He embraced them

When he⁠‌⁠​‍⁠​‌‍​​‍‌‌‍​​‌⁠⁠​‍‍⁠ returned to the inner world, the time had reset to September 30, the day Shen He went missing.

Zhu Tao incredulously asked, “You went out just to chat with the poet?”

“Because he said he had seen broken red light. I checked all the aberrant and bizarre phenomena recorded in the Ladder app, but none mentioned broken red light—only he had talked about it.” An Yu touched the four coins in his pocket. “What happens if you forcibly interact with broken red light?”

“You will most likely lose your will forever,” Ning said seriously. “According to yesterday’s situation, the broken red light has a very strong mental enticement. None of us are confident we could withstand it.”

An Yu was silent for a moment before nodding in agreement. He turned to An in the corner, hesitated, and then opened the jam jar.

An turned his head away listlessly.

“He agreed,” Ning sighed, “but he’s not very happy.”

The jam jar was sealed tightly with grape leaves inside and out, and blue morpho butterflies with mental purification abilities swirled around An. An Yu folded An and the butterflies into the small jar.

“What exactly are you planning to do?” Zhu Tao asked warily, “I have that ominous premonition again, like in District 53.”

An Yu removed the two grape leaves Zhu Tao had stuck on him and said, “The believers will definitely attack Chao Wu when they riot, protect her. If something unexpected happens and An’s mind is out of control, please take care of it.”

He paused and added, “The survival value might drop significantly, so thank you for your hard work in advance.”

Zhu Tao’s expression began to break down.

An Yu said sincerely, “Top No. 1 Healer of the Spire, I have always believed in you.”

Zhu Tao replied, “……You didn’t say that yesterday behind my back.”

At sunset, the carved pillar activated, and the wish ritual restarted.

The women who had not participated yesterday went again, kneeling in front of the pillar and chanting loudly. Chao Wu spread her long hair; this time, the hair carpet was very close to the pillar, almost immersed in the red light, with large numbers of blue morpho butterflies surrounding her at the base of the pillar, dispelling the mental enticement she was experiencing. An Yu walked up with half his body immersed in the red light, and his golden eyes reflected the figures of the believers swimming past him. He frowned slightly, and the redness in his eyes deepened.

Zhu Tao stopped at one-third of the way up, and An Yu continued alone, ascending until the figures on the carved pillar around him began to show signs of fish scales. He glanced down and saw that Xu Shuangshuang was not far below and would soon join the ranks of those transforming into fish.

Four giant koi quietly swam in circles above. An Yu looked up at them and his gaze focused as he drew his bow.

A snow-white feathered arrow pierced through the red light, shooting straight up. In an instant, one of the four giant koi suddenly exploded! 

Fragments of the massive koi fell from the sky, and the shattered red light inside the fish’s belly hovered for a moment before leaping towards another dead fish at a higher point.

On the ground, Chao Wu and Ning were momentarily dazed, only to see An Yu’s figure flash in mid-air—he defied gravity and appeared instantly at the top of the pillar! 

The slender figure blocked the chosen believer, and the shattered red light struck directly into his chest.

In just a moment, the entire team’s terminals started to alarm. 

The captain’s survival rate plummeted to 75%!

An Yu’s chest heaved violently, as if a giant hand was gripping his heart. He gasped desperately for breath, but the intense pain deep within his consciousness remained. 

—Not only did the shattered red light reject him, but something deep inside him also resisted. 

A chaotic will that didn’t belong to him was forcibly swallowed into his body, making that thing within him extremely furious.

The god of the religion was attacked, and the believers rioted again. 

As An Yu closed his eyes, enduring the pain, the fishmen and dead fish launched a frenzied attack on him. A fishman at the front bared its fangs—just as those sharp teeth were about to pierce An Yu’s neck, his lowered eyes suddenly opened.

Half of his golden pupils were stained with red. He coldly watched the swarm of attackers.

Everyone heard An Yu mutter to himself through their earpieces, “At this rate, I won’t last long enough to shoot four arrows.”

They thought An Yu was going to change the plan, but the figure in the sky suddenly retreated a hundred meters away! 

He distanced himself from the frenzied fishmen and lost the support of the carpet below. That white figure stood alone in the air. As he rapidly descended, he calmly drew his bow again, firing three snow-white arrows in succession. The remaining three giant koi exploded almost simultaneously, showering the sky with a magnificent rain of fragments.

The air currents stirred up a massive vortex, and An Yu used the currents to ascend, his white hair whipping wildly, and behind the strands of hair, his red eyes burned like blood. 

The leaping red light reflected in his eyes, and suddenly several white afterimages trailed behind him in the sky. In an instant, he flashed three times, using his chest—where human vital organs are located—to receive the shattered red light fused with the will of the dead. The red light repeatedly pierced his chest, and the alarm on the terminal echoed through the sky.

50%! 

25%! 

5%!

Read at Mizushi Novels

Visit Mizushi Novels

Lying within the butterfly formation, An Yu’s eyelids, nose, lips, and fingers—every inch of his skin was being kissed by the butterflies. The rapidly draining life force was being restored to his body at an even faster rate, to the point where he felt a moment of disorientation.

