CHAPTER 122 – Gu Yanzhou Breaks
Hello guys before you get into the story, I just want you to know that I will be posting 2 in 1 chapters starting from today to expand the word count,cause I realized it's too short. Thank you so much for giving this book a chance.
I see you, I hear you, and I just want you to know that I love you.
Bye .
Gu Yanzhou's body convulsed on the ground, his gold-laced soul-essence vibrating wildly as he clutched the smoking crater where Xiao Xi had vanished.
His voice tore from his throat, raw with ultimate anguish, a sound of betrayal and loss.
"XI—!!! XIAO XI—COME BACK TO ME—YOU PROMISED—!!"
Shen grabbed him desperately from behind, trying to hold him down, tears of frustration in his own eyes.
"Gu—stop it—! She sealed the First Root—she saved all of us! She won, Gu!"
Gu shoved him away violently, his strength fueled by despair.
"NO! SHE PROMISED—SHE PROMISED SHE WOULDN'T LEAVE ME! SHE LIED TO ME!"
Ling knelt, crying softly, her own grief momentarily sidelined by his sheer breakdown.
"Gu… she cut the bond.
She did it because she loves you more than life.
She didn't want you to follow her into that darkness."
Gu's expression twisted into a harrowing mask of hurt, rage, and profound agony.
"She should have let me follow her! She should have let us die together, like we were supposed to!"
His tears dripped down his face like molten gold, the essence of his heartbroken soul.
"I don't want a world without her! I can't live without her!"
Shen grabbed his shoulders again, forcing him to look up, his own voice shaking with repressed sorrow.
"YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO LOST HER, YOU SELFISH IDIOT!"
Gu froze, his destructive spiral momentarily arrested.
Shen's voice dropped to a broken whisper.
"She saved Ling.
She saved me.
She saved the entire world from being erased.
She gave her life for us."
Ling whispered, confirming the sacrifice:
"She saved you most of all, Gu.
She gave you the only thing you didn't have: freedom from her fate."
Gu's trembling intensified, his rage deflating into quiet, vast despair.
"I don't want saving… I just want her."
The Root Protagonist approached quietly, his presence stabilizing the air, his silver eyes focused on Gu.
And Gu's hatred, sharp and misdirected, surged instantly.
"You," he growled, twisting his body toward the failsafe.
"You knew what would happen.
You knew the bond was lethal."
"Yes," the Root Protagonist answered softly, his voice devoid of judgment.
"And you let her do it? You didn't stop her?"
"Yes.
It was her choice, and her function."
Gu lunged at him, rage blazing, pure instinct driving him—
but the Root Protagonist caught him effortlessly, his grip firm and stabilizing.
"Let me go—LET ME GO—!!"
The Root Protagonist's voice stayed calm, cutting through the hysteria.
"If I let you follow her now, as you wish… you will die.
The residual energy will delete you."
Gu froze, the knowledge sinking in.
His voice fell to a desolate whisper.
"…Then let me die.
I don't care."
Ling sobbed.
Shen closed his eyes in defeat.
But the Root Protagonist shook his head, a faint, unexpected light entering his silver gaze.
"No. We cannot allow that."
Gu's voice snapped, laced with bitter indignation.
"NO?! SHE DIED FOR ME—SHE GAVE UP HER LIFE—AND YOU EXPECT ME TO JUST LIVE—AND MOVE ON—?!"
The Root Protagonist looked him directly in the eyes, his voice steady with a terrible certainty.
"She isn't dead, Gu Yanzhou.
She is sealed. There is a difference."
Gu stopped breathing.
"…What?"
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CHAPTER 123 – The Living Seal
Note: before you read this chapter,I just want you to know that, this is a chapter between Xiao xi and the first root . The first root is the one speaking in Capital letter/ bold letters.
Thank you.
Back inside the absolute black void—
Xiao Xi stared at the devastating image of Gu collapsing, clutching his chest.
Tears, conceived purely by her soul, fell freely down her transparent face.
"Yanzhou… I'm so sorry… I broke my promise…"
The First Root's voice slithered toward her like smoke, relishing her torment.
