Chapter 120

The moment he closed his eyes, the side effects of overloading himself with faith power erupted. Nerve pain, dizziness, and nausea surged up like a tidal wave, almost drowning Xie Xubai's consciousness.

Xie Xubai was well aware of how chaotic his mental world was and how desperately he needed help to heal. However, Pei Yuheng had not yet awakened his mental power, the little black octopus was missing, and the gold-rimmed glasses had no healing abilities.

Given his current mental strength, unless one opens their heart first, it is generally impossible for anyone to break through his psychological defenses.

Even if someone could do it, the risk of letting a stranger enter the world of consciousness is too great; Xie Xubai cannot gamble on it.

So he chose to endure the pain and wait for it to heal itself.

Before falling into a coma, Xie Xubai deliberately adjusted his expression, presenting just the right amount of fatigue. He then decisively severed his connection with his body to prevent nerve pain from causing muscle spasms, thus alerting Pei Yuheng to his predicament.

The pain was unbearable, even more intense than the first awakening, making even thinking a heart-wrenching ordeal.

Because the injury is to the soul, one cannot even escape it by falling into a coma.

Xie Xubai let out a difficult breath and sank his consciousness into the spiritual world.

The spiritual world is a reflection of a person's inner self. In the past, when looking inward into the spiritual world, there were mountains and rivers, flowers, trees, birds, beasts, insects, and fish. Within its confines, a world of its own was formed.

Now, whether it's because he's discovered his memories are false or because his mental world is in disarray, Xie Xubai looks up with difficulty, only to see a pale, empty expanse in his blurred vision.

He was stunned.

If Xie Xubai were in a normal state, he would easily discover his inner vulnerability and promptly restrain and adjust himself.

But now he only has one thought in his mind.

How can a person's spiritual world be a blank?

No, no, that's not right...!

The soul-wrenching pain didn't even make Xie Xubai blink, but the moment he realized that his past experiences might be false, he felt an unprecedented fear.

Xie Xubai frantically propped himself up, staggering as he rushed towards the vast expanse of white. A loud thud! It seemed he had crashed into some invisible barrier.

What is this? Could the world he disappeared from be hidden behind this barrier?

Xie Xubai's eyes widened suddenly, his hands clenched into fists, and he pounded on the barrier again and again, thud! thud! thud—!

The barrier developed cracks and shattered the next second, with a glimmer of light seemingly bursting out from the cracks.

Xie Xubai's eyes grew brighter and brighter. Ignoring the cut on his hand, he excitedly grabbed the sharp edge and pried it open to both sides!

Crack! A blinding flash of blood suddenly entered his field of vision.

Xie Xubai saw a dog, a familiar big dog.

The large dog sat cross-legged amidst the ruins, its face bearing old, charred wounds from sulfuric acid corrosion. Blood trickled down its face, seeping into its thick, coarse fur from the gruesome wounds before dripping onto the ground.

Xie Xubai's expression of surprise suddenly froze, and he murmured, "Ping An...?"

Looking at the old scars on his face, who else could it be but Ping An?

Reason told Xie Xubai that this was his mental world, and Ping An could not possibly be here.

But as he rushed forward and his hands touched the rough fur, the familiar sensation beneath his palms almost shattered his heart.

Is it an illusion? Could such a realistic scene be an illusion?

At that moment, the heavily injured behemoth lowered its head and forcefully shoved Xie Xubai's body forward.

Then, in a daze, Xie Xubai finally heard clearly that in the air there was not only Ping An's heavy and rapid breathing, but also a sharp ghostly cry like an infant's wail!

He looked up and saw the sky filled with the vengeful spirits of cats and dogs, so densely packed that they blotted out the sky.

Completely different from their cute and adorable appearance at home, these ghosts remained in a state of gruesome death, with torn flesh, broken limbs, and an aura of death that lingered around them.

A whistle came from a building not far away. Xie Xubai looked over suddenly, and his excellent eyesight allowed him to spot a familiar figure.

Even after a long time, he still recognized him at a glance. The arrogant man on the high-rise building, holding a whistle, was none other than Zhang Bin, who wanted to refine Ping An into a monster!

But Zhang Bin is dead!

