Chapter 109: Destiny

(Warning: The scene below is depressing and involves suicidal tendencies.)

...................

She was completely entangled in the vines, desperately trying to break free. She glared at him with hatred.

"Don’t call me aunt! I don’t deserve it!"

Lu Yucai frowned. "Ruo Chiwu..."

"You are so selfish!"

She interrupted him. "You don’t even feel guilty for letting me die like this, do you?"

Her eyes were filled with resentment.

"If only you had died in my place, things would have been easier."

The vines tightened around her body.

"Do you think staying beside Ni Mengxue will wash away all your sins?"

Lu Yucai’s face turned pale.

"You are a sinner, Lu Yucai. You killed your colleagues, and now you’ve killed me... someone who was important to Ni Mengxue."

She stared at him viciously. "It’s only a matter of time before you kill Ni Mengxue too."

Lu Yucai’s entire body turned cold. Ruo Chiwu’s expression twisted with anger.

"She will start to hate you soon! I was her close one! Just wait and see... how she will stop loving you!"

Her voice echoed through the green landscape. "If you have even an ounce of shame, then die!"

The vines around her tightened further.

"If you don’t die, Ni Mengxue will!"

Lu Yucai shook his head. "No. This isn’t what she said. She said that I’m not a jinx. I’m just..."

Ruo Chiwu suddenly laughed. Her laughter sounded particularly hollow.

"Do you truly believe her words?"

Lu Yucai froze.

"It was obvious that she was lying. Didn’t you notice the slight insincerity in her eyes when she called you a Karmic Retribution Angel? That was all bullshit. You believed it because you selfishly wanted to stay by her side. You wanted to believe that you could start a new life."

Her expression twisted with bitterness.

"But you’re starting this life by stepping over the corpses of your friends and family. Are you happy?"

"No. No..."

Lu Yucai shook his head repeatedly. "No."

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself lying on his bed.

White moonlight filtered through the window, casting a pale glow across the room.

For a moment, everything was silent. Then he saw Ruo Chiwu sitting beside his bed.

She slowly turned toward him. "It’s a tiring, right? You see me every single night."

Lu Yucai remained silent, staring blankly ahead. Ruo Chiwu smiled.

"Why don’t you take the knife you’re hiding beside your pillow and use it on yourself? Trust me, it will make everything easier."

Her voice was soft, almost coaxing.

"You’ll finally be able to give an answer to everyone who died because of you. You can also make Ni Mengxue’s life easier. She can pursue Meng Xiaoni without worrying about you. She won’t have to be conflicted between the two of you."

She leaned closer. "Even you know that Meng Xiaoni is the better choice for her."

Lu Yucai slowly reached into his sleeve and pulled out the knife. His movements were sluggish, almost mechanical.

Ruo Chiwu watched him with a relaxed smile. "Do it, Lu Yucai. Do it."

His mind seemed to sink into a trance. The knife pressed against his chest. Then pain suddenly cut through the fog.

Warm blood began to seep through his clothes. The world around him gradually fell silent.

He could no longer hear Ruo Chiwu’s voice. He could no longer hear the wind outside.

Everything seemed to merge into one indistinct blur, yet at the same time, it felt as though there was nothing at all.

As the blood continued to seep out, Lu Yucai’s consciousness slowly began to fade.

Ni Mengxue sat in the chair at the rear of the balcony, staring at the starry sky.

Suddenly, a system prompt appeared.

[Your fourth husband is in danger. Please check on them immediately.]

Ni Mengxue’s expression changed. Her fourth husband? According to the world’s original setting, Lu Yucai was her fourth husband.

She immediately stood up and hurried toward his room. When she reached the door, she knocked anxiously. "Yucai, open the door."

There was no response. Her heart sank. She quickly took out her key and unlocked the door.

The moment she stepped inside, Ni Mengxue felt as though her entire world had come crashing down.

For a brief moment, she was transported back to the scene of her past life, to the moment when she had watched her lover die.

Lu Yucai was lying motionless on the bed. One of his arms hung over the edge, and blood dripped steadily from his wrist.

