Over the past year, many people had taken time out of their hectic schedules to visit the "sick" Yun You, showing the concern a friend should have.

And Yun You? She would always receive them patiently, then talk with them with a smile, looking as if there was nothing seriously wrong.

But only she herself knew that her mental state had already been stretched to the breaking point.

Right now she felt that everything she was doing was more or less meaningless. Her personality was too stubborn, to the point that she couldn't find a single reason to keep dragging out her life after she had already accomplished her goal.

Master Zero had tried to persuade her, but he understood her far too well, knowing that his clumsy rhetoric would have little effect when it came to Yun You.

The "King" was the same. In essence, she was nothing more than another forceful facet of Yun You's personality. She existed because Yun You needed her, and when Yun You herself had sunk into a kind of decay, naturally that voice also faded away.

Sometimes the little girl would take out that scroll of the Star-Attracting Skill and try to study it.

She had to admit, the Star-Attracting Skill was truly brilliant to the extreme. When all three scrolls were combined, its effect was several times stronger than those Body Refining Manuals that ranked at the very top of the charts. Just from one round of reading, Yun You could already feel signs of another breakthrough in both her physique and realm.

It was precisely thanks to the Star-Attracting Skill that she had been able to go a year without eating or drinking, without taking in any external energy.

But the Star-Attracting Skill also had its limits. It couldn't change Yun You's decaying spirit, and naturally it couldn't push her through to a breakthrough.

February 1st, 2079, New Year's Eve.

The members of the Equality Association, who had been busy the whole year, gathered together with the people of the Huangxing Group and held a grand New Year's Eve gala in the Huangxing Building in G District.

Fireworks blossomed outside the windows, and the sounds of joy and excitement filled the air without pause.

In the past year, they had achieved tremendous results. They had not only completely changed the political ecology and livelihood environment of Nest City No. 3, allowing large numbers of citizens and common folk to eat their fill, afford schooling, and have the right to receive medical treatment, but had also rolled out a series of people-benefiting policies, greatly reducing the number of underground gangs, bringing public security in Nest City No. 3 to the best it had been in a hundred years.

Their names would be forever recorded in the history of Nest City No. 3; that was certainly something to be happy about.

They also wanted to invite Yun You to join them, but the little girl only smiled, and in the end still refused. She didn't even have the desire to talk to people anymore.

At this, everyone felt a bit at a loss.

In the end, it was Jin who knocked on her door and, under everyone's expectant gazes, walked in.

...

"Girl..."

Looking at Yun You, yellow-faced and emaciated, with dry hair, sitting cross-legged on the floor like an old monk in meditation, Jin's heart gave a faint tremor.

How had that once-dashing, handsome girl, fearless even if Mount Tai collapsed before her eyes, ended up like this?

"Teacher."

Sensing Jin's presence, Yun You slightly raised her head and forced out a rather strained smile.

"What brings you here to me...? Aren't you going to the banquet?"

Jin shook his head.

"If I don't come check on you, one of these days you'll really die in this room and no one will even know."

Yun You felt a bit embarrassed. Normally, she would definitely quip back a little, at least to win herself some face and initiative.

But right now, she truly didn't have the strength to refute anything.

"I had thought this whole matter might hit you hard, but I really didn't expect it to hit you like this. That's my failure."

Jin let out a soft sigh and rubbed the girl's head.

"Tell me, girl, had you really never thought about your own future before? Like what you'd do after your revenge was done, what kind of job you might like, that sort of thing..."

Yun You fell silent.

She didn't know how to answer.

Seeing this, Jin paused for a moment, then also understood what the little girl was thinking.

In the past, Yun You had four enemies. The weakest, Yang Lie, was a Tier Two Apprentice Death God and a 'Protector of the People' for a whole district. The strongest, Zhao Xuan, was a legendary Quasi-God Strong Person. Even Jin himself did not have absolute confidence in taking him down.

And Yun You? A year ago, she was just a malnourished little brat who didn't even count as a normal person.

Maybe she'd never had the spare mental space to think about what she could do after her revenge, because in her concept of the world, even completing revenge once already counted as the heavens' favor. Killing all four of them and still surviving herself— that was something she saw as fundamentally impossible.

So of course she wouldn't have any notion of "considering the future," because the "present" was already enough to occupy all her energy.

"Sigh..."

Jin let out a helpless sigh. He knew that simple encouragement and spoon-fed chicken soup for the soul meant nothing right now.

So he changed tack, pointing at the people out at the banquet beyond the door and gently asked, "Let's not talk about that. We're just chatting, talking about whatever comes to mind..."

"Girl, you should know that I've arranged fairly high positions for almost every one of them, right?"

"Whether it's your senior brothers and sisters, or Tian En Mokaka and the others, it's the same."

Yun You nodded. Of course she knew about this.

At present, the "Equality Association" that Jin had founded was the highest governing body in Nest City No. 3. Naturally, its leader was Jin, and under it were three main organs—the Parliament in charge of administration, the military in charge of public security, and the Finance Department in charge of the economy and development.