One Hundred and Fifty-Second Page Determination
“Here you are? Let’s sit over there for a moment first.”
The young woman pointed at the sofa. Despite never having met her before, it wasn’t hard to guess her identity.
“Master… No, Grandfather.”
Just as she knew we were coming, Master Hālìlùyà was not surprised by our arrival. On the long table in the living room lay a piece of parchment, and she was indeed checking some unknown ritual. That should be what she called the ultimate insurance, the last hope after Senior Sister’s failure… I couldn’t understand any of it.
“Do you know we would come here, which means you already know about Grandma?”
She paused her actions, nodded without turning around.
“…Yes, to constantly monitor the condition of Moonlight, I have been borrowing Bìfāng’s vision these past few days. When Moonlight fainted just now, I was watching too, so I had already done the final check.”
Her tone was calm, but like a volcano about to erupt, Master Hālìlùyà was suppressing intense emotions.
This accident involving Grandma greatly impacted her.
Lǐn Huā asked, “So Grandfather, are you preparing that ace-in-the-hole?”
“Yes, but not preparing. I completed it long ago.”
She reached out to touch the parchment, a tear fell from her chin onto the paper. The complex array of symbols flashed with soft white light…
Why wouldn’t she turn around? Was she crying?
— “Xiao Kai, although I can’t understand the ritual, quite a bit of its content matches that bracelet.” —
Bracelet?
Does she mean the bracelet my mother gave to Lǐn Huā and the others?
— “What else could it be? I have a very bad feeling. Grandfather might be doing something that could cost him his life.” —
I glanced at Old Lady.
Silently examining the ritual on the parchment, she nibbled on her right thumb nail lightly, a sign of anxiety.
She must understand this ritual.
— “Xiao Kai, thoughts aren’t monitored by Heaven’s Path. What do you think she intends to do to save Grandma?” —
I did have a guess.
Since it involves the bracelet, the only possible scenario is…
— “We’re thinking alike. Maybe we’re becoming more similar.” —
Leaving aside our situation, if what we thought was true, should we stop her?
Or should we respect Master’s decision?
“No, I disagree!”
Old Lady spoke up before me and Cherry Sauce.
She snatched the parchment from Master and tore it to pieces before Master could react.
Master Hālìlùyà, who could least accept this, knelt down and sifted through the scattered pieces, unable to piece them back together.
“Ah! My ritual! What have you done?!”
All the effort during this period was wasted. Master’s suppressed emotions exploded, the anger like molten lava directed at Old Lady, trying to grab her collar… but Old Lady pushed her down instead.
How weak, Master is so weak!
“What have you done? Shouldn’t I be asking you that? Do you think I don’t understand your self-deceiving ritual? Candle Cāng’ěr! You’re betting your life and Xiao Kai’s future on this. Do you think Mom will accept such a sacrifice? Do you think this will earn her forgiveness?”
Old Lady pulled up the crying Master from the ground just to make her hear her roar.
“Let me tell you the answer if you can’t figure it out. It’s impossible! Your approach still evades responsibility! Using death to pass an uncertain future and all the terrible consequences to those who remain! You’ve always been a coward!”
“Death?!”
Lǐn Huā sought an explanation in panic, “What’s going on? What exactly is Grandfather’s ultimate insurance?”
Old Lady looked at me with a troubled expression.
“Xiao Kai, you’ve guessed it, right?”
“…But saying it out loud would lose its effectiveness to Heaven’s Path.”
I glanced at Master, hesitating. But Old Lady urged, “It doesn’t matter. Just say it. Anyway, her foolish plan won’t succeed.”
I hesitated for a moment and replied, “Master probably wants to swap souls with Grandma.”
“Soul swapping… Ah! You mean taking Grandma’s disease and death upon herself?”
Lǐn Huā looked at Grandfather, who had already closed his eyes in despair, sitting helplessly on the floor. She murmured, “The ritual I designed can achieve complete soul swapping, not just the soul! As long as we hide it from Heaven’s Path, even the identity of a Deity can be passed on to Moonlight… Even if she doesn’t understand the ritual, she can continue guarding the Altar until Xiao Kai completes the remaining trials. Then she can leave this accursed Temple… Isn’t this the best solution without any flaws? It’s all ruined!”
She threw the parchment fragments at Old Lady as if venting, but Old Lady remained indifferent, coldly saying, “That’s only if things go as you wish. All your assumptions are baseless fantasies. More likely, activating the ritual will bring down the Heavenly Punishment… Not only you and Mom, but Xiao Kai will also bear the consequences of failed trials.”
