Chapter 170 Chapter 170 An Imperfect Ending
Chapter 170 An Imperfect Ending
When are people most likely to feel helpless, weak, and insignificant?
When something is within reach but impossible to grasp, when there are many chances to salvage a situation but they stubbornly choose the one wrong path.
Just like when she was crying for help, and he couldn't save her despite his best efforts.
He couldn't even avenge her.
Su Tao punched the iron door to the rooftop, the bang drowned out by the gunshots outside.
"Chi Song-ge, let me out!"
"I want to avenge Xiao Cheng too! Let me out!"
"Chi Song-ge!!!"
She pounded the iron door again and again. After the first volley of gunfire outside, things gradually quieted down.
Eventually, Su Tao, already exhausted, ran out of strength. Her pounding weakened, and her upright posture gradually slumped.
She fell to her knees with a thud.
Su Tao raised her hands weakly, grabbing the door lock, using it to keep herself from falling, but her head drooped, resting against the door as she wept.
Why?
Why do this to me?
Is this the punishment for abandoning Xiao Cheng?
Chi Song-ge, tell me.
"Why…won't you even give me a chance to avenge Xiao Cheng…"
Just then, another gunshot rang out, and Su Tao roughly knew that it was over.
Ye Liang, already severely injured and on the ground, was no match for Chi Song with a gun.
With a creak, the iron door to the rooftop was pulled open again by Chi Song.
Su Tao knelt on the ground, raising her face blankly.
Her cheeks were covered in dust, her hair a mess. Her eyes were dull, and tears streamed down her face. Strands of her once vibrant hair, now damp, clung to her face, like scars on a young girl.
Meeting Chi Song's complex gaze, Su Tao focused her eyes slightly. "Chi Song-ge, is Ye Liang dead?"
"He's dead."
Chi Song nodded lightly, bending down to help Su Tao up.
But the kneeling girl didn't take his outstretched hand. Instead, she stared blankly at the rooftop behind Chi Song.
The sky was pitch black, but there were still faint rays of moonlight, seemingly trying to maintain the world's brightness.
The moonlight seeped through the doorway, mostly falling on Chi Song, with a small fraction piercing through the gaps, as if trying to reach Su Tao.
However, the edge of the moonlight only reached the space in front of Su Tao.
The vertical shadow stopped less than half a meter in front of her.
She knew it was just the angle of the moon, that she was too far from the doorway for the light to reach her.
It was just a law of nature, a matter of physics.
Even knowing this, she still felt empty and lonely, still felt that the moonlight was rejecting her.
As if saying: your white moonlight is dead.
You are not worthy of basking in this moonlight.
Ye Liang is dead, so why don't I feel happy? Why is there only endless emptiness?
Is this considered revenge?
And what should I do after I've taken revenge?
I didn't kill him myself. Does this really count as revenge? Will Xiao Cheng really forgive me?
Or perhaps…
Su Tao looked out beyond the rooftop.
Maybe jumping off this 30-story building to accompany Xiao Cheng would be another option?
Lost in her thoughts, Chi Song reached out and forcibly grabbed Su Tao's arm, pulling her up.
Su Tao gradually came back to her senses, afraid to meet Chi Song's eyes.
She could only lower her head, standing unsteadily and miserably, her lips trembling for a long time, still wanting to say those two words, "I'm…"
"I'm sorry."
However, Chi Song spoke those two words before Su Tao could.
Su Tao, with her head down, suddenly widened her eyes, even clenching her hands tightly.
"Why?" Su Tao bit her lip, forcing the words out.
Chi Song didn't hear Su Tao's quiet words and asked, "What did you say?"
"I said, why!" Su Tao raised her eyes, looking at Chi Song with confusion and incomprehension. "Why is Chi Song-ge apologizing?"
Chi Song opened his mouth, but before he could answer, Su Tao's lips curved into a self-deprecating smile. "It's clearly my fault, so why is Chi Song-ge apologizing?"
The string in her heart snapped completely again. She reached out and grabbed Chi Song's collar, shouting, "It was me who didn't protect Xiao Cheng, it was me who killed Xiao Cheng, it's all my fault, so why is Chi Song-ge apologizing!"
"You entrusted Xiao Cheng to me, my aunt and uncle asked me to take care of Xiao Cheng, you all confidently left Xiao Cheng by my side."
"You all thought I could take care of her, protect her!"
"But what happened!"
"What happened…"
Su Tao clenched her fist, hitting Chi Song's shoulder with her other hand, but she couldn't muster any strength.
Her voice changed from an angry shout to a hoarse whisper of self-reproach. "Because of me, she died!"
"It was me who didn't take care of her!"
"It was me who didn't protect her!"
"I should have been the one to die, but instead, it was her!"
"Chi Song-ge…" Su Tao called out weakly, crying on his shoulder. "Please… don't take away my guilt and regret for Xiao Cheng, otherwise… otherwise, I'll have nothing left, please…"
Xiao Cheng is already gone.
If not for these things, how can I prove that Xiao Cheng ever lived in this world?
Even these things, are you going to take them away from me?
However, Chi Song, after hearing these words, remained silent for a long time.
He didn't put all the blame on her as Su Tao had hoped.
He just said in a deep voice, "It's not your fault, it's my fault for not protecting you both. I knew there might be danger, but I still left Kyushu City."
Before he left, he only left a few of his men near the residential area.
No one expected that an assassin would use a sniper rifle in a bustling city.
He comforted her, saying, "Xiao Tao, don't think too much. Xiao Mei wouldn't blame you."
"But I'd rather you blame me!"
Su Tao suddenly let go of Chi Song, shouting in despair, "Why are you being so gentle with me? Why don't you scold me? Wouldn't that make it seem like I was just a burden to Xiao Cheng!!!"
The accumulated, unvented emotions gradually turned into self-blaming curses and sobs.
Tears soaked her shoulders, and her voice echoed through the stairwell.
Dongfang Yang rushed over, wanting to go to the rooftop but was stopped by Long-ge.
The man with the missing ear lit a cigarette and said softly to Dongfang Yang, "Don't go up there. Give them some space."
Dongfang Yang was silent, clenching his fist and punching the wall with all his might.
Ye Liang is already dead, and Xiao Cheng's revenge has been taken.
But why doesn't he feel any happiness?
If this established reality is compared to a game, Su Tao is the protagonist, and Ye Liang is the antagonist.
The female protagonist, Xiao Cheng, is killed by the antagonist to save the protagonist, who then gathers teammates to defeat the antagonist.
But what kind of storyline is it with the female protagonist missing from the ending?
If there is such a thing as a parallel universe, which ending would be perfect?
Dongfang Yang listened to Su Tao's heart-wrenching sobs, and couldn't help but sigh.
At least in this timeline, it's a bad ending.
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