Chapter 34: Goodbye, Mother—Tonight I Set Sail for the Horizon

The relationship between mother and daughter is essentially a variation of the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. While the former is veiled in a layer of tender affection, its substance may perhaps be even more ruthless.

A failing mother will strive to mold her daughter, treating her as her own projection. Professor Ye is certainly not a failure in the sociological sense, but her obsession runs deep. She desperately longs for Ye Sheng to become a Tier 3 high-ranking individual, as if reaching that level could solve every problem in life.

However, if Ye Sheng were to strictly follow her mother’s teachings, she wouldn't be allowed to eat spicy food even as a Saint or a Tier 3—just thinking about it makes life seem so bleak. Happiness, as it turns out, is not as simple as her mother imagines.

Conversely, Ye Sheng highly regards Li Xingming’s perspective on life. Oh, back when they chatted in games, she didn’t even know his name was Li Xingming; she simply felt that what he said made a lot of sense.

After struggling with the thought for a long time, Ye Sheng decided not to "explode" just yet. The main issue was that the confinement room suppressed all spirits within its range. Ye Sheng had completely lost her connection to the spirits in her sea of consciousness. Relying solely on her physical body, it was difficult to break through such a heavily fortified room. Even the windows were fitted with the same blast-proof glass used by the President of the Republic. Professor Ye was truly thoughtful, afraid her child might fall out of the confinement room window.

Ye Sheng looked toward the desk. The integrated bookshelves were lined with a dazzling array of professional texts, roughly divided into two categories: general academic books for the arcane arts—advanced applied mathematics, physics, rune theory, rune solid mechanics, rune engineering cybernetics—and books regarding the Starry Fate.

Factions and Fates, categories and segments—it seemed that everything about her had been mapped out by her mother.

Ye Sheng picked up "An Introduction to the Application of Runes in Aerospace" to kill time until late at night, assuming Professor Ye had already fallen asleep. She crept onto the floor and reached under the bed.

Indeed. Even under the bed in the confinement room, there was spicy strip jerky hidden away.

A person must have something to look forward to in life. It doesn't necessarily have to be something that benefits one's career or development, but it must provide cheap and intuitive joy. Since her final year of middle school, Ye Sheng had been getting this joy from playing virtual combat games with Li Xingming. It was this joy that sustained her inner world, keeping her from going insane under the crushing pressure of her studies and her mother.

The spicy strips were taped into the gap between the bed frame and the slats. She had been hiding them this way since she was a child, and her mother had never discovered them. Ye Sheng’s lips curled into a childish smile—a rare expression on her face, one that only ever appeared in connection with spicy strips or Li Xingming.

Then, the smile vanished.

The spicy strips were gone!

Sometimes, the final straw that breaks the camel’s back is just as absurd as this. Everyone thought Ye Sheng was an aloof genius, but who could have guessed that a pack of spicy strips, at a specific time and place, would push her to a breaking point?

Ye Sheng quickly tore down the bedsheets and twisted them into a thick, rope-like shape. This was her preparation for rappelling from the third floor to the backyard—a task she had to improvise, and the only preparation she had made for running away from home.

She had been planning to run away for a long time. She just lacked a destination and a reason to "explode." Now that she had the reason, what about the destination? It went without saying. It was obvious. It was human nature. It was only right.

Forget the beginning, the middle, and the end—in any case, she couldn't stay in this damn house for another minute!

Wrapping her fist in a pillowcase, she delivered a heavy, full-force blow to the window.

BOOM!

The blast-proof glass shattered on impact. It wasn't that Ye Sheng’s fist was too hard or that Professor Ye had bought a counterfeit product; it was that Ye Sheng had been quietly and slowly compromising the internal structure of the glass whenever her mother wasn't looking. In other words, while it appeared intact, it was already on the verge of collapse.

The sound of the shattering glass brought Professor Ye running. She used her spirit-pattern to unlock the door, and upon pushing it open, she saw Ye Sheng jumping from the windowsill, clutching the bedsheet tied to the bedpost.

"What are you doing?!"

Professor Ye’s shout did not interrupt Ye Sheng’s plan. Using a standard urban combat rappel technique, she landed smoothly. Come to think of it, she had learned this technique from Li Xingming.

*Heh.*

The cold wind of late November in the capital whipped against Ye Sheng’s thin school uniform. She shivered. The damn school uniform from the National Academy Affiliated High School was poorly made and drafty. It was supposedly one of the top three elite schools in the capital—one wonders how much the procurement office skimmed off the top?

But it didn't matter; she was going to a warmer place soon!

Ye Sheng sniffled, as if she could smell the aroma of snail noodles. Suddenly filled with a surge of energy, she channeled the spirits she had reconnected with, her feet moving like lightning as she sprinted toward the backyard warehouse.

Professor Ye’s home was a detached three-story house with a yard, and there was a warehouse in the back for miscellaneous items. The daughter charged inside regardless of everything, with her mother in pursuit. Unfortunately, Professor Ye didn’t know how to rappel, and the confinement room suppressed spirits, so she had to take the stairs, cursing the contractors who renovated the house as she descended.

*What is this silly child doing, suddenly running to the warehouse? She isn't going to do something foolish, is she?*

Professor Ye’s face suddenly turned pale. She quickly cycled through the items stored in the warehouse, wondering if any of them posed a lethal threat... No, no, her thinking was too narrow. For a Tier 2 Starry Fate transcendent, there were many ways to end one's life. For example, using the spirit "Glowing Gravel"... No, that was wrong; the room suppressed spirits, so maybe running out was...

Worry and doubt collided in Professor Ye’s mind. She tried to speed up but tripped on the stairs. By the time she finally reached the backyard, a scene of disbelief unfolded before her eyes—in an explosive manner. Literally.

The entire warehouse, including the roof and walls, was suddenly blown away by a massive blast of air. An object shaped like a rocket soared into the sky with astonishing acceleration.

The rolling shockwave knocked Professor Ye to the ground. She hurriedly activated the spirit "Solid as Gold," scrambling to her feet in a panic. Before the "rocket" reached a speed beyond human perception, Professor Ye barely managed to see her daughter riding on top of it. The saddle she was using was the "Six-Degree-of-Freedom Adaptive Saddle" she had bought when she took Ye Sheng for horseback riding lessons as a child.

It was hard to imagine that such a thing could be mounted on a rocket... but that wasn't the point! The point was that there was a... in her own warehouse!

A dumbfounded Professor Ye barely recovered from the shock, shielding her eyes as she peered into the sky.

The orange flame tail shone brilliantly in the night sky of the capital. The midsection of the rocket, where Ye Sheng sat, was encased in a ring of azure magical shielding. With powerful thrust and an incredible initial velocity, judging by its speed and angle, it was going to fly very, very far...

"So... she built a single-person aircraft at home behind my back?!"

If the aircraft had been for a competition or a school project, Professor Ye would likely have been very proud. But her daughter was using it to run away from home. This left Professor Ye with extremely complex feelings.

*Was it really necessary? Was it really necessary?!*