Chapter 59: The Necessity of the World's Existence

Suddenly, Yang Yi's face twitched; her wild laughter instantly turned venomous and resentful. Like a puppet, she stretched out both hands, struggling to grasp at something.

"What? Do you regret it?... Get lost. This is my body too!"

However, an invisible force surged rapidly from within, rolling that wave back like a receding tide.

'Why? You fickle hypocrite! Maggot! Coward...' It was angrier than ever before.

Yang Yi reopened her weary eyes, sat up, propped her head with her arms, and after a long moment, she said weakly:

'Just teasing you.'

This answer was like poking a hornet's nest; it exploded like a firecracker. 'You madman! Lunatic! Schizophrenic freak! Unwanted orphan! Fickle hypocrite...'

It not only insulted and humiliated her with the utmost malice but also provoked her with her darkest past and most hated memories. Compared to this rage, even past vicious insults felt as light as feathers.

It seemed this time it was truly beyond anger.

Yang Yi listened weakly to its scolding without refuting it.

Finally, perhaps because it received no response, it gradually grew tired of scolding, and the shouting finally stopped.

'Why?' This time, it was the one asking weakly.

'I ask you, if I give you my body, what do you plan to do?' Yang Yi asked.

'Of course, do whatever I want!' It said without any hesitation. 'Absolute freedom! Absolute doing whatever I please!'

'See, that is why I cannot give it to you.' Yang Yi dug her hands into her hair; this personality switch gave her a splitting headache. 'With such power, doing whatever you want, you would throw the entire world into chaos. Absolute freedom is chaos.'

'What does that have to do with you? You don't care about them at all!' It shrieked. 'I know you hate this world!'

Yang Yi fell silent, gazing at the scattered lights of ten thousand homes in the distance.

'Yes, I hate this world. Sometimes, I wish it would explode immediately, be utterly destroyed, and take the whole world down with me.' She said:

'But I also know that I am not the only one in this world. My world may be painful, desperate, and confused, but other people's worlds may be bright, warm, and full of hope. I live in bottomless darkness, but that doesn't mean everyone lives like that.'

She pointed to a window glowing with dim yellow light not far away; it was the nearest residential complex to them.

'Do you see that? That is a new family of three. A baby was just born in their home. The new father is yawning while mixing formula for the baby, and the mother is half-asleep, soothing the child...'

'And that one: an elderly couple lives on the first floor but gave the second floor to their son, daughter-in-law, and grandson. They are clearly so afraid of brain-eating worm attacks, yet they still leave the safest place for the child...'

'And that one...'

'Enough, enough,' it said impatiently. 'What does that have to do with you?'

Yang Yi murmured to herself, 'I don't know either... Perhaps because I've stayed in the darkness for so long, as soon as I see a glimmer of firefly light, I feel—there seems to be some hope... Even if this hope has nothing to do with me, as long as you know it is there, then this world... seems to have a reason to exist...'

She casually plucked a small purple flower from the flowerbed, held it to her nose to smell it, gazed at the distant street, took out her phone, and called Li Mingliang.

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After leaving all subsequent matters to them, Yang Yi dragged her exhausted body back to the Lihao Hotel.

As soon as she swiped open the room door, Chen Chen Huanyue arrived in a hurry.

"Yang Yi, how are you? Are you injured?" His gaze swept carefully up and down her body, with no hint of rudeness, only pure concern.

This night, Yang Yi felt as if she had been thrown into a deserted wasteland and then dropped into a bottomless abyss; her mood was low. Facing Chen Chen Huanyue's care now, a warmth inevitably arose in her heart.

"You care about me?" A smile appeared on her weary face.

"Of course." Chen Chen Huanyue blurted out.

Yang Yi raised her head and looked at him seriously.

Provoked by that gaze, Chen Chen Huanyue's body immediately straightened. He awkwardly reached up with his right hand to adjust his glasses, and finally, under Yang Yi's gaze, he involuntarily grew nervous, his hands even beginning to tremble slightly.

He knew this nervousness was not because she was the number one Awakened, nor because a terrifying beast comparable to a nuclear weapon was watching him, but because of her—Yang Yi.

Even during their student days, when he was clearly the one under everyone's spotlight, when his family background was clearly superior, and when he clearly had wide social connections and was good at handling social situations, yet every time in front of her, he would involuntarily become nervous.

Whenever she gazed at him with those pitch-black eyes, his heart would be just like now—completely disobedient, acting on its own will as if it had a mind of its own.

Yang Yi said sincerely, "Thank you. I feel much better."

She pushed the door open, then looked at him again. Chen Chen Huanyue understood this was a signal that she wanted to rest and asked him to leave.

However, as if that slight gentleness earlier had suddenly given him courage, he suddenly grabbed the doorknob to stop her from entering. With cautious expectation, he asked, "Do you... have a boyfriend now?"

Yang Yi paused. "Yes."

Something in the air seemed to shatter instantly. Chen Chen Huanyue slowly released the doorknob.

He turned his head away. Yang Yi saw that the corner of his eye beneath his rimless glasses seemed slightly red.

Yang Yi turned her head, afraid to look any longer. She quickly pushed the door open and was about to go inside.

"Then do you love him?"

"You are asking too much." She made her tone sound cold. "We are not that close right now."

"What, afraid your boyfriend will get jealous?" Chen Chen Huanyue said sarcastically. This was the first time since meeting her that he had lost his composure so badly.

Yang Yi looked at him strangely, but after seeing that look in his eyes, she looked away.

What kind of look was that? The eyes beneath his glasses seemed on the verge of shattering. Even though she was not sensitive to other people's emotions, that look still struck her, making her heart ache.

Moreover, it was indeed because of her in the beginning...

"After establishing a romantic relationship with someone, one should automatically keep distance from the opposite sex." She cut the matter short decisively: "And, the past is already past. So, stop this ambiguous entanglement; it is bad for both of us..."

Chen Chen Huanyue sneered: "But back then we did not break up. I did not propose a breakup, and you did not propose a breakup either. This invisible romantic contract seems not to have ended, does it?"