Chapter 26: The Bride of the Phantom King (26)

But after Ah Hua had raved in that eerie, maddened voice for several minutes, she could no longer conceal her sorrow. She crouched down, covering her face, wracked with painful sobs.

"I know things weren't supposed to be this way... But I'm the one enduring all this pain, how can it be wrong for me to take revenge? It's others who were in the wrong..."

"In the beginning, you truly weren't at fault," Tang Mu replied, watching her in silence. Though her tone was calm and unruffled, her words were merciless.

"But your mistake lies in your refusal to confront the one who put you in this hellish state. Compared to Zhu Wenshi, you're weak. You don't dare fight back. Yet you can inflict your suffering on those even weaker than yourself. That's not revenge—it's cowardice. You wallow in your pain, ruled by the fear in your heart, lost in the past, without the slightest repentance. And so the agony of the past continues to torment you."

"You don't let yourself go, nor do you let others go."

"Cowardly, selfish, and lacking the courage to reshape yourself."

"How are you any different from Zhu Wenshi, who delights in tormenting others for his own amusement?"

...

Ah Hua's tears streamed uncontrollably at Tang Mu's words.

Behind her, Jiang Lang could bear it no longer and rebuked Tang Mu for attacking Ah Hua at her most vulnerable spot.

"Tang Mu, Ah Hua is still young! She was never supposed to go through any of this. You can't speak to her that way!"

"Young? She was young back then. And now? She's a centuries-old wraith—still young?" Tang Mu looked at Jiang Lang in exasperation. "I know you feel guilty toward her, but it is precisely your endless indulgence that has truly brought her to this state. If there's a second person to blame here, it's you. It's your centuries of inaction that have caused Ah Hua, who once had the chance to be reborn, to fall so utterly."

"You—" Jiang Lang was stung to the core, his anger making him lean forward, intent on lashing out at Tang Mu.

But Ah Hua stopped him just as he reached out.

"Jiang Lang, I'm tired." Hundreds of years of resentment and hatred—at last, even they must grow weary.

She crouched with her head bowed, her blood-red tears hiding whatever grievances still lingered in her eyes. But the present was no longer the past.

A hundred years had passed.

She held the hand of the one closest to her, the one who had endured a century of torment by her side. Whether love or hate, all things must eventually find their end.

"Let them go," Ah Hua said to Jiang Lang. "I didn't manage to kill Zhu Wenshi with my own hands this time. Next time, I will."

Jiang Lang was silent for a long moment. Then, gently, he said, "Alright."

A door like a black hole appeared within the scenario—a portal marking the exit from the game.

The remaining people wept for joy, screaming for Tang Mu, begging her to help them up from their coffins.

But Tang Mu paid them no mind.

She simply walked away.

Back in the real world.

She found herself in a cramped iron cabin. A tiny single-person bathroom, a narrow kitchen, a small, ancient computer desk, and a narrow single bed. The only window—a transparent, special radiation-proof pane—offered a sliver of the outside world.

Everywhere was polluted, radioactive water. There was almost no greenery left.

People built houseboats atop the filthy water, drifting with the waves. Through advanced technology, they purified the radioactive water, extracting what little drinkable liquid remained, just enough to meet the needs of everyone living on board.

Even so, each person's daily ration was only 2000-2500 milliliters. If you wanted more, you had to bring your own, or trade for it with supplies.

More than a century ago, the greenhouse effect began to escalate Earth's temperature. Glaciers melted.

Volcanic activity grew frequent.

Tsunamis, typhoons, earthquakes, and wars broke out across the globe with alarming regularity.

The territory available for human activity shrank ever smaller...

Low-lying regions were completely destroyed, either submerged by the ocean or wrecked by relentless earthquakes.

People could only seek refuge in high-altitude areas.

Children like Tang Mu, too poor to afford a place in the highlands, could only use the little money left in their accounts to buy a tiny cabin on a floating boat, just to meet their basic needs.

The cabin was constructed from special materials to perfectly shield against external radiation.

Though people could survive only in such cramped quarters, the rise and wild development of the metaverse meant that, with just a card or a link, one could travel across nations—or even through time.

It gave some solace to hearts grown empty and desolate.

But the costs were enormous.

Families of modest means couldn't afford to travel the metaverse freely. They could only pin their hopes on the games developed by the industry giants.

Like Tang Mu.

Tang Mu plugged her game card into the ancient desktop computer.

With a mechanical click, the game card displayed its contents:

Extreme Escape—Script 1 Complete: The Bride of the Wraith King.

Mission Grade: A. Completion: 94%.

Calculating rewards—

In-game item rewards:

Wraith Ring (F): Unlimited uses in horror-type games, already used, bound, non-tradable.

Tattered Bamboo Umbrella (F): Used, discarded.

Bloodstained Scissors (F): Used, discarded.

Rusty Iron Hammer (F): Used, discarded.

Petrifying Talisman (E): Used, discarded.

Lucky Coin (E): Unused, unbound, tradable.

Mission Grade A reward—Game Item: Blessing of the Grievous Couple (B-): Upon entering the game, may bind any player, NPC, or boss as your lover. That lover cannot harm the holder of the Blessing of the Grievous Couple (B-) in the game. Uses: 3.

Game points awarded: 2,331. Points can be exchanged for real currency at a 1:1 ratio.

Reward calculation complete.

A flood of data scrolled past Tang Mu's eyes, but not a ripple of emotion stirred within her.

She simply scrolled the chat window to Yan Xingwen's name.

Yan Xingwen was different from her. He had lived in a high-altitude sanctuary since childhood. Unlike Tang Mu, who drifted with the boat, he had seen many fascinating plants—how they broke through the soil, endured sun and rain, and grew slowly.

Yan Xingwen would tell her all kinds of interesting things about plant care.

He even said that, if possible, he wished he could send her seeds by drone.

But...

For them, some things could only ever be gazed at from afar, never truly touched.

At least they could waste time together in the metaverse. Time passed in the virtual world just as it did in reality. You could even replenish any nutrients or water your body needed in this illusory world.

Many things that could not be eaten in 2190 were available if you entered the metaverse and traveled to any point in the time tunnel.

This only made people more addicted to this unreal space, severed from reality.

"Your IP address has been activated."

"Please insert your game card."

Tang Mu logged into the game again.