"This is the third cycle of reincarnation I have experienced," Shuangjian said.
Yingshi's eyes were tinged with shock.
"In the thatched cottage, you once told me that the book 'I See Frost and Snow' had experienced a 'hiatus' and a 'revision'." He lowered his eyes. "At that time, I vaguely realized that the direction of the book was connected to my reincarnations."
"...What do you mean?"
"At the end of the first cycle, I..." Shuangjian paused. In front of Yingshi, he simply couldn't bring himself to say the word "suicide." He pursed his lips and rephrased it, "I broke free from control. Because my actions could no longer conform to the 'rules,' or rather, what should be called the author's will—so Jing Fengliu could no longer write."
From a reader's perspective, no one wants to see the protagonist of a book choose to commit suicide at the very end.
If the final draft were to end like that, it would be better for the ending to never be written at all.
"Jing Fengliu actually went on hiatus because he couldn't control you? Oh my god, then when he revised the text years later... his reboot caused you to start the second cycle, right?" Yingshi said in astonishment. "This time, he wrote a bunch of out-of-character content and got heavily criticized. The ending was the male lead achieving enlightenment at the top of Holy Spirit Mountain after killing his father. He didn't even have time to publish the side stories before he decided to lock the entire text and manually destroy the work due to too many negative reviews... Then why did you start a third cycle?"
Shuangjian's eyes flickered.
If it were merely enlightenment, that wouldn't be the end of the story.
At the end of the second cycle, he chose to destroy the world—and this was something even more impossible to tell Yingshi, just as Jing Fengliu would rather lock the entire text than make the side stories of this plotline public.
At that time, he believed the entire world was a level designed against him. He just wanted to do everything possible to escape from it, even if it meant completely shattering it.
Everyone else was a symbolic part of the rules. Perhaps, other than him, there wasn't a second "true soul" in this world. Even today, he still maintained this suspicion. Those characters might have their joys and sorrows, but were they truly not products simulated by the "rules"?
Why was he the only one "derailing" alone? While everyone else was being "controlled" to constantly influence him?
It wasn't without reason that he thought this way—in the domain of the Marrow Cleansing Spring, apart from the spring water as the core, everything else was utter nothingness.
But no matter how he viewed the other avatars of "nothingness" in this world, he shouldn't let Yingshi know that he had once accumulated such terrifying sins.
Shuangjian fell silent for a moment before saying, "Because of your arrival, Yingshi."
"..." Yingshi wore a solemn expression.
"Your appearance was like... a piece of jade falling into stagnant water. The surface would ripple because of you. The stronger your presence, the more the water would agitate." He chose his words carefully. "You and Jing Fengliu are the same kind of people, so he cannot control you."
This also explained why interacting with Yingshi gave him freedom.
Because Yingshi's "tier" was far higher than this world, equivalent to the creator of 'I See Frost and Snow', Jing Fengliu.
He indeed relied on her "protection" to completely sever the strings tied to his body.
With Yingshi's addition, 'I See Frost and Snow' was no longer 'I See Frost and Snow'. It had become a new world. If it had to be connected to a book, it probably already had another title, just that it was unclear what it was called.
"Yingshi, before you came, I couldn't control my own body," Shuangjian continued. "My every move was written by Jing Fengliu, not decided by myself."
Yingshi froze for a moment, her fingers curling slightly. She didn't speak, but her eyes began to brim with tears again.
As if knowing exactly what she would think next, Shuangjian only kept his head down, looking at the ground beneath his feet, and said with difficulty, "When I first approached you, it was indeed out of... a desire for freedom. I'm sorry, Yingshi..."
After finishing his sentence, he waited a long time without receiving a scolding or any expected response. He could only look up at Yingshi, only to see the tears in her eyes on the verge of falling. She slightly raised her head and blinked rapidly, as if trying to force the tears back.
Seeing this scene, Shuangjian felt as if someone had ruthlessly squeezed his heart—Yingshi was still heartbroken over his initial exploitation, but he didn't even know how to repent for it.
Even if given another chance, he might still mess up his first encounter with Yingshi...
"...Han Shuangjian, I hate you."
This faintly uttered sentence deepened the panic in Shuangjian's heart.
He could only carefully grip Yingshi's hand, confirming that she wouldn't throw him off, and then heard her continue, "I hate that you always underestimate me... Being so cautious in front of me, is it because I haven't given you enough of a sense of security?"
"..."
"I wouldn't blame you just because your initial purpose for approaching me wasn't pure. Freedom is a very precious thing to begin with. Feeling free when spending time with someone is a very sincere reason to make friends. What's more, you never restricted me, nor did you simply imprison me and carry me around like some big villain. You were always the one looking for me, following my route..."
"In the Heavenly Mountain Snowfield, I fell into Qin Yuman's trap and became a puppet. Even for such a short time of not being in control of myself, it felt so painful. When I was saved by Shuangjian, I felt so happy. If I had been in that situation and could regain my freedom just by approaching someone, I would have made the same choice..."
Yingshi rubbed her eyes, her voice starting to distort slightly. "I just... remembered what you said to me that night at Wujian Temple... It turns out that for Shuangjian to stand in front of me right now, he had to go through so, so much pain. Whenever I think about it, I feel so sad..."
Yingshi shed a lot of tears today, some for herself, some for Shuangjian.
She actually didn't want to cry anymore, as if she didn't have that much "moisture" left to evaporate, but the continuous sour and bitter feeling in her heart remained—she could even guess why Shuangjian pretended to be a transmigrator to approach her.
Because when they first met, she scolded him.
She called him a scumbag, splashed potion on his face, and looked down on him for his indecisiveness and hot-and-cold attitude.
