Chapter 240: Extra 7 My Childhood Friend, I’ll split half with you
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Duan Zege felt like he had a long dream.
He gradually woke up from the dream, his eyelids trembling, his body sensing the environment around him.
The place he was lying on felt soft. Was it a bed or a sofa?
There was no smell of blood in the air, nor the stench of decay. A faint fruity fragrance permeated the air, and warm, soft light penetrated through his eyelids, dispersing the darkness.
Familiar voices came from around him.
“Duan Zege?!”
“Brother Duan!”
“Sanxin, Little Lu, do you know his name is Duan Zege?”
“No, I don’t know… It’s strange. This name just popped into my head.”
“Me too, I feel like I know him.”
“He’s awake,” Fu Xuezhou interrupted the crowd’s conversation calmly.
All the voices disappeared instantly, and everyone’s eyes stared intently at Duan Zege on the sofa.
Duan Zege still had messy hair, his eyes closed, his breathing steady. He didn’t move at all, as if he hadn’t heard Fu Xuezhou’s words.
Lou Yan smirked. Still pretending?
He bent his knees and squatted down, shouting at the motionless Duan Zege on the sofa, “Duan Zege?”
Wait, should he call him Duan Zege or Li Sanxin?
Did Duan Zege at this moment have their previous memories?
As Lou Yan hesitated whether to call out “Li Sanxin” again, Duan Zege slowly opened his eyes. Duan Zege’s gaze swept over Lou Yan, Li Sanxin, Lu Haoxiu, and Fu Xuezhou. His eyes were initially somewhat confused, but then they became clear.
He slowly sat up from the sofa, took off the hat on his head, and smiled slightly at the few people, “Long time no see, friends.”
“You remember?!” Lou Yan exclaimed.
“I’ve been having nightmares these days. I didn’t remember the content of the nightmares before, but the moment I saw you guys, I remembered everything.”
Duan Zege said softly, his eyes gradually moistening. He clenched the hat in his hand tightly. Suddenly, a piece of paper floated out of his hat and fell to the ground in front of everyone, spinning in the air.
Lou Yan looked down and saw three sentences written on the paper:
【The darkness has passed, and I will return to my homeland to rebuild my home. Before leaving, as an expression of gratitude and apology, I offer a gift. Sincerely wish the heroes not to be forgotten, and you will eventually be happy. Count Grey’s Leave】
***
Count Grey’s note seemed like a switch. After reading the content on the note, Li Sanxin and Lu Haoxiu were momentarily dazed, and they also remembered what happened before Lou Yan used “Time Reversal”.
Several people’s eyes welled up with tears, rushing forward to hug their friends and family tightly. Even Fu Xuezhou was forcibly hugged by Li Sanxin for a moment.
“Why didn’t you tell me directly,” Li Sanxin hammered Lou Yan’s chest, his voice choked, “letting me remember only now.”
Lou Yan smiled helplessly and opened his arms, “Didn’t want you to feel uncomfortable. Welcome back, Sanxin.”
Tears welled up in Li Sanxin’s eyes as he hugged his childhood friend tightly once again.
“I thought I’d never see you again, Little Lu,” Duan Zege rubbed Lu Haoxiu’s head, his voice hoarse, “Thank goodness you’re alive.”
Tears streamed down Lu Haoxiu’s face as he said with a trembling voice, “I… I thought I’d never see you guys again sob sob sob.”
He was afraid when he died, but more than the fear of death, Lu Haoxiu felt reluctance and anxiety.
Reluctance to leave his friends, anxiety that the battle would end in failure. He was afraid that the people he cared about would die, yet relieved that he could help a little.
Lu Haoxiu felt content. He died as a hero, never expecting to live another day.
It’s great.
Everyone is still alive, the world has returned to its best state, and his parents are also alive.
It’s wonderful, truly wonderful.
Lu Haoxiu hugged Duan Zege for a while, then went to hug Lou Yan and Li Sanxin. He even grinned and shouted loudly at Fu Xuezhou, “Brother Fu!”
After a while of excitement, laughter, and tears, everyone calmed down and looked at Duan Zege together.
Li Sanxin’s expression was complex. He had already guessed who Duan Zege was, but he still sat down next to Duan Zege, staring at him coldly and said, “Didn’t you say you’d explain to me after the war? Well, now it’s time for you to explain. Duan Zege, who the h*ll are you?”
