Chapter 36

That afternoon, during the last class.

Lu Yao remembered that he had been in class, but when he opened his eyes, he found himself floating through a quiet cemetery in a transparent, soul-like state.

He frowned. Was this a dream?

Lu Yao looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings and spotted that blue-glowing sphere again not far behind him.

Ever since returning to Sea City, Lu Yao had stopped having that precognitive dream. This was the first time he had seen that strange sphere in a dream since coming back.

Lu Yao pressed his thin lips into a line and asked impatiently, "What exactly are you trying to do, always playing these mysterious tricks?"

The sphere flashed blue, then suddenly floated in front of a tombstone.

Lu Yao followed it over. When he saw the photograph on the tombstone, he froze for a moment. This was his grave?

"Tap! Tap—"

Hearing footsteps from nearby, Lu Yao glanced to the side and murmured, "Mom."

From Ms. Li's reaction, Lu Yao knew that no one else could see him right now.

Dressed in a black suit, Ms. Li walked up to the tombstone with a bouquet of white chrysanthemums in her arms.

Seeing that two bouquets had already been placed before the grave, she murmured to herself, "Have they already been here?"

Today was Lu Yao's death anniversary.

Confusion appeared in Lu Yao's eyes.

They? Did she mean Lu Qi and Dad? Why hadn't they come together, instead visiting separately?

Ms. Li carefully placed the white chrysanthemums before the tombstone. She raised a hand and gently touched Lu Yao's photograph, letting out a bitter laugh. Her voice was filled with desolation.

"Do you think I've been such a failure as a mother that even now, I still don't know what flowers you like? This year, Mom chose white chrysanthemums for you. If Xiao Yao doesn't like them, remember to visit me in my dreams and tell me, all right? Mom really wants to see you again."

At that, she paused, biting down hard on her lip as she fought back a sob. "You... you've never come to see Mom even once. Is it because... you hate Mom?"

She lowered her head, and tear after tear suddenly rolled down her chin.

After a long while, her voice trembled as she broke down into uncontrollable sobs. "I-I'm sorry... Mom shouldn't have lost you again. It was my fault."

Lu Yao stood there in a daze. This was the first time he had seen Ms. Li look so vulnerable.

After a long time, she staggered to her feet and stared deeply at the tombstone, as though she wanted to carve every detail of the boy's brows and eyes in the photograph into her bones.

When she turned to leave, she saw Lu Qi standing not far away, also dressed in a black suit and holding a bouquet of flowers.

Following Ms. Li's gaze, Lu Yao noticed Lu Qi as well.

This version of Lu Qi seemed to radiate a chilling aura. Compared with the foolish older brother Lu Yao had actually known, he looked far more mature and cold.

At the sight of Lu Qi, countless complicated emotions flickered through Ms. Li's eyes before she suppressed them all, leaving only indifference and disregard.

As Ms. Li walked past him with a cold expression, Lu Qi suddenly called out hoarsely, "Mom."

This was their first meeting since Lu Yao's funeral.

After Lu Yao died, the Lu family underwent earth-shaking changes. Ms. Li chose to divorce Father Lu and moved alone to the small city of Mountain City.

Hearing Lu Qi call her Mom, Ms. Li paused. She clenched her fingers tightly, her sharp nails cutting into the tender flesh of her palm.

Drip—

A drop of blood fell like a tear onto the cemetery's bluestone path, splashing into a pale yet gloomy blood flower.

As Ms. Li's cold figure disappeared into the distance, a fine drizzle began falling from the sky.

The rain gradually grew heavier.

Lu Qi stood in the rain, staring blankly as that blood flower slowly vanished.

He suddenly remembered that it had also been raining on the day Lu Yao died.

By the time he received the news and rushed to the scene, the blood on the ground had already been washed clean by the rain, just like that drop of blood.

At the moment of Lu Yao's death, it was as though an invisible hand had set the whole world right again.

Lu Qi, Ms. Li, and the others instantly regained their clarity of mind.

Thinking back on how they had once ignored and opposed Lu Yao so cruelly, they felt as though they had been possessed.

Lu Qi and the others had thought they still had time and chances to make up for their past mistakes. They never expected that the next news they received would be word of Lu Yao's suicide.

At that moment, it felt as if someone had fiercely crushed their hearts into a ball. The suffocating grief was so overwhelming that they could barely breathe.

Once the Lu family recovered somewhat from Lu Yao's death and thought back over everything that had happened, both Lu Qi and Ms. Li realized there was something wrong with Xia Yue.

No matter how desperately they searched, however, Xia Yue seemed to have vanished from the world entirely.

From then on, everyone in Sea City's upper class thought the Lu family had gone mad.

When Lu Yao had been alive, they had neglected him completely. Lu Qi had even driven Lu Yao out of the Lu family.

Yet after his death, the Lu family had gone rabid, viciously targeting everyone who had bullied Lu Yao or kicked him while he was down.

But when it came down to it, hadn't the Lu family been the cruelest to Lu Yao?

Floating in midair, Lu Yao followed Lu Qi back to the Lu family home from the cemetery.

