Chapter 44

Chapter 44

In the empty classroom, Lan Yexing closed his eyes once more.

The dial on his right wrist emitted a cold, crisp light, and Lan Yexing was again confronted with those blurred, blood-stained memories, born of love.

Many people loved the hidden child.

Beyond his parents and the old butler, his maternal grandparents and uncle were also aware of his existence. They would visit him at the manor on significant holidays, and like his parents, they chose to exert every effort to defy authority and protect their kin.

But one day, the child's existence was exposed.

The main Qiao family residence and the secret manor simultaneously erupted in a conflagration. Countless clones stormed both locations, slaughtering those with golden hair and green eyes in the name of authority and punishment, as if unleashing a furious purge.

As they forced compliance, they declared with mechanical indifference and condescension that everything was for justice and the nation's future.

Qiao You's father concealed his wife and child in the underground passage connected to the outside world, safeguarding the escape route of his loved ones with his life—even though he knew well that the path was precarious and the royal family would never relent.

Yet, when pushed to the brink, people cling to beautiful fantasies to sustain themselves, to endure a little longer in such a horrifying massacre, to buy a little more time for their loved ones. It was as if by holding on long enough in this unfair struggle, his loved ones could truly escape through that passage, survive, and find happiness...

The woman in the basement, however, never sought strength from fantasies. No matter how cruel and cold reality became, she never shied away. So, instead of futilely struggling to escape with her child, she led him to the room closest to the exit.

In the dimly lit room, the woman's golden hair was disheveled, and she was in a state of disarray. Her green eyes, however, gleamed terrifyingly, filled with a neurotic and frantic hatred and resolve.

She tightly held her three-year-old child, her lips trembling incessantly, as if on the verge of speaking.

The three-year-old boy, cradled in his mother's arms, still wore an indifferent, almost cold expression on his delicate face. Yet, he silently shed tears, his small hand clutching the woman's clothes, calmly and rationally, almost cruelly: "Mom, why don't you just hand me over?"

Child: "You and Dad, all this misfortune happened because of me, didn't it?"

The child's tears and words made the woman gasp. She pushed him away and, for the first time, slapped him hard.

In the dim space, where choking smoke had already begun to spread, the child's head snapped to the side from the blow. The woman, with her beautiful, neurotic eyes, wept, her slender hands trembling slightly as she tenderly touched the child's swollen little face: "I'm sorry. Mom shouldn't have hit you. But—"

She declared loudly and firmly, "Don't say those things, and don't think that way, understand?!—For the rest of your life, I forbid you to think that way!"

Woman: "Not confronting the perpetrator and only blaming the victim is the most cowardly act, understand?!"

As she spoke, the woman's eyes welled with tears, and she smiled at him gently, yet neurotically. She said, "Xiao You has done nothing wrong, so you must stand tall, live honorably in this world, and find happiness."

"You must know, this is the obsession and wish of your father, myself, and all your relatives."

The woman was smiling, yet she cried aloud. With her blood-stained, slender fingers, she caressed the child's still-teary poker face, gently saying, "I'm so sorry, Daddy and Mommy can't stay with you any longer."

Her voice was morbidly obsessive yet gentle: "Xiao You, you must be happy, absolutely happy. If you are lucky enough to forget everything, that would be even better; just forget everything and live happily. If you are truly unlucky and still remember these things, then go and kill those beasts with your own hands to avenge us... After you have avenged us, you must also find happiness, my dear..."

"Daddy and Mommy brought you into this world, only hoping for your happiness..."

The child merely wept, his temples throbbing numbly, yet at this moment, he still looked at her indifferently and blankly—he didn't understand what happiness truly was...

The woman's beautiful eyes began to glow like fireflies. The child realized something and opened his eyes wide in shock, but the next moment, his body went limp and he collapsed into the woman's arms.

He used all his strength to stay awake, but in the end, he could only weakly clutch the woman's clothes, murmuring futilely, "Mom, no..."

His eyes gradually dimmed, and his brain was slowly losing consciousness.

Even now, he didn't understand his parents and kin.

He had read in books that the human instinct for survival superseded all will; when faced with a survival crisis, humans would seek all means to find a way to live.

And now, it would have been fine to just hand him over...

If only such a simple choice had been made, everyone could have continued to live gloriously...

He didn't understand why his parents and kin were so foolish, nor did he understand their motive for protecting him, even if it meant defying the human instinct for survival...

