CHAPTER 55 – Fate Tries to Steal Her Away
The next morning, the fight intensified.
Fate acted directly.
Xiao Xi stepped out onto the secluded safehouse deck to get some air, drawn by the strange, unnatural silence.
A sudden, violent wind blasted past her.
The ground trembled—no, it glitched—like the concrete beneath her feet couldn't decide if it truly existed in this timeline.
Her System shrieked with terminal urgency:
[WARNING! STORYLINE ATTEMPTING TO RECALL HOST.]
[Forced teleportation/ERASURE imminent. Breaking Host Anchor!]
Xiao Xi's eyes widened in profound terror.
"No—no—Yanzhou—!"
A blinding, ethereal blue light wrapped instantly around her ankles—not just light, but pure narrative force—pulling, dragging her backward into the collapsing edge of reality.
She clawed desperately at the wooden railing, the sound of splintering wood echoing in the quiet morning.
"YANZHOU!"
He sprinted toward her from the doorway, having heard the System's internal shriek through their merged code.
But the light surged, overwhelming her defenses.
Her body began dissolving into shimmering particles—fading—being erased from the timeline she had fought so hard to create.
Gu leaped forward, his outstretched fingers snatching her wrist at the last, critical second.
Their fingers locked—his grip an anchor against the forces of narrative collapse.
Reality exploded around them. The deck groaned and fractured.
The System screamed:
[ANCHOR BOND CRITICAL! LIFE SUPPORT INITIATED!]
[If connection breaks, Host will be absorbed into original plot and erased!]
[HOLD ON.]
Xiao Xi sobbed, the terror of non-existence overwhelming her.
"Yanzhou—I don't want to go—I can't forget you!"
He roared, his voice pure, defiant power against the collapsing world:
"YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE!"
He pulled with everything he had.
His muscles strained, veins popped in his neck and arms, and reality frayed at the seams around his powerful figure.
And then—just before she slipped away completely—he yanked her back, hard, across the threshold and into his world.
She collapsed into his arms, shaking violently, her body slowly reforming from the shimmering particles.
He held her tightly, breathing heavily, his eyes burning with absolute, murderous fear and fury.
"No more running," he whispered, his voice vibrating against her ear.
"No more losing you to a damn book.
If the world wants you—it'll have to go through me."
Xiao Xi sobbed into his chest, clutching the lapels of his shirt.
Because she finally understood the true stakes:
This world didn't just want balance.
It wanted her GONE.