"I don't know..." Tang Lici's voice sounded already somewhat faint. "Later... we'll talk later..." Liu Yan gave him a push, but Tang Lici's lashes merely lowered without response. Suddenly alarmed, Liu Yan cried, "Hey—get up! Don't sleep here! Get up now!" They were in the outskirts of Luoyang, deep in the woods but hardly a hidden place. With his legs crippled, there was no way Liu Yan could carry Tang Lici away if he remained unconscious. If enemies arrived suddenly, what could they do?
The sky was bright—it was just noon. Though the late autumn chill hadn't set in yet, once night fell with its wind, frost, and dew, how could Tang Lici's severely wounded body endure?
An indeterminate time later, a cool sensation on his lips jolted Tang Lici's chaotic mind awake. Opening his eyes, he saw stars and moonlight overhead. His clothes had dried, and the lingering coolness on his lips suggested someone had just poured water into his mouth. Turning his gaze, he saw Liu Yan.
Liu Yan's black veil was gone, his sleeves torn in many places. The horrifying contrast between his mutilated face and his flawless jade-like arms was even more striking now. Seeing Tang Lici awake, Liu Yan exhaled in relief, though his tone remained cold. "Feeling better?" Tang Lici sat up. The wounds on his back and abdomen had been bandaged and stopped bleeding. Glancing around, they were still in the same woods from earlier. He smiled faintly. "You worked hard." Liu Yan turned away. "If you can stand, let's go. We were lucky no one passed by today—otherwise, who knows what might've happened." Tang Lici chuckled. "Are you planning to stay behind and fend for yourself?" Liu Yan replied indifferently, "Just kill me." Tang Lici's brow furrowed slightly. Liu Yan sneered. "You're the pillar of the martial world, while I'm a vile poison cultist. Eliminating evil is your righteous duty. Kill me, and thousands in the martial world will cheer for you." In an instant, Tang Lici moved like lightning, seizing Liu Yan's throat, his fingers tightening gradually. Liu Yan's breath choked off, his throat in agony, his neck bones creaking—until suddenly, Tang Lici coughed softly twice. "Sometimes... I really do want to kill you. You're soft-hearted, incapable of great deeds, unable to distinguish good from evil. You ignore what you should heed and believe what you shouldn't. Even the trouble you cause spirals out of control. But no matter what... I know, from childhood till now... it's you who treated me best."
The fingers around Liu Yan's throat slowly loosened. Liu Yan coughed violently, gasping for air. "Cough... cough..." Tang Lici swayed as he leaned against a tree to stand, then hoisted Liu Yan up. "Let's go." Liu Yan was stunned. "Put me down!" Tang Lici ignored him, tucking Liu Yan under his right arm and summoning his Inner Energy to dash swiftly into the distance.He rushed towards Luoyang. Liu Yan struggled desperately, "Put me down!" Carrying someone like him, how far could Tang Lici go? Moreover, he was severely injured, and officers were everywhere searching for suspicious individuals. What if palace experts came after them? He struggled fiercely, and Tang Lici loosened his grip, letting him fall to the ground with a thud. Startled, Liu Yan looked up to see Tang Lici’s forehead covered in cold sweat, looking faint. "A-Li..." Tang Lici’s lips curled slightly. "Move again, and I’ll crush the bones in one of your hands. Say another word, and I’ll crush both." Liu Yan, who had been seeking death, was stunned. Tang Lici took a short breath, picked Liu Yan up again, and continued forward.
Why was he returning to Luoyang? Liu Yan, held in Tang Lici’s grasp, felt the swift and fluid motion of his strides, with no sign of faltering. Liu Yan closed his eyes and remained still. Before long, they were outside Luoyang’s city gates. The night was deep, and few pedestrians were on the road. Tang Lici charged toward the gates with his burden. The guards only saw a blur as a white shadow flashed past like a ghost, prompting a loud shout as they rushed to report to their commander.
In mere moments, Tang Lici had brought Liu Yan back to the Apricot Sun Bookstore. Bursting into the room, they found bloodstains everywhere, the furniture undisturbed, but the people who should have been there were gone. The bloodied floor bore many chaotic footprints. Liu Yan suddenly spoke, "They—" Tang Lici pressed a hand to his abdomen and coughed softly. "Quiet!" Liu Yan fell silent. Tang Lici closed his eyes, leaning on the table for support. After a long pause, he said, "They were likely taken by the Imperial Guards." Liu Yan said nothing. After a while, he suddenly asked, "What are you thinking?" Tang Lici slowly opened his eyes. "If I had acted before the Seventeen Shaolin Monks confronted you... perhaps the Imperial Guards wouldn’t have been alerted, and they wouldn’t have been taken." Liu Yan sneered. "If? You knew Ren Qingchou was tracking you the whole time, lurking outside waiting for an opening. If you’d fought the Seventeen Shaolin Monks, even a single flaw would’ve given him the chance to kill you!" Tang Lici coughed, raising a hand to cover his lips as he vomited blood and bile. Liu Yan was startled. Tang Lici retched for a long time, the flush on his cheeks fading into pallor before he gradually stopped. Even while vomiting, he maintained his composure, making it seem almost dignified. When finished, he took out a silk cloth to wipe his mouth and stepped back twice."Your injury..." Liu Yan watched him vomit painfully and couldn't help asking, "Where did you connect Fang Zhou's heart?" Tang Lici had superior genes—as long as the wounds weren't fatal, they healed several times faster than normal people, and his injuries never got infected. Since childhood, Liu Yan had seen him suffer countless injuries, but never once had he looked this exhausted.
