Chapter 26: The Junction of Fate
The sun shower continued, and the rainbow at the horizon shimmered like an illusory bubble.
Yiming stared blankly at the sky, suddenly saying, “Li was so close to escaping.”
“If Heige hadn’t chased him, he could’ve escaped,” he said.
“If I hadn’t left, if I hadn’t broken the promise…”
He could almost imagine how desperate Li must have felt, far more painful than he felt now, a heart-wrenching agony.
His expression looked like he was crying, but no tears fell.
Beside him, Tang wiped the rain and tears from her face.
“It’s my fault, isn’t it?” she sobbed, blaming herself. “I shouldn’t have dragged you down.”
“No, it’s my fault,” Yiming said.
In the panel, his expression changed.
A trace of maturity appeared on his baby-fat face.
His brows furrowed, as if struggling, as if about to give up something vital.
“Buyan isn’t wrong, and you aren’t either,” he said, almost calmly. “It’s just me who’s wrong.”
“I shouldn’t have left. I should’ve listened to you and stayed.” He propped himself up on the broken stones, sitting up, then lowered his eyes to his chest, as if looking at his heart. “I should’ve followed my own thoughts and stayed.”
The boy’s mindset transformed, as if he’d grown immensely overnight.
“I shouldn’t have abandoned anyone to save myself,” he said. “Then Li wouldn’t have died.”
At the cost of losing a friend, or even family.
[Ahhh, Heige, you’re utterly despicable!]
[My heart aches for Little Corgi, sob sob sob, and for my Li, sob sob sob.]
[If growing up means losing, I’d rather Little Corgi never grow.]
[Who’s crying? It’s me crying.]
[Why didn’t the last chapter end the pain, and this one’s still stabbing!]
[My Li, my ahoge Li, sob sob sob…]
[He was so close to having a home!]
[I hate Heige so much, I hate him!!!!]
[Heige was humming a song back then!]
After three days of fermenting, readers were still howling from the emotional blows.
In the manga, Little Corgi was deeply shaken.
Outside the panels, a sleepy-eyed Li Li thought: It’s fine, Li’s in Four-Way City, sealing his heart and locking love just like you.
But she still zoned out for a bit before continuing to read.
She saw Hua Yizhi holding an umbrella, standing behind Yiming and Tang, calmly watching them.
At this point, Hua Yizhi had likely confirmed Heige was the prophesied leader.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been unmoved by Yiming’s change in beliefs.
After abandoning complete adherence to Shuang Buyan’s teachings, Yiming was the leader they needed.
But unfortunately, Hua Yizhi had misjudged in the end.
In the earlier battle, Yiming’s hands had sustained varying degrees of injury.
He rested for two days at the boss’s casino, and on the third day, Yu Xiao arrived.
“Sorry, sorry, I accidentally fell asleep on the way,” Yu Xiao said, scratching the back of his head with an embarrassed smile the moment he saw Yiming.
Yiming replied listlessly, “It’s fine, I’m used to it.”
Perhaps because it was the first time she’d heard such an excuse, Tang looked at Yu Xiao with a shocked expression, as if staring at some prehistoric monster.
Her eyes widened, making her look no different from other girls her age.
At that moment, Yiming’s hands were in casts, and he lay on the bed prepared by the boss, looking utterly miserable.
Yu Xiao casually pulled up a stool and sat by the bed, grabbing a piece of fruit from the bedside and taking a bite.
After being glared at by Tang, he gave a puzzled look, as if he didn’t understand why this unfamiliar girl was glaring at him.
“Yiming, listen, I heard on the way that the Qing Tong organization was taken over by the Tide organization. All the former ‘merchandise’ was released, so we don’t need to look for Tang anymore, right?” Yu Xiao said to Yiming, talking to himself.
Tang’s glare intensified.
Yiming said wearily, “See her?”
Yu Xiao blinked blankly, “Huh? What?”
Yiming said, “The one glaring at you. That’s Tang.”
Yu Xiao obediently blinked, then said to Tang, “Sorry!”
[The atmosphere suddenly got lively, as expected of the Flop Fish.]
[I’m crying and laughing at the same time, sob sob sob.]
[If Flop Fish hadn’t fallen asleep on the way, would things have turned out differently?]
[Flop Fish is domain-type, he might’ve been useful!]
[I suddenly feel like Cool Bro Tongue-Lashing Li and Flop Fish meeting would be hilarious.]
[Stop dreaming, there’s no ‘what if.’]
[You’re so harsh!]
[Flop Fish didn’t even meet Li! Completely missed him!]
Seeing this, Li Li felt a bit more at ease.
It seemed her ability had indeed made Yu Xiao forget about her.
Her ability, Illusory Reality, had three restrictions.
The first was a range limit: her illusions and reality had to manifest within a 200-meter radius.
The second was a probability limit: 100% success against low-rank, 5% against same or higher ranks.
The third was that when used on others, if there was no visible effect, she couldn’t tell if the ability succeeded.
