CHAPTER 89 – Xiao Xi Stands Her Ground
Xiao Xi pushed Gu behind her, forcing him to take cover behind the shattered remnants of the café.
Even half-faded and dissolving, he fought to resist, to stand with her.
"Don't," he rasped, his voice fading in and out of the digital distortion.
"Xiao Xi—don't face him alone—his power nullifies everything we have!"
She pressed her forehead against his, a final, anchoring touch of pure will.
"I'd rather disappear entirely than lose you, Yanzhou.
My stability means nothing if you aren't here."
His breath caught, the digital grief profound.
"No… don't say that… don't be foolish."
But she stepped away from him, placing herself between her dissolving lover and the cold, perfect threat.
She faced the Root Protagonist squarely, her mind now focused entirely on the faint, fragile blue glow of her own System core.
He raised a perfect brow, an expression of subtle challenge.
"You challenge me, Xiao Xi? The very mechanism created by your wish?"
"I created the wish," she corrected, her voice trembling but steady.
"So I can cancel the command that resulted in you."
The Root Protagonist chuckled softly, a patronizing sound.
"Dear Xiao Xi, you created the initial wish for stability.
The world created me as the structural consequence.
Your power is based on creation.
Mine is based on maintenance.
They are not the same."
Xiao Xi clenched her fists, recognizing his superior structural logic, but refusing to concede the moral high ground.
"No world, no system, and no algorithm has the right to steal my people.
To demand perfection at the cost of love."
The Root Protagonist's expression shifted, genuinely surprised.
His silver eyes narrowed with intense, analytical interest.
"Your raw emotional strength… the tenacity of your non-compliant will… it surpasses the System's initial calculations for a 'Host entity.
' You are a persistent variable."
Her System chimed silently in her mind, overriding the paralysis with a final, desperate calculation:
[Host emotional resonance rising rapidly. Breaking stability parameters.]
[Probability of successful resistance using current known powers: 11%.]
She whispered, a fierce, desperate vow:
"Good.
Eleven is more than zero.
And I only need one point of friction to break your perfect shell."
Gu's fading form reached toward her weakly, desperately.
"Don't do this, Xiao Xi.
Let us retreat! We can find another way!"
But she didn't back down.
She couldn't.
Not after everything they had fought for.
Not again.