When I opened my eyes, I was submerged in a brilliant radiance. Within that light was a vanishing silhouette—the first person I had ever seen in this world.
Once the light expanded and then receded, I discovered two entities above me. One attacked like a thunderbolt, the other defended like a mountain; they were locked in a fierce struggle.
I simply lay there with my eyes open.
I did not know who I was, nor did I know why I was there. My mind was a complete void. So, I just lay there and watched them fight. On the ninth day, they blew the roof off the place, and I began to calculate time by the rising and setting of the sun and moon.
They fought for a full forty-nine days.
During those forty-nine days, other things joined the fray. They were all grotesquely shaped, and I did not like them. I vaguely remembered that first silhouette I had seen in the glimmer; it had been a creature of beautiful lines. These things were nothing like it.
The first to approach me was a colossal eye. He kept trying to tell me to stand up. He was quite annoying, so I blocked out his voice.
The second to approach me was a creature with far too many teeth. He assumed a posture of supplication. I gave him a single glance, then went back to watching the sky.
As time passed, they stopped paying attention to me.
They began to help the mass of holy light fight against the pitch-black mass.
Light and Darkness.
They fought until the heavens collapsed and the earth split.
After forty-nine days, they won. They all transformed into those beautiful forms and came before me.
The mass of holy light was covered in wounds, yet he looked me over with an unexpectedly relaxed and disdainful gaze, letting out a whistle. "So, you are my Father God?"
I also transformed my shape and said flatly, "Son."
He said, "I'm hungry."
The Big Eye said, "Let's go to a restaurant."
The Mouthful of Teeth said, "The whole world is destroyed. There are no restaurants."
Then they all turned their heads to look at me.
The Holy Light said, "Father God, turn back time to before everything began."
I replied, "To me, nothing has begun yet."
He let out a subtle, wicked laugh. "No. You have simply forgotten. Don't you feel like you're missing something important?"
He hit the mark.
I did indeed feel as though I were missing something important.
Because right now, I felt that everything was quite meaningless.
I had nothing to do. I just lay there. With no past and no future, nothing could catch my eye.
I must be broken.
The mass of holy light who called me Father God craftily enticed me to return time to the past. I discovered that as long as I willed it, I could do almost anything. The moment the thought crossed my mind, a white line streaked across this desolate, burning planet. That white line ran parallel to the meridians, slowly encircling the globe. Wherever it passed, ash and smoke regressed into scenes of prosperous civilization, silence retreated into clamor, firelight turned back into the scattered glow of lamps, and bleached bones were restored to flesh and blood. I was pleased to find that this planet was covered in those beautiful forms I liked. They seemed to be called "humans."
The one with the mouthful of teeth led us to a place—a villa in the middle of a bustling city. Supposedly, our family had lived there before.
"I am not 'Mouthful of Teeth.' I am your eldest son, Liu Dayu," the man transformed from the creature said as he opened the door. A small child immediately hugged my leg and called me "Daddy." I remembered that his true form was incredibly fierce and massive, with a lamp hanging from his head.
My head ached. I seemed to have too many offspring. Later, after we sat down at the dining table in the living room, I still couldn't distinguish who was who.
For instance, when Liu Dayu claimed to be the eldest son, the Holy Light scoffed. "At best, you are but a flawed scion. How dare you rank yourself before me?"
Liu Dayu was offended by him, looking angry but not daring to talk back. The Holy Light turned to me and said, "Only I am your eldest son. I defeated Chaos; the throne of the God King belongs to me."
I thought for three seconds. "It's yours."
"I wasn't asking for your permission," he said condescendingly. "You are old, Father God. And a new era has just begun."
Silence fell over the table. Then, I lowered my head to eat.
It wasn't that I was afraid; I was simply entirely uninterested in the matter. What I cared about more was that the delicacies on my plate were tasteless to me. At the entire table, only my youngest son was feasting heartily. The Big Eye—now transformed into an adult man wearing gold-rimmed glasses—spoke up. "Since there are no mortals sitting here, we needn't keep up the pretense any longer."
