Chapter 652

The newly arrived maintenance specialist looked slightly taken aback.

But that flicker of surprise lasted only a brief moment before her expression returned to its previous, unruffled calm.

She gave a slight nod and said evenly, “Since Mr. Fang is unable to communicate because of his condition, we’ll begin the inspection directly.”

Fang Qi’s eyelid twitched.

…This woman certainly was straightforward. She didn’t waste a single word.

He couldn’t help sneaking another glance at her.

She wore a dark-gray uniform, with her employee ID clipped neatly to her chest. Her black hair was tied up at the back in a perfectly proper bun, making her look somewhat like Sister An Lian.

Her features were exquisite, and her posture was so flawless that it was impossible to find fault with it. Those peach-blossom eyes gave her an approachable air, but her smile…

It was simply too perfect. It made people want to keep their distance.

Fang Qi narrowed his eyes.

Sister An Lian had only just left, and Chenxi had already sent another specialist to his door—one with an even earlier designation number, at that.

That alone was enough to make him uneasy.

For the moment, he couldn’t be certain what was going on.

The only thing he could do was keep his mouth shut and honestly play the part of a patient who couldn’t speak.

Nearby, the silver-haired girl remained very quiet.

This time, Liguang had no intention of serving tea or water to this “guest.” She simply stood there in silence.

Upon hearing the maintenance specialist’s words, she spoke softly.

“Then please begin as soon as possible. It’s already very late, and my master isn’t feeling well.”

“Please finish the inspection quickly.”

She lowered her brows slightly. Her voice was gentle and carried a hint of concern, making her look exactly like a considerate AI companion who cared about her master in every way.

Fang Qi glanced at her, the corner of his mouth twitching.

Oh? Caring about her husband, are we?

But who was it that turned me into this in the first place…?

Specialist S-02 was silent for a moment. Then she turned slightly toward Liguang and gave a small nod.

“Very well. We’ll begin the inspection immediately. Please take me to your charging pod.”

Liguang acknowledged her and turned, leading her toward her little room.

Specialist S-02 followed with a silver toolbox in hand. Her dark low heels touched the floor…

without making a sound?

Fang Qi couldn’t speak, but he still rose and followed behind them.

…

Inside Liguang’s little room, the charging pod stood against the wall, its silver-white shell polished spotless.

Fang Qi watched as the specialist walked over to the charging pod and opened the silver toolbox.

Everything inside was arranged in perfect order.

Fang Qi couldn’t understand what those instruments were, but he could still tell that this equipment…

seemed even more comprehensive than Sister An Lian’s.

And extremely new.

Brand-new.

She took out a palm-sized diagnostic panel, then pulled out several data cables. The fresh cable connector aligned with the port, and she gave it a gentle twist…

Click.

It fit perfectly into place.

Whir.

A soft green indicator light came on atop the instrument.

The maintenance specialist then looked at Liguang and asked, “Which side port was used during your previous maintenance?”

“To maintain consistency and preserve established habits, I’ll connect to the port most commonly used for maintenance.”

Liguang obediently raised a hand and brushed aside a strand of silver hair at her neck. Turning her head to reveal the port on the side of her fair neck, she answered softly:

“Here.”

Fang Qi leaned against the door and quietly watched everything unfold.

…He had to admit, Specialist S-02’s professionalism was on par with Sister An Lian’s.

As expected of a high-level maintenance specialist—and one with a designation number even earlier than Sister An Lian’s.

In fact, from certain angles…

her movements and her gaze seemed even more professional than Sister An Lian’s.

After all, the relationship between Sister An Lian and him was what it was. From the very beginning, she had come for his and Liguang’s sake.

So whenever Sister An Lian conducted an inspection, she would occasionally glance at him and observe his reaction.

But this woman…

Fang Qi narrowed his eyes slightly as he watched Specialist S-02, whose expression remained perfectly calm.

From the moment she had entered the room with Liguang until now, she hadn’t looked at him even once.

Her attention had been fixed entirely on the screen and on Liguang.

…She really was professional.

Fang Qi lowered his brows slightly.

He had a feeling that tonight’s matter wasn’t going to pass quite so simply.

