“Heh…” He let out a light chuckle, unperturbed. “If I could… I would want to…” 

I was stunned. I was once entangled in complicated emotions. I couldn’t help but feel confusion, hate, and heartache…

“I once promised Harry…” He lifted his chin and said weakly, “to protect your kindness… to make you happy… In the end… heh… I didn’t do any of that… On the contrary, you are riddled with a thousand gaping wounds…”

“Stop…” I turned around. I didn’t want to listen to him anymore.

“Falling in love with you… was the biggest mistake in my life…” He painfully choked back sobs. “If I hadn’t fall in love with you… I wouldn’t have pestered you… nor would I have hurt you… Hurting you… is my biggest source of pain…”

I took a deep breath. 

What’s the point of bringing up the past? Nothing will change. We can’t go back in time.

“I am the one who damaged you… It is me… who made you… lose your innocent smile…” His voice revealed a yearning smile. “I remember the smile you wore when you carried Snowball… That is… a smile… that I will never forget for the rest of my life…”

“Stop!” I finally couldn’t hold back and roared. I took deep breaths to calm my emotions that had nearly lost control. My hand was still pressing down on his back. I hung my head, expressionless, “Back then, I had never even killed a chicken. Did you really think that I could adapt to this world? Without you, living in such a world, it was only a matter of time until I learned how. You merely catalyzed the entire process…”

“No… You wouldn’t… If I hadn’t been in the picture…” His voice became frail. “Without me… you would be better… better…” His body shivered.

“Xing Chuan?” I extended my hand and held his arm.

“I shouldn’t…” His body fell forward. “have been born…” He muttered the end of his sentence like his last breath, before he collapsed entirely. I couldn’t hold his hefty body, and he fell on the electrotherapy equipment in front of him. His long white hair scattered all over the floor like the once gorgeous spider lily, that withered in my hand and collapsed in the wind.

“Xing Chuan…” I half squatted next to him and choked with heartache. “We shouldn’t have met in this lifetime…” He hated himself so much that he thought he shouldn’t exist in the world.

He was once daring and energetic, arrogant and confident, as he oversaw everyone in Silver Moon City. He was once a leader whom all warriors in Silver Moon City worshipped. He was once the Prince whom all girls admired.

Then, he was broken and riddled with a thousand gaping wounds. His appearance, that had once been used to hide his fragile heart, was finally broken by reality. He had been broken beyond recognition.

He was completely broken, from inside out, from his body to his heart. There was no one who could fix him. Death became his only desire, but I took it away from him mercilessly and made him live in this world in agony.

“Xing Chuan, wait until you see your clone in Silver Moon City…” I creased my eyebrows as my heart ached. I took a deep breath and let it out. “...and I will set you free then…”

He passed out and couldn’t hear anything I said. Our complicated relationship might only be able to come to an end via such a method…

I leaned forward to push down on the armrest. The electrotherapy equipment began to hover and retracted its legs. It extended a board, and the chair turned into a sickbed. It carried Xing Chuan’s body so he could lie on the hovering bed. Then, the four legs dropped down and the bed began to give off heat to keep Xing Chuan warm.

I was going to get a blanket to put it over him when I felt the back of my hand turn cold. I immediately looked and saw the symbiotic flower on the back of my hand had blossomed. The stamen had already climbed onto Xing Chuan’s back and begun to grow and spread. On the back of Xing Chuan’s fair back, my ice blue symbiotic flower grew across it. Blue spirit flowers bloomed across his back!

At the same time, a red stamen appeared from under his shirt on his waist. It was no longer the gorgeous looking spider lily, but rather seemed weak and fragile. It looked as though it would break.

Comparatively, my symbiotic flower was full of vigor. It was growing across Xing Chuan’s back rampantly. It instantly intertwined with the thin red stamen. In an instant, I could see an image!

It was a messy image. I closed my eyes to calm myself down. Then, I opened my eyes and realized that I was standing by the lake in Steel Ghost City. The redness of the lake had faded, but there were still rotting corpse chunks floating in the lake.

An old airplane suddenly flew past the surface of the lake and landed. I looked at the airplane as it glided for a while before crash-landing, slowly coming to a complete stop. It left deep dragging marks along the ground.

Someone kicked the hatch open. Then, I saw Xing Chuan crawl out from inside. There were some cuts on his forehead and he was bleeding. He had a few tufts of white hair already.

He staggered towards the lake and fell at my feet. One of his hands landed in the lake. He quickly got up and ran another few steps forward. The nauseating rotten corpses surrounded him.

He was a person who liked being clean, but he had plunged into the filthy lake. Why?

He staggered through the lake and suddenly shouted, “Harry! Harry!”

I was stunned. He had come here to look for Harry. His hair had turned white. It seemed that his superpower was passing, but he had come to look for Harry. 

Did he… want Harry to heal him?

Hmph. 

I smirked coldly. 

Harry already left to look for me. You turned him into a water ghost. How dare you look for him to heal you?!

“Harry… Harry…” Xing Chuan shouted for him continuously. His voice became hoarse, just like how it sounded now.

“Harry!” he bellowed. Even though he lost his voice... “Harry…” He held his head in agony. “Harry… Harry… We are running out of time. Do you know that? We are running out of time! Do you know that?!” He suddenly slapped the water, and the rotting corpse chunks scattered further from the impact. He looked at the corpse chunks, and then dived into the water to look for Harry!

Suddenly, the lake rippled and he floated to the surface. But something dragged him down again. A pair of finned legs paddled past the surface of the lake. It was a water ghost!

Then there was a terrifying sight of fresh blood churning out.