Am I going to be controlled by the players too?

I'll tell you after I finish washing the dishes!

I'll take a shower first...

Let's sleep together one last time, tomorrow will be...

I'm leaving tomorrow.

Freya suddenly sat up in bed and looked at the person next to her: "What did you say?"

"After all, I've been playing for three days already," Cheng Cheng said with a wry smile. "As the strongest in the world, the whole world is waiting for me to participate in setting the order of the new world... I can't rest any longer."

“I always thought that if the sky falls, there are tall people to hold it up, and I just need to live each day to the fullest. But now that I have the most Dao traces, I am the tallest person, and there are some responsibilities that I can’t escape.” Cheng Cheng said with a smile, “But I will still take one day a week to go home and visit, so Mom, you don’t need to worry.”

"I've killed Princess Yan, so now I have nothing left to fear in this world."

Freya remained silent for a long time.

She suddenly got up, changed out of her pajamas, and then took Cheng Cheng's hand: "Come with me to the beach."

"Huh? It's so late..." Cheng Cheng scratched his head. "The beach is more than ten kilometers away from here..."

"Stay with me."

"……All right."

…………

Dongsu City, Sunny Resort Beach.

But in the darkness of midnight, there was not a ray of sunlight, only the soft sound of waves crashing on the beach.

The two walked hand in hand along the fine sandy beach, neither of them speaking.

The beach was quiet at night.

The wind blew gently, the clouds drifted slowly, and starlight shone down, falling on them and on the beach, as if draping the world in a silver veil.

Cheng Cheng raised his head and looked up at the sky.

He seemed to have forgotten how long it had been since he last looked up at the starry sky after playing video games day and night.

At this moment, countless stars densely cover the dome, some bright and dazzling, others hazy like mist. The starlight intertwines, like countless silver rivers flowing quietly in the night sky.

In the distance, a bright moon hangs in the sky.

The bright moonlight shone down, dyeing the whole world a gentle silvery white.

Freya looked at the moon and suddenly remembered her mother's words from her childhood. So she raised her hand, pointed to the moon, and whispered, "Cheng Cheng, look, what does the moon look like?"

Cheng Cheng looked in the direction she was pointing.

The moonlight shone on his face, reflecting a clear glow in his eyes.

He thought for a moment and answered seriously, "Like the March goddess Columbia in 'The Primordial God'."

Freya: "..."

Freya: "Haven't you been cured?"

Cheng Cheng ignored her and continued looking at the moon, adding, "It's like Yuno, the moon priestess in 'Mingchao,' and Artemis, the moon goddess in 'FGO.'"

Freya turned her head and looked at him.

The profile was exceptionally clear in the moonlight—delicate eyebrows and eyes, a high, straight nose, and a faint smile at the corners of his mouth. His eyes reflected the moonlight and the distant starry sky, holding something she had never seen before.

No longer fanatical, no longer obsessive, and unlike the morbid infatuation of before, but rather a feeling she couldn't quite describe...

She suddenly realized that she didn't seem to understand Cheng Cheng at all.

"You..." she asked softly, "Don't you hate 'The Primordial Spirit' anymore?"

Cheng Cheng remained silent for a while.

“I hated them,” he said. “When I was in the alchemy furnace, I hated them to death. I hated them for discarding them after they had served their purpose, for kicking them away after they had served their purpose… But later, Wukong said something to me.”

"What?"

“My power is not in the eyes of God, not in contribution points, not in any external things.” Cheng Cheng turned his head and looked at her, “but in my heart.”

Freya listened quietly.

“It wasn’t until the brain-computer interface was removed that I truly understood,” Cheng Cheng continued. “I don’t hate ‘Yuan Shen’; I hate those who use ‘Yuan Shen’ to oppress others. I don’t love ‘Yuan Shen’ either; I love the game that accompanied me through countless nights, the friends I made in the game, and the stories I experienced in the game… A game is ultimately just a game; a passionate heart is the real treasure.”

He raised his head and looked up at the vast starry sky.

