For the next seven days, in the basement of the city lord's mansion, Chi Chen's shrill screams never stopped. If he still had a physical body, he would probably have screamed until his throat was torn apart.
As time passed, under Hu Miaomiao's unwavering gaze, Chi Chen's soul slowly began to transform from his limbs into specks of starlight, floating within the magic array. Gradually, the array on the ground gathered them in front of Chi Chen, forming a shimmering ball of light.
At this point, Chi Chen's soul body was now reduced to a bare upper body, and his screams gradually subsided, as if he had completely lost consciousness.
"well!"
At the top of the stairs, Venerable Lingfeng sighed as he looked at Hu Miaomiao's figure, which had not moved for the past seven days. No matter how he tried to persuade her, Hu Miaomiao did not move an inch from in front of Chi Chen.
"Although I can't share that pain with you, Chi Chen, you must remember that I'm always by your side. I'm waiting for you to come back, and Lin Bai and the others are waiting for you too. You must not give up!"
Hu Miaomiao murmured to herself, as if a beautiful memory flashed through her mind, causing a smile to inexplicably appear on her pale face.
The person in front of me has never broken a promise, and I don't think he'll break his word this time either.
...
As the pain intensified, it led to the complete numbness of the soul. The benefit of this numbness was that although Chi Chen's soul was still enduring four different kinds of pain, the pain from the depths of his soul seemed to be gradually decreasing as he adapted.
This also means that after enduring seven days of inhuman torture, Chi Chen has finally passed the first stage of the Soul Shattering process.
Finally, two days later, Chi Chen's soul completely disappeared from Hu Miaomiao's sight. In its place was a complete oval ball of light, like a silkworm cocoon, radiating four colors.
"Give up?"
"Give up!"
"If I give up, I won't have to suffer so much anymore!"
"Why bother? What does the survival of this world have to do with you?"
Chi Chen didn't know how long his consciousness had been wandering in chaos. Finally, he seemed to hear the whispers of demons in his ears, and those whispers were all guiding him to completely abandon the last bit of clarity he held in the depths of his soul.
Although Chi Chen was in a state of chaos, he desperately protected the last vestige of clarity deep within his soul. Even though Chi Chen was now delirious, he still knew clearly in his heart that the last vestige of clarity was his last lifeline. He could not let go, and he could not be manipulated by those whispers that kept appearing.
"Sleep now! Once you're asleep, the affairs of this world will no longer concern you. Don't you want to see your parents again? Sleep now, and you'll see them when you're asleep!"
Those whispers, like serpents tempting Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, lingered in Chi Chen's ears, gradually luring him into deeper traps.
Gradually, Chi Chen's previously unwavering obsession began to waver.
Before Chi Chen's eyes, two blurry figures seemed to appear. Chi Chen could see that the two figures had their arms outstretched towards him, as if waiting for his response.
"Dad, Mom?!"
Chi Chen was in a daze, tears streaming uncontrollably from his eyes like a burst dam. Even though the two figures were so blurry, Chi Chen could clearly recognize that they were his father and mother.
"Xiao Chen, why are you crying? Come to Mommy's arms and let Mommy see."
"Xiao Chen, come quick, Daddy's waiting for you too, come here!"
The two indistinct voices also began to speak, urging Chi Chen to quickly throw himself into their arms.
"Ugh!"
In the midst of chaos, Chi Chen clutched his head, struggling and rolling around. He desperately wanted to rush into the arms of the two blurry figures before him, but his last shred of clarity told him he couldn't do that.
At this moment, Chi Chen seemed to suffer even more intense pain than when his soul shattered, but this time, Chi Chen's painful roar could only echo in the endless chaos.
"Xiao Chen, come here quickly!"
"Xiao Chen... what's wrong? Don't you want your mom and dad anymore?"
The cries of the two blurry figures continued, tugging at the last vestiges of Chi Chen's clear soul.
"call!"
Suddenly, the continuous and increasingly urgent shouts seemed to turn into a gentle breeze, and finally, the clarity that Chi Chen had been desperately trying to grasp deep in his soul was extinguished in an instant, like a kerosene lamp that could no longer withstand the wind.
"Mom and Dad, I miss you so much!"
As that sliver of clarity vanished, Chi Chen suddenly threw himself into the arms of the two figures and began to wail loudly.
At this moment, the emotions that Chi Chen had suppressed in his heart for years poured out in an instant. At this moment, he was no longer the monstrous genius in other people's eyes who could fight beyond his level and was invincible. The current Chi Chen was just a child who seemed to be injured. All he wanted was a warm embrace from his father and mother.
"Don't cry, Xiaochen, don't cry. Go to sleep. After a good night's sleep, everything will be alright!"
"Sleep well, sleep well, my dear baby~"
In the midst of chaos, as a gentle female voice began to sing a ballad, Chi Chen's consciousness began to completely dissipate.