Support the original translation

Read on Mizushi Novels

The intense consumption made his body light, and he slowly descended from the sky, yet he continued to watch An Yu. An Yu seemed to feel a firm and unwavering promise from that gaze.

Don't scrape

Don't copy

Or if the other person would resolutely choose him.

Read at Mizushi Novels

Visit Mizushi Novels

Accept. 

Support the original translation

Read on Mizushi Novels

The shattered red light once again pierced his chest—this time, none of it overflowed. 

Don't scrape

Don't copy

Read at Mizushi Novels

Visit Mizushi Novels

When he opened his eyes, he was lying on a low, narrow bunk—he was in the packaging production plant, in Shen He’s dormitory. 

Support the original translation

Read on Mizushi Novels

The coin reflected his current appearance—a pale, emaciated girl with sunken cheeks.

Don't scrape

Don't copy

He hadn’t actually moved; it was this body that naturally performed the action. His consciousness had entered Shen He’s body, temporarily coexisting with Shen He’s own awareness.

Read at Mizushi Novels

Him?

An Yu’s momentary confusion was immediately answered in his mind.

Visit Mizushi Novels

Support the original translation

The girl asked softly, “So… as long as I conceive, I’ll be able to give birth to a qualified child?”

Read on Mizushi Novels

Don't scrape

The man impatiently flipped through the paper. “Your probability is 72.5%, which is already much higher than others. Even if something goes wrong, you won’t need to wait until the child is born. You all know how to take medicine to induce fetus maturity. You should know that, right? It only takes two weeks for the embryo to reach the same stage as a normal pregnancy after three months. At that time, we’ll have methods to test you. If the child’s gene entropy is confirmed to be below the standard, we’ll cut our losses promptly. Got it?”

Don't copy

Read at Mizushi Novels

“Okay,” Shen He said, “What do I need to prepare?”

“Nothing,” the man picked his ear. “No need for fuss. Hurry up, bring your ID and come with me. Oh, you can take a few personal items. I’ll wait for you outside for two minutes.”

With a thud, the door was slammed shut from the outside.

Perhaps because of the man’s poor attitude, An Yu sensed that Shen He still had some reservations. However, her strong anticipation for the future was enough to crush those reservations.

Shen He packed two pieces of underwear and a coin engraved with the test ID into her bag. Before setting off, she grabbed a piece of paper and hurriedly left a note for her roommate.

– Xiao Ru, I’m going into the warehouse. We’ll know the child’s gene entropy in two weeks. Wait for my news before deciding whether to accept the pregnancy task. By the way, there’s still half a pack of uneaten biscuits on your bed.

She left with a mixture of anticipation and anxiety, quickly shouldering her bag and opening the door. The iron door of the dormitory clanged shut behind her.

An Yu’s consciousness sank sharply, and when he opened his eyes again, he was back in the room.

This time, the number on the coin had changed to 2-14. The back side showed the face of another girl, Zhou Ru, the second missing person whose body had not been found, and Shen He’s roommate.

The clock on the wall showed today was October 14th—the fifteenth day since Shen He entered the warehouse.

In Zhou Ru’s memory, Shen He had never made contact again after leaving. She hesitated for a moment but eventually went to the corridor to report the case using a public phone, briefly explaining the date of Shen He’s disappearance but not mentioning the pregnancy experiment in the factory.

In her other hand were two pieces of paper: one was Shen He’s note, and the other was the gene matching results and entry notice—

[Test Subject: Zhou Ru

Probability of high gene entropy offspring: 62.9%.

Entry Notice:

– Fetal gene entropy test to be conducted two weeks after entry.

– If gene entropy does not meet the Main City threshold, pregnancy will be terminated, and 50,000 yuan reward will be deposited as agreed.

– If gene entropy passes, high gene entropy certification will be provided for the mother, and she will accompany the child’s growth in the Main City.]

Zhou Ru carefully read the notice and re-read Shen He’s note several times.

She struggled back and forth but ultimately had only one thought left in her mind—50,000 yuan.

Fifty thousand yuan could sustain her for a lifetime in Bait City. She hated the factory and with this money, she would never have to fold those rough cardboard boxes on the assembly line again.

She hesitated but ultimately clenched her right hand, crumpled Shen He’s note, and threw it into the trash can.

When An Yu’s consciousness separated from Zhou Ru’s memory, he suddenly felt a pang of heartache.

It wasn’t his emotion, but Shen He’s.

The sighing voice from last night echoed again in his mind—“We are destined to repeat our mistakes.”

He didn’t know what happened two weeks later.

During the brief time his consciousness merged with Shen He’s and Zhou Ru’s, he flipped through their memories—they all stopped on the day of the fetal gene entropy test two weeks later.

That memory seemed to have been blurred out.

Just as the poet had said—not every memory can be traced back, and pain is automatically forgotten by the brain, while happiness may not withstand the test of time.

Both their memories were stuck on the 14th day after entering the warehouse, with workers in full protective suits knocking on the door and entering with a bottle of mineral water.

With a goldfish swimming inside.

Author’s Note: