Chapter 27: Elimination Target: Rong Hua

Chapter 27: Elimination Target, Rong Hua

Rong Hua's gaze could genuinely tear Mu Ye apart limb from limb.

His eyes, usually strikingly beautiful with a youthful, soaring spirit, were now flooded with overwhelming gloom and bloodshot veins.

Shu Hanqing's heart jolted at that look. He reflexively scrambled off the bed, dropping his usual composure, frantically grabbing nearby clothes and pulling them on in a flustered rush.

His lips parted, about to say something to smooth things over.

But the next second, Rong Hua's handsome face twisted into a snarl. From between clenched teeth, he spat out a roar dripping with bloodlust: "Bastard!"

Rong Hua's tall frame charged like a bull enraged on the plains, barreling past Shu Hanqing and slamming a vicious fist straight into Mu Ye on the bed.

Sending him flying off the bed.

The force was astonishing—no mercy for their shared battles.

In an instant, the room was thrown into chaos.

Mu Ye crashed hard. The room's furnishings shattered across the floor in a cacophony of noise amid the fierce grappling of two bodies.

Rong Hua was completely out of his mind—he genuinely wanted to beat Mu Ye to death.

Driven mad with fury, Rong Hua didn't even think to use his wood-type superpower in that moment. He fought like a savage beast, each punch landing on Mu Ye with bone-crushing force, every blow carrying the weight of mortal enmity.

Mu Ye, still recovering from illness, couldn't withstand the assault, forced back step by step under the brutal onslaught.

The massive commotion, like a thunderclap out of nowhere, instantly alerted the other Shengsu Squad members nearby.

Shu Hanqing tried to pull them apart alone, but against a fully enraged Rong Hua, it was useless. Not only did he fail to separate them, he was nearly knocked off balance by Rong Hua's swinging arm.

Fortunately, within moments, Sang Mai and Yun Ying rushed in, horrified.

"Rong Hua! Are you crazy? Let go!" Sang Mai, with two superpowered individuals, wrapped his arms tightly around Rong Hua's waist from behind. Together, they finally managed to drag the bloodshot-eyed youth back like hauling a rabid wolf.

Shu Hanqing had no time for anything else. He quickly crouched down and steadied Mu Ye, who was half-leaning against the bed.

His fingers touched the corner of Mu Ye's forehead, where crimson blood was seeping, then moved to the bruised corner of his mouth, also split and bleeding.

Looking at the miserable scene he'd caused, Shu Hanqing's eyes were filled with disbelief.

Shu Hanqing never imagined this kind of mess would happen to him.

He shielded Mu Ye behind him and faced Rong Hua's glare, shouting: "What are you doing? Are you really going to kill someone right here?"

Rong Hua's face, usually almost too beautiful, was now clouded with blood and gloom, his eyes full of unyielding murderous intent: "He dared to touch my man... What if I kill him? He deserves to die!"

In the split second after his words, the youth's murderous intent surged again.

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh!"

The gravel on the ground trembled violently as a mutated vine—as thick as an adult's thigh, pitch black, and covered in inch-long hooked poisonous thorns—burst madly from the cracks in the cold concrete floor. Like a venomous viper, it wrapped around Mu Ye's neck with terrifying speed, then yanked hard, lifting him off his feet and suspending him in midair.

"Captain!!"

Sang Mai and the others' faces went pale. They tried to rescue him but were instantly bound by dozens of exploding green vine nets.

Forcing the other members to shout frantically, begging Rong Hua to calm the hell down.

With his throat crushed, Mu Ye was severely oxygen-deprived. His long legs kicked and convulsed painfully in the air, his handsome face turning from red to purple from blood congestion, veins bulging grotesquely in his neck like a vengeful ghost.

"Rong Hua! I told you to let him go! Do you hear me?!"

Shu Hanqing was frantic, shouting at the top of his lungs.

But Rong Hua couldn't hear a single word now.

Gritting his teeth, Shu Hanqing raised both hands. His fingers flew as several high-tier water blades—brilliant blue with edges sharp as knives—condensed in his palms. With a whistling sound, they slashed viciously at the iron-hard black vine.

"Snap! Snap!"

The main vine snapped.

Mu Ye crashed to the ground, one hand clawing at the floor, gasping for air. His other hand instinctively sparked with flickering flames as his power tried to protect its master, but he finally lowered his gaze and crushed the violent force in his palm.

"Cough... cough cough cough..."

Mu Ye coughed violently, each sound as if he were trying to hack up his lungs.

Shu Hanqing quickly crouched down, patting Mu Ye's back: "You okay? Can you hold on?"

