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They eat dinner and they laugh and talk about their past adventures. But even though Ling Jiushi is the only one at the table who actually got to live out his life and thus should have many things to say, he seems the quietest of them all, content to just look and listen.
Look at and listen to Ruan Lanzhu.
They are about to start clearing the table when there’s a soft buzz, barely even audible, just three short vibrations of the watch on Ling Jiushi’s wrist. They all look at it, question in their eyes - all of them but Ling Jiushi himself. He seems to know what it means.
Ruan Lanzhu frowns a little, a small wrinkle appearing between his brows. “Lingling?” he asks.
But Ling Jiushi only smiles, and reaching out with his hand, he says, “Walk with me?”
Ruan Lanzhu doesn’t hesitate. He takes Ling Jiushi’s hand, squeezing his fingers lightly, and allows himself to be led out of the house and onto the terrace, lit by the setting sun. They stand in the same place from where they watched the New Year’s fireworks so many years ago.
“I added a little greenery,” Ling Jiushi says, still smiling, and waves his free hand at the shrubs and trees now growing around the big house. “Found it a little too empty before.”
Ruan Lanzhu isn’t looking at the flora surrounding them, though. He’s staring at Ling Jiushi and growing more and more anxious by the second. “Lingling–” he tries once more yet Ling Jiushi cuts him off again.
“I gave you the access codes to everything,” Ling Jiushi says. “You are now, for all intents and purposes, the game master. You own the keys to the castle. To everything.” He glances at Ruan Lanzhu. “You can go anywhere you want, do anything you want. You can leave the reality that I built for you all and go exploring the world. Or you can rebuild all this,” he waves his hand around again, “all of it, from the ground up. Your wish is literally the command here. You… have the power of a god now.”
Ruan Lanzhu doesn’t react to that. He just stares at Ling Jiushi, he stares straight into his eyes, until Ling Jiushi looks away, his smile dimming a little. “What’s that watch for, Lingling? Answer me, please.”
Ling Jiushi lifts his hand and stares at the watch, a smart watch, black and sleek - an unknown. His smile fades away completely. “It’s monitoring my body out there, in the real world. Its vital functions, everything.”
Ruan Lanzhu isn’t saying anything. He’s just looking - and waiting.
With a sigh, Ling Jiushi finally admits, voice heavy, “It’s telling me that my body is dying. But,” he quickly continues, a smile on his lips once more, “don’t worry. The time out there is still running differently than in here. True, I didn’t manage to raise it to the previous fifteen minutes to seven days ratio but five minutes still make a day which isn’t bad either.”
There’s a pause, a moment of horrible stillness, then Ruan Lanzhu asks slowly, still holding onto Ling Jiushi's hand tight and even tighter now, “What are you saying?”
Ling Jiushi is looking across the lush green carpet of a lawn when he replies quietly, “When I die out there, I just... disappear. I simply cease to exist. Despite all my efforts, I couldn't find a way to make a human being a permanent part of the virtual world. Everything I came up with was just a copy, a clone… never the real thing.”
Blinking rapidly, Ruan Lanzhu looks away, trying hard to compose himself. Then he pulls on Ling Jiushi’s hand, turns him around and forces their eyes to meet. “So you came here to die? Is that it?”
Ling Jiushi stares at him at him for a moment, then he nods. “Yes.”
“No. No,” Ruan Lanzhu shakes his head fiercely. “Go back. Stop it.”
“I can't,” Ling Jiushi says quietly. “Actually, I... I’ve been dying for a long while now.”
Breath catches in Ruan Lanzhu’s throat. “What…?” he whispers, his eyes widening in shock.
“It’s my heart,” Ling Jiushi explains. He places his free hand on his chest and taps it lightly. “For years, all I did was work. Researching, programming, building all this, working constantly and… it took its toll. Ten years ago, I had my first heart attack... two years later another one…”
Ruan Lanzhu stares at him, aghast, and squeezes Lingling’s warm fingers with his own icy cold ones. This can’t be.
“I was so afraid I would die before I finished my life’s work and brought you all back, before I made all this possible.” Ling Jiushi is staring at Ruan Lanzhu with… with everything in his eyes. “So I decided to push on, even knowing how it would most likely end. I found it simply unthinkable, unimaginable that I would die before meeting you again.”
Blinking hard to push back tears, Ruan Lanzhu whispers, “Lingling, you shouldn’t have done that. This wasn't worth it. I am not worth your life.”
Now it’s Ling Jiushi who tightens his hold on Ruan Lanzhu’s fingers, warming them up in his hand. “There was no life for me without you. I might’ve been alive but I wasn’t living. Only trying to bring you back gave me a purpose, a reason to go on.”
Ruan Lanzhu squeezes his eyes shut tight. His heart is breaking. This isn’t what he wanted. His one and only wish was for Lingling to live. At any cost.
