"Dad, I'm leaving." Yang Jian greeted the man he had only ever seen in a memorial portrait.
"Will you be back for dinner? Your mom and aunt went shopping. They said they'd bring you snacks." Yang Xiaotian wiped his greasy hands on a corner of his apron and came out of the kitchen.
He looked like any stay-at-home dad. The sharp, sour heat of chopped chilies drifted from the kitchen with the cooking fumes.
Yang Jian didn't know how to answer. He looked at the man whose face resembled his own so closely and said, "Next time."
In the end, he did not give him the Myriad Worlds General Knowledge Talisman or awaken him to his true identity.
He could have gained plenty of useful information that way. His father, with whom he had little connection, had been a messenger for the Ghost Post Office and could have helped him.
Yang Jian knew the broad outline of the future, but the details mattered too.
In the past, he would have made that choice without a second thought.
But now, perhaps the threat of imminent death no longer pressed so hard on him.
Or perhaps...
Yang Jian took one last look at the bright room. If he could, he would have liked to bring his real mother here to spend her later years in this world.
But there were only so many possibilities. He had to weigh the situation and know his limits.
When he had no power, he had chosen to adapt. It was not strength of heart; it was the only way to survive.
The big shots in the group had said this world was built on the sacrifice of other worlds, so it needed to be destroyed.
If the choice were his, he might not have destroyed it.