Kael arrived in Liyue Harbor. He stepped straight into the portal the System had marked for him.
The second mental fragment waited inside Bubu Pharmacy.
The moment he entered the simulation, he rushed there without hesitation.
This time, the moment that shattered Amber's spirit was… Cecilia falling ill.
Cecilia was seven now. Amber had to hunt every day to survive, so she often left the girl home alone.
While playing outside, Cecilia slipped into a river. Thankfully, a passing merchant caravan pulled her out.
But the fright, the cold, and the shock plunged her into a high fever.
Amber dragged her to Bubu Pharmacy for treatment.
Cecilia wasn't in any real danger, but the guilt tore Amber apart. She blamed herself so fiercely it broke her.
Just like the first time, the moment Amber saw Kael—her Anders, alive and not leaving her—her panic dissolved instantly.
It didn't take long before Kael touched the second fragment.
The third fragment waited in the little cabin Amber lived in. By then Cecilia had grown up enough to earn a Vision. She didn't want to stay confined to Liyue anymore, so she left for Sumeru to study. The loneliness hollowed Amber out until she collapsed again.
The fourth fragment came on Cecilia's wedding day.
After relying on her daughter for so many years, Amber was suddenly forced to hand her over to another man. Her unbearable reluctance cracked her spirit wide open.
Kael kept moving—between reality and each moment of Amber's simulated life—following her through the hardest chapters she'd ever endured.
But just as the System had warned, nothing Kael did left a trace in this world.
He could only make Amber happy for a single day.
And every time they met again, she looked at him with unfamiliar eyes, unable to remember he had ever been there.
Kael felt as if his heart had gone numb from the pain.
Days and nights without sleep left his eyes bloodshot. His body could endure the exhaustion but the emotional torture crushed him.
Every time he found Amber, she was drowning in sorrow and fatigue. Nothing in her life could truly make her smile.
She lived like a hollow shell. Cecilia was her responsibility… and the only reason she kept breathing.
Anything Kael did for her... every word he spoke would be erased by the world. None of it could truly comfort her.
He could only watch from the outside, powerless, as her suffering repeated endlessly.
He'd collected four fragments already. Just one more…
"System, take me to the location of the fifth mental fragment."
[Host, your psychological state is nearing collapse. Do you want to spend 20 Attribute Points to remove negative emotions?]
"No."
This pain was his to bear. He deserved it.
The final fragment was in Mondstadt.
As soon as Kael entered the simulated world again and saw the exact marked location, he froze.
It was… Amber's home.
No... that wasn't right.
It was the home the two of them had shared together in the simulation.
More than ten years had passed inside this world. Mondstadt itself looked different now…
A few new shops lined the market streets. Some familiar storefronts had new faces behind the counters.
Kael had no mind to take in the changes. He headed straight for Amber's house.
He stopped outside the door—old, worn, but familiar enough to punch the air out of his lungs.
Behind that door… was Amber, suffering again.
He inhaled deeply, pushed the door open, and stepped inside.
The room was tidy, kept just the way it used to be.
Everything he had left behind remained perfectly preserved.
The little room still held the small couch with his favorite pillow resting on it.
His cup still sat on the wooden table beside the bed. A book lay casually placed next to it…
It all looked exactly like that morning so many years ago, as if Kael had simply stepped out for errands and would return later that night to clean up.
He saw a familiar figure lying on the bed.
Kael walked over quietly. But the instant he saw her face, tears blurred his vision.
The fifth fragment…
So this was it…
More than a decade had passed in this simulated world. Amber still looked young and beautiful, but faint lines touched the corners of her eyes.
Her eyes were closed tight. Her complexion was pale. Her breaths came thin and weak... as if she could slip away at any moment.
She must have sensed his presence. Her eyelids trembled before she slowly opened them.
Just like every time before, Amber showed no surprise when she saw Kael. Her voice was faint, ragged, barely clinging to life.
"Anders… you're here…"