Chapter 169
Chapter 169
Everything distorted.
From Qin Lan’s perspective, the surrounding environment, the light–everything–began changing unnaturally.
His consciousness was enduring such vast pressure that even his perception of the world had been affected.
Buildings bent. The sky rotated.
The other man had not used any Talent.
Pure mental pressure alone had driven Qin Lan into a desperate situation.
It was not that he lacked abilities. He simply considered Qin Lan unworthy of them.
With absolute contempt, the man intended to crush Qin Lan in the field where he held the greatest advantage, trampling his pride, dignity, and life beneath his feet together.
Qin Lan could no longer estimate the numerical value of the man’s mental power.
He only knew it exceeded his own by an enormous margin.
The man could have crushed Qin Lan’s consciousness as easily as stepping on a cockroach and bursting its guts.
Instead, he increased the pressure gradually, toying with Qin Lan like a cat with a mouse and ridiculing his weakness.
“She probably hasn’t introduced me yet, has she?”
He smiled.
“Back then, I was–”
[–My proudest student: Xu Min.]
Yin Manqing’s voice sounded in Qin Lan’s mind, laden with complicated emotions.
Regret, resentment, and sorrow intertwined.
[I noticed his Talent at a glance in the slums. I pulled him from the mire, kept him by my side, and carefully trained him.]
[I taught him everything I knew and watched him grow step by step, until he reached heights countless people could only look up to…]
[Then he betrayed me.]
Rumble…
The pressure intensified.
Qin Lan clenched his teeth so hard that blood began seeping between them.
“I’ve already heard this story… How does knowing his name help me?”
“I feel like my brain is about to get crushed…”
Opposite him, Xu Min lightly adjusted his glasses and spoke casually.
“Your Talent is impressive too. Perhaps even stronger than mine was at your age…”
“Unfortunately… you chose the wrong master. You sided with a dead woman destined to fail.”
Xu Min looked down at Qin Lan with undisguised contempt.
“A wise man submits to circumstances… If she had accepted those people’s conditions back then, an incomparably bright future would have awaited her.”
A complicated emotion flickered through Xu Min’s eyes as he spoke.
“Yet that stupid woman chose to refuse. Heh… I was different.”
Qin Lan’s face was pale, and the pressure had forced his body against the ground.
Still, he struggled to raise his head and spoke with complete sincerity.
“You’re certainly different–you’re much more punchable than she is, brother.”
“A mongrel who betrayed his teacher and ancestors actually has the nerve to call himself wise? They should use the skin from your face to build the walls of the Safe Zone. It would be indestructible.”
Xu Min’s smile instantly turned cold.
[Are you insane?!]
[You’re provoking him now?!]
Yin Manqing could not understand Qin Lan’s behavior.
“Tch…”
Qin Lan coughed, the air squeezed from his lungs. “I can’t escape anyway. If I don’t curse him a few times, won’t I have died for nothing?”
He was going to die.
For the first time, Qin Lan truly felt it.
Relying on his ability to resurrect, he had suffered countless brutal deaths at the hands of one anomaly after another without experiencing much emotional turmoil.
Now he finally tasted what death meant.
Everything he possessed would vanish. His life was reaching its end.
Death came rolling toward him like a wheel, pinning him beneath it with a force that inspired utter despair.
Tap. Tap.
Xu Min walked to Qin Lan one step at a time. He lowered his head and looked down at the ant he had never taken seriously.
“You think you can anger me?”
“How naive…”
Xu Min’s lips curled, his eyes icy. “Why would I care about a stray dog’s barking? Besides, you’re beneath even a stray dog. You cannot threaten me in the slightest.”
“Dirt would be a better description.”
“You’re nothing but mud stuck to the sole of my shoe–lowly, filthy, and useless.”
He planted a foot on Qin Lan’s back, forcing his face firmly against the ground.
Qin Lan coughed up a mouthful of blood.
His organs had been crushed. Bloody foam mixed with scraps of flesh sprayed from his nose and mouth, leaving a gruesome stain across the pavement.
“Isn’t this supposed to be a power-fantasy story where the hero is invincible…?” Qin Lan’s vision blurred. “Why am I getting beaten like a dog…?”
“Ah, I see the light… Am I about to unlock my hidden power? Is my cosmos finally awakening?”
Two seconds passed before Qin Lan realized the truth. “Oh. It’s just my life flashing before my eyes.”
Hallucinations had already begun appearing.
The agony ravaging both body and mind pushed Qin Lan to the brink of death.
Suddenly shouting something like “my fate is mine, not heaven’s” before turning the tables and defeating an overwhelmingly powerful enemy… Such things existed only in cheap stories devoid of value, written solely to numb the masses.
Strength was strength. If it could be overturned so easily, it had never been strength at all.
