole bestowed upon her.

But in Bai's heart, she felt as if she had been driven away when big brother closed the door, feeling as if she was no longer needed.

If there were objections, they were impossible.

After eliminating prejudices, Bai truly wished for "big brother" to be happy.

Therefore, now that "big brother" had found someone he loved, he should start a new life happily, and she should be happy as well.

Why?

Why did tears uncontrollably fall from her eyes?

In a strange mix of emotions, Bai silently shed tears, her face paler than ever before.

This little girl standing in the corridor stood still, and it was unknown how long it took before she finally opened her mouth:

"Liar, you are a big liar!"

Who was that big liar, who didn't keep their promises, she didn't know, she couldn't remember anything.

However, that heart that should have been cold until the end of life, now felt incredibly cold, feeling the unbearable icy chill in her blood...

From this day on, the connection between the two of them was artificially severed by one side.

Wang Xiaole's wish for Bai had in some sense been fulfilled, but Myin never appeared before him again to collect the price as usual.

Myin refrained from doing so because she had already received the price.

The contents of that price made Myin realize that Wang Xiaole had completely killed himself, burying his true feelings forever.

Upon returning to Little Bai City with his wounded body, Wang Xiaole found Charley, and while hiding almost all the truths from her, he asked for her cooperation in putting on a show.

Charley was kept in the dark about what had happened, from the disaster at the Feast, to Wang Xiaole's fatal injury, and the exchange with the Memory Scale Loss; she knew nothing.

Nevertheless, she still cooperated with Wang Xiaole, not because it benefited her, but because she found it impossible to refuse this person.

Blinded by the truth, Charley assumed that Wang Xiaole had only sustained some injuries while being away, and that by taking care of him for a while, he would fully recover.

For the sake of taking care of him and for the sake of the performance, Wang Xiaole spent the last days before his departure living in Charley's room.

One afternoon, Bai left the room and departed from the hotel.

From then on, Wang Xiaole didn't have to pretend anymore and just lay down on the bed, sleeping as an ordinary patient would.

"What can I do to help you, Xiaole?" Charley asked kindly.

Without looking at her, and not willing to say much, Wang Xiaole closed his eyes and replied:

"Don't waste your time on me, go and do things that concern you. I'm tired, Charley, just leave."

Upon hearing this, Charley's face stiffened for a moment, but soon she smiled faintly.

She turned away, poured herself a cup of tea from the pot on the table, and drank it slowly, saying:

"Fine, I won't care about you, but I won't leave either; this room is mine, if you want to go, you go!"

"Oh, then excuse me."

Wang Xiaole gave a very calm response.

He struggled to turn his body over, sat up in bed, and was about to stand up when he suddenly felt weak, as if his body would sway even when standing on level ground.

Charley didn't seem to pay much attention to this;

She simply sat at the table, drank some tea, and watched Wang Xiaole coldly, without a hint of care in her eyes.

Honestly, Wang Xiaole felt that her reaction was actually quite helpful, so with no more concerns, he arched his back to support his body and swayed step by step forward, finally reaching the door.

His trembling hand was about to grab the door handle when suddenly his feet staggered and within seconds, he fell down.

In that instant, Charley strode forward with a swift step from her feet, supporting him timely with a reaction speed that didn't match her demeanor.

"Joking, I was just joking! Xiaole, stay as long as you want, I won't make you leave."

"Charley, why bother with all this? You don't need to do so much for me."

As his mouth moved earlier, his heart had already twisted into convulsions, but now he still managed to crack a smile and say:

"I am a wanderer from the beginning, had nothing at first, and will still be like this at the end. It's just that now I remember clearly:

What I once had, even though I've lost it now, I won't forget it, and that's enough."

He was still himself, Bai was still Bai, and the connection between the two had been fundamentally severed.

Ultimately, like a white cloud in the sky, Bai existed where he could see her anytime;

And if one day he couldn't see her anymore, his eyes, although open, wouldn't look in that direction again, but his heart would still think about her incessantly.

To Bai, she was an unforgettable dream for him;

And likewise, for the girl beside him, he was also an unattainable dream.

"Just because she's not by your side, you feel so lost? You feel like you have nothing? Is she so important to you?" Charley's gaze was dark and sharp, her words cutting like knives.

This sharpness was something Wang Xiaole couldn't cope with, so he chose to avoid it, trying to forcefully end the conversation with one sentence:

"Charley, you seem tired recently, rest well."

"I have never been clearer than I am now! I just know that you only asked me for one thing in your whole life, yet in the end, it's still all for her!"

"..."

Wang Xiaole's silence meant he had nothing to say.

Since communication was impossible, he simply played dumb and lay down on the bed, turning his back to Charley to rest.

Like an elderly person, from today on, Wang Xiaole spent more and more time lying in bed, never leaving his room once;

In essence, Bai would visit daily, standing outside for a long time;

Though Bai had left the hotel, she had developed a habit of coming here daily.

For this reason, Wang Xiaole spent the next dozen days rooted in his room.

Except for one day.

On that day, his spirit was unusually strong, despite no improvement in his physical condition, giving the impression that he had completely recovered.

On that day, Charley didn't need to take care of him, she had time to attend to her own affairs, which mainly consisted of watching him.

For some reason, Charley had a premonition that day, feeling that she couldn't take her eyes off him for even a moment.

Despite being silent, Wang Xiaole went about his usual activities, only showing a sense of normalcy until the evening of that day.