No Need to Look Back

Surname... Fish?

Or is it still left over?

The Snake Woman is not sensitive to human writing; her favorite character is probably "square".

In the last few seconds of her life, she didn't want to answer Yu Xing, but those words left her with too many questions.

What does that mean? What is Fang Xing saying?

A terrifying thought crossed the Snake Woman's mind; she didn't want to believe it, because it was a truly horrific story.

The Snake Woman blinked and asked with difficulty, "You... aren't Fang Xing?"

Has this monster gone too far? Could it be that from beginning to end, she had no weakness whatsoever to save her brother, and even her identity was a lie?

No, she could sense the Fang family bloodline in this person.

So, the real Fang Xing was possessed by this monster, and the monster, wearing Fang Xing's skin, did all this?

This speculation is close to the truth.

The Snake Woman's brain was fading away and she could no longer sustain any further thought.

At this moment, her perception was distorted by Yu Xing's words, and she completely lost in terms of understanding.

She felt something was off.

But she never received an answer. In the very end, she lost the instinct to crave one and vanished with the wind.

Not a trace was left.

The spot where the Snake Woman had been was now empty. Yu Xing took a breath and was just about to show off to Yi Qing when her expression suddenly changed.

He remembered something.

With the Snake Woman gone, his curse power was also completely withdrawn. Under normal circumstances, Yi Qing would not reach an unobservable height. At this moment, there was no high-level entity here that could affect the live broadcast room.

The live stream should be restarted from this moment on.

Ghost stories!

This is a ghost story!

Yu Xing's pupils constricted. His physical condition was so poor that it was obvious from his appearance; he was so weak that his entire body would fall apart if he swayed even slightly.

He wasn't afraid of the audience seeing the aftereffects of overusing his abilities, but he was afraid of those whose vision had been shattered witnessing his disheveled state.

Almost the instant the thought crossed his mind, the boastful words he wanted to say were swallowed back down, and instead became—

Kill me!

Yi Qing was very shrewd; he went all the way and saw the person off to the end. Without saying a word, a wisp of green mist shattered Yu Xing's last chance at life.

He was destined to die anyway, so he was bound to be resurrected. As long as it didn't affect his brain, Yi Qing had no psychological burden about sending Yu Xing to be resurrected.

So, before the audience could even see anything and hear a faint sound, Yu Xing's live stream went black again.

Comments:???

Yi Qing calmed herself down for a moment before floating forward and picking up the Sheqing Dreamscape, which had been lost on the ground. Using the privilege of contracted ghosts, she sensed the location of Yu Xing's resurrection.

In the south of the town.

Oh, it's just a small mound now.

The azure figure vanished without a trace, leaving only a wisp of green smoke that drifted south towards the town.

[Oh no, I've reconnected again. Where am I?]

[I don't know, Nanshui Town just collapsed, and I can't reconcile the current scene with the previous one.]

[Is it because he managed to defeat the boss that he's like this? He seems to be in pretty good shape, even though his clothes are all torn... By the way... why is he sitting there spacing out?]

[Maybe he's thinking about how much of his chest he's exposed. Hehe, chest muscles bulging, abs bulging, and... bulging there.]

[The LSP Foundation, defying the heavens.]

[Any of the foundation members who have survived to this day is an extraordinary individual.]

Once Yu Xing's body was reborn and her consciousness returned, the live stream naturally restarted once again.

As with each resurrection, his emotions remained closed off for a time, leaving him with a cold face, like a heartless killer, sitting beside the high mound of earth.

The audience who came upon hearing the news could only see his coffin-like face and his repressed, silent demeanor.

In reality, Yu Xing was negotiating with the system in his mind.

There's no emotion involved, but there are definitely interests at stake.

"Xu Wan, as a creation of the Snake Woman, has already disappeared. You have to consider it my task to disfigure her."

Yu Xing said coldly.

[Of course, that's no problem.]

The woman's voice even softened slightly, clearly indicating that the system, having achieved its goal, was showing unprecedented tolerance and patience towards Yu Xing.