That kind of condescending disdain and undisguised malice must have once left Shuangjian at a loss.
Perhaps his indecisiveness and hot-and-cold attitude were the results of his hard-fought "resistance." Otherwise, it would have long turned into "perfect harmony" and "complete happiness," which would have been even more suffocating.
She couldn't bring herself to harshly criticize someone whose immense pain she could feel just by lightly putting herself in his shoes.
But for Shuangjian, being loved seemed to be a situation that made him even more helpless than being scolded.
At this moment, he still had no good way to deal with Yingshi's tears... If he brought up "that matter," would it make Yingshi a bit happier?
He embraced the young girl, who was gradually transitioning from calm back to wailing, and with an equally trembling heart, he restrained himself and said to her, "Yingshi, don't cry. There will be a chance to go home soon..."
Hearing this, the young girl in his arms looked up. Surprisingly, there was not a trace of joy in her eyes; instead, she looked even more despairing.
"Are you talking about me returning to reality? Through that confusing Taiyu Transmigration Technique?" Yingshi asked, crying.
She was truly in despair.
Why had she subconsciously kept lying to herself that Shuangjian was a fellow transmigrator who had crossed over with her? The reasons were actually quite complex.
The loneliness of stumbling into another world and the crisis of identity were only the first layer. The second layer was akin to the psychology of safety in numbers; being alone always made one feel targeted, but having two people felt much better, as if the probability of returning home would increase with more people.
As for the third layer, it was her sheer inability to accept the tragedy that going home and being with Shuangjian were mutually exclusive.
Either gaze longingly at a homeland she could never return to from this alternate world, or return to her familiar environment and bid eternal farewell to the person she loved. She had tried her utmost to avoid thinking deeply about this possibility.
Now that Shuangjian had brought it up, she felt as if her heart was going to break. Her crying grew even louder as she clung tightly to his neck, refusing to let go.
Shuangjian froze for a moment, then hurriedly hugged her tight as well. Patting her back gently, he said quickly, "I've figured out the specific method to leave... and, I can go back with you."
"...?!"
Yingshi jerked her head up. Because her sobbing stopped so abruptly, she even let out a hiccup. Her red eyes widened as she stared at him blankly.
What had she just heard? Shuangjian said together!
"What do you mean?" she asked, anxiously tugging at his sleeve.
In her mind, she even unconsciously started pondering the distant problem of how Shuangjian would get an ID card as an undocumented citizen.
Shuangjian rarely confided his plans to anyone without being one hundred percent certain, but this time, he had to speak.
His Adam's apple bobbed slightly as he looked straight into Yingshi's eyes, explaining to her all his hypotheses, experiments, and verifications regarding the concept that the world is a domain.
...
"I thought that transmigrating into a book was just that—transmigrating into a book..."
Yingshi stood completely stunned, initially unable to digest this massive amount of information. It took her a long while before she finally felt a delayed surge of ecstasy. "Then we just need to wait two more years! Once the final plotline of killing the Nether Demon Lord is completed, we can leave through the Zhexian Cave, right?!"
"...No."
Although he really didn't want to shoot Yingshi down, Shuangjian lowered his eyes and said softly, "It needs to be faster."
From a certain moment on, the rules must have noticed Yingshi's arrival and attempted to exert some influence. That was why those extra variables had emerged—such as the domain beneath the Cliff of Repentance appearing ahead of time, the book in the Rest Gate attempting to explain the transmigration mechanism, and the mysterious spiritual pet that exceeded the original species of Holy Spirit Mountain, Xiangxiang...
This meant that Yingshi's transmigration into the book did not completely erase the original rules' control over this world.
It still existed in some inconspicuous parts. The most obvious one, and the one he felt most strongly, was the judgment and targeting of his lies.
The Death Gate, the fox demon, the proof of guilt, the mind-reading, the interrogations, the exposure... they came one after another, even showing a somewhat impatient posture, urgently wanting to push the drama of his identity being exposed to play out. Why?
Because the rules didn't want him to go back with Yingshi.
It longed to see them break up forever, and in its judgment, the moment his identity was exposed would be the moment Yingshi abandoned him.
Without Yingshi's influence, even if he knew the method to escape the domain, he would never be able to get out in his lifetime—how could the ice crystals of the Marrow-Cleansing Spring emerge from the spring without being held by someone?
The rules, or rather, Jing Fengliu, who had realized that his book had been transmigrated into, only wanted Yingshi to get out alone.
This thought was understandable. Whether out of fear of the vividness of his characters and the possible revenge that might descend upon him, or out of a hope to return everything to the most basic and standard normalcy, his actions were beyond reproach.
But Shuangjian refused to accept any second outcome other than leaving together with Yingshi.
Therefore, before more variables were added to try and correct the world line, he had to fight for it.
"On January 18th, when that person descends, I want to try..." Shuangjian licked his lips and whispered, "to kill him."
The faster, the better.
Killing him would symbolize the core goal of the plot being achieved and the structure of the domain being shattered... Would that door in Zhexian Cave leading to the other world also open for them?
"...Ah?" Yingshi's eyes widened. It took her a long time to realize that Shuangjian meant to challenge above his level, directly turning the near-death plotline into the demon-slaying finale.
She swallowed hard, her gaze a bit unfocused. "Can we do it? Actually, two years will pass very quickly. If we just follow the plot normally, might it be safer?"
"Jing Fengliu might have the intention to 'save' you and get you out." Shuangjian swallowed the irritation that surged in his throat just from mentioning this matter, speaking as calmly as possible. "He has most likely noticed your transmigration and is trying to correct it."
He cast a faint glance at Xiangxiang, who had fallen into a deep sleep in the corner, and gently clenched his hand.
He no longer dared... to wait for time to naturally take its course.
