When One Loves No Longer

"Yu Ruyi I don't love you. I never will, in fact I hate you. You keep on chasing me and even forced my parents to make you my fiancé. The most unforgivable thing you've done was trying to harm my Li'er!"

There a man and a woman stood next to each other. Men in black suits stood on their sides. Hands on their guns, ready to shoot.

They were in a small room with only a bed and a window. On the bed, there was a person chained.

The man pursed his lips as he eyed the figure on the bed.

"On the account of all those favors you've done for me, I'll let you leave peacefully. Li'er let's go."

The room was empty save for the figure on the bed.

Laughing breathlessly, Yu Ruyi smiled helplessly.

Leave peacefully? This is what you call letting me leave peacefully?

You tortured me for weeks before chaining me to a bed and then forcefully feed me poison?

Gao Wucheng is your mind broken?

There was a piercing ache in Yu Ruyi's chest.

This poison..

Yu Ruyi broke out in pants, hands pulling against the chains as his body squirmed on the bed.

Yu Ruyi laughed hoarsely with tears trailing his face.

Feeding me the famous poison specially created for cheaters..

What a good 'Frozen Heart'!

What a good 'leave peacefully'!

Gao Wucheng you will regret all of this.

Who gave you the company you own now?

Who pacified your parents when you fought against them for your Li'er?

Who was the one that kept your enemies at bay while you took the sky?

Who was the one that kept your image nice and clean?

Ha!

"Gao Wucheng.. you will never live without me!.." Yu Ruyi spat out.

A few days later, Yu Ruyi, the famous daughter of Yu corporation was found dead in her penthouse. Cause of death was said to be suicide. There was a bottle of sleeping pills by her bedside.

But that wasn't the most astonishing part. The thing that surprised everyone was that Yu Ruyi was actually a man!

Yu Xiansu, head of the Yu corporation and father of Yu Ruyi held a press conference right after discovering his daughter's death.

"Yu Ruyi is indeed a man."

The crowd of people and reporters gasped, cameras flashing. The people watching the live feed furiously commented online.

"We've been played?!"

"How disgusting!"

"..Does this count as a trap?"

"Explanation!"

"We demand an explanation!"

The head of the Yu corporation, rose his hand to silence the crowd. Once the crowd quieted down and the cameras zoomed in closer, there was a heavy sense of tension.

What is it? What is the reason why Yu Ruyi pretended to be a woman this whole time?

"Ruyi.. when he was born had a very weak body. The doctors said he wouldn't be able to make it. The longest they said he had to live was five years."

There was a moment of silence as the head of the Yu corporation paused before continuing. "We paid specialists and followed their every instructions: the strict diets, timed sleep, even how much daylight he should get...Ruyi never got a chance to live like a normal child. As time came closer and closer to his fifth birthday, we noticed he got weaker. He would faint at least 4 times a week, sometimes getting out of bed wasn't possible."

"My father, at that time called his closest friend to come and visit. His friend was a taoist priest, and when he first laid eyes on Ruyi, he cried. He told us that Ruyi had been born in the wrong body. And because of this, his soul contained too much yin, it clashed with the yang in his body. He told us that from now on Ruyi must live as a woman and never return to being a man."

Some people in the crowd rose their eyes with disdain. You actually believed that bullshit?

The head of the Yu corporation laughed weakly. "You must think we were stupid to believe him. Who could fathom that changing someone's gender would save their life? A week of waiting and Ruyi was rushed to the hospital. His heart had failed for 3 seconds. We had no choice then, we were so desperate, so afraid, that we decided to take a gamble. Two weeks. It took two long weeks before his birthday. The taoist priest was correct. When we treated Ruyi as a girl and told him that for now on if he wanted to live, he could never live as a man. Ruyi, my dear child never questioned us even at that young age and told us that from now on, Yu Ruyi was the first daughter of the Yu family.."

The head of the Yu corporation, no, Yu Xiansu, father of Yu Ruyi, lifted his eyes directly facing the cameras. "My daughter, Yu Ruyi, did not commit suicide."

