Chapter 48

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Chapter 48:

Zhao Er hadn’t expected him to agree, her ghostly voice fell silent, the surroundings returning to a deathly stillness, only Zhao Junyuan’s labored breathing remained.

After a moment of silence, Zhao Er’s tone suddenly carried a tinge of nostalgia, "Little Yuan, you are still so easily deceived."

"Actually, you can’t give me a new life, but you will indeed die, and I no longer wish to live either…"

Zhao Er sounded satisfied as she said, "Little Yuan, let’s die here together."

As the mist enveloped them, Li Chunzhou saw Zhao Junyuan’s belly getting bigger, like a fragile membrane filled with water ripples and visible veins, reminding her of a half-hatched egg with a developing heart facing imminent death, still beating actively.

Zhao Er’s voice was gentle and calm, "Little Yuan, do you remember how it felt in mother’s womb? I can tell you now, it was very warm."

Maybe because Zhao Er stopped bothering him, Zhao Junyuan’s breathing eased a little, but Li Chunzhou noticed his dilated pupils, slightly reddened face, accelerated breathing, and bulging neck veins, giving a sense of impending doom.

Li Chunzhou furrowed her brow, feeling inexplicably uneasy.

Suddenly, Zhao Junyuan smiled faintly, lowered his gaze, and said, "Elder sister, I have known since I was very young that you are not my real sister, but I never imagined… our parents would treat you this way."

Zhao Junyuan closed his eyes tightly and said heavily, "You are right, I do owe you my life."

With trembling hands, he grabbed a sharp stone beside him and skillfully sliced open his own belly. Despite being prepared, he involuntarily closed his eyes as he made the incision.

Li Chunzhou frowned in disbelief as she watched his actions.

Then Zhao Junyuan strangely propped up his upper body, with intestines and belly spilling out. He searched inside himself and soon, carefully pulled out a strange yet familiar baby. He trembled as he wiped the baby’s face, dirtied with his own blood, smiling in a way uglier than crying.

Li Chunzhou heard him say, "elder sister, I’m sorry… I’m sorry, and thank you…"

He didn’t say the rest of his words, probably too weak from pain. Li Chunzhou saw the life rapidly leaving him. She paused her actions to stop it, subconsciously grasping Li Zhexuan’s hand tightly.

Zhao Er seemed stunned. After a moment of silence, the baby in Zhao Junyuan’s arms let out a faint cry, very soft and easy to miss if not paying attention, yet undeniably the first cry of a new life coming into the world.

Her tiny body trembled slightly, the cry carrying almost twenty years of grievances and relief, like a bright star shining in the darkness, announcing the birth of new life.

Just as thousands of sails pass by the sunken ship and all the trees bloom in front of the sick tree, he traded his life for Zhao Er’s with his own life.

Li Chunzhou walked over, wanting to lift the baby from Zhao Junyuan’s fragile embrace.

But the baby resisted, struggling to slip out of Li Chunzhou’s arms, clumsily returning to Zhao Junyuan’s embrace, persistently trying to crawl back into the big hole in his belly.

Realizing what Zhao Er was doing, Li Chunzhou was stunned. She looked at Zhao Er in surprise, her confusion genuine and not disguised.

Everything around twisted into a blur again. When Li Chunzhou opened her eyes, she found herself back in the alley. This time, a noisy crowd blocked their path ahead.

When she came out of the illusion, there was at least a meter between Qi Leyuan and Ming Xiang. They were in the middle of a conversation.

Ming Xiang, "Can I duplicate Lady Chun and take her back?"

Qi Leyuan, "No, I’ve tried secretly several times. Nobody can be duplicated in this Dungeon."

Li Chunzhou: …

Zhao Junyuan, who was lying on the ground, slowly woke up and sat up abruptly, "elder sister!"

After seeing the surroundings, Zhao Junyuan belatedly reached for his stomach and then looked blankly at Li Chunzhou, "My elder sister…"

Li Chunzhou remained silent and pointed with her chin towards the crowd ahead instead of answering his question.

Zhao Junyuan ran over, squeezed into the crowd, and then there was no more sound, only fragments of conversations from onlookers that could be heard intermittently.

"Oh, this poor girl… so unfortunate…"

"How could her neck break like that?"

"She’s not breathing, she must have fallen hard, the jar is shattered…"

"Does anyone know her? Can you please ask this young man to inform the authorities?"

"…"

In a hoarse voice, Zhao Junyuan couldn’t convey any emotions, "Please inform the authorities, I am her… brother."

Li Chunzhou gently closed her eyes, turned away in silence, no longer looking at the gathering crowd.

Qi Leyuan was a bit confused, he looked over in bewilderment and asked, "What’s going on?"

Li Chunzhou put her hood back on, covered her face with the veil, and said, "Zhao Er committed suicide."

Ming Xiang looked up at the sky and whispered, "Lady Chun, it’s going to rain. I will go to the carriage to get your oil-paper umbrella."

Li Chunzhou nodded almost imperceptibly, paused, and then said, "Also, bring the writing tools over."

