Chapter 65 Echo

Chapter 65: Echoes

Xi Siyan opened the diary and found many colorful Dream Wards tucked between the pages.

He gathered these talismans and brought the diary home with him.

Jing Miao was still out, a little smile on his lips like he was having a good dream.

His pheromones floated in the air, able to make anyone forget their troubles.

"Mom is protecting Miao Miao from nightmares, right?" He kissed the Omega's forehead, sat by the bed, and began to read the diary.

—

"I've thought about this for a long time. I'm going to keep a diary. Because this world is too quiet."

"Actually, the welfare home isn't hard to stay in. I have a room to myself, and there are many books there. I can read all night. My grandma always watches me sleep, and she's also afraid I won't be happy living there. Every time she sends me, she repeatedly emphasizes it's not abandonment, it's foster care."

"I'm just like the sheep she raises! So she reported me as a High-Level to the government when I was ten! Bad Grandma!"

"She's sick and needs a lot of money for treatment. She says she keeps seeing heaven, that the clouds look like cotton candy you can eat. She tells me to go to the Central District, to find my roots."

"I entered a math competition to pay for the medical fees."

"The doctor said she's too old to undergo surgery again."

"Grandma says I can't fool her—that I actually *do* want to go to the Central District to find things connected to me. That's not true, I don't want to go."

"Grandma said today she was going to church to pray, told me not to follow. I was worried, so I followed her."

"She went to the hospital and chose euthanasia. She said she was in a lot of pain."

"I let her go. I regret it so much."

"I regret it so much."

"I regret it so much."

"I regret it so much."

The brief diary entries ended with the writing growing faint and heavy in turns. Xi Siyan pressed a hand to his chest, overwhelmed by heartache until he could barely breathe.

"Brother, there's something I regret very much."

Xi Siyan wiped away his tears and punched himself hard twice over his past insanity. He had thought... what Jing Miao regretted was abandoning that child to save *his* life.

How pathetic, Xi Siyan. Your pathetic jealousy.

Fourteen-year-old Jing Miao entered a math competition for medical fees, exposing his ability and gene level, and was forcibly summoned to the Central District by the government.

The elderly woman who cared for him, perhaps unable to bear the pain of illness, perhaps not wanting to burden the child, chose euthanasia to end her life.

The teenage Jing Miao cried for a long time, saying goodbye to his only family in the world.

He shouldered a backpack—his only luggage—and left the pasture and the house that had been their home.

He took a bus, passing through deserts and Gobi, with towering trees reaching for the clouds and oppressive darkness on both sides.

The boy curled up in the back row, afraid to look at the shadows of the trees flashing by.

Lonely, terrifying, it was the road he disliked the most.

He was alone now. He prepared himself to be alone forever.

"Arrived at the Central District. It's huge."

The diary stopped abruptly here. Xi Siyan flipped through many consecutive blank pages; Jing Miao had temporarily lost the desire to confide and record.

"September 4069, Xi Siyan."

Later on, Xi Siyan saw page after page about how much Jing Miao liked him.

— I like Xi Siyan so much. So this is what liking feels like. I don't want to be alone anymore.

— I like him so much today too. So, so much.

— Genes are very interesting. I want to go to the Gene Research Institute to find him.

— Why am I not a Beta?

— Still like Xi Siyan so much. Can he smell me? Maybe I don't smell bad?

— When will he come to the school again?

— I submitted my application to change majors.

— Professor Song scolded me. He invited me to join Polaris. Polaris or Xi Siyan, which do I choose? Both are my dreams.

— Xi Siyan wouldn't want to choose me.

— I'm not worthy of him.

— Took the pheromone manifestation test. It's the only Snowfield Dream in the world.

— To Jing Miao at twenty-six: I hope the person you love lives a long life. I hope you yourself live a long life. I hope you become someone useful to the world. I hope you find the meaning of existence in these ten years. I hope you never experience loss again.

......

— Xi Siyan will be a judge at the school competition tomorrow. Jing Miao, you must perform well.

— Grandma, Mom, I'm going to marry the person I like the most.

I won't be alone anymore.

— Haven't written in the diary for a long time, because life has been too happy, and also too tragic.

Hello, little Xi Suye.

