Am I going to be controlled by the players too?

Soon, Cheng Cheng stopped in front of the Victorian-style mansion and rang the doorbell.

The door opened.

Mu Yuan stood at the door, wearing a white coat and her hair casually tied in a ponytail. Her eyes lit up for a moment when she saw Cheng Cheng. Just as she was about to speak, Cheng Cheng interrupted her, saying, "This world is trapped in a time loop. I am the only one who remembers."

"I suggest you uninstall Tomato," Mu Yuan said without looking up.

Cheng Cheng: "...Then what about the starting point?"

"Don't take this off. The readers on Qidian are all highly educated. Communicating with these people will help your condition." Mu Yuan sighed, "I thought you would come here today to ask me all sorts of questions about Cain and the demon. Why did you start with something so big..."

"The time loop was most likely caused by the Witch's Night," Cheng Cheng continued. "And this time, the demon lord, according to your guess, is the 'Wheel of Fate' reincarnation demon."

Mu Yuan stood there, stunned and uncertain.

Cheng Cheng began to recount everything that happened in the initial cycle—it had been too long, and Cheng Cheng couldn't remember much, but he could barely recall the blind date with Zhang Xiaomeng, the demonic incident at the matchmaking event, and the demonic genes that Mu Yuan had fused with.

And, the safe word Mu Yuan told herself, "Kasyapa Ruomu".

"I didn't expect I would tell you even this... It seems you've gone through many cycles to gain my level of trust."

After listening, Mu Yuan remained silent for a long time. The doubt, confusion, contemplation, and vigilance in her eyes eventually turned into certainty when she heard the word "safe."

So remember this? Always set safe keywords when playing exciting mini-games.

"...Yes, it has indeed gone through many cycles."

Cheng Cheng naturally wouldn't mention that he hadn't seen Mu Yuan since the third cycle began, but instead had been frantically pushing through the main storyline of "Fate/stay night: Immortal Crown" at home.

Mu Yuan led Cheng Cheng into the villa, making phone calls to other places to confirm the situation in the world while asking, "This time it's the 'Wheel of Fate,' this is really troublesome... I should have figured out a solution in the previous loop, right? Tell me about it, so I can continue along this line of thought."

“The original plan was to use my special ability to retain memories in the cycle to memorize all the places I’ve searched around the world until I find the Reincarnation Demon.” Cheng Cheng followed Mu Yuan to the huge screen in the basement, looked at the red dot on it, and continued, “But now, that’s no longer necessary.”

"Did you find the location of the Reincarnation Demon in the last cycle?" Mu Yuan exclaimed in surprise. "Where is it? I'll contact the top seats right away to go and defeat it..."

"No, I mean, all I need to do is instruct the Primal God Cult to call upon my name wherever a demon is discovered, and I alone can handle this Witch's Night."

As he spoke, Cheng Cheng took out the "Thunder and Lightning General Statue" from the system, which did not contain the characters for "electricity" or "general".

"Thunder General Statue: Blood is used to bind it to its master, and a unique title can be set by the holder. The holder gains the passive trait 'Whatever is said will be known': Anyone in the world who chants this title will be immediately perceived by the holder, and the holder can project their soul to the chanter across a single world."

As long as Cheng Cheng single-handedly spends several cycles to wipe out all the demons in the world, the traces of the Reincarnation Demon will naturally emerge!

"And my honorable name is—"

Lustful IF Line: The Lover's Butterfly Dream (Part 1)

"Sylvia, I like you!"

The setting sun pierced through the layers of camphor tree branches and leaves, landing on the girl's long eyelashes, which trembled slightly.

The boy's passionate confession caused Sylvia's ears to blush slightly before she could react. She instinctively lowered her head, her fingertips gripping the hem of her school uniform tightly.

The worries that had been building up in my heart for three whole years crept up my cheeks like a burning heat.

Sylvia didn't dare look up into Cheng Cheng's earnest eyes. The air was so quiet that only the rustling of the leaves in the evening breeze and the slightly flustered yet incredibly earnest heartbeat of the young man could be heard: "Sylvia, actually, I fell in love with you the first time I saw you! So..."

Will you be my mother?

"I do!...Hmm?"

…………

On the tree-lined path after school, the evening breeze was still there, but the boy's state of mind had changed drastically.

Looking at Cheng Cheng beside her, who was dejected and looked as if he had been struck by lightning, his childhood friend Bugu sighed helplessly and comforted him, "Cheer up, Cheng Cheng! It's just a failed confession. Don't look like you've lost your mother."

"No, I just lost my mother." Cheng Cheng slumped against a roadside lamppost, his head hanging low, wiping away imaginary tears from the corner of his eye. "You wouldn't understand this feeling..."

