Light rushed past Yin Lie as he fell—
not white light,
not warm light,
but fractured light, like a broken mirror trying to become whole again.
He didn't know if he was falling down,
or up,
or sideways.
He only knew one thing:
Qin Mian's voice was real.
And he needed to reach her.
Her last words echoed through the Rift:
"I'm coming… just hold on…"
The sound pulled him forward like a lifeline.
He reached into the light.
"Mian… don't stop talking…
I'm following you…"
But her voice grew faint.
Then distant.
Then…
gone.
Yin Lie felt the world tilt.
"No—NO—Mian! Answer me!"
Silence.
Thick, endless silence.
The Rift shifted again, twisting space into a different shape.
He landed on solid ground—
gray and cold like dead stone.
He forced himself to stand.
His body felt wrong.
Too heavy.
Too light.
Like his muscles and bones didn't agree on what they were made of.
He looked around—
and saw a giant hall.
A hall made of memories.
The Hall of Faces
The stone walls were covered in glowing crystal plates.
Each plate held a face.
Yan.
Scab.
Kai.
Chen Gu.
Sniper.
Qin Mian.
All of them.
Some were smiling—
but most were crying,
screaming,
bleeding.
Each face whispered something when he stepped closer.
"You failed me."
"You weren't fast enough."
"You let me die."
"You hurt us."
"You are dangerous."
"You break everything."
Yin Lie gritted his teeth.
"This isn't real."
He reached for Sniper's face—
but the moment his fingers touched the crystal,
the image screamed and exploded into red shards.
He staggered backward.
Then he saw Qin Mian's crystal face.
She wasn't crying.
She wasn't smiling.
She only looked at him with calm, sad eyes.
He whispered:
"That's not how she looks at me.
You're lying."
The Rift growled.
A deep, low echo through the hall.
"You do not know how she sees you."
"Yes," Yin Lie snapped, voice sharper than ice,
"I do."
He grabbed the crystal Qin Mian.
Warmth flowed through his palm.
Real warmth.
Just for a second.
The image whispered softly—
her real voice, not a memory:
"…Lie… keep going…"
The crystal shattered into dust.
But Yin Lie stood straighter.
"She's close."
The Rift Tries to Break Him Again
The hall dissolved into smoke.
When the smoke settled—
he stood in a small bedroom.
Not his.
Not Qin Mian's.
A memory.
A hospital room.
A bed with a girl lying on it, still as winter.
Qin Mian.
Years younger.
Her breathing small.
Her hand curled weakly over her chest.
Scientists watched her from behind glass.
They spoke in cold voices:
"If she opens her eyes, the resonance collapses."
"She cannot survive outside containment."
"She must never wake."
Yin Lie clenched his fists until they bled.
The lights flickered.
The girl opened her eyes—
but they were empty.
She whispered:
"Why did you come for me…?
Why did you wake me…?
Why didn't you leave me asleep… where I couldn't hurt anyone…"
The words stabbed deep.
He shouted:
"That's not you! That's not what you think!"
The floor cracked.
The hospital room twisted, warped, stretched into a nightmare.
The empty-eyed girl stepped toward him.
"You break everything, Yin Lie."
The Rift's voice merged with hers.
"You will break her too."
He shook his head violently.
"I won't! I won't hurt her!"
"You already are."
Images flashed:
Qin Mian crying at his side.
Qin Mian holding him while the world fell apart.
Qin Mian screaming his name as the Surge swallowed them both.
His breath caught.
"No… no… I never wanted to hurt her…"
"She is breaking because of you."
He fell to his knees.
Hands over his face.
The Rift pressed harder, whispering:
"She would be safer without you."
His whole body shook.
"Stop… please…"
"She aches because you are weak."
"STOP—!"
"She fears losing you."
Yin Lie lifted his head, eyes burning with a new fire.
"And I fear losing her."
The Rift fell silent.
The Rift Opens a Door
The world around him cracked—
not violently,
but like something changing shape.
A doorway appeared in front of him.
Not a normal door.
Floating.
Shifting.
Made of light and shadow.
A dark corridor stretched beyond it.
Yin Lie felt something.
A heartbeat.
Soft.
Warm.
Qin Mian's heartbeat.
He stepped forward.
The doorway closed slightly, as if resisting him.
The Rift whispered:
"You cannot reach her.
You are too broken."
He pushed the door open with one hand.
The air hissed, cracking.
"Maybe," he said, voice rough,
"But I'm still going."
The Rift hissed louder.
"You will tear yourself apart."
He pushed harder.
"I don't care."
The door cracked wider.
Light spilled through.
Warm light.
"Mian…" he breathed.
"I'm coming."
The First Connection
Qin Mian's silhouette flickered in the distance—
faint, small, glowing softly in the dark.
She was fighting something.
Rift creatures.
Her voice reached him in a tiny whisper:
"Lie… I'm here…"
He stepped forward—
but chains of ice snapped around his ankles, pulling him back.
Not real chains.
Chains made of fear.
Made of guilt.
The Rift whispered:
"She doesn't need a monster."
Yin Lie bared his teeth.
"She needs me."
He broke one chain.
Then the next.
His body tore open in bursts of blue flame and frost.
He screamed—
from pain,
from fear,
from determination.
And leaped toward the light.
The moment his hand touched it—
for just one heartbeat—
he felt her fingers touch his.
Warm.
Soft.
Real.
She gasped somewhere in the distance:
"Lie?! Lie, is that you—?!"
Yin Lie whispered:
"Mian…"
But the Rift snapped shut.
The connection broke.
Yin Lie slammed into the dark floor.
Breathing hard.
Shaking.
The Rift whispered angrily:
"You cannot reach her."
Yin Lie slowly stood up again.
His eyes were bright with fire and ice and something stronger—
hope.
"I will."
He stepped forward again.
One step.
Two steps.
And the Rift trembled—
because it realized something:
Yin Lie was no longer running from his fear.
He was running toward someone he loved.
And that made him dangerous.
—Chapter 95 End—