Chapter 224: Farewell of Four Women: A Deeply Affectionate Guardian

Shen Yan’s chest jolted violently, as if struck hard from within. He opened his eyes, the sweetness of candied hawthorn still lingering on his tongue, but the warmth was instantly extinguished by icy water.

His phone remained dark, yet his heart was pounding wildly. His Source Code Spiritual Root felt as if it were burning, and a Data Stream surged directly into his mind.

【Warning: Four-dimensional life waveform has decayed to critical value】

【Countdown Initiated: Three minutes】

【Intervention impossible, Heavenly Dao Rules locked】

He looked up. The four of them were standing right there, but something was wrong.

Ye Zhao’s silver hair began to fade, like mist scattered by the wind. A section of Pei Yue’s fingers turned transparent, revealing the shadow of bones beneath. Luo Li’s cat ears flickered, appearing and disappearing intermittently. Yu Xiaotang jumped once, and when her feet landed, they sank half an inch through the ground.

“No—!” Shen Yan lunged forward, but as his fingers touched Ye Zhao’s arm, that patch of skin drifted away like snowflakes.

He immediately opened the Terminal in his mind, his ten fingers frantically typing in the void as lines of green Code scrolled across the screen.

“Anchor Program·Forced Binding!”

“Execute! Execute for me!”

The screen flickered, and red text popped up.

【Insufficient Permission】

【Target is an illegal existence Variable】

【System refuses to write】

“Bullshit!” Shen Yan slammed his fist on the ground. “They’re not Variables! They’re people! They’re… the most important people to me!”

He bit the tip of his tongue, channeling Spiritual Energy into his phone in an attempt to forcibly elevate his permissions. But halfway through inputting the Command, he was thrown back by the backlash, collapsing to the ground. A sweet taste rose in his throat, and he spat out another mouthful of blood.

Ye Zhao was still smiling, faintly.

She raised her hand, stopping him from trying to get up.

“Don’t try anymore,” she said. “This time, it’s not a Bug. It’s the ending.”

Shen Yan shook his head, his voice trembling. “It’s not the ending. I haven’t taken you to see the sea yet, we haven’t had hotpot together, and Yu Xiaotang’s candied hawthorn is only half-eaten… This Program can’t end!”

“But our existence shouldn’t have appeared here in the first place,” Pei Yue walked over, crouched down, and gently wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with her fingertip. “We’re people from the future, forcibly breaking into a Spacetime from a thousand years ago. We’ve long violated the rules.”

Luo Li hugged her arms, her ears drooping. “Did you think everyone could rely on writing Code to linger in the System without being deleted, like you?”

Yu Xiaotang suddenly jumped in front of him, her face pale but still smiling. “Brother Shen Yan, look how brave I am! I’m not scared at all! It’s just… I’m just a little reluctant to leave you.”

As she finished speaking, tears fell first.

Shen Yan reached out to hug her, but his hand passed through her body.

“No… I won’t accept this!” he roared, starting to type Code again. “At worst, I’ll blow up the entire Heavenly Dao System! Screw the rules! I’m changing the Logic today!”

“Then who will help you Debug in the future?” Ye Zhao suddenly said.

Shen Yan froze.

She looked at him, her eyes as bright as during their first moonlit sparring session.

“Your Code still needs someone to execute it,” she said. “I told you, I’m the first line.”

As her words fell, the longsword behind her hummed, a crack appearing on the blade, followed by a second, a third…

With a crack, the entire sword shattered into points of light, flowing from her fingertips toward Shen Yan’s chest.

As the light drilled in, he heard the sound of a sword’s hum echoing in his mind.

【Sword Intent Direct Connection Protocol·Activation Successful】

“Ye Zhao!” he called her name, but her figure had already faded thin like a sheet of paper.

She looked at him one last time, her lips moved without making a sound, yet Shen Yan understood.

—Don’t turn back, keep moving forward.

A gust of wind blew, and she vanished.

Shen Yan knelt on the ground, unable to breathe.

Pei Yue walked to his side, holding a Silver Needle in her hand, its tip shimmering with a blue glow.

“This is my last life-bound needle,” she said. “It contains all my medical knowledge.”

She raised her hand and traced a few strokes in the air.

A luminous image unfolded—densely packed prescriptions, meridian diagrams, Poison Removal techniques… all her lifelong learning, like a glowing book.

