The Last Door
Shi Youchen didn't know whether his tracking had been exposed, but the two men didn't look back. They moved forward, passing by herds of cattle and sheep and several small lakes, and finally arrived at the foot of a snow-capped mountain.
Yan Zhiyuan and An She tacitly kept a distance from each other and looked at each other from a distance.
"It's been three months. Have you ever regretted it in these three months?" Yan Zhiyuan asked, looking at An She's appearance which was completely different from the past.
An She took off half of his outer robe leisurely and said, "I don't regret what I did. If I have to say, I have indeed had a hard time during this period, but it is not the kind of hardship you think." The milky white singlet he wore inside was too loose and did not suit his current body shape. He had lost a lot of weight.
"It's the torment of waiting for you to find me, but not knowing when you will find me."
The look in Yan Zhiyuan's eyes when he looked at An She no longer contained the initial respect, but more of a kind of determination.
An She unbuttoned the top button of his collar, letting the wind penetrate his body. He asked Yan Zhiyuan, "Do you believe in fate?" Yan Zhiyuan replied without any emotion, "I only believe that man can conquer nature." Therefore, he also firmly believed that everyone should pay the corresponding price for their actions.
Case: "What would you do if the truth you have always held on to no longer existed?"
Yan Zhiyuan frowned.
An Qi: "I used to believe in the Association as the truth, and I looked upon it as a god. I did my best to complete all its orders and missions... Unfortunately, my truth no longer exists."
Yan Zhiyuan remained unmoved. "Just because of a fugitive? You denied yourself, denied us who followed you, and denied the Association itself, which has protected humanity for centuries. Now you say your truth no longer exists."
"Yes, I'm extremely disappointed with it." An She suddenly became excited. "I know you don't trust me at the moment, but at some point in the future you will agree with me."
Yan Zhiyuan raised his hand and clenched it with his palm facing upwards, and the abundant water vapor in the air began to mobilize and condense.
Seeing this, An She's tone grew a bit more anxious. "Who defines the fugitives as those who are not? Not all of them harbor disloyal intentions. The real threat to the world lies not with them, but with those who follow and support the system. They blindly uphold the cage of the Association, trapping everyone inside, unable to hear the outside voices or see the truth."
A spear-like object gradually condensed in Yan Zhiyuan's hand. Because of the high adaptability to the surrounding environment, the condensation this time was more efficient than when he had just learned to control the energy form. The density and strength of the ice spear he created were obviously several levels higher.
The man opposite Anshe was still conveying his views: "Zhiyuan, people are not born divided into different classes. People with special abilities are all human beings. Before we are defined as 'people with special abilities' by the system, we are first and foremost free people!"
Yan Zhiyuan looked at his pitiful and seemingly crazy captain with a sad heart, "Who on earth has bewitched you to this extent?" The crystal ice spear was tightly held in his hand, and did not melt at all because of the temperature in his palm.
"Our understanding of this world is simply not comprehensive enough, and we need to be more..." Before An She finished speaking, he felt a biting cold spreading in his chest. He paused and looked down to see an ice spear stuck in his left chest. Fortunately, it did not penetrate and did not injure his heart.
Yan Zhiyuan knew that with An She's ability, it would only take a few minutes to repair this level of injury, so he immediately began to condense a second "weapon". He needed a weapon with higher precision and controllability, so he planned to condense it into an arrow or a sword directly in his hand.
An She's face turned pale. He pressed his chest with one hand and used the other hand to pull out the ice spear that was stuck in it. Then he grabbed the ice spear with blood dripping from the tip and walked towards Yan Zhiyuan.
The distance between them gradually closed. Although An She was a healing psychic and not particularly skilled in combat, defeating him was no easier for Yan Zhiyuan than defeating any of his previous fugitives. Furthermore, after his attack, An She now possessed a true weapon—the ice spear.
The half-formed ice sword in his hand was absorbed. Yan Zhiyuan changed his mind and decided not to make long-range weapons anymore, but to take advantage of the geographical advantages of this place.
Shi Youchen just happened to witness this scene when he emerged from the sparse bushes. He saw An She clutching his chest as he walked towards Yan Zhiyuan, a blood-stained spear in his hand, while Yan Zhiyuan was half-crouching with his hands on the ground.
"Chi La" was the sound of something being pierced, followed by several consecutive "Chi La" and "Chi La" sounds. The blood flowers blooming on Anshe's legs dyed the ground under his feet red. His soles and calves were pierced by the ice thorn flowers protruding from the ground, and he could not move.
The icicle had taken root in An She's calf. He couldn't pull it out, and the wound wouldn't heal, so he could only watch helplessly as Yan Zhiyuan approached. "You can't pull it out unless you rip your calf apart." After confirming that An She couldn't move, Yan Zhiyuan felt more at ease approaching. This way, he would have enough time and energy to break through An She's defenses.
However, when he stood in front of An She, he realized that perhaps he didn't need to think of any other way to break the "healing" energy defense, because -
The wound on Anshe's chest was still bleeding and showed no signs of healing.
"You..." Yan Zhiyuan's mind raced through several possibilities. Had An She's abilities weakened again? Or had they vanished? Or was he doing this on purpose, just to draw him closer?
Only then did Yan Zhiyuan notice that the blood had already drained from An She's face, and even his breathing was very weak.
"Yan Zhiyuan." An She's voice was so soft, so soft that Yan Zhiyuan could only hear it when he was so close. "Thank goodness it's you."
What does that mean? Before Yan Zhiyuan could react, something was stuffed into his hand.
