Chapter 0528

Just like that, the two of them were dead.

Lin Ran swallowed hard. He had witnessed his own intestines being crushed out, his breath ceasing on the spot.

He also witnessed Luo Yao taking her own life to follow him, a sight that made his heart ache to the point of suffocation.

He stood up, reaching out to caress the fallen Luo Yao, but his hand met only empty air.

The space distorted once more, and the hyper-realistic projection vanished.

[Little Black: Lin Ran, you promised that one day you wouldn't kill me.]

Lin Ran stared at Little Black, his eyes turning bloodshot with rage.

He could have had a perfect ending with Luo Yao in their very first life, yet he had been forced to endure thirty additional lifetimes.

[Little Black: Lin Ran, I’ve always felt guilty in the past, but at the same time, I couldn't understand why Luo Yao loved you so much. Now I understand. All of this was inevitable. You’ve also helped me resolve some doubts regarding time and its rules.]

Seeing that Lin Ran remained silent, Little Black grew fearful. It hurriedly continued to make excuses... er, explain.

[If you hadn't experienced this current life, you wouldn't have met Luo Yao when she was a child. Therefore, the Luo Yao in the past thirty lifetimes always remembered you, while you only remembered her in this one. I only recently figured this out myself. It turns out that no matter how many times time is reversed, our outcome remains a certainty.]

[Do you understand what I mean? Without me, you would never have known the answer to why Luo Yao loves you. So, in a way, I am the key that unlocks the destination of your love. Surely, for that reason alone, you can't off me, right?]

Lin Ran understood. He wasn't a fool; on the contrary, his logic was sound.

Little Black meant that his traveling back in time to meet Luo Yao happened within the context of this current timeline, yet the Luo Yao of the previous thirty lifetimes remembered it.

What did this prove? It proved that the events of this life were destined to occur.

Time was bound to converge at a certain point.

However.

Lin Ran didn't want any of this to happen. If he could have just grown old with Luo Yao in the first lifetime, that would have been perfect.

What did it matter if he experienced the story of this specific lifetime or not?

Furthermore, you turned the past into a movie for me to watch—are you a freaking psychopath?

He had been in so much pain moments ago he nearly suffocated, yet when he tried to comfort Luo Yao, he could only touch a hologram.

Wait, a hologram?

Lin Ran took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his rage. "The last times, under the bridge and in the basement, I could influence the past within those scenes. Why couldn't I influence it this time?"

Little Black looked at Lin Ran cautiously. [That is because what you saw before weren't just images; they were actual pockets of flowing time and space. But what you saw just now was merely a recording. It’s different.]

"You motherf... Fine, fine. Hurry up and show me what the subsequent twenty-nine lives looked like."

Little Black shook its head. [No need to watch. When I realized I had made a mistake, I kept turning back time. You should thank the Luo family's Dragon Vein for having sufficient energy; otherwise, you wouldn't have had this good fortune.]

Without the Luo family's Dragon Vein providing enough energy, Little Black wouldn't have been able to reverse time again and again.

So, from a certain perspective, the Luo family's Dragon Vein was the fuel that saved them.

From Little Black finding the Dragon Vein, meeting Luo Chen, occupying the Dragon Vein, guarding the descent of Goddess Luo, to finally relying on the Dragon Vein's energy to reverse time repeatedly...

Every step of this process was indispensable; it was all dictated by fate.

However, Lin Ran was so angry he almost laughed.

"Good fortune? If I gave this 'good fortune' to you, would you want it?"

[Little Black: I was sad too, okay? Do you think you were the only one who suffered through thirty extra lifetimes? I was right there with you, you know?]

Hmm... that seemed to make sense.

But that wasn't a valid reason for guilt-tripping him, was it?

"Stop stalling. Hurry up and show me the remaining twenty-nine lives."

[Little Black: There’s really no need to watch. I’ll just tell you the ending. The story of each subsequent life was a bit different, but largely the same, and the endings were identical.]

Saying this, Little Black raised an eyebrow to glance at Lin Ran, then lowered its head again.

[In the following twenty-nine lives, it was always a game of you running and her chasing. In the end, you always died, and Luo Yao always took her own life to follow you. I was constantly filled with regret and wanted to bring you two back to the state where you first fell in love, so I could only keep trying. By the end, even this cat was mentally exhausted.]

[But it is precisely because of this that I mastered the skill of letting you reverse time with your memories intact. If I had failed again this time, I would have washed my paws of the whole thing.]

[Fortunately, we made it to this moment. Not only did I grasp some rules of the time loop, but I also solved the mystery of why Luo Yao loves you so much. It is now confirmed: you and Luo Yao are indeed true love. Shouldn't you be thanking me?]

Thank him?

Lin Ran was so angry he almost dropped dead on the spot.

I was always about true love! It was you, you freaking cat, who insisted on turning true love into something twisted, and now you want me to thank you?

"Fine, fine, fine. You’re really something. I won't kill you today."

Before Little Black could rejoice, it heard Lin Ran continue, "But I’m going to let my wife see your true colors."

Little Black’s eyes immediately widened. [No, no! Luo Yao will kill me! In the previous thirty lifetimes, she stabbed me fifty-eight times! In this life, I managed to get away with only being stabbed once. Don't mess around; I’ll really die!]

Hmm?

Was that so?

Then you’ve really walked right into the line of fire. In this thirty-first life, how could we be short one stab?

Lin Ran wore a sinister expression. "That is no longer up to you."

"Meow—!"

Early morning. Luo Yao opened her eyes to find Lin Ran staring at her.

"Ran, what's wrong?"

Lin Ran was just about to speak when Luo Yao covered his mouth.

"Ran, we should get some exercise in the morning."

Exercise?

You're in for a shock.

Lin Ran gently pushed Luo Yao's lips away with his finger. "Your body can't handle too much activity right now. Besides, I have something to tell you today."

"What is it?"

"Do you remember I told you I was going to introduce a friend to you?"

"Mhm."

Lin Ran revealed a smug smile. He ran out the door and casually carried in a cage. Inside was a black cat, drained of all its strength and tricks.

[Little Black: Lin Ran, you big jerk! Let me go! I’m telling you one last time, I don't want to see Luo Yao! Luo Yao is too ruthless, meow meow meow!]

Lin Ran looked at it with feigned resentment. [Shut up. If you don't listen, I'll have Yao Yao tear your house down.]

[Little Black: Lin Ran has become ruthless too, meow meow meow.]

Lin Ran carried Little Black over to Luo Yao. "This is my friend and nemesis, Little Black."

In truth, Lin Ran wasn't sure how he felt about Little Black.

If he said he hated it, well, it was indeed quite hateable.

If it weren't for this cat, he and Luo Yao wouldn't have had to wait until their thirty-first life to be together.

Fortunately, aside from his first life and this current one, Lin Ran didn't have the memories of the other twenty-nine time reversals. Otherwise, what agonizing memories those would be.