Chapter 166#

Hunting 17#

Anfei watched him quietly for a while.

Yu Feichen leaned sideways against the railing, his posture slightly lazy, inadvertently blocking the cold night wind blowing toward Anfei.

His gaze rested on the tips of Anfei’s hair; under the reflection of the lights, the curled ends shimmered with a translucent glow.

Yu Feichen took a moment to weigh his words.

“You… are perfect. Your will and character far surpass those of ordinary people,” he said objectively. “In all of Eternal Night, no one can compare to you.”

Anfei’s expression softened slightly.

Yu Feichen: “Your hometown must have been a very good place as well.”

Over the past few days, Yu Feichen had become certain that the City of Mists was the origin of the God. This place revealed absurdity and eeriness everywhere, bearing no resemblance to the God’s personality.

But before it was broken, it might have been a place even more holy and peaceful than Eternal Day; this thought arose in him for no particular reason.

“Vincent said that resonance is a painful thing,” Yu Feichen said. “But I think what is painful is the constant switching between resonance and reality. The moment you are truly immersed in past memories might not be painful; in fact, it might be quite happy. Especially if you have deep feelings for your hometown.”

Anfei’s fingers rested on the stone railing, his gaze merging with the night.

“Are you trying to say that I am wallowing in the past, which is why I cannot return to the present?”

Yu Feichen: “Yes.”

The City of Mists could not trap the God of Eternal Day.

If He could not extricate Himself from resonance, there was only one possibility: He Himself was unwilling to return to the present.

Anfei could distinguish between memory and reality, but deep in his heart, he wanted to stay in the past. Therefore, when Yu Feichen used extreme methods to call back this person’s awareness of reality, although it ended the resonance, it only brought back a blank soul.

It was like reaching out to grab a drowning person, only to realize that the person was voluntarily sinking into the deep water.

Then Anfei forgot all his memories, just as a person can close their eyes and pretend that nothing ever happened.

He finished speaking. Anfei looked at the city with a faint expression, seemingly agreeing with his theory.

After a long while, Anfei turned to Yu Feichen. “If that is indeed the case, why do I and this place view each other as enemies now?”

“But I don’t know your past,” Yu Feichen said. “You need to think about that yourself.”

Anfei: “…”

How could there be such a lazy possession?

Looking at Anfei’s expression, Yu Feichen suddenly felt an intuition honed through a thousand trials—a premonition of a potential complaint.

Sure enough, a minute later, Anfei gave him a faint look and headed back.

Yu Feichen followed, only to see Anfei stop and turn around, saying to him, “But I feel that this is not the real reason.”

A commotion broke out below. Newcomers had joined the circus, and new fireworks were being set off. They had decided that every time a person joined, they would announce it to the city with fireworks.

But for a moment, Anfei felt that everything was very far away.

This city, and everyone in it.

Standing at the high point of the city, he lowered his eyes.

Having lost all his memories, he did not know what his original self truly was. But some impressions were already engraved in his soul, becoming intuition.

He commanded all things visible and invisible; his word was law, and he was invincible. The impossible eventually became possible, and everything he desired eventually ended up in his hands.

He agreed with Yu Feichen’s statement that the reason for his memory loss was his own subconscious unwillingness to return. But—if no one could trap him, then no one could bring him back either.

Yet this possession claimed that bringing him out of the resonance hadn’t taken much effort.

Anfei looked toward Yu Feichen.

He didn’t have much feeling for this “hometown,” but when facing this man, he always had certain intuitive impressions.

If he wanted to find his memories, he might as well start with this person.

He scrutinized Yu Feichen.

The eyebrows, eyes, and nose were all fine, and the way they were put together met his aesthetic requirements.

When standing expressionless in the night, he seemed colder and thinner than the night itself. The moment their eyes met, a dangerous instinct flickered and vanished. He didn’t have the overt madness of the Doctor’s two patients, but in certain moments, one would still wonder if he had truly been tamed.

But Anfei didn’t care.

