Fate’s...
Impurities?
Fang Qi was stunned for a moment.
His wife’s words were really quite profound.
But...
He squinted slightly.
It seemed like he understood!
Impurities, huh...
Something foreign.
Wrapped around the neck...?
Didn’t that mean...
It might not have been her own “soul” being rewritten at all!
Instead...
There was something clinging to her!
Something unclean!
And in this world, this world built of numbers...
His eyelids kept twitching.
Could it be...
A virus?
His shoulder tingled slightly.
The silver-haired girl gently nuzzled her chin against his shoulder and murmured softly:
“Liguang is thinking, if Liguang’s original core could awaken deeper and stronger...”
She lifted her head, the scarlet in her crimson eyes brightening a few shades.
“Maybe Liguang could grasp that wisp of ‘impurity’ and...”
“Eliminate that strand of ‘fate’ affecting Miss An Lian!”
Her expression was serious.
“Awaken deeper and stronger...”
Fang Qi repeated those words under his breath.
He trusted Liguang.
He trusted his Wife!
So, if Liguang could awaken her original core...
She could save An Lian?!
Then it was simple!
Liguang needed more intense emotion to awaken her original core.
But...
He furrowed his brows slightly.
She could only awaken her original core significantly if his life was threatened.
But in those situations, they could hardly save themselves!
How could they help An Lian?
How-ever!
Fang Qi took a deep breath!
There was still one more way!
That...
Underground research institute!
That genetic lock door, still unopened!
As long as they got close to it, Liguang’s original core would awaken noticeably!
At that time, she was calm, sharp, her computing power matching a supercomputer!
So...!
Fang Qi slowly turned his head to look at An Lian, who seemed to be sleeping.
He wanted to take An Lian to that underground research institute with Liguang!
Then, let Liguang’s original core fully awaken there!
Then, his wife would stand before that genetic lock door...
And grasp that impurity tangled in An Lian’s fate!
“We can go right now!”
He suddenly turned to Liguang!
Grabbing her shoulders!
His gaze was serious!
“Let’s take Sister An Lian there now! Her body is still here, we...”
“It won’t work, Master.”
Liguang gently shook her head.
“Liguang only caught that brief moment just now.”
Her eyelashes drooped slightly, a hint of imperceptible regret in her voice.
“That strand only revealed itself at the moment of Miss An Lian’s death. Now...”
She tilted her head slightly, looking at An Lian’s quiet body lying on the floor.
The scarlet in her crimson eyes flickered rapidly a few times, then dimmed.
“Liguang can no longer sense it at all.”
Fang Qi’s pupils dilated slightly.
Oh...
He understood.
In other words...
He couldn’t bring the dead An Lian to the institute?
According to Liguang, that strand of code only appeared briefly at the moment of An Lian’s death.
So, he needed to take the living An Lian there.
Then...?
Liguang still circled his waist from behind, quietly waiting for his decision.
And Fang Qi...
He wasn’t discouraged at all!
His breathing grew slightly heavier!
His heartbeat slowly accelerated!
He was happy, excited!
At least...
They had found a direction!
A way to save An Lian!
That elusive “fate” had now been perceived by Liguang’s original core!
Made tangible!
Transformed into something concrete, visible...
A “code” that could be grasped!
A real, visible wisp of deep-blue thread wrapped around An Lian’s neck!
And his task was to take Liguang and An Lian...!
“Ring—!”
Suddenly, his phone rang.
The urgent ringtone was especially jarring in the silent apartment.
Fang Qi’s body trembled slightly as he was pulled back from his thoughts.
He pulled out his phone and looked at the screen.
【Lin Xiaoyou】
Ah...!
Fang Qi’s lips curled slightly.
Seeing that name, his heart inexplicably eased.
...Lin Xiaoyou was still alive!
Truly worthy of Miss Genius.
She hadn’t been killed by that “fateful hunt”!
Maybe...
She had also found some new clues?
But this time...
He and Liguang had already discovered the method of rescue!
Miss Genius, you should come too!
He pressed the answer button.
“Hey, Lin...!”
“Fang Qi!!!”
A nearly hysterical scream came through the phone!