After receiving a faint, weak nod from Mu Ye, Shu Hanqing looked up. Across from him, Rong Hua's usually handsome cheeks and the backs of his hands now bore several small, clean cuts, blood seeping drop by drop from the wounds.

This was the backlash of his high-tier wood-type power.

The pain of the water blades cutting through the vines, connected by their shared origin, was now reflected entirely and without reservation onto Rong Hua's own body.

Rong Hua stood there, completely still.

As if he couldn't feel the pain of his torn flesh, he just stared at Shu Hanqing with those bloodshot eyes.

Large tears, amid the wreckage, streamed down the youth's face in cascading drops.

Shu Hanqing, half-kneeling on the ground, looked at the crying youth across from him, at the small bleeding wounds on Rong Hua's face. His throat felt like it was full of sand: "Rong Hua, calm down first. Today's incident isn't entirely his fault. I share the blame too. I..."

Rong Hua, as if the sky were falling, gritted his teeth, not even bothering to wipe the bloody tears from his eyes. He spun around and, like a wounded wolf cub, bolted out the door.

"Rong Hua—"

Shu Hanqing called out urgently, about to chase after him, when a weak cough came from behind.

Mu Ye propped himself up with one hand, calling out softly and clingily: "...Hanqing."

The pleading and fear in that voice left Shu Hanqing torn.

He steadied Mu Ye's body, grabbed a relatively clean towel from nearby, and pressed it firmly against the corner of his forehead still oozing blood.

"Yun Ying! Sang Mai! Don't just stand there—please take care of him!"

Shu Hanqing shouted.

Sensing the restless urgency and intent to leave in Shu Hanqing's eyes, Mu Ye's hand, which had been holding the wound, suddenly dropped. With a layer of sticky blood, he grabbed Shu Hanqing's wrist tightly.

Hope churned in Mu Ye's eyes.

Shu Hanqing pressed his lips together, avoiding his gaze, and pulled his wrist free: "Get your wound treated first. Yun Ying, watch him."

Yun Ying: "Oh! Oh oh oh! Got it!"

Yun Ying quickly pressed her hand over Mu Ye's wound.

Shu Hanqing was already off like a shot, chasing after Rong Hua.

As Shu Hanqing left, Mu Ye took over the pressure Yun Ying had been applying to his wound with a complex expression, with none of his earlier weakness showing: "Yun Ying, I'll handle it myself."

Yun Ying let go and glanced at Mu Ye, his expression dark and unreadable, as if lost in thought.

That lunatic Rong Hua ran way too fast.

Shu Hanqing chased desperately through the base's maze of black-market alleys and crumbling ruins, his lungs on fire from the violent sprint.

Before long, cold raindrops began to fall, sparse at first, and within moments they swelled into a steady, cold rain that pelted down relentlessly.

Only when a staggering figure finally appeared around the corner of the ruins ahead did Shu Hanqing grit his teeth, lunge forward, and clamp down on Rong Hua's wrist.

He halted in the rain, heaving for breath, his throat raw with the metallic taste of blood from dry heaving: "...Rong Hua. Can you just—fucking—calm down?!"

The wind howled and the rain lashed down.

The boy he'd grabbed froze in his tracks.

Several long seconds passed before Rong Hua turned around stiffly.

Rainwater streamed down his disheveled bangs, washing his once striking, flamboyant face to a pallid white. On his skin, several bloody gashes from the Water Blade's backlash mixed with the icy rain, smearing across his face in ugly streaks—a ravaged sight that was startling to behold.

Shu Hanqing's heart went soft at the sight, and he instinctively raised his hand, still faintly warm, to wipe away the blood and rain from his face.

Rong Hua stepped back and swatted Shu Hanqing's outstretched hand away with a violent swing of his arm.

"Don't touch me! With that hand that just touched him... don't you fucking touch me!"

Shu Hanqing's hand hung frozen in mid-air.

He looked at Rong Hua, who looked like he was about to shatter, and finally spoke in a low voice: "Rong Hua, I'm sorry. Back in the room, I swear I didn't mean to hurt you with the Water Blade..."

Rong Hua's clenched fists popped at the knuckles, his voice trembling as he spoke: "He forced you, right?"

Shu Hanqing froze for a second.

"Say something!" Rong Hua stepped closer when he got no response, his fierce, ruthless tone now cracking with barely concealed sobs and pleas, "That bastard—using his rank as captain, his status as a High-Level Ability User—he forced you, didn't he?"

His voice wavered, fragile against the roar of the rain.

Shu Hanqing knew damn well Rong Hua wasn't asking for the truth right now—he was asking for an out, an excuse to keep lying to himself, to keep staying by Shu Hanqing's side.