Before he could think it through, the ghosts who heard the whistle went berserk. Their eyes, filled with bloody tears, were filled with resentment and struggle from being controlled. They opened their bloody mouths and pounced straight at him!

Xie Xubai was startled and subconsciously tried to use his mental power, but the golden light did not appear, and he could not sense any trace of his mental power.

With the sharp fangs almost within reach, he quickly raised his arms to protect his head.

The pain didn't increase; instead, he heard several muffled "plop plop" sounds.

Xie Xubai suddenly opened his eyes and saw Ping An's claws blocking his way, being frantically torn apart by several vengeful spirits, with blood splattering everywhere.

"Safety!!"

In that instant, Xie Xubai's vision went black, and his mind went blank.

He picked up the broken plank from the ground and frantically tried to rush forward to drive away the ghosts, but Gouzi Ping'an carefully pressed him down on his stomach with his paws, letting him shout and yell, refusing to let go of him even a little.

Xie Xubai heard the vengeful spirits roar after they had eaten. The roars sounded like a satisfied sigh after a full meal, or like a howl of despair.

They heard more sounds of fur being torn apart, and the bones of the peaceful body being crushed by vengeful spirits, making a crunching sound.

Hearing the blood gushing out, splashing onto the ground, forming viscous puddles on the broken surface.

"Run, Ping An! Why aren't you running! Don't worry about me, run! Do you hear me, Ping An!"

Xie Xubai was frantic! He reached up and tried to pry Ping An's claws off, but accidentally touched something hard and cold.

It seems to be... chains.

Yes, chains formed with magic.

Therefore, Ping An cannot escape, he cannot run away.

In an instant, Xie Xubai felt as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over his head. His pupils trembled as he looked up and met a single, scarlet eye staring at him.

"Waaah..."

Peace gazed at it quietly, gradually becoming covered in a layer of damp mist. Finally, it gritted its teeth fiercely, turned its head, opened its mouth, and bit several vengeful spirits. Amidst the shrill screams, it swallowed them whole, absorbing their strange power, and its body continued to swell.

Then, Ping An rushed towards Zhang Bin's location!

The blood-red chains, like thorny brambles, wrapped around Ping An's massive body, tearing apart its bones and shattering its leg bones, causing even more blood to fall like rain.

Ping An, with all its might, bit the panicked Zhang Bin. Its shattered shadow was reflected in Xie Xubai's wide-open pupils at the last moment—

"Safety!!!"

Xie Xubai's eyes were bloodshot, and he rushed forward without regard for anything else, only to crash into an invisible barrier once again.

Boom! The new barrier was smashed open, and fragments fell to the ground.

Just like jumping from one scene to another while playing a game, Xie Xubai saw Ping An again.

The battered dog seemed to be fleeing for its life, pursued by menacing ghosts that howled shrilly. Wherever the eerie death aura passed, nothing grew, and cries of anguish filled the air.

The big dog accidentally spotted Xie Xubai standing blankly by the roadside. Its eyes widened, and it rushed over, grabbing the young man by the back of his collar.

Before Xie Xubai could even rejoice at seeing Ping An alive, the next second a blood-red chain appeared around Ping An's neck, pulling her backward.

The man and the dog were caught off guard and were sent flying backward, falling into the surging tide of vengeful spirits.

"Aaaaaah!"

Countless vengeful spirits bit into his body, and excruciating pain assaulted Xie Xubai's entire body, causing him to scream involuntarily.

A strong force came from behind his collar; it was Ping An who, at the last moment, used all his strength to throw him out of the encirclement of vengeful spirits.

"No! Peace!!!"

Before he could finish speaking, a loud bang came from behind Xie Xubai, the sound of the barrier being shattered once again.

...How many deaths were there?

Xie Xubai's mind, filled with pain and resentment, could not be counted.

Only on a few occasions did Ping An avoid dying together with the vengeful spirit and Zhang Bin. His dying body heaved violently under his palm, gradually becoming cold and still. His unfocused pupils lost their luster, turning gray and lifeless.

Xie Xubai covered his mouth, coughing up blood from his hoarse throat, unable to even scream anymore.

He had never felt so powerless, like someone who had accidentally fallen into a swamp and was sinking deeper the more he struggled, unable to break free. Fear filled his mouth and nose, and the rapid loss of oxygen brought him to the brink of suffocation.