How foolish, how could they be so foolish...

They made such a foolish choice, causing his heart to ache so much now, and his whole body to hurt...

He wanted to cry loudly, but his mother had used her psychic power on him, and now he could only shed copious tears helplessly, vaguely seeing her face filled with intense love and morbid neurosis.

He saw that the light in the woman's green eyes grew brighter, and she began to speak—he knew she was using her psychic power, in a way that consumed her own life and soul.

It was as if there was a layer of tough, terrifying water separating his ears; he could clearly hear her speaking, but he couldn't make out what she was saying at all.

He only knew that her voice was as beautiful as some forbidden song.

Her eyes began to bleed, her lips began to bleed, her ears began to bleed, and in the end, it was as if her entire body was bleeding...

In the last moments of her life, her pupils were stained with blood, yet they shone like fierce flames.

She looked arrogantly, disdainfully, and coldly toward the exit not far away. She knew that the royal family was waiting there—the King was the most hypocritical, most fond of showing off his condescending, so-called mercy.

Now, only she and her child remained alive in her family, a woman and a child. The King would most likely bestow his mercy upon them; he would abolish her psychic power, take her child, but "mercifully" "spare" her life, to satisfy the King's twisted benevolence and generosity.

As she watched, a proud, disdainful, and neurotic smile appeared on the woman's face: their family carried the blood of arrogant, rebellious, and protective madmen.

Just as her parents and kin had chosen, she would never bow down, never.

Finally, having done everything, a satisfied, arrogant, and triumphant smile appeared on her face. When her body finally gave way and she collapsed to the ground, the child in her arms, almost losing consciousness, also fell with her and rolled not far away.

She looked at him with her blood-streaming eyes, reached out a bloody hand to caress the child's cheek, her voice obsessive yet gentle, as if casting a curse that would surely come true: "You must find happiness, Xiao You..."

Then she tilted her head, revealing a final sweet smile amidst the blood on the ground: "And, don't have children with your future lover. I'm sorry, this is the only loophole Mom can't fill..."

As she spoke, the woman's hand slipped from the child's cheek, leaving a thick bloodstain on his delicate face. Her beautiful eyes finally extinguished like a lamp...

The child, lying on the ground unable to move, stared blankly at her, tears silently streaming from the corners of his eyes. The bloodstain was so hot that he felt his soul burning. Prematurely mature, he opened his mouth, wanting to cry uncontrollably for the first time, but his throat and vocal cords seemed to be swallowed by an abyss, unable to make a sound...

Later, Song Wen, who was truly waiting at the exit, finally grew impatient. Amidst the flames, he brought the old butler, whose life was uncertain and who had lost consciousness, into the room—he was wary of the woman's psychic power and didn't want to cause excessive casualties or waste clones who had already been overused by other members of this family. He had originally intended to follow the King's orders and use the old man who had cared for her since childhood, and her own life, to threaten her into submission and hand over the child.

However, upon entering the basement room, Song Wen only saw the woman's unclosed eyes in death, and the silent, tearful child staring at him with a terrifyingly chilling, numb gaze.

......

Lan Yexing suddenly opened his eyes, the corners of which were frighteningly red.

His face was pale, and cold sweat on his forehead dampened his hair. His light-colored eyes were filled with shock and pain. Due to the excessive emotional fluctuation, his body instinctively wanted to retch, but he forcefully maintained his composure through sheer willpower.

The dial on his right wrist lit up, and the system's voice was filled with deep concern: "Host..."

Lan Yexing suppressed the malevolence in his body and soothed it with a hoarse yet gentle voice: "Don't worry, it's nothing, I'm fine."

As he said this, he looked at the syringe in his hand with eyes that seemed on the verge of tears from pain: this syringe contained not only the cells of Qiao You's father but also those of his mother, so he could see both of their memories...

His fingers, gripping the syringe box tightly, trembled slightly, and his knuckles were faintly red from the force. His eyes were, unusually, filled with icy malevolence: How dare they, how dare they...

However, this was still not the whole truth.

Those memories were still chaotic and disordered, many key points were blurry, and he still didn't know why Qiao You became the core of all conspiracies.

Lan Yexing bit his lip, pondered for a moment, and took out the chip Leon had given him. He looked at it thoughtfully: Will there be more truth in this chip?

This chip required a computer to read, and his computer was in the dorm.

Lan Yexing took a deep breath and stood up, walking out of the classroom, his face pale and expression cold, like a vengeful spirit.

