Chapter 241
Pei Yuqing was still wearing the same clothes he wore when he went to prison ten years ago, but his current thin appearance made the clothes look empty.
His brows and eyes looked tired.
"I'm the one who killed you."
As he said this, he was choked by a cloud of dust and began to cough uncontrollably.
"Cough cough."
"Cough cough...cough cough."
......
"Cough cough."
After a violent coughing fit, he tilted his head back slightly, letting a single tear fall silently onto the bed.
"Meeting me was truly a disaster for you."
Over the years, my parents have passed away beside me.
And then he killed her with his own hands.
Indeed, he was the source of all the disasters.
“For the past few years, I always felt that you hadn’t really died.”
"Perhaps they're doing just fine somewhere."
"No matter where you are, I will always be able to find you."
But the longer it went on, the more panicked Pei Yuqing became. He even dreamed that he saw a disfigured corpse in the cold seabed.
Even in dreams, you can't see faces clearly.
He knew it was her.
He was having more and more frequent dreams, and his mental state gradually deteriorated. He even had these thoughts from time to time:
Could it be...
Is she really dead?
But he quickly dismissed that thought, and then he began to think:
As long as I'm alive...
Even if we never see each other again in this lifetime.
It's good all the time.
So he told Pei Ling to stop looking for her.
Pei Yuqing remembered the expression on Pei Ling's face when he heard his words.
It was an expression that showed he seemed to have finally come to his senses.
........
After a long while, Pei Yuqing seemed to have thought of something. He slowly got up and walked to the side of the window, one hand pulling at the heavy European-style curtains, his voice carrying a hint of helpless struggle:
"Ningning."
His voice trembled slightly when he mentioned that name:
"Back then, I always watched you. You liked to sit here, lost in thought without saying a word."
Are you looking out the window?
"The garden outside has a beautiful view."
He was lost in memories and managed to force a bitter smile.
"Still watching..."
The rest of the words were not finished.
The moment the curtains were drawn back, Pei Yuqing finally saw those crooked, line-by-line memories that he wanted to escape.
In that instant, he finally understood what Yingning was looking at.
Those were marks left by time, pain etched into the wall, stroke by stroke:
"I don't want to stay here."
Why are they locking me up...?
"I'm afraid of this house."
When can we go out?
"I want to go out."
"How is Xiaoling? I'm so worried about him."
"Why won't you let me out?"
........
"go out..."
"I must get out..."
......
"I'm going to kill them."
...
"Can I still go out?"
......
"Dad, Mom, I miss you so much."
...
At that time, Pei Yuqing was locked in this house day and night. His so-called "relatives" labeled him as mentally unstable and imprisoned him here with hypocritical faces.
At first he vented, but no one came.
Later, he tried to escape, but was caught and brought back time and time again.
The last few lines of text here are the only way he can resist everyone while locked in this house; he can only use this insignificant method to vent his devastating emotions.
Later, he didn't even know if he had really gone mad.
Every day he would sit slumped here, carving these words stroke by stroke with a knife.
I miss you...
Holding a grudge...
There were marks left by his carvings on the wall, stroke by stroke...
Pei Yuqing never thought he would ever imagine what he had gone through back then. His fingertips touched the last line, a sentence that was still unfinished.
"Why..."
"Don't let me die..."
"If only I could die..."
Behind him were a few faint lines of blood. Perhaps the already broken knife could not cut his palm, which made the young boy stop.
He did not write any further.
But the next unfamiliar line of text made Pei Yuqing's heart tremble, and then his body went limp, and hot tears finally welled up from the corners of his eyes.
Because the last line wasn't written by him.
She wrote these words quietly when she discovered them:
"Pei Yuqing, I hope one day..."
"I can leave here."
"You can leave too."
Her words, which should have been a final act of forgiveness for the sinner, became, in Pei Yuqing's eyes, the last straw that broke the camel's back.
Over the years, he forcibly stripped that extreme obsession from his body, only hoping that she could live well in a corner where he could not find her.
But at this moment, all the pretense was finally torn apart.
At this moment, Pei Yuqing once again transformed into the appearance he had ten years ago.
"You Yingning".
He uttered the name in a frenzied manner.
"Did you think you could escape me by dying?"
Don't even think about it.
......
The floor of the house was gradually being consumed by flames, and choking air rushed up from the half-collapsed stairwell. The scorching temperature had long made it impossible for the people inside to move around freely.
Even so, Pei Yuqing still forced herself to get up and closed the half-open window.
With a thud.
At this moment, something fell out of Pei Yuqing's pocket, and he looked down.