As another barrier shattered before Xie Xubai, he glimpsed through the cracks fiery red scales and a pair of blood-red beast eyes filled with madness.

The crimson-scaled monster that blotted out the sky was Jiang Kaile, his first student.

By the time Xie Xubai realized this, the flames spewed from the monster's mouth had already turned the city buildings into a fiery inferno.

The fire was merciless, distorting the air and burning the vegetation and pedestrians along the way to charred ashes, which spread all the way to his feet.

Xie Xubai's mind was filled with the image of Ping An's death, and his eyes reflected the desperate roar of the red-scaled monster, which finally became damp with mist.

At that very moment, a pair of hands suddenly reached out from behind him and pulled him back a step.

This step seemed to isolate space, keeping the terrifying flames out and preventing them from getting any closer to Xie Xubai.

The hand covered Xie Xubai's eyes, and the woman's gentle voice came from above: "Your father once proved with his own experience that forgetting is the brain's protective mechanism. Excessive and complicated information, or intense grief or joy, can put a huge burden on the brain... There is no need to force yourself to recall memories."

"Son, when you can't hold on anymore, when you're too scared, it's not shameful to run away."

Xie Xubai: "..."

He murmured, his lips trembling as he grasped the woman's hand and slowly pulled her palm away.

Seeing the young man's extremely unstable state, his trembling shoulders, and his tense muscles, the woman thought several times that he would lose control and turn around.

However, for several seconds, Xie Xubai simply stared motionlessly at the red-scaled monster in the sea of ​​fire, until he sorted out all the details into clues, took them into his mind, and understood them clearly.

He stated in a hoarse voice, "Those weren't my hallucinations; they were history that actually happened, weren't they?"

His tone still carried a trace of unresolved pain, yet remained calm and composed.

Given the prospect of Zhou Chaosheng's theory of reincarnation, it's not surprising that one might think of oneself as someone who has also been reborn.

A woman's helpless sigh came from above, which also seemed to carry a hint of relief.

"So, do you really exist?" Xie Xubai pinched his trembling fingers and asked as steadily as possible, "And what am I? Am I a human, an experimental subject, or a monster disguised as a human?"

It's no wonder Xie Xubai had such suspicions.

When his past experiences are denied, when he feels a strange sense of familiarity while collecting the power of faith, and when he can't find any trace of his mother giving birth to him in the world, he will always question his identity, his background, and even his existence.

The woman behind him remained motionless for a long time. Xie Xubai remained outwardly calm, but inwardly his heart was tightening and aching.

The next instant, a soft laugh escaped the woman's lips.

An invisible force lifted Xie Xubai into the air and spun him around several times like a whirlwind.

Caught off guard, Xie Xubai felt dizzy and frantically shouted, "Wait, stop!"

The woman's voice rose at the end, her tone harsh and aggressive. She reached out and pinched Xie Xubai's cheek, twisting it upwards: "You brat! Now that you're taller, you think you're all grown up and have grown wings? You've learned to use that high-pitched tone to test your mother?"

Xie Xubai: "..."

He bit his lower lip tightly, staring intently at the woman's face, his eyes still moist, and his face silently turned completely red.

The woman's heart skipped a beat when she saw those moist eyes. She hugged him and chuckled in a nonchalant tone, "Who are you? You are the son I raised with great difficulty, the master of Ping An, the teacher of Jiang Kaile, and Xie Xubai, whom everyone knows."

“You are you, unique. You’re not some monster that can go out of control, nor do you have any strange or unusual identity.” The woman patted Xie Xubai’s back, then suddenly changed the subject, stroking her chin and saying, “Well, you can’t say that. If we’re talking about extraordinary identities, my sons actually have two… or maybe three?”

Xie Xubai didn't feel awkward being held in the woman's arms. He raised his hand and saw that it was a small, pale hand, looking like that of a five or six-year-old.

Sure enough, he shrank.

Xie Xubai remained silent, nestled in the woman's warm embrace, clinging to her like a koala. Only when the woman paused did he nuzzle her shoulder with his chin, signaling her to continue.

The woman's heart softened as she was being rubbed against him. She smiled and sat down on the ground, facing Xiao Xubai. She tapped his head with her fingertip and said, "To prevent your head from exploding, I'll give you one hint first."

"Bai Bai, do you know how amazing you are?"

Seeing Xiao Xubai shake his head, the woman raised an eyebrow and praised him directly: "People cannot absorb information beyond their cognition. This 'information' is not only in quality, but also in quantity."

“Ordinary people, like that crazy player you encountered, will lose themselves and their rationality will collapse after dying a few times. Extraordinary people, like your father Pei Yuheng, have high enough mental strength after awakening, but they can only absorb the memories of a few lifetimes. They can't go any further and will become mentally disabled.”

“But you are different.” The woman gently rubbed Xiao Xubai’s cheek. “Have you noticed? Even after witnessing so many painful memories and constantly experiencing the loss of loved ones, you are still able to remain clear-headed. You can’t find another person in the whole world with such mental fortitude.”

Xiao Xubai was silent for a while, probably finding it unbelievable himself, and he couldn't help but ask, "Am I a cyborg?"

“No…that’s precisely why it’s incredible.” The woman answered without hesitation, her gaze softening as she brushed aside the stray hairs obscuring the child’s eyes. “You are a miracle, one in billions.”

As she spoke, a powerful spiritual force gently erupted, emanating in a circular pattern from Xie Xubai's mental world, like spring rain nourishing the earth silently, soothing the disorder and healing the cracks in his skin.

Outside.

The woman sitting on the bench ruffled the young man's hair, and her non-denying attitude confirmed Pei Yuheng's guess.

Almost instantly, Pei Yuheng frowned: "Since you knew he was looking for you, why didn't you show yourself before?"

Given the woman's strange appearance, Pei Yuheng couldn't help but wonder if she might have some unspeakable secret. He withdrew his hand at the last moment before trying to wake Xie Xubai to face the world.

However, seeing Xie Xubai's distraught state after failing to find anyone several times, Pei Yuheng couldn't help but feel heartbroken for his own child and take his anger out on the woman's indifference.

In addition, Pei Yuheng also had many doubts in his mind.

Instead of giving a direct answer, the woman asked him, "Do you believe that history is inevitable?"

Pei Yuheng was completely bewildered upon hearing this. Observing the woman's expression, he cautiously replied, "It exists. According to existing theories, historical development is linked to the social form of the current era, and there is a causal relationship. It is constrained by the fundamental contradictions within things and cannot be changed by individual will."

The woman remained noncommittal, then pointed to a passerby: "Do you think he might trip and fall while crossing the intersection?"

Pei Yuheng looked closely and saw that the passerby hadn't noticed their conversation. He was looking down at his phone as he walked, and was only a few steps away from the intersection the woman had mentioned.

Pei Yuheng's first reaction was that he couldn't possibly have predicted the man's direction, but under the woman's meaningful gaze, his vision suddenly appeared with layers of overlapping images, like an illusion.

He seemed to see the passerby walking forward without looking up. When he was almost at the intersection, a shared bicycle suddenly rushed out from beside him. The person on the bicycle shouted in a panic, which startled the passerby. In his haste, the passerby missed a step!

Pei Yuheng said, "...Yes."

In just two seconds, his vision blurred, and a shared bicycle sped out from the left lane. The driver shouted repeatedly, "Get out of the way! Get out of the way!"

The passerby suddenly looked up, and just as Pei Yuheng had predicted, he missed a step and fell to the ground with a thud: "Ouch! Ouch... my phone!"

The driver immediately stopped the car and ran over to help the person.

Pei Yuheng was stunned by the commotion, then turned to the woman with a look of astonishment: "What just happened?"

"Even after a stone has been polished and washed clean, the marks remain. Just as the same thing, when experienced many times, will leave an indelible mark on the depths of a person's soul."

The woman said, "Look again, do you think that person's phone will fall a second time?"

Pei Yuheng focused his attention and looked again.

Just like before, he saw a faint double image before his eyes. After carefully discerning it, he said, "Yes."

The woman smiled and said, "I guess not."

Pei Yuheng was startled again. Before he could speak, the passerby, who had been helped to the tree by the car owner, pulled his hand away in annoyance. However, he pulled too hard and stumbled backward, stepping into the bushes with a thud.

