“Cough!” I heard a cough from behind. Xing Chuan had woken up.
I walked up to him as he slowly lifted his body up. He sat on the bed and breathed with great difficulty as he slowly put on his clothes.
I stood in front of him. He didn’t look at me, but continued to put on his clothes strenuously.
“Xing Chuan.” I looked down at him.
He coughed into his fist. “Cough, cough, cough…”
“You can’t die,” I said.
He continued to cough, “Cough, cough, cough… Heh…” He panted for a while and chuckled lightly. He slowly buttoned his shirt and said, “I know…”
“No, you don’t know. Previously, I didn't let you die to punish you.”
He finished buttoning his shirt. Then, he began to breathe calmly. “And now…”
“We’ve most likely found a way to heal you. You can’t die.”
His body stiffened, and he was obviously surprised by my ‘lie’.
“From today onward, you have to stay by my side…” He looked even more surprised as he looked ahead. His gaze fixed on my feet as I continued, “You have to live for me and Harry. I mean your heart…” I extended my finger and tapped on his chest, “has to live too.”
He was so dumbfounded that he didn’t move an inch as he stood on the bed.
Lucifer popped his head in to peek. He watched us carefully. I looked at him, saying, “Lucifer, put your Brother Xing Chuan in his wheelchair. He will follow by my side from now onwards. He can only leave when I allow him to be out of my sight.”
Lucifer looked delighted, crying, “Yes!” He rushed in. He carried Xing Chuan up and placed him on the wheelchair off to the side. He was smaller than Xing Chuan, but he seemed extremely at ease when he carried Xing Chuan.
He looked at Xing Chuan happily. “Brother Xing Chuan, finally, you don’t have to peek at Sister Bing sneakily!”
I was stunned. Has Xing Chuan been doing that? Heh, that’s his ‘fetish’, is it?
“Cough, cough, cough…” Xing Chuan suddenly coughed vigorously.
Lucifer didn’t notice that he had said something inappropriate by mistake. He patted Xing Chuan’s back and said happily, “Now you can look at her all day when you’re next to her! To be able to take more looks at her, you need to live well! Otherwise, it’ll be one less chance to look at her every time you’re with her.” He said it much better than I had.
In the past, Xing Chuan hadn’t let me leave his sight. Then, as he wished, he could see me every day.
He had been trying hard to seek death. But now, he would work hard to stay alive. Otherwise, it would really be one less chance to look at me every time he was with me.
Xing Chuan, you’re with us from now on. We’re no longer doing this to punish you, but we’re fighting against death to right your wrong.
The news that we would launch an attack on Nubis’ livable zone spread, and it boosted the soldiers’ morale. It was because some of the beautiful young men from Margaery’s troop had been sent from Nubis’ livable zone. So, when they heard that they were going to attack Nubis’s livable zone and rescue the people there, they were thrilled. Everyone was getting ready for the upcoming war!
At night, Lucifer brought Xing Chuan to my room. Xing Chuan was still surprised. He’d never thought that he would be sleeping next to my room, just like back in Silver Moon City. I’d gotten Carter, a metahuman, to dig a hole connecting two rooms and make it into a European arch door. There was a piece of gauze hanging in between, so we couldn’t see each other but we could hear each other.
In the room next to mine, there were two beds. One was for Xing Chuan, while the other one was for Lucifer. Lucifer would continue to look after Xing Chuan.
While I was doing some admin work in my room, Lucifer helped Xing Chuan onto his bed. I could faintly see his figure, while he could see mine.
“Why?” He asked in the dimly lit room.
“Brother Xing Chuan, don’t ask!” Lucifer lowered his voice and said hastily. “Sister Bing is finally willing to do this. Don’t make any noise to draw attention to your existence. What if she gets angry again? You’ll be kicked out!”
“Why… don’t you hate me anymore? I was the one who transformed Harry into a water ghost…” Xing Chuan never learned his lesson. He was still courting death.
“I saw it all.” I looked at the tablet in my hand. It contained the information Underworld Ghost had provided me about the metahumans in the livable zone. He had told us everything he knew. “You returned to Steel Ghost City and wanted to transform Harry back before you died.” I lifted my gaze to look at him.
Xing Chuan sat on his bed, while Lucifer tensed up and gradually moved away from my sight.
“Xing Chuan, you’re very selfish.” I put down my tablet and looked at him faintly, “But since you’re so selfish, why did you want to transform Harry back before you died? A selfish person wouldn’t admit their mistakes or try to right their wrongdoings. They would only give excuses to cover up their selfishness and shift the blame onto others. Even when they died, they wouldn’t want to see others do well. Since you’re so selfish, you should have pretended to not remember Harry. To let him be a water ghost forever. To let us be separated, on shore and in water, so we couldn’t reunite. You should have known that when you transformed Harry back, we would be together again. This goes against your character of being selfish.”
Xing Chuan fell silent. I looked at him and continued, “I’m giving you a chance to explain yourself. Don’t you want to explain your conduct that went against your character?”
“Hmph…” He chuckled lightly as though he were mocking himself. “Yeah, I’m selfish. I don’t want to share my loved one with anybody. That’s why I transformed Harry into a water ghost using the excuse of rescuing him… Cough, cough…” He coughed lightly and took a deep breath. “I reckon he should thank me. If it weren’t for me turning him into a water ghost, he would have been dead. So, I don’t intend to transform him back anytime soon. He provoked my authority, he went against my command, and he even possesses your love… Cough, cough, cough…” He coughed vigorously again. He coughed much longer this time. Lucifer extended his hand secretly to pat Xing Chuan’s back.
Xing Chuan calmed himself down and said, “I knew that you would be in pain when you lost him, but I would be with you and love you. I was thinking of transforming him back after a while. Then, I would use both coercion and bribery for you to leave him. But in the end… Heh… I lost control of the entire situation. I never expected you to lose control…” He shook his head. “I thought I could control everyone's fate. Heh, I was so full of myself that I belittled fate. In the end, fate fooled me once again and I dragged Harry down along with me…” Xing Chuan’s hoarse voice sounded even more depressed. He mocked himself, asking, “Aren’t I stupid?”
“Yes,” I replied. “Not only are you stupid, but you are also so stupid that you thought you could control others’ fate! You’d be too lucky if fate didn’t pull a prank on you!”
“Heh…” Xing Chuan chuckled bitterly behind the gauze. The sound carried a mixture of relief and bitterness, echoing the vicissitudes of life.
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