World Rules
Kong Yue died, right in front of Lin Chaoying. She couldn't even remember what exactly happened in the past five days. She only remembered that the three of them were trapped in a cage... and then, Kong Yue kept bleeding... No matter how she tried to stop it, she couldn't stop it; no matter how she begged, she couldn't keep her; no matter how she fought, she couldn't beat her.
Finally, she felt as if her body was being slowly hollowed out, and she could no longer find any spiritual energy. That sudden, unfamiliar yet familiar power disappeared in an instant.
Her body gradually quieted down, her spirit waned, and the thoughts and emotions of resistance vanished along with that force. She even began to get used to the darkness and dampness, closing her eyes uncomfortably the moment she saw sunlight again.
When Qin Ming woke up, they were already on the plane, about to land.
The two looked at each other, speechless, blank and numb, devoid of emotion, joy at their escape, or even pain.
When Lin Chaoying got off the plane, she didn't see Jiang Chuangu. She only remembered that she kept taking a car, changing cars, and taking another car until she finally stopped in front of a big mountain. Superhumans in uniform put handcuffs and leg irons on the two of them and led them through an iron gate.
After passing through a tunnel several hundred meters long, several magnificent and ornate glass-encased high-rise buildings came into view. The two people quietly followed the guide, continued to take elevators, passed through corridors, and took elevators again. The white, jade-like walls were dazzlingly bright in the sunlight.
Upon reaching the 18th floor, Lin Chaoying was led to another room. A sign reading "Commander" hung on the door. Pushing open the door, she saw a middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses, a black trench coat over a white suit, two diagonal stripes on his shoulders, and a gold nameplate on his chest: Lin Yan.
Lin Yan looked up and saw the person entering. His serious expression immediately turned friendly, and he smiled and said, "You've arrived! Lin Chaoying, right? I am Lin Yan, the commander of the 12th Street of Yuzhou. You can call me Commander Lin."
Lin Chaoying nodded slightly, looked around, and then asked blankly, "Why did you bring me here? Where is Jiangchuan Valley?"
Lin Yan took two documents from his desk and placed them on the coffee table for guests. He gestured for them to sit down in the single sofa, crossed his arms, and said, "You can take a quick look at these two judgments. They are two solutions we discussed based on Jiang Chuan Gu's crimes. The first is brainwashing, erasing all memories of people with superpowers, including you. This would mean that he is 31 years old now and would have to erase 15 years of his memories. The time span is too large, and it is easy for him to become a vegetable or have cerebral palsy. The second option is to imprison him for thirty years."
Lin Chaoying stared blankly at the few sheets of paper. "Why are you telling me this?"
Lin Yan: "We need Jiang Chuan Gu's guardian or a relative to sign. He filled in your name. After you understand the situation, you can go to the underground prison to discuss it with him. After you confirm it, you can come back and sign it."
"Huh?" Lin Chaoying, who had been completely unmoved, finally showed some emotion and asked indifferently, "Where is Chu Tang?"
Lin Yan's expression stiffened, and he said, "You handled this case quite well..."
"I said! Where is Chu Tang!" Lin Chaoying interrupted him. "Did Jiang Chuangu commit a crime? Did he kill someone? Has the news been spread?"
Lin Yan took out a voice recorder, "He has repeatedly threatened public officials, and ordinary people too..."
Lin Chaoying grabbed a water glass from the table and threw it at him, shouting uncontrollably, "You beast! Threats can lead to conviction! You let Chu Tang go after she killed someone! You didn't care about Wu Liang and Wu Yang killing people! Why?! I'm asking you, why?!"
"Calm down," Lin Yan said. "We're not abandoning you!"
"I'm asking you..." Lin Chaoying's eyes were red, her body trembling like a leaf as she tried to suppress her emotions, and she questioned, "Was my brother's death something you were involved in? Did you know about Cen Ting, Feng Yang, and Chi Jiang's deaths all along? If it weren't for Jiang Chuan Valley, would you still have let the people of Jiazhou Twelfth Street go?"
She couldn't understand it, no matter how hard she tried, and tears streamed down her face as she spoke. "Actually, this time, you never intended to save Kong Yue and Qian Fei, did you? Qin Ming is from a prestigious family, and me? You wanted to use me to find my grandmother's secret? Right? And the one who was going to die was definitely Kong Yue, wasn't she! Because in your eyes, her special ability was like a piece of fat meat falling into a pack of vicious dogs. The Ghost Gate would never let her go! Even if there was a chance to exchange her, they would never let Kong Yue come back..."
Lin Yan stopped him, "This isn't something you should be thinking about. Right now, you just need to confirm Jiangchuan Valley..."
