Chapter 551: The Past Cannot Hurt You, Only You Can Hurt Yourself

Chapter 551 -370: The Past Cannot Hurt You, Only You Can Hurt Yourself

Chi Lian’s voice was like flowing silk, soft yet carrying an undeniable seductiveness.

She gently toyed with a strand of her hair, her gaze seeming particularly profound in the dim light. Her dark red nightgown rose and fell slightly with each breath, an utterly provocative sight.

Wu Liangchen remained silent for a moment before walking over to a nearby chair and sitting down. He didn’t pointedly look away, but he didn’t let his eyes linger on her exposed skin either.

“That won’t be necessary,” Wu Liangchen said flatly.

A flash of surprise crossed Chi Lian’s eyes, followed by a soft chuckle. “What’s wrong? Am I not to your liking?”

Wu Liangchen shook his head. “That’s not it.”

“Then what is it?” The corners of Chi Lian’s mouth lifted in a playful smile. “Don’t tell me a powerful martial artist like you gets shy about this sort of thing?”

Wu Liangchen met her eyes. His gaze held no condescending pity, no predatory lust, not even the harshness of moral judgment—only a pure, level stare.

“Everyone has the right to choose their own way of life, and I won’t judge your choices.” He paused. “But by that same token, I have a right to my own choice.”

The smile on Chi Lian’s face froze. She had never encountered a reaction like this before.

Years ago, while struggling to survive with her younger brother, she had sold a young girl’s most precious possession to a convenience store owner just for a full meal.

To this day, she could still remember the feeling of that pot-bellied, middle-aged man writhing on top of her.

After so much time and everything else she’d been through, she thought she had long since stopped caring, yet Wu Liangchen’s words had just shattered her defenses with ease.

“Don’t worry, no one is forcing me. The Starfire Organization never forces its members to do anything they don’t want to.”

“I’m doing this voluntarily. I’ve done this sort of thing so many times that I’m used to it. One more time doesn’t matter.”

As she spoke, her face was filled with the nonchalance of someone who had given up on themself.

It was a kind of reckless despair.

“I don’t know what you’ve been through before,” Wu Liangchen suddenly said, “but to survive in an environment like this, and to choose to resist—that in itself requires enormous courage and resilience. I’ve seen many people, in far better circumstances than yours, who would have given up long ago.”

Chi Lian was stunned. She had anticipated countless possible reactions, but she had never expected to hear something like this.

“I’m saying all this just to tell you that you don’t have to feel inferior because of your past, let alone give up on yourself. Let go of those burdens, and you’ll find that the past can’t actually hurt you. The only one who can hurt you is yourself.”

The room fell into silence. Chi Lian’s expression shifted from anger to confusion, and finally to a sort of indescribable dawning realization.

“No one has ever spoken to me like that,” she finally said softly, her tone now devoid of its earlier provocative and flippant quality.

“Before I joined Starfire, everyone either treated me as a tool or a plaything. No one, not a single person, ever truly saw me as an equal.”

“It wasn’t until I joined Starfire that I finally received the respect a person deserves, but I still felt inferior, because I felt like I was tainted.”

As she said this, she lifted her head, her eyes shining with a brand-new light.

“Thank you for saying that to me. I hope you get a good rest. If you need anything, anyone at the base will help you.”

With that, she turned and walked to the door, her steps no longer flirtatious and light, but firm and confident.

After Chi Lian had gone, Wu Liangchen let out a faint sigh.

He truly hadn’t been tempted, because he had already learned of Chi Lian’s tragic past from Old Ghost.

Anyone with a shred of conscience would find it hard not to feel sympathy for the young woman.

Meanwhile, in another room in the base, Old Ghost couldn’t help but nod slightly when he heard from a subordinate that Chi Lian had not spent the night with Wu Liangchen, but had left his room quite quickly.

“Alright, I understand.”

“Should I ask Chi Lian to come here?”

“That won’t be necessary. Let her have some quiet time alone. If something comes up, I’m sure she’ll come find us on her own.”

“Yes!”

Wu Liangchen didn’t know any of this, and even if he had, he couldn’t have been bothered to care.

Soon, he lay down and went to sleep.

That was probably the soundest he had slept in a long time.

He slept until he was startled awake by a knock on the door the next morning.

When he opened the door, he found Old Ghost standing at the entrance with a smile.

“Mr. Wu, how did you rest?”

“Quite well,” Wu Liangchen said, stepping aside to let Old Ghost into the room.

Old Ghost didn’t stand on ceremony. After entering and taking a seat, he got straight to the point. “We’ve finally figured out why the Dome Corporation has been able to track your movements so precisely.”

“Oh? And why is that?”

“It’s Butterfly,” Old Ghost’s voice carried a hint of dread. “Butterfly has personally taken action.”

Wu Liangchen frowned. “Butterfly?”

The name wasn’t unfamiliar; Old K had mentioned this mysterious figure before.

“That’s right. Butterfly is the administrator of Zhongjing’s network system and one of the Dome Corporation’s most mysterious high-level executives,” Old Ghost explained. “She possesses a unique Magic that allows her to project her consciousness into the network. In the network, she’s like a true god—omnipotent.”

Wu Liangchen said thoughtfully, “That explains why they could find me, no matter how careful I was.”

“Precisely. Every surveillance camera in Zhongjing, every data stream, even every smart device—it’s all under her control.”