The President, You're Here

Don't you have any self-awareness about whether I want to stand with you or not?

Yu Xing immediately snorted coldly, not intimidated by the Lingren at all. On the contrary, the Lingren didn't leave the gate before him was the best possible outcome.

It doesn't really matter whether he makes it into the top ten or not, as long as the Lingren don't make it.

"... What do you want me to say? That I'm willing to stand on your side?" Yu Xing lit her lighter, the dim flame standing out starkly in the darkness, its warm light illuminating Yu Xing face perfectly. "Even if I said that, would you believe me?"

The light from the lighter quietly illuminated a small corner, revealing the figure of the Lingren not far away. The lines on his androgynous face were soft, and his light-colored pupils were not clearly visible, but it was clear that it was a clean face without any makeup.

The Lingren's eyes curved slightly, looking as gentle and warm as ever. His pleasant voice carried a hint of amusement. "Indeed, even if you say nice things to me now, I wouldn't dare believe them completely. Who knows, I might get my comeuppance the next second."

"However, you don't need to be so wary of me this time. I arrived first, but I waited for you here. Isn't that a concession?" The Lingren took a few steps forward, stood in front of Yu Xing, tilted his head slightly, looked directly into Yu Xing's eyes, and said with a smile, "Alright, enough people have been attracted by your lighter. I guarantee there will be more than seven people. I definitely won't get this spot... Can you turn it off?"

Yu Xing remained silent, glancing to both sides. He had just lit the lighter to attract attention and draw a crowd. Once all ten spots were filled, he wouldn't have to deal with the Lingren here.

The Lingren saw right through his intentions but didn't stop him. Was there another plan?

"Sigh... A Xing, turn it off, or everyone will notice you." The Lingren's tone was completely considerate of Yu Xing. Seeing that Yu Xing didn't move, he actually reached out and grabbed the still-burning lighter.

The flames burned the Lingren's hands, which, though fair and slender, had calluses on their fingers from practicing spear fighting, and then went out with a "poof."

The moment his vision dimmed, Yu Xing grabbed the Lingren's wrist, fearing that the Lingren would take the opportunity to run away.

"What exactly do you want to do?" Yu Xing noticed after grasping the Lingren's wrist that the Lingren's physical abilities were suppressed even more severely than his own. His wrist was as soft as before, as if it would break if he exerted too much force. After all, the Lingren's abilities should have been acquired after entering the divination, unlike his own physical abilities, which had already reached an astonishing level before entering the divination due to that curse.

Therefore, the Lingren is now completely unable to escape his control, so why would the Lingren deliver himself into his hands?

If the Lingren wanted to use this opportunity to push Yu Xing into the limelight and make the other divination experts wary of him, that would be fine. Lingren just personally extinguished the only lighter that could potentially reveal his appearance.

"A Xing, if I really wanted this spot, I wouldn't have waited for you." Lingren smiled warmly. "This event is very important. The various factions will definitely come up with the best branching plan within the next day. Each of the five levels must have a leader at the Despair level or above, and I will be one of them. I don't think I have the extra energy to harm you."

Yu Xing raised the corners of her mouth, clearly not believing it.

"I just came to tell you that this event is very important to you. I won't interfere, and you don't need to worry about me," the Lingren said. "I see."

What did you see?

Yu Xing didn't ask, knowing that since the Lingren had brought it up, he would continue.

"Among the diviners, your friend isn't the only one capable of predicting the future. I've seen your destiny; you will encounter it in this event. You can't avoid it, nor should you." The Lingren seemed quite pleased with this. "And I'm happy to see it happen."

"Ha, my dear Lingren, it seems I'll encounter some things that will puzzle me, and you're trying to mislead my future self with these words, aren't you?" Yu Xing has passed the stage of being easily deceived. To be honest, he himself doesn't know how he developed this kind of responsiveness.

"You're up to something bad again?" He grinned. "Then I'll just have to wait for my destiny?"

The Lingren's body seemed to pause slightly.

He paused for two seconds, then sighed, "It's really frustrating. Is it really impossible to fool you now? Although I'm happy to see you become more and more degenerate, your out-of-control behavior is really making me unhappy."

Then, he seemed to skip over that topic and suddenly asked, "Your friend could predict which livestream Han Yan would enter, so how could I not see the actions you might take? A Xing... during that time at the Fear Hospital, I really made a huge sacrifice for you."

