CHAPTER 60 – He Claims Her in Front of Everyone
Halfway through the obstacle course, the inevitable happened.
Fate unleashed its final, most obvious test.
Xiao Xi, partnered with Gu Yanzhou, stepped onto a narrow, swinging wooden platform—a required step to cross a deep chasm.
And the platform glitched violently.
The wood blinked out of existence for a critical half-second—then back—then vanished completely, replaced by shimmering, unstable light.
She plunged downward into the empty space.
"XIAO XI!"
Gu sprinted, defying gravity and logic.
The world seemed to slow, the reality stretching and warping around them.
Gu leaped across two subsequent platforms, ignoring the physical impossibility of the distance, and caught her midair.
He twisted his body instantly to take the impact of the fall himself.
They crashed hard onto the safety net below, knocking the air from their lungs.
Gasps erupted from the cast and crew.
Shen Yichen and Ling Qiuyue watched from the edge of the course, their expressions shocked.
But Gu Yanzhou didn't care about the cameras or the pain.
He immediately cupped her face with both hands, his voice trembling with sheer terror and raw fury.
"You could've died.
The story tried to take you.
I won't let the story take you!"
And then—without hesitation, without a thought for consequences or contracts—
He kissed her.
Hard.
Fierce.
Desperate.
A kiss that was a declaration of ownership and defiance against the narrative itself.
In front of the cameras.
In front of the original leads.
In front of the entire, watching world.
The world glitched violently in response—the lights flickering, the sky darkening, the entire System screaming with power:
[Bond Anchor Strengthened. Full Merge Initiated.]
[Timeline Altered. Host fate merging irrevocably with Gu Yanzhou's.]
[Narrative Rejection COMPLETE.]
Behind them, Shen Yichen's eyes widened, recognizing the definitive shift in the plot.
Ling Qiuyue inhaled sharply, placing a hand over her heart.
They felt it.
The fundamental change.
The rewrite was total.
Xiao Xi wasn't a side character anymore.
She wasn't cannon fodder.
She was now officially and irrevocably the heroine of this new world, claimed by the man who was supposed to be dead.
And fate wasn't going to allow that quietly.