Chapter 413: The Reborn's Shattered Reality
Long Hao was dumbfounded; how could the beautiful sisters Xu Ruoshui and Xu Ruoxue be related to Shen Anyu?
He remembered that it wasn't like this in his previous life. A cold dread, sharp and sudden, seeped into his bones. His greatest asset, the foundation of his confidence and the tool for his revenge, was his memory of the future. Now, that foundation was cracking beneath his feet.
In his previous life, the Immovable Bright King, Xu Ping'an, had waged a one-man war against the Shanghai Xu Family. He was a force of nature, a protagonist determined to make the family that cast him out regret their arrogance for a thousand lifetimes. Long Hao had even drawn inspiration from Xu Ping'an's saga, fueling his own burning desire to make his ex-fiancée, Su Hongmian, and that bastard Shen Anyu grovel at his feet.
'It can't be...' Long Hao's mind raced, desperately trying to reconcile his memories with the scene before him. 'According to my knowledge of the next two and a half years, the Xu sisters were untouchable ice goddesses. They were single, sought after by titans. Xu Ping'an, despite his campaign against their family, clearly harbored deep feelings for them, a fact obvious to anyone with eyes.'
His memory was a vivid tapestry, one he had replayed countless times. 'And it wasn't just him. The Asura Demon King, Chu Yun—a man who walked a path of slaughter—clashed with Xu Ping'an over the sisters. Their rivalry was legendary, a relentless battle of titans for the affection of beauties. Yet, in the end, neither man managed to win their hearts.'
The image of those two peerless men fighting to a standstill was burned into his mind. They were true Children of Destiny, men who could shake the world.
'So how? How did a third player suddenly appear on the board? And not just any player, but Shen Anyu! Why is he here, acting with such damning intimacy with both of them?'
Long Hao's thoughts were a chaotic storm. His heart felt like a tangled mess of wires, each one sparking with confusion and a growing sense of panic. The script of the world had been rewritten without his permission.
At that moment, a security guard standing nearby, whose posture was just a little too sharp, a little too observant for a common guard, spoke up. A glint of cold amusement flashed in his eyes as he said, his tone deliberately casual, "What's so strange about it? That's the Young Master of the Yanxia Shen Family, a true noble from a clan that has stood for a millennium. Frankly, for the Xu sisters to catch his eye is like a carp leaping over the dragon gate. For them to win Young Master Shen's favor together? Isn't that a blessing they should be on their knees giving thanks for?"
After speaking, the guard's gaze remained fixed on Long Hao, dissecting his reaction with cold precision. He was one of Shen Anyu's elite subordinates, discreetly stationed in the villa area to ensure the sisters' protection and to monitor for any anomalies. He had just received his master's orders via a micro-earpiece: begin the probe.
"What? Young Master of the Yanxia Shen Family?"
The name, the title, struck Long Hao with the force of a physical blow.
[Ding! Child of Destiny Long Hao's confidence has been struck, his mind is shaken, plundering +66,666 Destiny Points!]
...
Hearing this confirmation, Long Hao felt as if he'd been struck by lightning. His face, already pale with confusion, twisted into a mask of utter shock and disbelief. The blood drained from his features as he blurted out, "Yanxia Shen Family? Impossible! Isn't the Yanxia Shen Family about to be finished?!"
The security guard's lips curled into an immediate, disdainful sneer. "Kid, have you been living under a rock, or did you fry your brain with cheap drugs? The Yanxia Shen Family, finished? That's a millennium-old clan, a behemoth that has endured through the rise and fall of entire dynasties. Emperors have been buried and turned to dust, but the Shen Family endures. Get your head checked."
The guard's sharp-tongued mockery helped Long Hao regain a sliver of his composure. He shot the man a look of profound disdain, too proud to argue with such a "frog in a well."
He thought to himself, his reborn arrogance surging back to combat his fear: 'This ignorant fool knows nothing. The Yanxia Shen Family is indeed a colossal power right now, but its days are numbered. In just two and a half years, it will be cornered and pushed back step by step by the Lord of the Netherworld Palace, Ye Yan. It will become a grand, rotting edifice, teetering on the very brink of collapse!'
The future was clear in his mind's eye. 'On one side, the Shen Family's political rivals and foreign enemies will close in for the kill. On the other, Ye Yan is simply an unstoppable monster. His Master is a Heavenly Human, a being beyond mortal comprehension. And the disciple, Ye Yan, is even more terrifying. Two years from now, he will achieve the world of a Land Immortal, a living god walking the earth!'
Long Hao vividly remembered the last pieces of news he'd heard before his rebirth. 'The Shen Family hadn't completely fallen when I died, but its state was grim. Their foundations were being ripped out from under them. After all, how can any mortal clan stand against a Land Immortal?'
But this knowledge only deepened his confusion. The pieces on the chessboard were all wrong. How could Shen Anyu, the heir to this doomed dynasty, be entangled with Xu Ruoshui and Xu Ruoxue? There was no mention of this in his past life. After Su Hongmian had publicly shredded their engagement and his dignity, he had locked himself away, drowning his sorrows in video games. He admitted he might have missed some finer details, but a union between the Shen and Xu families was too monumental to miss.
If the Shen Family had formed an alliance with the Shanghai Xu Family, why would Xu Ping'an and Chu Yun have dared to fight over the sisters so brazenly? Before its decline, the Yanxia Shen Family was a leviathan that could have crushed men like them with a single twitch of its finger.
