Ye City.
"Your mother... left you two keys?"
Bai Yanliang carefully chose his words; he sensed that Xu Zhifei wasn’t too keen when it ca to family matters, yet he needed to know these details.
"Ding—"
The elevator doors opened, and Xu Zhifei stepped out, not looking back. While opening the door, she simply said, "The other one is his."
Him.
A sowhat unfamiliar term, but it wasn’t hard to guess she ant her father.
Both parents were haunted by a curse, no wonder Xu Zhifei seed different from ordinary people from birth.
"Creak—"
Xu Zhifei pushed open the door but stood still at the entrance.
Bai Yanliang glanced in and his expression imdiately changed.
Soone had been inside.
The air humidity was off; Xu Zhifei’s automatic humidifier had been turned on after he left.
They exchanged glances, and Bai Yanliang was the first to step into the room.
He glanced quickly, then shook his head at Xu Zhifei, "They’re gone."
Only then did Xu Zhifei close the door.
"Nothing was rummaged through, no extra traces were left, it doesn’t seem like a break-in." As he spoke, Bai Yanliang’s expression slightly changed, "The key."
Xu Zhifei also thought of this. She walked straight to the balcony, and picked up a flower pot that had no plants, only soil left.
A dark key appeared.
Xu Zhifei sighed in relief, set the pot aside, and picked up the key.
Bai Yanliang’s face turned a bit strange.
She actually hid sothing so important at the bottom of a flower pot?
It seed Xu Zhifei knew what Bai Yanliang was thinking. She said seriously, "My mother taught ."
Alright... it is indeed a key, no doubt about it.
"I have a question: leaving the key like this, won’t it be sensed by other key holders?"
Bai Yanliang inquired.
Xu Zhifei looked at the key in her palm, then tossed it to Bai Yanliang: "Now, only when drenched in palm blood and carried on oneself can it be sensed."
Bai Yanliang hurriedly caught the key Xu Zhifei had thrown over.
So, whether a key or its holder is alone, they can’t be sensed by others?
Only when the key is carried by its holder will others sense it.
But... if so.
Bai Yanliang’s heart sank, an eerie thought surfaced.
Before, he always wore Bai Yanren’s key, yet his key was sensed by Feng Xiuxue, and he believed Xu Zhifei could also sense it.
Not just them, mbers of the Dark Abyss could sense it too, and even attacked him multiple tis.
But that key was clearly used by Bai Yanren, and Bai Yanliang was definitely not the holder of the key.
Why... could he and the key be sensed by other holders?
While using the Blood-red Key, the bizarre scene that flashed in his mind seed to be a corroboration.
Was he and Bai Yanren truly the sa person...
"Bai Yanliang." Xu Zhifei suddenly looked at him seriously.
"What?"
"Who... are you really?" Xu Zhifei’s voice seed to strike his soul.
Who... am I.
Bai Yanliang silently gazed at the black key in his hand.
After a long while, he finally made up his mind, looked at Xu Zhifei, and said, "Before, you asked what my key’s ability is. Now I’ll tell you."
A faint confusion flickered in Bai Yanliang’s eyes, "The ability of the Blood-red Key is... to create another self."
Xu Zhifei was stunned. Although she understood every word Bai Yanliang said, when put together, she was sowhat bewildered.
"Create... another self?"
If it weren’t for Bai Yanliang’s steady gaze and clear mind, Xu Zhifei would definitely think he’d lost it.
"When I pushed open the crimson door, I sensed danger, so I pierced my palm, using the ability of the Blood-red Key."
Bai Yanliang’s voice was light, as if narrating sothing trivial, "At the mont of death... I saw myself being born... from my brother... Bai Yanren’s shadow."
"At that ti... I was just a body. Then, he awakened with three keys."
Xu Zhifei, who’d been watching Bai Yanliang, saw the man who was always calm and unfazed, now had pupils that were trembling violently.
He was afraid, terrified, but he lost these emotions, leaving him only with pain.
"Xu Zhifei... tell ... who am I?" Bai Yanliang looked at Xu Zhifei, "Bai Yanren? Bai Yanren’s shadow? Or... a monster."
Bai Yanliang leaned against the balcony, his hand holding the key trembled slightly.
"By also using the Blood-red Key, why couldn’t I create another life from the shadow? Because... I am the shadow, I am the created life... the soul of a five-year-old child, perhaps resulted from an unexpected event due to my uniqueness..."
"I don’t even know... what I am now..."
"I don’t know..."
Xu Zhifei looked at him blankly. In her mory, Bai Yanliang seed to know everything. His breadth of knowledge was vast, he was always so confident, no matter the dilemma, he could find a solution.
But now, he was confused.
He too had riddles he couldn’t solve; he too had... situations he couldn’t overco.
"Bai Yanliang."
"Hmm?"
Bai Yanliang turned his head to look at Xu Zhifei.
He intended to keep these matters to himself, never ntioning them to anyone, but he also knew he couldn’t hide from Xu Zhifei.
The existence of that five-year-old child claiming to be Bai Yanren had already puzzled her, not to ntion... she took out her father’s relic, willing to help him.
Bai Yanliang never felt he owed Xu Zhifei anything, likewise, there weren’t too many entanglents between them.
Maybe, she would help him rely because of a dream.
Xu Zhifei was evidently conflicted too. She feared the predestined future, yet instinctively trusted him.
Perhaps out of gratitude for her trust, perhaps as repaynt for her assistance, Bai Yanliang, without much internal strife, revealed the deepest secret of his heart to her.
Xu Zhifei’s gaze probably reflected a loneliness too long endured, even now remaining cold and sowhat unsettling.
She managed a not-so-cold expression, an awkward curve at the corner of her mouth, looking at Bai Yanliang, said, "I ask, why isn’t Bai Yanliang an option?"
Bai Yanliang stared at her, suddenly feeling maybe he was being too lodramatic.
"Alright then, Bai Yanren, Bai Yanren’s shadow, monster..." He lowered his head, looking at his palm, "And... Bai Yanliang."
"Tell ... what am I?"
"A monster."
"...Hmm... huh??"
Bai Yanliang widened his eyes and raised his head, only to see a light-hearted figure turning away.
"I said, you’re a monster!" Xu Zhifei tilted her head, and in the shadows, the expression on her face seed much gentler, "But so am I..."
Reviews
All reviews (0)