"Everything that has passed will settle down. Unable to break through the wall, the road ahead cannot be seen clearly, along with all that struggle and helplessness..."
The pitch-black sedan was hidden within the hazy fog, its orange-yellow hazard lights blinking slowly. A hand extended from the lowered window, holding a cigarette between its fingers.
The open window let "Gray Track" echo along the entirety of Charlton Street, adding a sense of hesitation, struggle, and inscrutable sorrow to the deserted road.
In the rearview mirror was reflected a man's face etched with exhaustion and weathering. His eyes were bloodshot with torment, and the light in his pupils was clouded by weary haze.
In truth, it was already difficult to connect this face with the one that had arrived at the Seventh Branch out of nowhere several months ago.
No one had been tormenting Tong Guan.
Many believed that everything up to this point had simply been his own self-inflicted torment. Even Chang Nian could not understand it.
But perhaps that was precisely why he was Tong Guan.
The stubbornness in a person's heart was also part of their character, capable of representing them entirely.
Yu Guo's devotion to A Lian explained why, from the very beginning of the Tiannan Academy mission, he had never intended to leave alive.
Ji Li's madness over his memories had likewise driven him to enter the karst cave beneath the moat despite knowing it might be a trap or conspiracy, ultimately costing him a leg.
And so it was with Tong Guan at this very moment. Because all he had ever done since childhood was seek the truth about his parents, he had come to Heavenly Sea. Because he had met Ji Li, he had fallen out with Ji Li.
And so, he had no