Chapter 45: May Flowers Bloom Across Your World

“Alright! When I find out my birthday, I’ll definitely invite sister to eat strawberry cake with me! Hahaha…”

Ye Jinyi laughed as she spoke, and for a moment, she felt truly happy.

“Mm,” Yingmeng affirmed Ye Jinyi’s wish.

“When that day comes, I’ll celebrate it with you—together with Mom and Dad.”

“Sister,” Ye Jinyi gazed at the chandelier above them, “when we leave here, can you give me a hug?”

“Mm, we’ll never be apart again from now on.”

Yingmeng agreed once more to Ye Jinyi’s unreasonable request.

But Ye Jinyi still wasn’t satisfied.

“I hope that starting tomorrow, all good fortune will come to me.”

“I want to see tomorrow’s rainbow. I’ve walked through years of wind and rain, and I really want the end of that endless storm to be clear skies stretching a thousand miles. And above that sky, I want a rainbow that belongs to me.”

“There will be one.”

Yingmeng didn’t really believe it could happen, but in that moment, she also deeply hoped those wishes could come true.

“Sister, turn around,” Yingmeng opened her arms.

She wanted to give Ye Jinyi a hug.

You’ve given everything you have just to survive, constantly forced into corners by life.

You walked through the dark all alone, never seeing a light that belonged to you—not even the faintest star.

It’s as if you’ve never seen one at all.

Ye Jinyi stood up and turned toward Yingmeng.

The moment she turned around, the mirror before her shattered instantly.

At the same time, the threads stretching from Yingmeng’s fingers suddenly snapped and fell away.

Ye Jinyi threw herself into Yingmeng’s arms, and in that moment, the warmth of their hug flowed between them.

As the two embraced, the entire palace began to tremble.

Dust and bits of plaster fell from the eaves above, but neither of them cared—they simply stood there, holding each other tightly.

Ye Jinyi buried her face in Yingmeng’s chest, her tears already soaking through Yingmeng’s clothes.

“Thank you, sister. So this is what a hug feels like? So gentle… so safe.”

“Thank you, sister. Thank you for embracing someone as lowly as me with your burning love.”

“Sister, I have a small request.”

“Go ahead. Sister will grant it.”

“I want to sleep—with you by my side. And when I wake up… I hope all the flowers in the world bloom for us in that moment.”

“They will.”

Yingmeng gently stroked Ye Jinyi’s head.

That m-shaped ahoge sticking up—at that moment, Yingmeng suddenly felt it looked more like a heart.

“Then… good night, sister. Tomorrow, let’s welcome the sun together, okay?”

Ye Jinyi said that and fell asleep in Yingmeng’s arms.

“Okay…”

Yingmeng hadn’t even finished saying the word.

The Red Rose Ring on Ye Jinyi’s ring finger instantly turned crimson.

As the rose changed color, Ye Jinyi’s hair shifted from white back to its original pale blond.

In the next moment, a pair of fiery wings suddenly unfolded from Ye Jinyi’s back—wings forged from blazing flame.

The wings opened like a pair of warm, gentle hands, wrapping Ye Jinyi and Yingmeng in their embrace.

At the same time, beneath Ye Jinyi’s feet, endless flames erupted and spread outward in every direction from her as the center.

The fire surged across the city, and when it engulfed the sky completely, it began burning downward along every thread that had once held her.

Luo sat at the edge of a bridge, watching the gold coin beside her melt away in the fire. The corners of her mouth curled into a faint smile.

“Time to book a plane ticket and take a little trip to the Second Special Administrative Zone~”

She looked at the blazing palace in the distance, already knowing this nation was on the verge of collapse.

“Not even the cold of absolute zero can compare to the faint flame of a single candle.”

With that, Luo walked to the center of the bridge, now engulfed in wild fire.

As she stepped through the flames, her hair ignited too, changing from brilliant violet to searing orange-red.

She spread her arms wide, looking up at the sky set ablaze, and shouted aloud.

“Come on! Burn bright and burn wild! Let this undying world be set aflame for a whole night!”

“Let civilization burn! Let the wilds burn! Just like the gods, scorch away all sin—save the world with fire!”

“At this moment of awakening… I give my thanks to the primordial chaos…”

The moment she finished speaking, Luo turned to ash and scattered into the wind.

“Something’s wrong! Governor Chu!”

“What is it?!” Chu Lingyun shot upright from his bed.

Just a moment ago, he’d been fast asleep.

He quickly reached for his glasses on the nightstand and slid them onto his already panda-eyed face.

Once the governor was clearly awake, the soldier immediately reported, “Sir! A fire near 3,000°C just erupted in the Black Zone!”

“What? Start the vehicle!” Chu Lingyun jumped out of bed and ran outside the prefab shelter.

He couldn’t help but feel relieved he hadn’t taken off his clothes before sleeping—otherwise he’d be charging into battle in the dead of winter half-naked.

“Sir! Let me drive!”

The soldier hurried to catch up.

Chu Lingyun and the soldier jumped into the military vehicle.

In less than three seconds, both were buckled in, and the soldier floored the gas pedal, speeding toward the Black Zone.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Chu Lingyun immediately issued alerts, commanding everyone to mobilize.

At this point, anyone still thinking of sleeping was gambling with the lives of civilians.

One military vehicle after another, along with warplanes, surged toward the now-blazing Black Zone.

After sending the message, Chu Lingyun turned to the soldier beside him and gave a final order: “If we can’t contain this crisis—just run. Your lives are the priority. As for me, I’ll die here if I must.”

Chu Lingyun knew his future was over.

If he failed and returned alive, he’d go down in infamy.

But if he died here, his family might still receive national care under the name of a fallen hero.

Finally, Chu Lingyun opened the photo album on his phone and found a family photo.

Looking at it, he silently whispered to himself: Wife, son… goodbye, forever…

The fire devoured the entire world, and revealed a city long lost to time.

The blazing fire consumed everything from the past—yet preserved the world’s original form.

All the city’s residents were mercifully spared from the flames.

Every tree, insect, and bird remained untouched, as if the fire had never existed at all.

Perhaps this was her form of mercy.

She only burned what she chose to burn. Everything else—none of it could be harmed by these radiant soldiers of flame.

The queen used fire to overthrow the nation she had once built with ice—just as she had once used ice to overthrow the reality-bound world she came from.

After consuming everything, the fire released its remaining energy, spreading outward in all directions, reaching every corner of Blue Star, warming the frozen earth.

And then, in Yingmeng’s eyes.

Every bare tree in the city sprouted fresh green shoots.

From the dead soil, grass burst forth in wild abundance.

And with the grass came flowers—still closed, yet growing rapidly.

When all the flowers reached their full height, they bloomed together in a radiant chorus, as if to welcome the arrival of a new god.

Still rushing down the road, Chu Lingyun saw the world around him turn into spring in an instant.

Without thinking, he muttered something he shouldn’t have said aloud: “God…”

Yingmeng held the now-sleeping Ye Jinyi in her arms, staring blankly at the scene before her.

Blue sky, white clouds, fragrant grass, blooming flowers…

Tears suddenly rolled down her cheeks, uncontrollably.

“So it’s true… all the flowers in the world really can bloom in a single moment.”

Just then, Yingmeng heard Ye Jinyi whisper in her sleep:

“Sister… the flowers… so beautiful.”