'What changed? Where is the deviation, the mistake in the timeline?' Long Hao's thoughts grew frantic. 'And Shen Anyu himself... he's wrong. He's very, very wrong. He's somehow managed to entangle himself with Hongmian, and now Ruoshui and Ruoxue.'
He dredged up the fragmented rumors he'd heard about the Shen Family's scion in his past life. 'The whispers all painted the same picture: a good-for-nothing wastrel, a gilded shell with rotten insides. A martial arts cripple even more useless than I was back then. How can the man I just saw be the same person? The aura, the confidence... it's all wrong.'
A cold realization washed over him. He couldn't afford to stand here speculating.
'No. I must see for myself. I have to understand.'
This wasn't just about stolen women; it was about his very control over the future, his path to power. Long Hao could no longer remain passive.
The next moment, his hesitation vanished, replaced by ruthless decisiveness. He spotted a flashy, almost alien-looking Dodge Tomahawk motorcycle parked at the villa area's entrance. Without a word, he strode over, grabbed the young blond owner by his designer jacket, and hurled him onto the pavement. The engine roared to life with a guttural snarl as Long Hao swung his leg over the seat, completely ignoring the stream of curses erupting behind him. With a screech of burning rubber, he shot off in pursuit of the distant Rolls-Royce.
...
Inside the silent, opulent cabin of the Rolls-Royce Phantom, Shen Anyu watched the entire scene unfold on a small, holographic display projected from his cufflink. The nanometer-sized monitoring bot relayed Long Hao's every expression, every muttered word, with perfect clarity.
'So, it seems Long Hao was reborn from a timeline where I never awakened my system,' Shen Anyu mused, a faint, predatory smile gracing his lips. The pieces were falling into place.
He already knew Long Hao was a reborn individual, but the specifics of that past life were a crucial variable. Now, he was certain. In that other world, he had remained a pawn, a stepping stone for other protagonists. When he was with Su Hongmian, Long Hao hadn't recognized his identity, only his face. But the moment the name "Yanxia Shen Family" was uttered, Long Hao's reaction—his talk of the family's impending doom—told Shen Anyu everything he needed to know.
He glanced at the ethereal beauties seated on either side of him, his mood soaring. The air was thick with their mingled scents—Xu Ruoshui's elegant, floral fragrance and Xu Ruoxue's cooler, sharper perfume. For now, he was content to savor his victory. Dealing with Long Hao could wait; a casual, well-placed strike would be more than enough to handle the frantic ant. In fact, the man could prove useful. Perhaps he could be provoked into revealing the identities of other Children of Destiny from his memories.
Once he accumulated another six million Destiny Points, he would simply devour the Investment Return System bound to Long Hao. After that, the so-called reborn protagonist would be less than insignificant.
At this moment, nestled beside him, the twin sisters were lost in their own turbulent thoughts.
To his right, Xu Ruoxue kept her head bowed, her delicate hands clasped so tightly on her knees that her knuckles had turned white. Her entire body was a taut wire of humiliation and panic.
'It's over. It's completely over. Sister must have noticed something is wrong,' she wailed internally. 'It's all his fault! That scoundrel Shen Anyu, that stinking, rotten beast! He doesn't know the meaning of control, of gentleness! He's ruined me... utterly ruined me.'
Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. She didn't dare look at her sister. Just moments ago, when Shen Anyu had helped her out of the bedroom, her legs had felt like jelly, her body as pliant and weak as overcooked noodles. Her exquisite face was flushed a deep crimson, her normally icy eyes misty and unfocused. The aftermath of his relentless passion was written all over her.
Although she heard Xu Ruoshui's approaching footsteps and managed to push Shen Anyu away just in time, she knew the sight she presented was damning. The evidence of their intimacy clung to her like a second skin—the faint soreness between her thighs, the lingering heat deep within her core.
She had stammered a pathetic excuse about having a fever and feeling unwell.
'Does Sister believe me? Maybe... she probably does, right?' But the hope was frail, a flickering candle in the storm of her guilt.
'Wuwuwu...' Xu Ruoxue whimpered in her heart, the shame coiling in her stomach. How could she possibly face her sister now? It was all that big scoundrel Shen Anyu's fault. This cold and proud beauty, who had never let a man even touch her hand, felt her heart being shredded by a disobedient kitten, a chaotic mess of conflict, humiliation, and a terrifying, unacknowledged thrill.
Meanwhile, on Shen Anyu's left, Xu Ruoshui—currently inhabiting her younger sister's body—maintained her signature calm expression and gentle demeanor. But beneath the placid surface, her own heart was churning with guilt and a sharp, biting shame.
'An'yu doesn't know that Ruoxue and I swapped souls. He must have... he must have immediately started touching her, thinking it was me. Poor Ruoxue... she must have suffered a great loss, taken advantage of by my own husband.'
The thought sent a pang of guilt through her, but it was immediately followed by a colder, more analytical observation.
'But...' Xu Ruoshui's gaze narrowed, her eyes subtly scanning the woman who was her sister, but wore her own face. She studied the bowed head, the tell-tale crimson blush that stained her cheeks and neck, the slight tremble in her hands.
'Looking at Ruoxue... she doesn't seem angry. Or violated. That isn't the look of someone who has been wronged.' A dangerous suspicion began to crystallize in her mind. 'Could it be... that she also has feelings for An'yu?'
The thought was a shard of ice in her heart, possessiveness flaring bright and hot.
'Oh, you, Ruoxue, you clearly know Shen Anyu is my husband. You truly are my good sister...'
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