The only discordant thing on the possession was that ridiculous mechanical animal on his shoulder.

Anfei: “What is this?”

Yu Feichen: “Someone gave it to me.”

He took two steps forward, moving closer to Anfei.

Anfei’s eyes met the red and black eyes of the rabbit. His thin lips pursed slightly, revealing obvious displeasure: “Take it off.”

A hint of a smile suddenly appeared in Yu Feichen’s eyes.

“You gave it to me,” he said. “If you don’t believe me, think for yourself.”

Amnesia was nothing.

If he kept thinking about it, it would come back.

Anfei’s gaze moved back and forth between the rabbit and Yu Feichen.

Carrying the rabbit was a symbol of Yu Feichen valuing Anfei. Just when Yu Feichen thought a complaint had been averted, he heard Anfei say two words.

“…Frivolous.”

Anfei walked away.

Damn it, Yu Feichen thought.

Yu Feichen also returned to the room. After staying for a while, he felt that things were not going well.

Anfei had been looking at him thoughtfully. Even after Yu Feichen fastened the collar of his pajamas and settled him into the blankets, the scrutiny continued.

Yu Feichen knew that he had likely been cast by Anfei as the breakthrough point for recovering his memories.

Yu Feichen: “Remembered anything?”

The vines were fiddling with Anfei’s hair; Yu Feichen leaned over to take the thing away. Anfei seemed to want to say something, but Yu Feichen reached out, pressing his index finger against Anfei’s lips.

The candlelight by the bed flickered, and Yu Feichen’s expression was hard to discern.

“As a loyal believer, there is something I must remind you of,” he whispered in Anfei’s ear. “Do not reveal too much to me, otherwise you will regret it after you remember. After all, I have lost my memories too. Goodnight.”

With that, he kissed the side of Anfei’s ear, then moved down to the side of his neck after a brief touch. The continuous kisses carried a hint of obsession.

Anfei was slightly stunned, indulging his behavior for the first time.

Of course, he wanted to know why he also had resonances in the City of Mists, why he couldn’t remember the content of the resonances, and even more so, where the sense of familiarity—as if engraved into his soul—that he felt in the Sunset Temple and beside the God came from.

But Anfei could certainly hide it, and he could also lie.

After all, he was obedient.

When he had drawn cards in Murphy’s territory, the second card was “The Tyrant.” Yu Feichen even began to suspect that the card didn’t mean he would become a tyrant, but that he would encounter a headstrong tyrant.

Anfei didn’t seem to sleep well that night, his slender brows slightly furrowed. Yu Feichen guarded him by the bedside. When Anfei’s breathing showed a hint of unease, he took Anfei’s right hand under the covers.

The mechanical rabbit was placed on the nightstand. The Proverbs Vine was never well-behaved and was eventually tied around the rabbit’s neck, where it spontaneously tied itself into a bow.

Yu Feichen leaned against the headboard and dozed. The candle on the candlestick soon burned out. Outside, the night grew deep, and the quiet room held only the sound of calm breathing.

Amidst this breathing, a faint, invisible grey mist rose.

Sensing something, Yu Feichen opened his eyes.

He was resonating again.

As if an invisible gate had been unlocked, memories of the previous resonance flooded his mind. Yu Feichen looked around; it was the pitch-black scene unique to resonance, and he was indoors.

This scene was much more ethereal than before. He could vaguely discern a spacious hall. The hall was decorated with soft, exquisite carpets and window curtains, and the lamps on the walls emitted a faint, pale light.

He held a knight’s longsword and guarded the bed in the center of the hall.

Lying on the bed was a thin, delicate figure, about eleven or twelve years old, with golden hair slightly scattered, sleeping peacefully. But as he slept, he buried himself in the blankets.

Yu Feichen reached out, pulled the blanket away, and exposed his face to prevent his breathing from being obstructed.

The moment he pulled the blanket away, he instinctively looked below the boy’s right eye, but it was clean; there was nothing there.