Yu Xing showed no sign of joy and continued, "The festival is over too, and the task of destroying Fang Xiao attire during the festival will also be counted as my responsibility."

[Can.]

"I had the Doctor kill Fang Deming for me; he's dead now—"

[This counts as completed.]

The system didn't even wait for him to finish speaking; it was very generous.

Yu Xing's exclusive mission phase two has four tasks, three of which have been completed so far. The last one is to help Mingzhu escape from Nanshui Town.

"..." Yu Xing paused for two seconds, then belatedly realized, "Where's Mingzhu?"

[You're asking me?]

"At this point, you might as well just tell me directly. It won't cost you anything," Yu Xing said coldly, standing up as she did so.

Even without any emotion, he could imagine that Mingzhu must be ecstatic right now.

In the instant the surrounding scenery changed, that clever girl would surely understand that the cage that bound her no longer existed, and the freedom she had longed for had quietly arrived.

I wonder where she'll run off to.

They might be so eager to run out of town that they didn't even want to leave.

Yu Xing could have used branches to conduct a thorough search, but he was too tired to exert any more effort and just wanted to be a good-natured couch potato.

The system considered it and found that providing a location would not violate any rules.

[Mingzhu didn't leave; she went to the Fang Mansion.]

"She still dares to go back?" Yu Xing's emotions were slowly recovering, and the first thing she felt was surprise.

The Fang Mansion was the deepest prison. A woman who had been trapped there for so many years, her first reaction upon gaining freedom was actually to go back?

This girl's thought process is indeed extraordinary; otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to remain conscious for so long under the Snake Woman's nose.

She wants to go back to you.

The system is now the one in control of this area, so it naturally knows everything about every living thing.

[She thinks if you were still alive, you would probably go home to check on things, after all, you are "Fang Xing". Oh, and she's still holding your painting tube. During the altar riot, she used your knife to kill several townspeople, and the scroll's strap broke. Now she's hugging it tightly.]

[I've teleported all the other predictors out. You can do whatever you want now. The live stream will close in two minutes.]

Yu Xing fell silent upon hearing this, then realized that although Fang Xiao had been sent to the ancestral hall by the Doctor, there was still a chance that Mingzhu would run into Fang Xiao when she went to the Fang Mansion.

He sighed. He hadn't originally planned to use his ability, but now he decided to use it to speed up his journey.

Without the influence of other forces, Yu Xing speed, appearing in front of the Fang Mansion in just a few breaths, just in time to see Mingzhu hesitantly stepping into the Fang Mansion.

Just as the system had said, she held the blood-stained painting tube in her arms as if it were a source of comfort, ignoring the bloodstains on her own body.

The Fang Mansion remains unchanged; it has never changed from beginning to end.

Yu Xing blinked and followed him inside.

The expected scene unfolded.

With everything affecting his cognition gone, the Doctor stopped restraining Fang Xiao. He happened to run out of the ancestral hall and immediately saw the disheveled but radiant Mingzhu, and his "younger brother" following closely behind.

Fang Xiao was stunned for a moment, his feet seemingly rooted to the spot, instantly frozen in place.

The two people he most wanted to see, and the two people he least dared to see, appeared before him without any warning.

He even recalled how he had "given" the Mingzhu to his younger brother in his moment of confusion, and his face turned pale and his whole body trembled.

He was afraid.

Mingzhu saw him at the same time, and the color drained from her face instantly, making her even paler than him.

But she only hesitated for a second before drawing a Tang sword from the painting tube and pointing it fiercely at Fang Xiao: "Don't come any closer!"

Fang Xiao had no intention of going.

He now wants to escape even more.

He felt more sorry for Mingzhu than for his younger brother. Now, recalling the awful things he had done, he felt dizzy.

Tears welled in Mingzhu's clear eyes; physical fear made her tremble, but she straightened her back and said in a hoarse voice, "Where is Fang Xing?"