“To save Moonlight, this is the only way! I owe her so much, so much! If she leaves, I won’t have a chance to repay…”
Master held onto the chair to stand up and then drew another blank parchment from the table.
“…There’s still time, still a chance, still a chance, still a chance to save her.”
Like brainwashing herself, she repeated meaningless words, holding back tears, trying to rewrite the ritual.
“It’s no use. Any loophole clearly stated will be repaired by Heaven’s Path.”
Despite Old Lady’s reminder, Master continued her actions, clinging to the non-existent hope.
There’s no chance for redemption anymore.
“Hmm, actually, there’s still a chance.”
As if negating my thoughts, Old Lady spoke up.
“Although it’s not your chance, Mom still has a chance to be saved.”
Master finally turned around, her eyes filled with cautious hope.
I reminded, “Cough, Qiǎnxià, you’ve been calling ‘Grandma’ ‘Mom’ since earlier. It doesn’t seem appropriate.”
“That doesn’t matter anymore.”
Old Lady pinched my cheek, forcing me to smile.
“From now on, call me Mom.”
“But Heaven’s Path…”
My mouth was covered, and she made a shushing gesture to both Master and Lǐn Huā.
“Don’t worry about Heaven’s Path. Time is running out for me and Mom. Everyone, shut up and listen to me! I’m aware that I’ll disappear. Trying to avoid it is futile. But before disappearing, I want to do something, leave a trace of my existence.”
These were her previous words, but now they were raised again, indicating it was time for her to do something.
Once realizing what she intended to do, the tears I hadn’t shed when Grandma entered the operating room could no longer be contained.
“I thought there was still time, I didn’t expect it to be so soon…”
Wiping away my tears, Old Lady pinched my face again.
“Smile! It’s already a miracle that we can meet again. At least, give me a smile as a farewell at this brief reunion! Foolish son!”
“How can I smile? I don’t want you to go!”
“Hey, my boy is really soft-hearted, no idea where he gets it from.”
Even in such moments, smiling so cheerfully, how optimistic can one be?
“If we had been more careful, we might have survived for another week or two. But exchanging my life for Mom’s is worth it… Since I rejected her plan, I need to take countermeasures.”
She pointed at Master and the scattered parchment fragments.
Master asked, “Little Ying, did you have this plan all along?”
“Yes, I prepared for this before coming. I even hinted to Little Wei and the others. But before taking action, I decided to see what your ultimate insurance was.”
“…Did Mom already know?”
I looked at Lǐn Huā, who nodded silently.
Before I returned to the underground Research Institute, even before Lǐn Huā called me, they had prepared the true final measure… And I couldn’t do anything, couldn’t do anything.
Old Lady glared at Master and continued, “If you intend to use the Altar to save Mom, I might still respect you somewhat. But your so-called insurance plan is worse than I expected… You can’t let go of both the Altar and Mom? Thinking sacrificing yourself will result in a happy ending? There’s no such thing!”
“Aren’t you planning to sacrifice yourself now?”
Old Lady said with self-mockery, “My life isn’t valuable! It’s not even considered a sacrifice. I’m already a condemned person. Even if I commit more mistakes, Heaven’s Path can still let me die twice… Hey! Why are you kneeling down, boy?”
Unable to support myself, I collapsed beside Old Lady.
“Mom, if I give up the Altar, can I save both you and Grandma? I’ll bear any Heavenly Punishment, I don’t care, as long as you stay with me…”
“Never say that! This final Altar is crucial!”
Lǐn Huā helped me up from the ground.
She neither encouraged me to accept nor discouraged my mom from giving up.
“I haven’t fulfilled my duties as a mother, but now I’ll speak as one.”
Old Lady gently placed her hand on Lǐn Huā’s shoulder.
“Lǐn Huā, Xiao Kai isn’t very reliable. In the future, you’ll need to take more responsibility… and the other two girls too.”
She was passing on her last wishes. My mind went blank, wanting to stop her but finding no reason to convince her.
Even if saving Grandma now doesn’t change the fact that she’ll disappear within one or two weeks, or even sooner, the decision to save her life before disappearing is the most reasonable choice.
My rationality had already concluded this.
But she is my biological mother, we’ve only met for a week. How can I accept such an outcome?
“Leave it to me… Leave it to us… Grandma.”
Lǐn Huā nodded and closed her eyes, letting tears and snot flow freely. It was ugly, but I wasn’t much better off.
“I never imagined I’d become a grandma at just over ten years old. Alright, Mom is still in the ward being rescued. It’s time for me to act.”
Old Lady wiped away my tears, brushed aside my bangs, and kissed my forehead.
“Foolish boy, stop crying. Come, let me see your smile one last time.”
