Jade of Another World

The candlelight flickered in the imperial study, where Nangong Jin was reviewing memorials, the jade pendant on his desk emitting a faint blue glow. Lin Ning burst in, her skirt sweeping across the gilded incense burner, scattering sandalwood incense fragments like broken jade pieces across the floor.

Lin Ning said angrily, "Nangong Jin! How long are you going to keep toying with me?"

Nangong Jin slowly raised his eyes, a dark glint flashing in them. He put down the wolf-hair brush and gently stroked the edge of the jade pendant with his fingertips.

Nangong Jin chuckled softly, "Ning'er's anger reminds me of when we first met, you were also disdainful of me. You were much more adorable back then than you are now."

Lin Ning pressed on, "You stole the jade pendant and imprisoned Ouyang, what exactly are you trying to do?"

Nangong Jin suddenly stood up, his dragon-patterned court robe sweeping away the memorials on the table. He approached Lin Ning, the blue light of the jade pendant reflecting on his face, which appeared to be indecisive.

Nangong Jin said in a hoarse voice, "What do I want to do? I just want you to understand—this world cannot tolerate your wild fantasies! Do you think that returning to the world without me will truly liberate you?"

As he spoke, he grabbed Lin Ning's arm. Lin Ning struggled fiercely, her fingertips touching the cold surface of the jade pendant. Suddenly, a blinding white light burst forth from the crack in the jade pendant, and the beams and pillars of the imperial study began to shake violently.

Lin Ning's pupils trembled as she asked, "You... what did you do to the jade pendant?"

Nangong Jin laughed maniacally, "I have engraved the star orbits of the Twenty-Eight Mansions of the Great Yu into the jade pendant! It is no longer the key to your home, but a cage that will forever imprison you!"

The white light suddenly intensified, and Lin Ning was pulled by an invisible force from the jade pendant. In her panic, she grabbed Nangong Jin's sleeve, only to see a resolute look flash in his eyes.

Nangong Jin pulled her into his arms. "Since I can't keep your heart, then let this time and space shatter and become our eternal prison! I'll keep you here forever!"

The jade pendant shattered with a deafening crash, and spatial rifts spread like a spiderweb. The last thing Lin Ning saw was a vortex of madness and deep affection swirling in Nangong Jin's eyes, and a desolate smile on his lips.

Jade fragments shattered and flew between the two, and spatial turbulence sliced ​​through the vermilion beams and pillars of the imperial study like sharp blades. Lin Ning staggered backward, the luminous pearl on her hairpin knocked off by the shockwave, rolling down the blue bricks and leaving a winding trail of blood. Lin Ning suddenly laughed, "Nangong Jin, you've won!"

The water that streamed down my cheeks was indistinguishable between rain and tears.

"You used the most despicable method to trap me forever in this era that does not belong to me."

Nangong Jin's dragon-patterned court robes were torn in several places by the spatial turbulence and jade fragments, but he was completely unaware of it, staring blankly at Lin Ning's tear-streaked face.

Nangong Jin's voice was hoarse. "Ning'er, look how beautiful this crack is... Reach out and catch a piece of floating jade pendant. It will sweep the entire Dayu into a vortex of time and space, and you and I will embrace each other forever in the chaos."

Lin Ning suddenly coughed violently, and blood stained his clothes.

Lin Ning gave a bitter laugh. "So what you wanted was never me... but for me to rot here with you."

After everything calmed down, only a mess remained in the imperial study. Nangong Jin curled up in front of the broken jade pendant, wrapping a strand of his hair around his wrist. Outside the window, the rain poured down, and he suddenly heard a woman's ethereal singing voice coming from the depths of the crack—it was a folk song that Lin Ning often hummed in the modern world.

Nangong Jin laughed maniacally, "Did you hear that? Even if you escape to the end of time and space, my star orbit will forever entwine you! Lifetimes upon lifetimes, until death do us part!"

Blood stained the dragon-patterned floor tiles, and Nangong Jin's laughter echoed in the empty imperial study. Meanwhile, on the other side of the time-space rift, Lin Ning lay on a hospital bed in a modern hospital, seemingly clutching half a bloodstained jade pendant fragment in her hand, while the emperor's mournful murmurs could be faintly heard in her ears.