......

It was already noon, and the roads were filled with young students heading to various cafeterias and restaurants.

In the beautiful autumn weather, this campus was truly elegant and beautiful, and the young students, representing the future of the country, were full of vibrant energy. Lan Yexing walked aimlessly through the crowd, but only felt cold all over.

As he passed by King's Lake, there were still noble students boating on the lake. Lan Yexing looked at the lake with a blank expression, but only felt that the lake was filled with terrifying ghostly figures.

Finally, he returned to the dorm. Fortunately, Jiang Xiaozhou was not there.

Lan Yexing locked the room door, took out his laptop, and inserted the chip Leon had given him into the corresponding slot.

An unknown file quickly appeared on the computer desktop.

After opening it, after a harsh static noise, Leon's voice came through:

"If this file is opened, it means I am no longer in this world. Lan Yexing, I apologize to you. Even though I dislike you so much, I have no choice but to entrust the two people I care about most to you—yes, this file was specifically prepared for you. A long time ago, I decided to make you my fallback."

Leon: "I know this is very despicable and mean. So, I apologize to you again. And these materials, which involve a corner of the world's truth, can be considered my thank you gift to you."

"There's no need to beat around the bush, let's get straight to the point. First, Lan Yexing, do you know the operating mechanism of the existence called 'System' on your right wrist?"

Lan Yexing's pupils contracted. His hand instinctively and gently covered the dial. He bit his lip and continued to listen.

Leon: "My father didn't allow me to participate in system-related projects, so I don't know much information. But I can confirm that its operating mechanism is based on a psychic ability called Precognition."

Lan Yexing was startled, his eyes suddenly widening: No wonder the system could know about those capture events in advance and release missions early...

But, Precognition...

Does such a psychic ability really exist?

If a human possessed such a psychic ability, in a sense, as long as they had enough wisdom and power, they could change the course of the entire world...

If this psychic ability had been controlled by the royal family for generations...

He suddenly remembered Su Lou's family's strange reason for their demise—"Just because my family will produce a revolutionary two generations from now!"

Leon: "Lan Yexing, you might have already guessed, this is why, no matter how technology develops or how the world changes, the royal family has never been overthrown and can still firmly control this world in the shadows for generations—you haven't had time to learn, but there is only one country in this world."

Because, as long as there is any spark of rebellion among the common people or the nobles, the royal family can use this psychic ability and the existing forces they control to completely extinguish it in advance.

The development of the times is indeed unstoppable, but the royal family can use this psychic ability to control important individuals who would cause great changes in advance. As long as enough people are controlled in advance, they can force developments that the royal family does not want to stagnate or even turn around.

For example, the royal family believes that the vast sky and universe will mislead humans into becoming "disobedient." They believe that the sky will foster more dangerous ideas and countless rebellious and freedom-loving people, and that the technological development in aerospace will ultimately lead to the birth of more influential and threatening weapons. Therefore, for a long time, they have intervened and suppressed the development of this field from countless causal gaps. The development of this field remains blank to this day.

When the past and present change, the future will naturally change. The royal family thus predicts new futures through repeated changes, and then continuously interferes with and creates newer futures through the ability of Precognition.

In this way, countless causes and effects have accumulated, and their hands are stained with countless visible and invisible blood. The royal family's power is like an immeasurable tree, deeply rooted and unshakable in this world, treating this world as the royal family's private property, passed down from generation to generation.

Leon: "You might not understand what an irresistible temptation it is for a family, for an individual, to possess the power to firmly hold the entire world in their hands. Once a human has tasted it, they will never let go; they will never want to let go for generations. Therefore, the psychic ability of Precognition is truly too important to the royal family."

Leon: "However, ironically, each generation of kings can inherit all psychic abilities through a special method, except for Precognition."

"For the royal family, the psychic ability of Precognition is like a sweet curse. It only randomly appears among all people with psychic abilities, and only one will be born. The previous Precognitive's power will continuously decline with age. They will gradually foresee who the next Precognitive will be. They can even foresee who will conceive the next Precognitive. When the previous Precognitive dies, the next one will fully inherit his or her abilities."

"The royal family will use the information provided by the previous Precognitive to lock onto the target in advance. As soon as the next infant is born, he or she will be taken away and controlled."

"To completely control these ability users and ensure their obedience, the royal family will dissect those infants, cultivating only their brains. These ability users will live their entire lives in the royal family's cultivation tanks, serving only the royal family."