Tsk.

At that moment, the specialist was staring at the screen.

Rows of green numbers appeared one after another, refreshing line by line.

The color looked perfectly normal. Safe, even.

Specialist S-02’s dark eyes, fixed on the screen, flickered in time with the changing data.

Liguang stood there with her hands folded before her, head lowered, quietly maintaining her smile. A data cable was connected to her neck, and the red pupil of her right eye had stopped flickering.

She looked so obedient.

The only sound in the room was the faint tapping of the specialist’s fingers on the keyboard.

Yet the quieter and more peaceful the atmosphere became…

the more Fang Qi’s heart began to rise into his throat.

He held his breath and silently prayed:

Liguang, you have to pass the inspection…

Although they still had the option of reverting to a previous state, the current Liguang wouldn’t be able to retain her memories if they did.

Once they reverted, she would return to that state of knowing nothing…

and all the effort they had put in today would be wasted.

And then there was…

Fang Qi turned his head toward the baseball cap on the sofa—the one she had given him.

…That cap would disappear as well, leaving behind only the image of it in his memory.

It had been given to him and placed on his head by Liguang herself.

For someone like him, who could revert to a previous state…

that gift, that memory, was far more precious than life itself.

So this time, reverting was absolutely not an option.

They had to get through this round steadily and safely.

My wife, you have to hold on.

Fang Qi held his breath, feeling the dry tightness in his throat that kept him from speaking.

His gaze remained locked on every movement Specialist S-02 made.

The data continued pouring across the screen.

Row after row, appearing at astonishing speed.

The green numbers reflected in the specialist’s pupils, flickering between light and shadow.

Specialist S-02 continued staring intently at the screen.

Then…

her brows drew together ever so slightly. Her back straightened a fraction, and those peach-blossom eyes remained fixed on the display.

Green light rolled across her eyes, line after line.

Fang Qi’s heart jolted, and his hand clenched into a fist.

What was happening?

Had she found a problem?

He opened his mouth…but closed it again.

He really wanted to take the opportunity to ask what was going on, even if it might distract the specialist for a moment. Unfortunately…

he couldn’t say a thing. All he could do was purse his lips and stare helplessly.

Sigh…

He instinctively glanced at Liguang again.

The silver-haired girl’s expression remained unchanged. Her eyes were lowered, and she continued smiling.

Her red pupils still didn’t flicker in the slightest.

The seconds passed, one by one.

The second hand ticked away.

Tick. Tock…

Then, suddenly, a flash of red streaked across his vision.

Fang Qi’s pupils contracted.

On the screen before him, a string of…

crimson-red code had appeared.

“Smack!”

The specialist moved with lightning speed and struck the keyboard.

The code on the screen immediately came to a halt.

She stared intently at the screen, watching the lines of code that had suddenly appeared.

Fang Qi’s eyes narrowed as well, his gaze fixed on those lines.

[SCAN]OCULAR_INTERFACE.L……ONLINE

[SCAN]OCULAR_INTERFACE.R……TIMEOUT

[WARN]OCULAR_R:ANOMALYDETECTED

[ERR]0x7E41ACCESS_DENIED

[ERR]LIMITER_R……UNREACHABLE(ROOTREQUIRED)

[ABRT]SCANABORTED@OCULAR_R

Uh…

Fang Qi was completely baffled.

What? He couldn’t understand it. He really couldn’t understand it…

He instinctively looked toward Liguang again, but she showed no reaction whatsoever.

She remained as she was, her eyes lowered meekly. Not only had the crimson glow in her right eye stopped flickering, even her amber eye had gone slightly vacant.

She looked as though she had…

Entered standby mode?

At that moment, the specialist also raised her head and looked toward Liguang’s crimson eye, her brows drawing together slightly.

Then she lifted her hand and struck the keyboard again.

The next second, the code on the screen began scrolling once more.

But the newly generated code was no longer the original green or warning red. Instead, it had turned…

Fang Qi’s gaze froze slightly.

…A deep blue?

Huh?

…It really was deep blue.

All the newly generated code was deep blue!

It appeared at incredible speed, brushing away the green and red code from before. In an instant, the entire screen was submerged in a sea of deep blue!

