Author: 易修罗 / Yi Xiu Luo

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 114

Ling Xiao, who had always remained outside the realm of history, was suddenly entrusted with such a heavy responsibility and was momentarily bewildered.

His tone was filled with uncertainty, and his eyes, which kept shifting downward, revealed his inner turmoil.

“To be honest, if it were me who had just completed the coming-of-age ceremony and traveled back in time, I might have given an answer without a second thought.”

“Back then, I harbored a deep hatred for this system. Death seemed like a release compared to living without dignity.”

“If I knew that the origin of inequality was a matter of choice, perhaps, as you said, I would have resented the person who made this choice, who decided the fate of everyone for their own selfish reasons, and wondered how many people would despair, truly feeling that it’s better to be dead than alive.”

But gradually, as he recalled more of his past, he grew more confident, and his troubled gaze began to show resolve.

“However, I must admit, this system has given us a possibility—a possibility for people in love to be together. Without this system, our future would be hopeless that not even despair would exist. What’s the point of having freedom and dignity in such a future where there’s nothing to look forward to?”

“I’ve seen many people suffer because of the existence of the blood pact, like Ping Zong and Lan Sheng, the Principal and Fei Jing, Tai Yin and Shang Yang… but I’ve also seen many more who have found happiness through it, like Doctor Yao and the Professor, Commander Fu Yao and Instructor Nie Yun, Bing Can and Red Head, and many others. If to avoid the misfortune of some, we must deprive many others of their happiness, where then is their freedom to pursue happiness?”

“When I was still naive, a health physician at the academy once said that in true love, there is no hierarchy, no winning or losing. Even though the Qizhu has strong controlling power, if it’s a pair of true lovers, this power will not come into play; their souls are equal, their statuses are equal.”

“In my youthful ignorance, I dismissed it as nonsense, but only after I experienced true love did I realize that this is actually the crystallization of wisdom that our people have striven for and pursued over four thousand years, pouring countless hearts and souls into it. Our ancestors, through lifetimes of self-destruction and lonely reincarnations, have only gained a small step forward, and your descendants will also continue step by step in your footsteps.”

Ling Qi and Ye Zheng held each other’s hands tighter in private, and everyone present yearned for the beautiful future he had outlined.

“Moreover,” Ling Xiao showed a smile on his face that he himself didn’t notice, due to the image of a certain person that appeared in his mind, “without the existence of the blood pact, Ying Feng and I would not have been able to fall in love with each other again without knowing that we were lovers in a past life.”

“We would have missed each other, perhaps separated by life and death at the coming-of-age ceremony, or perhaps we would never have crossed paths at all. With his low emotional intelligence, he might end up holding a peach pit and living in loneliness forever, or even dispersing his soul. How could I rest assured?”

“As a beneficiary, I am grateful for the birth of the blood pact. If I have to choose a prefix for living on, I hope it’s that no matter what, I can be with the one I love, because only such a life has meaning.”

Ling Qi and Ye Zheng both let out a sigh of relief, along with everyone present. The difficult choice became simple and pure because of the emergence of this mysterious person.

“What you said is right.” Ling Qi smiled. “If you die, you have nothing, but if you live, there’s always a chance for a turnaround.”

“Compared to real humans, we wake up with the knowledge of language, writing, and all the skills necessary for survival, so in our long lives, we have enough time to learn how to get along with each other.”

He picked up Ye Zheng’s hands, their foreheads touching, fingers interlocked. “From now on, our relationship will no longer be equal, which itself goes against the original intent of love. But I believe that our descendants will find a way to interact with equality within this unequal relationship, carrying on the intentions of our hearts, lifetime after lifetime.”

“Perhaps in the future, there will be better solutions. Maybe in another four thousand years, people will find the key to undoing the coming-of-age ceremony. But in this life, at this moment, in this place, I am willing to give up everything to be your Qizi, with no regrets.”

The crowd was immersed in this warm atmosphere for a long time before they belatedly realized that this must be the first wedding since the birth of the Republic. The delayed applause added a touch of liveliness to the simple ceremony, and people’s faces were filled with joy. Since they had learned how to smile, this was the first time they had shown such smiles after the coming-of-age ceremony.

“It’s just incredible,” Tai Shao said to Ling Xiao. “Do you really come from four thousand years in the future? Can I check your data?”

Ling Xiao stretched out his arms generously, allowing Tai Shao to connect the instrument to his wrist, and the data values for him and Ling Qi were listed side by side on two screens.

“I wasn’t quite convinced before, but seeing this data, I have to believe,” Tai Shao exclaimed. “You have undergone significant upgrades and evolution compared to the Tianxiu people of today. It must be that your kin have been working hard over these four thousand years to achieve such remarkable progress.”

“The only pity is that with my personal abilities, I cannot transplant your code directly, let alone the fact that the bodies of the modern Tianxiu people wouldn’t be able to handle it. High-end software can only run on high-end platforms, and too advanced code would only cause the system to crash. All I can do is make a simple modification to the base, and more than that will have to rely on your next life. Fortunately, you have already proven that you can do it.”

He typed on the keyboard. “‘Loyalty to the royal family’ is a core command that cannot be changed. In order to compensate as much as possible for the unequal relationship brought by the blood pact, I’ve supplemented it with ‘Always be loyal to one’s partner when the royal family does not exist’, and set it as the highest priority. Loyalty is already your primary attribute, so such a modification should be easily accepted. The coming-of-age ceremony is also impossible to abolish, but we can add a contradictory command to constrain it. For example, change the command from needing to kill the other to develop to…”

He couldn’t think of an alternative.