Yu Xing's pupils contracted, then his eyebrows twitched, and he lowered his head slightly. He remembered the Lingren's positions before the firelight dimmed, and the lowered head made his oppressive presence even stronger. "What? You're not suggesting that you Zhao Mou's prediction about Han Yan, and to make me happy and fulfill my promise to Han Xinyi, you deliberately kept Han Yan from telling him anything, letting him continue into the Fear Hospital, are you?"

"Are you going to say the next second that using your power against your people at the last moment is a huge affirmation for you?"

"Are you still trying to disgust me with this tactic, to make me feel disgusted with my own behavior?"

Several rhetorical questions plunged the Lingren into silence again. He chuckled softly, seemingly surprised that Yu Xing was being so difficult to deal with.

He grew up as he wished, but at a rate far exceeding his expectations.

The Lingren's mental fortitude was truly remarkable; the fact that he had no way to proceed only fueled his interest and pleasure. "You've said everything I wanted to say, and I have nothing more to add. A Xing, you understand me better and better."

"Yes, how could I kill you if I didn't know?" Yu Xing's tone was tinged with sarcasm. "I will definitely try to learn more about you in the future, and today, I'll have to trouble you to stand here with me for a while."

As he spoke, he used a bit of force to pull the Lingren away from the gate. The Lingren didn't struggle, probably because he couldn't, Yu Xing was much stronger than him.

The people who had just gathered around the firelight were now close enough, and a familiar voice chuckled, "Which kind soul did a good deed anonymously, even giving me a helping hand before leaving? Even though they said they sealed my luck, I feel like I'm still pretty lucky!"

A cold, calm voice followed. "You can share your thoughts outside."

It was Zeng Lai and Ren Yi's voices.

Without delay, they walked straight out the door, and the numbers on the door display jumped to "05".

"What good brothers! If one of them died, how would the other react? A Xing, what do you think?" the Lingren asked gently.

"You want to harm the people at the Research Institute?" Yu Xing knew perfectly well that Lingren was using such words to threaten him because Zeng Lai and Ren Yi were both acquaintances of his and, in fact, had a good relationship with him.

"It's just a lousy Research Institute, what's so untouchable about it?" The Lingren laughed. "Their backer is dead."

"... Then go ahead and try. It's none of my business," Yu Xing said coldly.

"Do you really think it has nothing to do with you?" The Lingren's words were pointed and his tone sounded dangerous.

Yu Xing ignored him this time.

"Oh, it seems you don't care about them enough." The Lingren said thoughtfully, "How about Zhao Mou and Zhao Yijiu instead? They're even better brothers, blood brothers, after all. Aha... A Xing, tell me, in such a dangerous Absurd World, who will die first?"

Yu Xing: "You die first."

Lingren: "Oh~ you're in a hurry..."

"Ha, you should indeed die first." Suddenly, a gloomy voice rang out from the darkness. The voice approached so silently that even the shards of glass on the ground did not make a sound.

But Yu Xing recognized the voice all too well; it was Zhao Yijiu!

He had already witnessed Zhao Yijiu's ability to move freely in the dark, and he had long suspected that Zhao Yijiu's abilities would be a great advantage in this place, making him one of the first to find the door. Sure enough, he had found it now.

Not only did they come looking for him, but they also took the opportunity to say something harsh to the Lingren.

A smile appeared in Yu Xing's eyes, and the next second, Zhao Yijiu asked, "But who is this? Are you restricting his movements?"

Clearly, this question was directed at Yu Xing. Zhao Yijiu could not only move back and forth silently in the dark, but could even see Yu Xing holding the Lingren's wrist.

Yu Xing: "..." So Zhao Yijiu only heard that one sentence and immediately came over to refute it, without even knowing who she was refuting!

Through the darkness, the Lingren's lips curled into a silent smile. He had never been very tolerant of anyone other than Yu Xing. He replied gently, "Long time no see. I was just discussing with A Xing which eye we should gouge out next time."

"Tsk." Yu Xing's expression turned cold. Zhao Yijiu certainly wouldn't believe what he said, but the point of his words wasn't to sow discord, but rather...

Zhao Yijiu's fingers involuntarily twitched.

He remembered who this person was.

There was only one person who gouged out his eyes, the one from the Death Parallel Line... the Lingren!