Having said that, he produced a pile of sulfur from somewhere. I happily began my meal. The things we ate were all different and varied. For example, the Big Eye liked to eat gold. As for Liu Dayu, he was more interested in mercury.
In the interval after eating and drinking our fill, the Big Eye said to me, "Ren Xing should become one of us."
He introduced Ren Xing to me as a demigod hero who had performed commendable deeds in this battle.
I said, "Fine."
However, Ren Xing refused me. "I haven't decided yet whether I want to exist as a god."
I made a covenant with him: even if he could not become a god, I would elevate him into a constellation after his death.
Ren Xing’s smile was meaningful. "If you knew what old acquaintances we are, I'm afraid you wouldn't be so generous."
Their eyes flickered.
The feeling was very subtle; they all recognized me, yet I could remember nothing. I felt a sense of mockery and pity.
"I am also a new god." Sitting at the lower end of the table was a very beautiful person. "I wish to preside over art and inspiration."
Before I could speak, the Holy Light, who had been fighting to be the eldest son, said humbly, "You should also preside over love and beauty."
The beauty replied, "Are you looking for a beating?!"
My "eldest son" hit a wall, yet he remained composed. His eyes narrowed slightly, making him look like a leopard on the hunt. I heard a voice echo in his mind: *Ooh, quite a temper. I like it.*
He had only been born for forty-nine days.
I put down my chopsticks and asked, "Where is your mother?"
Silence fell over the table once more.
I swept my gaze over them. "I asked where your mother is. You all should be under her discipline more often."
Everyone remained silent. Only my eldest son wore a malicious smile. I felt stifled, so I went out for a walk.
The sky was overcast and gray; the city's environment was poor. Cars came and went on the roads, and pedestrians passed by, everyone's heart speaking of boring things. I blocked them out. After walking for a while, I felt it was quite pointless, so I went home to lie down. When I entered the house, I passed by a car's windshield.
I saw my own face.
I thought it would be a very indifferent face, but it wasn't.
Suddenly struck by an impulse, I dashed upstairs and pushed open the bathroom door. There was a mirror there.
I saw my reflection in the mirror.
I smiled at him, and he smiled back at me.
A sudden surge of sorrow rose in my heart—a dull, aching pain, as if it had been hurting for a very long time.
That night as I lay there, I was too agitated to sleep. But I didn't know exactly what was making me so excited; I felt somewhat dazed. In that daze, I waited until the first light of dawn, went out, bought a bouquet of flowers, and placed them in front of the mirror.
I didn't know why I was doing it, but when I did, the person in the mirror shed tears.
Yet I was happy.
Someone was crying for me, smiling for me. When I reached out, they carefully touched my fingers.
The world was finally not so boring anymore.
The next night, someone pushed open the bedroom door and entered. The light in the hallway was on, so I could only see a silhouette. But that silhouette alone was enough to shock me.
It was myself.
He turned on the light, sat down by the bed, and interlaced his fingers.
He: "Have you forgotten everything?"
I: "I've forgotten whether I've forgotten."
He let out a long sigh.
"Right now, here, a very important person is missing, Father."
It dawned on me; he must be the second child his brothers spoke of. "Your mother, my wife. Where is she?"
He looked at me in agony, and in the end, he did not tell me.
"If there comes a day when you find him, I am willing to use memory to exchange for your oblivion."
After I began to occupy the bathroom twenty-four hours a day to look in the mirror, my sons finally rebelled. I didn't understand. "If you want to use the toilet, there's one downstairs, and you could easily create another one."
The Holy Light, however, gave a wicked smile. "Want to know who the person behind the mirror is?"
His brothers all tried to stop him in terror.
I said, "Your mom."
The Holy Light shrugged, whistling nonchalantly at his brothers. "See? He knows it in his heart as clear as a mirror."
He took me back to September 13, 2014, to the top floor of an aging dormitory building.
We stood at the top of the stairs, surrounded by young men barely twenty years old, noisy and full of life.
He pointed at a dormitory door and told me the answer was inside. The door was locked, so I walked through the wall.
Inside, a young man was changing clothes. Seeing me, he jumped in fright. "Who are you! How did you get in?!"
