Chapter 178

Those shadows are frightening and twisted; even as mere illusions they make one feel their fanatical faith.

Lin Yifan stared at these illusions, his breath catching; for some reason he felt they were like his own.

He looked at these illusions, as if gazing at his own dark side, feeling an urge to merge with them.

But he must absolutely not touch these illusions, or he will surely die.

While Lin Yifan was lost in thought, Ruan Qingtan bent to pick up a book, gently smoothing the pages; the smile on her face faded, replaced by an eerie calm.

"Why do you insist on resisting?" her voice suddenly turned ethereal, the red light in her pupils growing more obvious, "Accept the Red Moon's gift and we can be together forever."

"You've always wanted to end the cycle; isn't this your best choice? Why are you always unwilling?"

Lin Yifan clenched his fists tightly, nails digging deep into his palms.

The pain kept him conscious.

"Enough, you're not Ruan Qingtan." He said coldly: "We've come to this point; why waste breath on meaningless talk?"

"I and Ruan Qingtan were never lovers from start to finish; I don't know why you think my breakthrough point would be her, but sadly you're mistaken."

"Oh?" Ruan Qingtan tilted her head, the corner of her mouth curling into an eerie arc, "It seems you've known all along that this is just an illusion; I originally wanted to win you over, but now it seems unnecessary."

As her words fell, the scene of the Place: Tushuguan began to collapse—bookshelves, desks and chairs, students… everything twisted and dissolved, finally becoming a bloody red space.

Only the Red Moon hung high in the sky, coldly gazing at them.

Lin Yifan looked around, his heart sinking to the bottom.

Illusion Realm's disguise was completely torn apart.

The "Ruan Qingtan" before him slowly raised her hand, fingertips lightly touching his chest.

"You can't escape." Her voice seemed to come from far away, "Either become a follower of the Red Moon, or… remain here forever, a stepping stone beneath my feet."

Lin Yifan stared into her eyes, then suddenly laughed.

"Only two paths? But I want to choose a third."

Having said that, he suddenly grabbed her wrist, his other hand unhesitatingly stabbing toward his own chest!

At the moment blood surged out, the whole world suddenly shattered—

Rules can bind him, Illusion Realm can deceive him, but only he himself can decide life and death.

He refuses to believe that even if he's dead, this illusion wouldn't break!

As expected, he guessed right!

When his blade pierced his heart, darkness devoured everything.

Although death was imminent, Lin Yifan's face still bore a wild smile:

I've said it before: no one in this world can decide my freedom except myself!

And in the final moment before his consciousness faded, he seemed to hear an angry shriek.

"You… how is this possible?!"

Lin Yifan didn't know what happened after his consciousness faded.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself standing in a desolate wasteland.

Although the Red Moon still hung in the sky, it bore no resemblance to the Red Moon seen in the Illusion Realm before.

This Red Moon was just like the one he saw each night after arriving in the Survival Realm: although blood‑red, it hung silently in the sky, posing no threat.

And the surrounding gray mist made Lin Yifan feel intimately familiar.

Is this a return to the Survival Realm?

Could it be that everything that just happened was all an illusion?

And just then, a familiar figure slowly approached from afar.

Lin Yifan narrowed his eyes to look, then immediately furrowed his brow.

Because that figure was none other than Ruan Qingtan again!

Her eyes were clear, she held a blood‑stained short blade, her face written with exhaustion.

"Captain, you've finally awakened." She let out a breath, "I thought… you might have fallen in too."

Although this Ruan Qingtan before him differed from the few he'd met earlier, having once been bitten by a snake, he now truly feared that face.

He took a slight half‑step back, let out a heavy sigh, and spoke helplessly:

"You say you can't change your appearance? Over and over, you're not bored, but I'm getting sick of it!"

"Besides, I made it clear before: I and Ruan Qingtan are not lovers at all; we're merely teammates who met once."

"Even if you become her likeness, it won't affect me in the slightest, so why bother?"

And Ruan Qingtan, hearing this, stood frozen, her face full of confusion as she asked:

"Captain, what are you talking about? What lover‑not‑lover? When did I ever say we were lovers?"

Lin Yifan heard the word "Captain" and froze for a moment, then he carefully looked at the Ruan Qingtan before him and asked uncertainly:

"You… are you the real Ruan Qingtan?"

Then he lowered his gaze to his own unharmed chest, then lifted his eyes to her.

"Is this… a return to the Survival Realm in reality?"

Ruan Qingtan shook her head with a wry smile: "No, this is merely another layer of Illusion Realm."

"Another layer of Illusion Realm? What on earth is going on?" Lin Yifan furrowed his brow, puzzled, and asked:

At the same time he silently warned himself, having been toyed with again and again by that "Ruan Qingtan," he had become hypersensitive to that face.

And Ruan Qingtan, without hiding anything, spoke frankly:

"We weren't just chatting earlier? Then suddenly I was pulled into a strange place, where I was killed by you over and over; no matter how you explain it, you think I'm the core of everything, and that killing me would solve everything."

"I was killed there a full 278 times, going through 278 cycles, until the Illusion Realm showed an image of Earth, and only then did you truly believe me."

"As it turns out, you pretended to believe me, actually trying to break through using me, but the breakthrough failed and you just directly committed suicide!"

I didn't even have time to stop it, but luckily everything was just an illusion; otherwise I would have died of guilt!

Upon hearing that, Lin Yifan was completely stunned!

He originally thought all the loops were aimed at him, but he never imagined Ruan Qingtan was also swept into them.

And looking at it, those so-called 278 restart cycles were, for him, just a bunch of memories forcibly stuffed into his head, but for Ruan Qingtan, they were actually real experiences she had lived through.

278 times!

Exactly 278 times!

Lin Yifan simply couldn't imagine how huge the psychological trauma must be for Ruan Qingtan, whom he had killed so many times.