It was a small fox ornament inlaid with gemstones, and the sound of it hitting the wooden board was rather jarring.
After Pei Yuqing picked it up, he was first shocked, then he gripped it tightly.
It was as if that was the only thing that had ever belonged to him in his entire life.
The flames had completely engulfed the room that had once been a prison, and the man standing inside was just a lonely figure.
Pei Yuqing gazed at the scorching ash in the air, a slight smile playing on his lips, and a hint of relief finally appeared in his stubborn and lonely eyes.
He went to find her.
He wanted to return to her the things she had lost.
besides...
He wanted to apologize to her.
I'm sorry for hurting her.
Feel sorry.
It killed her...
......
The little fox fell to the ground again, each gem like a fleeting tear in the firelight.
But this time, no one could pick it up. In the instant it was engulfed by the flames, only a weak, smiling voice was heard:
"Ningning."
"You lost it, how about I give it to you next time?"
The words on the wall turned charred the moment the flames hit, and the name she had written gradually became blurred.
My love, my love, I vow to give myself to you.
He began, stammering:
"Next time..."
"Don't abandon it again."
*
*
The tide rises and falls.
The coastline changed silently with the sea, while the setting sun urged the crowd to leave.
A knock came at the door of a dilapidated coastal cottage.
The refined-looking man, dressed in tattered clothes, slowly walked out of the house after hearing the knock on the door. He showed no surprise when he saw who it was.
He threw down a sentence and tried to slam the door shut:
"There's no need to try to persuade me anymore."
The person who came was Duan Shen's uncle, Duan Yanhan.
Duan Yanhan was no longer the slovenly man he used to be; instead, he was dressed in a formal suit, as if he had just finished a public meeting at the research institute.
"Don't close the door, Xiao Shen." Duan Yanhan stopped Duan Shen from closing the door and barged in.
Duan Shi didn't bother to say anything more. He naturally knew that Duan Yanhan had been persuaded by his parents to go home time and time again.
Ten years ago, the Duan family found Duan Shen, who was on the verge of going insane, here. Perhaps his appearance frightened the Duan family back then, so when Duan Shen gave up his postgraduate studies and went abroad to study, the Duan family did not dare to stop him too much.
I was terrified that something might have happened to him.
The Duan family made inquiries from various sources before they learned about Yingning's situation.
They thought that Duan Shen would give up after several fruitless searches.
In the months that followed, Duan Shen simply hired several ships to search for Ying Ning on this vast ocean.
When the Duan family saw him again, he was emaciated, his cheeks were sunken and bloodless, and his dark pupils stared unwaveringly at the ocean.
Where is the former pride of heaven?!
The Duan family eventually had to take forceful measures to temporarily remove Duan Shen from the area and send him to the hospital.
But no one expected that Duan Shen would return to this coast after escaping from the hospital.
Every time, the Duan family found him here.
Ultimately, it was Duan's family who gave up first. They tacitly accepted Duan Shen's behavior, which was completely incomprehensible to others, and stopped interfering with his decisions.
But for the past ten years, Duan's parents have still hoped that Duan Shen could come home.
......
"Xiao Shen, although I'm here as a mediator this time, at least let me in." Duan Shen walked into the small house and casually looked around.
"good."
"Nothing has changed since my last visit."
Duan Shen said expressionlessly:
"Close the door yourself later."
Duan Yanhan didn't mind Duan Shen's indifference. He was one of the most frequent visitors to this seaside cottage, so he naturally knew Duan Shen's temperament at this moment.
"Okay, okay."
Seeing that Duan Shen was unwilling to speak, Duan Yanhan casually mentioned some recent research projects at the institute, while secretly glancing at Duan Shen's reaction and expression.
Seeing that he didn't seem to be leaving immediately, Duan Yanhan then revealed the purpose of his trip:
“This time, it was your mother who kept calling me.”
“The research institute is relatively close to here. When she called me, she was still thinking about when you could come home.”
Duan remained silent, and it was impossible to know what he was thinking.
“I know you don’t want to leave here.” Duan Yanhan sighed softly, not trying to persuade him further, but simply asking out of curiosity.
"Xiao Shen."
"How much longer are you going to search?"
Duan Shen's fingertips trembled slightly, but he still spoke:
"have no idea."
He didn't know how much longer he would have to search, and he didn't know what else he could do besides look for him.
Duan Yanhan mentioned another matter:
"Yesterday's local headline was about the Pei family's old mansion in the suburban villa area that mysteriously caught fire..."
"And... Pei Yuqing perished in the fire."
