Chapter 6 Breakup, Declaration of War

Chapter 6: Rupture and Declaration

"Go to sleep now. When you wake up, you'll remember everything from today, including the fact that I used psychic control on you." Ji An's face was shadowy in the moonlight, indistinct yet radiating an eerie, unsettling aura.

He wanted Tang Tang to remember all of this—how he had taken the necklace she treasured so dearly. And yet, despite knowing it was in his possession, she would be powerless to reclaim it, left to writhe in torment.

As for how he would protect himself? He had his own methods.

Truthfully, as long as he stopped trusting them, they could never harm him again.

Tang Tang obediently closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep, her standing body collapsing to the ground with a heavy thud. The impact sounded painful, but Ji An ignored it completely.

He turned and climbed back out through the window he had entered from. The moment his feet touched the ground, someone stepped out from behind the house.

"Who's there?" Ji An narrowed his eyes, a dangerous glint in his eyes.

"Mr. Ji, it's me—Tang Tang's cousin, Tang Ning." Tang Ning raised her hands high to show she carried no weapons and posed no threat.

"I wasn't trying to follow you. I heard noises from Tang Tang’s room, but I didn’t dare go in to check. You know how she treats me—like her personal punching bag. So I came outside to peek through the window and ended up seeing... everything."

"Including my... anomaly?" Ji An stopped short of naming his superpower, wary that Tang Ning might not have actually seen or heard anything and was just fishing for info.

"Yes. I heard her say you're a psychic." Tang Ning said bluntly.

"You're not afraid?" Tang Tang and Chen Chen, who were once so close to him, had both been terrified upon learning the truth. Chen Chen had even begun to suspect that his love for Ji An was nothing more than a psychic compulsion—even though it had been Chen Chen who was the one chasing after him in the first place.

"No, I'm not afraid." Tang Ning answered without hesitation. "I think Tang Tang is far more terrifying than you.

She’s the one who’s truly deceptive—a snake in the grass.

She resents me, always believing that before the apocalypse, I rubbed my family’s wealth in her face to make her feel inferior.

But I never did. Her family was poor, always scrimping on groceries. Mine was well-off, so of course I didn’t have to think about such things—I could buy whatever I wanted.

She also thinks I went to college just to make her look worse in front of relatives and friends.

But what’s wrong with studying hard and striving for success? While I was grinding through my studies, what was she doing?

Playing around with friends. Even as a child, barely ten years old and just starting elementary school, she was already chasing boys.

With her mind constantly fixated on male classmates, how could she possibly have done well in school?"

Tang Ning snapped angrily. "I never knew that being good at something was a sin! As if the achievements of people who hustle exist only to highlight the failures of the lazy. But the truth is, those who work hard spend all their time improving themselves—they don’t have time to even notice the lazy. They’re just trying to level up."

"Why are you telling me all this?" Ji An knew of Tang Tang’s cousin but had never interacted with her before.

Truth be told, aside from Chen Chen and Tang Tang, Ji An kept to himself in the base.

Having grown up in an orphanage, he'd seen too much of how ugly people can be. Deep down, he disliked the human species and avoided people like the plague whenever possible.

As a result, aside from Chen Chen and Tang Tang, Ji An was unfamiliar with most people in the base.

Naturally, he knew little about Tang Ning—everything he had heard came from Tang Tang herself.

Tang Tang had told him that her cousin was a terrible person, vain and cruel, always bullying her before the apocalypse.

She had also said that, regardless of the past, now that the apocalypse had arrived and only the two of them remained from their family, she would bury the hatchet. Now that she had the ability, she would take care of her cousin.

Back then, Ji An had thought Tang Tang was truly kind-hearted. Little did he know that Tang Tang had only kept Tang Ning close to make her life hell for payback.

Tang Ning said, "Ji An, I know that after what you just did to Tang Tang without erasing her memory, you definitely won’t stay in the compound anymore. I want to leave with you."

Ji An remained silent.

Afraid Ji An might misunderstand her as threatening him with this secret, Tang Ning quickly clarified, "I’m not trying to threaten you. Actually, I’ve always wanted to leave—I just didn’t have the courage to go alone.

With you here, I’m brave enough now.

Of course, if you think I’m a burden and don’t want to take me along, I swear I won’t reveal your secret either."

After a moment of consideration, Ji An nodded. "Alright."

He figured that when Tang Tang woke up and found Tang Ning gone, she’d be furious. Anything to make her suffer, Ji An was willing to do.

"Grab a weapon," Ji An said. "I’ll take you, but I won’t be responsible for your safety."

"I understand. Just letting me come along makes me happy. Live or die, that’s on me." Tang Ning added, "Ji An, can I have a few minutes? Personal business."

"What do you want to do?" Ji An asked.

"Though I can’t bring myself to kill Tang Tang, I want to beat her up—as thanks for her ‘care’ these past days."

"Three minutes. Make it fast."

"Yes." Tang Ning’s eyes lit up, all traces of her earlier gloom gone.

She dashed back, tied Tang Tang up, gagged her, and gave her a brutal beating.

At some point, Tang Tang woke up from the pain and was utterly shocked to see Tang Ning hitting her.

How dare she?! Was she insane? Did she not want to stay in the base anymore?

