Cerberus stepped through the dark door.
After the brief period of darkness passed, his eyes became clear again. What greeted him was an open hall. In the center of the hundreds of square meters of living room was a long table covered with moongrass tablecloth. Two sofas and a small table was placed next to an extinguished fireplace. On the table was a red and white chessboard. In the corner, there was a cat nest, and on the wall was a painting of a man with red hair and blue eyes squatting down to feed a white cat.
There was a stair leading up to the second floor. In the hallway surrounded by gorgeous railings and among the closed doors, there was a door that was partially open, as if breaking a thin crack into the abyss, like a secret summon.
Cerberus’ heart was jumping wildly.
Cerberus was about to go up. But at this moment, Fu Zhe, who felt the spatial fluctuations, pushed open the door to the study. Their meeting was like a certain arrangement in the dark. Instantly, the two of them were at the same time, at the same place, looking at each other.
Fu Zhe didn’t have time to change his shirt or pants when he left the study. He thought that the team who went to the station might have come back due to an emergency, therefore he didn’t expect to see Cerberus at all. The memories that he’d deliberately tucked away in the corner of his mind, waiting for time to slowly wear them away, suddenly awakened all at once. All the sweetness and obsession, the admonition and love, the desire…suddenly washed over his heart.
“Master.” Cerberus’ voice had a slight imperceptibly tremor. He raised his head to look up at that familiar figure. His countenance, every inch of his body under his clothes…he’d thought of it all during these days and nights. It was an image engraved in his soul.
Fu Zhe took a step back, and then took another step back.
That familiar and unfamiliar call made the fine hair on his entire body rise. He felt the urge to hug this man whom he’d never met before, and he also wanted to turn around and flee at the same time. Just like with Goodwill before, Morality was also very well integrated back into his body–that was, that arrogant, cruel, indifferent, and wicked side of his soul. That so-called consciousness was like a single spirit in two different bodies. Therefore, those memories of Morality’s past became memories of his life in another place.
But this didn’t mean that Fu Zhe would regard himself as Morality and accept his feelings without complaint.
“Master!” Seeing that Fu Zhe was about to retreat back into the room, Cerberus subconsciously strode up several steps at a time. This made Fu Zhe avoid him even faster. Immediately, Cerberus stopped and stood in place. He called, “Sorry. I should call you Fu Zhe, right? Please don’t be afraid. I held no malice towards you!”
The answer was that Fu Zhe fled back into the room like he was avoiding the plague. His figure disappeared and the door closed with a “Boom!”
Fu Zhe locked the door. But that didn’t feel like it was enough. He leaned his back against the door, pressing against it so that the person on the other side wouldn’t have the slightest chance of coming in.
He was panting, his breathing coming in short, violent gasps. He obviously hadn’t been exercising, but his heart was beating fiercely, as if he’d just ran a kilometer. Fu Zhe lowered his head and stared at the floor. He pressed his chest firmly and called in a low voice, “Morality?”
There was only silence all around him. Fu Zhe suddenly reacted. There was no Morality. In the beginning, there was never Morality. All the fragments were himself.
There was only Fu Zhe in this world.
Naturally, everything was his own choice, his own tyranny, his own love, and that was the path he’d left behind for himself. And that desire to see Cerberus again was also his own.
It was something he’d planned ahead of time, an agreement he’d made with Chang Hui. It was a transaction across time and place. It was why he killed Conscience with his own hands, why he completely severed the hope of ever leaving the Pure White Realm.
After a while, Fu Zhe’s eyelashes trembled slightly. He raised his head and looked at the dark window. Then he took a deep breath.
He no longer leaned on the door that separated them. The key was created with the power of space. Although he could no longer hear Cerberus’ voice, he knew that the man was still there on the other side.
Fu Zhe silently opened the closet, put on the loose-fitting robe he often wore, held the flute in his hand, and made sure that he looked relaxed.
After he was done with his preparation, Fu Zhe unlocked the door and pushed it open.
Cerberus was standing in front of him, waiting. He didn’t know how long Fu Zhe would hide. Maybe for a few hours, or maybe for a long while, but it didn’t matter. No matter how long it was, he would stay here and wait for him to come out.
But Fu Zhe came out faster that he’d expected. Cerberus looked at him, and his hands at his sides clenched into fists. His breathing and his heartbeat became chaotic, now that he could clearly see that two light-colored moles like tears at the corners of that person’s eyes and see his smooth and full lips.
Fu Zhe pressed his flute against Cerberus’ chest and pushed him back a little. He raised his head and looked up at the man. His face was expressionless as he coldly said, “How did you come in?”
——-
“So that’s why you let him stay?” Cui Zuojing asked. He was sitting on the table, shaking his legs.
Fu Zhe said, “I can’t drive him away. He has a key. As long as he wants to, he can enter any place he’d seen before.”
The three of them become silent. Now, it seemed that as long as Cerberus didn’t do anything strange and merely inconvenience Fu Zhe a little, it wouldn’t interfere too much with everything else. In the unlikely event that a conflict arose, as long as Fu Zhe ordered it, the degree of obedience Cerberus had toward Fu Zhe would prevent him from causing too much trouble.
“In this case, you can handle it yourself.” Cui Zuojing patted his hands. “Anyway, it looks pretty good now. You don’t need to be a lonely old man anymore. Permitting him to stay would also prevent him from doing anything that might be dangerous. This is very good.”