"It's really hard to understand, after all, I have a mother~"

Bugu pouted, but then suddenly asked curiously, "By the way, how many times have you failed in your confessions? Your record of consecutive failures is almost becoming a campus legend."

"...Would anyone ask a heartbroken friend this kind of question?"

Cheng Cheng sighed helplessly, his dejected mood dissipating considerably. He slowly straightened up, his tone tinged with a sense of vicissitude: "The number of times I've been rejected in my confessions... today marks the hundredth time."

Bugu was speechless for a moment before sincerely admiring him: "I have to admire your courage to keep confessing even after being rejected ninety-nine times. Your mentality is invincible... In the end, why are you so persistent in confessing?"

Upon hearing this, Cheng Cheng's gaze suddenly turned distant: "Do you still remember the time I was hit by a car in my first year of high school?"

The cuckoo nodded.

The two were neighbors and childhood sweethearts since they were young. Their parents were close friends, and they went to the same school and school from kindergarten to high school. No one knew each other's past better than the other.

She remembered it very clearly; the time when the incident happened was precisely the period when Cheng Cheng was most obsessed with the second game "Yuan Shen". That night, he hid in the school toilet to secretly draw cards, which delayed him from leaving school, and for the first time ever, he didn't wait for her to go home together.

No one expected that this very exception would lead to such a sudden and unexpected event.

After Jiahao, a fellow student from Dayun, shouted "Should I avoid its sharp edge?" at Chuangfei, a car was kicked off course by Jiahao and ended up hitting Cheng Cheng, who was walking innocently.

The accident came unexpectedly, but fortunately Cheng Cheng survived.

Perhaps due to the brain injury, after being discharged from the hospital, he completely gave up "Yuanshen" and became obsessed with Gala Gemu.

"I was lying in the operating room at the time, and I thought I was going to die. I was seeing a series of images flashing before my eyes." Cheng Cheng slowly recalled the scene, his tone filled with emotion. "I vaguely saw a group of horses running around. Later I found out that my attending physician was playing 'Uma Musume' (Uma Pretty Derby) during the surgery."

"Then, I started to recall the first half of my life and suddenly realized that my life was full of regrets. I made a silent vow that as long as I could be discharged from the hospital alive, I would make up for all my regrets."

"What is the regret?" Bugu asked with concern.

A hint of tenderness flashed in Cheng Cheng's eyes: "There are many, but the most important one... is when I was twelve years old, I couldn't muster the courage to confess to the girl I had a crush on before graduating from elementary school. That is the regret I hold most in my heart in this life."

"So, after you were discharged from the hospital, you went to confess to the girl you had a crush on in elementary school?" Bugu was slightly moved upon hearing this.

"No, I confessed my feelings to an elementary school student after I was discharged from the hospital."

Cuckoo: "..."

"Wake up, Valentine's Day is over. If this keeps up, even the electricity grid will raise its rates." Cuckoo remained silent for a long time, his head throbbing. "Use your brain. Confessing to an elementary school student is really weird, isn't it?"

"Is it normal for a 25-year-old to confess to a 22-year-old girl?" Cheng Cheng immediately retorted.

"That's normal."

"So what if I confessed to a twelve-year-old girl when I was fifteen? Isn't that the same age difference?" Cheng Cheng said righteously, feeling more and more aggrieved as he thought about it. "And then the security guard arrested me! That's just too much!"

"No, I think this is the most righteous episode ever." Bugu silently wiped away her sweat, forgiving the grudge of the former gatekeeper confiscating her takeout. "But what does this have to do with your current obsession with confessing your feelings?"

"Oh, because I saw a CG of a primary school student's disgusted face back then," Cheng Cheng said frankly. "Later, I felt addicted, and I would feel itchy if I didn't watch it for a while, so when the addiction came, I would go and confess to someone."

Cuckoo: "...You're invincible."

The two walked in silence for a while, and finally Bugu couldn't help but ask the question that had been nagging at her: "It's one thing for other people, but how did you manage to mess things up with Sylvia? Anyone with eyes can see that the class beauty Sylvia treats you very differently, and she's obviously interested in you—I'm really curious, how did you let this almost-cooked duck escape?"

When this was mentioned, Cheng Cheng looked completely innocent and earnestly recounted the events: "At first, she was clearly very shy and happy, her ears were bright red, and her attitude was extremely soft."

"When I asked her if she would like to be my mother, her face changed instantly, and she turned her back on me."

"I see... Wait, Mom?"

"Correct."

"You confessed your feelings properly, so why did you suddenly ask someone else to be your mother?" Bugu's gaze turned completely strange. "You already have a mother, why did you need to find someone else?"