I said honestly, "...I don't know."
He stood up, flustered. "Then why are you crying! Is it really okay for you to suddenly appear and start crying! It turned from a horror movie to a romance movie in an instant!" He rummaged through the messy dorm and finally pulled out a relatively clean piece of clothing to wipe my eyes.
I didn't dare blink, staring intently at his features. How wonderful; this was the person I had seen at first sight.
"What exactly are you playing at?" He blushed.
I told him, "I am your man."
He cursed. "Bullshit! I'll kill you!"
I thought he was very interesting; he spoke like a child.
I told him, "I am your man, and also the Chief God of this world. I can give you whatever you want. Anyone you hate, I can turn them all into petroleum."
His face turned bright red, and he struggled for a long while. "Don't think you can fool a pure, innocent virgin like me with that nonsense! But if you... if you pursue me hard enough, I might consider it!"
"Take your time considering." I gently tucked a lock of hair behind his ear. "The time has not yet come."
Having said that, I opened the door and left.
He stomped his feet behind me. "You've got to be kidding me! Is this some new prank! Hey, classmate, wait a second, hey—"
I saw my eldest son at the corner of the stairs. He stared toward the dorm, mischievously counting down: "Three, two, one..."
A world-shaking scream came from my little friend.
"That was your first meeting," he paused, then added, "I don't know which 'first meeting' it was."
I gave an affirmative hum.
He was surprised. "Are we leaving now? I thought you'd at least spend some tender moments with him."
I shook my head. "He isn't your mother. This entire space-time doesn't exist."
Time can flow backward, bringing the dead back to life and rebuilding what was destroyed. But we are not bound by time; when something is gone, it is gone. Even if you go back, it still isn't there.
This version of him is about to belong to another version of me.
Rather than saying I returned to the past, it would be more accurate to say I returned to a memory.
"Have I already lost him?" I asked my eldest son.
I guessed that he was no longer innocent. Because he had shed many tears, many things were hidden in his eyes.
I guessed that when my little friend saw me, he would have many, many things to say, but wouldn't be able to utter a single word.
Although I could remember nothing, I already felt that many, many things had happened between us.
Because of those things, there was a very, very deep affection.
"Do you really want him to come back?" My eldest son leaned in and whispered enticingly in my ear. "He is actually as far as the horizon, yet right before your eyes."
I looked at him calmly.
"You know I would agree no matter what."
"The price isn't high," he said, his lips curling into a smile. "It's just that there will be one less complete Chief God in this world. We don't need two anyway, do we?"
"Indeed."
As soon as I finished speaking, I felt a surge of sharp pain. My eldest son's hand plunged into my body, crudely churning and striking.
Before I sank into the tearing darkness, I felt him pull a rib from within me...
***
When I woke up, I was lying in the bedroom. The blanket was soft and warm, just like Old Liu's embrace. I opened my eyes, habitually glanced at him, and then prepared to go back to sleep.
Three minutes later, I bolted upright from my dream and shook Old Liu awake. "Wake up! Wake up!"
He let out a groan with his eyes closed.
"Holy crap, I remember you died, you bastard! You left us orphans and widows and died, you bastard! We were fighting the World Serpent while trying to piece you back together! In the end, I died too, you bastard! So what's going on now?! How are we lying here like this?!"
Old Liu tiredly grasped my hand, yet he let out a lighthearted laugh. "Ye Xiao."
"Yeah?"
"Ye Xiao."
"What?"
"Ye Xiao."
"..."
"I love you."
Damn, a sneak attack! "I—I love you too!"
I have now fully realized the importance of declaring my loyalty!
"So no matter what happened, it doesn't matter anymore." Liu Wukong reached out to pull me back into his arms and stroked my head. "We are still together. We will always be together."
I listened to his heartbeat. I had many, many questions, but a thousand words only condensed into one sentence: "I want to do it."
Liu Wukong let out a groan and said he was tired.
I feel that for us to reach a Happy Ending, the road might still be long and arduous...
Enjoying the story? Rate this novel:
My Roommate is a Non-Human | Chapter 70 | A New Beginning | Novela.app | Novela.app