Fu Zhe helplessly said, “This is absolutely not good.”
This topic that would make Fu Zhe feel embarrassed and distressed could not be continued, so Victor asked, “Surely Chang Hui took away the remaining spatial power?”
“He said that she was a twelve-year-old girl holding an umbrella. She was accompanied by a bone-chilling rain. She must be Chang Hui. Therefore, Chang Hui took away the spatial power, took Cerberus out from the broken box, and taught him how to use the key to find me.” Fu Zhe looked as calm as still water as he said, “So at first, I suspect that Cerberus might have something that would allow Chang Hui to spy through him, but I couldn’t find anything.”
Cui Zuojing said, “Many of the things she does are often very mysterious. The energy that she’d placed in Dong Zheng’s body have no effect except to help him suppress an excessive amount of negative emotions. If it weren’t for her identity as one of the Queen’s heirs, I would suspect that she is helping us.”
Fu Zhe said, “Let not talk about it now. How did things go in the Corridor of Memory?”
“It went well enough, with Luo Yan’s help. Uncle woke up by himself. Dong Zheng and I would have woken up on our own, but Worm of Mystery invaded my dream and caused a little trouble,” Cui Zuojing said. “When we looked for it, we found there was some remnant of spatial power in one of the cars. I suspect that Cerberus might have switched to the heir’s side, but now it seemed that it was Chang Hui who helped Worm of Mystery escape.”
“There seems to be some news about Nana’s whereabouts.” Victor told Fu Zhe about the new legend in District VII. He also specifically asked the staff at the station about it. The seahorse, who was soaking in a bathtub and taking the role of a guide, only said that there was no way to tell whether it was true or not. Because even if it was true, the people who’d seen her would have disappeared and been forgotten. There was no way to leave a message.
Cui Zuojing showed the booklet to Fu Zhe, and Fu Zhe said, “Whether it is true or not, let’s take a look first. The ability to make people disappear and be forgotten is part of the power of chaos.”
Cui Zuojing nodded and said, “I think this too. After we take a break and adapt to life here, we’ll start with researching the legend in more detail.”
When they left the study, Cerberus was waiting outside by the door. Cui Zuojing deliberately stared at him, wanting to provoke him. But Cerberus ignored him. He held a plate and entered the study after Cui Zuojing and Victor left.
As expected, the event of Cerberus being kicked out did not happen. Cui Zuojing and Victor looked at each other and touched their chins thoughtfully.
It seemed that Fu Zhe’s attitude was a bit subtle.
Unable to hold back his heart that was ignited with the need to gossip, Cui Zuojing went straight to Dong Zheng’s room. Dong Zheng had just taken a shower and was sitting on the bed, looking at his tablet. Cui Zuojing entered through the door, stretched his waist, and fell onto the bed. He rolled over to Dong Zheng, raised his hands and hugged his waist from behind.
He still remembered some of the contents of his dream. If…If they hadn’t died, would he and Dong Zheng have met in real life?
Cui Zuojing didn’t know if, since he and Dong Zheng weren’t already lovers, they would love each again like in the dream, or if they could be like this. But it didn’t matter anymore. The illusory dream world had shown him another possibility, a possibility that both of them were ordinary people.
Dong Zheng held Cui Zuojing’s hand and looked behind him. Although Cui Zuojing’s frozen time had restarted, he still looked younger than how he’d looked in his dream, with the soft hair on his forehead falling sideways. With his eyes slightly narrowed, he looked particularly lazy.
“How was it?” Dong Zheng asked.
Cui Zuojing said, “We’ll do some research and then go out to the endless sea.”
“And how’s Fu Zhe?”
It turns out that he actually wanted to ask about Fu Zhe. Cui Zuojing smiled secretly in his heart, pressed his face against Dong Zheng’s back, and said, “He’s permitting Cerberus to stay. It seems to be happening like this.”
“This way, he’ll have a helper, so this is also very good.” Dong Zheng paused and said, “I just contacted Heimdall just and was told that there is also a Heimdall branch here. We can go there and look for useful information.”
“We can talk about this later. I just want rest and rest now.” Cui Zuojing sat up from the bed, crossed his legs, and held Dong Zheng’s hand. While studying his palm prints, he spoke.
“Let’s talk about something else. I’m a little worried. The team is still too dependent on your and Uncle’s abilities. If they are targeted by the Queen, their individual strength wouldn’t be strong enough to support them in this area. According to our normal progress, we shouldn’t have even entered the Top-of-the-Giant-Tree yet. It’s just that we don’t have much time to improve our strengths.”
How could Dong Zheng not understand? “So, if the team is separated in a box, the situation would become very dangerous, just like in Gambling Abyss. Lin Hangzhi and Xiao Xia ended up facing Morality alone, and they didn’t achieve the slightest benefit.”
Cui Zuojing nodded. “Yes. When facing the Queen, we are bound to be separated, just like the Afternoon Tea Party back then. Each member ended up facing an heir alone. Before that, we need to come up with a new system.
“We will find a way,” Dong Zheng said calmly. “At least for now, everything is going well.”
“Yes,” Cui Zuojing said with relief. “I hope luck will always stay on our side.”
Are they going to train individually in solo boxes!!!!
????
But wat if that happens and kether comes and does something?!!…..
Can they put Cerberus up to get an ability? I’d like to see what he’d get!
Thank you for the chapter!