"And once the royal family controls the first Precognitive, they can control all Precognitives for generations."

Hearing this, Lan Yexing's breathing hitched and he bit his lip, his heart beating faster and faster: So, the reason the royal family targeted Qiao You's family was because of this psychic ability?

But Qiao You's psychic ability was clearly "Extract"...

As if knowing Lan Yexing's question, Leon's voice continued to sound in the audio file: "Nineteen years ago, this generation's Precognitive foresaw that the daughter of the great noble Qiao family would have a child with Precognition with her lover. Therefore, even though he also foresaw that the Qiao family's descendants were no longer so loyal to the royal family, the King did not immediately send people to purge the Qiao family. He wanted to wait for that child to be born, so that year, he only implemented strong secret surveillance on the couple and the entire Qiao family."

"However, for three whole years, the people sent by the King did not see the woman become pregnant, nor did they witness the birth of the child. The royal family once suspected that this generation's Precognitive had made a mistake. Later, the King found out that the Qiao family woman had forcefully used her psychic power to blind the royal family."

"The Qiao family's psychic ability is 'Word Spirit,' which can, to some extent, change reality through language. But before that woman, this theoretically over-the-line psychic ability was actually so weak that it couldn't even change the most insignificant reality—even the patriarch at the time couldn't make a seed sprout early. Unlike other families that relied on psychic abilities, the Qiao family originally established itself among the nobles as a powerful family through wisdom and a reckless madness."

"But in this generation, no one expected that woman to possess unparalleled power. She only sensed danger after giving birth to the child. She did not use the power of 'Word Spirit' to make the already born child disappear. Instead, she hid the child's existence. She twisted and changed the fact that the surveillance agents had discovered their family of three countless times, and at the same time, she was fighting against the King's eyes—the psychic ability of Precognition."

"The psychic ability of Precognition foresees impending reality. That woman then used her wisdom and psychic power to create new realities, to counter and blind Precognition itself. She actually persisted like this for three whole years, until her body weakened and her psychic power developed a loophole, only then was she discovered by the royal family."

"To get that child, the royal family did something very... unscrupulous, despicable, and base. They were determined to get the next Precognitive at all costs. But that woman was truly too powerful."

"She, her husband, and her family resisted until their last breath. Until her death, she fiercely struck a fatal blow to the royal family, forcing them to protect her child and use all means to ensure her child's happiness."

Lan Yexing immediately thought of the beautiful woman's shining eyes in her last moments, and those words he hadn't heard clearly... Now, was the truth about to be revealed?

He held his breath, biting his lip in pain, and continued to listen.

Leon: "That woman, Qiao Man, burned her life to make a final 'Word Spirit' that even my bastard father couldn't reverse. She transferred the power of Precognition from Qiao You to Qiao You's next generation, and firmly insisted that the child, born to Qiao You and someone in the future, who would possess the power of Precognition, must be born in freedom, in the love between Qiao You and their partner, and in pure happiness. Without these preconditions, the Precognitive would never be born."

"She also used that power to make the core figures of all major noble families aware of the secret of Precognition, greatly curbing and reducing my father's rule."

"What an absurd and brilliant, ingenious and insane act. From then on, as long as my father, who holds the supreme power and authority in this country, wants to obtain the next Precognitive to continue his family's powerful rule, which has accumulated countless causes and effects, he must protect Qiao You, allow him to gain freedom, love, and happiness, to ensure the birth of that child with Precognition in the future."

"And those powerful and influential great families, once tempted by the power of Precognition, will also protect Qiao You and strive to make him happy. At the same time, they will also suppress my father's gaze and control over Qiao You."

Leon: "But, Lan Yexing, what is love and happiness? Do you know what that stuff is? Do I know what that stuff is?"

"Would my father, who was born into the most twisted family in this world, know what love and happiness truly are? Would the patriarchs of those great families, trapped by the curse of psychic power, whose lives are only filled with a fanatical obsession with power, know what love and happiness are?"

"So, as you can see, they desperately sent out heirs and various clowns to gain Qiao You's love, hoping to get that child in the future, but they all failed, and Qiao You did not find happiness. And these young privileged individuals with psychic abilities, under the control of old men like my father who have lost their humanity but control this world, were actively or passively drawn into the endless misfortune of a curse called 'love and happiness.' Among them, my brother was included."

