Came Too Late...

"My life had been ordinary and utterly meaningless."

Before becoming a Fishman, that was what Li Yuan had thought.

But once, Chen Ye said something to him.

"Everyone is gifted in some way, but if you judge a fish by whether it can climb a tree, that fish will spend its whole life believing it is stupid."

"And unfortunately, this world recognizes only two kinds of talent: academic talent and business talent."

"The world today is sick."

"Everyone mistakes desire for ideals, worldliness for maturity, cowardice for prudence, and slickness for wisdom."

"Do you think that is right?"

I think... it must have been wrong.

Li Yuan looked sideways at the familiar yet unfamiliar home before him.

For a long time, he had not known what he was living for. It was as if his existence made no difference to the world at all.

A meaningless life.

Meaningless time.

Perhaps people lived in order to find the value of their own existence.

Li Yuan had once lived merely for the sake of living, but now, he lived for only one thing.

That was to fulfill that great one's long-cherished wish.

But that way of thinking seemed to be nothing more than blind loyalty.

That great one had not been satisfied with their performance.

If the meaning of a life was merely to serve someone, then how was it any different from a tool?

Although that great one had not relayed those words to them in person, He had instructed the Wall Breaker to pass them on.

Li Yuan was not clever. He could only barely surmise that the great one had said this because of their previous failures.

As well as their misunderstanding of the great one's words.

Perhaps they truly should reflect on themselves.

For that great one, what He clearly needed were not tools that only knew how to obey orders. What He needed were people who could understand those orders.

And obeying orders and understanding orders were two different concepts.

If that great one did not say it outright, could you not think of it yourself?

Were you so obsessed with the great one's words that you would not use your own brain?

Why did you have to wait for the great one to tell you personally before you knew what to do?

You were a person, not a tool. People were creatures capable of understanding one another.

Understand the great one's intentions, act in advance, and hand in a brilliant answer sheet. Was that so difficult?

Of course it was difficult.

That was why the great one had arranged this journey of self-improvement.

Perhaps the great one's true intention was for them to grow during this journey into people capable of understanding His will.

So Li Yuan decided to return to where everything had begun, bid his past farewell completely, and try to look toward the future.

And through that, find the meaning of his existence and become someone who could stand beside that great one.

That was what Li Yuan thought.

But what he did not know was that Chen Ye's actual instruction before leaving had been...

"While I'm gone, if Sequence 001 comes back, remember to have it put the recording in my room."

Hmm...

But the Wall Breaker had mixed it up.

Li Yuan pushed open the door and entered the house.

Everything was still as it had been. His younger brother's certificates covered the living room walls, and his stepmother's perfume sat in the most conspicuous spot.

Meanwhile, one corner of the family portrait on the wall had been torn off.

And in that missing corner had been Li Yuan's picture.

That had happened after he returned during summer vacation. His father said his younger brother had torn it off by accident while fooling around.

And his younger brother had even burned it, so it could not be pasted back. They would just leave it like that.

Li Yuan let out a snort when he remembered that.

Just then, a middle-aged woman in pajamas came into the living room.

The moment she saw Li Yuan standing there, she frowned. "What are you back for?"

"I came back to take what belongs to me," Li Yuan said.

His tone was calm, neither servile nor overbearing, but it still displeased his stepmother. "Hah, what in this house belongs to you?"

"What have you contributed to this family? Whether it's the things in your room or the clothes on your back, which one did you buy with your own money?"

"Even if there is something, who gave you that money?"

"Don't tell me you earned it working part-time. This family raised you all these years, and you haven't paid back a single cent of what was spent on you."

"Understand? Once you pay back everything you owe us, all that means is that you no longer owe us anything. Nothing here belongs to you."

"But given your character, I don't expect you to repay us for anything. As long as you don't cause us trouble in the future, I won't hold the past against you. Get out of here already."

Li Yuan suddenly smiled as he looked at the disgusted expression on his stepmother's face.

That face really did look uglier the longer he looked at it.

"I have been thankful more than once that I could see this world from an entirely new perspective."

Once, Li Yuan had thought his stepmother was utterly hateful.

Now, Li Yuan found his stepmother utterly laughable.

From a monster's perspective, he could have slit his stepmother's throat just as he had slit the throats of those scum.

The life and death of the woman before him had long since been in Li Yuan's grasp.

But he did not want to do that now.

Li Yuan sat down directly on the living room sofa. "You're quite the talker. Ever considered doing stand-up?"

His stepmother froze. "What... what did you say?"

"Your ears not working properly? Well, people get all sorts of problems once they get old," Li Yuan said.

"You!"

"Me?"

"Enough. I'm in a hurry, so I won't reminisce with you."

As he spoke, Li Yuan returned directly to his room. He took out the suitcase from beneath his bed and began packing the things inside.

His stepmother rushed over at that moment. "Who said you could take those?"

"I'm telling you, Li Yuan, if you dare take these things today, I'll...!"

"Hmm?"

Li Yuan turned to look at his stepmother. "Then what? If you can't think of anything, take your time."

!!!

His stepmother flew into a rage. "If you dare take those things away, just try it! Let's see whether I dare call the police!"

"Fine, I'll try it."

Ignoring his stepmother completely, Li Yuan continued packing his luggage.

His stepmother gritted her teeth. Why did this little bastard seem like a completely different person? Was he not even afraid of her anymore?

Just then, Li Yuan's father came out.

"Let him take them."

"You..."

"Let him take them. Once he's done, get out quickly."

Seeing Li Yuan's father speak, his stepmother gritted her teeth and had no choice but to drop it.

Li Yuan ignored them both entirely and continued packing his things.

During that time, he accidentally knocked over the photo frame on his desk.

Bang.

The frame shattered as it hit the floor, and the photo inside slipped out. A note fell out with it.

Li Yuan bent down and picked up the photo and the note. The photo was a full-class graduation picture from high school.

As for the note, Li Yuan had no memory of it.

He looked at the note and saw the following written on it:

Knowing you, you probably would never find this note in your entire life. Li Yuan, you big idiot. Bleh, bleh, bleh.

Hmm...

I clearly have so much I want to tell you, but when the words reach my lips, I don't know where to begin.

So I'll just write a few random things. We sat at the same desk for three years. I don't know what you thought of me, but even if I asked, you probably wouldn't answer.

So let me tell you what I think of you. You're clearly pretty good-looking, and you're tall too, but you're always so timid and hesitant. I really don't like that about you.

Your grades are only a little bad, but they're still better than mine.

You're very gentle. You're patient and attentive with everyone.

Every time I saw you argue with someone and hold it in for ages without being able to say more than a couple of words, getting left speechless after being mocked, I wanted to laugh.

And it wasn't just that. There was also that time Liu Mingyang said he would block you after school. You stayed in the classroom for an entire day and night because you did not dare go out. I could not believe you actually slept in the classroom all night.

From then on, I kept thinking that you were obviously a grown man, tall and broad, yet you were like a little rabbit.

If your big sister here had not felt sorry for you and looked out for you for two semesters, I don't even know how you would have gotten through high school.

Come to think of it, when did I start liking you?

I can't remember either.

Maybe it was when you brought me an umbrella that rainy day?

Or maybe it was when we fed stray cats together at school?

I really can't remember.

But I never planned to tell you about it anyway. You're so dense that you definitely wouldn't notice.

I know that after tomorrow, we'll be going our separate ways. So I hope you have a bright future. Don't let people bully you anymore, and be a little tougher when things happen!

(Rabbit face)

Love had won the lottery, but the ticket had expired.

Li Yuan casually tossed the note into the trash can, then left with his luggage.