NOVPUBQiao Suisui, distressed, covered her eyes with her hands as tears unceasingly seeped through her fingers.
Her crying was both enduring and feeble. Ruka hadn’t seen her cry like this for a long time, and his eyes reddened too. He held her tightly, continuously caressing her back. Leberli comforted her gently from the side, while Carl frowned and turned away, his eyes moistening, not daring to mention anything that might sadden her further.
The atmosphere was oppressively tense.
Exhausted from crying, Qiao Suisui fell asleep in Ruka’s arms. Leberli suggested they carry her to the inner hall, saying, "Regardless of whether Suisui is willing, we can’t stay in the Federation any longer; only the Freedom Alliance is safe. Let’s take her there tomorrow."
Sang Yan nodded in agreement.
At that moment, Carl wished to stay by her side every step of the way; her crying shattered his heart.
But as Ruka stood up, he froze in place.
"What’s wrong?" Leberli turned back to look at him.
Holding the person in his arms, Ruka lowered his head and softly called out to her, "Suisui."
Leberli frowned, "She just fell asleep; what are you doing..."
"She seems to have stopped breathing!"
Ruka hurriedly placed her on the couch and leaned down, pressing his ear against her chest, trying to hear the sound of her heartbeat.
Carl rushed over, gently stroking Qiao Suisui’s head, though his face was filled with urgency, "Sweetheart, wake up, don’t play this kind of joke on me, please; I’m really scared."
Sang Yan had already run to call the medical team.
All the men couldn’t believe she had lost her life just like that, but every doctor on the medical team sighed and shook their heads.
Leberli grabbed one doctor by the collar, angrily saying, "What kind of expression is that? Treat her! Save her! Save her for me!"
Ruka knelt on the ground, his eyes empty as he stared at the petite figure on the couch, who looked as peaceful as if she were asleep, everything having happened so suddenly.
Carl kept calling out to her, crying while he called; the veins on his neck protruded, and his entire face turned red with tears.
Sang Yan incredulously slumped against the wall, sitting on the ground.
Qiao Suisui had been forced to log out, but the development of the real world was not under the control of the game or any item; only her mindset was affected, so her experience didn’t deviate much from the original timeline.
Currently, her memory only reached up until Lanze came to the real world to find her; the only change was that Lanze didn’t use a pen to delineate everyone’s paths but told her himself that he had discovered two worlds. Regarding what exactly happened on this timeline after logging out, Qiao Suisui’s memory contained nothing.
This indicated that after using Time Retrospect to go back to the past and then returning, she on this timeline hadn’t "awakened" yet.
And she had already merged with herself on this timeline, but what about that sleeping self?
"Suisui, Suisui..."
Qiao Suisui came to her senses, the flood of memories having briefly disconnected her from all external perceptions. Now, hearing Ruka’s voice and seeing his worried and tense face watching her, she became alert.
"Are you feeling unwell? Is it a headache?"
Ruka was promptly alarmed, fearing another unexpected departure in her sleep. He was about to get out of bed to find someone but was stopped as Qiao Suisui grabbed him.
"Ruka, tell me, what all happened while I was away?"
Ruka was startled, turned around and embraced her, caressing her head with a gaze filled with unremovable sorrow.
He said softly, "You’ve just woken up, wait until your body is completely healed before..."
"I’m fine now, really fine." Qiao Suisui gripped the corner of his clothes, her eyes fixed on him, "Ruka, what exactly happened?"
The man closed his eyes and sighed.
"You stopped breathing in your sleep. We all couldn’t accept such a sudden fact. Leberli, Carl, Sang Yan, and even Lanze were all ceaselessly searching for the reason and a way to bring you back to life.
Not long after, Zong Yan’s forces had pushed to the boundaries of the Auslan, but I had completely lost heart in the battlefield, so for the first time, I chose not to fight and to abandon it.
Zong Fang noticed my anomaly. He somehow found out about your situation, went berserk, and killed many indiscriminately. For a moment, blood flowed like a river."
"What happened then?"
After she asked, she suddenly remembered the ruins all along the way... Clearly, the war had ended a long time ago, but why was there no sign of recovery in the Federation? And from the beginning, the entire Imperial Court didn’t have anyone else but Ruka and Carl’s children. Where were Ash? Zong Fang? And the others?
Ruka’s thin lips moved slightly, but the hesitation on his face revealed his anxiety.
He was afraid, afraid that after telling her the bad news, she wouldn’t be able to handle it, and he also feared she would leave again like she did the last time.
Qiao Suisui saw his concerns, held his hand tightly, "Ruka, trust me, only if I know everything can I make a change."
Ruka didn’t fully understand the true meaning of her words, but after hesitating, he decided to reveal everything.
"After Zong Fang knew about your accident, he insisted on taking your body... Leberli insisted you weren’t dead and wouldn’t let him see you. Zong Fang, disregarding Zong Yan’s battle plans, unhesitatingly attacked the Auslan Empire, while Leberli, also immersed in deep sorrow, confronted him in battle. Zong Fang, like a madman who had lost his restraints, killed anyone who tried to stop him.
I saw him thrust a scalpel into Leberli’s chest. By the time I arrived, it was too late to save him..."
Qiao Suisui’s back was already soaked with cold sweat.
"Carl took away your body before Zong Fang could, and no one knows where he used ’Breakthrough’ to go. I searched for many years but never found you, though he left all the children in Auslan.
Unable to find you, Zong Fang fell completely into a savage state. He seemed to despise this world and Zong Yan alike. He locked himself in the laboratory and in just ten days, he created a deadly poison.
He used Zong Yan’s armed forces to massively poison the troops of the commander camp. The army was paralyzed after 3 seconds, their bodies stiffened after 5 seconds, and the gaseous poison, upon being inhaled or coming into contact with skin, ended lives in 8 seconds. Later, I heard he named this poison ’Human World’."
Zong Fang wanted to use this method to let everyone accompany Qiao Suisui in death."
Beastmen believe that after death, they ascend to the Heavenly Palace to become envoys of the Beast God, so Zong Fang gifted her with a ’Human World’."
"Zong Yan was completely victorious, and while rewarding his troops during the celebration, Zong Fang also poisoned their wine, wiping out Zong Yan’s people too.
He killed indiscriminately, like an ice-cold, numb devil, as if he had lost his chains and fallen into the darkest hell.
Yet, he didn’t kill Zong Yan but instead left him with 9 snake cubs to raise, and took poison himself, letting Zong Yan witness his entire suicide process. This was his revenge."
Qiao Suisui hadn’t expected that in this timeline, Zong Fang would become so extreme. Swallowing her heartache, it took her a while to find her voice again, stunned, she asked, "What happened to those snake cubs now?"