"It doesn't matter if the mother dog doesn't exist," Cheng Cheng said resolutely, sacrificing his own family for the greater good. "The main thing is, I want to see Sylvia's disgusted face in the CG."

Cuckoo: "...Amazing."

As soon as he finished speaking, Cheng Cheng suddenly scratched his head, looking a little shy, and added, "Actually, there's another serious reason."

"I don't want to commit to a relationship too early. My life goal is to be with one person for life, and I absolutely cannot settle. What if I hastily commit now, and the other person isn't the one I'm truly in love with? Wouldn't that be letting each other down?"

He stopped and looked at the sunset on the horizon, his eyes sincere: "It's like the elegance of orchids, the splendor of chrysanthemums, and the fragrance of plum blossoms. If you hastily choose one with just a glance and hurriedly say you like it, wouldn't that be extremely disrespectful to that flower and to the concept of liking? That would be too hasty and too perfunctory."

"True liking, true appreciation, means that after seeing, touching, smelling, and cultivating many flowers, you go back and choose one. This is the most serious way to express liking, and it is the most scientific interpretation of liking."

Bugu: "I think this is the most scientific explanation of a scumbag."

Cheng Cheng remained completely calm and continued to explain: "Therefore, every time I confessed to a girl afterward, I hoped that she would become my mother, sister, older sister, friend, band member, or childhood sweetheart. This way, I could feel the atmosphere of being moved and experience the beauty of love, without breaking my bottom line of being one person for life."

"After I've carefully selected the one I love most and who is the most compatible with me, I'll then formally establish a romantic relationship and spend my life with him."

Upon hearing this, Bugu instantly recalled the events of her sophomore year of high school. She pouted and looked at him with resentment in her eyes: "So, back then, you solemnly confessed to me that you liked me, but then you turned around and asked me to be your childhood sweetheart for life... Is that the reason?"

"Not only that," Cheng Cheng said seriously, "but also because you have gray-blue hair... Blue hair and childhood sweetheart/chosen loser are practically synonymous, don't you think?"

Cuckoo: "(╬￣Van￣)~"

The two chatted and bickered along the way, and before they knew it, they had arrived near a residential area, where familiar apartment buildings came into view. The sun had completely set, and the evening breeze had dispelled the daytime heat, bringing a refreshing coolness.

Cheng Cheng raised his hand and waved casually, intending to say goodbye. He then turned around and started walking towards his apartment building.

"By the way, Cheng Cheng."

Suddenly, the cheerful voice of a cuckoo came from behind him, interrupting his steps.

Cheng Cheng paused, turned around and looked at her: "What's wrong?"

Have you ever heard of the 'Holy Grail War'?

Upon hearing this, Cheng Cheng looked bewildered and shook his head slightly: "No, then what is it? Why are you suddenly asking this?"

Faced with his questioning gaze, Bugu suddenly concealed the subtle emotions in her eyes, her eyebrows curving into a relaxed and carefree smile, offering no further explanation:

"Nothing much~ I was just asking casually~~"

As she spoke, she shook her head, her gray-blue hair swaying gently in the evening breeze. She waved goodbye to Cheng Cheng, then skipped and hopped towards her home, leaving only her clear and soft voice drifting on the wind: "Bye-bye~ Cheng Cheng, see you at school tomorrow!"

As dusk gently settled over the streets, the girl's figure gradually disappeared into the distance, leaving Cheng Cheng, completely bewildered, standing there stunned for a long time.

…………

"The Holy Grail War is a large-scale ritual designed by the three major magic families of Dongshui City—the Hime family, the Konoma family, and the Church—to compete for the omnipotent wish-granting machine, the Holy Grail."

"Seven magicians were chosen by the Holy Grail and received Command Seals to summon seven Lesser Grails from history, each representing a different class: Single Channel, Dual Channel, Simulated Doll, Moulded, Portable, Electric, and Smart."

"Once the Holy Grail is summoned, a free-for-all begins. Mages use magic or the Holy Grail's 'Noble Phantasm' to steal the 'holy water' from the opponent's Holy Grail—until only one Master and Holy Grail remain without its contents. The ritual ends then, and the last mage will receive the final form of the perfect Holy Grail—the omnipotent wish-granting machine."

As Sylvia stepped into her home and sat down, her father, Villette, spoke with a grave expression: "...The above is the detail of the Holy Grail War. Although our Claire family is a family of mages, we are a branch of the Konoma family. It will be extremely difficult for us to compete with them for the Fifth Holy Grail... Daughter, do you really want to participate? You must know that people die in the Holy Grail War!"

"I am willing!"

Sylvia was resolute and felt duty-bound to do so.