The scorching desert stretched endlessly beneath the blazing heavens, an infinite ocean of molten gold that shimmered beneath the unbearable heat. Waves of distorted air danced above the dunes like twisted specters, warping reality itself.
Yang Kai walked alone through that infernal wasteland.
Every footstep sank slightly into the burning sand.
Every movement was deliberate.
Measured.
Calm.
His crimson-black robes fluttered faintly behind him while his long dark hair swayed with the dry desert wind. Sweat should have covered his body beneath such merciless temperature, yet his expression remained composed.
Cold.
His sharp eyes stared ahead without wavering.
The deeper he advanced into the desert, the hotter the atmosphere became. The very air itself felt heavy enough to suffocate ordinary people.
Yet Yang Kai merely narrowed his eyes.
Then—
Far ahead—
A figure appeared.
At first it was blurry due to the dancing heatwaves.
A lonely silhouette standing amidst the endless dunes.
Yang Kai slowed slightly.
His spiritual senses sharpened instinctively.
The closer he approached, the clearer the figure became.
Then his eyes narrowed.
A faint smirk surfaced on his lips.
"Hah…"
"So it's you."
Standing before him was none other than—
Yang Kai himself.
Or more precisely—
The original owner of this body.
Messy shoulder-length hair covered most of his face. His expression was lifeless and hollow, just like before death. His dull eyes lacked even the slightest trace of hope.
He looked exactly like the broken, ugly version Yang Kai had first awakened in.
The contrast between the two was absurd.
One radiated confidence and overwhelming presence.
The other looked like a corpse that had forgotten to die.
Seeing his former appearance again almost made Yang Kai laugh.
Instead of hostility, however, curiosity filled his gaze.
He walked faster toward the illusion.
The original Yang Kai remained seated silently upon the golden sand, unmoving like a forgotten ghost.
When Yang Kai finally stopped before him, he asked calmly,
"Are you the real Yang Kai?"
The illusion slowly lifted its head.
Even though his eyes remained partially hidden beneath tangled strands of hair, his gaze still met Yang Kai's directly.
"Yeah."
His voice was quiet.
Emotionless.
"You're probably the guy who took over my body after I committed suicide."
Yang Kai smiled faintly and closed his eyes for a moment.
"I'm sorry about that. It wasn't my choice."
He opened his eyes again.
"And honestly, I still don't understand how my soul entered your body in the first place."
The original Yang Kai stared at him silently before shaking his head.
"No."
"You don't need to apologize."
His tone remained strangely calm.
"After all… I didn't want to live anymore anyway."
The desert wind howled faintly between them.
Yang Kai slowly sat down beside him on the burning sand.
Unlike enemies.
Unlike strangers.
The two simply sat there beneath the scorching sky like men burdened by entirely different lifetimes.
After a brief silence, Yang Kai spoke again.
"Well… after seeing your memories, I can understand why you killed yourself."
The original Yang Kai suddenly laughed softly.
A hollow laugh.
A laugh without joy.
"Hah…"
"I can't deny that."
His gaze drifted toward the endless horizon.
"But the real reason…" he muttered quietly, "…was forgotten long ago."
Yang Kai frowned slightly.
"What do you mean forgotten?"
"I saw your memories."
"I thought I inherited all of them."
The original Yang Kai leaned backward, placing both palms against the sand behind him while staring upward at the blazing heavens.
For a while, he remained silent.
Then finally—
He spoke.
"That's because I erased them myself."
Yang Kai's expression changed slightly.
The original Yang Kai continued calmly,
"I couldn't endure those memories anymore."
"So I gathered money for years and underwent a memory erasure operation."
His lips curved into a bitter smile.
"The technology was brand new back then. Experimental."
"They warned me that if the operation failed, I'd probably die instantly."
"But honestly…"
"I didn't care anymore."
The desert wind intensified slightly around them.
"I became the first human test subject."
Yang Kai listened silently.
The original Yang Kai laughed again, though this time the laughter sounded painfully exhausted.
"Funny thing is…"
"It succeeded."
"All the memories disappeared."
"For the first time in years, my head felt quiet."
"No nightmares."
"No fear."
"No pain."
He slowly lowered his gaze.
"But after entering this fucking tower…"
"…those memories started returning little by little."
His hands clenched unconsciously into fists.
"And once I remembered everything again…"
"…I couldn't take it anymore."
"So I killed myself."
Silence descended between them.
Even Yang Kai's expression became serious now.
This was no ordinary trauma.
Even after choosing memory erasure…
Even after literally destroying parts of his own mind…
This person still chose death the moment those memories resurfaced.
That alone revealed how horrifying they truly were.
Yang Kai looked at him carefully.
Then asked quietly,
"What exactly happened to you?"
"If there's something I can do, I'll do it."
The original Yang Kai glanced sideways at him.
Sadness lingered within those dead eyes.
"Ah…"
"Fine."
"But I don't think you can handle hearing it."
Yang Kai suddenly smiled.
Confident.
Fearless.
The smile of someone who had survived countless lifetimes drenched in blood.
"There's nothing in this world I can't handle."
The blazing desert wind swept across the endless dunes in long mournful waves, carrying grains of burning sand through the air like drifting ashes from a ruined world.
