To be honest, at that moment, I thought: go ahead, just stab me to death. I didn’t want to live anymore anyway. Old Liu had been hacked into eight pieces; I didn't care about anything else. He could stab me right in the heart and end it all. That place felt hollow now, save for a faint, sharp ache that rose upward, wrenching my internal organs and turning them into a flood of tears and salt. The thought that Liu Wukong was gone from this world forever—that he would never treat me well again, never whisper those perfect romantic words, never pick fights with me or stir up trouble just for the sake of it... what did the apocalypse matter then? I practically wished Zhang Litian would hurry up and run me through. I hated Zhang Litian, but that hatred was nothing compared to the fact that Old Liu had died and left me all alone.
Just as I was ready to follow him in death, Lao San lunged forward with sudden ferocity, leaping in front of me. The child dropped to all fours, his expression twisted and savage, looking like a crouching cub ready to pounce. Lao Da quickly held him back and commanded, "Take Ye Xiao and go!"
I certainly wasn't going! If I left, not only would Old Liu be dead, but Lao Da would be finished too. What point was there in living alone? I would surely spend my days drowning in tears, haunted by the memory of my husband and sons all dead, leaving me a widow with no one to come to my side and whisper sweet things whenever I cried... So, I was in a state of mind that purely sought death.
I was too cowardly to face a world without Liu Wukong.
Before, when he wasn't by my side, I at least had hope. But now, even hope was gone. He was actually... dead. Because of a single drop of my blood.
I couldn't hold on for another second. If Zhang Litian didn't kill me, I would do it myself.
But Lao Da and Lao San clearly wanted me to leave. They were even willing to make a pointless sacrifice for it. How could I tell them that I no longer had the courage or the desire to save anyone? I couldn't even keep Liu Wukong. From now on, no one would ever save me again.
Zhang Litian savored our breakdown; I felt as though everything he did was merely to taste the flavor of our defeat. Now, with Gungnir in his hand, he could stab whomever he pleased, cruelly amusing himself with our despair.
"It seems his descendants are quite eager to save you." He withdrew his hand, pointing the spear at the ground. "I would be more than happy if some of you offered yourselves as a sacrifice to me. It has been a very, very long time since I enjoyed the heart of a god. In return, I will let the rest of you go."
"You won't let any of us go," Lao Da said. "You are the God of Liars."
Zhang Litian broke into a fit of neurotic laughter. "You could always try. After all, killing you all right now would be as easy as turning over my hand. Why not gamble on your luck?"
The expressions on all three of our faces turned subtle.
Zhang Litian was still so... fond of playing games. I didn't know if he had been this insufferable when he killed Old Liu; probably not, he wouldn't have had the guts. But with us, he likely felt the disparity in strength was so vast that he could afford to waste time rambling. We were currently standing beneath a half-collapsed dormitory building, in what used to be a flowerbed. Just as he was shouting like a madman, demanding we choose who would die under the Spear of Destiny and who would live, a dark shadow leaped down from the second floor like a bolt of lightning. The figure grappled him in a blur of motion, and the Spear of Destiny instantly changed hands. Ren Xing gripped the spearhead and stabbed downward with a backhand strike, pressing it against Zhang Litian's throat.
"The Great Artist—your reputation precedes you."
Seeing Ren Xing again was beyond my expectations. After our big argument at the warehouse with him and Lu Daoshi, we had parted ways in a hurry. Lu Daoshi had played the mystic one last time before being knocked into the abyss by Old Liu right in front of me, and Ren Xing had never appeared again. For a time, I hadn't dared to look for him, fearing Old Liu would be angry, and I assumed he had returned to a normal life. I hadn't realized we weren't even in the same dimension.
After a few days apart, Ren Xing's hair had grown long enough to cover his eyes. Seeing me, he surprisingly didn't crack any jokes.
"Lu Daoshi told me long ago that he would die," Ren Xing said, holding the Spear of Destiny horizontally against Zhang Litian's neck as he led us through the debris-strewn dormitory corridor. "I'm sorry. I couldn't save him."
I wept.
"I knew he shut you behind the mirror, but given the situation outside, he really didn't dare let you out. I'm sorry."
I wailed.
I learned from him that as the predicted end for Old Liu approached, countless deities and abyssal entities had shattered the increasingly thin barriers to enter the surface world. Because of the Great God's restraints, they had been imprisoned in the depths of the Abyss for a vast amount of time, making them exceptionally hungry and violent. Moreover, they had originally viewed humans as their sacrifices, and now they were destroying everything without restraint.
"We couldn't stop it. Neither could he," Ren Xing said softly. "Many people are dead."
"He's dead too..." I stopped in my tracks, halting on the final flight of stairs leading to the dorm rooms. "I don't know what I can do now, Ren Xing."
Ren Xing moved to pull me along, but his hand stopped mid-air and dropped back down. He adjusted the brim of his cap—he was dressed head-to-toe in riot police gear. "Ye Xiao, let's go find Lu Daoshi. He'll have a way, won't he? The three of us have made it through everything from the very beginning. There's nothing we can't overcome."
