Chapter 290: To the Dim Star (II)

Seeing Xing pull up the surveillance footage of his own damaged relay, Bonade simply stopped defending himself.

But he said he damaged the relay for Luoqi's sake, and he's wholly focused on Lesli, so it's fine that he spends all day doing nothing.

"You guys completely lack understanding of the facts, Lesli… she…" Bonade wanted to say more but stopped.

Xing felt something was off: "Did something happen to her?"

"No, she's completely unharmed. Moreover, she accepted Luoqi's confession." Bonade then shifted tone: "But they can't be together."

Looking at Xing's tightly furrowed brow, Bonade continued explaining: "This isn't because I interfered; it's that they can't be together… they could never be together. You don't know—few people understand what a starquake really is…"

"If properly protected, a starquake won't cause physical harm to the body, but the gravitational collapse it creates will drastically alter spacetime curvature in the star system… Simply put, our time flows differ from hers."

"Since the starquake occurred, the time gap between Lesli and us will keep growing. The time it takes her to send a reply could stretch from one month to a year, or even ten years."

"Moreover, before she leaves the abnormal gravity environment, every month she travels in the galaxy will cost us decades of waiting. If Luoqi lives in the 'present' node, then Lesli… already lives in the 'future.'"

Bonade stood by the observation window; outside lay the vast, boundless star river. Starlight shone on his wrinkled face, the brows that were usually knotted now relaxed, revealing a rarely seen weariness and desolation.

He let out a heavy sigh.

"I too was once a young man," Bonade murmured. "I think, rather than refusing, it would be crueler to be unable to be together with someone whose feelings I share."

In the end, he placed the truth in the signal translation log—red for truth, blue for his forged chat log of Lesli rejecting Luoqi—the decision rests in Xing's hands; everything is up to her.

——

MYGO.

Inside the LIVEHOUSERiNG restaurant on the first floor, Qianzao Aiyin propped her chin on her hand, the strawberry soda in her glass long gone flat. She gazed at the hesitant, wavering figure of Xing on the skydome, her lost expression full of longing.

"This is too cruel for them," Aiyin said upon seeing this trope of lovers who can't end up together; her whole heart sank. What's more, what keeps them apart isn't a person, but an insurmountable gap of time and distance.

Lixi wiped dishes behind the bar: "So, will Xing tell Luoqi the truth? I feel he's pretty stubborn—if he were told everything——

"Of course he should be told!" Aiyin unconsciously raised her voice a few degrees, biting hard on the straw stuck in her cup: "When I'm old, if I learn that I gave up true love because of a lie when I was young, I—I… won't rest in peace!"

"Hah." Sitting calmly across from her, Sushi shook her head.

"What good would knowing do? Would you let him spend a lifetime burdened with regret and sorrow?" She gently stirred the tea in her cup; the silver teaspoon clinked against the porcelain.

"But…" Aiyin also knew Sushi made sense, yet the thought that Luoqi's whole life might be affected by this lie made her unwilling to accept it.

Sushi looked up at the anxious Luoqi on the skydome: "Sometimes, not knowing is a kind of happiness. Only a complete severance can—

She trailed off mid-sentence; Aiyin saw Sushi's brows knit tight as she drew a deep, heavy breath, as if recalling some unpleasant past—her face turned ashen.

——

Xing found Luoqi, who was still revising the poem he'd just written. Seeing Xing approach, Luoqi guessed she'd fixed the relay.

Xing finally made up her mind and handed over the red translation log.

After thanking her, Luoqi happily went to check his beloved's reply—but as his finger slid across the data board, the smile on his lips froze before it could fully bloom.

"How can this be… Lesli accepted my confession, but the starquake part…" Luoqi lowered his head, dazed: "I—I suddenly can't wrap my head around it…"

"It seems because of the starquake's gravitational effect, for every month she experiences, decades pass for me. So isn't it that by the time she returns, I'll be as old as my master? And would my long years of longing be, to her, merely an insignificant instant?"

"…I never imagined time could be so unfair to a person," Luoqi muttered. "Spending a lifetime waiting for someone, enduring endless longing and loneliness… Frankly, buddy, you don't think I'm that naïve, do you?"

He seemed to have figured something out, bursting into ecstatic laughter: "Haha! Of course I won't wait for her! I won't wait!"

"But I want to chase after her. I want to go, chase time! Since her spacetime curve has become a vast canyon, wouldn't it be better to cross that canyon myself rather than wait for her to emerge?"

In Luoqi's view, spending ten years to find her after she's only lived a month, yet thereby syncing their time flows, is absolutely the wise move. Having said that, he decided to pack his bags and set out to find Lesli.

——

Miss Kaguya Wants Me to Confess

Sniffle… sniffle… so moving!

In the student council chamber, Tengyuan Qianhua clutched a box of tissues, tears pouring like an opened faucet ever since learning the truth of the starquake: "Ten years! Sniffle… sniffle… you guys had better give me a fierce dose of happiness!"

"I'd go vegetarian for three months to trade for their safety together!" Tengyuan Qianhua cried even louder, "And trade ten years of Shishang's single life for it!"

"Huh? Senior Qianhua, you're so generous I really thank you." Shishang You lifted her head from the computer screen: "Just enjoy your own feelings, senior—why make me pay for your happiness?"

"Mainly, seeing such a pure‑love guy makes me want to fall in love a little myself." Tengyuan Qianhua blushed.

Shishang You took off her earphones: "Oh, that's great, but Senior Qianhua, I need to remind you—talking about love is always sweetest when you watch others do it. If you try it yourself, you might start doubting love as you go along."