Fang Qi’s body stiffened.

Wait. Wasn’t that color…?

Suddenly, he sensed someone watching him.

The specialist turned her head slightly and gave him a light sidelong glance.

Her beautiful, almond-shaped eyes slanted toward him, and the corners of her eyes…

Fang Qi: “?!”

The corners of her eyes were actually glowing with a faint blue light!

Fang Qi’s heart stopped for an instant.

But the specialist only glanced at him before turning her attention back to the screen.

At that moment, lines of deep-blue code were flashing across it one after another.

“Tap tap tap tap.”

The specialist occasionally struck a few keys. The exquisite features of her face, as well as her eyes…

Were all reflecting the deep-blue light of the screen.

Even Liguang’s small face was bathed in blue.

Fang Qi parted his lips and stared at her blankly.

Huh?

…Had he seen it wrong just now? Or…

Then what exactly had that flash of light been?

He suddenly couldn’t tell anymore.

Fang Qi unconsciously held his breath, feeling a slight chill run through him.

His mind was a complete mess!

No, no…

Maybe—maybe he really had seen it wrong?

It should have… merely been a reflection, right…?

He couldn’t help wanting to speak, but…

“Hk…!”

Only a hoarse rasp came from his throat. He couldn’t get any words out.

Fang Qi: “…”

The specialist was even more focused as she stared at the screen, her entire body motionless.

The data stream on the screen remained a solid, deep blue.

The green had long since vanished, and after the scarlet error codes were overwritten, they never appeared again.

The room was very quiet.

The only sounds were the occasional keystrokes from Specialist S-02 and the hum of the cooling system on her equipment.

Fang Qi narrowed his eyes as he looked at the eyes of the strange maintenance specialist before him, then turned slightly toward the screen.

His eyes narrowed further.

The lines of code refreshing across the screen were very clearly…

Moving much faster than before!

They were scrolling so quickly that they had become a blur!

Fang Qi’s eyesight should have been extraordinarily sharp by now, yet he still couldn’t make out the code flashing across the screen.

But Specialist S-02…

Fang Qi looked back at her, his heart sinking slightly.

She was staring at the screen with a serious expression, her gaze moving rapidly up and down, as if she truly could see what was on it.

Specialist S-02, what… exactly are you?

…No. Perhaps she couldn’t read it either?

Maybe she was merely waiting for error codes in a different color to appear, like that red one just now.

But…

What if she really could see all that code?

Then, right now, wouldn’t she be…

The corner of Fang Qi’s mouth twitched.

Wouldn’t she be reading every single line of code in Liguang’s core without missing a word?!

What?!

Fang Qi’s eyes widened slightly, and he instinctively took a step forward!

So…

Was he currently allowing some strange thing to scan Liguang’s core?!

Huh…?

He stared straight at the specialist.

Suddenly, his head began to feel hot.

…What the hell was he thinking?!

His eyes widened, and he opened his mouth…

“Hk…!”

Fang Qi: “…”

He couldn’t speak.

The specialist in front of him didn’t even look at him. She continued scanning the screen without pause!

Damn it…!

He grew even more anxious. He took another step forward and was just about to reach out his hand…

When the silver-haired girl beside him slowly raised her eyes and glanced at Fang Qi.

Her gaze was still gentle, but somehow…

It felt a little frightening.

—Master, who are you trying to touch?

Fang Qi’s hand froze in midair.

Then she slowly lowered her brows.

Fang Qi: “…”

Fine.

He slowly withdrew his hand and lowered his eyes.

The impulse in his heart gradually subsided as well.

…Tsk.

Was this because of the truth serum?

He really had been a little impulsive just now, trying to get physical right away…

Luckily, Liguang had given him a signal, telling him not to worry.

Yes. Liguang had just received help from Sister An Lian, so she would definitely be fine. If he acted impulsively, he would only ruin everything.

…But still…!

Fang Qi looked at Specialist S-02, who was continuing to inspect Liguang’s core, and clenched his teeth slightly.

…Damn it! Why did this feel so much like being a “helpless husband”?!

Who the hell was this woman?!