# Chapter 2927: Completely Different Lives
In the dream reality, that night, because Jiangnan had bound the system, he took out Dali, beat the hell out of Wang Lin, and resolved the crisis!
Only later, because the video of him splitting a red brick with his head was posted online, did Zhong Yingxue take notice, leading to his encounter with Zhong Yingxue and Xia Yao!
But in the original reality without the system, this encounter happened earlier...
The people who were meant to meet would meet anyway, wouldn't they?
Jiangnan's eyes flickered. It was precisely here that the two realities began to diverge, to differ!
In the two realities, Jiangnan's life also took two completely different paths!
Jiangnan understood very well that his garbage talent had been elevated by the Marrow-Cleansing Fruit given by the system, which was how he started rising!
But without the system, and without the Marrow-Cleansing Fruit, how did he manage to cultivate? After all, Jiangnan had seen earlier that even without the system, he had still charged into the starry sky, his strength not weak at all!
Jiangnan continued watching.
At the night market, Jiangnan met Zhong Yingxue and Xia Yao, and also recognized Xuexue. Because he was badly injured, he was sent to the hospital for bandaging.
Zhong Yingxue covered the medical expenses. Jiangnan also told her about his experiences over the years—being a Space System user with the most garbage talent...
But Zhong Yingxue didn't care. What she cared about was just Jiangnan himself.
"You used to always protect me. So from today onward, let me protect you..."
These were the words Zhong Yingxue said to Jiangnan in the hospital...
Zhong Yingxue tried to give Jiangnan money, but he still didn't accept it. She invited him to stay at the big villa instead of the rental apartment, but Jiangnan refused.
Zhong Yingxue had also been adopted by the Zhong family. Jiangnan didn't want to cause her trouble...
At the school's Spirit Martial test, Jiangnan failed because he was too trashy, getting kicked out of the Spirit Martial class. Even more people bullied him...
Jiangnan silently watched on...
Until that night, Katerina, who had stolen the Blood Incineration reagent, still fell from the rooftop. Pursued by Dark Night, she had no choice but to inject the Blood Incineration reagent into Jiangnan's body!
She wanted to escape first and then come back for Jiangnan!
How could Jiangnan resist? He was injected with the Blood Incineration reagent on the spot. Without the system, there was no Detoxifying Soybean.
With Jiangnan's foundation, he simply couldn't withstand the torment of the Blood Incineration reagent. His heart ached as if about to explode. He collapsed on the spot and fainted, his body temperature skyrocketing!
An Ning and Chen Chen, who had chased after, discovered Jiangnan, an innocent victim. Naturally, they couldn't just ignore him.
They carried him to the military base overnight. Jiangnan remained semi-conscious, his temperature staying dangerously high.
Even calling a recovery-type psychic from the military base for help didn't work.
The pursuit operation was led by Mountain Cat. Because of the operational error causing civilian injury, Mountain Cat couldn't stand by.
Only after checking Jiangnan's information did she discover that Jiangnan was a Space System user. This made it even more impossible for her to watch Jiangnan be tortured to death!
So she contacted higher-ups and had Li Bing urgently brought over from the Pioneer Academy in Rongcheng overnight!
Because Li Bing was the creator of the Blood Incineration reagent, she would definitely have a solution!
But when Li Bing arrived, she was also quite troubled by Jiangnan's condition.
She tried many methods, but none worked. Yet she couldn't just watch Jiangnan die!
Pressed to the limit, Li Bing directly activated the production of the previously abandoned Blood Incineration Type 17 Modification!
Forget everything else—first save Jiangnan's life. If he died, there'd be nothing left!
One injection of Type 17 Modified Blood Incineration went in, and Jiangnan's temperature finally dropped. The compatibility was very high, and the effects were surprisingly good!
Jiangnan was finally pulled back from the gates of hell!
But he was astonished to find that his garbage talent had improved significantly, and even his physical fitness had strengthened considerably!
Yet Li Bing looked at Jiangnan with an apologetic expression and told him about the side effects of Type 17 Blood Incineration!
Although activating Blood Incineration would enhance physical fitness across the board and had a certain marrow-cleansing effect, permanently raising talent—
The cost was that due to the extremely high metabolic rate, his lifespan would be greatly shortened!
Currently, no solution had been found.
Because of the operational error that led to this situation, she hoped Jiangnan would understand and proposed compensation.
But upon hearing this, Jiangnan's eyes lit up!
"I don't want any compensation! Do you have more of this reagent? Can you give me a few more injections? I can feel my talent improving!"
Li Bing shook her head and flatly refused: "Impossible! This reagent is a taboo. It will shorten your lifespan. If it weren't to save you, I would never have restarted the Type 17 Modification production. Give up!"
But Jiangnan insisted: "I'm a Space System user. I'm worth cultivating. If my talent is no good, I'll never achieve anything in this life! I'd just be a useless cripple!"
"Now that there's a way to improve my talent, how can I give up? Let me try!"
Tired of being bullied and humiliated, Jiangnan didn't want to miss this opportunity. The chance was right before his eyes—he had to grasp it tightly!
