ITOTIABSAM | The Immortal on Liuyun Mountain | 155
This felt more like a notification than a question.
Before Xie Ye could respond, he was engulfed by the young man, who hugged him even tighter than before, as if trying to merge him into his embrace.
"In the future, be smarter, don't say silly things about helping me complete missions," Gu Cong muttered, "Others aren't as kind-hearted as I am."
Completely forgetting that the person he was speaking to was an immortal several hundred years older than himself, he earnestly advised, "Your life is precious, protect it."
"Your life is precious."
These were the words eighteen-year-old Gu Cong wanted to say to him.
In this illusionary world, all regrets could be remedied. Cooperatively, Xie Ye nodded.
But Gu Cong wasn't about to let it go. "Promise me," he insisted.
Xie Ye: "I promise you."
Finally satisfied with the young man who was criticizing and educating him, Gu Cong, as if rewarding him, wrapped his arms around Xie Ye's waist and gently spun him around in a small circle.
In previous worlds, Gu Cong always had a mature core hidden within him, despite his young age. But this time, the other party seemed to be livelier and more innocent, carrying an air of youthfulness that had yet to leave the ivory tower.
As the hem of their clothes blossomed like a flower in the air, and Xie Ye's feet touched the ground after being set down, he noticed the slight blush on the young man's ears and cleared his throat.
"I'm just happy," Gu Cong admitted.
Honestly, Gu Cong wasn't particularly concerned about his age. He started school early and skipped grades, so most of his friends were older than him. Even in the small social circles of university, where age differences were more pronounced, he was accustomed to it.
Yet, despite being accustomed to it, he always felt the need to emphasize to Xie Ye that he wasn't a child, trying to prove his maturity, only to often act impulsively and do childish things.
"Alright." Perhaps understanding each other's thoughts, Xie Ye wanted to reach up and ruffle Gu Cong's hair, but the hair bun in the world of cultivation seemed to be a bit of an obstacle.
The hem of his sleeve moved imperceptibly, then stopped. He simply curled his fingertips, tugged at the puppet strings, and pulled the person towards the chair: "What about you, why are you here?"
Gu Cong sat down next to Xie Ye: "Because the me from my original world is already dead."
Xie Ye's hand, which was pouring tea, paused abruptly. With a system from the Quick transmigrate Bureau residing in his sea of consciousness, he could roughly guess Gu Cong's origins.
However, guessing was one thing; hearing it firsthand was another. Xie Ye had experienced death countless times himself and was acutely aware of how difficult it was to endure. He didn't even want to think about what could have happened to cause Gu Cong to die at such a young age of eighteen.
His brain, however, refused to cooperate.
Was it an accident? Revenge? Or indiscriminate killing by antisocial criminals?
Was he afraid? Regretful? ...Did it hurt?
"It was a car accident," Gu Cong did a brief explanation of the term, unsure of how much Xie Ye knew about the world outside of novels. Then he continued, "A drunk driver ran a red light and hit me, but there wasn't much pain. By the time the ambulance arrived, I had already turned into a ghost, floating beside my own body."
Not wanting Xie Ye to worry, he deliberately spoke about what should have been a heavy matter with a light-hearted attitude: "Later, I heard a strange voice in my head talking about rules. When I opened my eyes again, I was inside Song He's body."
Unfortunately, the timing of his crossing was just too unlucky. Before he could see clearly what was happening around him, he was removed from the prohibition by Shen Qing Shu and sent to Liuyun Mountain with just a flick of his finger, using a formation.
In retrospect, perhaps this was his fate with Xie Ye.
In the unfamiliar world, Xie Ye became the first person he met.
0028 silently commented: Fate? It seems more like a fateful calamity.
With the villain having bugs, the host instigating rebellion, and the Quick transmigrate Bureau mysteriously losing contact, each of these incidents alone might be manageable for it, accustomed as it is to storms. But when all three are combined, what are the odds of success?
Without any response from headquarters, it couldn't even force the host to log out of the small world. It had to take things step by step, allowing the plot to unravel in increasingly absurd directions.
"Gu Cong," seeing a new person who was excessively naive about to reveal all their cards, laying them out in the sun for the villain to see, 0028 had to remind, "Have you ever considered that if you fail to achieve the original plot's ending, and headquarters remains unreachable, and you can't trigger the exit condition by completing the task, you might be trapped here forever?"
Gu Cong's thoughts were clear: "Then it's also the problem of the Quick Transmigrate Bureau." After bugs appeared, even their own employees couldn't be retrieved, which made the company somewhat incompetent.
0028: [?]
0028: "Have you ever considered that Xie Ye might be doing this on purpose? He knows you're a fake Song He, but he's still acting with you, asking about your well-being, giving you false hope, all to make you soft-hearted, voluntarily giving up the task, letting you be punished, letting you stay in this world forever."
Forget about this villain, it had seen plenty of people who were insincere with their sweet words and manipulative intentions. Who could guarantee that Xie Ye was genuine inside and out?
Gu Cong only cared about the last sentence: "He wants me to stay?"
0028: Yep.
You really know how to focus on the key point.
Well, pretend it said nothing just now, goodbye to you.
Knowing that the system meant well, Gu Cong first expressed his thanks, then reaffirmed: "I trust my instincts."