If Shu Hanqing just nodded, even muttered a single "yes" to go along with it, this whole mess today could be swept under the rug.

All the blame and the dirty water would land squarely on Mu Ye.

Shu Hanqing's throat seized up.

And in those few seconds of hesitant silence, the plot god suddenly cut in, its voice colder and sharper than ever, like pure electronic ice: "Shu Hanqing, haven't you had enough suffering for two lifetimes? Do you want to get dragged back into their mess? What was the vow you made when this life began? Didn't you say you just wanted to get far away from all of this—from Sheng Su, from the people who destroyed you in your past life?"

"They're the ones who destroyed you with their own hands."

Right—he was just cannon fodder.

All he'd wanted was to live this life in peace.

The tragic scenes from his past life—betrayal, abandonment, death—crashed back into his mind like a tidal wave, shredding him apart.

In that instant, the last flicker of warmth and hesitation in Shu Hanqing's eyes froze solid.

"No. I did it willingly."

The rain suddenly hammered down harder, dense sheets of water crashing over both their heads.

Rong Hua had completely lost his mind. He lunged forward, his blood-streaked hands clamping onto Shu Hanqing's shoulders like iron vices, shaking him violently in the storm, screaming his question like a man possessed.

"Why? Shu Hanqing! Why are you doing this to me?! What did I ever do wrong?"

A bone-deep, splitting pain shot through his shoulders.

Shu Hanqing didn't struggle, didn't resist. He just lowered his eyes and whispered: "...I'm sorry. Rong Hua... I'm sorry..."

"I know, I know you've always liked him—for years!" Rong Hua's voice tore apart in the heavy rain, every word a knife he turned on himself, "But what about me? How am I less than him? I'd give you everything, I was so good to you—but him? He doesn't even look at you twice!"

Rong Hua curled his lip, malice seeping into his eyes: "It's because he saw me take you from him—he's jealous! He's just possessive, that's why he's coming after me! But you? You're still protecting him, still hurting me!"

The cold rain ran freely down both their faces.

Rong Hua, like a drowning man grabbing for the last piece of driftwood, suddenly leaned in. His usually arrogant eyes were bloodshot now, full of a desperate plea: "Say it! Tell me he forced you! You didn't want it, right? Just nod, and I'll go back right now and kill him for you! I'll destroy him!"

Shu Hanqing stayed silent in the downpour.

The icy rain poured down his collar, freezing him to the bone.

The rain of the apocalypse wasn't like ordinary rain.

Shu Hanqing looked at Rong Hua, who had gone mad for him, and shook his head cruelly: "...No."

That single shake of the head shattered the last shred of self-deception Rong Hua had been clinging to.

"He doesn't even give a shit about you, and you still throw yourself at him like some desperate fool!" Rong Hua's eyes went bloodshot in an instant. The agony of having his heart ripped out by the one he loved drove him completely insane, and he lashed out without thinking: "Shu Hanqing, are you fucking shameless?!"

Shu Hanqing didn't look angry as expected—instead, a bitterly self-deprecating smile spread across his face.

"Yeah, I'm shameless." Shu Hanqing's voice was barely above a whisper. "He just has to crook his finger, and I still fall for it. I've liked him for years, Rong Hua, you get it? So many years I can't even count them anymore. That feeling is carved into my bones, like a reflex."

Rong Hua's hands, which had been gripping Shu Hanqing's shoulders, slid off one finger at a time, limp.

His jaw was clenched tight, his whole body like a bowstring pulled to its breaking point.

"Fine," Rong Hua said, his voice cold and final, "then I'll give you what you want. We're done. Go to him now, Shu Hanqing. Just wait and see how he treats you from now on."

Shu Hanqing thought, I really am a piece of shit: "...I never said we were together, did I?"

That one sentence cut deeper than anything he'd said before.

Rong Hua stood frozen, as if hit by lightning, staring at Shu Hanqing. Countless tender, intimate memories flashed through his mind like a slideshow.

They'd kissed, slept together, even fucked in sweat-soaked passion countless times in the dead of night.

But only now did Rong Hua suddenly realize—Shu Hanqing had been terrifyingly sober the whole time. He'd never given them any kind of label, not even one clear word.

"Fine, Shu Hanqing, you're really something!" Rong Hua let out a string of cold laughs, each one more bitter than a cry. He couldn't stand to look at the person in front of him for another second, and bit out his final words: "I never want to see you again for the rest of my life!"

Before the words even died out, he turned sharply, brushed past Shu Hanqing's shoulder, and ran off in a daze, completely lost.

Shu Hanqing watched that retreating figure.