[Qin Lan…]
Yin Manqing suddenly sighed.
[I haven’t truly taught you anything. I only had time to pass on a few barely useful tricks… So I cannot be considered your teacher.]
[But I still hope that–if you receive another chance to grow in the future…]
[You will clean house for me.]
Yin Manqing’s voice was much calmer than before, carrying both regret and relief.
Qin Lan’s heart trembled.
“Hey, hey, why are you suddenly raising a flag like that?”
Qin Lan could no longer speak. He could only communicate through his consciousness with great difficulty.
“Don’t tell me you’re about to unleash some ultimate move that burns away your life, trading yourself for my one chance to escape so I have to spend the rest of my life drowning in guilt…”
“Don’t do this, Sister… How long have we even known each other? This kind of tragic plot should come after another hundred chapters…”
“First we’re supposed to bicker and deepen our bond, then survive a few dangerous instances to raise our affection score. Only when we’re about to unlock the good ending should you pull something like this.”
“This is too sudden. I can’t accept it…”
Yin Manqing did not answer him. She simply continued.
[These dangers arose because of me. I was the one who dragged you into them.]
[So I will be the one to resolve them for you.]
“Here it comes, here it comes…”
Qin Lan was utterly powerless. He already knew what would happen next. “If you dare sacrifice yourself to save my worthless life, I… I admit I’ll be moved, but I really can’t accept this…”
“I…”
“I surrender!”
Qin Lan abruptly gathered every shred of strength and roared the words.
To force them out, he ignored the pressure crushing him and sprayed another mouthful of bloody foam.
“I surrender!”
“Spare me, great hero!”
Xu Min, who had been preparing to kill Qin Lan completely, froze at the sudden cry.
He eased the pressure slightly and sneered.
“Surrender?”
“Weren’t you stubbornly resisting a moment ago? Why surrender now?”
Inside Qin Lan’s mind, Yin Manqing froze as well. She had not expected his sudden betrayal.
“I barely fucking know her…” Qin Lan drew a deep breath and spoke with despair. “I bought a piece of clothing at a market, and somehow this female ghost latched onto me…”
“I’m desperate too!”
[What did you say???]
[Who are you calling a female ghost???]
Qin Lan ignored Yin Manqing’s shocked cries and continued complaining. “If you’d told me how strong you were, I would’ve dropped to my knees and delivered both her and the uniform to the United Government myself!”
“Why would I throw away my own life?”
Qin Lan coughed, then continued. “You’re Brother Xu, right? How about this: spare my life, and I’ll tell you all kinds of little-known secrets about Sister Yin…”
Xu Min raised his foot, allowing Qin Lan to breathe properly, and gave him an amused smile.
“Is that so? What secrets of hers could you possibly know?”
Qin Lan answered without hesitation. “For example, Sister Yin’s private experience sneaking out Pink Mood in the middle of the night when she was young and foolish. You’ve definitely never heard about that, right?”
[Holy shit!]
[What nonsense are you spouting?!]
Even Xu Min was stunned. “What? That actually happened?!”
“She told you something that private? What exactly is your relationship…?”
He sensed the possibility of a trick, but he was genuinely curious.
Back when he studied under Yin Manqing, his teacher had been like an untouchable flower atop a frozen peak–a snow lotus blooming upon a thousand-year glacier, noble, aloof, and beyond all profanation.
She had secretly used Pink Mood too???
“I know you don’t believe me…” Qin Lan smiled bitterly. “How about this? I’ll lower my mental defenses, and you can enter my consciousness to see for yourself.”
“You’re this powerful, so you must understand how important someone’s mindscape is…”
“If I’m willing to let you invade it, that proves I’m not lying.”
Xu Min’s final trace of doubt disappeared.
Indeed, the mindscape was the final line of mental defense.
If an enemy invaded it, the most vulnerable core of one’s consciousness would fall under their control. The slightest hostile intention could inflict catastrophic damage.
“Interesting.”
“Yin Manqing, your judgment remains as terrible as ever… You finally found a new student, and even he betrays you this easily?”
Xu Min laughed, his voice filled with mockery toward Yin Manqing.
Yin Manqing said nothing.
She had finally understood Qin Lan’s plan.
A mighty fluctuation erupted from Xu Min, building a bridge into Qin Lan’s mind.
An expert of Xu Min’s level could already send his mental body beyond his flesh.
Probing another person’s mind was effortless.
As Xu Min’s consciousness descended, Qin Lan released every defense and allowed him into his mindscape.
It contained all of Qin Lan’s memories from childhood onward.
Every weakness and every secret would be exposed before Xu Min.
However…
Unlike other people, Qin Lan’s mindscape held more than memories and secrets.
Something else was hiding there.