Qi Leyuan fluttered his wings skillfully, flew into Li Chunzhou’s arms, Li Chunzhou carried him into the crowd, looked down at Zhao Er who had already lost consciousness on the ground, her face peaceful, with a slight smile at the corner of her mouth, showing no signs of pain.

Meanwhile, Zhao Junyuan knelt on the ground with red eyes. Though it is said that men do not easily shed tears, the tears on his face still flowed down, making him seem unable to come back to reality for a long time.

Ming Xiang quickly ran back with the items in her arms, while the officials were a bit slower. They dispersed the crowd, leaving only Zhao Junyuan who claimed to be a relative. Li Chunzhou gave some money and managed to stay at the scene as well.

Before parting, Li Chunzhou stood under the umbrella and asked, "Young Master Zhao, what are your plans next?"

"I am going to accuse my father and mother at the government office." The rain fell chaotically on Zhao Junyuan, flowing rapidly, as if it wanted to engulf everything in this storm. The damp air made people feel hot and stifled, like being tightly wrapped in an invisible thin veil, struggling to breathe.

Li Chunzhou was not surprised, but reminded, "Our kingdom does not allow accusing parents, you may also be charged with ‘disrespect’."

"That’s right." Zhao Junyuan’s expression was as hard as stone, only raindrops slid down his face, like hurried tears.

Seeing that he had made up his mind, Li Chunzhou took out the letter she had just written from her sleeve, stamped with the seal of the Second Prince, and said, "Give it to the people at the yamen, they won’t give you a hard time."

Zhao Junyuan hesitated for a moment, but still wiped his hands vigorously on his already wet clothes, and then took the letter.

Qi Leyuan glanced at the ink marks on the paper and felt strangely familiar.

"Young Master Zhao… then let’s meet again someday." Li Chunzhou said politely as she bid farewell to the person.

Only after watching Zhao Junyuan being taken away by the officials did she board the carriage.

In the rainy summer season, a sudden thunderstorm tore open the calm sky, the thunder sounded like a giant’s roar echoing in the sky. Raindrops cascaded down from the sky, like a magnificent water curtain between heaven and earth, enveloping everything.

Li Chunzhou reached out from behind the curtain, futilely trying to catch the rainwater, then expressionlessly felt the sensation of the rainwater slipping through her fingers.

Zhao Er, this person, appeared less than ten times in the usual cycle, this was the first time Li Chunzhou entered this Dungeon with Zhao Junyuan, everything was clearly planned out, but the result turned out to be incredibly different from what she had anticipated.

"Breaking the cage" or "killing the evil spirit" could end the Sub-dungeon, Li Chunzhou knew that Zhao Junyuan’s birth was Zhao Er’s unresolved issue, she had originally planned to use the first method to solve the Sub-dungeon – as long as Zhao Junyuan died, Zhao Er’s obsession could also disappear.

Zhao Er ended up sacrificing herself so that Zhao Junyuan could survive and escape…

But… why? Why would she do that? She hated him, didn’t she? Li Chunzhou withdrew her hand, lost in thought.

However, no matter how she tried, she couldn’t understand.

Ming Xiang took out a handkerchief and gently wiped Li Chunzhou’s hand, at first cautiously, but as Li Chunzhou didn’t object, Ming Xiang’s movements became a bit more comfortable, carefully drying the water off her hands.

The heavy rain washed the earth, causing the soil to release a mist of water vapor. The fresh rain scent mingled with a hint of earthiness, creating a peaceful atmosphere that spread throughout the space.

Li Chunzhou obediently let Ming Xiang tend to her, she had been unable to snap out of her reverie ever since she emerged from the illusion, even finding everything meaningless.

Second Prince had spoiled Li Chunzhou, and whenever things were beyond her control, she would feel irritated. The past ten years trapped in the cycle had only worsened this bad habit—after all, she could replay life over and over again, unable to escape. Li Chunzhou had plenty of chances to rehearse until she guided everything onto the path she desired.

Unfortunately, this time, things went awry.

Now, Li Chunzhou was faced with two divergent paths: one was to continue moving forward according to the original plan, and the other was to start over and not let this cycle be the final one.

Li Chunzhou looked at Ming Xiang, feeling uncertain after a long time.

"Lady Chun," Qi Leyuan, who had been silent, suddenly spoke. "When I saw the paper you gave to Zhao Junyuan just now, I felt that the writing on it was very familiar, but it was different from your usual elegant handwriting. So I was thinking…could it be that you actually have two sets of handwriting?"

Li Chunzhou snapped out of her thoughts, realizing that she had forgotten to switch to the font she usually used when writing letters to guests. She sighed, thinking to herself, "If you often walk by the river, your shoes will get wet eventually…"

Under Qi Leyuan’s gaze, Li Chunzhou nodded and calmly admitted it.

Qi Leyuan continued, "I have never seen you use that flowing style of writing before, yet it felt familiar to me. So, after I got on the carriage, I started to recall everything since entering this Dungeon World until now…and now I think I know."

Ming Xiang, not understanding his meaning, looked at Qi Leyuan blankly.

Qi Leyuan, with a complicated expression, said, "The official gazettes in the city in these few days, were all written by you, right."

Li Chunzhou remained silent. After a while, she suddenly smiled lightly.