Duan Zege smiled bitterly and met Li Sanxin’s gaze helplessly, “You already know.”
Li Sanxin clenched his fists, his veins popping out, and said expressionlessly, “But I want you to say it yourself.”
Duan Zege remained silent for a long time, looking around. Except for Lu Haoxiu, who looked bewildered, Lou Yan and Fu Xuezhou both knew the truth, and their expressions remained unchanged.
He sighed. No one was more stubborn than he was. Duan Zege knew that if he didn’t answer this question directly, Li Sanxin would never let it go.
Suddenly, Duan Zege said, “Li Sanxin, extend your right hand.”
Li Sanxin frowned deeply, looked deeply into Duan Zege’s eyes, and slowly extended his right hand. Duan Zege also extended his right hand and slowly placed it on Li Sanxin’s hand. Palm against palm, finger against finger, these two clearly belonged to different people’s right hands, yet miraculously overlapped. The size, length, even the green veins bulging on the back of the hand were miraculously identical.
They were two identical hands.
A strange feeling rose in Li Sanxin’s heart. How could he describe this feeling? It was as if even the patterns on their hands could overlap. He clearly understood that this hand, which was identical in temperature to his own, was the hand of another “himself.” It was a feeling different from holding his own right hand with his left, because he knew that the other “himself” was a complete person with his own thoughts and life.
In one’s lifetime, who else could have such an intimate contact with another “self”? It was too amazing, too astonishing.
“I am you,” Duan Zege whispered softly, “Li Sanxin, my previous name was Li Sanxin.”
Li Sanxin’s mouth dropped open, feeling as if a huge stone had been lifted from his heart, with a sense of “I knew it.”
Lu Haoxiu’s mouth formed a perfect circle as he looked incredulously at Duan Zege, then at Li Sanxin, completely stunned. “How is this possible? Oh my god, how is this possible! Brother Duan, how can you be Brother Sanxin??? You’re so different from Brother Sanxin!!!”
Li Sanxin’s temperament was gentle yet hearty, warm-hearted yet straightforward, a typical Northeastern man. Duan Zege, on the other hand, was cultured yet mysterious, sloppy and pessimistic, often giving Lu Haoxiu a sense of alienation from the crowd. How could these two people be the same person?!
Li Sanxin said solemnly, “I want to know too. How did you become like this?”
Duan Zege sighed again, “Do you really want to know? It’s not an interesting story. The protagonist of the story is not a hero or a warrior, just an ordinary, cowardly man who exiled himself.”
Anger flared in Li Sanxin’s eyes. He didn’t understand why Duan Zege described himself like this. He grabbed Duan Zege’s hand forcefully, using pain to wipe away the self-loathing expression on his face, gritting his teeth as he said, “Speak!”
***
Duan Zege intermittently told his story to Li Sanxin and the others.
Starting from the anomaly horror inside the red coffin at Liushu Village, to the end of the great war where he followed Lou Yan and crossed into this world. Duan Zege’s tone was calm, but anyone could hear the sadness and sorrow in his words.
It wasn’t until now that Li Sanxin understood why Duan Zege insisted on stopping him from jumping into the red coffin to find Lou Yan in Liushu Village. He also finally realized that Duan Zege didn’t actually have any innate talent for divination; he simply used his past experiences to help them avoid the impending pain.
Duan Zege had experienced panic and darkness, which Li Sanxin hadn’t; Duan Zege had been terrified by the anomaly, which Li Sanxin hadn’t; Duan Zege had struggled in the revived world for seven or eight years, which Li Sanxin hadn’t.
And most importantly, Duan Zege’s Lou Yan asked Duan Zege to kill him, while Li Sanxin’s hadn’t.
All of this had created two similar yet different individuals, Li Sanxin and Duan Zege.
It took only an hour to tell the story, but it took the listeners half an hour to digest it. Li Sanxin’s eyes were red, his throat rolled with pain, his voice hoarse as he asked, “After the disappearance of the anomaly, what about the Lou Yan in your world? Did he… survive?”
Lou Yan didn’t expect Li Sanxin’s first question to be about the other him in another world. His eyes stung, and his heart clenched.
