Chapter 141: Hello, Another Me

Huo Yuqing walked across the icy plains.

She felt cold, extremely cold.

Ever since merging with the Ice Jade Scorpion, the sensation of cold had seemed to drift away from her. But in truth, the twelve-year-old girl named Huo Yuqing feared the cold.

The winters in the Star Luo Empire were not as brutal as those in the Extreme North, where snowstorms howled like razor-sharp blades. Even so, the chill still brought a piercing numbness and pain, like being stabbed by countless needles.

Even in winter, Huo Yun'er had to wash clothes for the high-ranking servants of the Household in exchange for food, to feed both herself and her daughter.

Huo Yuqing remembered how her mother's hands would turn pale and rigid, almost corpse-like, after being pulled from the icy washing water. She had been afraid that her mother's fingers would freeze solid, turn purple and black like the elders described, and eventually fall off without her even feeling it.

She had wanted to help her mother with the washing, but Huo Yun'er had never allowed it—one of the rare times she had ever scolded her.

Even so, those quarrels still shimmered with a faint warmth in her memory.

She trudged through the snow that reached up to her calves. Ahead of her stretched a boundless white expanse, sky and earth blending together in indistinct shades of gray. There was no way to tell where the end lay.

The sun was gone, the fire had left her, and those pure, dazzling golden eyes were no longer watching over her. She did not know if Wang Rui would be waiting for her at the end.

Huo Yuqing wanted to stop, but she could not.

She staggered forward in a daze.

At times like this, the cold felt almost comforting—it dulled part of her senses, numbed the searing pain beneath.

Because beneath the cold, there was excruciating agony. And she had to stay conscious.

Then, all of a sudden, she remembered—she wasn't actually struggling through a snowy wasteland. She was merging with the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion. She had to endure this torment with full awareness, transform herself completely, and obtain that ultimate power. She was alone. No one could help her.

Compared to the pain of merging with Ice Emperor, the bitter winds of the Extreme North felt like soft feathers. The icy plains were like steaming hot springs.

Yes… this is my mindscape. Or rather, my… dream. A limited world of ice and snow.

Only after stepping out of this storm could she see the fire again…

But something was wrong.

She narrowed her eyes and stared at the vague silhouette appearing in the blizzard ahead.

There shouldn't be anyone else here.

She stopped. The shadow in the distance also remained still.

For an unknown amount of time, she stood there, the pain burning deeper into her bones. She should not have stopped.

She took a tentative step forward, and the shadow mirrored her movement…

To hell with this. Huo Yuqing gritted her teeth. This is my dream, my mental domain. No matter what kind of monster you are, you are not my match.

She advanced again, and the shadow moved at the same pace.

A strange feeling washed over her—she was approaching a mirror.

Until the snowflakes between them thinned, and she saw clearly—

A tall man.

His features and clothing were indistinct, but she knew at a glance that his face must be very familiar, like looking at her own reflection in water.

A warm pulse of energy flickered at the center of his forehead, resonating with something within her, forming a connection she could not yet comprehend.

"Who are you?" The question slipped out before she could think. No one would instinctively guard themselves against their own reflection.

"A clown tangled in a web… A fool deceived by illusions… A useless failure who couldn't protect anyone."

His voice was soft, even gentle, yet Huo Yuqing could taste something… broken in it. The abyss behind his words was far more terrifying than her own.

Something in his vague reply struck her. Her voice grew sharper. "Who are you?!"

"My name is [——]."

The last three syllables were swallowed by the wind and snow, but the way he spoke them… it was as if he wanted to use that name to kill himself.

"You—how dare you?!" The girl roared. She screamed in pain, wordless and raw. Her emotions were out of control. The reflection, her own pain, rage, grief… and hatred—these feelings twisted together, shaking her sanity.

She lunged forward, trying to grab the man's collar, but he was too tall.

He stood in silence, letting his small reflection pummel him with all its might.

"Why?" Huo Yuqing demanded.

But the tall shadow looked as if he was on the verge of shattering completely.

"An opportunity… I have seen so much." He murmured, voice distant. "…Perhaps we were never meant to be with them."

He lowered his head. His third eye met her third eye.

A flood of incomprehensible information crashed into Huo Yuqing's consciousness.

She struggled to grasp anything from the countless visions—

A puppet with her mother's face.

A puppet with that man's face.

A pink-blue-haired boy laughing.A pink-blue-haired girl laughing.

A pink-blue-haired girl pale and lifeless.

A golden-red-maned dragon lion bound in silk threads.

A golden-red-maned dragon lion melting.

A pink-blue-haired girl, her face cold.

A pink-blue-haired girl, burning.

"He is her… She was always part of his plan. And so was I." The reflection's voice was a feverish whisper, almost devoid of reason. "Maybe you should stay away from him…"

Huo Yuqing covered her ears. She couldn't understand these images. They hurt too much.

The reflection couldn't bear them either.

Even though he had reached the peak of the world, wielding spiritual power beyond the gods, the eye he used to peer into fate was not his own. He did not belong to destiny. He did not understand it.

He had only glimpsed nightmare after nightmare, endlessly cycling like a cat chasing its tail, trapped in a pathetic loop.

So he had reached out to the only reflection he could touch.

He wanted to break the cycle.

…And he already had.

The stream of visions reached its end.

Huo Yuqing saw ruins.

The collapsed Sea God's Statue.

The dried-up Sea God's Lake.

This was the wreckage of Shrek Academy.

A broken city filled with soul tools, where young soul engineers huddled around fires—the last hope of humanity.

A sky of endless snowstorms, where a massive black-and-purple bone dragon loomed.

She drifted upwards.

She saw the Star Dou Forest, frozen in black ice, its creatures suspended as if in amber—lifelike, yet utterly still.

In the heart of the forest sat a throne of silver dragon bones and deep blue ice.

A woman with an ice-cold gaze, a black ice crown on her head, stared across time and something even more unfathomable, locking eyes with Huo Yuqing.

She cradled a golden crystal skull in her lap. A third eye gleamed on its forehead, just like hers.

She stroked it gently, like a lover's face, and a rare, wistful look crossed her features.

"…The variable has arrived… This is no longer your destined end."

The golden skull and the woman spoke in unison, their voices ringing like a great bell.

A powerful sense of weightlessness.

Huo Yuqing was back in the snow.

Across from her, the tall reflection looked lost.

"Goodbye."

"And… be happy, another me."

At the same time, in a distant, distant universe—

A golden-furred cat awoke from a dream.

She blinked, then murmured, "Hey… was that you thinking about me?"

Sunlight spilled in, setting her fur ablaze like fire.

After a long moment, the golden cat stretched, shook her fur, then padded into the kitchen.

She popped open a can of cola.

Fizzy brown liquid swirled with rising bubbles.

(End of Chapter)