Volume 1, Chapter 141: Never Willing to Meet Again

As the Ghost Gate vanished, the chilling aura in the office instantly dissipated without a trace.

Chi Xingwan pulled open the curtains, allowing the external sunlight to flood in, and the room grew warmer in an instant.

Yet everyone's heart remained as cold as ice.

Dong's mother sat on the floor, her gaze vacant. After a long while, she suddenly lunged toward Chi Xingwan, crying, "Where is Xuezhi now?"

"She has already entered the Underworld to await reincarnation," Chi Xingwan said.

Dong's mother pleaded tearfully, "So she is still around, isn't she? You had a way to summon that scum up here, so you must have a way to summon Xuezhi up as well, right? I beg you, let me see my daughter one last time."

Dong's father stumbled forward as well. "I'm begging you too, let us see Xuezhi. We are filled with regret, and there are so many things we want to say to her."

Chi Xingwan shook her head. "Actually, she left just last night. Before she left, I asked her if she wanted to see you both."

A glimmer of hope ignited in the eyes of Dong's parents.

"She said everyone has already moved forward, and now no one needs her anymore, so there is no need to meet."

All the blood in their bodies froze in that single instant. With every breath they drew, the two seemed to age several years all at once.

Dong's mother collapsed onto the floor, her eyes filled with despair. "Xuezhi doesn't want to see me... It's my fault. She has every right to hate me, she hates me..."

Dong's father walked over to the window, pounding his head heavily with his fists, and repeated softly to the sky, "Xuezhi, Daddy failed you. Daddy doesn't deserve to be your father..."

Chi Xingwan watched them, her emotions complex. She had intentionally said those words; she wanted these two to feel regret, wanted them to live out the rest of their lives forever consumed by guilt toward Dong Xuezhi.

She admitted she was being malicious, but she thought that this way, Dong Xuezhi would never be forgotten.

Xu Fangliang walked up to Chi Xingwan and asked awkwardly, "Xuezhi... did she not want to see me either?"

Chi Xingwan looked at him. "Mr. Xu, I asked you to come today not because you were once Dong Xuezhi's boyfriend, but because you were a suspect in this case. Therefore, I felt you deserved to know the truth, and you deserved to know that your name has been cleared."

Xu Fangliang rubbed the edges of his trousers with both hands, nervous and uneasy. "I..."

"Mr. Xu, early congratulations on becoming a father," Chi Xingwan said.

Xu Fangliang froze in place. The tears he had been desperately holding back finally burst forth in a torrential flood. He knew that from this moment on, Dong Xuezhi would be forever buried deep within his heart.

Chi Xingwan turned to bid farewell to the principal and Teacher Yuan.

The principal said, "Thank you both. We will handle the matters that follow."

With tear stains still on her face, Teacher Yuan helped Dong's mother to the sofa to sit down, and then likewise thanked Chi Xingwan and her companions. "Thank you for clearing Xuezhi's name."

"It's just our job," Chi Xingwan said, bowing slightly in farewell. "Until we meet again."

Chu Fangfei cried while driving. "People are always like this—they only know regret after they've lost something. If someone had believed Dong Xuezhi back then, if someone had been willing to run around seeking the truth, would she have lived even a little more happily over these past six years?"

No one could answer that question.

Chi Xingwan could only awkwardly change the subject. "Pay attention to safety while driving."

Chu Fangfei sniffled and said, "Don't worry, Sis. My driving skills are great. Even if I cry the whole way, nothing will go wrong."

She was right. Although she cried all the way, the car parked steadily outside Yangguan Hutong.

"Let's go, time to head back." Chu Fangfei composed her emotions, unbuckled her seatbelt, and prepared to get out.

Sitting in the back seat, Chi Xingwan unbuckled her seatbelt as well, only to notice that Michelle, sitting next to her, was completely motionless. "What's wrong? Do you want to go back to the hotel?"

Michelle shook her head. "I'm sorry, I was spacing out. I was thinking about some things."

She finally reached out to unbuckle her seatbelt. Perhaps truly absent-minded, she failed to undo it on the first try.

Chi Xingwan helped her out and asked, "If you don't mind, we can be your audience. If it's inconvenient to share, just pretend I didn't ask."

Michelle wore a complex expression, a mix of bewilderment and faint panic.

Chi Xingwan adjusted her sitting posture, waiting for her to speak on her own. In the front seat, Chu Fangfei was no longer in a rush either. She rolled down the car window, turned off the engine, and waited quietly alongside Chi Xingwan.

After a long silence, Michelle spoke. "After going through this mission, I had a thought—a very dangerous thought."

Chi Xingwan cast an anti-eavesdropping talisman and said, "You can speak freely now. I guarantee no one outside will be listening in."

Michelle sighed. She hadn't even realized how much she had come to trust Chi Xingwan.

"I think the Spirit Masters Association in my country is wrong."

"It shouldn't be like this. Whether it's the nobility towering above commoners or the way they dispose of souls, everything is wrong."

She had never realized it before; it was only after coming to China that she had this realization.

She was a commoner. She loved the environment here, where people were judged by their strength rather than their birth, and she loved the attitude of the local spirit masters toward souls. She felt this was the way things ought to be.

Yet she knew this was a rebellious thought. If Mr. Smith were to find out, she would probably be placed under house arrest the moment she returned to the United States, forced to live out the rest of her life merely as a mascot.

Michelle gave a bitter smile. "Am I being cowardly? Clearly knowing something is wrong, yet not even daring to speak out."

Chu Fangfei immediately chimed in, "What do you mean by cowardly? My master taught us since we were little that as long as the green hills remain, there's no need to worry about firewood. If you acted rashly now, that would truly be the wrong move."

"Thank you for comforting me," Michelle said. "Truthfully, I don't have the courage to act rashly anyway. I'm just venting."

She really was just venting; she knew she could neither resist the US Spirit Masters Association nor leave it.

Chi Xingwan looked at her and asked, "You're going to suffer quite a bit when you go back."

"I know." Michelle had already prepared herself mentally. "I can endure it."

Chi Xingwan fell silent for a moment before asking, "We're friends now, yet I still don't know much about you."

Michelle looked at Chi Xingwan in surprise. "I am honored that you consider me a friend."

"I heard you're an orphan?" Chi Xingwan asked bluntly.

Michelle nodded. "You could say that. I awakened my talent the moment I was born, and my parents sold me to the Spirit Masters Association. In truth, I've never met my parents, nor do I know if they are still alive."

"So you grew up in the US Spirit Masters Association since childhood? But it seems you don't feel much sense of belonging toward them."

Michelle smiled bitterly. "Indeed. Although they took me in, you know how the US values pedigree. No matter how high my talent is, I am ultimately just a commoner."

"Is that fair?"

"There is no such thing as absolute fairness in this world."

Chi Xingwan nodded, then shook her head. "You're right, but some things are within our own control."

Michelle asked quizzically, "What do you mean?"

Chi Xingwan looked straight into her eyes. "Since you no longer have any ties binding you in the United States, why not find another place to live?"