Peach-Orange! – Chapter 341 – The Very Beginning

Watching her sink into deep thought, Xiao Hei couldn’t help but chuckle beside her. “Though you’ve lost some memories, you should still understand what this cage represents. All of us were once trapped inside this cage.”

Trapped inside this cage called the “novel world.”

Unable to possess a sense of self, unable to defy this world’s nonsensical, abstract progression.

Everyone’s fate and future were predetermined.

They became playthings.

Chi Xiaocheng stared at Su Tao inside the cage, feeling as though it was hard to breathe. She turned to Xiao Hei, accurately catching onto a specific word in her words: “Us?”

Chi Xiaocheng frowned. “Xiao Hei, are you really not the original Xiaocheng?”

Xiao Hei shook her head and led Chi Xiaocheng toward the snowflake-like screens. “What I am, you’ll find out soon. But it is indeed a bit sudden. I hadn’t planned to reveal so much to you yet.

“That old bastard ruined my plans.

“But for you now, it’s not too early. Any later, and more unexpected things might happen.”

Chi Xiaocheng didn’t understand Xiao Hei’s words, feeling only that the questions in her mind were multiplying.

She tilted her head and slowly said, “Xiao Hei, do you know something everyone hates?”

Xiao Hei: “Hmm?”

“Riddlers.” Chi Xiaocheng spat out the word, making Xiao Hei’s smile stiffen slightly.

Chi Xiaocheng continued, “Right now, you’re a pure riddler. You’re not as cute as before. If you have something to say, just tell me directly.”

Xiao Hei looked a little aggrieved.

She sighed and said, “Fine. Then, are you ready to step back into that hopeless cycle?”

Chi Xiaocheng frowned. “A lucid dream like last time?”

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“No, memories.”

Snap—

With a snap of her fingers, the snow-white screens around them lit up, displaying images.

……

Despair, pain, regret, resentment.

Boundless emotions surged from her heart without needing deliberate focus.

‘Why must everyone live according to a predetermined fate?!’

‘Why must there always be all kinds of accidents?!’

‘I just wanted to see her, to explain things clearly.’

‘To properly apologize.’

‘To tell her I’ve secretly liked her all along.’

‘Why must I be stopped?!’

‘They’re clearly all bad people. They’ll hurt you in the end! Why won’t you even listen to a single word I say?!’

‘This damned world!’

‘Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it….’

Seawater choked her nose and mouth, raging against every wound on her body. The girl sinking into the depths of the ocean could only pray with what little consciousness she had left.

If she could start over, she would change everything.

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She would save her Tao-Tao no matter what.

Even if it meant standing against the entire world!

When her consciousness awakened, she saw a faintly glowing orb before her. Its warm light dispelled the cold on her body.

“Are you truly willing to stand against the entire world for the girl you love?”

The girl didn’t understand the situation, but she knew what the orb meant. She immediately replied anxiously, “As long as I can save Tao-Tao, as long as I can rescue her from Ye Liang’s hands, I’ll do anything!”

The orb said, “Then let me introduce myself. I am—”

“I don’t care who you are. Did you save me?” The girl spoke urgently. Surviving the ordeal didn’t bring her joy. It only made her more frantic. “Where is this? Did you save me and bring me here?

“Please, send me back! If it’s any later, Tao-Tao will fall deeper into Ye Liang’s lies! I have to go back now!”

The orb sensed the girl’s agitation and realized she couldn’t communicate calmly.

With a flicker, it opened a door. “Pass through this gate, and you’ll return to the past.

“And then—”

Before it could finish, the girl had already rushed in.

The orb exuded a sense of helplessness. As the girl stepped through the gate, a small screen appeared in midair.

It displayed the present world.

The girl had traveled back to the past, to that afternoon after their argument.

Though her ears were filled with words like “Can’t you be more sensible and find something you like to do?” Though spoken to with disdain, the girl was still overjoyed.

She had truly gotten a second chance.

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She had a chance to save Tao-Tao!

The girl urgently tried to speak, wanting to pull the young woman before her close, to warn her about the man beside her, to explain everything.

But her words were cut off harshly halfway through.

The young woman wore an impatient expression.

Already irritated, she lashed out at the girl again.

As if severing ties, she told her to reflect on herself, then turned and left.

The girl panicked. Starting over seemed no different from before.

“All things are difficult before they are easy.” If she couldn’t even get past the beginning, how could there be a future?

The accidents she was all too familiar with.

It was as if everyone was determined to keep her and Su Tao apart.

She began repeating the same mistakes, experiencing the same pain: beaten, left half-dead, then drowned.

The boundless agony, the despair of struggling before drowning with no one to reach for her hand.

When she awoke, she was back in the white space.

Gasping for air, she realized in shock that she wasn’t dead yet.

The orb floated over again. “So, can you calm down and listen to me now?”

The girl, eyes red, gritted her teeth and said to the orb, “Again!”

Seeing the gate still there, she resolutely walked through once more.

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Another small screen appeared in the air.

Having gone through it once, the girl was steadier this time. But without any plan, when questioned during her explanation, she faltered, unable to articulate her thoughts.

Another failure.

No progress made, yet she endured the same pain all over again.

Back in the white space, before the orb could speak, the girl stood up and marched toward the gate again.

Her movements were filled with exhaustion.

The orb sighed. “No progress at all, and you’ll suffer torment and die again. Doesn’t it hurt?”

The girl glanced back with a smile. “It hurts. But I can’t give up on Tao-Tao. She’s my everything.”

She stepped through again. The orb sighed. “At least listen to what others have to say. Going in unprepared, what else can it lead to but failure?”

A person’s drive has limits.

Often, they only turn back after hitting a wall.

The third time, the girl still made no progress. Another drowning death.

Though her resurrected body felt no pain, the delayed agony in her consciousness still made her curl up on the ground.

The orb floated closer. “Giving up?”

“Give up?” The girl struggled to rise. “How could I give up?! She’s still waiting for me!”

The orb’s voice carried a hint of admiration. “My goal is the same as yours. You want to save the girl you love; I want to expel that outsider.

“So, calm down first and listen to me properly, alright, Miss Chi?”