“Zhang San, are you interested in becoming a hero?”
“You’re about to die, so stop spewing nonsense.”
Lu Gaosheng smiled indifferently.
By now, he was naturally indifferent to Zhang San's ridicule. He looked at Zhang San coldly and said, "On the battlefield, those who survive are called brave warriors, but only the dead can become heroes."
"What a pity. My dream is to make a lot of money and live to a hundred years old."
"Then I wish you good luck...I really mean it this time."
Zhang San took one last look at Lu Gaosheng and said, "Goodbye."
Lu Gaosheng laughed loudly, "You seem to have suddenly become stupid, Zhang San. Where...is there still a goodbye?"
Zhang San realized he was right, so he left.
In the end, only the dying man was left in the room.
What kept him company was the silence of death, and the snow falling in through the broken roof.
So quiet.
Quiet to the point of being terrifying.
Quiet to the point of driving one mad.
Quiet to the point of making one cry out to the heavens in rage!
So he stood up!
It was very unbelievable. Zhang San had already felt it was strange earlier.
With this much blood loss, one should have passed out long ago and waited for death. But not only was Lu Gaosheng still conscious, he even had the strength to stand up.
Because he wanted to vent!
Because he wanted to cry out!
Even if at this moment, no one could possibly hear his final words in this world.
He raised his trembling right hand towards the sky...
"It wasn't me who couldn't kill Song YanShi."
"It wasn't me who couldn't control my own fate."
"And especially not me who couldn't beat this damn Heaven!"
Lu Gaosheng raised his left hand again, a wooden hairpin in his hand. It was as if he wanted Heaven and Earth to take a good look, to see what had truly led to his failure!
"I, Lu Gaosheng, have not lost to anyone! The heavens? The earth? Gods? Ghosts? Whoever it may be, whoever is willing, hear me now, remember me!! I, Lu Gaosheng, have not lost!!"
Afterwards, his tone gradually lowered.
Bowing his head, his eyes slowly softened.
Perhaps he was reminiscing.
"I just couldn't beat you...that's all."
When a person's strength runs out, with a loud bang, he fell into that pool of blood and snow, dying.
The hand pointing at the sky also slowly dropped.
...
...
The snow grew heavier.
Under the hole in the roof, the blood below seemed to freeze along with the ring of condensed snow.
It's so cold.
I don't know if it feels cold because of the falling snow.
Or is it that my body has already lost its warmth?
That wooden hairpin is still clenched tightly in my palm. Clearly now, I don't even have the strength to speak.
Do you know, Bai Fang?
Ming Qing was completely unworthy of you. Lu Qingming is even more of a hypocrite.
Because the one who chose to marry Song Lian'er years ago was him!!
But on their wedding night, he regretted it already, so he pushed me out! He wanted me to be the unfaithful one in his place!!
Do you know, Bai Fang?
Lu Qingming is the biggest hypocrite in this world, yet I would do anything for you.
The lives of five hundred thousand commoners? The Northern Army? Song YanShi? These are no different from pigs and dogs in my eyes.
What's wrong with killing everyone under heaven?
What a pity, I can no longer tell you these words.
Hehe...
That hypocrite Lu Qingming said he had to pay the price for what he did.
How laughable.
I have never felt that I did anything wrong, for the law of the jungle is the truth of this world.
Wolves and sheep, the strong and the weak.
The strong survive, the weak perish.
The world is unfair to begin with.
Lu Qingming and Wu Qixue's dream is extremely hypocritical.
In fact, sometimes I feel glad, I feel glad that this world is unfair.
Yes, I feel glad that this world is unfair.
Because if this world was fair, Lu Qingming could have placed first in the imperial exam and sailed smoothly through life, perhaps even achieving that laughable dream.
But if that was the case, what about me, Lu Gaosheng?
If Lu Qingming's life went smoothly, I, Lu Gaosheng, wouldn't even have had the chance to exist.
So I feel glad.
I feel glad about the unfairness of the world. Precisely because of this, I could be born from Lu Qingming's pain and anger.
