Time flowed slowly as the morning sun grew increasingly brilliant on the horizon.
Xue Chenjing waited outside the house, listening to the system report the time. "It's almost Chen hour (7-9 AM), Master. Are you really going to burst in? And what do you plan to do after that?"
It would be one thing if the female lead was lost in delusion due to confusion, but she was clear-headed. She knew everything here was fake, yet she willingly immersed herself in it. To force her away, he would have to shatter the illusion she cherished and kill the people she was obsessed with.
But they were her family, even if they were just illusions - the family she willingly lost herself in. The system couldn't even imagine what would happen if the host actually killed her family.
They would likely never achieve a happy ending after that.
As Chen hour approached, the system detected its host's increasingly agitated mental state and warned in advance: "Master, you can't act rashly. You absolutely cannot use your previous brutal methods. If you dare harm even a hair on their heads, the female lead will never forgive you."
Xue Chenjing paced outside the door, already irritated, with the system nagging incessantly in his head. He finally snapped and growled in a low voice, "Shut up! I'm not brainless!"
System: "..." You'd better not be!
Talk about ingratitude. If this were Xue Mingyuan, it wouldn't bother with such reminders, because Xue Mingyuan would definitely think of a gentle and reliable way to help the female lead break free from this illusion.
Only Xue Chenjing was always so brutal in his actions.
At Chen hour exactly, Xue Chenjing stepped up to the courtyard gate, hesitantly raising his hand to touch the door. Just then, the door was suddenly pulled open before him, and Yu Yi's reddened eyes appeared from behind it, brimming with tears - vulnerable yet determined as she decisively stepped forward through the doorway.
That step brought her right into the range of his arms, one step into his embrace.
Yu Yi lowered her head slightly, her forehead resting against his chest.
Behind her, sword flames spread like wildfire, and a crimson-feathered crane spread its wings, its broad pinions enveloping the entire house beneath fiery plumage, burning away the obsessions that had entranced her.
The sword flames burned for a long time, inch by inch consuming her attachments. From within the flames emerged a wish slip, its golden ink licked clean by tongues of fire, completely destroyed.
The door crumbled to ashes beneath his fingertips. Xue Chenjing curled back his arms, holding her tightly, his heart swelling with base and secret joy. It was as if he had glimpsed a bright pearl, and now that pearl was in his embrace, belonging to him - only to him!
"Yi'er, Yi'er, Yi'er."
Yu Yi listened to the repeated murmurs by her ear. He didn't seem to intend to say anything to comfort her, just meaninglessly calling her name, full of longing.
The arms around her body tightened more and more, almost suffocating her. Although she was very reluctant to admit it, at this moment, this solid embrace did fill a small void in her heart.
Warm droplets fell onto her temple, sliding down into her neck. Yu Yi belatedly realized what they were and tried to raise her head in surprise, but a palm pressed against the back of her head, forcing it back against his solid chest.
The pain was completely diminished, leaving only confusion filling her heart. Why was he crying? Shouldn't I be the one crying right now?
The hand on the back of her head pressed down forcefully. Yu Yi, buried against his chest with her nose pressed against his rising and falling muscles, could clearly feel his strong heartbeat. She took a difficult breath and said in a muffled voice, "Why are you crying?"
When he cried, his chest heaved rapidly up and down, making it even harder for her to breathe.
Xue Chenjing furrowed his brows in frustration, his breathing heavy as his mouth answered involuntarily: "I'm too happy... no, I'm not happy because you only have me now... well, actually that is why I'm happy. I'm so excited I can't help crying, I can't control myself..."
Damn! How he hated this truth-telling mode.
Xue Chenjing bit down hard on his jaw, not wanting to continue revealing the base joy in his heart, and pleaded in a low voice, "I'm sorry, please don't hate me."
Yu Yi's heart skipped a beat involuntarily - this must be his true feelings, right?
She calmly probed, "Back at the Sinking Flower Sea, didn't you say I was useless? Now you're trying to please me again, is it because I'm useful to you again?"
"No, not this time, there's nothing here that I want." As soon as the words left his mouth, Xue Chenjing wanted to bite his tongue. Saying 'not this time' implied that it was true before, and indeed, he had only wanted to use her before.
No, he still wanted to now - only by completing the main storyline tasks could he advance the plot and get everything back.
"You've always been useful to me..." Xue Chenjing said this far and found himself somewhat confused. He couldn't sort out his own thoughts. Before, when he was using Yu Yi, he didn't care about her feelings or whether she would get hurt, so he would do anything to achieve his goals.
But now, he found he couldn't help but care about her. So every word he spoke made him afraid, afraid of pushing her further away.
Xue Chenjing bit his lip until it bled, finally saying dejectedly, "I'm sorry, what I said at the Sinking Flower Sea wasn't true, I just, I just..."
He had just gotten used to hurting others with cruel words before they could hurt him.
Xue Chenjing couldn't help but analyze his entire emotional journey at the Sinking Flower Sea, from being intoxicated by her kiss, to the moment his blooming joy was suddenly extinguished by her cold gaze, to his final thoughtless words.
Yu Yi listened in stunned amazement, trying several times to raise her head, only to be held down by him, preventing her from looking up.
Such tearful confession was too embarrassing, and Xue Chenjing really couldn't imagine how she would look at him.
The tears falling onto her neck increased, and Xue Chenjing became too choked up to speak. Yu Yi was surprised as she processed his words - so she could still hurt him, a single look could cause him pain.
She remained silent for a moment, then raised her arms to encircle his waist, patting his back gently.