A deep blue ripple spread from the depths of the spatial rift, and Lin Ning staggered, grabbing for support against the crumbling palace wall. Suddenly, her fingertips pierced through the blue bricks, touching the cold metal bed frame. The moment she looked up, the smell of disinfectant stung her nostrils, and the green lines of the electrocardiogram monitor burned cracks into her retina.

Lin Ning gasped for breath, "No... impossible..." She looked down at her transparent palm, the stripes of her hospital gown seeping through the void.

Nangong Jin's pupils trembled: "This is... your world?" As he spoke, his fingertips traced the suspended drip tube, and the liquid condensed into crystal beads in the vacuum environment.

Lin Ning suddenly burst into wild laughter, "So I was already dead! I couldn't have saved you from that car accident on that rainy night! Now I'm nothing but a lonely ghost formed from obsession!"

The electrocardiogram monitor emitted a piercing alarm, and Lin Ning in reality suddenly opened her eyes. Her fingers twitched slightly on the hospital bed, while her soul in the space-time rift resonated strangely with her body.

Nangong Jin: "I forbid you to leave!" His shouts seemed to have no effect on the other end.

Lin Ning looked down at the ice-blue image that appeared. "Look carefully, in this world, you don't exist at all."

病床头的电子钟显示 2025 年 3 月 6 日 15:00，正是林宁到古代世界的同一时刻。玉珏碎片突然穿透时空，嵌入现实中的仪器面板。俩人被现实世界打回。

Nangong Jin grabbed Lin Ning's gradually transparent ankle. "Ning'er, listen to me, even in your world, I will be your calamity!"

In reality, the instruments suddenly exploded, and Lin Ning's electrocardiogram became a straight line. Meanwhile, in the spacetime rift, her soul, enveloped by fragments of the jade pendant, was plummeting into the abyss. In her last glance, she saw a family photo placed beside her hospital bed—she herself in the picture smiled carefree, as if she had never experienced the bloodshed and turmoil of the Great Yu Dynasty.

Lin Ning whispered to the air, "So... this was truly a dream..."

The jade pendant shattered completely, plunging both reality and illusion into eternal darkness.

The atmosphere in the imperial study was so heavy it seemed almost palpable. Between Lin Ning and Nangong Jin lay a complex web of emotions and a cruel truth. After the strange spatial illusion dissipated, Lin Ning's eyes still held a hint of dazedness, but the doubts in her heart grew like wildfire, compelling her to speak. She slightly raised her head, looking directly into Nangong Jin's unfathomable eyes. Her voice, though steady, couldn't conceal the weariness and resentment within: "When exactly did you learn about the jade pendant? Why did you scheme against me step by step like this?"

Nangong Jin slightly curled his lips, revealing a smile that was both smug and somewhat complicated. He lightly flicked his sleeves and slowly walked to Lin Ning, his gaze as sharp as a hawk's: "From the moment you stepped into the land of Dayu, I knew everything. Ouyang Qingchuan was originally my man, and everything he did was under my instruction."

Lin Ning's body trembled slightly, and a trace of pain flashed in her eyes. She bit her lower lip tightly, and after a long while, she spoke with a bitter smile: "So that's how it is. I should have guessed it sooner. I was naive and still trusted Ouyang a little, thinking that he was my friend."

Nangong Jin looked at Lin Ning, a fleeting hint of pity flashing in his eyes, but it vanished in an instant: "In this world, only I am your support."

Lin Ning sneered, her eyes full of mockery: "Rely on me? Your so-called reliance is nothing more than trapping me in this cage for you to play with. Have you ever thought about what I truly want? I don't belong here; I want to return to my world!"

Nangong Jin's face instantly darkened. He stepped forward and grabbed Lin Ning's shoulder abruptly: "Shut up! Your world? Hmph, that's just an excuse for you to escape reality. In my Great Yu, I can give you everything—power, status, wealth and glory. Why can't you stay by my side peacefully?"

Lin Ning struggled to break free of his grasp, taking a few steps back, her eyes burning with even more intense hatred: "What I want, you will never give me. From this day forward, our ties are severed. Since you are so ruthless, then don't blame me for showing no mercy." With that, Lin Ning turned and resolutely strode out of the imperial study, leaving Nangong Jin alone in the empty room, gazing in the direction she had gone, his expression complex and unreadable…