Duan Shen was unaware of this news. He was stunned for a moment, and then the expression on his face held a sarcasm that Duan Yanhan couldn't decipher:
"It was his fate."
Duan Yanhan naturally knew about Pei Yuqing's matter.
Now that the culprit from back then is dead, when will Xiao Shen ever let himself go?
"Xiao Shen..."
“Actually, you’ve been looking for long enough.” Duan Yanhan finally voiced his thoughts. He knew that Duan Shen bore an absolutely inescapable responsibility for what happened back then.
But ten years...
It's absolutely impossible now.
How much longer are you planning to wait?
"It's not a matter of whether I want to or not."
Duan Shen's voice was not calm; it even revealed a sense of helplessness at the inability to defy fate.
"But how long will it take to find someone in this vast ocean?"
Seeing that he was unwilling to give up, and remembering his mother's tearful plea on the phone, Duan Yanhan, nearing fifty, finally spoke up:
"But ten years have already passed."
"Do you know that no one has had an easy time in the past ten years?"
"Xiao Shen, what about ten years...?"
"The person has long since..."
Before that word was uttered, Duan Shen, for some unknown reason, suddenly stood up and said what Duan Yanhan wanted to say:
"I know."
"She is dead."
"If it were ten years ago, she would have died long ago."
His voice trembled, but there was a desperate struggle within it.
Duan Yanhan was puzzled:
"You know perfectly well, so why...?"
"....."
This wasn't the first time Duan Shen had faced this problem in the past decade, and he had already found the answer in his heart.
Duan Shen paused for a moment:
Do you remember when we discussed the issue of parallel universes?
"That question was just something we guessed back then."
Duan Yanhan truthfully expressed his feelings.
"And as you know, the quantum machine experiment failed eight years ago!"
Duan Shen took out a yellowed notebook from a drawer in the room, which seemed to have been flipped through countless times, and handed it to Duan Yanhan.
"Ten years ago, I had a ridiculous idea."
Duan Yanhan opened the notebook with a puzzled look and saw densely packed words and traces of time progression. He flipped through it faster and faster until he looked up again and looked at Duan Shen in disbelief.
This child...
He is far smarter than everyone thinks.
Page after page of calculations ended in failure, and the key to all the deductions was in the latter half.
Duan Yanhan flipped to the last page, which was a crumpled piece of paper.
That page seemed to have been dampened by countless water droplets.
Duan Yanhan also saw this page, which might be the correct answer to all of this.
Years later, Duan Yanhan would often recall Duan Shen's appearance at that moment.
The child who had been regarded as a prodigy by everyone since childhood stood in front of him, and through his somewhat worn glasses, one could still see the despair and panic in his phoenix eyes.
The source of his despair was that he inadvertently discovered everything.
That is why Duan Shencai has been unwilling to face the reasons for the past ten years, preferring to confine himself to one place.
"Xiao Shen!" A sense of fear welled up in Duan Yanhan's heart for no apparent reason.
He didn't want Duan Shen to say it aloud.
Duan Yanhan had a strange intuition that if Duan Shen spoke out now, everything would be completely devoured by the monster called cruelty.
But the words that had been hidden in Duan Shen's heart for many years could not be stopped by him at this moment.
"so..."
"If the theory of parallel universes is completely overturned, let's assume we are on the same timeline and re-examine what happened ten years ago based on absolute facts."
Duan Shen looked up, but tears streamed down his face.
He forced a smile, but it revealed a sorrowful expression:
"I killed her twice."
"Is that right?"
......
Duan Yanhan didn't know how he left that place, he only knew that he walked for a long time, and when he came to his senses, he was still sweating profusely.
It's not because of some terrifying spacetime conjecture.
Rather, it's because if everything were truly as Duan Shen described, given the fixed flow of time and absolute facts, what Duan Shen saw in the quantum machine was not another spacetime at all.
Instead...
Their world.
The "past" from some unknown point in time?
...
Duan Yanhan suddenly felt that the academic research and theoretical achievements he had built up over the years were slowly collapsing, but he couldn't care less at the moment.
He finally understood what Duan Shen meant.
Everything has finally found its answer today.
*
*
The next day, Duan Shen got up and washed up as usual, drank some cold water from his water glass, and then went straight out to the beach.
He walked aimlessly, seemingly aware that it would be pointless.
At that moment, his phone beeped softly a few times.
Duan stopped and tapped the screen.
It consisted of several pictures and text messages from overseas, with the sender describing the past month's events in just a few simple sentences:
“She ran away a few days ago. We deliberately let her run halfway before notifying the people in the village to catch her and bring her back.”
