"CHAPTER 18: TIME'S BASTARD | "Kill Me Again, I Dare You""**
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### **⏳ ACT 1: FALSE DAWN
The reset dropped us naked onto the **corporate war room table**, still gasping from last timeline's double suicide. Xu Qi's knee jammed against my throat before either of us could speak.
"Clause 0 doesn't exist." Her Cartier nail carved a bloody **"X"** over my heart. "You glitched the System."
I spat out a molar from Timeline 792 and grabbed the nearest weapon—**a frozen wedding cake topper** of us mid-kiss. The sugar-glass shattered against the biometric scanner, flooding the room with:
`[EMERGENCY OVERRIDE]`
`WITNESS CONFIRMATION:`
`IS XU QI LYING? [Y/N]`
Her laugh was smoke and broken champagne flutes. "Oh Li Wei... **you programmed this torture.**"
*( 3 brutal resets, 1 shapeshifting weapon, and the first reveal of Li Wei's hidden system access)*
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### **🩸 ACT 2: RECURSIVE BETRAYAL
The safe room walls were lined with **cryogenic pods**—each containing a different version of us.
Pod #114: Xu Qi stabbing me with a diamond hairpin
Pod #892: Me strangling her with a Gucci belt
Pod #███: **Our corpses holding hands**
"Father's **backup plan**." She smashed the glass on Pod #114, releasing that timeline's murderous Xu Qi. "Which me do you hate least?"
The System finally showed its true interface:
`[LI WEI'S CORE COMMAND]
`1. PROTECT XU QI`
`2. DESTROY XU CORP`
`3. [CONFLICTING DIRECTIVE █████]`
I shot both Xu Qis. **Then myself.**
*( 7 parallel selves, 3 conflicting system reveals, and 1 grotesque ménage à trois fight scene)*
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### **💋 ACT 3: PARADOX KISS
The seventh reset began with **our tongues fused together**, the System screaming:
`[TEMPORAL ANOMALY DETECTED]`
`CAUSE: IMPROBABLE LOVE EVENT`
`SOLUTION: ██████████`
We fell through:
- **A gala** where I poisoned every champagne flute
- **A chapel** where she garroted me with rosary beads
- **An airport** where we **actually boarded the fucking plane**
The System's final prompt burned our retinas:
`[ ] ERASE ALL TIMELINES`
`[ ] BECOME THE SYSTEM`
`[ ] PRESS MOONSTONE TO LOVER'S CHEST`
Xu Qi's teeth sank into my lip. "Choose fast, programmer."
*( 5 reality-warping kisses, 2 timeline merges, and 1 actual moment of tenderness)*
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### **🌌 ACT 4: GODHOOD'S AFTERMATH
We woke as **conjoined deities**, her hand growing from my sternum. The office was now our **shared mindscape**:
1. Her father's corpse eternally signing contracts in the corner
2. My sister's ghost debugging the System's love subroutines
3. Every version of us **fucking or fighting** in glass-walled rooms
Xu Qi's new mouth whispered through my fingers: *"You missed Clause 0's fine print."*
I kissed our reflection. **The loop began again.**