Chapter 5: The Girl Who Shouldn’t Exist
The courtyard behind the eastern dorms was deserted, draped in the violet hues of a dying dusk. Li Wei sat alone on a cracked bench, his gaze fixed on the empty air before him — but in truth, his Divine Eye was active, scanning invisible threads that shimmered like ghostly silk.
The system's prompt from earlier still rang in his ears:
[Supreme Quest Triggered: "Find the girl who shouldn't exist."]
Hint: She remembers what she shouldn't. And she dreams of a past that wasn't hers.
Li Wei's heart, despite its steel-cold resolve, skipped a beat.
A girl... connected to the past I alone should remember?
Before he could follow the thought, a soft whisper broke the silence.
"Li Wei…?"
He turned. A slim figure stood a few feet away, her presence so delicate it seemed she would vanish with the breeze. Mu Yuelan.
His expression didn't change, but inside, thunder rumbled. Why now? Why here?
"I wasn't expecting you," he said calmly.
She smiled faintly, brushing a lock of silver hair behind her ear. Her aura shimmered faintly, but Li Wei saw it.
A flicker. A false resonance.
Divine Eye: "Spiritual Echo detected. Aura does not match timeline."
"You look... different," Yuelan said slowly. "Like you've walked through something most can't return from."
Li Wei's fingers twitched.
She's probing. She doesn't know yet. But she suspects...
"I guess the academy does that to people," he replied, nonchalant.
Yuelan's eyes scanned him briefly — then, almost imperceptibly, she frowned. "Do you... remember the night of the Azure Moon Fire?"
He froze.
That event hadn't happened yet — not in this life.
System Alert: Causal Loop Detected.
A memory breach has occurred. Timeline corruption: 0.3%
Li Wei's blood ran cold. She knows.
Before he could speak, a third presence entered — swift, silent, like fog slipping under a locked door.
A girl.
Wearing a pale blue robe with a crescent-shaped scar on her neck. Eyes like glass.
She stood between them, confused and trembling.
"I... I don't know why I'm here. But I saw your face, Li Wei… in a dream. And… it felt real."
Yuelan stepped back. "You—!"
Li Wei stood. Something wasn't right. That girl — he had never met her in this life. Yet—
Divine Eye Activated
Name: Xiao Lian
Cultivation: None
Spiritual Signature: Intersecting timelines detected
Status: Should Not Exist in This Plane
"Boss..." the system whispered — a voice never heard before.
"She died in your last life. You saw it. You held her body. And yet... here she stands."
Li Wei's breath caught. Xiao Lian... The girl I failed to protect. My greatest regret.
She looked up, confused, her voice trembling. "Tell me… do you know who I am?"
A silence heavier than fate descended.
Li Wei looked at Yuelan. Her expression was unreadable. But he saw it — just for a moment — fear. Not of Xiao Lian, but of what it meant that she was here.
Three threads had crossed that should never meet.
A girl from a past life… A traitor from betrayal… And the one who remembers.
Li Wei's voice was soft, yet firm.
"No, Xiao Lian. I don't know who you are. But I'll find out — and I'll uncover why fate brought you back."
System Notification
Quest Branch Created: 'Undoing the Rebirth Error.'
Difficulty: ???
Reward: Unknown
Warning: Path will lead to temporal unraveling
As the sky darkened, a violet flame appeared in the distance — a beacon in the Forbidden Sector of Tianxia.
Li Wei's eyes narrowed. That flame hadn't burned in centuries.
And suddenly, the voice of the system cracked with something almost... human.
"Boss... We are not alone anymore. Another System has awakened."