The Price

“Can I go back now?”

Ning Yu pointed to the last parallel line and asked Moon Princess.

“Of course, that’s exactly why I wanted to bring you back,”

Moon Princess replied without hesitation.

“But you won’t retain the memories you have now.”

Hearing this, Ning Yu immediately refused.

“No.”

If she returned as she was before, Shen Yiyue would still have to walk her path alone, and that would be too cruel for her.

Ning Yu now had only one strong desire:

To return to Shen Yiyue’s side and be with her, so she wouldn’t have to face it all alone.

Every time she saw Shen Yiyue pretending to be fine, Ning Yu’s heart ached unbearably.

She even despised the versions of herself in those parallel lines who had no memory of this.

“I must keep these memories,”

Ning Yu said to Moon Princess, her gaze unwavering.

“This is no simple matter,”

Moon Princess’s words carried a hidden implication, but Ning Yu showed no hesitation:

“What do I need to do?”

“To cross the parallel lines means connecting with the source.”

The golden vortex symbol on Moon Princess’s forehead flickered faintly, its light waxing and waning.

“I can grant you this power, but it comes at a price…”

She raised her right hand, where a golden orb of light formed, constantly shifting in shape.

“What price?”

Ning Yu’s heart tightened. Just like the “Wuxiang Jiyue” mode, great power always came with an equivalent exchange.

She understood this principle.

Moon Princess walked over to Ning Yu with the orb and whispered softly into her ear.

Ning Yu listened calmly, her eyes lowered as she took a deep breath.

“Alright.”

She agreed without hesitation.

“What an extraordinary choice.”

Moon Princess looked at Ning Yu with a strange expression, as if she couldn’t quite fathom what Ning Yu was thinking.

She placed the golden orb between them and handed it to Ning Yu.

Ning Yu looked at it, noticing the indescribable symbols and words swirling inside. The light grew brighter as it drew closer.

“Was this part of your plan all along?”

Ning Yu asked Moon Princess, her eyes still fixed on the orb.

“I cannot answer that, for you cannot comprehend my existence,”

Moon Princess replied, her expression as enigmatic as ever.

“When you know the story of your life, the stories of your countless lives, the stories of everyone else.”

“From the tiniest speck of dust, the smallest particle, to the largest planet, the vastest universe—all of it becomes a fixed tableau.”

“In the face of this preordained emptiness, everything will seem meaningless.”

She looked up, though it was unclear what she was gazing at, as the gray mist around them churned and swirled.

“So, you’re Laplace’s Demon?”

Ning Yu tilted her head, seemingly teasing Moon Princess.

Moon Princess didn’t answer directly. Instead, she looked at Ning Yu through the golden orb between them:

“I envy you, I envy those of you who possess fleeting moments.”

“When I return to the source, I will become each of you—past and future versions of you—but I can never become myself.”

Ning Yu fell silent, not fully understanding the meaning behind her words.

She reached out and finally took the golden orb.

“What comes next may be painful. Prepare yourself,”

Moon Princess warned Ning Yu kindly.

Ning Yu’s eyes widened suddenly, her mind exploding like the Big Bang.

Countless memory fragments flooded in, threatening to tear her brain apart.

“If Xiao Yu can do it, then I can too…”

“The reason for this failure is…”

“Kill her, kill her, kill her…”

“Xiao Yu, you like strawberry milk, right?”

“Sister Ning Yu, I saw my sister secretly wiping her tears yesterday. Did you bully her?”

“From now on, every time must be better than the last. I must…”

“The person I love the most… is Xiao Yu!”

“Just a little more…”

“No, I can’t let Xiao Yu go alone!!”

“Three days left.”

“In five seconds, Xiao Yu will enter my room.”

“I can’t go on… I want to give up… but I… want to meet Xiao Yu one more time…”

“Xiao Yu…”

“Xiao Yu…”

Ning Yu knelt on the surface of the lake, clutching her head in pain, groaning softly.

After a while, she couldn’t even kneel anymore and collapsed onto the surface.

Her eyes glowed with a golden light, making her amber irises even brighter and clearer.

Gritting her teeth, Ning Yu endured it all. Every second, every frame in her mind was filled with memories of her and Shen Yiyue.

If Shen Yiyue had endured all this for her, then she could too.

“No matter what difficulties I face, no matter how much I want to give up…”

“Wait for me.”

The scene shifted to the most recent memory: Shen Yiyue in the ruins, pointing a gun at her own head.

“Bang!”

As the gunshot echoed in her mind, Ning Yu’s body stopped floating on the lake and slowly sank into the water.

The lake was crystal clear, and through the water, she could still see Moon Princess standing on the surface, surrounded by the gray mist.

Ning Yu felt her consciousness blurring, and finally, the pain subsided.

Like a newborn baby, she drifted in the lake, slowly sinking.

“How I envy you, being loved like this.”

Moon Princess remained on the lake’s surface, though Ning Yu was no longer there. She gazed into the depths and uttered a soft, fleeting sentence.

A thin golden thread extended from beneath the water, connecting to Moon Princess.

Her figure flickered a few times and then vanished completely.

The lake wasn’t entirely cold; instead, it felt warm. Wrapped in this warmth, Ning Yu fell into a deep sleep.

Faintly, a familiar system notification sound reached her ears.

[Host has acquired: Eyes of Fate Perception]

......

The morning sunlight streamed into the small apartment.

Shen Qianqian woke up hungry, struggling to get up. She noticed that her sister hadn’t come to wake her today, and there was no movement outside.

Walking into the living room, she found Ning Yu curled up on the sofa, her silver hair spread out as she slept soundly.

Shen Qianqian hesitated for a moment, but driven by hunger, she walked over to Ning Yu.

Looking at Ning Yu’s angelic sleeping face, Shen Qianqian couldn’t help but marvel at how lucky her sister was.

“Sister Ning Yu…”

“Sister Ning Yu…”

She gently shook Ning Yu’s body, waking her up.

The moment Ning Yu opened her eyes, she sat up abruptly, looking around as if she couldn’t believe her surroundings.

Shen Qianqian wasn’t too surprised by Ning Yu’s reaction, guessing she might have had a nightmare.

“Sister Ning Yu, why are you sleeping on the sofa?”

“Um… I… I’m hungry…”

She said shyly, her cheeks slightly red, a little embarrassed by her gluttonous behavior.

But her stomach had already started growling.