Long Xiaoyao Gives Up Ye Xishui! Atone to Mu En!

Long Xiaoyao opened his mouth, wanting to demand an explanation.

He wanted to ask her why she had done it.

Why had she made him and Mu En suffer for so many years?

But the words reached his lips only to be blocked by something, unable to be spoken.

Ye Xishui was watching him as well.

Her expression was equally complex, but what filled her eyes more than anything was fear.

It was the kind of terror a drowning person felt, watching their last piece of driftwood float away.

"I'm sorry, Xiaoyao."

She spoke first, her voice trembling.

"I'm sorry."

"Back then, I did it for your own good, to protect you both."

"I'm sorry, Xiaoyao, I really just wanted to protect you and Mu En."

"I'm sorry..."

She repeated it over and over, as if saying it enough times would make those words true.

Long Xiaoyao listened, and the more he heard, the more disappointed he became.

What he wanted was the truth.

Even if it were just a simple "I was wrong," he would have been willing to try to understand, to forgive.

But she didn't.

Even now, she was still making excuses, still using the word "protect" to whitewash everything.

He wanted to curse her.

But looking at her face, he couldn't bring himself to do it.

Decades of affection were not fake.

Even though his heart felt like it was being twisted by a blade, those once-indelible memories would not vanish just because of today's truth.

Long Xiaoyao took a deep breath, making his voice as calm as possible.

"I spent the first half of my life atoning to you."

He looked at Ye Xishui, speaking word by word.

"From today on, I will spend the second half of my life atoning to Mu En."

His voice was very calm, but beneath that calm lay thirty years of surging agony.

"Xishui, take care of yourself."

Having said that, he turned around.

Ye Xishui froze for a moment.

Then, she broke down.

"Xiaoyao!"

She rushed forward, grabbing his sleeve, her fingers clutching the fabric so tightly her knuckles turned white.

"Don't go! I have nothing left, I only have you!"

Her voice was sharp and shattered, like a broken mirror, every shard reflecting her fear.

"Don't you love me? The person I've always loved is you, Xiaoyao!"

Tears rolled down her face; that face which had always been so proud was now torn to pieces by tears and terror.

"Don't go! I beg you, don't go!"

Long Xiaoyao stopped in his tracks.

He stood with his back to her, not turning around.

In that moment, what welled up in his heart was not pity, but rage.

Thirty years. He had waited thirty years for an explanation, only to be met with such a pale attempt to make him stay.

He still did not turn back, but finally spoke, his voice carrying anger that had been suppressed for too long.

"Why are you still trying to keep me?"

He paused, his voice sounding as if it were being squeezed through his teeth.

"What you really wanted was power!"

"What excuses are you still looking for here?"

"Do you think we are still those naive young people who knew nothing of the world?"

"Is there any point in saying those things anymore?"

Ye Xishui shuddered violently.

Her hand was still clutching his sleeve, but she looked as if she had been hollowed out, her face deathly pale.

"It's not like that, Xiaoyao, it's not like that!"

Her voice was more frantic, more fractured.

"Back then, I truly did it to protect you and Mu En!"

"If I hadn't caused you two to drift apart, Zhongli Old Ghost would definitely have made a move against you!"

"I have already sacrificed everything for your sakes!"

"Xiaoyao, believe me, I really only did it to protect you!"

Long Xiaoyao finally turned his head back.

He looked at her, his lips curling into an arc.

It was not a smile; it was a sneer.

It was a sneer born from such extreme disappointment that even sorrow had become a luxury.

She was still making excuses.

Even at a time like this, she was still making excuses.

Looking at the Ye Xishui before him, Long Xiaoyao suddenly felt as if he had never known this woman at all.

The Ye Xishui of the past was proud but not hypocritical, willful but sincere.

Yet, every word that came out of the mouth of the woman before him made her feel like a stranger.

He felt a bit weary.

It was not physical exhaustion, but a weariness of the heart.

It was the kind of exhaustion where, after being deceived for thirty years and finally seeing the truth, even anger felt powerless.

"Xishui, there is no point in saying these things."

His voice dropped low, as if he had exhausted all his strength.

"Just as this Light Screen says, if you truly wanted to protect Mu En and me, there were countless ways to directly kill Zhongli Old Ghost and ensure our absolute safety!"

"I never had any hatred for Shrek Academy to begin with!"

His voice suddenly rose again, as if the grievances accumulated over thirty years had finally found an outlet.

"Furthermore, for the decades in between, you made Mu En and me suffer for decades!"

"We clearly already had the strength to deal with Zhongli Old Ghost, yet you still refused to tell the truth!"

"If not for the moment of death, if not for this Light Screen exposing everything, you would have kept it hidden for your entire life!"

"You would have let me live in guilt for a lifetime, and let Mu En live in sorrow for a lifetime!"

"You made us wish we were dead, unable to die, and suffering in life!"

He looked at Ye Xishui, his eyes rimmed with red, his voice beginning to tremble.

"Is this your protection?!"

His voice suddenly dropped, low enough to sound like he was talking to himself.

"It would have been better to let us die at the hands of Zhongli Old Ghost..."

"At the very least, death is better than a lifetime of suffering."

The great hall fell silent.

Only the Light Screen continued to play those past events in silence, like a bystander coldly watching this farce.

Long Xiaoyao took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.

He still loved Ye Xishui.

He knew he still loved her.

Decades of affection would not be wiped away just because of the truth revealed today.

But so what?

The love was real, and the pain was also real.

Thirty years of guilt, thirty years of torment, thirty years of living a life worse than death would not vanish into thin air because of a single "I love you."

The only thing he wanted to do now was to find Mu En.

Among the three of them, Mu En was the one who had suffered the most.

He had already failed Mu En; he could not ignore him now that he knew the truth.

Long Xiaoyao took one last deep look at Ye Xishui.

That look contained too many things.

It held reluctance, resentment, pity, disappointment, love, hate, relief, and unwillingness.

All emotions intertwined, finally dissolving into a long sigh.

He turned around, and this time, he did not stop again.

"Xiaoyao! Xiaoyao!"

Ye Xishui's hoarse cries came from behind him.

"I really did it to protect you all! I wasn't wrong, I wasn't wrong!"

"The world is what's wrong, not me!"

"I... why! Why must you all turn against me!"

"Xiaoyao, why must even you betray me!"

Her voice echoed through the great hall, sharp and desperate, like a trapped beast in a cage letting out its final roar.

No one responded to her.

Long Xiaoyao's silhouette vanished at the entrance of the great hall.

Ye Xishui collapsed onto the floor, tears blurring her vision.

Her mouth hung open as she continued to speak, but her voice had become so faint that even she could no longer hear it.

In the empty great hall, she was left all alone.

Along with that Light Screen.

And upon that Light Screen, the sins and punishments of her entire life.