After blowing off steam, Tang Ning grabbed an axe as her weapon and left with Ji An.

They disappeared into the night.

The next morning, Chen Chen noticed Ji An wasn’t in his room but didn’t think much of it, assuming he’d gone out.

But by evening, Ji An still hadn’t returned. It suddenly occurred to Chen Chen that Tang Tang hadn’t come looking for him all day either—normally, she’d cling to him the moment she woke up. At first, Chen Chen thought Tang Tang was avoiding him out of guilt, unsure how to explain the necklace incident. But now, with both of them missing at the same time, something must have happened.

A horrible thought hit him, and his expression darkened instantly. He immediately ran to Tang Tang’s house.

"Tang Tang! Tang Tang…" Chen Chen shouted as soon as he pushed the door open.

"Mmmpf..." A muffled whimper came from the bedroom.

Chen Chen rushed over and kicked the half-open bedroom door wide open, only to find Tang Tang in her pajamas, beaten to a pulp and lying on the floor.

"Who did this to you?!" Chen Chen hurried over to help her up, removing the ropes and the stinking sock that had been stuffed in her mouth for who knows how long.

"Ugh… It was Tang Ning! Tang Ning hit me!" All pretense of innocence and kindness vanished as Tang Tang’s face twisted with rage, her expression bordering on madness. "Where is that bitch Tang Ning?! I’ll kill her! No—I won’t kill her. I’ll torture her until she begs for death, then sell her off to be a prostitute, forced to service the ugliest, oldest men for the rest of her life!"

"Okay, I promise," Chen Chen said, though all he cared about now was finding Ji An. Still, he had to calm Tang Tang first.

"Tang, have you seen Ji An? He’s missing."

The moment Ji An’s name was mentioned, Tang Tang’s rage cut off instantly. Panic flashed across her face.

Just from her reaction, Chen Chen knew she must have seen him. "You’ve seen Ji An. Where did he go?"

Tang Tang shook her head, said guiltily, "I d-don't know."

Realizing something, Chen Chen immediately looked at Tang Tang's neck—and sure enough, it was bare.

"Where's your necklace? Did Ji An take it?" Seeing that even now Tang Tang still refused to tell the truth, Chen Chen's expression darkened and his tone grew harsh.

"Tang Tang, tell me the truth!" Chen Chen threatened. "Don't expect me to help you anymore!"

Tang Tang was truly frightened now. If Chen Chen really stopped helping her, she'd lose both her spatial and healing abilities—how could she survive in the apocalypse then?

"The necklace was taken by Ji An. Last night he sneaked into my room in the middle of the night, used his psychic ability to control me, and stole the necklace." Tang Tang bit her lip, tears instantly streaming down her face. She shook pitifully, looking utterly fragile and helpless.

This was Tang Tang’s usual tactic—whenever she played the victim like this, no man could say no to her. Including Chen Chen.

But this time, it failed. Not only did Tang Tang’s swollen, bruised face from Tang Ning's beating ruin any appeal, but Chen Chen was also too frantic to notice.

Chen Chen wasn't buying her act. He grabbed Tang Tang’s shoulders, gripping so tightly it made her whimper. "What secret does that necklace hold? Tell me now!"

Tang Tang swallowed hard, too scared to struggle. "The necklace is actually a space..." Under Chen Chen’s fierce glare, she couldn’t bring herself to finish.

"So your spatial ability came from it?" Chen Chen could hardly believe what he was hearing.

Ji An had long suspected the necklace held some secret, but he never imagined it would be this big!

Tang Tang was bold enough to use the necklace to fake a spatial ability!

Chen Chen felt like strangling her. "How could you keep something this important from me? Do you realize how important that space was for the base?"

Losing something so vital, Tang Tang didn’t even tell him right away so they could recover it. Instead, she tried to cover it up.

What the hell was she thinking?!

"I... didn't mean to," Tang Tang cowered. "Who knew Ji An would dare steal it in the middle of the night?"

"You didn't mean to? You didn't know? Didn't I warn you yesterday?" Chen Chen was about to lose it. "How dare you try to shift blame after losing the space? Why didn't you tell me last night? If I'd been guarding it, how could he have taken it so easily?"

Tang Tang had deliberately kept quiet because she didn’t want to hand the space over to Chen Chen.

"Now, do you know where Ji An went?" Chen Chen pressed.

"No," Tang Tang added hastily when she saw his grim expression. "He must have fled. After controlling me, he even asked whether we knew he had psychic powers."

"And then? You just told him everything?" Chen Chen was seeing red.

"Yeah," Tang Tang whispered weakly. "You know how it is... under his control, I couldn't resist. I was his puppet—he asked, I answered."

Chen Chen recalled the things he had confessed to Tang Tang about whether his love for Ji An was genuine or just psychic manipulation. The world seemed to darken around him.

If Ji An could easily control Tang Tang’s mind, he could’ve erased or altered her memories. He could’ve taken the necklace, wiped her memory, and no one would ever know it was him.

But Ji An didn’t. He left Tang Tang’s memories intact, letting her blab to Chen Chen—this was Ji An’s challenge!

If Chen Chen had what it takes, he could try finding him and taking the necklace back.

This was more than a breakup—it was a declaration of war!