"She might be able to pay off her high-interest loans here in a decade or so, but for some reason, this crazy woman has also gotten involved with drugs. Now she's neither human nor ghost."
"The last time I saw her, the needle marks all over her body were already festering."
"Once she gets involved with that stuff, she'll never be able to leave this place alive."
......
Duan Shen opened the photo expressionlessly. The crazy woman in the photo still vaguely resembled Xia Yueyue after plastic surgery, and the scars and needle marks all over her body proved what she had experienced abroad over the past ten years.
Ten years ago, when she was young and attractive, she was taken abroad by loan sharks and forced to repay the money through improper means.
Ten years later, Xia Yueyue, now middle-aged, has become addicted to something she can't shake after years of inhumane treatment abroad.
The people over there.
She had long since been reduced to "livestock".
......
Duan Shen transferred a large sum of money to the account he had previously used, and shortly after, the other party sent a message:
"Thank you, boss."
"We'll contact each other at the same time next month."
"If she can live to see next month."
Duan Shen did not reply as always. He walked around the nearby coast and then returned to the house by the same route.
He watered the plants in his yard, changed into clean clothes, and went out before taking a ride to the city.
Along the way, familiar yet unfamiliar street scenes flashed by before Duan Shen's eyes, but none of them attracted much attention until he passed the gate of X University.
As the driver stopped at the crosswalk, he couldn't help but say:
"It's so good to be young."
Young people come and go, hurrying about or laughing and playing on the street.
Everywhere you look, there is vitality and energy.
Duan Shen's gaze lingered on the two people on the side of the road. The girl was happily eating a candied hawthorn and talking about something, while the boy, looking at his phone, subconsciously turned his head and ruffled her hair.
He seemed to be saying:
"I'll definitely do it next time."
Duan Shen didn't know why, but suddenly a memory that seemed to have never been in his mind came to mind.
When was that?
This time...
Or is it the past?
...
"Duan Shen, why are you walking so fast?" The girl followed behind him, panting. Her cheeks flushed when she saw that he wasn't stopping.
"Duan Shen!"
"I just finished my physical test, wait for me."
He stopped in his tracks with a sigh and turned his head slightly:
"Ningning."
“It’s only 800 meters, and you’ve already rested for half an hour.”
"I... Ah, let go!"
The tightness around his neck almost made Duan Shen lose his balance and nearly fall over the person behind him. He instinctively caught the other person.
"Duan Shen, now you can't walk fast anymore, can you?" You Yingning's smug voice echoed in his ear.
Duan Shi was also infected by her laughter:
"Indeed, carrying a piglet makes it difficult to walk fast."
"Duan Shen, you've gone too far!"
"I haven't gained weight!"
The girl threw a tantrum on his back, but Duan Shen felt extremely happy at that moment:
"If you don't go now..."
"Your favorite taro cake is gone."
The girl exclaimed:
"Hurry up, hurry up, I almost forgot about this."
......
The fox-eyed girl, who was biting into a taro pastry, suddenly uttered a sentence:
“I said.”
"Duan Shen, what would you do if I suddenly disappeared one day?"
Duan Shen didn't care:
What should I do?
He deliberately touched his glasses, pondering and joking:
"Although this assumption is unlikely to come true, if you really suddenly disappeared, I might have a chance to finish eating two taro cakes."
"Duan Shen!" The girl put down the dessert in her hand.
Duan stopped teasing her and gently patted her head.
"If you disappear, I will look for you."
"What if I can't find it...?"
"Keep searching."
"What if you don't recognize me?"
This was a strange question, but Duan Shen still answered her seriously:
"Then I will write down everything about you with pen and paper."
"Besides, the impression you left on me should be enough for me to recognize you again."
"Really?" You Yingning's eyes dimmed.
"Mm," he nodded in agreement.
It's unclear what Duan Shen said that offended her, but the girl's eyes suddenly reddened, and she blurted out:
"Duan Shen, so next time."
"Could you... always remember me?"
Duan Shen didn't evade her inexplicable question; he simply followed his heart.
"Okay, I'll definitely do it next time."
"must."
......
I can,
I will always remember you.
*
*
A hospital bustling with people.
"Someone come here!"
"Help! Someone has jumped off a building!"
The hospital security guard was the first to spot the figure jumping off the hospital rooftop. Before he could even panic, he was overwhelmed by the screams and shouts around him.
The security guard quickly called the police, and after the police arrived, he hurriedly followed them.
"Officer, this person suddenly jumped from the building. It happened in just a few seconds. There was no way to stop him."
"Is this person your patient?" As the police officers asked, staff members covered the body with a white sheet to avoid causing panic.