Fang Xiao didn't understand Mingzhu's meaning. Was she hating Fang Xing for violating her, or did she have other thoughts?

"I'm here, Mingzhu," Yu Xing said calmly after watching from behind for a while.

Mingzhu turned around in a daze, and the moment she saw Yu Xing's face, her fear miraculously vanished.

The knife clattered to the ground in her hand. Overjoyed yet heartbroken, she rushed forward and hugged Yu Xing, her voice trembling, "You're alive! Thank you... you really saved me, you really—"

Mingzhu was rambling incoherently, but all she wanted now was to hug the person who had saved her; she didn't care about anything else.

Yu Xing let her hug him for two seconds, then gently pushed her away with his fingers. Recalling their previous conversation, he forced a smile and said gently, "If you hug me again now, it'll cost you."

Mingzhu released him.

With the shackles in her heart lifted, she finally had the mind to pay attention to other things. Seeing Yu Xing's attitude, she suddenly realized, "You... do you really have someone you like? You even charge for a hug."

Yu Xing initially wanted to deny it outright, but the words caught in his throat as a strange yet honest thought flashed through his mind, leading him to say instead, "Perhaps?"

Mingzhu understood and immediately withdrew, maintaining a safe distance, not wanting to cause Yu Xing any trouble.

Seeing this scene, Fang Xiao understood immediately.

He was already smart, and now he understands everything.

"You broke the curse here." He stared blankly at Yu Xing.

Without the Snake Woman's distorted perception of blood ties, he suddenly felt that his younger brother was a bit strange, and his appearance didn't seem to match that of his childhood self.

Even though they look exactly alike, he felt that the soul beneath the skin lacked that resonance, making them seem more like strangers.

Although... he was a stranger who felt very close to him.

Yu Xing turned to him.

The unspoken understanding between intelligent people allowed him to read Fang Xiao's eyes. Without hesitation, he stepped forward and extended his right hand. "Hello, let's get to know each other again. My name is Yu Xing."

Mingzhu clenched her fists, then seemed somewhat relieved.

She silently turned her head, leaving the two men who looked alike to their own devices.

She understood somewhat; Yu Xing was not Fang Xing. There was no need to figure out the intricacies of the situation right now.

However, Yu Xing was very friendly to Fang Xiao.

Never mind.

That's it. She no longer loves Fang Xiao, nor does she hate Fang Xiao completely is the only way to say goodbye to the past.

Fang Xiao's gaze was now completely filled by the approaching young man.

Yu Xing.

He pondered the name, and a sense of sudden enlightenment washed over him.

You are not him.

He murmured to himself, then politely shook hands before asking, without much hope, "What about him? Is he still alive?"

Yu Xing smiled and said, "In a sense, I am him, but I have never existed."

The character Fang Xing exists because of him; Fang Xing's past serves to flesh out Yu Xing's investigator character. In other words...

There has never been an independent, truly genuine Fang Xing.

Yu Xing doesn't know who Fang Xing is in Fang Xiao's memories either. This may involve mysterious matters of time and cause and Karma. But what is certain now is that Fang Xiao will never see the younger brother in his memories again.

Fang Xiao remained silent.

He was intelligent enough, but the world he lived in limited his understanding.

He just had a vague feeling that his "younger brother" was gone, whether in the future or the past.

My mind is filled with a new kind of chaos.

Did the person he desperately tried to send away when he was a child really exist?

Is his memory real?

Could it be that, even after detaching himself from that book and from Fang Deming, he is still trapped in another layer of illusion?

A concept that cannot be understood can destroy a person. Fang Xiao blinked bitterly, feeling that he could still go crazy.

He seems close to going insane, unless he learns the whole truth.

Yu Xing suddenly asked, "You mean we can absorb him?"

Fang Xiao was taken aback. "What?"

He then realized that Yu Xing wasn't talking to him, but rather to some unseen entity.

[He meets my selection criteria. If he becomes the deducer, I can transmit the truth of this deduction to him.]

