Help! I Do Not Want to Guide a Disaster

"Xinyuan? Xinyuan, wake up." Wenzhi’s voice pierced through a thick wall of static, causing Xinyuan’s eyelids to tremble before they slowly opened.

At first, everything was nothing but a blur... a figure leaning over him, warm hands cupping his face, until the image finally snapped into sharp focus.

Wenzhi.

He was staring down at him with wide eyes, relief washing across his freckled face.

"Fuck, you scared me." Wenzhi let out a long breath, closing his eyes for a second before opening them again. A small smile tugged at his lips.

Horror flashed across Xinyuan’s face.

The next second, he shoved himself upright and wrapped Wenzhi in a crushing embrace. His ears caught the steady rhythm of Wenzhi’s heartbeat. Warm guiding energy flowed through their bond, soothing every nerve.

"Hey..." Wenzhi’s voice sounded entirely confused, though he still wrapped his arms around Xinyuan’s back, holding him just as tightly. "What’s going on with you?"

Xinyuan squeezed his eyes shut. "I..."

Pieces of his memories began to clash. He recalled leaving Wenzhi behind to deal with the Capital, the trap in Yanjing, and Shao Jingxin brutally mocking him with his husband’s face after declaring that Wenzhi was dead.

He remembered the excruciating emptiness that had torn through their bond.

He abruptly shoved Wenzhi away. "You’re dead." The words escaped before he could stop them.

Wenzhi froze. "...What?"

Xinyuan stumbled backward until he was standing, staring at him in disbelief. His gaze swept around the room.

Their private quarters.

Everything was exactly as it should be.

Wenzhi slowly stood as well, frowning.

"I’m dead?" His brows knitted together. "Why would I be dead? What are you talking about?"

Xinyuan shook his head. "But..."

"Did you have a nightmare?" Wenzhi folded his arms, fixing him with an unimpressed stare. "Or are you trying to make some terrible joke? We were supposed to have our wedding night until you fell asleep, and now you wake up telling me I’m dead?"

"What..." Xinyuan frowned. "A nightmare...?"

Maybe... Maybe that was all it was. A nightmare.

It made sense.

Wenzhi couldn’t be dead. It had all been a dream.

Jingxin... None of it had happened.

"Wait..." Xinyuan looked up sharply. "What about the Capital?"

Wenzhi tilted his head before walking toward him.

"What do you mean? Su Zheng and Kaiwen handled it." He stopped in front of Xinyuan, studying him carefully. "Are you sure you’re alright? Your pupils are blown wide and..."

His body suddenly flickered like a faulty hologram.

Xinyuan froze.

Wenzhi didn’t seem to notice.

"I’m sure..." His voice distorted with static and his figure glitched again. "We’ll hear good news soon..."

The illusion shattered.

Xinyuan’s face drained of color. "Zhi’er?"

A ragged hole opened in the center of Wenzhi’s forehead. Blood streamed down his face. Both of his shoulders, torn apart by gunshots, soaked crimson.

The smiling man standing before them had become a corpse.

"N... no..." The broken whisper barely escaped Xinyuan’s lips.

Wenzhi frowned at him. "No? Now you’re just pissing me off."

Xinyuan’s gaze immediately dropped to his hand.

The ring. It was gone.

His eyes brightened with crimson, rage flashing across his face before it dissolved into confusion. "WHAT IS THIS?!"

The Wenzhi standing before him flickered and.... vanished.

The room was empty for only a heartbeat before another image appeared.

Wenzhi.

He was lying motionless on the floor. His eyes were closed.

A bullet hole sat squarely in the middle of his forehead. Both shoulders were soaked in blood where he’d been shot.

He didn’t move or breathe. He was just... dead.

Xinyuan stood frozen, his chest heaving as his pupils shrank to tiny pinpricks.

"No..." he staggered forward, collapsing onto his knees beside the body, tears spilling down his face.

"Wenzhi..." His trembling hands reached out and passed straight through.

A hologram.

He froze and shook his head frantically. "No..."

He reached again. His hands sank through the body.

The sob that tore from his throat sounded almost inhuman.

He was shaking now, his breathing broken between desperate whispers.

"No... it wasn’t supposed to end like this... You weren’t supposed to leave me like this... No... no... please..."

His voice cracked completely.

Then he screamed. "PLEASE! Please... just let me hold him!"

He continued crying, continued reaching for the body, desperately trying to touch Wenzhi just once.