"Perhaps, these were also within that woman's control. While protecting her child, she was recklessly retaliating, retaliating against my father and my family, and also retaliating against those great families who, despite potentially facing the same misfortune as her family in the future, stood by and watched their suffering or even gloated on that night of the great fire."

"She wanted those great families, who had passively learned the royal family's fatal secret, to share the King's gaze and control over her child. She also wanted to use their greed to push their children to share the curse and misfortune of the Precognition ability, like a vicious cycle, with her child."

"What a genius and crazy woman—she was even more genius and crazy than her father, who was quite famous in the great families..."

Lan Yexing listened to all of this in shock, his body stiff, unable to move for a long time.

Finally, Leon said, "My brother was also involved. Because of his special psychic ability, he, he was subjected to human experiments by my father... I'm not sure what specific experiments, I only know that Lin Qian is one of the failed products of those experiments—and it was because of that experiment, of which I only saw the tip of the iceberg, that I had the opportunity to know about the existence of that thing on your right wrist, and to recognize your true nature."

"However, until the very end, I never saw my brother, nor did I know his condition..."

"I basely wanted to use Lin Qian to gain Qiao You's love, hoping to free my brother. Pushed to the extreme, I also wanted to kill Qiao You to end all this disgusting madness, but I also knew that I would most likely fail—my father overly believed in his secret weapons and the test results analyzed by technology. He always thought Qiao You was under his control, naive, soft, and kind, but I knew that wasn't true. I knew Qiao You was more terrifying than any young psychic I had ever seen..."

Leon, who had always been cold and arrogant, now pleaded almost frantically: "One day, my father will also send my younger siblings to that campus. I beg you, save them. I am willing to bear all the karma and sins of the family alone, to go to hell to atone—if souls exist in this world, I am willing to atone with my soul for all eternity."

Leon: "I am willing to give everything to gain an innocent and pure position for them. Lan Yexing, just regard them as innocent beings, and at necessary critical moments, lend them a hand. And these secrets and truths, consider them my humble sincerity."

...

Leon's audio truly lasted for a very long time, until the sun set, the dusk fell, and now even the stars had risen.

The dorm room, unlit, was now empty and desolate, like a coffin and a tomb. Lan Yexing sat on the chair, cold and stiff all over, unable to move for a long time.

He needed time to accept and digest all of this. He also needed to plan how to protect Qiao You and Xiao Song, and even to search for the obscure truth about his own background—for example, when and how Leon and Yan Min had seen him and recognized him...

There were too many things to do, too many things that needed to be done...

Only—

Lan Yexing hugged himself, prostrating on the desk, revealing a section of his cold, pale, and fragile neck—it was really cold now, so cold, he wanted to be held by that person, held tightly... and then kissed.

He desperately wanted to confirm his current existence through that person's domineering and forceful kiss—even if he was now in such an unpresentable and unseemly state, he still wanted to touch him, embrace him, kiss him—even just hearing his voice would be enough—

With a "bang," the French window was forcefully and powerfully pulled open from the balcony outside. The curtains swayed for a moment, and the familiar, pleasant scent of lime instantly surged into the entire room with the wind.

Then, clear and powerful footsteps seemed to sound, and a tall shadow was cast on the ground by the moonlight.

Lan Yexing, who was lying on the table, gasped, his eyes suddenly wide, feeling his whole body go limp and his ears buzzing: It must be an illusion, how could it be...

But the next moment, a cool large hand reached into Lan Yexing's collar, forcefully pulling him up and into an embrace, one arm possessively wrapped around the young man's waist.

In that possessive embrace, Lan Yexing's eyes widened, his nose touching the young man's strong chest, almost shedding tears.

The three-year-old child from back then had grown up, and his chest was now so firm and strong. He leaned his thin lips close to Lan Yexing's ear, his voice deep and slightly hoarse, his tone dangerous and terrifying, yet so captivating: "Lan Yexing, it's a shame, I can't wait until tomorrow..."

A cold and dangerous smile appeared on Qiao You's face: "I want you to obediently tell me all your secrets now. Otherwise," he lowered his gaze, his green eyes shining terrifyingly, he murmured, "I really don't know what I'll do, darling..."

Lan Yexing pressed his lips together, his brows and expression hidden by his dark hair. He thought, actually, it doesn't matter what you do to me, from beginning to end... Do you truly know that you are, in fact, allowed?

The next moment, Lan Yexing slightly stood on tiptoe, fiercely grabbed the young man's collar, and kissed the young man's lips hard.