“How long?” he croaks out. “How long do you - do we - have?”
Smiling, Ling Jiushi says, “Days. We have days, Lanzhu. Yes, I’m dying but if five minutes out there mean a day in here, then we still have time. Enough time for me to show you everything, where all of your codes are stored, how this reality works. I made sure it couldn’t be simply switched off or deleted again, as long as civilization as we remotely know it exists, you will never disappear again...”
But Ruan Lanzhu already knows everything he needs to know. He is an NPC, an AI, a program, a code - and he finally stops fighting it. For Lingling, he accepts what he is. His thoughts are flying at the speed of light, it seems, and so he knows what he needs to do, what he can do - to change reality, like Lingling said.
He opens his eyes and looks straight at Ling Jiushi who's watching him with nothing but fondness, affection… and love in his eyes. And he asks, “Lingling, do you trust me?”
Ling Jiushi doesn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
It’s Ruan Lanzhu’s turn to smile, just a little, just a quirk of his lips and nothing more. He squeezes Ling Jiushi’s fingers, tightening his grip, and says, “Then don’t let go of my hand.”
And with that, before Ling Jiushi can asks or say anything, everything changes.
The reality around them warps and everything starts twisting as if caught in a giant whirlpool which is sucking everything in, down to a singular point centered in the palm of Ruan Lanzhu’s hand. Everything that existed just moments ago is no more, the reality from before crammed into a tiny ball shining like a little star and nestled in Ruan Lanzhu’s hand.
Around them, there’s nothing but space again, just like back then when Ruan Lanzhu was erased from existence and Ling Jiushi’s life came to a halt. There’s nothing but a star field - and a door, made of wood and reinforced with steel, like something from an old castle. Like the doors from the horrible game that brought them together and on which Ling Jiushi based his work - and this whole world.
Ling Jiushi looks around, stunned and not a little afraid. “Lanzhu… what have you done?!” he whispers, aghast, and stares at the man he’s been trying to meet again for so many decades of his life.
But Ruan Lanzhu only smiles again. “Trust me,” he says.
And then the door opens.
And he leads Ling Jiushi through.
And then again, through another door.
And through another.
And another…
Through twelve doors altogether, one by one.
Then and only then, when the last door closes behind them with a click, Ruan Lanzhu stops. He turns around, meeting Ling Jiushi’s wide open eyes, and with a smile he throws the shining star in his hand up into the air where it unfurls again, bringing back the setting sun, the trees and the shrubbery, the house…
And all the people inside as is confirmed by Li Dongyuan's furious shout, “Ruan Lanzhu, what the ever loving fuck!”
“What did you do?” Ling Jiushi asks again in hushed tones, still not letting go of Ruan Lanzhu’s hand, just the opposite, he holds on so tight his knuckles turn white.
Ruan Lanzhu takes a step closer. “You gave me the power to change reality, Lingling. You made me a god. And so I remade the world for you.”
Ling Jiushi frowns, still a little anxious but now mostly intrigued, just like Ruan Lanzhu knew he would be. His Lingling has always loved good puzzles. “How?”
Lifting his free hand, Ruan Lanzhu draws a flat line in the air. “You made this world horizontal, spatial.” He draws another line, this one perpendicular. “I made it vertical, temporal.”
Still frowning, Ling Jiushi shakes his head, indicating that he doesn’t quite understand.
“The doors, Lingling,” Ruan Lanzhu explains. “A door within a door within a door. A reality within a reality within a reality… twelve times over.” Slowly, he moves his hand from the eye level down, bit by bit by bit. “Twelve doors, twelve levels deep. That’s where we are now.”
Light dawns in Ling Jiushi’s eyes. “And if on the first level, five minutes of real time make a day…”
“On the second level, it’s already 288 days,” finishes Ruan Lanzhu for him, taking another step closer. Their shoes are almost touching now they’re standing so close, staring each other in the eyes.
“And on the third one, it’s 82 944 days!” Ling Jiushi says, a little smile gracing his lips, intrigue and excitement dancing in his eyes. “So on level twelve, it would be–”
“Eternity,” Ruan Lanzhu breathes out, and leaning in, he closes the distance between them. He covers Ling Jiushi’s mouth with his own and kisses him with all the hunger of someone who just recaptured a treasure almost lost to him again.
Ling Jiushi gasps and opens his lips to let Ruan Lanzhu in. His eyes flutter shut as he melts into the other man and he raises his free hand to grip the lapel of Ruan Lanzhu's coat to hold on tight. Ruan Lanzhu in the meantime wraps his arm around Ling Jiushi’s waist and with his hand on the small of Ling Jiushi’s back, he drags him even closer, pulling them together, body against body, heat against heat.
Yes, now they have eternity. To live and to love. And to figure out how to make it their forever.