"Mm, it doesn't matter anymore." Wu Heng's voice was flat and distant. The words drifted lightly from his lips, without a ripple of emotion, without hesitation, without anything more.
Beyond those words, he said nothing else.
Lian Xiangyu stood to one side, his expression wavering between calm and pain as turmoil surged inside him. The instant Wu Heng finished speaking, his body reacted violently. The power within him fluctuated wildly too, as though battered by his unstable emotions, growing increasingly chaotic as it slipped out of control.
Before becoming a Player in the Nightmare World, Lian Xiangyu had been nothing more than a rich kid living on the edge, spending his days immersed in street racing, lavish spending, and fleeting relationships. His family's wealth and status had once been his only source of pride. Precisely because he treated life so carelessly, his father had given up on him early and pinned his hopes on his younger brother instead.
Perhaps everyone thought that whatever decisions his family made, whatever attitude they took toward him, nothing would affect Lian Xiangyu's life of indulgence. All they could see was the madness with which he raced down rural highways, hurtling toward death at every moment. They admired his habit of living in the present without a thought for the future, envying the way he drank while the wine lasted and lived more blissfully than an immortal.
But perhaps, deep down, Lian Xiangyu did not truly feel indifferent.
Human emotions were immensely complicated.
That was why, at times, even Lian Xiangyu himself did not know whether he cared, or even why he felt so torn.
Someone close to him had once told Lian Xiangyu that he struggled like this because he still harbored a sliver of hope for his family. But every expectation ended in