Su Mei wasted no time. Within a month of Immortal time (which was irrelevant in the mortal
world), she had claimed a desolate peak on the outskirts of the Void Star Region. She carved a
palace out of a glacier. It was larger, grander, and colder than the one in the Spirit Realm.
She sat on her new throne. It was made of Stellar Ice.
She was meditating, stabilizing her realm. The Heartless Sword Sutra was humming perfectly.
Her emotions were flatlines. She was a machine of cultivation.
Ding.
The sound was jarring. It wasn't a bell. It wasn't a gong. It was a mechanical chirp.
Su Mei opened her eyes.
Floating directly in front of her face was a blue translucent screen.
She frowned. She raised her hand to dispel the illusion. She fired a blast of Immortal Qi.
The blast passed right through the screen. The screen remained.
[System Transfer Protocol Initiated.] [Source: Host Li Wei (Deceased).] [Recipient:
Beneficiary Su Mei (Active).] [Loading Legacy Data...]
Su Mei froze.
"System?" she whispered.
She remembered Li Wei talking about it. He called it his "Legacy." He said it was why he had
resources. But she had always assumed it was an artifact he found, or perhaps a unique
constitution. She never knew it was... this.
[Transfer Complete.] [Welcome, User Su Mei.] [You have inherited the administrative
rights to: 'The Empress Maker'.]
Su Mei stared at the text. The Empress Maker.
"He made me?" she scoffed. "I made myself. He was just the assistant."
[Accessing Logs...] [Displaying Final Message from Host Li Wei.] [Date of Recording: 3
years prior to termination.]
A video window opened on the screen.
It was Li Wei.
He was sitting in the ruined Golden Phoenix Pavilion on the Isle of Forgotten Time. He looked
terrible. His hair was long and matted. His eyes were sunken. He was wearing his gray servant
robes, before he changed into the wedding red.
He looked at the "camera" and smiled. It was a tired, broken smile.
"Hey, Mei'er," the recording said.
Su Mei flinched. hearing his voice in this silent palace was like a physical blow.
"If you're seeing this, it means I'm dead," Li Wei continued, rubbing the back of his neck. "And it
means you killed me. I set the transfer condition to 'Death by Beneficiary's Hand'. Irony is my
favorite humor, remember?"
Su Mei gripped the armrest of her throne. "You knew?"
"I know you're probably sitting on some fancy throne right now," Li Wei said, looking around his
ruined shop. "Probably thinking about how efficient you are. How logical it was."
He leaned forward.
"I'm not leaving this message to make you feel guilty. I know you can't feel guilt anymore. The
Sutra took care of that. I'm leaving this to tell you the truth. The truth about the System."
Li Wei picked up a small black stone from the counter.
"You always thought the System chose me because I was special. Or that it chose you because you were talented."
He laughed.
"The System didn't choose us. I bought it."
Su Mei's eyes narrowed. "Bought it?"
"When I transmigrated," Li Wei explained, "I met a... merchant. In the void. He offered me a
choice. I could have the 'Invincible God System' and become the strongest being in the universe
in ten years. Or..."
He paused. He looked at the camera with infinite sadness.
"Or I could have the 'Wife Support System'. It gives all the power to my spouse. It makes her the
god. And I get... to watch."
Su Mei stopped breathing.
"I asked the merchant," Li Wei continued. "If I become the Invincible God, will I be happy? He
said, 'You will be powerful. Happiness is not guaranteed. You will be lonely.'"
"Then I asked, 'If I take the Wife System, will she be happy?'"
Li Wei smiled.
"He said, 'She will have everything she ever wanted. She will be safe. She will never know
fear.'"
Li Wei shrugged.
"So I chose that one. Because I saw you, Mei'er. I saw you in the vision the merchant showed
me. You were crying in the rain because you dropped a basket of eggs. And I thought... I don't
want that girl to cry over eggs. I want her to crush stars."
Su Mei stood up. The ice beneath her feet cracked.
"You chose..." she whispered. "You could have been the Emperor. You gave it to me?"
"I thought I could handle the side effects," Li Wei said in the video. "The merchant warned me.
He said, 'If you make her a god, she will stop being a wife.' I didn't believe him. I was arrogant. I
thought our love was stronger than the Dao."
He looked down at his hands.
"I was wrong. The Dao wins. The Dao always wins."
He looked back up.
"But I don't regret it, Su Mei. I really don't. Because look at you. You made it. You're alive. You're
eternal. And I... I got to be the one who built the pedestal."
The video flickered.
"The System is yours now. It doesn't have any more quests. It just has the 'Shop'. You can buy
anything you want. But you can't buy me back. The merchant has a strict no-refund policy."
He waved.
"Goodbye, my Empress. Try to eat something warm once in a while."
The screen went black.
[Message Ended.] [Current Support Points Balance: 0.] [Would you like to browse the
Shop?]
Su Mei stood in the center of her empty palace.
"Invincible God," she whispered.
He had the choice. He could have been the one standing here. He could have been the one
casting the shadow. And she would have been the mortal wife, dying of old age in his arms,
loved and protected.
He gave her the immortality. And he took the death.
"Inefficient," she said. Her voice shook. "Stupid. Illogical."
She sat back down on the throne. She tried to summon the Heartless Sword Sutra to crush the
sudden turbulence in her chest. The Sutra spun. It tried to cut the emotion.
But this wasn't an emotion. This was a fact.
He had designed her life. Every victory, every breakthrough, every lucky encounter—it wasn't
destiny. It was him, spending his potential to buy hers.
She looked at the golden stain on her chest.
"You didn't just give me blood," she whispered, touching the cold metal armor covering it. "You
gave me your destiny."
For the first time since her spirit severing, a crack appeared in the gray mirror of her eyes.
It wasn't a tear. It was a fracture.
[System Alert: User Distress Detected.] [Recommended Item: 'Memory Erasure Pill'. Cost:
10,000 Points.] [You have 0 Points. Please acquire currency to purchase.]
Su Mei laughed. It was a harsh, jagged sound that echoed endlessly in the frozen hall.
"I can't even afford to forget you," she said.
She leaned her head back against the cold throne.
"Well played, Li Wei. Well played."