Chapter Twenty-Nine: Discord

Without overthinking it, under Han Qianliu’s guidance, Mu Rongxun used the Passage Pearl. Instantly, a shimmering portal materialized before them.

“The Passage Pearl will drop you into the nearest stretch of reality. Once you’re out, don’t hesitate—leave immediately. There are many passageways near the Dark Side, and if you’re not careful, you might stumble back in and end up here all over again,” Han Qianliu warned.

Mu Rongxun nodded, glanced at Xu Ying and Zhang Jiao, who were watching him expectantly, and reclaimed the short sword from Xu Ying’s hand. He stepped through the portal first, determined to assess the situation on the other side before the others followed. If there was any danger, he wanted to be the first to respond, for when it came to his own survival, caution was paramount.

Once Mu Rongxun vanished through the portal, Han Qianliu signaled for the two girls to proceed. “You go first,” Xu Ying said, gesturing to Zhang Jiao.

After Zhang Jiao stepped through, Xu Ying approached the portal. She paused, turning back as if to express her gratitude, but her face froze in mid-motion.

On the other side, Mu Rongxun emerged into a deserted alley. He saw no one around. Taking out his Yin-Talisman, he checked for supernatural activity but detected nothing unusual. Just as he finished, Zhang Jiao stepped out behind him.

An alley that had been utterly empty just moments before now rippled like disturbed water, and Zhang Jiao seemed to squeeze through from the other side. As she arrived, a pale, delicate hand emerged from the portal—Xu Ying’s, they presumed.

But Xu Ying herself didn’t appear, which struck them as strange. Zhang Jiao rushed forward and grabbed the hand, only to feel herself being pulled back. Mu Rongxun reacted instantly, sprinting ahead and gripping the wrist, tugging forcefully towards their side.

He hadn’t anticipated how little resistance there would be. With a hard yank, both he and Zhang Jiao toppled backward. All that remained in their grasp was a blood-soaked arm.

“Yingying!” Zhang Jiao screamed, flinging herself desperately toward the portal.

But the portal was already closing.

Mu Rongxun’s expression darkened. If she threw herself in now, she’d never return. He dropped the severed arm and grabbed Zhang Jiao, restraining her.

“Let me go! Let me go!” Zhang Jiao sobbed and struggled, her hands clawing wildly, flames of energy surging from her, growing fiercer by the second.

Mu Rongxun remained unmoved, holding her with a cold detachment until the portal finally sealed shut. Only then did he release her.

At last, the mission prompt appeared before him: the protection side-quest had been completed. He didn’t care about the ten Park Coins; what mattered was that he was no longer under threat of annihilation.

He felt no concern for Xu Ying’s death. Now that the mission was complete, even Zhang Jiao’s fate was irrelevant to him.

Zhang Jiao collapsed to the ground, tears streaming down her face as she stared at the spot where the portal had been. She understood perfectly well what the portal’s closure meant—Xu Ying would never come back.

Even with Han Qianliu present, such a disaster had occurred. The outcome could only be grim.

Wiping away her tears, she got to her feet, her gaze turning fierce as she glared at Mu Rongxun.

“And you! Give me Yingying back!” she shrieked, all traces of her demure, gentle persona gone. Overcome by her friend’s death, she charged at him, her fear forgotten.

But before she could reach him, she was sent flying back even faster than she’d lunged forward.

She landed on her knees, doubled over like a shrimp. Mu Rongxun regarded her coolly. After kicking her in the stomach, he made no further move. The mission was over; he had no reason to linger.

After a while, Zhang Jiao, grimacing in pain, clutched her stomach with one hand and braced herself against the wall with the other. She watched Mu Rongxun leave, her eyes burning with hatred, before finally dragging herself away in the opposite direction.

Mu Rongxun neither knew nor cared about any of this. Even if he had, it wouldn’t have concerned him. He had no idea what fate had befallen Xu Ying on the other side of the portal, and even if he did, he would still have taken Zhang Jiao and escaped, making sure of his own safety.

That was his nature: everything he did was for himself. If not for the abrupt arrival of the mission, he would have ignored the girls on the Ghost Bus from the very start. He hadn’t continued to help them out of pity, but because the threat of erasure spurred him on.

After leaving the alley and wandering for a while—since he had no idea where he was—he finally found signs of life, hailed a cab, and returned to his small courtyard.

Though it was impossible to tell how much time had passed—the Dark Side world seemed to distort duration—he felt exhausted. He’d fought battle after battle and been injured more than once. The ghostly chef’s dishes had helped heal his wounds, but the mental fatigue was not so easily dispelled.

This trip had been a loss. Not only had he gained nothing, but he’d also sacrificed his treasured items. The engravings on his body and sword, painstakingly acquired, were now almost completely ruined. Aside from a few more kills and a step closer to completing the main storyline, he’d earned little else.

It made him wonder if the anomalies in the Dark Side world were different from those in reality. In the real world, defeating an anomaly yielded materials with special properties, the basis for much of what the Special Bureau crafted. But in the Dark Side, when an anomaly was slain, it simply vanished without a trace.

Yet, this wasn’t what troubled him most. Checking his task list, he saw that while the side quest was complete, the second main mission—Escape the Ghost Domain—had turned gray. He had clearly left the Dark Side, and yet, the mission didn’t register as completed; instead, it went gray. A sense of foreboding crept over him.

He knew too little about this world. He had his suspicions, but with no one to confirm them and unwilling to seek help, he could only wait.

Back at his place, after a long, soothing shower, Mu Rongxun collapsed into bed and fell asleep.

Chen Lian came by and, seeing how tired he looked, decided not to wake him. She had only recently awakened her abilities, which were not suited to front-line work. Though she was called his partner, she often served as a messenger, relaying orders from above for him to carry out.

With her light affinity, she was a rare treasure to the Bureau. No one in their right mind would send her into danger.