Tang Lici discarded the brocade cloth and chuckled softly, "I don’t know medicine, so I connected every blood vessel I could. Anyway... his heart is beating. He’s not dead."
Liu Yan stiffened as he stared at him. "Do you really think you’re an Undying Body?"
Tang Lici raised the corner of his eyes, amusement dancing in his gaze. "Aren’t I?"
Liu Yan flew into a rage. "What nonsense are you spouting? You’ve been a lunatic since childhood! And you’re still a lunatic now! Absolutely nothing has changed! Your father said you were an 'xyx' freak—he wasn’t wrong at all!"
Tang Lici suddenly lifted his head. With a deafening crash, the table before him exploded into hundreds of splinters. Liu Yan broke into a cold sweat as a hand shot through the debris and seized his throat. Then, in a gentle voice, Tang Lici asked, "What else did he say?"
Liu Yan turned his head away, lips pressed tight in refusal to answer. Tang Lici leaned in closer, his voice growing even softer by his ear. "What else did he say about me?"
Liu Yan shut his eyes. "He... he never believed in you. Because—because even though he and Aunt Liu gave birth to you, even though they spent a fortune to have the hospital select the best genes for you, even performed genetic modifications... after you were born, the hospital discovered you were 'xyy.' Maybe it was because they altered the fertilized egg too much. 'xyy' is the criminal gene..." He opened his eyes but didn’t dare look at Tang Lici’s face, keeping his gaze fixed on the ground. "So your father’s disappointment in you wasn’t because you weren’t good enough—it was from the moment you were born... he was disappointed from the start. He... he knew your temperament would be different from others. And Aunt Liu, she..."
Tang Lici exhaled softly, his voice tender. "So my mother looked at me like I was a ghost."
Liu Yan nodded. "That’s why they locked you up when you were little. And then you—you started fighting, taking drugs, getting involved with those Three Cities and Thirteen Factions... and you loved setting fires..."
Tang Lici gasped sharply, then laughed. "What about you? If you knew all along, if I’m so terrifying, why follow me around all the time? Aren’t you afraid that one day my latent violent genes will act up and I’ll kill you for no reason?""Back then, I thought you..." Liu Yan's voice gradually calmed, "I thought that despite your terrible personality, you weren't a bad person. You just had strong control issues—you disliked anything that disobeyed your orders. Other than that... you weren't as terrifying as people imagined." Tang Lici took another labored breath and laughed, "And now?" Liu Yan raised his hand to grip Tang Lici's wrist, which was clamped around his throat. "You... you still have a terrible personality." He tightened his hold on Tang Lici's wrist. "But now I know your need for control... isn't because you crave power, but because your protective instincts are just as strong... that's all..." He strained to pull Tang Lici's hand away. "I know you've always seen yourself as the villain. Letting people know you actually want to protect everyone—you'd find that humiliating, wouldn't you? So you never let anyone see it... People fear you, doubt you, hate you... all because you deliberately— cough —deliberately lead them to think the worst of you..."
Tang Lici slowly loosened his fingers from Liu Yan's throat. Liu Yan gasped for air. "Even I... even I thought you killed Fang Zhou because you... you loved money and power. I suspected you turned out this way because you were born like that. Why do you insist on making people fear and hate you? Do you enjoy being despised? Does it really make you feel safe, completely invulnerable, when everyone misunderstands, suspects, fears, and hates you? You— lunatic ! Who are you fighting and bleeding for? Who made you travel from Bianjing to Good Cloud Mountain and then trek thousands of miles back? You provoke the Dissolute Shop, you provoke the Imperial Guards—you could be living in comfort and luxury, so whose mess are you wading into? What have you ever gained from it? After sacrificing so much, why do you have to pretend it's nothing? Why do you only seem happy when others misunderstand you?"
He finished speaking.
The room fell silent. Unlit, it was impossible to see Tang Lici's expression—only stillness remained.
He didn't answer. He didn't move.
"A-Li?" Liu Yan lifted a hand toward him. "Is it really so hard to let people understand you? Why do you have to drive yourself mad..."
"Shh—" Tang Lici's voice was quiet. "Let's both stop talking, alright? You don't speak, and I won't either." He took a few steps back and slid down against the wall, motionless.
Liu Yan's outstretched hand hovered in the air before slowly withdrawing.
A-Li really... hadn't changed at all.
Just like when they were children—when he bullied others in the most despicable ways, his eyes flickering with madness, joy, and a lonely, lost light... He wouldn't let anyone near his heart because no one ever had. Like all timid and fragile people, he rejected and feared the unknown, lacking the courage to accept it. The irony was that his vulnerability manifested in the most extreme, unyielding form, making him seem... utterly sinister, brimming with an invasive ferocity, as though nothing could break him.
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