"Can you please let us go!" Lin Chaoying was exhausted, both physically and mentally, so tired that she didn't even have the strength to cry.
Lin Yan pressed the phone on the table. "Someone, take Lin Chaoying to the prison to see Jiang Chuangu." He spread his hands and said helplessly, "You're in too bad a mood right now, we can't communicate. Go see the people below first, I have guests to attend to."
Lin Chaoying: "Now, whenever I close my eyes, I see the tragic deaths of Cen Ting, Feng Yang, Chi Jiang, and Kong Yue. Do you? Do you think of them? Do you feel regret or heartache for their deaths? Or are they just a few insignificant names who helped you get to this position?!"
Lin Yan waved his hand, and she was dragged away.
The elevator slowly descended and stopped on the second basement level. With each step Lin Chaoying took, the shackles on her hands and feet made an unpleasant clanging sound. She was led into a cubicle with a transparent glass wall and a telephone on the table. She sat on the stool and waited quietly.
Jiang Chuan Gu slowly walked out from inside, his thin face covered with a stubble of beard, dressed in white clothes, and his hands and feet were shackled like hers.
The moment he saw Lin Chaoying again, his resistant expression softened instantly, and the disgust in his eyes melted into a pool of spring water, forming a small river that flowed down his face. Before he could even sit down properly, he hurriedly picked up the phone, "Lin Chaoying! Lin Chaoying! How are you! These past few days... have you had a very... difficult time?"
Upon hearing this, Lin Chaoying covered her face and wept bitterly, holding the phone in one hand. All her words turned into sobs that reached the ears of the person on the other end.
Jiang Chuan Gu tried his best to comfort her, saying, "It's okay, it's okay, don't cry..."
"I'm...I'm sorry." Lin Chaoying reached out and placed her hand on the glass, revealing her breakdown. "I've lost my powers. I don't know what to do. Jiang Chuan Valley...Kong Yue is dead, Qian Fei and Qin Ming are being held captive. I really can't do anything. I don't know how to save you. What should I do...?"
Jiang Chuan Gu raised his hand and covered her hand through the glass, forcing a smile that was more like a grimace. "Listen to me, I don't want to be trapped here for thirty years. If I can't live a normal life after being brainwashed, you can use my money to find a nursing home far away and deduct money from it every month. Don't come looking for me, don't come to see me, understand?"
Lin Chaoying froze, staring at him, speechless and unable to cry.
She suddenly said, "Let's get married."
"What!" Jiang Chuangu couldn't believe his ears. "Lin Chaoying! Are you crazy?"
"I didn't." She wiped away her tears, her blurry vision slowly focusing on Jiang Chuangu's face, and said firmly, "That day, watching Jiang Xu take you away was more painful than Wu Yang torturing me. I thought about keeping you here so we could die together, but I couldn't bear to let you die with me. So, no matter what you look like when you come out, we will never be separated again."
Lin Chaoying's face showed a hint of expectation. "How about this, if you lose your memory, I'll chase after you when you come out. If you become a vegetable, I'll take you back to the guesthouse to take care of you. If you really have cerebral palsy or complications, I'll take you for treatment. If the treatment doesn't work, we'll live in a sanatorium." She became emotional, and tears streamed down her face. "The nine years I spent with you were the happiest time of my life after I turned eighteen. It felt like it made up for the pain I experienced from nineteen to twenty-eight. Jiang Chuangu, I won't push you away again. Please don't push me away this time either, okay?"
“Okay.” Jiang Chuan Gu looked at their hands clasped together through the glass and said, “We’ll get married as soon as we get out.”
When they hung up the phone, they looked at each other with teary eyes. The road ahead seemed like a dead end. No matter how they struggled, they were trapped inside, with only each other's warm body heat and bitter tears to keep them company.
Just survive, make do, live a cramped life, live with a dead heart, and one day you'll find a new way out.
Jiang Chuan Gu tilted his head, stretched out his hands, and made a gesture of opening a lid in the air, pretending to take out a ring and hand it to her.
Lin Chaoying took the ring, put it on her ring finger, and waved to show it off.
Yes, there will always be a new way out, there will definitely be a new way out.
Back in the commander's room on the 18th floor, I pushed open the door and saw two familiar figures: Lin Guan and Lin Yang, Lin Chaoying's parents.
She stood frozen at the doorway. The moment Lin Yang turned around and saw her, he burst into tears, hugging her tightly and sobbing uncontrollably in her ear, "My child, how could he have become like this! Aying, my child, how could anyone bully my child like this?"
"Oh dear." Lin Guan held her hand, his cloudy eyes filled with heartache, and said cautiously, "How could you get so thin?"