"HE IS FALLING APART.
THE ANCHOR IS BROKEN.
YOUR SACRIFICE WAS IN VAIN."
She clenched her fists, trying to solidify her form.
"I did what I had to do.
I saved this world."
"YES." A pause, thick with implication. "YOU CHOSE HIM.
YOU CHOSE HIS LIFE OVER YOUR OWN."
Xiao Xi stiffened, defending her final action.
"I chose the world.
That was my function."
The First Root's laughter echoed, cold, knowing, and mocking.
"YOU CHOSE HIM.
THAT IS WHY YOU ARE SO EASY TO TORMENT."
Xiao Xi turned away, refusing to respond.
But every image the First Root showed her—Gu breaking down, Shen punching the ground until his fists bled, Ling sobbing into Shen's shoulder—stabbed her with profound, agonizing regret.
"Stop," she whispered, her translucent body flickering.
"WHY?" The First Root purred, its voice sickeningly reasonable.
"YOU DID NOT HESITATE TO SACRIFICE YOURSELF.
BUT YOU CANNOT BEAR TO SEE THEIR PAIN? THE PAIN YOU CAUSED?"
Xiao Xi's voice shook, the foundation of her self-justification crumbling.
"I didn't want them to hurt.
I wanted them to be safe."
"OF COURSE NOT.
THAT IS WHY YOU DO NOT BELONG IN THIS VOID."
Xiao Xi's head snapped up, a flash of pure curiosity piercing her despair.
"What do you mean? What does that have to do with anything?"
"YOU ARE NOT A ROOT MADE OF CHAOS.
YOU ARE NOT A ROOT MADE OF ORDER."
The First Root tilted its shadowy head, studying her like a novel insect.
"YOU ARE A ROOT MADE OF CHOICE."
Xiao Xi's breath froze in her conceptual lungs.
"Choice…?"
"YOUR POWER CAME FROM WHAT YOU CHOSE TO LOVE.
NOT FROM WHAT YOU DESTROYED.
NOT FROM WHAT YOU WERE CREATED FOR.
YOU DIDN'T FOLLOW THE RULES."
Xiao Xi's soul pounded.
"So… I wasn't designed to be a Root? The Core didn't write me?"
"NO." The First Root's voice dropped into a terrifying, conspiratorial whisper.
"YOU WEREN'T DESIGNED AT ALL, XIAO XI.
YOU ARE A NARRATIVE ACCIDENT."
Her entire being trembled with the magnitude of the truth.
"What… does that mean…?"
The First Root smiled darkly, the shadows shifting into a look of predatory satisfaction.
"YOU WERE NOT CREATED BY THE SYSTEM.
NOR THE CORE.
NOR ANY ROOT BEFORE YOU."
Her pulse spiked, raw and urgent.
"Then who—"
"YOU CREATED YOURSELF, LITTLE ENTITY.
YOU ARE THE FIRST SELF-BORN ROOT.
THE ONLY ONE WHO WAS NOT WRITTEN BY ANYONE."
The void shook with the magnitude of the revelation.
Xiao Xi staggered backward, her form nearly collapsing.
"What…?"
"YOU, LITTLE ROOT, BROKE THE BOUNDARY BECAUSE YOU ALTERED FATE BEFORE YOU EVEN ARRIVED."
Her eyes widened in horror.
"…the accident.
The crossover."
"YES.
YOU CHANGED THE STORY IN YOUR ORIGINAL WORLD SO DEEPLY, IT FRACTURED THE BOUNDARIES.
YOU, XIAO XI, ARE THE CAUSE OF THIS ENTIRE PLOTLINE."
Xiao Xi stared in horror, the guilt crushing her.
"I… caused everything? The instability? The deletion?"
"YES.
AND THAT IS WHY YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN BREAK THIS PRISON."
The void trembled, energized by the truth.
"BECAUSE YOU WERE NEVER MEANT TO EXIST.
YOU ARE THE DEFINITION OF THE IMPOSSIBLE."