Chapter 169 Divergence

Luo Huayi turned around and saw Xin Que sitting cross-legged in front of the living room's French windows, holding a soda can, seemingly lost in thought.

The sky outside the floor-to-ceiling windows was still gray, making the villa seem even darker.

The woman's back view exuded a loneliness that seemed out of place in this stalled world.

"What are you thinking about?" He sat down next to Xin Que, clutching the soda can, and followed her gaze to the ruins outside the window.

There's nothing to see.

Xin Que snapped out of her reverie, her voice devoid of emotion, "I'm thinking about how to restore the city to its original state after everything is completely over."

That's half true and half false.

Luo Huayi's gaze shifted from the ruins outside the window to the profile of the woman beside her.

"I..." He fell silent, his mind subconsciously following Xin Que's words.

“I’m quite proficient at controlling space now,” Luo Huayi finally spoke after a long pause. He held out his palm, gesturing for Xin Que to focus her attention on him. “Look.”

A small, scaled-down projection of the villa floated above the man's palm.

“I can now replicate a space almost identical to the old Luo family mansion he created.” The title of King Biancheng has been completely erased, and Luo Huayi can no longer utter his name.

After a pause, Luo Huayi looked at the woman's face so close to his own, his expression softening unconsciously. "Give me a little more time. I have the confidence to build a city..."

He tried to lessen the sense of incongruity surrounding Xin Que.

"Xin Que, if I could build the world you desire, would you be willing..."

Xin Que didn't hear a word he was saying.

Her attention was indeed focused on the spatial compression projection in Luo Huayi's palm, but her thoughts were racing in the opposite direction.

The power to construct spaces may have more uses than just deceiving prisons.

“Luo Huayi,” Xin Que interrupted the man, “I need to go to the place where King Taishan fell.”

Luo Huayi choked up.

Before he could compose himself, he saw the woman beside him casually place the can on the floor and get up to walk towards the villa's gate.

He had no time to think about anything else and immediately got up to catch up with her.

The two walked one after the other through the silent, abandoned city, oblivious to the passage of time and the fatigue of physical exertion.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, the two finally stopped outside the ruins of the square in the center of the city.

The massive stone statue had collapsed and shattered in the ruins, but because the prison had forcibly cut off the map signal, the statue's remains had not disappeared.

Luo Huayi watched as Xin Que nimbly climbed up the broken boulder, somewhat puzzled.

But he still followed behind her, climbing up the broken stone statue with her.

“It will take a little time to decipher…” Xin Que finally stopped on the stone statue’s wrist.

Luo Huayi couldn't help but ask her, "What are you trying to find here?"

Xin Que turned to look at Luo Huayi and gave an ambiguous answer, "Find something that can restore this city."

The King of Mount Tai's authority allows him to control the entire map to serve the prison. If his authority can be deciphered, coupled with Luo Huayi's ability to construct space...

Perhaps Xin Que can find a completely new path.

On the way back, the atmosphere between the two remained as quiet and silent as when they arrived.

But Luo Huayi's unease grew stronger.

He always felt that Xin Que was like a kite without a string, and that she would be blown away by the wind at any time.

Luo Huayi slowly stopped walking.

Xin Que had excellent hearing. After hearing the footsteps behind her disappear, she turned around and looked at Luo Huayi, as if asking him why he had suddenly stopped.

Luo Huayi moved her lips, but ultimately said nothing, silently lifting her foot to follow her.

There have been so many things happening lately, and it's all so chaotic.

Qu Huan, with those idols, made a mess of the world... Although Xin Que eventually succeeded in eliminating this huge threat, they also paid a heavy price.

The entire city perished in the fierce battle between Qu Huan and Xin Que.

There are no living people left.

In the entire world, only a few of them remained.

As the only survivor in the city who could move freely, Luo Huayi didn't feel much joy at surviving. Instead, she fell into a state of anxiety and uncertainty about being homeless.

This fear of loss made him desperately want to cling to Xin Que as a lifeline.

In fact, she is the pillar of his mental strength that allows him to maintain a normal way of thinking.

Fortunately, Xin Que was still by his side, and he could still focus his attention on her, deceiving himself that he had someone important with him.

At least I'm not all alone.

But Xin Que's indifferent attitude was almost too much for Luo Huayi to handle.

No matter how much he deceived himself, he could not escape the glaring truth—Xin Que did not belong to this world.

All her actions were paving the way for her departure.

As for himself... he was just an insignificant ant in Qu Huan's eyes, and the gap between him and Xin Que and the others was probably more than just a world.

He has always been unwilling to think deeply about his own existence and the composition of this world.

But while he was being held captive by Qu Huan at the club, he had already witnessed the answer firsthand amidst the corpses strewn everywhere.

He is a program, he is data, but he is not a real person.

If that's the case, Xin Que's attitude towards him is perfectly understandable.

Humans don't develop feelings for a program that can be cleared and deleted at any time.

Moreover, Xin Que is a victim who is passively imprisoned here.

The answer was so oppressive it was suffocating, bringing him to the brink of collapse.

Now, after experiencing various changes, this oppressive loneliness in the dead city has reached its peak.

Xin Que paused in her steps.

The man's tall figure loomed over Xin Que from behind, and the scalding heat of his palms seeped through his sleeves to Xin Que's wrists.

"I'm a little tired..." Luo Huayi gently leaned her against the wall and lowered his head to rest his forehead against the woman's warm neck. "Can we rest for a while?"

Xin Que wasn't used to being so close to someone. Just as she was about to raise her hand to push the man away, she noticed a warm, damp sensation sliding down her skin and into her collar.

She paused, "Why are you crying?"

Having gone through so many storylines with Luo Huayi, although things seemed harmonious on the surface, Xin Que was actually mostly using him. The few times she showed him leniency were merely attempts to win him over and deepen their cooperative relationship.

Perhaps it was because she had experienced too much in reality that she had long since discarded some of the cumbersome emotions that would affect her actions... Xin Que could not understand most of Luo Huayi's complicated emotions.

She couldn't understand why, even though she had only asked four words, the man in front of her burst into tears as if a tear tube had been punctured, quickly soaking Xin Que's collar.

Xin Que is numb.