"There are so many great games in the world. Genshin Impact, Black Myth, Naruto, Fang Zhou, Uma Musume Pretty Derby, Naruto, Fate/Grand Order... Each of them has its own unique charm, and each of them has a group of players who love them."

"Good games around the world should unite, learn from each other, and improve together, instead of treating games as totems of faith, attacking and offending each other."

He turned his head, looked at Freya, and smiled.

"I still love 'Gen Shen' and all fun games."

"Perhaps, this is just my true nature."

Freya looked at him.

Under the moonlight, those golden eyes were clear and bright, like two deep pools that could see into the depths of people's hearts.

She suddenly remembered the first time she met him.

At that time, she thought he was a primordial demon; later, she thought he was a mysterious and legendary powerhouse; and still later, she discovered that he was just a playful teenager.

And now-

She looked at him, at the peaceful yet resolute light in his eyes, and a strange feeling suddenly welled up inside her.

“You’ve grown up,” she said softly.

Cheng Cheng was taken aback.

Then he laughed, shyly touching his nose, laughing like a child: "Really?"

"Ah."

Freya withdrew her gaze, looked back at the moon, and took a deep breath.

She quietly reached out and grabbed Cheng Cheng's sleeve, her movements so light as if she dared not disturb anything.

“Cheng Cheng…”

Cheng Cheng turned his head and looked at her.

"Ok?"

Freya lowered her head, not daring to look at him.

The moonlight shone on her small figure, on her lowered eyelashes, and on the tips of her fingers clutching her sleeve:

"actually……"

"I am not your mother."

…………

Cheng Cheng was stunned.

"What?" The smile on his face froze.

“I said, I’m not your mother.”

"How could that be?! If you're not my mother, then who is?" He turned around and grabbed her shoulders. "You've always been my mother! Where would I have come from if I didn't have a mother?"

Freya felt a little pain from his grip, but she didn't break free.

She looked up at him; in the moonlight, his clear blue eyes were crystal clear.

“I really didn’t,” she said softly. “Think about it carefully, I look younger than you, how could I have given birth to you?”

Cheng Cheng stopped moving.

He looked at the small figure before him, and the facts that had been ignored were now laid bare before him; memories shrouded in cognitive biases began to resurface—

That's his mother, feeding him rice and oil; his older sister, arguing with him while scrolling through Xiaohongshu; his father, drinking with friends every day and squandering the family fortune on the game "Three Kingdoms Kill"; and his one-year-old brother, building bizarrely huge machines at home...

If these things are true... then how tragic must my Genshin Impact family be?

Do not!

impossible!

He shook his head violently: "No! I don't believe it!"

Cheng Cheng released her, stood up, and said in a louder voice, "You are my mother! You cook for me, lull me to sleep, and carry me to the hospital when I had a fever in the middle of a thunderstorm instead of forcing me to take Chinese medicine! You protect me and love me! Even if I wasn't born to you, you are still my mother! The kindness of raising me is greater than the kindness of giving birth to me!"

Freya sat there, looking up at him.

Those eyes, darting about in panic, looked like a child desperately trying to grasp something.

"You are my mother!" Cheng Cheng's voice grew louder, as if trying to convince himself, "No matter what, if you treat me like a mother, then you are my mother!"

Freya sighed:

"But these are things that only mothers can do."

Cheng Cheng was stunned.

“And if you consider me your mother,” Freya looked at him, noticing the thin layer of tears in his eyes, and a complex emotion suddenly welled up inside her, “then what about your real mother?”

Cheng Cheng remained silent for a while.

"Old Feng, fly with confidence," he muttered softly. "I'll just remind her to open the Wings of Wind by pressing the space bar."

Freya: "..."

"In short, you are my mother! Otherwise, why would we live together? Why are our photos filled with each other in the house?" Cheng Cheng tried to convince himself again, "Tell me, besides mother and son, what other reason do we have to be so close?"

"because……"

Freya took a deep breath, seemingly trying to bolster her courage.

“Because I am a wandering princess,” she said softly, “and you are my knight who protects me.”

Cheng Cheng's pupils trembled slightly.

Freya did not speak again.

She stood up and pulled Cheng Cheng to sit down with her.