No, that's not it.
“We checked the surveillance footage, and this person went straight to the roof of the inpatient building after entering the hospital.”
The police officer carefully noted down the security guard's words, then asked another question:
Was anyone nearby when he jumped? Did he leave anything behind?
"Officer, we noticed this thing when we got there."
"I have no idea what kind of nonsense this person wrote."
"I took a look, it's not a suicide note or anything, officer, please take a look." The security guard handed over a slightly yellowed notebook, which the policeman flipped through.
Seeing the strong, powerful handwriting, page after page, it reads:
"It's strange, I always seem to lack some memories when I'm with Xia Yueyue, which makes me feel disgusted and nauseous."
Why do I remember so many things about You Yingning?
"Is she someone I know well...?"
......
"I feel like I'm being manipulated like a puppet every day, and I can't remember anything."
"I feel very uncomfortable."
........
“I feel very resistant to Xia Yueyue. When I’m around her, it feels like my behavior is never under my control.”
"Many people are whispering, and You Yingning's name is always mentioned."
"I'm very curious."
......
"I saw You Yingning."
......
"You Yingning".
"You Yingning".
...
Why did I dream about You Yingning?
......
"I think... I remember now."
......
"Ningning."
......
"So, as long as I'm away from Xia Yueyue for a long time, I can regain consciousness."
......
"If Xia Yueyue wasn't actually an outsider in everything she saw on the quantum machine, then can I save Ningning this time?"
How can we stop them?
......
"Xia Yueyue's control over me seems to be getting worse..."
......
The handwriting at the end was illegible, which made the police suspicious of the man's mental state. The police neatly put the notebook into a file bag.
All of this was sealed away.
And that youthful love, too, remains hidden in this world.
There was a time when he thought that as long as he left her, she could survive.
In the dead of night, Duan Shen would always feel that everything over the past ten years was like a pre-written ending, and he had never been able to struggle out of it in the slightest.
The wheel of fate never stops turning because of one person's obsession.
Duan Shen, who had accessed these secrets, was already dead.
So he tried to repay the guilt of the past ten years with his humble life, and even more so, he longed for a vague possibility about "fate".
He prayed to God.
if...
She can have another life.
If fate could be rewritten...
He would rather die a miserable death for generations than give her a chance at life.
Don't let her.
I met you again.
*
*
Suburbs, a nursing home.
"Mr. Yuan, thank you for the gift." The nursing home staff thanked a tall, handsome man.
The young employees on the other side were whispering about the tall, middle-aged man.
"Is this Mr. Yuan a relative of the elderly man?"
A long-time employee explained:
“Mr. Yuan’s elders used to live here.”
“The old man passed away the year before last, but he still sends some things to the nursing home every year.”
"Mr. Yuan is such a kind person."
"Sigh, he really is a good person." The old employee started gossiping: "And I heard that last time the dean tried to matchmake Mr. Yuan with his niece, he directly refused."
"What? He doesn't have a wife?"
A veteran employee sighed:
"He seems to be widowed."
"He's quite young, how did he become a widow?"
......
After leaving the nursing home, Yuanye went to a cemetery on the outskirts of the city.
The stone tablets stand silently in the desolate and dimly lit park, occasionally a person or two will come here with white flowers, searching for old friends.
Having been here countless times, Yuan Ye quickly arrived at the stone tablet.
The black and white photograph on the tombstone was not covered in dust.
The white bouquets that had not yet withered covered the ground, far more than those in front of the surrounding tombstones.
"It seems everyone still likes you."
In the wilderness, there were two or three cards on the stone platform with a few words of remembrance written on them.
He stood there, like a cold stone monument.
Yuanye asked softly:
"Are you... still blaming me?"
He gently brushed aside some fallen petals, his right hand still momentarily stunned when it touched the cold stone:
Time flies.
"It's been ten years."
"You've been gone for ten years."
Yuan Ye vaguely remembered the figure of that snow butterfly blooming when they first met, but today he could only whisper to it from the distance between life and death.
Sometimes I feel like everything that happened was just a dream.
“I was forced to separate from you before I even had a chance to get to your side.”
"Guess when was the happiest time of my life all these years?"
He paused, his voice bittersweet:
"It's actually the first time I've ever seen you."
Even though ten years have passed, why can I still remember the sound of my heartbeat when I saw her that night? It was the first time a person struggling in the abyss saw the dawn of their own life.
She said to herself:
"Hello, I am Yuuyu."
...
"Brother Ye, your speed is lacking."
...
"Isn't that how flying swords are used?"
......