“If you can’t understand it, take your time,” she smiled. “Don’t stay up late anymore; it harms your liver. And… eat less spicy food; your stomach isn’t good.”

Shen Yan reached out to grab her, but her wrist was already beginning to dissipate.

“Pei Yue! Wait! I can still save you! There must be a way!”

“Idiot,” she gently touched his forehead. “Some illnesses even gods cannot cure. But some things, I can decide for myself.”

She stepped back, her figure rising like petals carried by the wind, transforming into motes of light one by one.

Her final words were soft: “Remember to eat on time.”

Then, she too disappeared.

Shen Yan lay sprawled on the ground, his nails digging into the soil.

Luo Li walked over and stepped on his back with a light force.

“Get up,” she said. “You hate people giving up the most, don’t you?”

Shen Yan looked up; she was still standing, but her legs were already translucent.

“Go,” she snorted. “Don’t pretend to be dead here. If I knew you’d end up like this, I shouldn’t have saved you back then.”

“But you still came,” Shen Yan rasped.

“Obviously,” she tossed her hair. “I said, belonging isn’t given by others; it’s chosen by oneself. Now I choose to leave something behind. Do you dare refuse?”

She formed a seal with her hands, purple-red flames ignited around her body, burning fiercer and fiercer, finally condensing into a crystalline gem that fell into his palm.

Hot, but not painful.

“Take it,” she said. “Next time you get knocked flying, don’t blame me for not warning you.”

She turned to leave.

“Luo Li!” Shen Yan called out to her.

She turned back, her cat ears twitching.

“You said… you’d teach the little demons to roast marshmallows.”

She smiled: “When you win, I’ll make them for you myself.”

With that, a flash of firelight, and she vanished.

Shen Yan lowered his head to look at the crystal in his palm, his breathing growing heavier.

Yu Xiaotang bounced up before him, still clutching that half-melted Candied Hawthorn.

“Here, the last bite I saved for you,” she stuffed it into his mouth. “Is it sweet?”

Shen Yan didn’t even chew, just stared at her.

“Don’t look at me like that,” she pouted. “I’m not dead; I’m just accompanying you in a different way.”

She pulled out a Talisman Paper and began drawing.

The strokes were swift, golden light flowing, until finally the Talisman Paper transformed into a tiny golden seed, only as large as a grain of rice.

“This is my Script Seed,” she said. “From now on, whenever you use talismans, it will automatically protect you. Much stronger than before; don’t believe me? Try it?”

Shen Yan grabbed her hand: “Don’t go… please, don’t go.”

“Shen Yan brother,” she lifted her feet, gently touching his forehead with hers. “You were my first partner; I don’t want you to lose.”

She smiled, tears continuously falling.

“My talismans will protect you forever.”

The seed rose and lightly embedded itself into his brow.

In an instant, countless talisman trajectories flooded his mind, as clear as if they came with built-in navigation.

Then, she faded too.

A gust of wind blew, and she vanished.

Shen Yan knelt on the ground, surrounded by a terrifying silence.

No Notification Tone, no Code, nothing at all.

Yet within his body, four forces flowed.

A warmth in his heart—Sword Intent; a heat in his palm—the demon crystal; a glow in his Consciousness Sea—the Script Seed; a tremor in his Bloodline—the medical source.

His phone suddenly lit up.

The Interface with black background and green text had changed.

The backdrop was a faint halo, where four silhouettes could vaguely be seen.

For the first time, the System voice wasn’t mechanical, but a woman’s voice carrying warmth:

“Guardian Protocol activated.”

“Four original sources successfully connected.”

“You are not alone now.”

Shen Yan lowered his head, his shoulders trembling.

A tear fell to the ground, cracking open a fine fissure, within which four faint traces of light emerged, like the last footprints they had left.

He slowly raised his head, lips dry and cracked, his voice hoarse yet clear:

“The paths you walked, I will finish walking them for you.”

He stood up, standing straight and tall.

“I will make this Heavenly Dao rewrite itself once for you.”

The wind swept up rubble, blowing across the ruins.

He stood in the center, holding the demon crystal, the Script Seed faintly flashing at his brow, Sword Intent Resonating in his heart.

Far away, a fissure slowly appeared, leading to the true coordinates of the Vulnerability.

Shen Yan took his first step, crushing a patch of lingering sugar stain beneath his foot.

(End of Chapter)