At least when Xie Ye said he "wanted to help him complete the task," he caught a hint of ambiguity in the young man's dark and deep phoenix eyes.
It was as if the other party had experienced similar endings many times before.
So, death didn't matter. Even if he died at the hands of the detestable Shen Qingshu, it didn't matter. In Xie Ye's eyes, only things or people he cared about could fit in. And he himself was the object of that fleeting care.
This made Gu Cong both happy and heartbroken, so he dared to, impulsively, once again, tightly embrace Xie Ye, despite knowing the conservative nature of the ancient customs.
"What are you thinking about?" Xie Ye's hand on the table lightly tapped the porcelain cup filled with hot tea, bringing Gu Cong back to reality.
Gu Cong pointed to his head honestly, "Chatting with it."
Xie Ye raised an eyebrow, "Talking bad about me?"
0028: Damn, this villain is too smart.
"Cough." Wanting to save face for his own system, Gu Cong picked up the teacup and took a big sip, blinking his eyes to try to evade the question.
With his facial features not yet fully developed, compared to several previous worlds, the slight droop of the puppy eyes was too obvious. Coupled with the warm amber irises, Xie Ye's heart softened instantly, changing the subject, "What are you going to do about the Song family?"
"Although crossing over was an accident, I still borrowed Song He's identity," Gu Cong decisively replied, having considered similar questions since deciding to give up the task. "I will bear the responsibilities that Song He should bear, including his parents, family, and obligations."
Xie Ye: "What about the body?"
Gu Cong shook his head. If possible, he still preferred his original self.
"I'll figure something out." Xie Ye's response didn't surprise Gu Cong, and he made the promise.
His tone was too certain, leaving no room for doubt for anyone who listened. Even 0028, who was always wary of Xie Ye, had to admit that in this world, the villain Xie Ye seemed more like the protagonist than Shen Qingshu, who was plagued by inner demons.
But before Gu Cong could correct the system once again about Xie Ye not being a villain, he suddenly noticed that the index finger holding the teacup trembled imperceptibly.
"It's Ma Shitou." The faint red mark appeared on the fingertip, and Xie Ye stood up.
"He’s got quite a grip."
It seems he should still be alive.
——
A few minutes earlier, in the village of Majia.
After his parents passed away, Ma Shitou lived alone. Carrying a bamboo basket, he pushed open the simple wooden door after finishing dinner at a neighbor's house.
Due to life's circumstances, he was much more mature than the other children in the village. Often, before someone went to the city, he would go to the mountains to pick some familiar herbs to sell for money to support himself.
—— Grandpa Village Chief, along with most of the people in the village, treated him well.
However, he couldn't take advantage of being an orphan and freeload without feeling guilty.
"Hmm."
He lit the oil lamp with a match and instinctively touched the thin thread tucked in his chest.
Today, the Shen family immortal who questioned him seemed very powerful, even the Qingfeng Sect had to listen to him. This made him worry about the safety of Brother Gu and Mr. Xie.
Should he use this thread to remind them to be careful?
"But sir said this thread can only be used once."
As he pondered, Ma Shitou's hand involuntarily twisted the puppet thread attached to his chest, pulling out a bit.
The next moment, a familiar voice sounded in his ear:
"So you are indeed under his control."
The sudden remark startled Ma Shitou, not only because there was someone hiding in his home but also because he recognized the speaker as the Shen family immortal who had been aggressively questioning him during the day.
"Who?" Ma Shitou pretended to be dumbfounded, stepping back cautiously in the opposite direction of the voice, "What are you talking about? I don't understand."
"Stop pretending, Xie Ye. I recognize your puppet thread," said the figure emerging from the unlit corner, ghostly.
It was indeed Shen Qingshu.
Recently, Qin Ji, who had been inseparable from him day after day, unexpectedly wasn't by his side.
As soon as these words were spoken, Ma Shitou was truly a bit bewildered.
But his mind worked quickly, and he immediately understood. Xie Ye should be the name of the man in white, but the Shen family immortal on the opposite side didn't give him a chance to explain. With a flip of his right wrist, a long sword as bright as autumn water appeared in the opponent's hand, carrying an invisible pressure, full force, unstoppable.
The momentum seemed as if it would chop off his entire arm.
His limbs stiffened, except for the hand holding the thin thread, his body seemed frozen and unable to move.
At the critical moment of life and death, Ma Shitou didn't hesitate. He recalled the instructions of the man in white, exerting all his strength to pull down the thin thread fiercely.
---It's strange to say, with just a piece of thin thread, he was only pulling one end, yet the other end hung down limply, and no matter what, there shouldn't be a feeling of "pulling."
But Ma Shitou clearly felt what he had pulled down—across the line.
Clang!
The solemn and murderous sword qi, wrapped in a chill, approached, just as Ma Shitou was about to close his eyes in fear, someone appeared out of nowhere and stood in front of him.
The puppet threads collided with the long sword, emitting a dull sound like metal hitting metal.
Standing firmly in place, Xie Ye held Gu Cong's hand with one hand and retracted the puppet threads with the other, looking down at the disheveled Shen Qingshu who had collided with the wall, and said calmly:
"He's one of my people."
"You dare to touch him?"
The author's note:
Gu Cong: "My people"?
Gu Cong: I am Master's.
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