That would be enough.

Wouldn’t it?

Just once... "Please..."

~

Outside the illusion...

A massive underground laboratory buzzed with frantic activity.

Scientists and researchers rushed between glowing consoles, cables, and humming machines, connecting them to the transparent containment pod where Shao Xinyuan floated unconscious, restrained and completely subdued by the extracted guiding energy circulating through his body.

Beside the pod stood a Mind-Control Esper. Her palm rested gently against the glass.

Tears quietly streamed down her face.

She wanted to stop. She wanted to release him from the illusion she was forcing him to endure.

But she couldn’t. Not even if she wanted to.

In front of the pod, Bai Qinian calmly studied the readings displayed across her tablet.

A satisfied smile tugged at her lips. "The extracted guiding energy is suppressing him perfectly."

Shao Guying never took his eyes off his son. "How much longer before we can begin the full process?"

"Approximately ten minutes," Bai Qinian replied without hesitation.

Shao Guying gave a slow nod. "What’s his survival rate?"

The smile disappeared from Bai Qinian’s face. "You know this entire procedure is an enormous calculated risk. We—"

"He has to die." Shao Guying’s voice was cold enough to freeze the room. "And if he survives... find another way to kill him afterward. I don’t care what methods you use."

Bai Qinian took a sharp breath, her fingers tightening around her tablet. "I will try."

At that moment, the heavy laboratory doors hissed open, and a frantic military staff officer came sprinting into the room, his face slick with sweat. "Commander! The Capital is under direct attack!"

Shao Guying spun around, his expression hardening into a scowl. "What?! Why are you here? Go and—"

"We only just received the emergency transmission because our external communications grid has been down!" the officer interrupted, his voice pitching high with panic. "The entire Capital district was attacked by the Sovereign Faction approximately two hours ago!"

The laboratory descended into a stunned, breathless silence. Bai Qinian and the surrounding scientists traded wide-eyed looks of utter shock before turning their gaze to Shao Guying.

For the past week, while the High Families had been systematically slaughtered one after another, Shao Guying had remained buried underground, completely obsessed with his goal of resetting the world and seizing Xinyuan at all costs. With the universe seemingly aligning to hand him his targets, he had believed everything was going perfectly. Until now.

Shao Guying’s hands curled into tight fists. "Are you telling me... everyone is dead?"

"I..." the officer began.

Before he could finish, Shao Guying seized him by the collar. "Find out exactly what is happening. Right now!"

"Y-Yes!" The officer stammered as Shao Guying shoved him away. He stumbled backward, nearly falling before scrambling out of the laboratory.

A laughter echoed from the corner.

Liye.

She sat strapped into a reinforced restraint jacket, three ability-suppression bands locked around her wrists and ankles.

"Maybe you should just give up, Boss." She tilted her head with a mocking smile. "You’ve lost most of your supporters, your entire faction is practically gone, and your son." She laughed bitterly. "I don’t think torturing your other son is going to bring any of them back. Everyone hates you."

Several scientists lowered their heads, unable to hide the faint smiles tugging at their lips.

Shao Guying didn’t even spare her a glance.

Liye sighed dramatically. "My, what an ego."

Her smile slowly disappeared as her gaze drifted toward the pod containing Xinyuan.

"His stupid ego..." she whispered. "...is going to kill us all."

She struggled against the restraint jacket, trying to wrench herself free, but the thick bindings refused to budge. With an exhausted groan, she slumped back.

Then, BOOM!

A violent sonic shockwave erupted from Xinyuan’s body and spiderweb cracks raced across every inch of the reinforced glass of the pod as the entire chamber shook.

The mind-control Esper was thrown backward, stumbling away from the pod with a horrified gasp.

Everyone froze.

Every pair of eyes snapped toward Xinyuan.

"Increase the Guiding Energy output!" Shao Guying roared.

The mind-control Esper immediately gathered herself, forcing her psychic ability back into the pod, desperately trying to drag Xinyuan back under.

But Xinyuan’s eyes opened.

They burned a brilliant, furious crimson and locked onto the Esper.

Without moving a single finger, his psychokinesis detonated.

The invisible force slammed into her, hurling her across the laboratory before she could even scream.

His eyes shifted.

They settled on Bai Qinian.

Her face drained of every trace of color. "...Xinyuan?"

His expression held nothing but cold, murderous certainty. "He’s not dead."

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