...?
The expression on Fang Qi’s face instantly froze!
It wasn’t Lin Xiaoyou...
It was Xiaoqing!
“You can save Master, right...!”
Her voice was trembling violently, incoherent!
“You can... you can save Xiaoyou, right——!!!”
She was almost completely breaking down!
Fang Qi’s mouth was slightly agape!
“...What?”
“Master is dead——!!!”
Xiaoqing’s scream was piercingly sharp!
Coming through the phone, it nearly tore his eardrums!
“Right in front of me!!!”
“Right in front of my eyes!!!!!”
Her voice was completely out of control!
“It was me...!!”
“It was me who killed Master!! It was my fault——!!!”
Sharp to the point of distortion!
“It was me——!!”
...?!
Fang Qi was stunned by the sudden situation, his mind buzzing!
Huh...?
Xiaoqing?
How could Lin Xiaoyou have died in front of Xiaoqing?
Wasn’t Xiaoqing at the “Cocoa Cola” milk tea shop?
Hadn’t Lin Xiaoyou sent her there?
But this was not the time to think about that.
“I...!! It was me...!!”
Xiaoqing was still rambling incoherently!
Fang Qi took a deep breath—
“I can save her——!!!”
He roared with all his might!
A yell that used every bit of his strength!
Xiaoqing’s frantic scream was directly suppressed by his shout!
There was a moment of silence.
The silver-haired girl behind him hugged him a little tighter.
Fang Qi grabbed Liguang’s small hand, calmed the turmoil in his heart, and lowered his voice:
“Tell me what happened!”
On the other end was Xiaoqing’s simulated breathing, like a broken bellows.
Her vocal module was struggling on the verge of overload.
“Today... I was at the ‘Cocoa Cola’ milk tea shop... Master made me go today...”
Each inhale came with a sharp wheeze!
Each exhale was laced with fragmented static!
“But I saw it... I saw Master’s location...”
“She had run to an abandoned building in the suburbs... That place was so remote, so dangerous...”
“I wasn’t at ease... I really wasn’t at ease...!!”
Her voice grew sharp again!
Her speech quickened!
“So I went looking for Master—!”
“I closed the rolling door of the milk tea shop and ran straight there—!”
“When I got there, I saw Master climbing a dangerous, abandoned building!!”
“Several stories high! The stairs were rotten! The handrails were rusted and broken!”
“She was standing so high up, I... I was so scared!”
“I screamed! I said, Master, what are you doing!!”
“And then...”
Xiaoqing’s voice suddenly broke, turning into a murmur...
“Master turned around and saw me... She even waved at me...”
“And then... she... she...!”
Her voice turned sharp again!
"She missed her step!! She fell down the stairs!!!"
"I—I—I—I was too far away...!! I rushed over like crazy! I didn't catch her...! I didn't catch her!!!!"
Fang Qi's fingers trembled slightly as he held the phone.
On the other end of the line, Xiaoqing's voice had dropped so low it was almost inaudible.
"Master's face was covered in blood..."
"She was lying on the ground, her eyes barely open..."
"But she was still smiling..."
Xiaoqing mumbled, shaking.
"She said to me..."
"'Don't be afraid, I won't die... Fang Qi... Senior... He'll save me, don't worry, Xiaoqing... Sister...'"
"And then..."
"Then she just... closed her eyes..."
Xiaoqing's voice trembled even more!
Carrying a last glimmer of dying hope!
"Please... please, Fang Qi..."
"I'll do anything... just give me back my master... give her back to me..."
Her voice had completely shattered!
Like a mournful cry from the deepest core, on the verge of collapse!
"Say it now... say you can save her..."
"Say it now—!!!"
Fang Qi was silent.
Beside him, Liguang was gently biting her lip.
Her amber left eye was moist, her lashes trembling softly.
She was empathizing.
Fang Qi took a deep breath.
Lin Xiaoyou.
So now I understand why you sent Xiaoqing away back then, in that secret room, when you were ready to die together with us.
It really was...
Sigh.
"Xiaoqing."
His voice was as steady as he could make it.
"I can save your master."
"Answer my questions first."