The system paused briefly, then added--

[Same as Lan Wu.]

A complex expression appeared in Yu Xing's eyes.

His emotions recovered very quickly after being resurrected, for reasons unknown.

In short, he almost recovered and regained his empathy.

The system's suggestion was undoubtedly the best solution for Fang Xiao; otherwise, Fang Xiao would be troubled for the rest of his life in the subsequent timeline, and might go insane and commit suicide within a few months.

However, it feels strange that the person I've been calling "brother" for several days is about to become a deducer in the same dimension.

[However, given Fang Xiao's special status, I believe it's necessary to consult your opinion.]

[And the same applies to Mingzhu; she can also be absorbed as a deducer. She possesses the power of an evil god within her, giving her a very high starting point.]

Yu Xing sighed.

Well, he had actually considered this outcome before. After all, even he had thought to himself that Fang Xiao or Mingzhu would be very suitable to be the strategist.

"My opinion is that you need to ask for their consent; stop forcing people."

The system recruits people in the real world, usually just grabbing whoever it can get its hands on. The unlucky ones don't even know the simulation exists before entering it, and after the novice test, they have no choice.

But given the current situation...

Yu Xing privately believed that Fang Xiao and Mingzhu had suffered enough, and since he could make the decision, he should give them a choice.

The system has set it to default.

Fang Xiao and Mingzhu froze simultaneously, their eyes losing focus, as if communicating with something in their minds.

It's like being conveyed some concept, which takes time to understand.

Yu Xing not to disturb them any longer. There was still one last trace of life remaining in the Fang Mansion, and he should go and say hello.

That aura belonged to the Doctor.

When Yu Xing entered the ancestral hall, the Doctor was sitting on a prayer mat, seemingly staring blankly at the memorial tablets of the Fang family ancestors.

But as soon as he got close, the Doctor turned his head away.

"Is it all over? Are you leaving?"

The Doctor was smiling, but from his words alone, you couldn't discern any particular emotion in him. It was like a calm river, without wind or waves, chatting peacefully with the falling petals.

"It'll be quick, they'll be leaving soon." Yu Xing sat down next to him.

Everyone knows what "walking" means.

Because, upon closer examination, neither he nor the Doctor were native to this world.

The Doctor's gaze followed Yu Xing, finally settling on his tattered Yueyu Garment, and he laughed, "You've gone from Young Master Fang to a beggar."

"I don't have any clothes to change into." Yu Xing didn't care.

"Youth is wonderful," the Doctor sighed, a smile deepening on his otherwise unremarkable face. "Don't forget your promise. If you come to Yin Yang City without my child, I'll be angry."

"Of course, since we made a promise, I won't go back on my word," Yu Xing replied matter-of-factly.

The next second he suddenly realized something was wrong and looked sharply at the Doctor.

The face that met my eyes was still that same ordinary face.

But...

He hadn't even realized it yet, but he had seen that face clearly the moment he stepped into the ancestral hall.

The Doctor's face was clearer than ever before.

Moreover, the Doctor said, "Come to Yin Yang City."

Yu Xing's breath hitched, and her pupils involuntarily dilated.

"Then I'll wait for you in Yin Yang City." The Doctor maintained the same attitude, as if exchanging pleasantries between friends.

However, when you put yourself in His true identity, these conversations become absurd.

This is [He].

It's not a clone, it's [He].

Only when [He] descends can Yu Xing see this face clearly; it is not a "Doctor" here, but a true evil god.

"Are you wondering why your body didn't break down this time?" Having learned his lesson from Yu Xing, [He] rested his elbow on his knee and propped his chin up with his hand.

"I told you, youth is wonderful; your potential is enormous." It's hard to say how much the Doctor influenced [His] current personality, but it's strangely peaceful. "While it's not all good, you are indeed adapting to a higher dimension of existence very quickly."

His body, which would normally shatter when faced with the descent of an evil god, showed no reaction this time.

Just one near-out-of-control situation brought about this change.