There should also be a time limit, but it was minor, roughly causing dizziness after continuous use for a day.
She continued reading.
After Yu Xiao and Tang properly talked and got to know each other, Hua Yizhi suddenly returned.
Li Li remembered that at this point, she had rejected Hua Yizhi’s request and left Jiao Huang City.
In the panel, Hua Yizhi pushed open the door and said to Yiming, “Someone’s looking for you.”
Behind him stood a boy and a girl, both with gray hair, looking strikingly similar and of the same height.
Clearly, they were twins.
Upon entering, they first bowed their heads in a pleading gesture to Yiming and said, “Please help us!”
Hearing the key phrase “help us,” the exhaustion on Yiming’s face vanished instantly.
He sat up, his baby-fat face showing a serious expression. “What happened?”
Outside the manga, Li Li squinted at the twins’ faces, studying them closely.
She felt they looked familiar.
After a moment, she remembered: they were the boy being chased by Qing Tong when she was eating squid-pork buns, and the girl was his sister, the pitiful person captured by Qing Tong members.
Logically, with Qing Tong gone, they should be fine.
Li Li continued reading with questions in mind.
In the manga, they found Yiming and told their story.
They claimed to come from a research institute, where they were used as test subjects.
They had escaped recently, but the researchers were still hunting them.
The twins hoped Yiming could protect them.
In the manga, Yu Xiao spoke first: “No way, we’re just low-rank. There’s no way we can take on an entire institute.”
“Besides, Yiming’s not some bleeding heart…” Yu Xiao said, but then Yiming spoke.
“I’ll do it,” Yiming nodded.
In the manga, Yu Xiao looked up in surprise, then showed a shocked expression, taking up a large panel.
Li Li was also thinking.
She had indeed seen the twins being chased, but it was Qing Tong members after them.
And it was the boss, Hua Yizhi, who brought the twins to Yiming.
Li Li felt something was off.
“That’s great!” the boy in the manga said excitedly. “With your help, we can definitely overthrow that institute!”
He used the word “overthrow,” not “escape.”
The boy seemed utterly certain, but the problem was that Yiming was only D-rank.
Research institutes were common in this empire.
Humans feared gaining abilities yet craved powerful ones.
Research on abilities never stopped, whether openly or in secret.
But one thing was certain: every institute that could operate and suppress certain ability users for research had significant backing.
Asking a D-rank Yiming to confront an institute was like asking him to single-handedly fight Qing Yu Chen.
The gap was too vast.
Li Li knew Hua Yizhi represented the Former Ability Guild.
If the twins sought his help, he could likely resolve their issue.
Yet the twins approached Yiming, boldly claiming they wanted to “overthrow the institute.”
Li Li turned the page and saw Yiming ask where the institute was.
The twins said in unison, “Four-Way City!”
Li Li felt like she hadn’t fully woken up and rubbed her eyes again.
Li Li: …?
Where?
She couldn’t help but marvel at how coincidental this was!
After this plot segment, the manga began introducing the situation in Four-Way City.
The Ability Guild, nobles, research institutes, various shadowy organizations, and a vast number of bounty hunters.
When introducing the bounty hunters, a familiar silhouette appeared on the page.
‘His’ profile showed a straight nose and cold lips, with the shadows of several long blades around him.
Beside the silhouette was a line of text: A bounty hunter with his own goals, driven to madness for his objectives.
Seeing this, Li Li put down her phone and muttered to the bed curtains, “System, you really love me.”
She hadn’t expected her new identity to appear in the manga so soon, which made her feel even more like there was a conspiracy.
She quickly continued reading.
The remaining plot was mostly setting up the new arc.
As Yiming got out of bed, preparing to leave with the twins,he pushed open the door, and an image of Li suddenly flashed in his mind.
Yiming seemed to see the seemingly cold black-haired youth ahead, facing away from him, bathed in the sunlight from the door, turning his head slightly, quietly watching him.
As if waiting for him to keep moving forward.
‘I won’t abandon anyone again.’ Yiming’s inner thoughts appeared in a speech bubble. With resolute eyes, he stepped forward, calling that name in his heart, ‘Li.’
He walked toward the light, toward that figure.
Then passed through the illusion, continuing onward.
Finally, he embraced the sunlight outside and the brilliant sky.
[The ending suddenly stabs again!]
[Sob sob sob, are my tears worthless?!]
[Little Corgi’s changed, he’s really changed.]
[He’s changed, but Li can’t come back.]
[An illusion, that’s too cruel!]
[Heige is utterly despicable!!!]
[When will Heige die?!?!]
Seeing this, Li Li paused slightly.
Soon, she put down her phone and groped her way out of bed.
She noted the name of the research institute the twins mentioned, planning to investigate it herself when she entered the manga world that night.
For now, she needed to get up and prepare for class.
Tonight, she’d check the forums and prepare thoroughly, though her preparations often felt pointless.
And there was one more thing…
Yiming was coming to Four-Way City, where he could actually meet her.
She suddenly felt immense anticipation.