In the endless darkness, streaks of light emerged from behind him. These were all the memories that Chi Chen had shared with Lin Bai, Qing Sheng, Chen Sheng, Xiang Qing, Zhang Rong, Hu Miaomiao, and others. Now, as Chi Chen's consciousness dissipated, they were all extracted and drifted into the endless darkness.
...
"Xiao Chen, get up quickly, you'll be late for school!"
In a hazy state, a familiar voice came from beside my ear, and I felt a pair of warm hands stroking my cheeks.
"Hmm!"
Chi Chen mumbled a groan in his sleep, then opened his eyes.
The scene that came into Chi Chen's view was familiar: a blue ceiling, patterned bed sheets, and simple furnishings in the room.
Chi Chen turned his head and looked towards the place where the sound had come from. There, a familiar figure was standing quietly to the side, wearing an apron around her waist, and the woman was looking at him with a smile on her face.
"mom?!"
Chi Chen was taken aback and called out softly.
"Oh dear, Xiao Chen, why are you crying? Did you have a nightmare?"
Zhang Qin looked at her son with some confusion. Why was he crying as soon as he woke up?
"Forehead!"
Upon hearing this, Chi Chen reached out and touched his face, only to find that two lines of tears had already streamed down his face without him noticing.
"I don't know, but I just suddenly felt like crying!"
Chi Chen was stunned for a moment, a strange feeling flashing through his mind, before he answered shyly. After all, he was already eighteen years old, and it was a little embarrassing to be seen crying by his mother so early in the morning.
"Alright, stop lying in bed! Get up and eat breakfast, or you'll be late for school!"
Zhang Qin gently wiped away Chi Chen's tears, then turned and walked out of the room.
"What's wrong? I didn't have any nightmares, so why am I crying all of a sudden?"
Chi Chen was also a little puzzled, but he didn't think much of it. He got up, dressed, and went to the hall.
"You're awake? Come and eat!"
In the living room, Chi Chen's father, Chi Yuan, sat at the table, holding the newspaper that had been delivered that morning.
"Um!"
Chi Chen responded and sat down to start eating breakfast, just like everyone else.
"Knock knock knock!"
A few minutes later, after Chi Chen finished breakfast, there was a knock on the door, and a familiar voice came from outside.
"Chi Chen, hurry up, we'll be late if we don't leave now!"
"They're here!"
Chi Chen responded, glanced at the time again, said goodbye to his parents, put on his shoes, and opened the door.
Outside the door, a handsome face with a touch of British style came into Chi Chen's view. Looking at that familiar handsome face, Chi Chen was stunned again.
"What's wrong? Are you impressed by my handsomeness again? But I've told you before, there's no chance between you and me!"
Upon seeing this, Lin Bai immediately said something in a cheeky tone.
"Whose brother are you talking to? Hurry up and leave!"
Chi Chen dismissed the strange feeling in his heart, assuming it was because he hadn't slept well last night. He punched Lin Bai on the shoulder, who was always talking nonsense, and then the two of them went downstairs playfully.
Familiar street scenes, familiar neighbors—as Chi Chen walked along the path he had walked for many years, that strange feeling in his heart began to resurface.
"Chi Chen, what's wrong? Why do you seem so absent-minded?"
Lin Bai also noticed Chi Chen's unusual behavior and asked him a question.
"It's nothing, I probably just didn't sleep well last night, I'm a little groggy right now!"
Chi Chen shook his head; he didn't know where that strange feeling came from either.
"No way? You're having trouble sleeping too? With your grades, getting into a good university shouldn't be a problem. Unlike me, my mom gave me a few more taps on the head last night. I don't know who was so mean as to tell my mom my mock exam scores!"
Lin Bai looked at Chi Chen with some envy and said, then thought of his own grades and felt a little dejected. Everyone has two eyes and a mouth on their heads, and his eyes and mouth are much better looking than Chi Chen's, so why are his grades so much worse than Chi Chen's?
"If you put the same amount of effort into studying as you do into playing, you wouldn't be eating so many brain-boiling pills every day!"
Chi Chen touched his nose somewhat guiltily, because it was he who had told his mother about Lin Bai's grades.
But there was no way to answer; Aunt Zhang had asked, and I couldn't just stay silent.
"Stop talking. You know those books. They know me, but I don't know them. Hehe, so I still have to rely on you to get into a good university. Then I'll have someone to rely on, and I won't have to work so hard. I can just follow you around!"
Lin Bai spoke with a somewhat shameless air.
"Hehe, okay, from now on, as long as I have a bite to eat, you'll have a bowl to wash!"
Upon hearing this, Chi Chen chuckled and quickened his pace; if they didn't hurry, they would really be late.
"Chi Chen, you can't do this to me!"
Lin Bai let out a wail and quickened his pace to catch up.
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