Lingquan didn’t push. But he did say, "He must an a lot to you."
Qingran’s reply was barely a whisper.
"Heh..Yizhou is a real pain in the ass. Even appearing in my head. He must be dying of happiness whenever he is..."
-_-
Lingquan laughed, that reply was very much Gu Qingran.
Ruihuang stood then, slow and without a sound. He walked to the window again, hands sliding into his coat pockets.
"You should rest more.." he said.
Qingran looked at him. "I’m awake now. And I don’t intend on resting."turning to Lingquan, she realized he had taken a human form.
"Why did you to take Yizhou’s face??"
-_-
Lingquan chuckled, she had finally noticed.
"I thought a familiar face would do you good."
-_-
Ruihuang eyes widened that ant the face he was seeing was the Yizhou they were talking about?
If they had a battle of looks he had already lost.
"Well I need you to change it. I want to talk to the bastard directly when I see him. I don’t want to use this face to pass ti. Since the spread has slowed down, that ans you gave sothing....what is it? And when do I need it again?"
Lingquan sighed as he picked out a new face, this avatar had longer hair and a pretty face with feline features just like his cat form.
"What I have you was a pill embedded with 50% of my healing abilities. As for when you’d need it again, I can’t say but you’d need the sa 50% each ti..."
-_-
"Why can’t you give all 100%.."
Qingran asked getting full 100 percent should cure her.
"Unfortunatly I cannot. We can only give 100 percent when we’re granting a second chance..."
"...and you already used yours."
Lingquan’s voice was quiet, almost regretful. But it held the weight of finality.
Qingran’s gaze darkened. "You an... the day I died."
He nodded once. "Your resurrection ca at a cost. A full cycle of rebirth... and all of my divine authority went into pulling you back from the void and carrying you a month back. That was the contract we made."
Silence stretched between them.
Qingran leaned back against the wall, eyes hooded, as if trying to calculate sothing sharp behind her tired lashes.
"Then this ti... I can’t die, can I?"
"No..." Lingquan replied evenly. "Not unless you want to stay dead dummy."
Ruihuang finally turned from the window. His gaze shifted between the two of them, lingering on Qingran’s face.
Sothing unreadable stirred in his expression, concern, maybe. Or recognition of a burden he couldn’t carry for her.
"You’re telling her this now?" he asked. "When the rot’s still inside her?"
"She needed to know," Lingquan answered, tone calm. "You saw her earlier. She would’ve chosen to burn herself out just to save soone else. I won’t let her throw herself into the fire when she doesn’t realize there’s no phoenix this ti."
Qingran snorted "I won’t risk for life for just any person. I don’t plan on being a saint in this life.."
She stared at her own hands for a long mont.
Pale. Scarred.
They we’re steady now, but still marked with creeping black lines. Evidence that sothing inside her was ticking like a ti bomb.
Finally, she murmured, "What happens when I run out of your half-healing pills?"
"You won’t...." Lingquan said. "I’ll make more."
"You’ll be weaker."
"I’m not important."
She looked up sharply. "Don’t say that. You’re.."
Lingquan smiled, faint but warm. "My job is to make sure you survive long enough to fix the world. If that ans I burn out slowly, then so be it. You’re not allowed to die before anyway."
"Tch," Qingran snorted, dragging a hand over her face. "You and Yizhou... what is it with n trying to martyr themselves for ?"
"Because you’re worth it..." Lingquan said simply.
Her breath caught, just for a mont.
Then, as if to shake off the emotion, she turned to Ruihuang. "And you. You look like you’ve swallowed sothing sour."
He blinked, mildly startled.
"...Do I?"
"You’ve been quiet ever since you saw Lingquan’s last face," she said flatly. "Is it that hard knowing Yizhou’s more handso than you?"
Lingquan chuckled from his corner.
Ruihuang’s expression didn’t shift, but the tips of his ears reddened just a little. "He’s not more handso."
"Lies.." Lingquan said imdiately.
Qingran chuckled and turned back to the mattress to relax.
Then Lingquan’s face popped up in her view.
"Did I forget to ntion that...I’m a divine entity and that I will never run out of my abilities? You can but my source is unlimited, so you’re free to worry about yourself and not . But it’s nice to see you’ve got a heart.."
-_-
"You bastard! After all the expensive cat food I got you.."
Lingquan chuckled and tapped her forehead.
"You need little Ruihuang here because he’s the one that can transfer the energy to you. I cannot administer it to you, neither can you, so you need him here.."
-_-
Qingran finally spared Ruihuang a full glance.
"You helped in my ti of need. Thank you, if there’s anything I can do to repay you please let know. I won’t grant any sexual favour just so you know.."
Lingquan leaned in cheekily "Because her heart and belongs to her dear Yizhou.."
-_-
"Dont make punch you.."
Lingquan dodged the mock punch before it even left her shoulder, laughing like a cat who’d knocked over an expensive vase and dared you to be mad about it.
Ruihuang, for his part, looked like he was trying very hard not to react to any of it. His gaze had drifted toward the far corner of the room again, but Qingran didn’t miss the twitch at the corner of his mouth.
He was amused.
Maybe even relieved.
But when he spoke, his voice was calm, neutral. "You don’t owe anything, Qingran."
She narrowed her eyes. "You’re not going to ask for sothing insane like loyalty or an oath, are you? Because I’m not swearing allegiance to so brooding stranger I just t while half-dead on the floor."
"That’s not what I want."
"Then what do you want?"
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