Better to endure a short pain than a long one.

Just then, the rain above his head suddenly stopped without warning.

A large black umbrella shut out the wind and rain completely. Lei Zheng had appeared beside him at some point, his hand steady on the handle, watching him.

"Just as I thought," Lei Zheng said, eyes slightly lowered, his tone carrying a detached, mocking coldness. "You went and broke my brother's heart after all."

Shu Hanqing was drenched through, his stomach clenching with cold, sharp cramps.

He was already mentally and physically exhausted. Turning his head, he caught sight of Lei Zheng's inscrutable face, and the irritation and disgust in his chest hit a boiling point.

"...Get lost. I don't need your phony concern."

Lei Zheng: "..."

Shu Hanqing didn't know how he managed to walk back to his room. Lei Zheng had escorted him back, telling him to get a good night's sleep and not to worry about Rong Hua.

Lei Zheng: "...It's just a breakup, what's the big deal?"

The moment the door closed behind him, a suffocating silence came crashing down.

Shu Hanqing was drenched to the bone, icy rainwater dripping endlessly from his hair and the hem of his clothes, splattering into dark, stark puddles on the floor.

He felt like every last bit of strength had been drained from him. He couldn't even move a single finger. He let go of every ounce of tension and collapsed onto the bed like a wet rag.

He turned his head, and his gaze snagged on the corner of the room.

An umbrella leaned quietly there.

Rong Hua had bought it afterward.

He remembered the last time it rained, he didn't have an umbrella and couldn't go pick Shu Hanqing up. By the time he came back, Rong Hua was sitting alone on the cold steps, drenched through, like a stray dog that had been left behind, waiting for him with desperate eyes for what felt like forever.

The next day, Rong Hua proudly brought back this umbrella, announcing with a flourish: from now on, whenever it rained, he'd come pick him up every single time.

Shu Hanqing closed his eyes in a fit of self-torment, slowly lifting a cold arm to press hard over his eyes.

That's enough.

He told himself in the dark.

At first, he'd tolerated Rong Hua's shameless barging into his life, and his intentions had never been pure.

He'd only wanted to use Rong Hua as a weapon, to viciously get back at those who had trampled and hurt him.

He'd been so calm, so sure of himself, yet he'd never counted on Rong Hua actually falling for him for real.

The first time he'd vaguely sensed that feeling, Shu Hanqing had found it absurd—waves of doubt and disbelief washed over him.

How could Rong Hua possibly really like him?

He'd thought that in this second life, all he wanted was to completely distance himself from these filthy entanglements and just stay quietly in a corner.

But every time Rong Hua looked at him, his gaze burned like a fire that could devour everything. That blind, naked favoritism finally stirred a dark, hidden scheme in Shu Hanqing's chest.

All the pain he'd suffered in his past life—the despair and resentment—he'd once believed it was all caused by that damned fate.

So he thought coldly: if he got tangled up with Rong Hua, those who'd hurt him would surely go mad with jealousy and suffer like hell.

He was sure he'd always despise Rong Hua.

It was just an act, just a stretch of fake pretense. Once he used Rong Hua to get back at everyone without lifting a finger, he could walk away without a second thought, kicking this fool to the curb without a hint of regret.

He thought he'd planned everything out perfectly.

But it wasn't until just now, when Rong Hua was about to kill Mu Ye, that he realized.

What plotline? When had he ever actually believed in such flimsy nonsense, and let reality spiral into chaos?

He shouldn't have believed in that damned fate, Shu Hanqing thought. He'd rather die than believe in fate.

In the heavy rain, Shu Hanqing watched Rong Hua cry for him, and suddenly realized with horror that at some point, he'd actually really fallen for Rong Hua.

Rong Hua's love was too fierce and pure—so clean it was like a fool loving someone, as if his whole heart, his whole world, was so full it could only fit Shu Hanqing and no one else.

But he didn't seem worthy of that unreserved sincerity.

In the midst of the deathly silence, a cold, mechanical voice suddenly rang out from the void.

—Alert: A set of character data has been flagged as anomalous. A set of character data is anomalous. It will become an obstacle target next.

—Attempt to clear the anomalous data? Attempt to clear the anomalous data?

Shu Hanqing lay frozen on the bed, oblivious. The arm covering his eyes slowly slipped down. He curled up on the bed, looking utterly pitiful.

A voice cut through.

"...Agreed to clear."

The voice seemed to come from a god high above, utterly devoid of emotion, with a chilling, absolute authority.

The cold mechanical voice responded flatly.

—Instruction received.

—Clearance countdown: three days. All clearers, take note. Clearance target: Rong Hua. Clearance countdown: three days.