Xue Chenjing's whole body trembled. After being comforted by this small gesture, he became even more unable to control himself, letting out a soft whimper as his chest heaved more violently.
Yu Yi: "..." Who exactly needed comforting here? Surely he wasn't expecting her to console him? That seemed a bit too much.
Yu Yi tried to push him away, but Xue Chenjing, feeling insecure, only held her tighter. Under the truth-telling mode, he couldn't even make excuses, only whimpering apologies.
Until a pained bird cry came from below - Crane Senior Brother, squeezed between the two of them with his internal organs nearly crushed, struggled to poke his bird head out from Yu Yi's hanging pouch and let out a sharp cry.
Chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp—
The cursing was particularly vulgar.
Xue Chenjing instinctively loosened his grip, and Yu Yi bounced away from his embrace, hurriedly pulling Crane Senior Brother from her pouch to check him over. "Senior Brother Crane, are you alright?"
Crane Senior Brother stomped his feet in her palm - how could he be alright? He was almost squashed flat!
Xue Chenjing turned aside, using his sleeve to roughly wipe away the tears on his face, feeling relieved in his heart. Thank goodness for Crane Senior Brother, otherwise he didn't know how many more disgusting things he would have said.
The system, that damned system - one day he would definitely tear it out and cut it into pieces, grind it to powder and scatter it in the latrine!
The system detected his intense murderous intent and felt completely unsettled. It really wanted to quit this job! It hoped the main system had made their system-body insurance comprehensive enough - they absolutely couldn't let the host find an opportunity. It really didn't want to be ground into powder and scattered in a latrine, wuwuwu.
It tremblingly said, "Host, well, I can actually detect your thoughts, could you please control yourself a bit..."
Xue Chenjing, having wiped away his tears, responded with a cold laugh in his mind, "I know."
System: "..." This was outright intimidation!
When Yu Yi looked up after comforting Crane Senior Brother, Xue Chenjing had already wiped away his uncontrolled tears and even helped wipe the dampness from her neck and shoulders. Only his slightly swollen eye corners and wet eyelashes revealed that he had been crying.
Xue Chenjing's gaze wandered, not daring to look at her, desperately wanting to change the subject. He frowned in thought and said, "We need to find a way to break through this situation."
Yu Yi's wishful thinking was burned away, but this realm of human desires remained. Everyone was still immersed in their false happiness, and even such a great fire failed to draw the attention of the people in Fengsheng County.
This was a realm formed by human desires, not by magical formations. To break it, one must destroy the power of wishes that formed this illusory realm.
Following Xue Chenjing's previous methods, he would have burned and killed his way from one end of the city to the other, slaughtering the entire city to break this realm of human desires. However, now, as he glanced at the person beside him, he hesitated.
Would she think this approach too bloody and brutal? Although these weren't real people, they appeared indistinguishable from actual humans.
The system, though under existential threat, still had to strive to complete its task, saying, "Master, it's wonderful that you're thinking this way. Your plan is indeed too brutal and would frighten the female lead. You'd better think of a gentler way to break the realm."
Xue Chenjing felt frustrated - if he could think of another way, he wouldn't be so troubled!
What a nuisance.
Yu Yi turned to look at him, but Xue Chenjing immediately averted his gaze upon meeting her eyes. He seemed embarrassed about losing control and crying earlier, the redness of his ears still hadn't faded.
Yu Yi couldn't help but look a few more times, forcing herself to tear her gaze away from his crimson earlobes and regain her focus.
She was also contemplating. This illusory realm was built upon the wish papers in the osmanthus grove. Only destroying the wish papers as they had done before would work, but destroying just one or two wouldn't be enough. They needed to destroy many - at least half - to potentially destabilize this illusory realm.
Yu Yi looked up at the vast Fengsheng County. After sunrise, the streets had become lively again, with people moving about in a way that seemed almost real.
The only difference from the real Fengsheng County was that everyone here wore happy smiles of fulfilled wishes.
This was a fantasy realm without suffering.
As the two walked aimlessly through the streets, passing by the Du family's house, Yu Yi saw a small boy about three or four years old run out, holding a wooden carved doll. Zhao Zhi followed behind him, while Du's Mother watched from the side.
Even the Du Family Father and Son working in the courtyard would occasionally look up, their gazes following the little boy.
Everyone was eager to watch him grow up.
"Last night he was still an infant, but after one night he's grown this big," Xue Chenjing said.
This illusory realm wasn't reality after all, but merely people's collected wishes, so even such an absurd occurrence didn't seem strange to anyone.
The little boy ran toward Yu Yi, and when he almost fell, she reached out to steady him, examining his features carefully. He looked very similar to Du Ruo, as if carved from the same mold, only male.
Zhao Zhi hurriedly came forward to pick up the boy, thanking her.
Yu Yi asked, "Do you remember Du Ruo? Your eldest daughter."
"Du Ruo?" Zhao Zhi's face showed confusion. Du's Mother ran over from behind, pulling both Zhao Zhi and the little boy back, eyeing them warily.
Zhao Zhi seemed to lose herself in thought, mumbling, "Du Ruo, Du Ruo, Ruo'er... Yes, I had a Ruo'er, didn't I? Where is my Ruo'er?"
This question seemed to create ripples of disturbance. All members of the Du family froze, and the harmonious picture of a family of five began to crack. A wish paper gradually appeared above the Du family's doorway.
On the front of the paper was written: "May the Moon Goddess bless the Du family with a son soon."
On the back was an annotation: "Zhao and Du are destined to be childless. The Du family wishes to use Du Ruo's soul to create a male heir."
