Chapter 92

The drowsiness receded slowly, like the tide.

Yun Zhan opened her eyes, and an old-fashioned ceiling light came into view. The edge of the milky white lampshade was chipped off; it was the one she had broken when she was seventeen years old while moving a stool.

Her heart suddenly raced, and she sat up abruptly. The blanket slipped off her shoulders, and the feel of the fabric against her skin was so real it sent shivers down her spine.

A faint scent of laundry detergent lingered in the air, mixed with the dampness unique to the old wooden furniture.

Yun Zhan slowly turned her head. The beige curtains were half-drawn, and sunlight streamed through the familiar gap, landing right on the upper left corner of the desk... There, she had once carved a faint "Z" with a craft knife, the mark now polished smooth by the years.

She has traveled through more than twenty worlds and has long forgotten what her original home looked like.

Everything here is perfectly intact, even the angle of the plush bear on the bedside table matches my memory.

It was as if she had simply woken up from a nap, rather than having traversed countless worlds...

Surprise surged through my spine like an electric current, both strange and familiar, like touching my childhood through frosted glass.

"Why did they come back?..."

Yun Zhan landed barefoot, and the floorboards creaked softly. The sound was so real that it frightened her.

She would be more accepting of it if it were just an illusion.

If we really go back, then what will happen to Shi Mingyue...?

"This is the place where I first found you."

21's voice rang out in the air, tinged with rare hesitation: "So, you've come back?"

"Yes, I think so. I've gone home."

Yun Zhan took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

She had fantasized countless times about returning to this moment, opening the window, seeing the familiar street scene, and hearing the sound of her neighbor's spatula as they cooked...

But when she was actually there, another name was churning in her mind.

"Shi Mingyue..." Yun Zhan called softly, his voice echoing in the empty room, like a prayer that went unanswered.

"I checked, and it seems you touched the nexus of the previous world, which caused the mission to be completed and sent you back... Remember what we agreed on? The girls' school world was the last one."

"Just opening a book counts as completing the task?" Yun Zhan started to get angry, his brows furrowing involuntarily. How could this be considered completing the task?!

"So, it was a system bug, but you are indeed back now."

Yun Zhan sat on the edge of the bed, his back hunched, his hands hanging between his knees, his knuckles unconsciously digging into the mattress.

A single bug, as light as dust, was enough to send Yun Zhan crashing into a hole.

Yun Zhan wanted to curse, but when she opened her mouth, she found that there was no one to vent to. This had nothing to do with 21. She was the only one in the room, and even the evening glow was silent.

Yun Zhan could only swallow his words, his throat tightening as if he had swallowed a mouthful of broken glass.

Outside the window, the last vestige of orange-red was fading away. She watched as that color was slowly swallowed by the roof, and an indescribable sense of sorrow welled up inside her.

She once desperately wanted to come back, completing countless missions just to return to this room, to the so-called "origin".

But now, she has someone she wants to protect, and a destination she wants to reach, yet she has been pulled back by an unseen hand.

The sunset finally faded, the streetlights came on, and the light spots fell at her feet like a severed fuse.

She lowered her head, her fingertips unconsciously tracing the faded embroidery on the bed sheet. It was a small jasmine flower, the embroidery thread frayed, like a memory repeatedly caressed by the years.

Yun Zhan closed his eyes, but in the darkness, all he could see was Shi Mingyue's shadow.

When I wanted to go back, I couldn't; now that I want to stay, I've been mistakenly sent back.

This is probably what they call the cruel twist of fate.

"I'll ask the main system to fix this bug and tell it that you didn't complete the task." 21 could totally understand Yun Zhan's feelings.

"As soon as possible."

Yun Zhan sat uneasily on the bed, telling the main system that correcting the error... was not that simple.

...

The bathroom door was flung open, and before the steam could escape, Shi Mingyue staggered out, her bare feet hitting the cold floor. Water droplets dripped from her hair and clothes, leaving her looking disheveled.

She was horrified to discover that... Yun Zhan's body was becoming transparent.

Like ink diluted by water, like smoke scattered by the wind, like a dream that can never be grasped...

Shi Mingyue lunged forward, her knees slamming onto the floor with a dull thud, but she felt no pain. She grabbed Yun Zhan's hand and pulled him into her arms.

Shi Mingyue felt Yun Zhan's hand slipping through her fingers, like quicksand, like an avalanche, like the tide receding and taking away the last bit of warmth.

"Yun Zhan! Can you hear me? You...you're leaving, aren't you?"

Her voice was broken beyond recognition, filled with sobs, despair, and an almost frantic plea.

Shi Mingyue desperately tightened her fingers, her nails digging deep into Yun Zhan's hand, but she couldn't stop the warmth from dissipating.

