Chapter 67: You’ve Lived More Than Just This Once

Chapter 67: You've Lived More Than Once

When he woke from the nightmare, Shu Hanqing felt his whole body drenched in cold sweat.

Looking around, he realized he was lying in a room of only a dozen or so square meters. The furnishings inside were strange—everything was white, and the whole room could be seen at a glance.

Shu Hanqing threw off the thin blanket and sat up.

Where is this?

He looked down at the black jacket neatly laid out at the edge of the bed, and memories came rushing back.

Yesterday he'd seen Yan Shenyun and Mu Ye, and shortly after, a violent pain like being struck by a blunt weapon hit him. Yan Shenyun's psychic ability had suppressed everyone else's powers, and Shu Hanqing's vision went dark as he lost consciousness, drifting in a haze until now.

How did he end up here alone? Captured? That had to be it—otherwise, why would he be here? He'd become a prisoner.

This was ridiculous.

Shu Hanqing thought bitterly.

The battle had been chaotic—what had happened to Rong Hua and Lei Zheng? Why was Mu Ye together with Yan Shenyun and the others?

A jumble of confusing questions kept surfacing, and Shu Hanqing felt like his head was about to explode. He'd never been the meticulous type, someone who planned ten steps ahead. Trying to figure this out on his own was a lost cause.

He steadied himself, eyed the closed door, and stepped forward to pull at it twice. It didn't open. He summoned two Water Blades and slammed them against it with all his might, but the door seemed to be made of some special material—it took both hits without a scratch.

Shu Hanqing pulled back, slapped the door with his palm, and raised his voice: "Is anyone there? Come here!"

The sound echoed.

Before long, footsteps sounded from the corridor outside the door.

Shu Hanqing pressed his ear to the door crack and spat out a string of names in one breath: "Lei Zheng? Rong Hua? ... Shi Lei? Sang Mai? Yi Ran..."

Silence. No one answered.

Shu Hanqing lowered his voice and called out the name he least wanted to say at this moment: "...Mu Ye?"

After a long pause, Mu Ye's voice came through the door, his tone unreadable: "Hungry?"

Shu Hanqing froze behind the door. He had so many urgent questions, so many they threatened to burst out of him, but when the words reached his lips, all that came out was: "...Hungry."

Mu Ye had always been reserved and taciturn, like a rock. Expecting him to voluntarily open up and bare his heart was a pipe dream.

Shu Hanqing turned around, sat on the edge of the bed with his arms crossed, and waited quietly.

Before long, a key turned in the lock with a click.

The door slowly pushed open.

Mu Ye walked in carrying food, and Shu Hanqing watched him in silence.

It was clear from these days apart that Mu Ye hadn't been doing well either—he'd grown noticeably thinner.

What was the point?

Mu Ye turned and set the box of still-warm breakfast on the table nearby. He lowered his gaze, his long lashes casting shadows beneath his eyes, deliberately avoiding Shu Hanqing's gaze: "Eat."

Shu Hanqing stared at the food.

The next moment, he suddenly stepped forward, intending to brush past Mu Ye and head outside.

But Mu Ye moved faster.

The moment Shu Hanqing's body moved, Mu Ye's arm wrapped around his waist, pulling him into his chest.

Mu Ye looked down at the man in his arms, his dark eyes lowering, his voice hoarse: "Aren't you hungry? Why run?"

Only an idiot wouldn't run.

Shu Hanqing's body instinctively tensed in defense, raising an arm to block across his chest: "Let go of me! Why are you holding me captive?"

Mu Ye's eyes were as dark as night: "Eat first."

Eat, my ass!

Shu Hanqing's fingers clenched suddenly, condensing a water blade that gleamed with a faint blue light. He had only meant to force Mu Ye back and make him let go, but he never expected Mu Ye to not dodge at all—instead, he stepped forward and let the blade slam into his shoulder.

Squelch—

The sound of a blade cutting into flesh rang out.

In moments, the black fabric on Mu Ye's shoulder was soaked through with seeping blood, spreading into a dark, sticky patch.

Shu Hanqing stared at that glaring crimson, and the water blade in his palm instantly dissolved into mist.

Mu Ye didn't even furrow his brow, as if the bleeding shoulder didn't belong to him: "Feel better now? Eat first."

Shu Hanqing looked at him, sneering: "Why do you always use this same trick? Addicted to getting stabbed?"

Mu Ye started: "I'm not..."

Shu Hanqing charged forward, and Mu Ye instinctively reached out to block him, but this time Shu Hanqing held nothing back—the force he pushed against Mu Ye's chest was amplified with his ability.

Mu Ye took the hit head-on, stumbling backward several steps.

Shu Hanqing: "Mu Ye, if you find me disgusting, then you really should stay far away from me. I truly never thought you'd be with Yan Shenyun..."

Mu Ye opened his mouth, then closed it.

Shu Hanqing: "I really don't know what your goal is! Or do you just enjoy messing with people?"

Mu Ye: "Think whatever you want of me, I'll accept it. Can you just calm down?"

Shu Hanqing: "How do you expect me to calm down? I feel like I'm living a lie!"

The water blade in Shu Hanqing's hand condensed again, but this time he pressed it against his own neck. The pain of the blade cutting his skin hit him, and a thin thread of bright red blood instantly seeped down his pale throat.

Shu Hanqing finally saw a flash of shock and panic on Mu Ye's always-unreadable face: "If you want my life, it's simple."

Mu Ye panicked, his voice trembling as he desperately reached out toward him: "Hanqing, don't do anything rash... don't do anything rash!"

