Chapter 1777: Home?

The moment his mother spoke, Li Laide’s heart tightened.

He hadn't seen his mother or spoken to her from such a close distance in a long time... He thought he could bravely take this step and have a good talk with her before leaving, but seeing the shallow wrinkles on her face, he began to retreat.

Did he really want his mother to see him like this... a fugitive living in exile, afraid to even return home, with wanted posters plastered everywhere?

Even if he put everything aside and spoke to her, what should he say?

Li Laide opened his mouth, remained silent for a long time, and didn't say a single word as Li Laide... He couldn't even say, "Mother... I miss you so much."

He stood there, wanting to speak but stopping, and finally, as if making up his mind, he forced an ugly smile onto his face:

"Ma'am, hello..."

"I'm a product manager from the repair shop next door. We recently developed a bionic mechanical leg to help disabled people walk, and it's still in the testing phase... We hope you can try our product. Don't worry, it's free."

The more he spoke, the more natural Li Laide’s tone became, as if he were truly an experienced product manager:

"If you encounter any problems during the trial, you can go to the repair shop and give feedback to our boss at any time... I'm busy with work and often travel out of town, but my boss will help you fix it."

"Oh, right, there's also good news. As a reward for being our first batch of testers, you can keep using this bionic leg from now on. We won't take it back."

After speaking, Li Laide calmly crossed his fingers in front of his chest, looked at his mother, and gave a professional, bright smile.

A breeze blew through the bird-singing, flower-fragrant courtyard, making a rustling sound.

The woman stared at him blankly.

A moment later, a warm, rough palm gently stroked Li Laide’s cheek...

"You're leaving, aren't you... my child." A touch of indescribable complexity appeared in the woman’s eyes.

Li Laide jolted and froze on the spot.

The woman gently wrapped her arms around Li Laide, leaned her cheek against him, and two lines of tears could no longer be held back, rolling down from the corners of her eyes...

"You were on the roadside across the street, reading the newspaper for the whole morning, but you didn't even turn a single page... How could Mom not know it was you? How could Mom not recognize you?"

The woman’s murmur echoed in Li Laide’s ears.

This sentence was like a thunderclap, roaring in Li Laide’s ears. He stared blankly at his mother, who was crying into a mess in her wheelchair, standing there as stiff as a statue...

A moment later, he finally reached out with trembling hands and hugged his mother back... He slowly closed his eyes, and the wall of self-protection he had built so high, covered in countless thorns, collapsed in this instant.

He took a deep breath and finally whispered those two words:

"...Mother."

……

Chen Ling didn't hear what Li Laide and his mother said.

He didn't go to see Li Shangfeng and his sister working busily in the factory either.

He walked along the street alone, the hem of his brown coat fluttering gently in the sunlight. Even though his appearance didn't look out of place in the crowd, he always exuded a faint sense of detachment... like a traveler who didn't belong here.

Only a group of ghosts who also didn't belong to this world followed behind him, laughing and playing.

"Brother, I want cake!"

A crisp voice entered Chen Ling’s ears. Chen Ling, immersed in his memories, was startled and looked back subconsciously.

He saw a pair of young siblings standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window of a cake shop on the street, unable to walk away as they looked at the mouth-watering little cakes in the display case. They were residents of this street, children as ordinary as could be.

"It's not a holiday today, and it's not your birthday, so why are you eating cake?"

"So what! I just want to eat it!"

"Alright, alright... then, go in and pick a small one."

The older brother finally took his sister’s hand and walked into the cake shop, going inside to pick carefully.

Chen Ling walked slowly to the display window where they had just stood, looking at the dazzling and expensive cakes inside, feeling a bit dazed for a moment... He seemed to have returned to the past, seeing the cold wind and snow, the faint candles, the cheap cake, and the opera-robed boy with eyes as bright as stars.

Two completely different worlds, two severed memories, gave Chen Ling an indescribable sense of loneliness and melancholy. He hadn't had this feeling for a long time. Perhaps it was the conversation with Li Laide that made him recall some things and become a bit sensitive?

The noisy Twilight Society members behind him quieted down. They could feel the sorrow radiating from the Red King and looked at each other, not knowing what to do.

"Do you want to buy a piece?" Chu Muyun walked to Chen Ling’s side, his tone complex. "Consider it... drawing a period."

Among all the members, only Chu Muyun had witnessed that history. He knew where Chen Ling’s sorrow came from, and he felt a bit of heartache for him. After all, in this world, many Twilight Society members had the chance to mend their regrets, but who would mend Chen Ling’s?

In this world, he didn't even exist at all.

"...No."

Chen Ling shook his head. "Everything is not yet at the point of drawing a period... I will return to Frost Street, but not now."

He took one last look at the dazzling cakes behind the window, turned calmly, and walked back.

……

Chen Ling returned to the vicinity of the small house. In a deserted alley, a boy was already waiting for him.

Emerald branches snaked across the sky from above the walls on both sides of the alley. Sunlight filtered through the dancing leaves, spilling onto the boy’s clean white silk-trimmed shirt.

Li Laide’s eyes were still a bit red, as if he had just cried. Seeing Chen Ling arrive, he immediately pretended nothing was wrong and looked away.

"Did you say goodbye?" Chen Ling asked softly.

"...Yeah."

Li Laide nodded obediently.

For some reason, he could feel a faint sense of detachment and sorrow radiating from Chen Ling. He didn't know what had happened to Chen Ling, but this feeling made Chen Ling’s temperament even more mysterious and special... even inspiring a sense of awe.

"We should go back," Chen Ling said slowly.

Li Shangfeng’s matter had been resolved, and the Alchemy Association had been uprooted. The two most important things Chen Ling came to the Chengtian Boundary for had been completed, so there was naturally no need to stay here.

As for the siblings, Chen Ling had already repaired most of the dilapidated factory, and with Li Shangfeng’s skills, repairing the rest would be no problem. They would continue to live here... As for the future, that was a matter for a few years later.

"Back where?" Li Laide asked.

"Back to... the Ancient Repository of the Opera Dao," Chen Ling paused.

"That is the base of the Twilight Society, my home... and from now on, it will be yours too."