"But it will shorten your life. You're young now, you can't feel it, but if ten or twenty years pass..."
Jiangnan's expression was deadly serious: "I'm not afraid of dying young. I'm only afraid of never truly living!"
"I have no parents. I'm all alone. I have the right to decide how I want to live my life. I don't want to be trampled underfoot forever!"
"Please, give me this chance. Let me realize my worth, okay?"
Li Bing's face was full of distress. She knew the value of a Space System user—the entire Huaxia had only Li Mingshan. If another Space System user rose, the situation would be vastly different!
To be honest, she hesitated!
And this situation was reported to the higher-ups. Their response was that if Jiangnan himself agreed and was willing to accept it, they could continue to improve his talent through this method and train him in secret.
In the end, because of this incident, the Dark Night Army established the Pandora Secret Research Project!
Jiangnan became part of the project, thus joining the Dark Night Army. The military would provide Jiangnan with cultivation resources, Li Bing's Blood Incineration Type 17 Modification experiments would continue on Jiangnan, and Jiangnan would have to complete some secret missions for the military...
At this moment, Jiangnan, caught in the cracks of reality, watched this scene and smiled bitterly.
Without the Marrow-Cleansing Fruit, was this how he had improved his talent? Blood Incineration Type 17 Modification—trading his life for tomorrow!
No wonder she was called Ice God. She could actually make something like this!
In the dream reality, binding the system was Jiangnan's turning point in life!
But in the original reality, this life-and-death crisis of being injected with Blood Incineration became Jiangnan's important turning point... It was also how he met Mountain Cat and got to know Ice God ahead of time!
Because his talent improved and the military provided resources, Jiangnan's strength rose rapidly!
Not only was he reinstated into the Spirit Martial class, but he also met Wu Liang while teaching some thugs a lesson!
Katerina never came back for Jiangnan. With his military identity protecting him, she lost her chance and fled in disgrace...
Later, during the Tianchi Lingxu test, Jiangnan teamed up with Wu Liang and Tang Qianya. During the process, they also encountered an attack from the White Shark organization!
But this time, in the confrontation between Mountain Cat and Jin Gang!
Both Mountain Cat and Jin Gang were severely injured. Jiangnan took the opportunity to activate Blood Incineration and killed Jin Gang, twisting his head off!
But Mountain Cat's body was pierced in multiple places by diamond spikes, bleeding profusely!
It looked like she was about to die!
Jiangnan went crazy, using his hands to stop Mountain Cat's wounds, but warm, bright red blood still gushed out uncontrollably!
He frantically called for help, but no one came!
Mountain Cat's face was pale. She raised her hand and touched Jiangnan's head. She rarely smiled, but this time she smiled brilliantly!
"Live on. Live out your own brilliant life. It's just a pity... I won't be able to witness it..."
Mountain Cat died like that in Tianchi Lingxu, dying in Jiangnan's arms!
Jiangnan's cries echoed through the forest. He held Mountain Cat's body for a long time, never letting go!
Still, no miracle happened...
In the dream reality, Mountain Cat was gravely wounded and near death, but Jiangnan, who had the system, "happened" to pull out the Vitality Ginseng and brought Mountain Cat back from the gates of hell!
But in the original reality, without the Vitality Ginseng, Mountain Cat died!
Jiangnan watched her die, powerless to do anything!
In the cracks of reality, Jiangnan watched this scene with bloodshot eyes, tears blurring his vision!
So... that's how it was?
Without miracles, the story between him and Mountain Cat ended right here. There was no continuation. She... just died like that...
Although it wasn't Jiangnan's personal experience, watching the helplessness and cries of his counterpart in that original reality, Jiangnan could feel how utterly devastated that version of himself had been!
In a world without miracles, was reality truly so cruel?
Jiangnan's nose stung. He couldn't help but clench his fists!
He continued watching. The Tianchi Lingxu incident concluded. Mountain Cat died in battle. The Luo family was shaken. War God Tianqing, Luo Tianqing, charged into the White Shark organization, severely wounding them, causing a huge uproar!
And because of this incident, Jiangnan got to know Luo Tianqing...
Jiangnan successfully transferred with Wu Liang to Songjiang Spirit Martial, teaming up with Zhong Yingxue and Xia Yao...
But in the remaining years of his life, there was no trace of Mountain Cat!
The nuclear bomb crisis at Suka Town still happened. Jiangnan also participated in the secret operation!
Only this time, it wasn't Mountain Cat or Jiangnan flying the passenger plane to send the nuke into the sky!
Because Jiangnan's Space System ability was too precious to lose, he was kept behind. The soldier who flew the plane to deliver the nuke was another warrior!
Chen Chen also died. There was no Vitality Ginseng to save him!
In the original reality, Jiangnan wasn't the all-powerful Southern God. He couldn't pull out small items at critical moments to change the situation!
Nor could he create miracles with zero casualties. Every crisis event always saw someone leave...
And Jiangnan witnessed their deaths time and time again...
Reality... was truly cruel!
pS: Don't worry, this won't be a complete retelling from the beginning. I'll roughly go through some key points to unravel the mysteries. Dog head for self-preservation.