SES Chapter 231 Part 2

Cold sweat broke out across her back. Suddenly, the entire room began to float away like a giant soap bubble, drifting farther and farther until it seemed she could pop it with a finger.

She told herself to stay calm. Maybe the rules were different this time. Don’t panic—observe first.

Her next step landed her in a filthy, noisy alley. A crowd surrounded a scene where an enraged man shouted, “I told you to behave! Raising you was worse than raising a dog!”

Just as Mu Dai approached, a sharp crack echoed—a wooden ruler snapped in two. A middle-aged man backed away, panting, tossing aside the broken ruler.

Standing before him was…

Mu Dai nearly cried out. It was Luo Ren.

A teenage Luo Ren—already tall, towering over the man by a full head. He lifted his chin stubbornly, a cigarette hanging from his lips, eyes slanted in defiance. Blood streaked his face and neck from the ruler’s blows.

He grinned carelessly at the man. “Dad, you done? Finished? If you’re done, I’m leaving. Take a break—hit me again when you’ve got more energy.”

He straightened his crooked collar and walked out through the crowd. Mu Dai hurried toward him, her legs trembling.

“Luo Xiaodao… do you remember me?”

He blocked her with his arm. “Sorry—excuse me.”

She stumbled back, watching him walk away. His father cursed loudly and hurled a brick that skimmed Luo Ren’s shoulder. Luo Ren simply rolled his neck and kept walking, never looking back.

The crowd dispersed. Mu Dai stood frozen.

He’d seen her—yet he couldn’t hear her.

The alley floated away like another giant soap bubble, leaving her alone beneath the sky as it drifted higher… until it burst.

Why was this so strange? Why could Luo Ren see her yet act as if she weren’t really there—unlike Cao Pangpang, who’d immediately recovered memories upon seeing her?

She walked on uncertainly. The scene shifted into a long corridor. At the end came roaring cheers. Two tall, dark-skinned white enforcers leaned against the wall smoking as she passed—they didn’t see her.

She reached the end and pushed open the door.

Shouts, applause, smoke, and the smell of alcohol crashed over her.

An underground boxing ring.

Luo Ren climbed down from the ring, a bruise forming at the corner of his mouth. Someone jogged up with an ice pack. On the mat, a massive opponent groaned in pain. A woman in a gold sequined bikini approached with a tray of red wine.

“Luo Xiaodao!” Mu Dai shouted.

He couldn’t hear her. No one could.

She stood there biting her lip as he drained the wine in one gulp. His agent hurried over, probably reporting the number of fights and the commission. The bikini girl winked at him, glitter sparkling on her eyelids.

For a fleeting moment, Luo Ren glanced back and saw Mu Dai. He looked mildly surprised to see a girl like her standing alone in a place like this—and gave her a small smile.

Mu Dai folded her legs and slowly sat down on the ground.

Then the entire underground arena—its noise, its crowd, her Luo Xiaodao—lifted away like a soap bubble drifting from its wand.

She felt completely at a loss.

Here, no one could hear her voice—including Luo Ren.

No one could see her—except Luo Ren.

But what good was that? Thinking of the mirror where she had no face, Mu Dai felt utterly dejected.

The giant bubble rose into the sky, figures clinging to its surface like floating colors until it burst.

“Like a fleeting illusion,” she murmured.

She pushed herself to her feet, brushed off the dust, and took two steps forward—then stopped.

—Do you really think barging in like this will bring him back?
—Like a fleeting illusion…

Suddenly, Mu Dai understood.

She hadn’t entered Luo Ren’s life—she’d entered his dreams.

Dreams had different lengths, forming countless soap bubbles that rose and shattered one by one.

That’s why no one could see her—except Luo Ren.

But even that was limited. She couldn’t use her voice or her face to remind him, to awaken the memories and longing he still carried deep inside for her and the others.

Mu Dai began to run.

She needed to find a dream where she could approach him undisturbed. Even if her face was blurred and she couldn’t speak, weren’t lovers supposed to understand each other without words?

She ran past a pulsing nightclub, past the blood-stained corridors of the Cotton Empire Hotel, past the yellow sands of the Xiao Shang River—then stopped abruptly.

Moonlight shone like silver.

The Philippines. Mindanao Island. Jungle.

Towering trees dripped cold water down her neck. Insects chirped nearby; distant beasts growled low in the dark.

Pushing aside branches and carefully skirting thorns, she moved toward a small camp in the distance.

It was the roughest camp she’d ever seen—people lying on the ground with wooden branches for pillows, guns clutched in their arms. Mosquitoes buzzed everywhere. The campfire had been deliberately broken apart—the smell of burned wood drove away insects, but the smoke was kept low enough not to attract enemies.

Luo Ren, leaning against a tree stump on night watch, suddenly lifted his head in alertness. Bracing himself with his rifle, he slowly rose to his feet…