He took a deep breath.
"How long ago did Lin Xiaoyou... have her accident?"
On the other end of the phone, Xiaoqing's breathing was still trembling violently.
Her vocal module seemed unable to function properly anymore, only able to produce intermittent gasps mixed with static.
It seemed like...
She couldn't form complete sentences anymore.
After a long, long time, she finally forced out a few words from her throat.
"I-it... just happened...!"
"I called you... right away...!!!"
Her voice suddenly turned shrill again.
"I'm holding my master's body... I'm holding her... her blood is still flowing... her hand is still warm! I called you immediately!"
"I didn't even call emergency services... I knew it wouldn't help... Master—she—she—"
Her voice broke down again.
Just now.
Fang Qi glanced at Liguang.
The silver-haired girl was looking back at him, her red eyes flickering slightly. Her lashes trembled softly, and a very subtle ripple passed through her amber left eye.
They were thinking the same thing.
The timing matched.
The moment An Lian slipped and hit the corner of the table—and the moment Lin Xiaoyou missed her step on that broken stair in the abandoned building on the outskirts, falling flat on her back—
They happened almost simultaneously.
In sync.
He didn't know what it meant. Two people, two locations, two completely different ways of dying.
Was it a coincidence?
Or was fate handling two "bugs" at the same time?
But at least, it was a piece of information.
"Fang Qi... Fang Qi...!"
On the other end, Xiaoqing's voice sounded again.
Her voice was hoarse beyond recognition.
"Is this... because... you have a way...?!"
"You have a way, don't you—! Don't you—!!"
Fang Qi closed his eyes.
Then opened them.
"Relax."
His tone was steady, the kind of steady that brings reassurance.
"Your master won't die. I promise."
The other end was silent.
Only trembling breaths, mingled with broken static.
"As long as..."
Fang Qi continued to comfort her gently, his tone slowing down.
"You go to sleep. When you wake up from your dream, she'll be right there in front of you again, bouncing with life."
His tone was firm.
He had been through this many times before.
The world rewinding, then watching her appear before him again with that cheeky grin.
Using that annoying tone to say, "Senior, Senior, I had another dream."
"Trust me. Trust what your master said at the end."
On the other end of the line, there was another long silence.
Only the intermittent, static-filled breathing continued to prove that Xiaoqing was still there.
"Mm..."
Xiaoqing's voice finally came through.
"Please, make sure you..."
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
lity and could only live as an ordinary mortal. He only wished to live a peaceful life. Yet he didn't know— The dog he adopted, because it ate his food, became a legendary demon king. The kitchen knife he casually forged became a peerless divine weapon, causing numerous experts to fight desperately for it. The young disciple he took in became an immortal lord that led an era, due to cultivating the techniques Ye Feng taught him. Even the skeletons he looked down on the most were ominous demon kings that suppressed countless worlds. Many years later, looking at the void shattered with a punch, Ye Feng murmured to himself: It turns out the peerless kings were myself all along...
rowess are unmatched, commanding a million-strong army! Yet, the Emperor wants to depose him for the sake of a false prince? Hold on, are you throwing me into some female-oriented romance plot? How can I tolerate this? With a grand wave of his hand—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! Slander the Emperor? Very well, all of you shall die! ... The False Prince: "Although I am not the biological son, Father and Mother love me more. The throne should be mine!" The Female Lead: "Qin Xiao, you are the Emperor, and I am a commoner. If you wish to marry me, you must abdicate. Otherwise, you will never have me!" The Empress: "After we divorce, you must give me half the empire!" The Transmigrator Consort: "You worthless Emperor, why should I kneel to you? All men are equal—I advise you to be kind!" The Great General: "The enemy general is my childhood sweetheart. For her sake, I willingly abandon the frontier defenses!" The Retired Emperor: "Although Yu'er was adopted, I prefer him. Qin Xiao, you should abdicate and let him become Emperor!" ... Very well! So this is how you want to play? Facing this twisted world of female-oriented tropes, Qin Xiao grins and raises his hand to unleash—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! I am the Emperor. Why would I bother reasoning with you? Seal the gates! Leave none alive!
