Chapter 2457: Another Me 26

The path down the mountain was easier than the path up, but Li Chi's stamina had also been almost exhausted.

Just as he reached a resting platform on the mountainside, the phone in his pocket began to vibrate.

Li Chi answered the call, and before he could speak, Lin Wan's voice, clearly anxious, came through, berating him.

"Xiao Chi! Where are you? Your trip should be over by now—come back quickly, okay? Mother is worried about you!"

Li Chi listened silently, and even the mountain breeze seemed to carry the oppressive feeling coming from the other end of the phone.

Jin Chen retorted in his mind, "Don't believe her, Li Xiao Chi."

"She sent people to watch us; Blue Mountain is the one she found."

Lin Wan continued to speak earnestly on the other end of the phone, even with a hint of sorrow.

"Xiao Chi, listen. Mother only has you as her son, and she truly can't rest easy with you out there alone for so long..."

Jin Chen continued to retort, "That's false; she has another son abroad named Ai Lun, two years younger than you, hospitalized at London St. Mary's Hospital."

Li Chi: "..."

"Okay, Mother." Li Chi finally spoke, cutting off Lin Wan before she could finish.

"I have something else to do; I'll hang up first."

Without letting Lin Wan say anything else, he decisively pressed the hang-up button.

The mountain wind suddenly grew still.

Li Chi stood where he was, raised a hand to rub his slightly swollen temples, facing the empty valley and also the Jin Chen in his consciousness, "Brother, I believe you."

This was the first time Li Chi had made an important decision based entirely on his own judgment.

He gazed at the boundless, layered peaks that symbolized freedom and courage, the mountain wind stirring his bangs.

"Brother, let's go to Jing Shi."

Jin Chen blinked, "Good, we'll live near Qingda; from now on we can stay there even when we have no classes."

Li Chi obviously didn't catch Jin Chen's implied meaning, nodded lightly, reached out to embrace the air before the mountain peak, and embraced his own courage.

{Detected Blackening Value -10, total 46! }

The journey to Jing Shi went smoothly.

Lin Wan soon discovered that Li Chi had not only not returned home, but had gone even farther to Jing Shi.

But Jin Chen sent something from an unknown email address, which left Lin Wan unable to stop him.

In the email was her son Ai Lun's detailed medical records, plus several photos of Ai Lun on a hospital bed wearing a ventilator.

The date was just yesterday.

Lin Wan's hand gripping the mouse trembled, her whole body drenched in cold sweat.

She had hidden it so deeply that even her domestic partner didn't know of Ai Lun's existence.

Who sent this email, and how could they know?

And it had to happen at this critical moment...

Lin Wan couldn't help but suspect that this might be related to Li Chi.

Jing Shi, a tranquil residential complex near Qingda.

Li Chi signed the lease; it was a fully furnished two-bedroom apartment with ample sunlight, clean and tidy, ready to move in with just his luggage.

Jin Chen also contacted a security team, hiring top-tier personnel to lay a tight protective net around the apartment.

In the days that followed, during the day Jin Chen accompanied Li Chi as he familiarized himself with Jing Shi, bought daily necessities, and occasionally strolled around the outskirts of Qingda campus.

At night he grew accustomed to his new body, accelerating the integration of soul and flesh.

The progress bar had already reached 99%.

That afternoon, Li Chi was sitting on the sofa reading a book, while Jin Chen kept him company, chatting intermittently in his mind about Qingda's elective courses.

Ling Gun Gun suddenly appeared.

{Host, fusion progress is abnormally accelerating, current progress 99.1%…99.3%…approaching the critical point. }

{About to be forcibly detached from the current vessel. }

Jin Chen startled.

{What's going on? }

{Shouldn't there still be about a week's buffer? }

Ling Gun Gun fidgeted.

{……The energy supply is too abundant; Mr. Jin Ge over in Hu Shi……is basically treating you like an endangered species in need of emergency nourishment. }

{All kinds of top-tier nutrients, bioactive factors, even a National Master was hired; bodily functions recovered far faster than expected, and the speed of soul fusion was forcibly maxed out. }

Jin Chen: "..."

Time was much less than he had anticipated.

"Xiao Chi."

Li Chi, sitting on the sofa reading a book, slowly set down the book in his hands, his unfocused gaze drifting to the corner of the windowsill.

There sat a small potted cactus, two round, jade-green spheres snuggled together, growing while leaning on each other.

"Brother, are you leaving?"

He had always been perceptive; how could he fail to notice Jin Chen's patient guidance these past days?

Jin Chen's heart clenched, "It's not leaving, Xiao Chi; it's changing the way I accompany you, okay?"

Li Chi lowered his eyes, asked stubbornly in a soft voice, "When can I see Brother again?"

"Soon." Jin Chen assured him, "Brother won't make Xiao Chi wait long."

Li Chi seemed to accept the answer, yet also seemed to be gathering courage.

He closed his eyes, trying to hold back the moisture welling up in them, but the dampness still seeped out from his eyelashes.

He took a deep breath, "Okay, brother."

"I'm waiting here for you, I will... I will take care of myself, not go anywhere, just wait here for you to come see me."

He's really well-behaved.

So well-behaved it makes one's heart ache and hurt.

"Guabao, don't be afraid, I will come back to see you."

【Detachment activated! 3…2…1…】

After a long while, Li Chi softly called, "Brother?"

No response.

Like the light source supporting him suddenly went out, the world fell into boundless darkness.

Li Chi could not hold back the wetness he had been suppressing; large tears rolled down, striking the back of his hand that was hugging his knees, his forehead pressing against his knees.

Dusk deepened, the light outside the window gradually dimmed.

The apartment was eerily quiet.

After a long while, long enough for the neon lights outside the window to turn on, Li Chi slowly lifted his head.

He raised his hand, roughly wiped the tears from his face with his sleeve, then imitating how Jin Chen usually soothed him, gently patted his own chest.

"It's fine, Xiao Chi."

"Brother... will come to see me."

After saying that, he stopped crying, gazing at the myriad lights of Jing Shi outside the window.

His small figure appeared especially lonely in the vast apartment.

He had nothing else to do but wait.