“Develop through a union of both parties?” Ling Xiao suggested casually.

Tai Shao snapped his fingers. “That’s a good idea! Let’s decide on that.”

Ling Xiao: …I feel like I’ve dug myself a big hole.

“No, actually, we could discuss this issue further…” Ling Xiao tried to interject.

Tai Shao ignored him and continued, “I will close your replication rights. From now on, you can only obtain souls through the Soul Tree. Newborn souls will no longer need genetic transplantation from real humans but will be born with humanoid intelligence directly.”

“Why is that?” Ling Xiao asked, puzzled.

“This is the agreement I made with the people of this country. In exchange for helping you modify your code, you will give up the right to replicate yourselves and only let the Soul Tree automatically control your population. If you abide by the agreement and live peacefully, the Soul Tree will continue to produce souls, making your population thrive. But if you continue to invade as before and harm the interests of other nations, the number of new souls will become fewer and fewer until completely cut off.”

Ling Xiao felt somewhat guilty, but luckily no one else noticed. They were still immersed in the joy of the changes in their current situation. As for the population crisis, it was too distant for them, not a concern of people in this era.

After sending Ling Qi back with Ye Zheng and instructing him on the matters to be aware of during the chaotic period—since he was the first in all of Tianxiu to go through the chaotic period without prior experience—Ling Xiao began to doubt whether his purpose for returning was to help his past life through this difficult time.

“I have safely gone through the coming-of-age ceremony. What about you? When will you leave here for the next time point?” Ling Qi asked after carefully noting down every word of Ling Xiao’s instructions.

“I don’t know.” Ling Xiao scratched his nose. “Maybe soon, or maybe I’ll be here for a long time. If you don’t see me one day, I’m probably gone.”

“Although I’m reluctant, I hope you can return to your world soon and reunite with Ye Zheng’s next life.”

“I will,” Ling Xiao waved at them, climbed out the window, and jumped onto a tree.

“Why does he live in a tree?” Ling Qi asked.

Ye Zheng shook his head. “Don’t know. Maybe it’s a habit of people from the future.”

From a distance, Ling Xiao spotted peaches on the tree. He grabbed the biggest one, wiped it, and was about to bring it to his mouth when he noticed his hand becoming transparent.

‘Let me have a bite before I go!’ he cried inwardly, but alas, the goddess of time didn’t hear his plea. He watched helplessly as the peach slipped through his hands, cheerfully tumbling towards the soil beneath the tree.

Thud—something hit the ground, rolled for a bit, and then came to a stop.

Ying Feng, who was loosening the soil in the flowerbed, heard the noise and looked up to see something round beneath the tree.

He walked over to investigate and found it was a wild peach from the tree, fallen because it had ripened unpicked and was now somewhat rotten.

Xiao Hui also came over for a symbolic sniff. Judging by its size, it could now be called Da* Hui. Having spent so much time with Ying Feng, the wolf had become very aloof, nothing like the lively creature it had been when it was with Ling Xiao.

*Big.

“Do you want to eat it?” Ying Feng asked.

Xiao Hui haughtily turned its head away in refusal.

Ying Feng looked up and saw many ripe peaches still on the tree. If a certain person were still here, they would probably be very happy.

He contemplated picking the peaches but, by accident, spotted a little sprout poking through the soil under the peach tree.

“What’s this?”

He approached for a closer look. Over the years, he had become familiar with many plants, but he had never seen a sprout like this one. It seemed to be some sort of woody plant, but it didn’t belong to any known category.

How could such an unidentified plant suddenly appear here?

Ying Feng took out the paper and pencil he always carried with him and quickly sketched the new sprout. As he closed his notebook, he realized that this environment seemed somewhat familiar.

I have always kept it because it is very important to me, but if it means making someone important to me unhappy, between things and people, I would of course choose the latter.

Ying Feng finally remembered—it was here, the place where he had decided to bury the keepsake, beneath the peach tree in the backyard of the church.

…Could it be?

In his bewilderment, Ying Feng noticed some disturbed soil in a corner nearby, as if someone had dug it up and then covered it again.

What now?

He walked over, and just as he squatted down, Xiao Hui nervously followed and sat conspicuously on the suspicious spot.

Ying Feng was almost certain it was Xiao Hui’s doing. Without further ado, he shooed the wolf away and dug up the soil with a shovel to reveal what lay beneath.

Gnawed bones, the desiccated corpse of a mouse, cicada shells, a lump of cloth too decayed to identify…

Ying Feng was at a loss whether to laugh or cry. “Did you collect all these?”

The aloof Da Hui’s secret stash was exposed, its head swiveling east and west, unsure of what expression to maintain its aloof demeanor.

“That sprout over there is your doing as well, isn’t it?” Probably not knowing where it found the seed, it buried it in the ground, where it just happened to sprout.

Xiao Hui looked confused, but to Ying Feng, who saw things from a different species’ perspective, that probably indicated a degree of guilt.

“Why are you like a monkey, liking to hoard all sorts of junk?”

Xiao Hui’s eyes brightened for a moment, then dimmed down, its head drooping listlessly.

After blurting out that remark, Ying Feng also fell silent. Man and wolf faced each other wordlessly. A gentle breeze passed by, and the little sprout in the distance swayed its tender young body with the wind.

After a while, Ying Feng reached out and rubbed Xiao Hui’s head.

“Let me help you bury these again.”

Xiao Hui lay dejectedly on the ground, emitting a low whine from deep in its throat.

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