Ni Mengxue’s stomach churned. She almost vomited. But she forced down her emotions and rushed to his side.

She immediately fed him a healing potion before examining the wound. It was deep, but the potion quickly stopped the bleeding and began closing the wound.

Ni Mengxue hurriedly bandaged his wrist. Only after confirming that Lu Yucai was no longer in danger did she finally collapse onto the floor.

Her hands and legs were trembling uncontrollably. She couldn’t understand what had happened. ’I’ve already avoided him. So why did he still try to commit suicide?’

No. That wasn’t even the most important question.

’Why didn’t the system warn me when Lu Yucai first became suicidal?’

Ni Mengxue quickly went through every loophole she could think of. Then she understood.

The condition for unlocking Lu Yucai’s route had been saving him from death once. But that did not mean he would never attempt to die again.

Ni Mengxue suddenly felt like the biggest idiot in the world. She had thought she had figured everything out.

The reality was that she hadn’t even touched the tip of the iceberg. ’Where exactly did things go wrong?’

She couldn’t find the answer.

........................

The next day, Lu Yucai finally opened his eyes. The familiar ceiling came into view. Instead of relief, despair washed over him.

Ni Mengxue had been sitting beside his bed all night without sleeping. The moment she noticed him move, she immediately stood up and hugged him.

"Finally. Thank God you’re awake. You almost scared me to death."

But then she heard his broken voice.

"Why?"

Ni Mengxue froze.

"Why did you save me?"

She slowly pulled away and looked at him. His eyes were filled with hatred.

Ni Mengxue was stunned. She quickly cupped his face.

"Lu Yucai, don’t act like this. You’re scaring me. What happened, baby? Everything was fine yesterday. Are you angry because I paid extra attention to Meng Xiaoni? I promise I won’t..."

"Why did you save me?"

Lu Yucai interrupted her. "I don’t want to live in this world anymore."

His voice trembled. "Mengxue, I don’t want to live anymore. I’ve lost too much. I can’t stop thinking about everything I’ve lost."

He clenched his fists. "Even Aunt Ruo didn’t survive."

Ni Mengxue’s heart tightened.

"You keep saying that you don’t hate me, but you must hate me, right? Even I hate myself."

His voice broke.

"She was such a kind person. She protected me. She gave me food when the previous Ni Mengxue was neglecting me. And yet she died because I failed to protect her."

His eyes reddened. "I fucking hate myself. I want to die. Why did you stop me?"

The moment those words left his mouth, he completely broke down.

All the tears and grievances he had held back for so long finally poured out.

Ni Mengxue felt as though someone had stabbed her directly in the heart.

She immediately hugged him and gently patted his back.

"Don’t think like that. She would never blame you. I don’t blame you either. I don’t hate you, Yucai. It was destiny. We can’t fight destiny."

Lu Yucai’s sobs gradually weakened. "If it was destiny, then why couldn’t destiny let me die?"

His voice was soft and exhausted.

"According to my original plan, I should have already died. You were the one who changed my fate and made me survive."

Ni Mengxue’s entire body turned cold. For a brief moment, she wondered if Lu Yucai already knew about the original novel’s setting.

But then he continued. "I should have died instead of my brothers. I should have died instead of Aunt Ruo."

His tears fell silently. "All of them died while I survived. I don’t want to survive anymore."

Ni Mengxue felt a wave of exhaustion wash over her.

She understood that Lu Yucai was suffering, but this was the first time she truly realized how difficult it must have been for him.

She had once thrown similar words at him. Back then, she had thought she was simply throwing a tantrum.

But now she understood. ’It was never a tantrum.’

Sometimes, people simply couldn’t accept that even after they had been given a chance to change the ending, they could still lose the people they loved.

Ni Mengxue gently patted his shoulder.

"Yucai, if you continue blaming yourself, then what about Aunt Rou?"

Lu Yucai froze.

After a long silence, he whispered, "She hates me."

Ni Mengxue shook her head and pulled away.

Her eyes met his beautiful, tear-filled eyes.

"Yucai, she loved you. That’s why she sacrificed herself."