Yun Zhan's hand disappeared inch by inch from her palm, without any response...

Shi Mingyue's tears rolled down, scalding hot, and landed on Yun Zhan's disappearing hand, but they didn't cause any ripples.

She wanted to hug Yun Zhan tightly, but found that her arms were passing through the body that was becoming transparent.

She couldn't hold him, she couldn't keep him; she could only watch helplessly as the person she loved left her on this utterly ordinary night...

Despair, like a tide, gradually engulfed her mouth and nose.

She cried until her throat was hoarse, her eyes ached, and even breathing became difficult.

This was even more desperate than the last time they faced life and death. Yun Zhan was still alive, but he could no longer touch that person; he was still breathing, but he could no longer hear Yun Zhan's voice.

Shi Mingyue's voice trembled with anxiety: "You promised to have a wedding with me! You said you'd graduate next year..."

Shi Mingyue pressed her forehead against the fading light and shadow, her voice lowered, pleading with a sob in her voice: "Why is this happening...? Didn't you choose to stay by my side and ignore the truth...? Yun Zhan... I just want you to stay by my side."

Shi Mingyue raised her eyes, and Yun Zhan's blurry outline was reflected in her red-rimmed eyes, like a reflection about to shatter in a mirror.

Choking back tears, she could barely utter a complete sentence, yet stubbornly called out again and again, "Yun Zhan... Yun Zhan... don't leave me..."

Her last cry was swallowed by sobs. She knelt on the cold floor, embracing the disappearing body as if it were driftwood about to be swept away by the tide.

"What will I do if you leave..."

The echoes faded away, leaving her alone, along with the fading light that filled the room.

The last speck of light vanished from my fingertip, and the air suddenly became still, so still that even my heartbeat lost its echo.

Shi Mingyue remained kneeling, her arms still frozen in mid-air, like a thread that had been suddenly severed, leaving her without any support.

A few seconds later, her shoulders trembled slightly, as if pierced by an ice pick; her breath caught in her throat, but she couldn't make a sound.

She slowly withdrew her hand, her palm empty, her knuckles bluish-white from the excessive force.

Shi Mingyue lowered her head, staring blankly at the spotless floor where no trace remained. Her gaze shifted from emptiness to confusion, then to a chilling crimson...

All emotions collapsed in an instant.

She huddled at the foot of the bed, her arms wrapped tightly around her knees, her nails digging into her flesh. Her disheveled hair fell down, covering half her face, but it couldn't hide the madness in her eyes.

The world spun around her, the walls tilted, the lights distorted, and everything lost its sense of reality.

She couldn't hear her own heartbeat; all she could hear were a few words exploding repeatedly in her mind.

"Why did you choose to stay, yet still disappear?"

Didn't we promise to stay with her? Didn't we promise to stay with her? Didn't we promise to stay with her?

"No, someone must be behind this... Who exactly wants to take Yun Zhan away??"

Yun Zhan will not leave me. I will kill the person who took her away!

Kill the person who took her away, kill the person who took her away, kill the person who took her away.

Then, when Yun Zhan was brought back, Shi Mingyue buried her face in her hands, her eyes bloodshot. Yun Zhan wanted to marry her...

How could it be taken away?

When her last thought exploded, the crimson in her eyes completely solidified into a frenzied killing intent.

She suddenly looked up, her eyes filled with despair amidst her disheveled hair, her lips bleeding from where she had bitten them, yet she felt no pain.

A name was spat out between clenched teeth, carrying a venomous hatred.

"Bai Jichen...is that you??"

This was the first time she had felt such a strong urge to kill; even her fingertips were trembling.

She wasn't angry about the rules, but about Bai Jichen's broken promise. Apart from Bai Jichen, she really couldn't think of anyone else who could take Yun Zhan away.

They had clearly agreed that if she gave up the mission, Yun Zhan would stay by her side, but now she's taken Yun Zhan away from her at her happiest moment!

She wanted to kill Bai Jichen; this thought wasn't born of anger, but rather a twisted obsession.

Her reason was consumed by hatred; she was like a mother beast whose cubs had been taken away, left only with the most primal instinct to bite.

Thunder rumbled outside the window, raindrops pounded against the glass like countless tiny mocking laughs. Shi Mingyue stood in the lightning, her disheveled hair flying wildly, a twisted fire burning in her eyes—

She was no longer dignified, no longer gentle, and only had one thought left: to win Yun Zhan back... even if it meant falling into hell herself.

The phone screen lit up with a cold light. Shi Mingyue dialed the number extremely quickly. As soon as the call connected, her voice was low and cold, with an unprecedented ruthlessness: "Investigate every place Yun Zhan went to this afternoon and every person he met."

Bai Jichen, right?

She would dig three feet into the ground to find her.