Siheyuan: Hang Jia Dongxu, smash Banggeng to death!

A breeze blew from afar, carrying the scent of grass, and gently lifted Tangtang's bangs.

Tangtang reached out and grabbed Lin Tian's sleeve, as if to make sure he was still there, and then whispered:

"Honey, can you take Tangtang with you when you go out in the future? Tangtang can help you carry things, I'm scared."

Lin Tian lowered his head and kissed her cheek: "Okay."

Tangtang seemed to have received some incredible promise, happily shook his hand, and then skipped back into the house.

The wind was still blowing on the balcony, rustling the leaves of the pothos and the little shirt that hadn't been brought inside yet, which was drying in the corner.

JoJo sat on the sofa in the living room, holding a book in her hands, but she didn't open it.

She heard Tangtang's happy footsteps as she ran back, looked up, saw Lin Tian following behind her, and smiled.

Tangtang hasn't been this happy in a long time?

Sure enough, everything was fine when Xiao Tian came back.

"Try this, it's a new tea a friend gave me."

Lin Tian took the teacup, lowered his head and took a sip. The tea was warm, with a pale golden sheen. It was slightly bitter at first, but then sweet.

Exhausted from running, Tangtang clung to Lin Tian's leg and nestled in the corner of the sofa. Her eyelids began to droop, but she still refused to fall asleep.

It was as if she was afraid that if she closed her eyes, the pot in front of her would disappear again, just like before.

JoJo gently patted her back: "Go to sleep if you're sleepy, your buddy won't leave."

Tangtang mumbled a sleepy "Mmm" and snuggled closer to JoJo, like a little animal that had found its nest.

The night gradually deepened.

Tangtang's breathing gradually became even and long, and she was still clutching the hem of Lin Tian's clothes.

JoJo gently pried her fingers apart, picked her up, and carried her back to the bedroom.

Only Lin Tian and Zhang Shiyu remained in the living room.

Zhang Shiyu hesitated and asked, "You're really not leaving this time?"

Lin Tian leaned back in his chair, looking at the tea leaves unfurling at the bottom of his cup: "I'm not leaving."

Zhang Shiyu didn't ask any more questions, but simply lowered her head and took a sip of tea to hide her uncertainty.

She didn't know if Lin Tian would help her.

Tangtang wasn't around, so she didn't dare mention asking Lin Tian for help. Instead, she left a message saying, "It's getting late. I'm tired too."

He hurriedly went back inside.

Zhang Shiyu gently closed the door, her fingers lingering on the doorknob for a moment before letting go.

She stood behind the door, leaning against the cold wooden board, listening to the rapid, drum-like pounding of her heart in her chest. Then she slowly slid down onto the carpet, placing her hands on her knees, as if trying to gather all the emotions that had been building up for so long back into her body.

He is back.

She finally got him back.

She looked up, her gaze falling on the chandelier with its pale yellow shade on the ceiling. Light streamed through the shade, casting a soft halo around the wall. She stared at it for a long time, as if looking at an answer she had confirmed countless times but still dared not be certain of.

"I want to be free," she whispered to herself, her voice so soft it sounded like she was talking to herself, yet also like she was declaring something to another being huddled in a corner. "Damn revenge system, go to hell."

As soon as she finished speaking, a faint tremor came from the depths of her consciousness, like a string that had been stretched too long being plucked by a finger. The tremor was fragmented and rapid, carrying a fear that was being tried to be concealed but could not be hidden, rising from the depths of her sea of ​​consciousness like a startled fish.

"Host..." The Revenge System's voice sounded hesitant and weak for the first time, like a sheet of paper soaked in water, its edges already wrinkled. "You...you really want to do this?"

Zhang Shiyu closed her eyes, a slight smile curving her lips, a smile brimming with an unprecedented certainty: "What do you think? Do you think I'll listen to you again?"

"Lin Tian's aura... is completely different." The system's voice lowered, as if talking to itself, or as if confirming a fact it didn't want to face. "Before, he was like a fierce tiger, descending the mountain to pounce on its prey, decisive and ruthless. But now..." It paused, as if carefully choosing its words, "Now he's more like a dragon emerging from the sea. That aura is deep within, not revealing its sharpness, yet it can make people feel suffocated. That's something you only get after killing too many people—not a murderous aura, but a murderous aura that has settled into his bones, becoming a part of him."

Zhang Shiyu opened her eyes, her gaze calm: "So what? He's not going to kill me."

"How do you know?" The system's voice trembled slightly. "How do you know that after you confess, he won't see you as another cause and effect that needs to be severed?"

"Because," Zhang Shiyu said softly, "there was no murderous intent in the look he gave me just now." She recalled the calm expression on Lin Tian's face when he sat across from her at dinner, his gaze sweeping over her like that of someone she had known for a long time, like that of a lamp swaying in the wind but not yet extinguished. "When he looked at me, it was like he was looking at someone he had known for a long time."

The system fell silent. That silence carried an unprecedented sense of despondency, like someone who had walked a very, very long way only to find a wall at the end. Zhang Shiyu stood up, walked to the window, and opened it. The night breeze rushed in, carrying the scent of grass and earth, brushing against her cheeks. She took a deep breath; the coolness of spring dew slowly spread through her chest like a thin mist. In the distance, the silhouette of Victoria Peak lay quietly in the moonlight, like a sleeping giant. She remembered her first night in this world, standing before a window, only to see a completely different, unfamiliar night.

At that time, she was filled with fear and scheming, believing that revenge was the only way. She stood by the window with her fists clenched, as if holding a rope that could break at any moment, with an unfathomable abyss below. But now she loosened her fingers, and the wind outside the window seemed to have been waiting there all along, gently supporting her palm that had been hanging for too long, like catching a leaf that had been falling for too long.

"System," she began, her voice devoid of anger or resentment, as if stating something she had finally come to understand, "I will no longer kill for you. Nor will I avenge you. I will tell him everything. If he is willing to help me, I will live well; if he is not willing to help me—" She paused, listening to the sound of a night bird swooping through the treetops outside the window, "that is my own choice, and it has nothing to do with you."

The system's voice remained silent for a long time. So long that Zhang Shiyu thought it had fallen completely silent, it finally uttered a soft sentence, like a speck of ash scattered by the wind: "You...you are braver than me."

She didn't answer, but simply closed the window and turned to walk to the bedside. The moonlight moved slowly across the floor, like a quiet beam of light, gently moving aside the stones that had been weighing on her for so long.