Ch 136: Advancement

Even with only blurry outlines, he still recognized those figures at a glance.

Because they were his family, whom he had once been intimately familiar with.

They were huddled in a circle, whispering, seemingly plotting something.

A familiar, aged voice came:

“We don’t have much food left; another mouth to feed means fewer days of food.”

“Li Yong, what do you think?” The old man looked to the side.

“Father, Mother, I don’t know, but he is my son after all.” A middle-aged man’s expression was pained, his voice trembling.

“In my opinion, we should just make that fool into food now.” The old man’s voice was hoarse and cold; his eyes were vacant, as if he had lost his humanity.

“That child has been a burden since he was little, eating so much; now is the time for us to make a choice.” The old woman beside him clutched her cane, looking especially sinister.

Seeing the scene from his memory clearly before him, the intense realism caused Li Yu to unconsciously take a step back.

Then he suddenly remembered something; just as he was about to turn around to stop them, a child’s tender and frightened voice came from behind:

“Grandpa and Grandma, what are you saying?”

A ferocious smile appeared on the old man’s face: “We’ve been discovered, but it’s fine; it saves trouble.”

“In this world, cannibalism is nothing; you useless thing, at least you can let us live a few more days, so you’re somewhat useful.”

The old woman leaned on her cane and slowly walked toward Li Yu; her eyes held no warmth, only chilling coldness: “Yu’er, don’t blame Grandma for being cruel; it’s fate.”

The child’s heart was filled with fear and despair; he turned to run, but the other ‘family’ members had blocked his path.

Their faces all wore the same twisted and crazed expressions—a longing for flesh, the dark side of humanity overwhelming them.

At that moment, a woman suddenly rushed forward without hesitation, using all her strength to push aside the surrounding people.

She shoved a wooden bow into the child’s arms, then immediately turned back to block the others’ pursuit, continuously shouting at the child:

“Run! Don’t look back!”

The child, clutching the wooden bow, glanced back at the woman, his face streaked with tears, and quickly disappeared into the rain.

Li Yu stared blankly at the scene before him, unknowingly shedding tears.

Only after watching the child successfully escape did the woman, who hadn’t eaten for two days, powerlessly fall to the ground.

“Damn bitch! What are we going to eat now that he’s run off!?” The old woman was furious, her voice shrill and piercing.

“You still have that much strength without eating; you really deserve to starve to death.” The old man also grumbled, his face full of disgust towards the mother and son.

“Outsiders are outsiders; they always have to meddle in other people’s business!”

“A bitch’s offspring doesn’t count as one of our own.”

“Since the young one ran away, let’s use the older one instead!”

These ‘family’ members, devoid of humanity, spoke one after another, clearly not intending to let the woman go.

They roughly pushed the woman to the ground, using her to replace the child who had escaped.

Li Yong, the middle-aged man among them, watched everything happen with a helpless expression; on one side were his wife and child, and on the other were his parents and sister.

Li Yong was incredibly conflicted, ultimately choosing not to intervene; in the end, he could only painfully close his eyes, choosing silence and escape.

At that moment, Li Yu suddenly understood.

This was his memory; this was what had truly happened.

Li Yu thought he would gradually forget everything with time, but unexpectedly, he remembered it so clearly.

But memory is just memory; it isn’t real.

All of this was merely a painful concretization resulting from the prolonged internal consumption of his psychic power.

It seemed that only by overcoming this could he move forward.

Suddenly, the old man seemed to sense something and slowly turned his head; his ferocious gaze pierced through the mist and fixed on Li Yu.

Li Yu’s chest immediately felt as if a raging fire had ignited within it; even knowing it was fake, he couldn’t help but curse:

“You dare look at me? You old bastard! I’ll kill you.”

A surge of immense anger rose within him; the hatred hidden in his heart for many years could finally no longer be suppressed, surging forth once more.

Li Yu quickly picked up his bow and arrow and, without hesitation, shot an arrow at the old man.

“Bang.”

The armor-piercing arrow instantly blew the old man’s head apart; blood splattered everywhere, his skull shattered.

Li Yu didn’t hesitate; he quickly shot another arrow.

“Pfft!”

Another arrow pierced the old man’s heart; his body instantly collapsed to the ground.

As the old man’s corpse fell to the ground, dead beyond death, Li Yu distinctly felt a surge of energy merging into his cyclone.

The surrounding ‘family’ members also noticed Li Yu and, like evil spirits, clawed at him, lunging forward.

“Whoosh!”

Li Yu raised his hand and shot an arrow, directly exploding the old woman’s head; the old woman’s corpse fell to the ground, and once again, an invisible energy flowed into his cyclone.

The remaining three figures lunged forward even more frantically.

Li Yu’s body trembled slightly from anger and excitement.

“Volley!” Li Yu shouted.

“Pfft, pfft, pfft,”

The three figures were simultaneously shot dead, all transforming into energy absorbed into his body.

“Whew——”

Only at this moment did Li Yu slowly exhale a long breath.

He could feel the cyclone in his abdomen becoming different, slightly warm.

At that moment, Li Yu suddenly froze.

Li Yu discovered that the woman on the ground seemed to be able to see him and was continuously gazing at him.

He quickly crouched down and took out a wooden bow from behind—identical to the one the child had taken earlier.

Tears streamed down Li Yu’s face as he gently grasped the woman’s cold hand, his voice trembling:

“Mom… it’s me.”

Seeing the wooden bow in Li Yu’s hand, the woman seemed to understand everything and gave Li Yu a gentle smile, nodding at him.

Then, her body dissipated, transforming into energy that flowed into Li Yu’s cyclone through his hand.

Li Yong, who had witnessed everything, remained motionless.

But when he saw the wooden bow Li Yu had taken out, his expression changed.

After carefully looking at Li Yu, he actively transformed into a stream of energy and floated into Li Yu’s cyclone.

The cyclone, enveloped in radiance, seemed to become complete at that moment.

The cyclone finally obtained all the energy and began to spin again.

As the cyclone in his abdomen began to spin again, the surrounding illusions gradually dissipated, and Li Yu returned to the mist.

Seeing that his surroundings had once again become mist instead of the real world, Li Yu finally realized something was wrong.

“This is fake too!”

“It’s an illusion!”

“I’ve fallen into a deep illusion and haven’t woken up yet.”