The appearance of "Terminator ID · YX-17" cast a suffocating silence over the entire underground base. Her cold declaration, "The endgame ends with me," seemed to seal Rin's doom. Yet, Rin didn't draw his blade, nor did he choose to fight. He looked at the "weapon" before him, bearing Ye Xue's face but completely "re-molded" by the organization, and an uncontrollable sorrow welled within him.
"No, Ye Xue," Rin's voice was low and firm. He slowly lowered his weapon and took a step towards her. "I won't fight you."
"Target identified: interference with directive," "Terminator ID · YX-17's" eyes gleamed with cold light. Her body was already in an attack stance, every movement precise and deadly. "Executing purge."
She lunged at Rin, her dagger cutting through the air, aimed directly at his throat. However, Rin didn't dodge or retaliate. He simply reached out, trying to grab her hand.
"I don't want to save the 'Terminator'," Rin's gaze met her empty eyes, his voice filled with pain and stubbornness. "It's not her I want to save, it's you!"
Rin's words, like a faint electrical current, subtly touched the core of "Terminator ID · YX-17." Her movements paused for an almost imperceptible moment, but then, the "purge directive" reinforced by the organization regained dominance, and her attack became even more ferocious.
The dagger grazed Rin's cheek, leaving a streak of blood, but Rin seemed to feel no pain. He simply gripped her wrist tightly, using all his strength to pull her into his embrace!
"Release me! Target identified: forced restraint. Counter-attack directive initiated!" "Terminator ID · YX-17" issued a warning in her cold programming. Her body began to struggle violently, attempting to break free from Rin's embrace with the most effective close-combat techniques. Her strength was extraordinary; Rin's wounds tore open further from the intense friction, blood soaking her clothes.
However, Rin held her even tighter. He buried his head in the crook of her neck, using all his might, desperately calling back her "present self."
"Ye Xue! Listen to me!" Rin's voice, laced with blood and tears, echoed like a roar through the underground base. "Do you remember?! In the academy, the first time we met! You saved me! You taught me how to find light in the darkness!"
"Data anomaly… logical conflict… directive corrupted…" "Terminator ID · YX-17's" programming began to show signs of disruption, and her struggles became slightly erratic.
"Do you remember?! In 'Lost Town,' you shielded me from the bullet! You told me to forget you in this life!" Rin's body trembled from pain and blood loss, but he didn't let go. He forced those "purged" memories, like wedges, word by word, deep into her soul.
"Do you remember?! My vow! In this life, I won't let you walk alone again!!"
Under Rin's almost self-destructive pleas, "Terminator ID · YX-17's" body stiffened abruptly. In her empty eyes, a faint, human-like light began to flicker!
"Whirr—"
A vast, chaotic stream of memories, like a bursting dam, flooded into Ye Xue's mind!
These weren't scattered fragments, but all the "purged" memories from her past life, playing out before her eyes like a slideshow, at astonishing speed!
She saw her childhood manipulated by the organization, her brutal training as "Cold Moon," Rin's pain as the "Blade of Demise" power was implanted in him…
She saw the true ending of their past life!
On the night of the final confrontation, when the organization decided to initiate the "Demise Project" on Rin, to completely reclaim his power and erase his existence, it was she who begged the organization to spare Rin, exchanging her own soul for his restart eligibility!
She used her own life and will to undertake the role of the "key" to the "restart system," exchanging her own "re-molding" as a price for Rin's "restart eligibility"!
She saw the pain of having her emotional module forcibly purged and "loyalty directives" injected. She saw the farewell and reluctance in her eyes before she became "Terminator ID · YX-17."
All the "truths," all the "misunderstandings," surged forth like a tide at this moment, completely overwhelming the "Terminator's" cold programming!
"Ah—!" Ye Xue let out a heart-wrenching scream of pain! Her body trembled violently; the conflict between the two personalities reached its peak!
Rin held her tightly, feeling her body's struggle and her soul's agony. He knew this was the final moment!
"Come back! Ye Xue!" He let out his final plea.
Time seemed to stand still for an instant.
Then, Ye Xue's body, in Rin's arms, slowly, relaxed. Her scream turned into a low sob.
She slowly lifted her head. Her eyes were no longer empty, no longer cold. Instead, they were filled with unimaginable pain, and… a deep affection for Rin.
Tears, like a breaking dam, poured out, instantly blurring her vision.
"Rin…" she called his name hoarsely, her voice a little choked but filled with an unprecedented sense of reality.
"I… I saw it…" she trembled, tears soaking Rin's clothes. "It turns out… we both misunderstood ourselves."
She meant that Rin had misunderstood her, believing she betrayed him. And she had misunderstood herself, believing she had truly become a cold-blooded weapon, forgetting how to love.
"No… no misunderstanding." Rin's voice was equally hoarse, tears blurring his vision too. He knew she was finally back! "We were just… deceived."
He loosened his tight embrace, cupped Ye Xue's face in his hands, and gently wiped the tears from her cheeks with his fingertips.
"In this life…" Rin looked at her, his eyes filled with endless love and tenderness.
Ye Xue's body leaned forward slightly, and she主动地, rested her head against Rin's chest. Her hands, too, wrapped around Rin's waist, holding him tightly.
Rin embraced her back, holding her close.
In the cold, dilapidated air of the underground base, the two held each other tightly.
This was their first true embrace as their "present selves." There was no shadow of the past life, no organizational shackles, no "weapon" disguise. Only two souls, after endless misunderstandings and pain, had finally found and warmed each other.
Ye Xue's tears soaked Rin's clothes. But this time, they were tears of rebirth, tears of release, tears of recognition.
"I won't let you be alone again," Rin whispered in her ear, like the gentlest vow.
Ye Xue nodded gently in his embrace, feeling the warmth she had regained.
They were once the organization's sharpest "Blade of Demise" and most perfect "Terminator," but at this moment, they were simply Rin and Ye Xue.
The real battle, perhaps, had just begun. But this time, they would no longer be alone.