MCL CH141

Chapter 141: “President Yan, thank you for not giving up on me.”…
 

In the pitch-black darkness where he couldn’t see his own fingers, Yan Xingzhou walked forward, only hearing the rustling sound of his footsteps on the soil.

A cold wind brushed past his ear, making the empty and deserted environment seem even more desolate.

This was the first time Yan Xingzhou had used his dream ability to enter Lin Xi’s conscious world, yet the scene before him was undoubtedly very familiar.

He was certain he had been here before, just after the two of them had entered the rift world together, behind the door that Lin Xi had opened.

Yan Xingzhou couldn’t help but quicken his pace. Finally, in this boundless darkness, he caught a tiny, faint speck of light.

At the place where the light gathered, he saw a figure squatting there.

Lin Xi was squatting quietly in the center of the circle of light. In front of him was a tiny sapling.

Compared to the last time he saw it in the inner world, this sapling had clearly grown a lot, with many new shoots sprouting from it. However, the outermost layer of the leaves was scorched black as if consumed by fire, as if its life had withered in an instant.

Blood-red veins had unknowingly spread throughout the entire plant, making it look even more bizarre in this environment.

As if not noticing Yan Xingzhou’s arrival, Lin Xi just calmly stared at the sapling in front of him, his fingertips stroking the tender shoots with great care. Until, the approaching figure finally came under the same light. The tall shadow fell upon him, covering him, but it didn’t block a single ray of light belonging to the sapling.

Lin Xi didn’t turn his head, just smiled. “You’re here.”

He didn’t seem surprised by Yan Xingzhou’s arrival. Without turning around, he just spoke leisurely as if making small talk. “It’s interesting, isn’t it? I thought I’d see some grand, intense scene at the end, but I never expected to come back to this place after all this time.”

He felt someone squat down beside him. Glancing sideways at Yan Xingzhou’s figure, he chuckled softly. “But coming back is worse than not coming back at all. The way this place looks makes me feel like nothing has changed after all this time. I thought, just as Shen Nanyang said, that the world had found a way to continue into the future through my experiences. But after all this time, I finally realized that for me, it’s as if everything is still at a standstill.”

Lin Xi slowly leaned against Yan Xingzhou’s shoulder, feeling the familiar scent. “It’s a strange feeling, isn’t it?”

Yan Xingzhou reached out and gently pulled the person into his arms. “You think you’re still stuck in the same place?”

“Not really.” Lin Xi smiled and reached out, his fingertips gently touching the branches of the sapling. “At least this little thing seems to have grown a bit. But its grown-up appearance is perhaps a little different from what I imagined.”

His voice was soft. “Everything here seems to be telling me that I can never go back to the way I was. Shen Nanyang, that liar. Actually, he knew from the very beginning that it was impossible for me to completely get rid of Calamity’s crystal core. At most, I could only—deceive myself into looking a little more human.”

The surroundings became quiet in that instant. A long time later, Yan Xingzhou’s voice slowly sounded.

He did not offer any words of persuasion, not even words of comfort, just a plain, almost declarative sentence, “So what?”

The tail end of his words fell into the empty space, gradually swallowed by the surrounding darkness, leaving only Lin Xi’s soft chuckle. “Yeah, so what? Whether it’s the identity of a human or a contaminant, it doesn’t matter to me.”

He tilted his head up and, in this position, deeply kissed Yan Xingzhou’s lips. “Good thing you didn’t make me wait here for too long. Now, I’ve let you see the truest version of me. President Yan, thank you for not giving up on me.”

Yan Xingzhou took the opportunity to hold Lin Xi firmly in his embrace. After a long, lingering moment, he slowly calmed his breathing. “Compared to this irrelevant plant cultivation, I’m more concerned about when you’ll be willing to go back with me.”

Lin Xi looked at Yan Xingzhou and smiled. “Now.”

As these words fell, the surrounding darkness began to twist completely. The originally tiny shoots, following Lin Xi’s words, began to grow and spread wildly as if accelerated dozens of times.

As if completely unaware of the collapse of this world, the two people in this environment only held each other tighter, letting the blood-red branches and leaves envelop them completely, circle after circle, until they were completely devoured.

…

In the laboratory, all the equipment let out sharp alarms.

“Not good, the contamination value and radiation value are soaring!”

“The brainwaves are too weak. The equipment can no longer capture them.”

“President Yan’s ability indicators are not right either!”

“This won’t do! If this continues, both of them will lose control at the same time. We probably won’t be able to control it then!”

In the chaos, everyone looked at Shen Nanyang in unison. “Professor Shen, the surgery has failed. Should we, while we can still control it, first…”

Under their gazes, what they got was only a calm, unwavering voice. “Wait a little longer.”

“But…”

Amidst everyone’s anxious and hesitant expressions, Shen Nanyang still only had one word: “Wait.”

The surroundings gradually quieted down under his determined words.

Everyone exchanged glances. Although they were already feeling a strong sense of collapse being squeezed between two excessively powerful forces, they still gritted their teeth and forced themselves to calm down.

Clang—! Clang, clang—!

One piece of equipment after another was damaged.

Someone, unable to bear it any longer, rushed out on the verge of collapse.

Then, another…

There were fewer and fewer people left in the laboratory.

In the end, only Shen Nanyang was left, standing calmly where he was with a pale face.

Under the constant collision of contamination radiation and ability fluctuations, the ability tentacles around Shen Nanyang also began to stir restlessly.

Time passed, second by second. Finally, he saw the person on the operating table slowly open his eyes.

Meeting Lin Xi’s gaze, Shen Nanyang slowly spoke. His voice was filled with the fatigue of a long period of high tension, but more so with relief. “Welcome back.”

“Thank you.” A strong sense of agitation still lingered in Lin Xi’s eyes. Although it felt like just a nap, he felt as if he had lived through a very long century.

The tyrannical feeling of a contaminant still existed in his eyes, but in the end, within the human reason he had regained, it was suppressed bit by bit.

In the inhuman vertical pupils, the blood-like red had gradually faded.

Finally, bit by bit, they returned to the beautiful heterochromatic pupils they had when they first met, carrying a faint smile.

Lin Xi turned his head and saw Yan Xingzhou beside him, who had also just opened his eyes.

He was not polite. He sat up directly and, as if not yet satisfied, kissed him again. “Thank you for bringing me back.”

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