The two Yang Kais sat beneath the scorching heavens.
One was calm and composed, carrying the bearing of an ancient cultivator who had survived countless massacres.
The other looked like a shattered soul barely holding itself together.
For a while, neither spoke.
Then the original Yang Kai lowered his gaze toward the golden sand beneath him.
His fingers slowly tightened.
When he finally spoke again, his voice was strangely steady.
Too steady.
Like someone repeating pain he had already relived a thousand times.
"It started back when I was in college."
A faint smile appeared on his face.
Not happiness.
Just nostalgia poisoned by regret.
"When I first entered my classroom… I was actually happy."
His eyes became distant.
"At that time, I thought life was finally going to improve."
"I thought maybe I could finally become normal."
The desert wind brushed against his messy hair.
"In the beginning, I made a friend."
"His name was Ling Xu."
"He acted like a genuinely nice guy."
A dry laugh escaped his lips.
"Hah…"
"And because I was a fucking idiot, I trusted him."
Yang Kai remained silent beside him.
The original Yang Kai continued.
"I told him everything."
"My secrets."
"My fears."
"My personal life."
His expression grew emptier.
"Even about my first crush in college."
A bitter smile surfaced on his face.
"She already had a boyfriend."
"So I never planned to confess or anything."
"I just liked her quietly."
"But that bastard Ling Xu exposed everything."
His fingers dug deeper into the sand.
"He told her boyfriend that I liked her."
The air around him seemed colder despite the burning desert.
"At first, the bullying was normal."
"They mocked me."
"Humiliated me."
"Shoved me around."
"I endured it."
His voice remained calm.
Too calm.
"But after some time…"
"…my crush broke up with her boyfriend."
His eyes slowly darkened.
"And that psychopath blamed me for it."
The desert wind suddenly intensified slightly.
"From that day onward…"
"…my life became hell."
Yang Kai quietly listened without interrupting.
The original Yang Kai's smile slowly twisted into something hollow.
"He tortured me."
"Not bullied."
"Tortured."
His voice remained numb.
"He hung me from the classroom roof using ropes."
"He smashed stones against my fingernails until they split apart and bled."
"He burned my skin with cigarette ends."
"He beat me until I couldn't walk properly."
The desert became silent except for the wind.
Yet the original Yang Kai continued speaking as if narrating somebody else's suffering.
"There were days I prayed to die before reaching school."
"But it still got worse."
Yang Kai finally narrowed his eyes slightly.
The original Yang Kai laughed softly.
A laugh without life.
"One day…"
"…they brought a gun to school."
Even Yang Kai's gaze sharpened slightly now.
The original Yang Kai continued.
"They cornered me."
"Pointed the gun at my head."
"And forced me to strip naked."
The desert wind howled violently around them now.
"They made me run across the school grounds while everyone watched."
"Students."
"Teachers."
"Everyone."
His smile widened unnaturally.
"Some recorded videos."
"Some laughed."
"Some pretended not to see anything."
"No one helped me."
Yang Kai remained completely calm externally.
Not even his breathing changed.
The original Yang Kai slowly looked toward the sky.
"You're probably wondering why I never filed a complaint."
"I did."
His voice became colder.
"Once."
"But one of those bastards was the son of a high-ranking officer."
His eyes became utterly lifeless now.
"So instead…"
"…I got arrested."
Yang Kai's gaze remained fixed on him silently.
"When I got released from prison…"
"…rumors had already spread everywhere."
"That I raped women."
"That I was dangerous."
"That prison was where I belonged."
His lips trembled faintly.
"My own neighbors looked at me like filth."
"No one cared whether it was true."
"No one even asked."
The desert suddenly felt suffocatingly heavy.
Then—
The original Yang Kai smiled again.
But this time that smile carried genuine despair.
"And then…"
"…something unexpected happened."
His eyes softened slightly.
"One night, a girl talked to me."
"Just casually."
"She wasn't scared of me."
"She didn't look at me like trash."
"For the first time in years…"
"…someone treated me like a normal human being."
A faint warmth appeared within his expression.
"We got a little close after that."
"Nothing romantic."
"Just…"
"…peaceful."
Then—
That warmth vanished instantly.
"The next day…"
"…she was dead."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
The original Yang Kai's voice became hollow once more.
"They found her body in pieces."
The desert wind screamed across the dunes.
"And one part of her corpse…"
"…was found inside my house."
Even now, Yang Kai's expression remained unchanged.
Cold.
Composed.
The original Yang Kai lowered his head.
"I got arrested again."
His smile slowly returned.
Broken.
Empty.
"That's when I finally realized something."
"The world didn't want me alive."
Silence lingered heavily between the two.
Then—
Yang Kai finally spoke.
His tone remained calm and utterly emotionless.
"Hmm."
"It's very sad to hear."
The original Yang Kai stared at him blankly for several seconds.
Then suddenly—
He burst into laughter.
Loud.
Unstable.
Almost insane.
"Hahahahaha…!"
"You really are different from me."
His laughter slowly faded.
"If it were the old me hearing this story…"
"…I'd probably start crying again."
He looked directly into Yang Kai's eyes.
"But you…"
"…you didn't even blink."