The cat that was lazing around inside suddenly bristled and snarled, leaping up and slapping the passerby hard with its claws. The passerby yelled, "Damn it! Damn it!" and fell backward, his phone flying out of his hand!

Now that the phone has fallen to the ground, it's almost a foregone conclusion.

Suddenly, the woman raised her hand, and an invisible vortex of air rushed over, quickly snatched the phone, and shoved it back into the passerby's hand.

"..." Upon seeing this, Pei Yuheng exclaimed, "Isn't this cheating?"

"Otherwise what?" The woman said with a smile, unashamed. "History is inevitable and cannot be changed by individual will. If you want to change history, you have to be inhuman."

Perhaps it was because he had been through so much with Xie Xubai, but Pei Yuheng subtly discerned the double meaning in the woman's words.

He carefully chose his words, trying to extract more information, when he suddenly noticed a chilling white mist forming around the two passersby, spreading outwards like sharp claws.

In an instant, the temperature in the air dropped by at least twenty degrees, and eerie, mournful screams could be faintly heard in the white mist.

Pei Yuheng sensed danger, his hair stood on end, and he reached out to back Xie Xubai.

Before she could even utter the word "run," the woman raised her hand again, and a stream of air shot out like blades. What seemed like a light and easy strike actually carried an irresistible pressure, shattering the white mist into dust!

Pei Yuheng's breath hitched. Xie Xubai had once told him that, if he remembered correctly, those wriggling white mists represented the power of rules that even the Fu Group couldn't overcome!

But the woman couldn't completely suppress the white mist. After the mist was shattered, some wisps remained in the air, creeping towards them with a chilling and dangerous edge, like venomous snakes spitting their tongues.

The woman shrugged helplessly: "See? I also want to spend some quality time with my little one, but there are always some shady idiots who can't stand seeing others living happily ever after."

She stood up and gently kissed Xie Xubai on the forehead before looking at Pei Yuheng.

Pei Yuheng thought she had some instructions, but the woman remained silent and leaned closer.

The two drew closer and closer, and Pei Yuheng subconsciously leaned back until his back was against the chair, with nowhere left to retreat. He held his breath and met the woman's playful gaze. For no reason, he felt his heart race and didn't know where to put his hands.

He harbored a lingering doubt, one he dared not ask Xie Yuchun directly: whether the other woman was his wife.

Judging from this situation, well, it seems so?

To everyone's surprise, the woman curled her lips into a smile, but instead of kissing him as expected, she stopped at just the right spot.

"What mischief are you thinking, junior?" the woman asked teasingly.

At this distance, just a fingertip away, their noses would collide, their hot breaths mingling.

Pei Yuheng could clearly see the thick, raven-feather-like eyelashes, and the breathtakingly beautiful colors hidden deep within Shen Jing's eyes.

"No!" Pei Yuheng turned his head away in a panic. "What did you call me? Junior...?"

The woman's eyes widened instantly: "So, you heartless bastard, you don't even recognize me anymore! Our son is all grown up, and you just say you don't recognize him?"

Pei Yuheng searched his memory but couldn't find any recollection of ever knowing the woman. Feeling utterly speechless, and meeting the woman's tearful gaze, he panicked: "No, please let me explain, I, I might—"

But then, a soft laugh was heard.

He looked at her blankly, but there was no sign of the woman about to cry; all he saw was the slyness of someone who had successfully tricked him.

Pei Yuheng was stunned for a moment, then felt both annoyed and amused: "You really are something else!"

"Really what?" Pei Yuheng suddenly stammered, unable to speak. The woman seemed to have anticipated his anger, and promptly smiled and took a few steps back, stopping on the empty sidewalk.

With that movement, her presence seemed to be completely revealed. The entire block was awakened, and white mist surged wildly into the air, like a hundred-meter tsunami crashing down on the woman's location!

Pei Yuheng exclaimed in shock: "Get out of the way!"

The woman remained motionless, her gentle gaze fixed on Xie Xubai, as if waiting for something.

Meanwhile, Yan Shuo, who had entered the time tunnel, finally found the historical point that he found strange and inappropriate.

—He will see Xie Xubai as a child.

Author's Note:

It's so laggy, so incredibly laggy, it's addictive, I can't stop watching QAQ