But that day, I became angry again. I was angry at the unfairness of this world.
Because you, Bai Fang, were going to die.
I still couldn't help but think, if this world was fair, how wonderful would that be? If Lu Qingming could return home triumphantly and spend his whole life with you.
Even if your illness was terminal and incurable, at least, you could have spent the second half of your life with the person you loved deeply. How wonderful would that be?
You could have passed away peacefully in happiness.
If people must die, this would definitely be the ending you desired most.
Wait...
Hold on...
I seem to suddenly understand!
I get it now!
Turns out, no matter whether this world is fair or unfair, it would never be "fair" to me, Lu Gaosheng!
If it was fair, I wouldn't be able to exist.
If it was unfair, even if I existed, you still wouldn't love me.
I understand now.
Turns out what I wanted as "fairness" was always an illusion.
No matter how hard I tried, even if I succeeded in killing Song YanShi in the end, the one I loved deeply would never be in my embrace.
Haha...hahaha...
So it turns out to be like this!
The world can actually be so ugly!
The heavens can actually be so cruel!
I understand, I understand everything.
Oh well.
Let it be like this then.
You detest me, I don't care.
You don't love me, I know that too.
You hate me, I don't mind even more.
It's enough that I love you.
Perhaps some would think this is utterly stupid.
That's right, this is stupid enough.
But...
If a man isn't stupid enough, how could he possibly devote all of himself to love a woman?
Maybe.
I'm not as smart as I imagined.
Inside the study, no longer able to maintain the light in his eyes, Lu Gaosheng slowly closed them.
Yet in the next instant.
It was as if infinite light rushed into his mind.
A beautiful scene unfolded before his "eyes".
It was a sea of white magnolia flowers.
A beautiful woman was walking through the sea of flowers, leading a girl as delicate as jade.
The beauty looked back and extended an invitation:
"Dear husband, we said we'd go for an outing, let's go together."
Lu Gaosheng was stunned in place.
What is this...?
A dream?
A dream before death?
But...
How can this dream be so beautiful?
Heaven, do you want me to die in this beautiful dream?
I don't feel cold anymore.
Not cold at all, in fact...it's so warm!
Can someone like me really die in such a beautiful dream?
The world can actually be so beautiful!
The heavens can actually be so gentle!
Above the hole in the roof is the sky that mortals can never reach.
Below the hole in the roof is the death that we must all face.
The snow dyed his hair white, but the man grasping the hairpin revealed a faint smile in his final moment before losing life.
He.
Or should I say they, have also been freed from this world.
his freshman year, Su Bai accidentally bound the "Indulgence Tycoon System." 【Sleeping in? Reward: +$1,000】 【Spent $288 at a street barbecue stall? Cashback: +$2,880】 【Dropped $14,396 on in-game skins? Special reward unlocked: A brand-new Porsche Panamera!】 Luxury cars, penthouses, corporate shares, financial empires… College life was all about living freely and doing whatever he pleased! … When the adorably naive academic genius faced family medical bills and financial struggles, Su Bai waved his hand dismissively: "Your future is on me." "Wuwu~ Big Brother is so good to me! I’ll become a scientist to repay you!" When the genius girl got bullied by a shady professor? Su Bai casually dropped a billion-dollar investment, forcing the university to grovel and beg for her return. A company’s funding chain collapsing? Su Bai smirked—cash was the one thing he’d never run out of. Years later, when people traced the rise of the AI prodigy beauty, who was the man behind her success? Not just that—Su Bai also became the tsundere campus belle’s unattainable dream, the contrast senior’s daily necessity, and the beautiful counselor’s emotional anchor…
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
to panic—he has a system. As long as an investment target dies, he can claim a reward. And since he is immortal, the one thing he has plenty of is time. ... Countless years later. “Immortal Emperor of Longevity? I invested in him.” “Supreme Celestial Venerable? I invested in him.” “Undying Empress? I invested in her.” “...” “Heh. Once they’ve all died, even the Heavenly Dao will have to kneel and call me Dad.”
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