It was An She who returned the ice spear to the hands of the man who had created it. With a "puff", An She grasped Yan Zhiyuan's cold hand and plunged the ice spear into his own chest once again.
This time, the ice spear pierced through, its tip stained twice with blood so the red was darker, like the skyline at night.
"I hope my death will help this world have fewer people in cages." An She's last words fell softly into Yan Zhiyuan's ears.
Yan Zhiyuan clearly felt through the ice spear in his hand that pierced An She's heart that the person in front of him had stopped heartbeating and breathing.
An She died standing in Yan Zhiyuan's arms.
Shi Youchen only saw the last few scenes and did not hear the conversation between the two. Just as he was standing there in a daze, watching Yan Zhiyuan close his eyes with his hands, he was handcuffed and pressed to the ground by someone who arrived behind him.
"Who are you? Why are you following me?!"
Yan Zhiyuan reacted upon hearing the noise and turned to the people holding Shi Youchen down, saying, "Don't hurt him. He's just a child from this tribe. He doesn't know the identity of the person involved... He has nothing to do with this."
The person behind Shi Youchen said, "No, according to the rules, he has to go back to the association with us."
"I said he has nothing to do with this matter. Didn't you understand?" A chill suddenly rose rapidly around them, chilling their bones. Yan Zhiyuan looked at Shi Youchen and said, "Let him go."
The person who was pressing down on Shi Youchen retreated reluctantly. "What is that?" he heard the person muttering softly as he got up.
Yan Zhiyuan squatted down and absorbed the energy from the ice thorns on the ground. Then he picked up An She's warm body and walked to the other side. As he passed by Youchen, he said, "He left a few books for you in your father's tent."
After Yan Zhiyuan and An She had completely vanished from view, Shi Youchen ran back to the camp the same way he had come. Panting, he ran straight into the largest tent and saw several books stacked on top of each other at the head of the bed.
"Study hard and be kind to your family. - S" There is a handwritten message on the title page of each book, left by An She.
Shi Youchen closed the book with a sense of disappointment. These were some animal medicine books that An She left for the child and had nothing to do with him.
He stood up in a daze and planned to leave. He opened the oilcloth door of the tent, but there was no grassland outside.
But it is a long corridor.
At the end of the corridor is a vermilion door.
The sounds of "da", "da", and "da" of footsteps echoed in the narrow space. Shi Youchen stood in front of the vermilion door. The door had no handle and was ajar. It could be pushed open with a light touch.
But Shi Youchen raised his hand, but hesitated to put it down. If the previous black doors represented An She's past, then this red door was obviously different from them. It might represent An She's end.
Throughout the story of the case, Shi Youchen has been an outsider, his only connection being Yan Zhiyuan. But this one connection has also become someone he cannot trust. Shi Youchen has no idea how to crack the case.
What if he falls into an illusion and can’t find a way to break it, what if he can’t get out? What will Lin Zhouze do then?
The half-closed red door was pushed open, and Shi Youchen opened his eyes on a sofa. He stood up and looked around, and found that this place was exactly the same as the association's dormitory for psychics, except that there were no soft furnishings.
Where was this? Was it An She's dorm? Or Yan Zhiyuan's old dorm? Shi Youchen nervously checked every room, finally confirming that there was no one else in the room besides him.
The "ding-ling" and "click" sounds seemed particularly loud in the silent space, and they came from the entrance.
Shi Youchen cautiously approached the source of the sound. After turning a corner and passing a white wall, he saw the dormitory door unlock automatically, a blue pattern lighting up. "Door open, please leave." The mechanical voice echoed in the living room and in Shi Youchen's mind. He finally remembered—
This is the health consultation center.
Instead of leaving immediately as instructed, he sat back on the sofa. He tested the bracelet, checked his vital signs, and reviewed past monitoring records. He discovered that his heartbeat had briefly stopped, but because the passage of time in the illusion was inaccurate, he couldn't determine when that had occurred.
At this moment, Shi Youchen understood something. Only when the information "behind the door" matched reality would the corridor appear and he could enter the next door. If it didn't match reality, he would need to actively break it. All the illusions before were training, and the final black door was the test of the training results.
Even someone like me, an "experimenter" who always maintained a high level of vigilance and avoided indulging in any beautiful illusions, was ultimately influenced by the protagonist's consciousness within the Black Gate, leading to self-doubt. Those with a weaker will or a less determined purpose would be very likely to be swallowed by the illusion.
"This is why they are afraid of this place." Shi Youchen thought.
In this way, he could find a reason for Yan Zhiyuan to betray the association. I'm afraid, as An She said, he recognized and acknowledged An She's last words, and made the decision with guilt towards the captain and anger towards the association.
As for what time...
Shi Youchen guessed that it was probably related to the incident that Lin Zhouze had revealed before, the incident in which Lin Zhouze persuaded Yan Zhiyuan to go to the health consultation center after empathizing with him.
"Please leave the room." The mechanical voice sounded again, as if urging Shi Youchen to leave quickly.
He couldn't figure out what was going on if he continued staying here, so Shi Youchen stood up and decided on a few important things to do after leaving.
But when he pushed open the door, there was a person standing outside the room which should have been empty.
The man's hair seemed to be longer, and the purple color inside was lighter. He was wearing a sleeveless vest, revealing several new scars on his arms, which obviously had not yet healed completely.
"Ying Yungui." Shi Youchen's voice made the man turn around, "Long time no see."
The last time the two of them met while both awake was several months ago. It was indeed a long time since they last saw each other.
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