Chapter 5712: Extra - Young Master Qin Er vs. Zhao Qiran 2 (First-Person Perspective)
I felt a chill pierce my bones, momentarily speechless.
Zhao Qiran, this woman—I had never truly acknowledged her before, and I no longer remembered when or where I had first met her.
Yet it was this woman who brought my entire plan to naught.
Originally, I could have been with Xiao Qiao.
It was all because of this woman. It's all her fault for suddenly lunging over at the crucial moment, pushing me into the Nine Nether Catacombs, entering the void with no way back.
I mustered all my strength and punched the huge rock at the entrance.
But the force was like a clay ox entering the sea, vanishing without a trace.
Could it be...
In this life, in this existence, I truly cannot escape this dark, boundless void?
My heart turned cold, filled with hatred.
Zhao Qiran, at this moment, even smiled as she walked over, tugging at my sleeve. "Young Master Er, let's go look ahead."
"Although it's a vast emptiness here, the twinkling stars are like a sea of stars, and it looks quite beautiful."
Where were these twinkling stars? Where was this sea of stars?
I turned my head to look.
In the void, there was only a vast, dark expanse, with no end in sight and no light.
Everything was swallowed by this darkness, empty, just like the wild grass spreading in my heart.
This woman must be blind.
Zhao Qiran smiled and said to me, "Young Master, can it be that you don't see the sea of stars? But I see it all. Look, if I just imagine it, I can even feel the scent of the waves."
Crazy, crazy, you're truly crazy.
I suddenly took off running, howling as I dashed into the boundless darkness, shouting loudly.
Let me out!
Heavenly Dao, yes, the Heavenly Dao must exist!
No one else could help, but the Heavenly Dao surely could let me out.
"Heavenly Dao!"
"Heavenly Dao?" Zhao Qiran couldn't help but let out a laugh. "Don't bother, Young Master Er, the Heavenly Dao won't be here. This place is the boundless void realm, with nothing but vast emptiness."
I suddenly lunged forward like a madman, reaching out and gripping Zhao Qiran's neck fiercely.
Kill her, kill this crazy woman who only smiled foolishly at me.
Then find a way to escape this place.
I must get out. How else can I find my Xiao Qiao?
"Young Master Er." Zhao Qiran seemed not to fear death. Although she struggled to breathe, she still kept her eyes open, smiling as she looked at me.
"You need to think carefully. If you truly kill me, in this vast void, you'll be left all alone."
"Wouldn't that make you even lonelier, even more utterly sorrowful?"
I stared at her blankly, as if seeing this woman for the first time.
I unconsciously loosened my grip, watching her bend over, coughing heavily several times.
"Zhao Qiran, I don't need you to accompany me."
"You'll find out later, you will, you will need it. People, people always need someone to accompany them. Otherwise, wouldn't it be too, too lonely?" Zhao Qiran smiled faintly, raised her hand, and gently took mine.
"Young Master Er, don't worry. Ran will always, always be with you, no matter how many more years we waste in the void. Ran will always, always be with Young Master Er."
"I don't want you to accompany me, I don't want you to accompany me," I mumbled to myself, disheveled, looking around at the boundless expanse.
"Don't want you to accompany me..."
I walked on, utterly lost, but around me was only the oppressive void.
Even if I walked, where could I possibly go?
Zhao Qiran silently followed me, as if wherever I went, she would follow.
Gradually, days turned into weeks, then months.
In the beginning, I could still ask Zhao Qiran what day it was.
But after dozens, then hundreds of days, I no longer knew what night this was.
Every time I looked back, Zhao Qiran would gently smile at me.
I felt that Zhao Qiran was living very comfortably and happily here, because every time she saw me, she would slowly smile at me, a smile of indescribable joy.
One day, I finally couldn't help but ask her, "Don't you feel bad?"
"Why would I feel bad?" Zhao Qiran looked at me with strange eyes. "I can be with the person I love, walking slowly under a starry sky with the person I love. Why would I feel bad? I feel every day is very pleasant."
I couldn't help but shiver slightly. "In this void, we, we have nothing."
"Our inner world cannot be opened, and we can't even change clothes."
"No food, no water..."
"But what does that matter?" Zhao Qiran smiled gently at me. "We won't feel hunger or fatigue in the void."
"Don't you think that's the biggest problem?"
"Not feeling hunger, fatigue, or tiredness, walking endlessly day and night in this cursed place, don't you, don't you think that's terrifying?"
Zhao Qiran shook her head. "It's not terrifying at all, Young Master Er. Being with Young Master Er makes me the happiest."
I stared at her blankly for a long while, my lips trembling slightly. "I, I won't like you."
"It's okay." This Zhao Qiran said to me softly. "It's okay, Young Master Er. We have plenty of time to spend together. I can wait, whether it's hundreds of years or thousands of years. I can keep waiting, until you change your mind."
Thinking of spending hundreds, even thousands of years, facing Zhao Qiran, I couldn't help but shiver all over, suddenly feeling as if all my strength had been drained.
I suddenly realized that unrequited love and persistent entanglement seemed a little terrifying.
How could one person entangle another for hundreds or thousands of years without wavering?
Doesn't she get tired...?
Every day, I tried every possible way to tear open this void and break through.
I tried everything, even once wanting to self-destruct to leave this void.
But it was too difficult, simply too difficult.
It was hard to self-destruct in the void.
And when Zhao Qiran discovered my intention, she followed me closely everywhere, watching me, vigilantly preventing me from self-destructing.
I tried for probably hundreds of days.
And then?
Then I got tired. I didn't even want to walk anymore.
I slumped like a puddle of mud in the world of the void. Sometimes, when the mood struck me, I would joyfully tell Zhao Qiran, "In the previous life, I married Xiao Qiao."
"Do you know? When I rescued Xiao Qiao from the dungeon in my previous life, she was once very grateful to me."
"At that time, even though she was so weak she was almost transparent, she would still be very nervous and sad when she found out I was injured. She would hold a brush in her mouth and transcribe scriptures for me all night to pray for my well-being."
"When I saw her, she always lay there quietly, waiting for me to come and pat her head."
"She was truly beautiful."
"I think I already liked her then."
It was just later, whether due to pride or aloofness, I personally ruined everything...
I don't know how many times I recounted this to Zhao Qiran.
Each time, Zhao Qiran would lie on my lap, whispering softly to me, "It's okay, you have me now. I will always, always be with you, until forever."
Forever? I couldn't help but shiver, my very heart feeling cold.
I thought to myself silently: But I don't want you. No matter how much time passes, I can never want you.
If, and I mean if, if time could truly turn back, I would actually be willing to pay the price of my life for even an hour with my Qiao.
Obsession, perhaps, is my destiny in this life...
(The End)