Fu Xuezhou finally showed some emotions at these words, turning to stare at Duan Zege with a furrowed brow.
Duan Zege looked down at the hat in his arms, his fingers slowly curling up, tears falling on the gray-black hat, quickly absorbed by it. His voice was painfully hoarse, “He died. He also became an anomaly, and he disappeared together with the disappearance of the anomaly!”
After Lou Yan used “Time Reversal” to return to the starting point, Duan Zege also returned to his own world. At that time, humanity had been pushed to the brink. Lou Yan, transformed into the anomaly, was reluctantly preparing to use his last bit of power to reverse time once again.
But the next moment, Duan Zege felt as if he had blinked, and the anomaly on the battlefield began to turn into blood and flesh one by one.
The anomaly began to die.
Soon, it was Lou Yan’s turn to die.
Duan Zege rushed forward in terror, wanting to embrace the massive Lou Yan with his small body. “No!!!”
But the anomaly Lou Yan revealed a smile and extended his enormous, terrifying hand, gently tapping Duan Zege’s head, which was covered in black slime.
Then, before the tearful Duan Zege, the anomaly Lou Yan turned into a puddle of black slime.
Duan Zege was in such agony that he couldn’t even make a sound. He knelt down in despair, tears dripping into the black slime. He kept trying to gather up Lou Yan’s flesh and blood.
At that moment, all the living people in the broken ruins let out cries of sorrow and joy, crying and laughing to celebrate the arrival of freedom and hope.
But amidst such cheers, Duan Zege seemed to hear Lou Yan’s final words to him.
He was saying, “Don’t be afraid.”
***
These words made Li Sanxin and Lu Haoxiu cry like dogs, even Fu Xuezhou’s eyes were slightly red, his face coldly gripping Lou Yan’s hand as if afraid that Lou Yan would die in the next second.
Lou Yan smiled helplessly. “Stop crying. I believe the me from another world died happily too.”
Everyone turned to look at him, tears slowly sliding down Duan Zege’s thin chin, as he asked hoarsely, “Is that true?”
Lou Yan put away his smile and nodded solemnly. “Yes.”
Duan Zege stared at Lou Yan for a moment, then showed a faint smile. “Then I can rest assured.”
With a lighter mood, Duan Zege reached into his pocket and eventually pulled out a silver bracelet.
The bracelet was shaped like a chain but much smaller, looking delicate.
Lou Yan felt the bracelet looked familiar at first glance. “…This bracelet looks like the chain that was wrapped around Fu Xuezhou before.”
“This is something Count Grey gave me,” Duan Zege smiled. “I only remembered it when I saw you guys. When Count Grey sent me here, he said he didn’t know if I wanted to live in this world, so he gave me a tool that could return me to my own time. As long as I break this bracelet, I can go back to my world. But there’s only one bracelet, and I only have one chance to decide whether to leave or stay. If I break the bracelet and go back, I won’t be able to come back to this world again.”
Upon hearing this, everyone nervously stared at the bracelet.
Lu Haoxiu swallowed hard and said anxiously, “Brother Duan, stay! We all really want you here. If there’s no one you care about in that world anymore, then stay with us, okay? Brother Lou can take care of you, and I can too! My family is also wealthy, I’m not lying to you, Brother Duan!”
Li Sanxin pursed his lips, unsure of what to say. He wanted Duan Zege to stay, but he didn’t know if Duan Zege wanted to stay. No matter what the other world became, it was the world where Duan Zege grew up and fought for.
“Stay,” Li Sanxin sighed, unable to help but persuade reluctantly, “Since your Lou Yan is no longer there, what’s the point of going back to that world? We’re all here, and this world still has a Lou Yan. Seeing as you’re another me, my childhood friend, I can split half with you.”
Fu Xuezhou sneered but remained silent.
Duan Zege fell silent for a few seconds, then silently clenched the bracelet in his hand. “But that world is the world that Lou Yan was willing to die for. He died in that world, he left, how can I abandon the world he swore to protect?”
Duan Zege stood up and smiled at everyone. “There’s already a Li Sanxin here. I think my belonging is still in my own world.”
Lu Haoxiu anxiously grabbed him, “Wait a minute!”
He quickly turned his head to Lou Yan, winking at him. Brother Lou, quickly think of a solution!
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