"At that moment, I suddenly thought—maybe this is what fate had in store?

When I was at my loneliest, fate delivered someone I wanted to kill right to me. It also made someone I couldn't kill my friend, constantly reminding me of my own ugliness and distortion."

"I don't know how to describe this feeling... but I wanted to kill him."

Luo Xian looked at her father and told him earnestly, "Or it would be the same if he killed me."

In the prolonged silence, the old man studied his daughter, his eyebrows shooting up in astonishment.

Unsure whether it was regret or pity, he couldn't help shaking his head.

"...To think that your first love in your twenties is unrequited? That's such a pity, Xiao Xian..." the old man sighed softly. "Whether it's killing or being killed, loving or being loved, you're probably not going to attain any of it."

"Isn't this enough?"

Luo Xian still looked at him, calmly accepting this reality. "Books say that first love is always restrained and inexperienced, don't they? It's just a lack of an outcome, not yet to the point of being depressing, right?"

The old man thought about it and nodded. "That's true."

He asked, "So, are you planning to leave home?"

"Could you tell?"

"A father always has to understand his daughter, right?" the old man asked. "Where are you planning to go? Rome? America? The Russian Federation? London? Or somewhere beyond the Current Circumstances?"

"I haven't decided."

Luo Xian thought for a moment and shook her head. "I'll just go out and wander a bit. Ever since I was born, I haven't really left Jinling. This way, you'll have fewer worries, Father, right?"

"Will you come back?"

"Naturally, I'll come to visit when I'm passing by," Luo Xian said. "Although it's regrettable that I haven't killed you, Father, I still hope you live for a hundred years and don't die at the hands of someone else."

"I'll try my best."

The old man nodded nonchalantly. Studying his daughter, he suddenly found her a bit unfamiliar.

Truly inexplicable.

Had she grown up without him noticing? Or was it the Magic Power of love that spurred growth?

But regardless, it was time for her to confront the world on her own.

Just like witnessing a fledgling spread its wings to challenge the authority of its elders.

Under his strict and severe scrutiny, his gaze softened with a blend of relief and helplessness. "For an Evil Ghost, insatiable in its Gluttony, to yearn for a love of Temperance... It's ridiculous, Xiao Xian. Can you truly dream such beautiful dreams?"

"People should always have dreams, right?" Luo Xian replied hopefully. "Who knows, one day, someone like me might also find salvation."

"Yes, who knows."

The old man nodded, his rough hands gently caressing his daughter's long hair, filled with affection. "I hope you can thoroughly enjoy yourself in this dream, Xiao Xian."

"If one day, you find that your dream has ended, then come back. I'll be waiting for you here."

He said, "And then, kill you—"

To put an end with his own hands to the monster he had created, to bring the final release to his daughter who had utterly despaired of this world.

"All right."

Luo Xian nodded, feeling the last of the old man's tenderness.

This was the final agreement between father and daughter.

「. . .」

When Huai Shi woke up in the same hospital a week later, he only remembered dragging his severely injured body to go on a drinking binge with Liu DongLi before blacking out and collapsing. He'd woken up once, seemingly on an operating table, and in his groggy state, he'd heard the lead surgeon's incredulous exclamation.

When he closed his eyes and then opened them again, he was lying on a hospital bed, staring at the familiar ceiling. He smacked his lips; something tasted off.

After a Deep Sleep and recovery, his wounds had healed. However, Huai Shi still felt drained—a consequence of overstimulating and overusing his Source Substance.

Until the cracks in his Soul were mended, he would likely continue to suffer from nervous exhaustion and insomnia for a long time.

Upon picking up his phone, he saw Liu DongLi's messages. Figuring Huai Shi wouldn't wake up anytime soon, Liu DongLi had readily covered a month's medical expenses. Then, he'd set off alone on what he called a 'hot-spring therapeutic and romantic getaway' to Shambhala.

Seeing photos in his friend's social feed with various young ladies, the vague silhouette of a giant humanoid robot looming in the background, filled Huai Shi with envy. Had he known earlier, he would have put aside his pride and joined him.

Even just touching the robot would have been great!

And when he opened the internal APP of the Astronomical Society, he saw a notice from the Department of Justice addressed to him—about Ai Qing's secret trial, which had commenced the day before.

Thanks to a skilled defense and Ai Qing's own Ability and value—or perhaps through some political dealmaking and protection unknown to Huai Shi—she was ultimately sentenced. In light of her voluntary surrender, her sentence was just twenty years of service on the Border, to be carried out immediately.

Regrettably, she was assigned to some classified institution or unit, such that Huai Shi didn't even know her exact whereabouts or how to contact her in the future.

Calling her original number only led to a voicemail indicating a powered-off phone.

It was as if she had vanished from Huai Shi's reachable world out of the blue, like a Phantom dissolving in the mist, leaving without a trace. Huai Shi astonishingly felt nothing at all.

And another matter... For some reason—perhaps in recognition of Huai Shi's own Talent and various other factors—he had been promoted within the Astronomical Society. He went from his original role as a temporary 'Action Officer' to an official Military Officer.

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