"The loser must unconditionally grant the winner one request!"
......
The terrifying thing about memory is that it can always make people feel endless regret, no matter when or where.
Yuanye touched that faded smiling face:
"You Yingning".
"I always lose."
Forever and ever, she is the loser in his eyes.
He did it willingly.
......
Yuan Ye stayed in the cemetery for a long time before getting up to leave. As he was walking along a path, he happened to hear a commotion.
"You think I don't know?" A man reeking of alcohol roared, disregarding his image, and pointed at the woman opposite him while cursing.
"You shameless woman!"
"How dare you play me like this?"
The woman was somewhat panicked and turned to leave, but was roughly grabbed by the man.
"What... are you doing?!"
"We're already divorced!"
The man held onto the woman tightly: "Divorce?!"
Now I know why you dared to get a divorce.
"I'm going to teach you a lesson today!"
The man was about to slap his ex-wife across the face when his wrist was suddenly grabbed by a strong hand.
In that instant, Yuan Ye felt a strange sense of familiarity, but he hadn't had time to recall it.
"Who are you?" the drunkard asked.
"Get the hell out of here."
Yuan Ye remained unfazed and said sternly:
“If you don’t leave now, I will call the police immediately.”
"The police won't let you go just because you've been drinking."
The man in the field was tall and imposing, and his gaze was icy cold. The man seemed a little scared and gradually released his grip on the woman's hand, then took a few steps back.
"Okay, okay, okay." The half-drunk man mumbled incoherently.
The man's strange behavior did not attract the attention of the two men.
Yuanye glanced at the frightened woman and said:
"You should leave quickly."
"If he... still wants to..."
? !
With a ripping sound.
A sharp pain suddenly struck, and Yuanye trembled as he lowered his head, only to see blood gushing from his abdomen and the murder weapon that had not yet been pulled out.
It was an extremely long blade, like some kind of work tool.
But at this moment, it was like the scythe of death, piercing straight through everything in the belly of the field.
Hahahaha.
The drunk man held the other end of the weapon, a terrifying smile on his face.
"cough."
Yuanye coughed up a mouthful of blood, and the pain spreading from the wound made it almost impossible for him to breathe.
The woman standing to one side was also completely terrified by what she saw. After realizing what had happened, she screamed in panic:
"Murder...murder."
"Bitch," the man cursed viciously.
"I suspected you were having an affair with a young lover. No wonder you dared to divorce me."
"I've caught you red-handed today."
"They came here for a secret rendezvous."
The man smiled sinisterly, like a devil:
"You bunch of scoundrels, I'll kill you all!!"
After the man finished speaking, he swiftly drew his weapon, and in an instant, he fell to the ground, making the blood on the ground even more intense.
The blade is long enough to damage internal organs.
Yuan Ye's vision was already blurring, but he still managed to gasp for breath and forcefully climbed up from the dust on the ground, rushing towards the man with the knife.
When the blade pierced his body again, Yuanye stumbled and fell onto a stone step.
His trouser legs were covered in dust, just like they were ten years ago.
......
A gentle breeze blew, lifting a few white petals from the tombstone.
"Hmm..."
The man lying on the stone steps was convulsing from blood loss.
But in that instant, he was stunned, because under the gray sky, the last snowflake rose.
as if...
She seemed to transform into a snow butterfly, drifting to his side once again.
"Hmm..."
Blood kept spilling from his mouth. Yuanye opened his mouth as if to say something, but watched as the petals drifted away from him again.
He lay prone on the ground, trying to grab onto something.
Just a little bit more...
Clearly, it was so close...
He clenched his fists, a faint sob escaping his throat that seemed to ache, yet he stubbornly tried to grasp something, but he could no longer muster any strength.
After all these years, Yuanye finally cried out:
...
This life.
It always feels so short.
It also feels so long.
Yu Yingning.
The time I spent with you was too short.
And when I lose you
It's too long...
So, things rarely go as planned, and that snow butterfly flew far away into the sky.
There was no more sound on the stone steps.
He vanished from the world, as if only that devoted heart and obsession remained, with no one else left.
*
*
*
System space.
0067 obediently transmitted all the data and then spoke in a cute, childlike voice:
"Master, Master."
“That ‘Cupid’ system that we captured before has already been dealt with by the main system.” 0067 thought of another person.
"And Xia Yueyue's life has really turned upside down after losing the system."
In the original storyline, Xia Yueyue relied on the so-called Cupid System to embark on a path completely different from her original life.
0067 Unexpectedly, Xia Yueyue, who was completely stripped of her system this time, still indulged in the world of vanity.
"She borrowed millions of dollars at exorbitant interest rates for plastic surgery, and was then sold overseas by debt collectors to pay off her debts." 0067 had been keeping an eye on the situation in that world for the past ten years.
"After she became addicted to drugs, she dealt with addicts almost every day."
"In the end, his body was covered in sores, and he died in a garbage dump."
Yingning lowered her eyes, as if thinking of something:
"I didn't expect Duan Shen to actually have some tricks up his sleeve."
"I hadn't noticed it before."
Upon hearing his master say this, 0067 quickly glanced at the timeline and asked curiously:
"Master, wasn't Duan Shen monitoring Xia Yueyue from the very beginning?"
0067 attributes Duan Shen's actions to revenge. He has people from abroad monitor Xia Yueyue, intending to trap her and kill her in that country rife with evil.
Yingning did not intend to let 0067 know how terrible human nature could be.
After all, all the things Xia Yueyue encountered later were probably orchestrated by Duan Shen to some extent.
Otherwise, how could those debt collectors have found Xia Yueyue so quickly?
"I'm afraid the person in this world who would most like to kill her is Duan Shen."
Rather than killing her, I wish she were dead.
"That really is Duan Shen's personality."
0067 is a timid and silly animal. Although it doesn't know much about the intricacies of the situation, it always listens to its master.
"Master, the next world has been chosen."
0067 noticed that the system's rating had been released, and it immediately transformed into a diligent and adorable little system:
"Duan Shen's emotional distress score is 1023 points, and his physical distress score is 1001 points; Yuan Ye's emotional distress score is 987 points, and his physical distress score is 884 points."
"Pei Yuqing's emotional torment score is 1099 points, and his physical torment score is 1187 points."
"World rating: A+".
0067 then asked, "Master, shall we begin the next world?"
"good."
0067 immediately opened a portal to the next world:
"By the way, Master, the next world is the Republic of China era, a time of war and chaos..."
The sound of 0067 was completely interrupted by the deafening sound of the collapse!
"Owner?!"
The system's spacetime tunnel seemed to have been completely shattered by some invisible force, and then 0067 felt that a passage had been forcibly opened in a world.
He dragged Yingning directly into that world?!
"Owner!!!"
That world...
"yes..."
0067 reacted instantly:
"Is it Li Ziqing...?"
At this moment, the enormous, invisible, twisting force had successfully opened the world passage, and 0067 simply did not have time to open the system tunnel again!
0067 sensed something was wrong and instinctively began frantically searching for a matching host.
Find it quickly....
Find it quickly....
Although he didn't know exactly how Li Ziqing had dragged his master into his world, he couldn't afford to waste a single second now.
Because if there is no suitable host, it is very likely that the "rules" of that world will discover it and forcibly erase its consciousness.
To become a "lonely ghost".
0067 felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave!
*
*
The long banks of the Styx River.
A scarlet flower with petals almost touching the ground, as if trying to reach the scorched earth on both sides of the River Styx, was accidentally stepped on by a burly beast.
Instantly, crimson light fell onto the black mud.
The ghost messengers nearby were terrified upon seeing this:
"Ah, the Black Beast."
"Why did you step on Granny Meng's flowers?!"
"Let her see that when the old woman goes mad, no one in the underworld can protect you."
The ghost messenger quickly pulled the black beast over, and nervously looked around to see if there were any dangerous people.
Beneath the Bridge of Helplessness, only a few faceless imps were slowly distributing the broth that had been prepared.
Seeing that Meng Po was not there, the ghost messenger secretly wiped away a non-existent sweat.
Why are you so scared?
"Meng Po isn't here again." Ghost Messenger Number Two found his frightened appearance quite amusing.
"Has Meng Po not returned yet...?"
The ghost messenger who was taking a walk with the black beast today still showed an expression of disbelief on his pale face after hearing that Meng Po had not returned.
Ghost Messenger Number Two didn't let his brother's curiosity get the better of him either:
"you do not say."
"Meng Po is in charge of this area, but since she's been away, Lord Black Impermanence has arranged for a few little devils to work here."
"I wonder where the old woman ran off to," said Ghost Messenger Number Two.
Everyone in the underworld knows that Granny Meng under the Bridge of Helplessness has a terrible temper. Anyone who offends her will be met with a serpent whip.
The ghosts they beat wished they could jump into reincarnation immediately.
But recently, something strange has happened. This ghost messenger has escorted several reincarnated souls, but has not seen Meng Po's figure.
Since the ghost messengers held a low position in the underworld, they naturally couldn't find out the reason.
At this moment, the ghost messenger escorting the souls noticed that his procession was gradually slowing down, and he urged them sternly in dissatisfaction:
"Hurry, hurry, hurry!"
"Hurry up, hurry up."
"If you see these flowers again, I'll keep you here."
......
The blood flowers, more beautiful than any in the world, are reflected in the River of Oblivion.
Such colors are rare in the underworld, so the souls that cross the Bridge of Helplessness are easily captivated by this scenery, and some lonely souls even wander here for a long time, unwilling to be reincarnated.
The shouts of the ghost messengers instantly awakened the souls queuing up, and they reluctantly drifted across the Bridge of Helplessness with the large group.
At this moment, deep on the other shore, the red spider lilies are in full bloom.
Deep within the flowerbeds, faint, indistinct sounds could be heard.
With a slight movement of her delicate, jade-like hand, the broken flower petals fell into her palm.
The person in the misty ghost robe slowly rose from the ground. She supported herself on the ground to stand up, but her robe slipped down, revealing a patch of spring-like skin on her back.
It also revealed a face that had never been shown in the underworld before.
Her appearance was like the moon, half of her beauty pure and flawless.
The other half of her face was abruptly split open by a strange flower; roots of red spider lilies sprouted from her fair ears, and three blood-red stamens appeared at the corners of her pale eyes.
This plant surpasses three thousand in the underworld.
*
The Abyss Underworld Palace.
Just as Bai Xie was about to leave, he saw a little imp who was supposed to be guarding outside the hall rush in, almost bumping into him.
As soon as the little devil entered the hall, he realized that he had violated the rules of the Underworld Palace. He was so frightened that he prostrated himself on the ground and did not dare to look at the person in the main seat.
Bai Xie approached and said in a sinister tone:
"You have violated the rules of the Underworld. Do you know which level of hell you will be sent to?"
His voice was light and airy, but it scared the little devil half to death.
"Master Bai..."
"My Lord, I have important business to report!"
"I didn't mean it!!"
The little devil was trembling on the ground, clearly terrified by the white-flowered flower.
Bai Xie glanced furtively at the main seat of the Underworld Palace and said:
"Get to the point."
"I'll take you downstairs in a bit."
Upon hearing this, the little devil had no choice but to tell the important matter first:
"Lord Palace Master!"
"Master Bai!"
"It's Meng Po..."
"Lady Meng Po is back!"
Upon hearing this, even Bai Xie, who usually wore a smiling but stern expression, showed surprise.
Above the main seat in the Underworld Palace is a dragon throne shaped like a sea monster.
The carving on the back of the chair depicts a pheasant gnawing at a dragon imprisoned by several ghostly chains. The dragon, unable to struggle, can only stare intently at His Highness's every move with its enormous blood-red dragon pearl.
It was clearly an inanimate object, yet it was shocking to behold.
The figure in the main seat had its features hidden in the mist.
On the side of his narrow waist, he wore a Xuanling token, confirming that he was the ruler of this realm for thousands of years—Que Rong, the Lord of the Underworld.
"Meng Po?"
It was Bai Xie who spoke.
"Did you see it clearly?"
The little devil repeatedly told Bai Xie:
"Yes...."
"I personally witnessed Meng Po appearing near Naihe, dressed in a ghost robe, with Manjusaka flowers blooming within half a step of her. It was indeed Lady Meng Po!"
Bai Xie, who was standing outside the hall, had a strange look flash across his eyes after hearing the little devil's words, but he quickly regained his usual smiling expression.
Bai Xie bowed forward:
"Palace Master, now..."
"What should I do?"
Que Rong, seated on the dragon throne of the Sihaiyu, finally spoke slowly:
"She has already returned."
"Then you should go and visit them."
Bai Xie respectfully agreed and left the Underworld Palace with the little ghost.
Until the outermost halls of the underworld.
Seeing that the environment before him wasn't the path to the eighteenth level of hell, the little devil hesitated for a long time before finally speaking in a trembling voice:
"Master Bai...?"
Bai Xie, who had been walking ahead, stopped:
"The temple master did not blame you."
"You've been following me all this time, do you really want to experience the eighteenth level of hell?" Bai Xie said in a low voice.
Upon seeing this, the little devil immediately thanked him repeatedly.
"Thank you, Lord Bai! Thank you, Lord Bai!"
Then, it transformed into a wisp of ghostly energy and immediately fled the place.
Bai Xie, who had been standing still, had a face as white as snow, and his crimson lips moved slightly, as if he were talking to himself with a faint laugh:
"You're back?"
"This time, I'm going to take a good look."
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