Of course, this might also be partly because [He] showed no murderous intent this time, and was as calm and gentle as water.

Yu Xing was slightly shocked.

He began to feel uneasy, finally realizing he had gone too far.

The greater the improvement, the greater the potential risks.

Does he truly understand his current situation? How many long-term consequences are buried beneath the surface, waiting to erupt?

He didn't say anything more, but just rested his chin on his hand and looked at Yu Xing: "I'm going ahead of you. Before I leave, I want to give you a friendly reminder."

Yu Xing forced himself to remain calm. "Go ahead."

He raised his eyebrows and said gently, "Next time we meet, I hope you'll recognize me before I introduce myself, otherwise you might suffer a great loss."

"Finally, I'll do you a favor; this... I need you to pass it on."

[You have obtained a ticket -- the ticket can be gifted after leaving the simulation.]

The system broadcast the announcement in a formal, businesslike manner, followed by a quiet notification.

This is a gift from Him to the "child."

After the system finished speaking, Yu Xing felt a blur before her eyes.

The ancestral hall was empty, with only him remaining.

Although He had only been gone for a few seconds, Yu Xing had a strange feeling—as if a Doctor had never existed here, no, as if this simulation, this world, had never had a Doctor.

It all seemed to be his imagination, though he knew it couldn't be.

Yu Xing returned to the front hall of the Fang Mansion, where Fang Xiao and Mingzhu appeared to have both made their choices.

The two were far apart, for different reasons, but they were indeed avoiding each other.

Fang Xiao agreed to become a predictor; he had been trapped for long enough and was eager to understand the truth of this world.

Mingzhu did not agree.

Her shackles were removed, she had no more worries, and nothing could defeat her anymore. But she was tired, and all she wanted to do for the rest of her life was travel and make up for lost time.

I also want to go home and visit.

Yu Xing respected their choice.

There was no further communication between the two; the love and fear they once shared had become almost imperceptible due to their different choices.

Fang Xiao no longer clings to the idea of "liking" Mingzhu. He knows how much harm he has caused Mingzhu, and he also knows that he chose his brother without hesitation between his brother and Mingzhu, which shows that his love for Mingzhu was never enough.

He had just wanted to apologize to Mingzhu, but Mingzhu coldly said before he could even open his mouth that it wasn't necessary.

So Fang Xiao shut up.

The perfect state of an ex is to be as quiet as if he were dead. He believes that by becoming a "deducer" and going to the so-called "real events," he can die completely in Mingzhu's life.

He knew that his continued existence would be a harm to Mingzhu, and that things were better this way for both of them.

The system didn't urge Yu Xing to leave, but instead gave him a few more hours.

Mingzhu is leaving.

She packed some valuables, took a shower, changed into clean clothes, and prepared to leave.

The thawed Nanshui Town will soon be seen by the people of this world, and she must leave quickly, otherwise, if she is seen by outsiders, she will get into a lot of trouble.

"Investigators exist in this world too. If you get bored later, you can look for those forces." Yu Xing escorted her to the town entrance, where there was a relatively flat mountain path. Once Mingzhu entered the mountains, she could hide herself well.

The system said that Mingzhu's body had been transformed by [His] power, which was not yet apparent while she was trapped, but the benefits would be gradually discovered later.

For example, hiking across an entire mountain range without food would not be a difficult task for Mingzhu.

"I understand, thank you." Mingzhu also took the broken painting tube.

The Tang sword was also inside. Yu Xing didn't say he would take it back, so Mingzhu understood that he allowed her to take it with her as a parting gift.

"Will I never see you again?"

She already knew the answer before she even asked the question.

It's a little regrettable, but mostly I feel relieved.

She possesses a strong heart; it's truly difficult for anything in this world to defeat her, including saying goodbye to her pillar of support.

Yu Xing built a pillar in just a few days, but it was destined not to stay; from now on, she would be her own pillar.

Before Yu Xing answer her question, Mingzhu smiled brightly, turned around, and ran into the mountains.

She walked lightly, without looking back.