I came up with this name for you in secret. If you like my surname, you can take it, but your father's surname sounds nicer. I really like it.

— Today, Professor Jin let me sense Di Ting. You are so cute.

— Thank you for coming to me. Thank you for liking me.

— I don't want to believe in science anymore. I believe in my child. He said he would return to me again. I will definitely remember.

— I love you.

— Xi Suye. Arrived on Peach Month 17, 4072. Should have been born in the first month of 4073. Died on Midsummer 21, 4072.

I'm sorry, my child, whom I never met. In the years to come, I will make a Snowfield Dream bloom on every step I pass, for you.

May you find your way home, even from the deepest valleys and remotest mountains.

I love you.

——

Xi Siyan sat there, tears streaming down his face.

"You... have you decided?" Professor Jin hesitated, looking at the calm Omega in front of him.

From learning about the treatment plan—to extract pheromones by retrieving the embryo—to making his decision, Jing Miao had taken only fifteen minutes.

He said he needed to be alone for a moment, and then he gave his answer.

Wearing sterile surgical attire, Jing Miao sat before Professor Jin and nodded.

"Please schedule the surgery. He can't wait any longer."

Professor Jin gripped the pen in his hand, his aged expression shaken: "What... were you just thinking about?"

The Omega raised his eyes slightly, as if pondering, then smiled, his lips somewhat pale: "I asked the one it concerns."

Professor Jin said nothing more. He lowered his head, tears glistening in his eyes: "My child, there can be others."

Jing Miao nodded: "Yes. Just this one."

Through the glass door, he gazed at the unconscious Alpha inside, tracing his features over and over in his heart.

"Brother, why do they think this decision is so difficult?" The light in Jing Miao's eyes mingled with a tearing pain, wavering, "We both love you so much."

Please wake up and wait with me for his return.

Lying on the operating table, anesthesia was injected into his veins. A doctor with a similar Talent was by his side, and his consciousness gradually blurred.

He began to cry.

Was it this painful when Mother gave up on him? Lin Bo's tears still lingered on his brow, her suffering and desperate gamble still pressed against his belly.

Jing Miao did not consider himself the unfortunate one. From the moment of birth, people form all kinds of bonds with the world—good and bad—pulling at each other.

What is destroyed will be replenished. Jing Miao liked being alive, in stark contrast to Lin Bo's tragic resolve.

Only by living can there be consciousness; only by living can there be hope. She said love exists until consciousness fades away.

Let us not fade away, even if it's unbearably painful. Time has built my fortitude: endurance. So many people have hopes for me, and I've received boundless kindness. I will live well, waiting for all the love to return to my side.

From the moment he met Xi Siyan, he felt that the permanence of matter and destiny were all perfectly reasonable.

—Hello, little one, thank you for saving my Alpha. Even though the grief pierces my heart and erodes my bones, I have never regretted this decision.

Human hearts are inevitably biased; I'm sorry this scale did not tip in your favor. Thank you for answering me. I am a very fortunate person. You must remember what you promised me: to return to our side when we create a better world for you.

——

Xi Siyan closed the diary, his limbs weak as he rummaged through the wardrobe.

Jing Miao had also written a Dream God Talisman.

The chaos and danger of that day still occasionally surfaced to haunt Xi Siyan, causing them all to forget the talisman Jing Miao had written behind his back during that Dream God Festival, vibrant with flames and fireworks.

In the coat of Jing Miao's that was stained with his own blood, Xi Siyan felt for the colorful piece of paper, already heavily creased from being pressed.

Unbeknownst to him, Jing Miao had been clutching this talisman all along, as if it were something very important.

Xi Siyan took a deep breath, tears uncontrollably falling onto the paper.

After special treatment, the handwriting on it slowly became visible.

On that noisy night, borrowing a pen from the front desk of the guesthouse, Jing Miao had written on it stroke by stroke, devoutly and earnestly:

"I hope Brother always has good dreams. I hope Brother loves me in his dreams too."

In Jing Miao's wish lay his utterly exposed innocence and his pure, boundless love.

--------------------

Mini Theater:

Sulky Brother Xi: Wuwuwu, our Miao Miao really does love me more! Overcoming depression, starting now!