"My son!" Madam Hu was the first one to hug Hu Xuan and cried her heart out. Hu Xuan was their only heir and was a very potential seedling. They were taking care of him until he could escape the virtual reality.
However, Hu Xuan didn’t seem to be happy. He just stared blankly at the ceiling and kept calling the same name over and over, "Bai... Yunyu..."
Hu Xuan was the first to escape and wake up from the virtual reality world. It was also confirmed that he was the one who cleared the game with his excellent in-game sense, quick-thinking, and his overall talent.
Just as usual, because Hu Xuan had always been the best of them all.
He was the son of Prime Minister Hu, a handsome and accomplished young man who graduated from university at seventeen years old. He invented many things at such a young age. Hu Xuan stayed low key because he was not someone who liked public attention until his ability to beat that game popped out, and he became an instant celebrity.
Everyone dug out his identity and family. After they knew that he was the son of Prime Minister Hu and a handsome genius, he became one of the country’s most popular bachelors.
It was not something that Hu Xuan liked though, in fact, after he woke up from that virtual reality, he started acting weird.
He didn’t want to interact with anyone, nor he wanted to talk unless necessary. Hu Xuan would spend his whole day with his computer, trying to program something that Master and Madam Hu didn’t understand.
It continued until he was twenty-six years old when Hu Xuan decided to follow his father’s footstep and learned how to be a politician.
His step was smooth sailing since he was the previous prime minister’s son and was popular enough in the masses. Hu Xuan became the Prime Minister at thirty-five, a massive accomplishment that one would ever dream of.
However, the said Prime Minister didn’t seem too happy with it. He was still in his prime years, handsome, showered with everything one could have, and was an expert in many things. But he was not interested in any woman, and not even a man.
Hu Xuan was like a monk that kept his chastity for an unknown reason. Like right now, he was in a formal party, and many young women were trying to woo him, but all in his mind was just a name that would haunt him forever, his first and true love, ’Bai Yunyu... Bai Yunyu... Bai Yunyu...’
At the age of thirty-seven, Hu Xuan used his money and power as Prime Minister to take the now top-secret file of the game that trapped everyone. Since that incident, the game data had become the government’s top-secret, afraid that someone might use it to do something evil.
Hu Xuan formed a team full of talented programmer and hacker with one goal;
’Find a trace of a man called Bai Yunyu if he is real. And if he is not, find his data and develop an AI with that data.’
Hu Xuan paid a lot of money to find the trace of Bai Yunyu in such a complex game. Until his subordinate said that Bai Yunyu was an ex-player that died long ago and had transferred all his consciousness inside the game.
But they couldn’t find the identity of Bai Yunyu in real life.
"What should we do next, sir?" one subordinate asked.
Hu Xuan stared at a room inside his house that he created solely for Yunyu, in case he was a real person. He clenched his fist and then loosened it. He replied, "Extract all game data about Cutiepie69 or Bai Yunyu, and make an AI out of it."
Bai Yunyu AI’s development was successful in less than two years because Hu Xuan used almost all his fortune perfecting it.
In the end, Bai Yunyu AI was created, an AI that would accompany Hu Xuan for his entire life.
"I’m back, Yunyu," Hu Xuan said as he hung his coat on the hanger.
A small hologram popped in front of Hu Xuan, Bai Yunyu had the same face as the one in the game, and he smiled at Hu Xuan cheerfully, "Brother Xuan! Welcome back!"
"Are you behaving well today?"
"Yes! I ordered the robots to clean the house, I set up your schedule tomorrow, and I also prepare dinner!" Yunyu replied with happiness beaming from his face.
Hu Xuan smiled and rubbed the hologram’s head, he knew that Yunyu was just an AI that did everything based on his self-learning and controlled the house, but it made him happy nonetheless, "You are doing good, my cute little Yunyu."
"Anything for Brother Xuan!"
***
Hu Xuan was unmarried until he reached the age of eighty when he was sitting at the garden bench. He had Yunyu hologram that had been set to look old, so it gave him the illusion that they grew old together.
Hu Xuan placed his wrinkly hand on top of the hologram hand and asked, "Yunyu, do you love me?"
"Hm? Of course! I love Brother Xuan the most!" the hologram replied excitedly.
Hu Xuan smiled, "Of course, if you don’t love me, why did you need to sacrifice yourself for me back then?"
Hu Xuan closed his eyes and passed away peacefully.
***
Hu Xuan opened his eyes again and saw a man with a black-golden robe standing in front of him. He said nothing but smirked. The man flicked his sleeve to summon an orb that showed a muscular man with general attire fighting a swarm of weird looking insects. Without an explanation, Hu Xuan immediately knew that it was Bai Yunyu. His eyes widened as he tried to break the sphere that trapped him.
"You already know that this is Bai Yunyu?"
"Yes! My cute little Yunyu! Give me my cute little Yunyu!"
Han Ye stared at Hu Xuan, who was like a starving lion. He scoffed, "If you want to see him, come and join me."
There was no fight from Hu Xuan at all. He immediately turned into a small orb that Han Ye swallowed.
Han Ye tasted the bitter love and obsession of Hu Xuan, then he smiled bitterly.
Because he and Hu Xuan were very similar, when it all first started, he acted almost the same as Hu Xuan...
Deprived of Yunyu’s love, and would give everything for that guy. But he betrayed him for the sake of the world and locked him in this empty space for centuries.
"What is the use of saving the world, but you locked the man you claim as your lover for centuries..."
"That means you never put me as your priority, Bai Yunyu."
Han Ye caressed at Yunyu’s cheek in the sphere. The memory of Hu Xuan made him emotional. He couldn’t wait to show up and meet Yunyu, but he knew that the only thing he would do when they met was destruction.
"Bai Yunyu, in each world, you made me fall in love with you again and again, but you also break my heart over and over. Why do you need to put me into such torture?"