The Douluo Era 2.
Inside the Holy Spirit Cult.
Ye Xishui slumped in her chair, like a shell drained of its soul.
Long Xiaoyao had left only moments ago, and the Light Screen had just finished playing those sharp critiques.
Yet in that brief time, she seemed to have lost every reason to go on living.
The face that had once captivated countless people now looked like that of an old woman.
Wrinkles etched themselves across her face like knife marks. Her withered skin clung to her bones, radiating an indescribable aura of death.
She no longer used Soul Power to maintain her youthful appearance. There was no point.
"No, this isn't me."
Ye Xishui spoke, her voice dry and hoarse.
She stared blankly ahead and muttered mechanically:
"Everything the Light Screen said was wrong. I had no choice."
She reached into the empty air, but grasped nothing.
She tried again, and still came up empty-handed.
"I didn't mean to hurt Xiaoyao and Mu En."
Her nails dug into her palm, but she felt no pain.
"It's all fake. It's all wrong."
Her voice grew more and more frantic, like a drowning person desperately clutching at the last reed.
Her hands flailed through the empty air, meeting nothing but the cold.
"Why? Why did it have to be like this?"
Ye Xishui let out a shrill wail. Her whole body trembled, her bony fingers clutching the armrests for dear life.
"Xiaoyao, I never wronged you."
She shook her head desperately, murky tears welling in her eyes.
"That's not what I meant. I never wanted to become stronger. I never wanted to absorb the resentment of all those dead people. I just, I just..."
Her mouth hung open as she searched for an excuse.
But when the words reached her lips, she couldn't force them out.
What had she been? Forced? Helpless? Seeking power to protect herself?
Every excuse was so feeble.
She knew better than anyone that she had done those things. No number of excuses could change that.
No one would believe her. She didn't even believe herself.
Ye Xishui's mouth opened and closed, like a fish tossed onto the shore.
In the end, she couldn't make a sound.
A tear slid from the corner of her eye, tracing the wrinkles across her face before falling onto the back of her withered hand.
She stared blankly at the tear, her lips trembling violently.
"I'm sorry."
Her voice was as soft as a mutter to herself.
"I'm sorry, Xiaoyao."
Another tear fell.
"I'm sorry, Big Brother Mu En."
Her body convulsed, but she made no sound as she cried. She simply let the tears keep flowing.
"I really didn't mean to. Power blinded me."
"I kept saying I had no choice, but everything I did was my own choice."
Ye Xishui closed her eyes in anguish. She didn't want to look at this world anymore, or at herself.
If she could, she didn't even want to look at her own soul.
"I'm sorry."
Those were the last three words she spoke.
Then she collapsed in her chair, like a corpse left to dry in the wind.
There was no rise and fall of breath, no sign of life—only endless, utter stillness.
The Douluo Era 2.
Sea God Pavilion.
Long Xiaoyao hovered above Sea God Island.
He looked down at the old man sitting in a wheelchair, his throat feeling as if something had a death grip on it.
He struggled to swallow, wanting to say something, but the words were all stuck in his throat. Not a single one would come out.
Mu En sat in his wheelchair, looking up at Long Xiaoyao hovering before him.
His lips trembled slightly, and his eyes held so many complicated emotions.
Anger, resentment, pain, sorrow, and a longing that had endured for more than a hundred years.
He parted his lips. A thousand words surged in his chest, but in the end, only one sentence came out.
"Xiaoyao, you're here?"
Long Xiaoyao closed his eyes, drew a deep breath, then slowly let it out.
He descended.
He walked up to Mu En and looked at the brother who had once been closest to him, the man he had betrayed for a lifetime. His eyes reddened.
"Mu En."
His voice was so hoarse it was almost inaudible.
"For the first half of my life, I spent it repaying the debt I owed Xishui."
He paused, his chest heaving violently.
"Now it's time for me to repay the debt I owe you."
Mu En's pupils contracted slightly.
Long Xiaoyao continued. Every word seemed to take all the strength he had:
"All these years, I've aided and abetted evil. Though I never directly took part in the Holy Spirit Cult's actions, I still indirectly stood in the way of your Shrek Academy."
He drew a deep breath.
"I'm sorry."
The moment he spoke those three words, Long Xiaoyao felt as if all the strength had been drained from his body.
His shoulders slumped, and he seemed to have aged ten years in an instant.
Mu En's body jolted.
That apology had crossed more than a hundred years to reach him.
More than a hundred years of grievances, more than a hundred years of betrayal, more than a hundred years of pain—all condensed into those three words.
Mu En opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but his throat felt blocked.
He simply looked at Long Xiaoyao, the emotions in his eyes growing ever more complicated.
The two of them fell silent.
The Sea God Pavilion was so quiet they could hear each other breathing.
No one spoke or moved. They simply stood there, letting time pass second by second.
No one knew how long it was before a smile slowly appeared on Mu En's face.
It was a complicated smile, full of bitterness and helplessness, but above all, it was the smile of one friend toward another.
"No, you haven't wronged me."
Mu En's voice was very, very soft.
"She deceived you all these years, too."
"You were a victim as well."
Long Xiaoyao's eyes reddened the instant he heard those words.
He drew another deep breath and pulled his lips into a bitter smile uglier than a grimace.
"What do you mean, deceived?"
He shook his head.
"Didn't the Light Screen dissect me until I was laid bare?"
"The Light Screen was right. I was a fool, too."
His voice began to tremble.
"I was a grown man, yet I abandoned what was right for my own affair of the heart."
"All these years, I served as her protector. In the end, I was still aiding and abetting evil."
Mu En said nothing. He simply watched him in silence.
"Now that Xishui's true face has been exposed, my heart seems to have died, too."
As Long Xiaoyao spoke, a deathly stillness crept into his gaze:
"I don't know what I should do."
He raised his head and looked at Mu En.
"I only know that in this world, apart from her, you're the brother I care about most."
Mu En's eyes reddened, too.
"Mu En, I don't ask to completely atone for my sins during the rest of my life."
"But at least I still have some strength."
"Let me stay by your side and make even the smallest contribution to this world."
Long Xiaoyao's voice grew softer and softer.
"Even if it's not one percent of the evil I've done, it's still better than doing nothing at all."
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