After entering the house, Lu Yao realized that only Lu Qi lived in the enormous Lu family residence now, alone in that cold, empty house.

Lu Qi sat on the sofa, covering his eyes wearily with one hand. A lit cigarette hung from the corner of his mouth as he slowly exhaled a cloud of smoke.

Seeing the coffee table piled with red wine bottles and ashtrays full of cigarette butts, anger rose in Lu Yao's eyes. Was Lu Qi really ruining his health like this?

Ring, ring, ring—

When the phone rang, Lu Qi stubbed out the burning cigarette with his palm and answered the call.

After listening to the report from the other end, a harsh glint flashed through Lu Qi's eyes. His voice was filled with icy fury. "Are you so-called detectives and psychics all useless? I'll give you another three months. Dead or alive, you must find that woman for me!"

Lu Qi hung up furiously and threw his phone aside.

Seeing Lu Qi like this, Lu Yao muttered in confusion, "Why?"

Why did they have to wait until after he died to act so full of regret?

The blue sphere that had been following Lu Yao finally spoke. "Because this is who they truly are."

Lu Yao abruptly looked at the blue sphere. "What do you mean?"

"You must have noticed Xia Yue's strange behavior as well, right? Xia Yue has a fugitive system attached to her. Like me, that system came from an advanced interstellar world. All systems are controlled and managed by the main brain, but some systems choose to violate the main brain's principles of fairness for their own selfish desires. Such systems usually flee to lower worlds to hide. Through that system, Xia Yue smuggled in tools from the interstellar black market that can affect the human spiritual domain. Your family was deceived by those mental tools, which is why they acted this way."

Lu Yao asked, "What do you want me to do by telling me this?"

The sphere's blue light flashed. "I fell into this world by accident. I cannot capture that fugitive system on my own, so I need to contact the main brain and inform it of this small world's situation. But systems can only have a chance to contact the main brain through points. I need to bind with you and use the fame value you earn to exchange for points to contact the main brain."

Noticing Lu Yao's hesitation, the blue sphere continued, "I detected that the fugitive system has just smuggled a mental-control product from the black market into this small world. Xia Yue will most likely use it on your brother, Lu Qi."

Lu Yao knitted his brows. "Can you make those mental-control products stop working?"

"Yes! I can already sense someone using a mental-control product nearby. It's probably Xia Yue."

Lu Yao lay on the desk and suddenly woke from his dream. He turned around and, not seeing Lu Qi, his pupils shrank.

Jiang Bai looked concerned. "Lu Yao, what's wrong?"

Lu Yao asked, "Jiang Bai, do you know where Lu Qi went?"

"After class just now, Xia Yue said she had something to discuss with him. They seemed to have gone toward the sports field."

Under the shade of a tree, Lu Qi looked at Xia Yue, a faint trace of impatience showing in his eyes.

"Xia Yue, what does your dad wanting you to get engaged have to do with me? If you want to get engaged, then go get engaged. I don't even like you. Besides, I already rejected you once at noon. Since you're saying you're getting engaged now, keep your distance from me in the future. Stop calling me out all the time and ruining my reputation."

Seeing Lu Qi openly display his disgust for her, Xia Yue's face darkened with anger.

[Xia Yue: System, use that mental-control tool. Hmph, with this tool, a fool like Lu Qi who can't recognize a good thing will be easy to handle.]

[System: You did trade away ten years of your lifespan in advance for this. It has to be worth the price. Touch Lu Qi's body, and the control will take effect.]

Xia Yue smugly curled her lips and reached a hand toward Lu Qi.

Lu Qi looked at her in confusion. What was Xia Yue trying to pull now? Had his words made her stupid?

As her hand was about to touch Lu Qi's, a triumphant gleam appeared in Xia Yue's eyes.

Smack—

Xia Yue covered the hand Lu Yao had slapped red, raging furiously. "Lu Yao, what are you doing?"

Lu Yao's expression was icy. "Lu Qi is a germaphobe. He doesn't like people touching him casually."

Although Lu Qi did not understand why Lu Yao had suddenly appeared, he still nodded along. "That's right. Xia Yue, have some self-respect. You're about to get engaged, after all. You may not care about your reputation, but I do."

Lu Yao and Lu Qi's back-and-forth nearly enraged Xia Yue to death.

Xia Yue gritted her teeth as she watched them leave. All her efforts today had been completely wasted!

[Xia Yue: System, save this tool for later. I'll find another chance to use it in the next few days.]

[The system's voice was cold: Save it for later? You wish. It has already been rendered useless. From now on, we must do everything we can to eliminate Lu Yao. Lu Yao has a system too. He must have only recently bound with it. That system is what destroyed your tool just now.]

[Xia Yue: Destroyed? I traded ten years of my lifespan to you for that! You just let it be destroyed?]

[System: Shut up! Can't you figure out what the important issue is? If the system on Lu Yao contacts the main brain using points, then once I'm captured, don't expect to live well afterward either. We have to strike first and destroy Lu Yao. Then I can even strengthen myself by devouring the system attached to him.]

After hearing the system's words, Xia Yue finally understood the seriousness of the situation.