"Go! Not here!" Lin Chaoying never expected her parents to appear here. She frantically pulled them away from this hellhole. "Mom and Dad, let's go!"
Lin Yang stroked her terrified face, his heart breaking. "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, child."
Lin Chaoying, who had just calmed down, frowned and was overwhelmed with grievances. She buried her head in Lin Yang's shoulder, and all the emotions she had suppressed for the past few days exploded. "Mom! Dad! I killed my brother! I don't want to live anymore, I want to die so badly, I have no other choice."
"It's alright, it's alright!" Lin Yang kept patting her back. "Aying has her parents."
Lin Guan touched her head, his worried expression turning to shock. He turned around and questioned, "My daughter's superpower is gone!"
"What!" Lin Yang lifted Lin Chaoying's head, pressed his thumb, index finger, and middle finger against her forehead, and, unable to sense any spiritual power from the superhuman, shouted angrily at Lin Yan, "Do you know what it means for a superhuman to lose their spiritual power! It means they've truly died once! And they'll face brain death at any time if they have a mental breakdown in the future!"
Lin Yan stood by the table without saying a word.
Lin Chaoying didn't react immediately and asked, "What?"
Lin Yang shook his head, "Aying is fine. Your father and I will handle the rest."
Lin Guan glared at Lin Yan, furious, and demanded, "I went to see Lin Zhifeng today. So you wanted my mother's map and list, and you set such a huge trap for our family. You must have been planning this for more than six years, right? The death of my youngest son and the ordeal my eldest daughter has endured all these years were all orchestrated by you, weren't they? Just to force our family to hand over the map and list in exchange for our child, like today?"
Lin Yan's arrogant and disdainful attitude vanished, and he acted like a quail when facing Lin Guan and Lin Yang.
Lin Guan glared angrily, "Do you think I'm dead?!" The murderous intent in his eyes was impossible to hide as he cursed, "Back then, my mother gave up her position to your family so she could scheme against us and humiliate us! How many superhumans did my mother save back then? Which of you who were lucky enough to survive didn't receive my mother's kindness? Everyone dares to say that without Lin Nian Nian, there would be no Twelfth Street! And now, for a few worthless maps, you're trying to wipe out her descendants!"
Lin Yang stood in front of Lin Chaoying, his eyes burning with anger. "What are those Ghost Gate people? They dare to imprison my daughter! If my mother knew that your lineage was dealing with those beasts from the Ghost Gate, using her child as a bargaining chip, do you think she wouldn't crawl out of her grave and wipe out your entire lineage!"
Lin Chaoying felt somewhat dazed; her parents in front of her seemed both familiar and unfamiliar.
Lin Guan: "I'm too lazy to argue with you. We gave the map and list to Lin Zhifeng. His point is that he was unaware of the plans over the years, and only you were making the arrangements. I'm too lazy to get involved in your dealings. We'll settle his score, and you won't escape yours either!"
Lin Yan immediately became alert and tried to escape, but Lin Guan reacted too quickly. He made a cut in his palm and easily pulled a one-meter-long whip out of the flesh. The whip flew in a semi-circular arc in the air and then lashed straight at Lin Yan's neck, wrapping around it tightly.
Lin Yan managed to utter a few words with difficulty, "You...have superpowers?"
Lin Yang stood still, poked his forehead with his index finger, pulled out a silver thread, and stared intently at Lin Yan. The silver thread jumped once in the air and then entered his eye. Instantly, Lin Yan's body emitted a blue light. Lin Yang pulled with two fingers, and something transparent and invisible was forcibly peeled away from his body.
Lin Chaoying knew that it was a soul.
Lin Guan used a blood whip to wrap around his half-dead corpse and threw it downstairs. With a "bang," a scream came from downstairs.
The scene before her was too shocking. For the first time, Lin Chaoying looked at her parents with a scrutinizing gaze. Her emotions were complicated. She felt a sense of satisfaction, but the recent series of blows made it impossible for her to smile.
Lin Yang held her hand and said, "Let's take Jiang Chuan Valley and leave this place. We'll talk about the rest when we get back."
Lin looked at the shackles on her hands and feet, cursed angrily, and shouted, "Untie my daughter's shackles!"
The superhuman at the door seemed to have been specially arranged. After entering, he obediently removed Lin Chaoying's shackles and said, "Jiang Chuangu, we've made arrangements. He's downstairs."
Lin Chaoying felt like she was dreaming, wondering if she was hallucinating from being too heartbroken, but the warmth from her mother's hand was real.
She finally understood what Wu Liang had once said to her.
The world of superpowered individuals has its own rules.
If your superpowers are strong enough and your family background and status are high enough, you can do whatever you want in this world and act with impunity.
But she is not a person of this world, nor can she become a person of this world.
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