His eyes were slightly reddened with sadness, but more so with fury. "The taoist priest once told us that Ruyi should stay far away from love. If not, that would be her end. Looks like he was correct once more."

With a hoarse voice full of anger, Yu Xiansu spat out, "Gao family, did you really think it would end like this? This Yu is not so stupid. The autopsy revealed that Yu Ruyi was tortured and poisoned to death. Do you think that this Yu's daughter would commit suicide! Ruyi was poisoned with Frozen Heart"

The crowd shouted out in surprise. Frozen Heart, wasn't that poison created by that poison genius because his lover cheated on him with his best friend? Wasn't it said that it slowly froze the body from the inside out? Causing needle-like pain spreading out from the heart throughout the whole body and one would be alive for at least 3 days enduring such torment. Who can endure never sleeping, never resting, and heart always aching?

"Gao. Wucheng." Yu Xiansu spoke with gritted teeth. "What my Ruyi has given you, I will personally take back with interest."

And with that, the head of the Yu corporation left the conference room, leaving the reporters to gnaw on their thoughts.

It seems..there was more to this supposed suicide than it seems.

----

Laying in an empty space, was a pale young man who had his eyes tightly shut, gasping while clutching his chest. The cold aching pain had never left. Biting his lips to endure the pain, a trail of red trickled down his lips.

In the midst of his silent pain, an orb the size of an adult fist hovered by worriedly.

[Host..] A mechanical voice was heard from the orb, a tinge of worry could be made out.

[Host.. are you..ok?]

Those once tightly shut eyes opened abruptly, brilliant green whirls dazedly focused on the orb that hovered by.

"Jiu..percent?" Unlike that youthful pale face, the voice that spoke was hoarse, dry, and seemingly on the verge of death. It resembled a withered leaf barely attached to a branch.

[Host right now you should focus on your body--]

"Percent..tell me Jiu..please?"

It seemed like that sentence took his whole energy, as the young man began coughing. The hand that covered his mouth had hints of red seeping between his fingers.

Seeing its host so determined on knowing the progress, it quickly relented so that its host would pay more attention to his health.

[The progress bar is at 95%.. Host, you have..endured.]

"Haha..endured, yes. That's good."

After coughing a little more, the young man laid weakly while staring at the blank sky of the space.

"Jiu?"

[Yes, Host?]

"I want to rest for a while."

[Then please rest Host. Jiu will scan Host's body and help Host recover from the aftereffects of the last world.]

"Can..can I sleep in the depths of the ocean?"

[..That can be accomplished. Please rest well Host.]

The blank space had suddenly changed into dark waters, with only gaps of lights shone from the surface.

The orb, named Jiu, slowly flew to the top of the young man's head and disappeared.

Floating underwater, with darkness surrounding him, the young man truly felt alone. From his lips came a peaceful sigh as he let the currents cradle him. Those bright green eyes fixated on the light seeping in from above.

In the cold depths of the ocean, light was rare. It was warm, cherished, sought for. It was blinding, bright, drawing all attention.

Unconsciously, he raised a hand to grasp at those wisps of light, but when he came empty-handed, he let out a helpless smile. Those eyes filled with a kind yearning that came from the bones and originated from the soul.

Closing his brilliant green eyes, with a smile on his lips, his consciousness slowly sank.

[WARNING! Anomaly has been detected! ALERT! SouL CoRRUpTion! WARNING! Host in danger!]

[Attempting to eliminate corruption]

[Failed attempt 1]

[Failed attempt 2]

...

[Failed attempt 5689]

[Attempt 5690..]

[Successfully removed corruption]

[Host soul recovered]

[Alert! Host soul has mutated]

[Requesting Administrators for assistance]

[Assistance gained.]

[Host Soul has mutated, no longer fit for previous mission and role.]

[New mission and role acquired]

[Host recovery in 45 days 56 hours 42 minutes]

[System code named: 09, rest mode]