Chapter 26 – Cracks in the Heart
The wind howled, a desperate, mournful sound across the secluded cliffside, amplifying the crushing silence between them.
Xiao Xi looked up at Gu Yanzhou, her face streaked with rain and unshed tears, her profound, impossible confession still hanging heavy in the storm-thick air.
"I'm not from this world, Gu Yanzhou," she repeated, her voice barely a whisper, strained by the System's invisible punishment.
"Everything here—your life, your empire, this whole reality—it's a story I read.
A novel."
She swallowed hard, the bitterness of the truth lodging in her throat.
"And you," her voice finally broke, a thin, sharp sound of pain, "—you were supposed to die before it even began. Before the first chapter."
Gu Yanzhou stood absolutely still, a magnificent statue of shock and confusion.
He didn't move, didn't breathe.
The complex, analytical machinery of his corporate mind had momentarily seized up.
He could handle impossible timelines, financial betrayal, and resurrection, but not this—the sudden, brutal revelation that his entire existence was merely a fictional subplot to her.
A storm flickered behind his eyes—hurt, profound disbelief, and an agonizing, chilling fear that cut deeper than any knife.
His greatest fear wasn't losing his empire; it was realizing his life held no intrinsic meaning.
"So everything between us…" He swallowed hard, his throat dry, his voice rough with sudden grief.
"The contract, the partnership, the way you looked at me when I was almost killed, the way you defend me now… was it real to you, Xiao Xi? Or was it just part of your strategic playbook to survive the next chapter?"
She opened her mouth, a desperate, truthful denial forming on her tongue—It was all real, Gu Yanzhou, more real than anything else—but before the words could escape, the System shrieked violently in her skull, a piercing, digital warning that felt like physical trauma.
[Disclosure penalty initiated. Unauthorized information shared with Prime Variable.]
[Luck – 500. Penalty enforced.]
[Warning: Host stability compromised. Immediate physical retraction recommended.]
A sudden, sharp, agonizing pain stabbed through her temple, radiating behind her eyes, forcing a sharp gasp of air from her lungs.
She winced, raising a hand to the side of her head.
He reacted instantly, reaching for her, his concern overriding his shock. "Xiao Xi? What's wrong? Are you hurt?"
"Don't," she whispered, stepping back violently, warding him off with a protective hand.
"Please, just—don't."
The System would punish her again if their proximity deepened the emotional resonance.
She couldn't allow him to touch her right now, couldn't let him see the agonizing reality of her fate, couldn't let him witness her vulnerability.
She had to protect her secret, and she had to protect him from the System's wrath.
She forced her expression into a mask of cold regret, the façade of the ruthless CEO she once was.
She stepped back again, breaking the physical and emotional contact.
"I shouldn't have told you anything. This was a mistake.
A momentary breakdown."
The distance in her voice, the sudden coldness, achieved what no amount of shouting could.
Gu Yanzhou's composure finally shattered.
"So you're leaving?" His voice was thin, a broken shard of sound barely audible over the wind.
"You tell me I'm a ghost, I'm a dead man walking, and your solution is to walk away?"
She couldn't look at him.
She didn't answer.
She turned, her shoulders rigid, and began walking blindly back toward the car.
The heavy rain instantly masked the fresh tears streaming down her face.
Behind her, Gu Yanzhou stood rooted to the spot, alone on the desolate cliffside, whispering into the storm, a heartbroken question lost to the wind:
"Why does the truth take you further from me?"