As Ye Chen finally regained control over his turbulent emotions, burying his burning resentment deep within his soul, his thoughts shifted toward his current predicament. He began by scanning his physical state with his newfound consciousness. Although there was no mirror to reflect his image, the structure of his bones and the lean build of his frame told him enough—he was currently inhabiting the body of a young man, barely twenty years old.
The moment he tried to delve deeper into his mind, a flood of fragmented and hazy memories surged like a broken film reel behind his closed eyes. To process this chaotic influx and truly absorb these memories, he closed his eyes and remained still for nearly an hour, letting the essence of this stranger's life merge with his own. When he finally opened them, his gaze was no longer vacant; he now understood every detail, every scar, and every tragedy associated with this body.
This young man, surprisingly, was the flesh and blood of a prestigious, high-ranking family from a second-tier city. However, destiny had dealt him a cruel hand. His mother came from a humble, impoverished background, which led his father's arrogant relatives to treat them with nothing but utter contempt. Driven by a hunger for power and social status, his grandparents had eventually forced his father into a political marriage with a woman from another influential clan. The result was heartbreaking: he and his innocent mother were cast out onto the streets without a single shred of mercy when he was only eight years old.
Over the next twelve long years, neither his father nor any member of that cold-hearted family bothered to check if they were dead or alive. Living in the shadow of poverty, his mother worked grueling hours in factories and domestic jobs, sacrificing everything to ensure her son had a future. It was her hard-earned savings that sent him to study at a university in a third-tier city.
In that city, Jinling, he lived in a cramped rented room. There, he had a girlfriend—a girl he had known since their school days. He loved her more than life itself, believing their bond was unbreakable. But as they entered the world of the university, the glitz and glamour began to poison her mind. Her beauty attracted the attention of the city's wealthy, spoiled scions, who began circling her like vultures.
Slowly, the distance between them grew into an unbridgeable chasm. He often watched with a heavy heart as she laughed and flirted with other men right in front of him. Whenever he dared to voice his pain, she would dismiss him with a cold smirk, saying, "The world has changed; you need to be more open-minded." Her stinging remarks and constant sarcasm left wounds in his heart that never seemed to heal. He naively thought the city had just temporarily changed her, and that his sweet, simple girl was still in there somewhere.
In a desperate, final attempt to save their love, he decided to publicly declare his feelings and propose marriage, hoping to build a life together after graduation. To afford this, he worked part-time at a local garage for months, sacrificing sleep and his own health to save every penny. With that money, he bought a bouquet and a ring. Though the ring was inexpensive by worldly standards, it carried the weight of months of sweat and blood—a value no wealthy man could ever truly comprehend.
On the day of the proposal, he wore his cleanest, best clothes. As she stepped out of her classroom and a crowd of students gathered, he knelt on one knee with trembling hope. He was certain she wouldn't reject him; after all, she was his girlfriend. But he had no idea that this "surprise" was about to become the most brutal nightmare of his life.
With a voice thick with emotion, he said, "Feng Xi, you know you are the most beautiful girl in this university, but in my eyes, you are the most beautiful in the entire world. I know we love each other. Once we graduate, I'll find a great job, and we'll get married. Will you be my bride?"
The entire corridor fell into a deathly silence. But it wasn't a silence of respect; it was the quiet before a devastating storm. Moments later, the air was shattered by bursts of cruel laughter from the onlookers. Feng Xi, whose eyes once held warmth for him, now stared down at him with a gaze as cold as ice.
When he asked again, she snapped, "Do you have any idea what you're doing? If you don't care about your own dignity, at least have some respect for mine!"
Ye Chen was stunned. "But... I thought we loved each other... I thought you would be happy..."
A look of pure disgust crossed Feng Xi's face. "Happy? Are you out of your mind? Look at yourself! You're just a pathetic, poor boy whose mother still pays his way. Someone who can't even feed himself—how could you ever take care of me? As for love, you were dreaming. We only talked in school because I felt sorry for you. Did you actually think I was your girlfriend?"
The hatred in her eyes pierced his very soul. He asked in a shaking voice, "Just talking? The promises we made... were they all just talk?"
She pointed a finger at him, her voice dripping with venom. "Know your category! What could you possibly offer me? You have no decent clothes, no house, no car. Do you really think you can keep me happy with the two or three hundred Yuan you earn at that garage?" She looked at him with utter disdain. "Your actions are making me angry. Look at how everyone is staring! From this moment on, we are done. And for your information, I already have a boyfriend. Would you like to meet him?"
Just then, the crowd parted, and a young man stepped forward. He was draped in expensive, branded clothing, casually stroking the luxury watch on his wrist. He walked straight to Feng Xi and draped an arm possessively over her shoulder.
"Baby, what's all this drama about?" he asked, looking down at the kneeling boy with sheer mockery.
Feng Xi leaned into him, waving her hand in front of her face as if shooing away a fly. "Nothing, darling. Just a few flies buzzing around. Let's go."
Ye Chen felt like a statue of stone. He recognized the man standing before him. This was the young master of the Wu family, one of the four most powerful clans in Jinling—Wu Chantian. He was notorious for being a ruthless playboy who treated women like disposable toys.
As they turned to leave, he stood up and blocked their path, pleading with Feng Xi, "How can you be with someone like him? Don't you know who he is? He'll just use you and throw you away!"
Wu Chantian wore a sinister smirk. Feng Xi wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Those are just rumors. Besides, we're going to be together forever; we've already planned our marriage." At that, Wu Chantian stepped closer and delivered a powerful shove to Ye Chen's chest. In a voice filled with chilling menace, he whispered, "Get out of the way. If I ever see you near her again, you'll disappear from this world entirely."
Feng Xi cast one final, loathing glance at him. "Know your place. Good dogs don't block the path. Go back to your miserable, pathetic life."
They walked away, leaving him burning in the flames of public humiliation. For days after that, the smile vanished from his face, and he wandered like a hollow shell.
But what truly happened next? How did this broken-hearted young man, who had lost everything to a cruel betrayal, end up in a state of death in that desolate, abandoned wasteland? What dark event occurred in the shadows that forced him over the edge?