"Mu Ye, you're the one I can never figure out."

Shu Hanqing held the sharp water blade against his bleeding neck, as if he felt no pain at all.

"The places that bleed aren't just here. You've just never seemed to notice them."

Mu Ye stood there, frozen.

"You're always like this, always thinking you know what's best for me," Shu Hanqing said, looking at him wearily. "I don't need someone who's nice to me. I need someone who stands unwaveringly by my side."

"It was the same in my last life. I told myself not to look back, not to give in to that weird, guilt-ridden ache in my chest. Even if I let myself drown with you, throwing myself away, the moment I woke up, I would furiously hate myself—hate myself for still clinging to that pitiful scrap of warmth, hate myself for being so pathetic, so spineless for depending on you."

Shu Hanqing met Mu Ye's trembling gaze. "So this time, I'm the one who's done with you for good."

The words hit Mu Ye's chest like a sledgehammer.

Shu Hanqing didn't even spare another glance at the wrecked Mu Ye. Without hesitation, he turned and strode toward the end of the corridor.

He took off at a sprint.

A shout came from behind him.

"Hanqing! Stop!"

Every section Shu Hanqing ran through, the sensor plates under his feet lit up instantly.

The dim corridor above suddenly blazed with countless brilliant lights.

The points of light looked like scattered star orbs, beautifully embedded in the walls, as if holding the ultimate secrets of an endless universe—sacred and cold.

Shu Hanqing looked up, his gaze fixed on the colossal, intricate behemoth before him.

His eyes traveled up its lines inch by inch, shock and awe flickering in them.

Then Shu Hanqing abruptly pushed open a door—some kind of control room, with massive screens and white consoles.

And at that very same moment.

In the center of the circular hall, the colossal machine in front of Shu Hanqing—like some divine miracle—blazed to life across every line without warning.

On the massive LCD screen that had been dormant, tens of thousands of blood-red data streams surged like a broken dam, frantically resuming high-speed calculations—so dense and overwhelming they blanketed the entire main console like a sky-obscuring storm.

The next second, the electronic voice of the Plot Master—the one Shu Hanqing had almost forgotten—rang out in his mind.

Plot Master: "Host, long time no see."

Meanwhile, the person inside turned around. Yan Shenyun, who usually had glasses perched on his nose, wasn't wearing them now. His thin lips were pressed together, and he was dressed in a black turtleneck. A clear, rich voice rang out: "Why are you running around the second you wake up?"

Yan Shenyun looked at the wound on Shu Hanqing's neck. "You always have to go and hurt yourself."

If Mu Ye's aloofness was the Buddhist detachment of someone who'd seen through human nature, then Yan Shenyun carried the aristocratic refinement and cold pride of someone raised by a top-tier ecclesiastical court in the Middle Ages—especially with his slightly mixed-race features. When he fixed his gaze on someone, it was like he was looking down on everything from on high.

Shu Hanqing stepped into the room, his eyes scanning the precision instruments. "Who exactly are you people?"

Yan Shenyun: "...Anything you want to know, I'll tell you."

Yi Ran was also in the room.

Yi Ran turned and gave a slight nod to Sang Mai and Shi Lei, who were standing nearby.

The two, upon receiving the order, didn't hesitate at all. They took out a clear glass vial and a bizarrely shaped instrument, as delicate as a bone marrow needle.

It was the same syringe Sang Mai had used when he tried to attack Mu Ye that day.

Inside the vial, quietly settling and swirling, was a mass of blue-white superpower light mist, like curdled milk.

Shu Hanqing's eyes narrowed slightly. That fluctuation needed no explanation—he could instantly feel that what was sealed inside was his own pure superpower.

Shu Hanqing: "...What's that?"

Yan Shenyun said, "It's your superpower."

Shu Hanqing: "So your whole purpose in experimenting on me was to extract my superpower?"

Yan Shenyun shook his head. "No, it was just to enhance your superpower."

Yi Ran spoke up from the side: "The others were the test subjects. Only you were injected with the superpower enhancement serum."

Shu Hanqing remembered what Rong Hua had said—that no one had actually been injected with the enhancement serum. So what did it all mean?

Yan Shenyun said, "If you want to know, take your superpower back and you'll understand everything."

Mu Ye caught up at that moment: "No! Hanqing, don't do it!"

Shi Lei blocked Mu Ye's path.

Mu Ye: "Yan Shenyun! You promised..."

Shu Hanqing watched Rong Hua, hands trembling, reach out to take the syringe. The bone-marrow-needle-like tip pierced deep into the glass vial, drawing out the mass of superpower without leaving a single drop behind. Then, with the sharp needle tip, Shu Hanqing aimed the syringe at his own arm and pushed the plunger.

"Mm..."

Shu Hanqing couldn't help but let out a muffled groan as the superpower was forcibly pushed back in, triggering a violent rejection. Yan Shenyun immediately wrapped an arm around him: "Bear with it—it'll be over soon."

Muscles spasmed and twitched. Shu Hanqing couldn't hold back a cry of pain, then his body suddenly went eerily still in Yan Shenyun's embrace, his head drooping slightly.

Yi Ran murmured, "Professor, is he going to be alright?"

Mu Ye stepped forward, snatching Shu Hanqing from Yan Shenyun's arms, gently stroking his face.

The next moment, Shu Hanqing's eyes flew open. He clutched his head, staring in disbelief at everyone around him.

Yan Shenyun: "...Do you remember now? You've lived more than just this once."