The biting wind dried the tears on Du Tianming's face and scattered his teacher's retreating figure.
As the tears evaporated, they took away the last traces of warmth, leaving behind threads of chill.
The cold startled him awake, and only then did he realize his teacher had already left.
For some reason, he vaguely felt that this might be the last time he ever saw his teacher.
"God... doesn't care?"
Du Jingzhe murmured blankly as those words echoed over and over in his ears.
It was not forgiveness, but indifference.
Suddenly, that aged face broke into a smile.
Yes, who would blame an ant blocking the road?
Hatred and blame usually existed only between those on the same level, like person and person.
But what about a person and an ant?
"Ha... hahaha..."
He cried and laughed at once, bloody tears continuously seeping from the corners of his eyes.
He laughed because his teacher had not blamed him, because he had been granted release.
He cried because... the hiding that had consumed half his life had become a self-deceiving joke.
"Teacher, you may not care, but I do!!"
Several bloodied chuckles spilled from Du Jingzhe's throat.
He had feared for decades, hidden for decades, been tortured by the past day and night, and exhausted himself trying to avoid his teacher.
Yet from beginning to end, it had all been nothing more than his own obsession.
Half a lifetime spent hiding, only for it to be such absurdity?
He had once roamed the world in the first half of his life, only to become a stray dog in the second. That was the true portrayal of Du Tianming's life.
He cried and laughed loudly, releasing all his guilt, fear, and self-torment with his tears and laughter.
"I shouldn't have cared. Teacher