But this movement woke the sleeping person. He opened his eyes and saw Yu Feichen. As if not quite adapted or familiar, he looked blankly for a moment, then shifted away from him imperceptibly.

Yu Feichen said calmly, “Go back to sleep.”

Then he retreated to his original position. The golden-haired boy gave a soft “Mm” in response, closed his eyes, and continued to sleep.

The two of them were not close, Yu Feichen felt.

A night passed. As the horizon turned white, several figures resembling handmaidens entered the room carrying clothes and utensils, and only then did Yu Feichen leave.

As they passed him, a handmaid greeted him with a smile: “Good morning, Knight Commander.”

Stepping out of the stone archway, another figure stood by the window in the corridor. That figure was dressed in a black, voluminous robe, and its face was a mass of mist.

—It was looking into the room through the window. He didn’t know how long it had been watching; Yu Feichen had stood guard by the bed all night, and perhaps this figure had watched all night as well.

As Yu Feichen approached, the shadow turned. An aged voice came from the mass of mist: “How are you two getting along?”

Yu Feichen: “Fine.”

The elder smiled. The figure composed of shadow and mist was distorted and strange, but the voice was very kind and gentle.

“You have always had little contact with others. I was somewhat worried that you would not adapt to the status of Knight Commander.”

“No need to worry,” he said coldly. “This is my duty.”

“No, this is not your duty, but your destiny,” the elder’s voice suddenly became slightly stern. “You, him—the destinies of both of you were settled long ago.”

Yu Feichen: “I know.”

The elder’s voice returned to being kind. Through the window, they could see the blurred figures inside the hall.

“He is your eternal monarch. His safety is far above yours; your blood must be shed for him. From this day forward, you may betray all knightly codes for him. For every day and every night hereafter, you must accompany him like this. After he precedes you into sleep beneath that obelisk-shaped tombstone, you shall spend the rest of your life guarding his grave.”

Shortly after the elder’s voice fell, inside the hall, the boy saw them through the window.

Yu Feichen clenched his right hand into a fist and placed it over his heart on the left side of his chest, performing a formal knight’s salute to his master.

Across a pane of glass, the boy smiled and nodded a greeting to the Knight Commander he had met a few times, his posture gentle and polite.

Seeing this, the elder laughed kindly and with relief: “Let’s go. Before destiny converged for you and me, the young master had already studied and become familiar with the virtues and codes of a monarch; there is no need for further instruction. From today on, he shall learn how to exercise supreme divine authority in the world.”

The grey mist faded in a daze. The impressions of this place also vanished like a receding tide.

Yu Feichen snapped his eyes open. The first thing he saw was his hand clasped with Anfei’s. Shifting his gaze upward, Anfei was leaning beside him, his face slightly pale, his breathing still unsteady.

What did he dream of? Or what did he remember?

Anfei said the reason for his amnesia was not because of past happiness.

Then what other reason could make a person unwilling to return to the present?

Yu Feichen reached out with his right hand, which was not held by Anfei, and gently brushed away the hair on his forehead.

Sometimes, he felt this person was indestructible.

Other times, he felt he was like a child who hadn’t grown up.

Screening again.

Healing Suggestion: Find his heart’s knot, and then shatter his soul. A crystal crown is certainly beautiful, but how can it compare to the image of crystal shards all over the ground?

Yu Feichen didn’t know what the so-called “heart’s knot” was. But being unwilling to return to the present actually included two states.

First, the past is very enticing, and one is reluctant to leave.

Second, the present is very painful, and one is unwilling to go forward.

If he could make Anfei feel that the present far surpassed the past, turning fragile crystal into solid stone, he would return.

So, was there anything else he wasn’t doing well enough?

He inevitably thought of Mogroshe’s appearance. Every time a complaint was filed and he received notice to have tea at the Office of the God of Contracts, he would see Mogroshe watching the playback of the last mission.

After watching, the God of Contracts would let out a long sigh and ask him a question.

“Do you think… there might still be some areas that could be improved?”