Chapter 740: The Road Back Is Hard (Final)

"Pant… pant… pant…"

Emma, nearly collapsing, leaned most of her body against Li Ang, the back of her beige gauze dress soaked through with cold sweat.

Even after breaking free from Li Ang's memories, the moment she recalled the slender girl's chilling proposal—the cold, brutal reality—she remembered the girl's calm expression as she described how to dispose of her corpse, as if discussing what to have for dinner.

Emma's heart still pounded as Li Ang's had once done, as if ripped from her chest and slowly crushed, ground to pulp by human hands, so agonizing she could barely breathe.

Is this what Li Ang has been enduring all along?

After gasping for air several times, Emma, drenched as if pulled from water, looked at Li Ang, who stood helplessly supporting her, her lips trembling as she asked:

"Li Ang… don't you… hurt?"

"…"

Li Ang, understanding what she meant, shook his head slightly, then glanced at the system prompt.

【Through your own observation, Guina, and repeated reflection, you have acquired extensive intelligence regarding the "Black-White Bridge." The Yisehuizhang "Materialist Soul (Crimson)" has been activated.】

【Due to your profound understanding of the Black-White Bridge's operating rules, your resistance to this anomaly has increased dramatically—you can now fully block its deepest effects.】

It's impossible not to hurt; this will stay etched in my memory forever.

But the influence has been dampened by 【Materialism】, and I know the final outcome was good—so I think of Anna at home, daily tending to her younger siblings, laughing with Melanie, and the pain becomes bearable.

…

"It… still hurts a little…"

Seeing Emma's eyes filled with shock and guilt, clearly misunderstanding the depth of his inner strength, Li Ang smiled slightly, embarrassed, then explained:

"But when I think that I eventually joined the Cleanup Bureau, that things never went that far—that Anna and the others are still safe at home, waiting for me, still leaving food out even when I come home late—it doesn't hurt as much."

Is that really how it is…?

After hearing Li Ang's explanation, Emma tried to imagine herself in his place.

But no matter how hard she tried, the slender girl who calmly proposed burying her corpse in the sewage river to fraudulently claim compensation for her siblings kept tearing at her heart again and again.

Liar—how could this not hurt?

I only watched your memory once, and my heart felt like it was being cut with a knife. You had to relive that helplessness and pain over and over again, just to carve out the white bricks for me—how could you not suffer?

"Stop thinking about it."

Seeing Emma about to say more, Li Ang considered her situation and quietly offered comfort:

"Past pain is past. Instead of dwelling on what you've suffered or lost, focus on what you still have. Most of all, cherish the people right before you."

"…"

Cherish the people right before you…?

She had heard similar advice countless times from the Red-Haired Director—but after sharing Li Ang's memories on the Black-White Bridge, experiencing his joy and pain firsthand…

Facing Li Ang, who lost his parents young, raised his siblings alone, voluntarily joined the Cleanup Bureau as a high-fatality officer, and truly cherished everything he had—those words, heard so many times before, finally entered her heart for the first time. "Senior Emma?"

Seeing Emma staring blankly at him, Li Ang released her hand, crouched slightly, and said:

"Just a few dozen steps left to reach the end of the bridge. For these last few steps, shall I carry you on my back?"

"…"

Though she instinctively wanted to refuse, seeing Li Ang's narrow but undeniably solid shoulders, Emma fell silent for a moment, then leaned forward and climbed onto his back.

As her body lifted into the air, listening to Li Ang's steady, strong breaths, feeling the warmth radiating from his slender spine—the heart beneath it beating like a flame, gently warming her own—Emma's tense body finally relaxed. She leaned fully against him and gently wrapped her arms around his neck.

Cherish the people right before you…

…

Finally off the bridge…

After stepping on over twenty black bricks, descending all the way to the bridge's base, Li Ang let out a long breath.

Though 【Materialism】 shielded him from reliving the pain in full, vivid detail, even these diluted, "scratch-through-the-boot" memories, repeated too often, still wore him down.

He hurried forward a few more steps, fully leaving the Black-White Bridge's range. Seeing that Senior Emma hadn't spoken, and not wanting to embarrass himself after showing off, he didn't prompt her to get down—instead, he lifted his gaze ahead.

Before him rose a black cliff so tall its peak vanished into the sky. This cliff, named 【Death】, grew lighter in hue toward the top, where its nonexistent summit seemed to merge seamlessly with the ashen sky of the Death Realm.

At its base, the cliff blended with the Death Realm's pitch-black earth—so utterly black, so devoid of reflection, it felt like stepping onto nothing at all, as if one would instantly fall into an abyss.

Countless crimson nests of the Death-Crying Crows clung to the cliff like red berries growing from the black mountain, or like fresh blood oozing endlessly from a vast black curtain hanging from the heavens—vividly beautiful, profoundly eerie.

"Something feels off…"

Squinting at the black cliff and the crimson crow nests, Li Ang spotted, at the end—or rather, the beginning—of the Path of No Return, a massive, mist-shrouded gate. He lightly tapped Emma's thigh, signaling her to look up, then frowned:

"The Director said we just keep walking the Path of No Return—past the Black-White Bridge and the Death-Crying Crow Nests—and we'll find the Dog God guarding the entrance to the Death Realm."

"But we've already crossed the bridge, entered the crow nests' territory, even seen the gate—so where's the Dog God?"

"Don't worry. Just keep walking."

Hearing Li Ang's question, Emma, using the warmth radiating from his front to shield herself from the increasingly frantic curses behind her, replied:

"Everyone in the Death Realm dislikes the Director. She must've broken in. The Dog God's duty is to guard the Death Realm's gate and keep the living out—he was probably beaten up by her."

"So keep walking a bit further. If you see a dog with three heads bound by hair, passed out by the roadside, that's the Dog God."

"If you don't find him along the way, check the crow nests near the gate. After beating the Dog God, the Director sometimes forgets where she left him, so when she returns and needs someone to open the gate, she just stuffs him into a nearby nest."

"…"

"Oh…"

(End of Chapter)