I shook my head through my tears. "We overcame things because I had Liu Wukong."
"Since Lu Daoshi had the power to prophesy his death, perhaps he has a way to bring him back. Why not go try? Why not be a little stronger for his sake?"
I immediately wiped my eyes and followed.
I was no different from anyone else; as long as there was a glimmer of hope, I could keep going. Just a tiny bit was enough.
When our group reached the dormitory door, it was blown open by a gust of wind. The wind was very gentle; as it swept through the hall, it brushed my tears toward my temples.
I suddenly felt that Ren Xing might not be lying to me.
Liu Wukong was still there, waiting for me behind the veil of all things.
Half of our dormitory building had collapsed. Our room had been spared, but one wall was completely gone. Stepping inside, a few paces would lead you straight into the void. The collapsed section had suffered an explosion, and thick smoke was currently billowing from it.
Ren Xing forced Zhang Litian to his knees and handed the Spear of Destiny to Lao San. Lao San immediately rushed forward, intent on killing him. Ren Xing blocked him. "It's not time yet." I was surprised to find that with Ren Xing's strength, he could easily wave my Lao San back. After pushing him away, Ren Xing considered for a second before taking the Spear of Destiny back and handing it to Lao Da. Lao Da resentfully pressed the spearhead against the back of Zhang Litian's neck. Zhang Litian knelt there, raising his hands in surrender.
Ren Xing stripped the sheets and blankets off my bottom bunk, revealing the bare wooden boards beneath. The bedboard looked ordinary. He lifted it, and on the inner side of the wall was a painted eight-pointed star, shattered by scratches—exactly like the one in Old Chu's room.
"The eight-pointed star, the symbol of Chaos. One of the few symbols that can hinder the Great God. They probably painted it here to prevent your roommates from entering the dorm directly from the Abyss," Ren Xing wiped away some sweat. "But clearly, they didn't succeed. This is one of the passages from the human world to the Abyss. I just don't know how to open it."
As he finished speaking, all four pairs of our eyes glared hatefully at Zhang Litian.
"What's in it for me?" he asked with a charming smile.
"You get to live a few days longer," Ren Xing said, fiddling with his black fingerless gloves, his voice calm yet thick with threat. "There are many people here who want to kill you, and it's rare to actually have the weapon to do it. You should know that these two little ones have another brother named Memory."
Zhang Litian stood up with his hands behind his head, walked to the bed, and quickly drew an unknown pattern on the bedboard. Then, he stepped aside. Just like the rift I had seen before, the center of the bedboard cracked open, spewing a large amount of purple substance before contracting into a calm membrane. This time, being closer, I could see the membrane was rippling like the surface of water. It was pitch black on the other side, but I could already feel a bone-chilling cold.
"Can we kill him now?!" Lao San screamed in the shrill voice unique to children, trying to snatch the Spear of Destiny from his brother, completely unable to control his emotions, just like me.
Lao Da, however, stopped his younger brother. He looked directly at Zhang Litian. "Aren't you afraid we'll trick you and kill you?"
"I imagine the reason you're busy looking for me, your enemy, instead of 'Memory' is because he isn't home at the moment," Zhang Litian laughed. "I am the God of Liars; I am the only one who ever tricks others." As he spoke, he looked pointedly at the spatial rift.
Lao Da finally lost his composure, lunging forward to grab him by the collar. "Where does this passage lead?!"
Zhang Litian's smile grew even more triumphant. "Are you going, or not?"
Without a word, Ren Xing threw him inside and then jumped in himself. After a moment, he poked his head back out and signaled for us to come over, looking preoccupied. By the time we stepped into the space on the other side, Zhang Litian was gone. We were met only by the endless wind and snow of a mountain peak.
"He ran away!" Lao San was about to throw another tantrum.
Lao Da patted his head. "He's not important anymore. He's just a malicious passerby. Xiao Yu wants to save Papa, right?"
Lao San cried so hard his face was a mess of wrinkles. "He killed Papa!"
Lao Da picked him up. "No, that's not it. Papa just went somewhere far away. We'll find him and bring him back, okay? He would surely prefer to finish off his opponent with his own hands. Or perhaps, he doesn't care about him at all."
Lao San wailed, burying his face in Lao Da's shoulder and biting him.
By the time we had calmed Lao San down, Ren Xing had finished scouting the surroundings. He ran over with his arm-mounted light on, gesturing for us to follow. "We're on a mountain peak."
"Where would Lu Daoshi be!" The wind and snow were so loud I had to shout at him.
The look behind Ren Xing's goggles darkened as he pointed toward a small speck of light in the darkness. "He should be there."
After walking through deep snow for an hour, I finally saw my Senior Brother Lu again.
There, held by massive chains, were six wings of light, spread across the summit of the snowy mountain like a flower in full bloom. He spanned the entire peak.
Hearing our footsteps, the six wings of light opened in sequence. From within them, a giant eye turned to look at us... pitch black and bottomless, with a flame burning at its center.
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My Roommate is a Non-Human | Chapter 64 | Wings of Light in the Snow | Novela.app | Novela.app
