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The dazzling sunlight rose from the eastern horizon.
As Qi Yang slowly awoke, he felt as if all his strength had been drained, leaving him unable to even lift his arm.
There was no lingering soreness or the sensation of being crushed—perhaps his powerful self-healing ability had left him feeling refreshed.
After waiting for a moment, Qi Yang got up.
As he stood, he realized that the Mutated Beast had not yet left his body.
When he staggered to his feet, a murky white liquid slid down from behind him, rolling down his bare legs and disappearing into the white sand.
Qi Yang picked up the clothes he had thrown on the rocks and put them on. Though they were already tattered, they were better than nothing.
He walked over to where S1 was still sleeping while feeling increasingly annoyed as he looked at the Mutated Beast’s content and relaxed expression.
His frustration only grew.
Since he had already taken the worst possible step, he had no intention of regretting it.
In Qi Yang’s dictionary, there could be failure, but there would never be regret.
Qi Yang kicked S1’s shoulder and watched as the Mutated Beast slowly woke up.
His brows furrowed in irritation as he spoke, “Since we’ve reached this point, I don’t want to see you die. If we fight now, there are only two outcomes: either you die, or we both perish. So, let’s make peace. You, on behalf of the Mutated Beasts, sign a Peace Pact. From now on, you cannot initiate war. I can guarantee that within the designated areas, humans and Mutated Beasts will not interfere with each other. You can also…”
“Yang?!”
“You can also do what you want…” Qi Yang’s voice abruptly stopped.
He looked into the man’s nearly pure white eyes and felt a sudden pang in his heart.
An intense sense of loss, which he couldn’t quite understand, surged within him before vanishing in an instant.
After a moment of stunned silence, he tentatively asked, “S1?”
S1 immediately sprang up before happily embracing Qi Yang’s slender frame.
With his handsome and flawless face, he wore a childlike, ingratiating smile while resting his head on Qi Yang’s shoulder and murmuring, “Yang, I’ve missed you so much. The last time I saw you, you were so badly injured. By the way! How are your wounds now?!”
As he spoke, S1 quickly let go of Qi Yang and began carefully examining his body.
His innocent gaze swept over the dried liquid on Qi Yang’s thighs, and the purity of that look sent a chill through Qi Yang’s heart, making even the warm sunlight seem pale and powerless.
“You’re all healed, Yang!” S1 grinned happily. “I knew that using that thing would definitely make you better!”
Qi Yang’s throat felt dry. Trembling, he asked in a hoarse voice, “What… thing?”
S1 replied matter-of-factly, “The Life Essence, of course. But last time, you took a bit too much, and now I feel a bit of a headache. But it’s okay, Yang, don’t worry. It’ll get better with time—it won’t take long! I think I’ll fully recover in just a year or two!”
Qi Yang's body trembled faintly.
He raised his eyes and gazed earnestly into S1's translucent, beautiful pupils. After a long while, he finally managed to part his lips with difficulty and asked, "S1... do you like me?"
S1 seemed a bit puzzled by the question. He tilted his head and asked in confusion, "Doesn't S1 like Yang the most? Yang is so good, always giving S1 delicious food, teaching S1 how to speak, teaching S1 knowledge, helping S1..."
A deafening roar exploded in Qi Yang's mind.
His world seemed to collapse in an instant.
He looked at the man before him with a completely unfamiliar gaze, a man who was terrifyingly simple and naive.
He involuntarily took two steps back while watching as S1 gradually fell silent, watching as his lips quivered and he began to cry while saying between sobs, "Yang... doesn't like S1 anymore?"
This sentence was like the final straw that broke the camel's back and sent Qi Yang straight into hell.
"Who are you! Who the hell are you!" Qi Yang's rationality completely shattered as he screamed hysterically, "No, you're not the main personality! You can't be the secondary personality either! Who... who the hell are you?! You're not S1, I don't know an S1 like you! The person you're talking about, I don't know him, who are you, who the hell are you!!!"
"Wuwu... Yang..."
As if frightened by Qi Yang's terrifying demeanor, S1's tears began to fall.
The face that Qi Yang had once praised as God's most perfect creation was now streaked with tears. He stood there while completely naked, and began to cry.
Crying seemed to be his way of expressing emotions.
He wanted to cry, so he cried.
He didn't feel the need to cover himself out of shame, nor did he bury his feelings deep within due to cunning or wisdom.
Because he wanted to cry, he cried.
But this scene was something Qi Yang could not accept at all!
Just the night before, he had engaged in the most intense and intimate act with the owner of this body; just minutes ago, he had resolved to no longer use death as an escape from his deeply buried feelings, to face the world's most terrifying decision together.
And now...
He was alone.
He was left all by himself and staring at a completely unfamiliar S1, utterly at a loss.
"Let him out." A voice as cold as ice emerged from Qi Yang's throat. He lowered his head and glared at the sobbing man before him. "I don't want to waste another word. If you don't come out now, then don't bother coming out at all. Between a lunatic and a fool, anyone knows which one to choose."
S1 looked at Qi Yang with innocent confusion and blinking his eyes in bewilderment.
The frustration that was about to erupt in Qi Yang's heart was suppressed with great effort.
His fingers dug tightly into his flesh as he continued to hiss in a low voice, "S1, come out. If you don't come out now, I can't guarantee what I'll do to your body. I'll give you three seconds, come out right now and explain to me what the hell is going on!"
The response he received was S1's bewildered gaze: "Yang?"
Qi Yang's throat grew increasingly choked as the omnipresent sense of irritation like air itself pushed him to the brink of collapse: "S1, come out now! What exactly do you mean by this? Are you trying to escape me this way? What have I done to make you feel so ashamed? Come out and kill me!"
Seeing Qi Yang's frenzied state, S1 grew a little frightened. He cautiously tugged at Qi Yang's sleeve and whispered, "Yang, what's wrong with you..."
"S1! Haven't you always wanted to kill me? I'm right here, come on, come at me. I won't fight back this time, I won't ambush you, I... I really want to die this time, okay..."
Completely despairing and broken, Qi Yang crouched down before burying his face in his knees and letting the tears stream down his cheeks and fall to the ground that form tiny, deep pits in the sand.
He hid this utterly wretched state and only the slight trembling of his shoulders and faint gasps hinting to S1 just how deeply he was suffering.
This wasn't the main personality.
This wasn't even S1!
The S1 he had once believed to be the main personality was nothing but an illusion conjured up.
This S1, with the purest and most beautiful fantasies, had idealized him into someone he himself couldn't believe in.
The Qi Yang he liked wasn't him at all. And the S1 he liked had never been him!
Who was S1 really?
Who was the one who had wanted to protect him, who had held up a massive boulder for him?
Who was the one who had used Life Essence to save him?
Who was the one who had entwined with him so passionately, driving him to the brink of madness and wishing he could die in their arms!!!
The midday sun was no longer scorching; its gentle warmth shone on this small, isolated island, yet it felt strangely cold and pale.
On the fine sandy beach, a thin man curled up into a ball with tears pattering down onto the ground.
From suppressed sobs at first, to uncontrollable wails in the end.
S1 watched this strange Qi Yang while tilting his head in confusion.
His pure, transparent eyes held only that untainted, almost pristine color—a color that shouldn't exist in this world.
Just like a beautiful, fictional illusion.
And all of this, Qi Yang should have discovered long ago.