Even now, he can still recall the pain of having his eyeballs cut out. The pain aside, what he least wants to remember is the helplessness of being completely suppressed, and the humiliation of being placed on a chopping board, at the mercy of others, whose life and death depended on the mood of the person wielding the knife.

"Yu Xing," Zhao Yijiu said in a low voice.

Sensing his unease, Yu Xing instinctively said, "Go ahead and hit me, I'll hold you down."

Zhao Yijiu: "..."

The Lingren: "Ah."

Zhao Yijiu ultimately did not fight.

He said coldly, "What's the point of beating him up here to vent my anger? I'll be watching the day he dies."

After saying that, he walked into the school gate without looking back.

He didn't plan to wait for Yu Xing. As soon as he saw the situation, he knew that Yu Xing was definitely stalling the other party. All he needed to do was fill one of the ten spots to help.

The remaining four spots were quickly taken as well. Yu Xing kept pressing down on the Lingren until the number on the door jumped to "10," at Lingren finally spoke, "Can you let me go now?"

There are enough spots available; there shouldn't be any more surprises.

Having let go of the matter, which could have become a huge hidden danger if not properly resolved, Yu Xing felt temporarily relieved. He didn't want to reply to Lingren at all and headed straight for the gate.

The Lingren didn't give chase. He watched the man's figure appear and disappear for a moment in the dim light of the numbers on the gate. His smile remained unchanged. Then he moved away from the gate area, where the crowd was gradually increasing, and went to another secluded spot.

There was no one here; it was so quiet you could hear the clock ticking in the next classroom.

The Lingren leaned against the window sill of a classroom, looking somewhat tired. His long hair was casually draped to one side. His light-colored eyes gazed into the void before him, and he chuckled softly at the darkness, "He's gone. Are you still going to watch me, President?"

"I wouldn't even glance at you for a second, it's a waste of my eyes. Stop trying to glorify yourself, you little actress." A voice, undisguisedly mocking, emerged from the darkness. "Why do you keep threatening him? Do you think threatening him will make him go into Single Prism and stay with you? Even if it's not broad daylight, don't keep dreaming."

"What I want isn't for him to enter the Single Prism." The Lingren remained gentle and composed. "I just want to see him fall into depravity. Don't you find it interesting? The young master who prided himself on not wanting to associate with people like me has ended up becoming the very person he hates most. Such humiliation is enough to cause someone as proud as him to collapse from within. Once he collapses, he won't be the young master who troubles me anymore, but just a failed experimental subject."

"You're insane." The figure in the darkness seemed to chuckle. "You have to make him fall, just to prove he's a failed experiment, so you can convince yourself to kill him and reclaim the curse and rules you placed within him?"

The sound of shoes stepping on shards of glass approached from afar, until they reached the Lingren: "Why did you choose him in the first place? If you were so attached to the look in his eyes, why not just act for the rest of your life, be friends for the rest of your life, act until he dies, and then find someone else? He wasn't the only option. Now, both of you are insane. You're pathetic."

"I'm despicable," the Lingren admitted matter-of-factly. "Actors are lowly, it's always been so. I'm sick too, so sick that you wouldn't dare do anything to me. Isn't that right, Chairman? If I weren't so despicable, so insane, you would have killed me long ago."

"Unlike now, you'd worry about me killing you, so you'd run so far away and never come back."

The Lingren's eyes gleamed. In a fleeting moment, he precisely located another pair of eyes in the darkness and met their gaze. "The Flower Seeker has been searching for you for so long, yet you haven't shown up. Why come to see me now? What are you trying to warn me about?"

"Nothing much, just came to tell you that I've planted a garden full of black roses." The person in the darkness finally laughed. "I haven't had a chance before, but now I want to ask you, when you almost successfully led him astray several times before, didn't you especially hope that I would appear and pull him back, so he wouldn't die at your hands?"

"In some ways, I've helped you many times, and all you do is repay kindness with enmity, even trying to kill me."

"Sigh... Kind people these days have no rights. I can already see the ending. You'll ruin yourself. When you die—probably soon—I'll go to your grave every year to offer you a datura flower."

After the person in the darkness finished speaking, they suddenly fell silent.

The Lingren smiled and reached out, probing ahead, only to find nothing but emptiness. The person who had just left was even quieter than Zhao Yijiu, and even more irretrievable than Yu Xing.

"No," the Lingren withdrew his hand, twirling his fingertips, "You will all die before me."