"Should I blame the soldiers who took my father to join the army back then, or should I blame the Sun Moon Empire and the Star Luo Empire?"
"There are too many; I can only put all of this blame on the head of the White Tiger Duke, even though I know a war is not the fault of just one or two people."
Lin Xiao sat down beside Ju Zi, silent for a long time.
He probably somewhat understood why Ju Zi was doing these strange things. It should be that Xu Tianran had told her his plans, but she hadn't truly prepared herself to dedicate everything to revenge as she said.
Perhaps she herself didn't know who her real enemy was, and had only given herself a goal in her heart that allowed her to persist alone until now.
"Do you know, Xu Tianran wants to unify the Douluo Continent?"
Ju Zi's voice sank again, and there was no longer any respect for Xu Tianran in her tone.
Lin Xiao nodded upon hearing this. He naturally knew Xu Tianran's thoughts all too well.
"I want to help him achieve this goal."
After Ju Zi finished speaking, she was silent for a moment. Seeing that Lin Xiao did not respond, she turned her head to look at him. "But I don't know if this is right or wrong?"
"Although following Xu Tianran makes me nervous every day, he also allowed me to enter the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy. I learned a lot and thought about a lot."
"War made me lose my mom and dad. I don't know who to hate, but I want there to be no more wars on this continent."
"Perhaps I will create more people like me, but in the future, there will no longer be people like me." As Ju Zi spoke, her fists clenched slightly.
Lin Xiao turned his head in some surprise to look at her, somewhat surprised that such words would come from Ju Zi's mouth.
After a moment of silence, seeing that Ju Zi was still looking at him, Lin Xiao gently shook his head. "I don't really understand these things, and I can't give you an answer, but—"
"If this continent can really be unified, it might be a good thing." Memories from his previous life surged up, and for a moment, Lin Xiao recalled many things.
"Is that so? So you think the same way." Ju Zi murmured, her voice gradually lowering, as if talking to herself. "Then will you help me?"
"This continent is too big; one person's power can't do much." Lin Xiao shook his head slightly. "And to truly unify the continent, it's absolutely impossible with just the power of the Holy Spirit Church."
"Even if the Holy Spirit Church has someone like you?" Ju Zi suddenly raised her head.
"Heh." Lin Xiao smiled, lowering his head slightly to look at his hands. "It's precisely because the Holy Spirit Church has too many people like me."
"No..."
Ju Zi shook her head, her voice somewhat unclear.
The words in her heart couldn't be told to others. Only in front of Lin Xiao, who had saved her life, did she dare to show her true expression. But some words, when they reached her lips, she knew she shouldn't say them.
In the end, only a dream-like voice remained: "Stay with me, okay?"
Lin Xiao did not respond, but he did not get up and leave either. He just sat quietly beside her, with no other actions.
He was not made of iron; hearing Ju Zi's confession did not leave him completely unmoved. But now, even he himself was not in control of his own fate, so how could he have the time to care about others' affairs?
The sound of Ju Zi's light breathing came to his ears, her warm breath brushing against the back of his hand. She seemed a bit tired and had fallen deeply asleep, just like that night a few years ago.
Lin Xiao did not disturb her anymore and closed his eyes.
The house here had good insulation. The cold wind still blew outside, but it was not too cold inside. With soul power protecting his body, he soon entered meditation.
He didn't know how much time had passed when the sunlight suddenly shining in through the window woke Lin Xiao.
The Ju Zi beside him was already gone. The door to the room was open, and a figure was standing outside facing the sunlight, with a long shadow stretching behind her.
"Ju Zi?"
Lin Xiao stood up and looked outside the door, but Ju Zi did not speak. She just waved to him, gesturing for him to come over.
He vaguely felt something was wrong, but the experiences of the previous day had also made Lin Xiao somewhat accustomed to Ju Zi's unusual demeanor. Perhaps it was precisely because she knew what would happen in the future that she wanted to experience the things she had always wanted to do but hadn't at this time.
"Where are the others in the house?"
Lin Xiao walked to Ju Zi's side and looked around.
Ju Zi still did not speak. She just raised her hand to point into the distance and suddenly started running toward the seaside far away.
Frowning, Lin Xiao followed from afar. But just after taking a few steps away, he suddenly felt something was off.
Looking back, the village where they had rested last night was eerily quiet, with not even a single person's shadow visible.
Wrong, too quiet.
People in villages like this didn't really pay attention to specific times; working at sunrise and resting at sunset was their norm.
But now the sun was already up, and the sunlight was almost illuminating the entire village. The people here shouldn't be completely still at this point.
"Lin Xiao—"
A faint call came to his ears. Lin Xiao suddenly turned his head toward the seaside and saw that in just a moment, Ju Zi had already run to the beach. She was opening her mouth to shout something while continuously waving to him to come over.
Slightly raising his head, Lin Xiao's brows furrowed even deeper. So much time had passed, but the sun on the sea had not changed at all. If anything was different, it seemed not to have risen but to have set a bit lower.
It was as if it was not morning now, but dusk.
A gentle breeze blew from somewhere, rippling the sea surface into layers of waves that soon formed into splashes constantly crashing against the shore.
The gravel under his feet trembled slightly with the waves, emitting faint sounds, like a unique melody coming from far away on the sea.
Or like a sigh long forgotten in the sea breeze, so faint it was almost an illusion.
But soon, it wrapped tightly around, penetrated the bone marrow, and sang quietly in the blood.
Lin Xiao didn't know what kind of melody it was, but he only felt a call striking straight into the depths of his soul. Every bone and muscle in his body resonated with it, making it impossible to resist stepping forward.
A sudden chill came from under his feet, then his ankles, knees, and up to his chest. An unknown pressure made his breathing a bit rapid, and a familiar feeling inexplicably flashed in his mind.
What was it?
Oh, right, that was the breath of death, as if "death" had materialized and appeared by his side...
No!
Lin Xiao's heart jolted fiercely. Clusters of other shore flowers bloomed, and their faint, elegant fragrance spread to his nose, quickly clearing his mind.
With a "splash," Lin Xiao had already leaped into the air. Under his feet was a stretch of icy seawater.
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