What?! The Gamemaster And The Top Player Are Dating?!

Zhihao had never even remembered much from that time. The only thing he vividly remembered was the small Li Ling who would be crying and following him around. 

"So I decided to create a game." 

"..." 

"I decided to make the best game in the world. One that is adventurous and never gets boring. One that is different from all the other games out there. A game that you would come to love...." Li Ling's voice seemed to be growing weaker as he continued, "I asked you if you would play with me if I created such a game and you said yes. From then on, I started playing more games. I started observing more games and I started planning out what would make such a great game in the world." 

"Weren't you a child back then?" Huang Zhen interjected with a frown as he questioned and was thoroughly ignored by Li Ling. 

"You stopped coming to the arcade and I also couldn't go there anymore," Li Ling continued, "Our promise became the only thing that gave me hope. If I could make a game that you would love then I would be able to meet again." 

Zhihao gulped as he patiently let the man continue. 

"I thought if I could create T.I.A.D.... I would finally be able to fulfill the promise I made to you." Li Ling's voice sounded shaky as if the man could burst into tears at any given moment now. 

"So you made the game?" Zhihao spoke up as he questioned and his voice sounded completely emotionless. 

Li Ling gulped as he nodded his head and confirmed, "That's right. I made a system called A.L.V.I." 

"Automated Living Virtual Intelligence," Li Ling sighed as he explained, "A system that could create unlimited scenarios for a game. A system that could create an entire world inside a game and read the player's mind in order to make the game more fun for that player. I made a game that would be so unpredictable that nobody would ever get bored of seeing the same things since there would be no same things repeated for them." 

Li Ling took a deep breath in as he gave a pause and spoke, "And the goal of the players would be the same... To beat the gamemaster... To beat me..." 

Zhihao let out a breath as he didn't know if he wanted to laugh or cry as he heard this. 

"I knew the great Mastermo would also join the game and I knew you would also try to claim the ultimate win. So I planned everything beforehand. I planned it so that in the end, you would be forced to meet me as the player who loves the game, and I thought I would finally be able to tell you the truth. To come clean and confidently say that I have completed the promise I made to you. To tell you that it was now your turn to live up to your end of the deal."   

"Then why did you show yourself before I reached the final level?" Zhihao questioned as he looked at the man. 

"..." 

"This whole time... You knew exactly who I was and where I was. You could find me whenever you wanted to but you waited. You were waiting for this moment, weren't you?" Zhihao raised his voice as he questioned in a complaining manner, "If you were waiting, why didn't you just wait till the end?! Why did you have to suddenly bump into me and make me trust you like an idiot? Why did you have to hide this all from me?!" 

"Because I was afraid!" Li Ling also raised his voice as he spoke up, defending himself, "I was afraid to tell you the reason!" 

"What was it? What scared you so much?" Zhihao asked with a scoff. 

"I was scared because I thought I might end up hurting you," Li Ling responded with a defeated tone. 

He was finally telling Zhihao everything. The secrets that he had kept for so long were finally being revealed one by one and he couldn't help but feel like his shoulders felt a little lighter because of it, however, his heart felt heavier as he continued. 

"I messed up and I got scared!" Li Ling exclaimed as he admitted it, "The system was not completely ready and all the risk factors were not properly considered. We had done our best but only after the official release of the game did we spot a big problem with Alvi." 

"..." 

"She was too alive. We had given her too much control over the game and as a result, the players were put at a risk. When I thought about you being one of those players who could possibly suffer from my mistake... It scared me and my plans had to be changed." 

Zhihao gulped and his eyes widened ever so slightly as he heard this. 

"Initially the players were not supposed to be forced to form teams but I knew that you would never take in another player as your teammate if you were not forced by the game so I changed the game slightly. The game forced all players to join teams of two or more and I conveniently bumped into you, introducing myself as a fan who wanted to be in your team." 

"Why did you want to be in the same team?" 

"To protect you," Li Ling sighed as he answered, "I wanted to protect you from the system. I wanted to make sure that you were kept safe but... In the end, I guess it was inevitable for us to end up here like this." 

"So that was the reason why you went after me?" Zhihao asked coldly and Li Ling nodded his head. 

"That's right." 

Zhihao scoffed as he questioned, "Then you had no plans on becoming my friend? You had no plans on chasing me either?" 

Li Ling bit his lips as he firmly shook his head, "In the first place itself... There was no such plan." 

"..." 

"I just wanted to keep my promise to you. I didn't want to be your friend nor did I want to have any other relationship with you." 

Zhihao really didn't know how he was supposed to react to this so he asked, "Then what did you expect? What would have happened if we never formed a team? If nothing had ever gone wrong and the whole thing played out just as you had initially planned it, what would have happened?" 

Li Ling was silent for a minute as he heard this question and he looked up to see Zhihao's face as he gulped and answered honestly, "I planned for us to go our separate ways." 

"!!!" Zhihao felt his heart clenching as he heard this and for some reason, the mere thought of that happening managed to hurt him. 

"I thought I would finally keep my promise to you and by killing the gamemaster, you would also indirectly be keeping your part of the promise. After that, we both go our separate ways." Li Ling took a sharp breath in as he continued, "I thought I would be happy with that. I thought that I would never have to think about you again and I could finally move on and do whatever I wanted to with my life." 

"I see..." Zhihao muttered as he nodded his head and his face looked to be completely indecipherable as he asked, "So you want to have nothing to do with me."

Li Ling nodded his head, "That was the original plan." 

Huang Zhen who was stuck in this melodramatic atmosphere couldn't help but feel that he really didn't belong here but Zhihao still held onto the boy's hand and refused to let him sneak away from here. 

"If there was nothing wrong with the system, you would have never shown up and all the memories that we made together would have never existed in the first place?" Zhihao gulped as he muttered questioningly, "Then... We would have also been nothing more than strangers that once knew each other as kids?" 

Li Ling nodded his head with a heavy heart. 

Zhihao, "That's what you wanted?"

Zhihao had always known that Li Ling was hiding something from him. If being the gamemaster was the only thing that Li Ling was hiding, Zhihao was more than ready to forgive the man for it, this was also the reason why he had asked everything in the first place but now that Li Ling revealed another huge truth, Zhihao couldn't help but feel that he had been too naive. 

"Then you didn't love me?" Zhihao questioned again as he didn't wait for the man to give the answer to the previous question. 

Li Ling opened his mouth to defend himself but paused as he realized that there was nothing left for him to say. He took a moment to slowly nod his head as he confirmed everything, "That's right. I wanted us to go our separate ways after this and I... Never loved you like that."