Chapter 100: Eternal Bond Beneath the Ancient Tree

Shen Yan was awakened by a wave of warm breath.

As he cracked open his eyelids, he saw Luo Li’s nose almost touching his forehead. Her nine tails wrapped around him like a silkworm cocoon, with the middle one gently coiled around his wrist, as if afraid he might slip away into some data abyss again. He moved his fingers slightly, and the tip of her tail in his palm responded immediately—like confirming he was still alive.

“Awake?” Her voice was a bit hoarse, as if she had kept watch all night. “You can sleep a little longer. I wasn’t too loud when I snuck a kiss.”

He twitched the corner of his mouth, wanting to smile but wincing as it tugged at his ribs. He let out a muffled groan. “Thirty times? Do you think I’m a vending machine, dispensing kisses with a scan?”

“Thirty-two times,” she corrected, tapping lightly near the corner of his mouth with her fingertip. “Two are still owed. I’ll collect them when you’re steady.”

He reached into his pocket, where the worn-out toy bear still lay, the character “dream” on its right ear faintly warm. His phone lay nearby, its screen cracked into a spiderweb pattern, but the Terminal Interface was still glowing.

“The last Bug needs to be fixed by hand.” He pushed himself up to sit, his bones creaking like a scrapped old computer forced to boot up.

Luo Li didn’t stop him, only tightened her tails slightly, shielding him from the wind filtering through the treetops.

He unlocked his phone and typed a line on the shattered screen:

“If the Three Realms are at peace, then Shen Yan and Luo Li shall retire in seclusion.”

As soon as the Code started to Run, the Terminal immediately displayed a Popup Window:

【Error: Missing emotional Parameter】

Frowning, he was about to rewrite it when a hand still warm with residual Demon Power covered his, gently pressing down on the back of his hand. Luo Li leaned closer and whispered in his ear, “The Program won’t Run because you forgot to add a mandatory condition.”

Her fingertip traced across the screen, a strand of purplish-red light seeping into the Code and transforming into a flowing Rune:

“Daily kisses shall not be fewer than three. Violators will trigger Demonic Fire punishment, lasting seven days.”

Shen Yan froze. “Is this a Contract or ransomware?”

“An upgraded binding Protocol,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “Want to test how it Runs?”

Before her words faded, he suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood, splattering onto the screen and landing precisely on the characters for “kiss.” Strangely, the blood didn’t obscure the text but was absorbed into it, causing the entire Code to glow faintly.

The Terminal refreshed with a Notice:

【Emotional synchronization achieved】

【Blood Pact upgraded to Eternal Bond】

He stared at the line of text, silent for a long time.

Sensing something amiss, Luo Li gently pinched his cheek. “Doubting again? Do you think… all of this is just a pre-programmed Program?”

He didn’t deny it.

“That ‘father’ Ye Shi’er mentioned, and the Resonance between us… could it just be a coincidence where the Source Code and Demon Power happen to match?” he said softly. “Just because two pieces of Code can connect doesn’t mean they were meant to be together.”

Luo Li fell silent for a moment, then suddenly grabbed his wrist and lightly scratched it with her nail. A drop of blood fell, landing on the gnarled roots of the ancient tree.

“It’s not about the Code,” she said. “It’s that you still don’t dare believe someone is willing to write a Comment for you with their life.”

Shen Yan’s heart trembled.

He remembered the year he was seven, when the lab alarm blared. Clutching his toy bear, he rushed into the emergency escape passage, hearing the sound of a metal door locking shut behind him. He thought his younger brother was already dead.

But now he knew that person had been living on in another way, while the girl before him—willing to bleed for him, to shatter barriers for him—was so real it terrified him.

He closed his eyes, tore open his shirt pocket, and gently placed the toy bear beneath the tree roots.

“I’ve brought the word ‘dream,'” he said. “Not to restart anyone’s memory, but to tell it—this time, I don’t want to run.”

In that instant, the ancient tree trembled violently.

Branches stretched out like arms, leaf veins erupted with starlight, and countless points of light rose into the air, weaving together into a Star Map spanning the Three Realms. Human cities, Demon Clan forests, immortal floating islands… all territories slowly rotated within the star tracks, as if heaven and earth themselves were bearing witness to this moment.

The Terminal lit up automatically, and the final line of the Notice appeared:

【Eternal Bond Engraved】

【Next Destination: Shadow Erosion Headquarters】

Luo Li looked down at him, her gaze softer than that of the hot-tempered Half-Demon who always blasted his hair with foxfire.

“Believe me now?” she asked. “Every line of Code you wrote, I’ve been executing.”

He reached out, hooked the back of her neck, and pressed his forehead against hers. “What about this next line—’Before departure, must kiss three times’?”

“Violation of Protocol,” she refused with her words, but her body didn’t pull away. “Penalty: one extra time.”

As the fourth kiss landed, Shen Yan heard his own heartbeat overlap with the Terminal’s Notification Tone.

Not a Warning, not an error, but something long missing finally being written into the Main Program.

Their fingers intertwined, they prepared to bury both the phone and the toy bear beneath the tree roots.

But the moment their fingertips touched the ground, the ancient tree showed no reaction, the Star Map froze, and even the wind stilled.

“Something’s wrong,” Shen Yan frowned. “The System hasn’t confirmed.”

“Because you’re still thinking in terms of Code to solve problems,” Luo Li shook her head, suddenly pulling his wrist to her lips. Her teeth gently broke his skin, and a drop of blood fell onto the tree roots. “What it wants isn’t a Protocol, it’s sincerity.”

Shen Yan froze.

Watching that drop of blood seep into the soil, he suddenly understood something.

It wasn’t about Permission authentication, or Data Synchronization—it was about someone who, despite breaking clan rules and enduring backlash, had called out “brother” over and over while he lay unconscious.

He closed his eyes and whispered, “I accept this binding. No matter if the future is altered or deleted, my Main Function will always point to you.”

Starlight suddenly blazed.

The entire ancient tree stirred like a waking giant, its branches and leaves dancing as the Star Map began flowing again, clearer and more complete than before. The Terminal flashed one last line of small text:

【Bond Loaded into Fate’s Main Thread, Cannot Be Uninstalled】

Luo Li leaned against his shoulder and asked softly, “Where to next?”

“Shadow Erosion Headquarters,” he gripped her hand tightly. “To delete every line of that messy Code, one by one.”

She nodded but didn’t move, instead pulling him closer into her embrace. “You’re still unsteady on your feet.”

“I can walk.”

“No,” her tone was firm, but her hand gently traced the wounds on his back. “Let me hold you a little longer.”

He didn’t argue further, letting himself sink into her warmth. Nine Tails naturally coiled into a barrier, shielding them from all outside interference. The starlight swirling overhead looked just like the Teleportation Array they had accidentally triggered when they first met.

After a few moments of silence, he suddenly spoke. “That ‘brother’ you said earlier… could you say it again?”

Luo Li’s ears flushed red as she lowered her head and bit his earlobe. “This time, it’s my turn to protect you.”

He smiled, tightened his grip on her hand, and whispered while gazing at the starry sky map, “Let’s go. It’s time to rewrite the remaining Code, line by line, into the shape we desire.”

As his fingers lifted from the ground, the faint bloodstains left on his palm glimmered softly.

The last leaf of the ancient tree drifted down, landing precisely over the right ear of the worn-out teddy bear.

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(End of Chapter)