Chapter 163: Unable to Cope

The United Nations Palace of Nations.

This scene was very strange: a person sat in the seat of the Chief Judge of the International Criminal Court, yet this same person had stood in the defendant's box just six days ago, undergoing trial before the whole world.

And now, Wei De sat calmly atop the high platform, curiously observing everything around him, as if finding all human affairs utterly fresh.

Below stood three rows of people, heads bowed respectfully.

The last row consisted of fully armed, gun-ready Interpol officers; the middle row held mid-to-high-level United Nations staff; the front row had only two people: the Secretary-General of the Palace of Nations, Andrew Wilder, and the Director of Interpol, Kevin Hu.

Yesterday, these people guarded Wei De's corpse, preparing for the Divine Punishment Organization to walk into a trap, but through surveillance they detected movement in the morgue and quickly surrounded it; today, they stood respectfully before Wei De, as if he were the most noble master.

Throughout the Palace of Nations, everyone worked as usual, noticing nothing amiss.

"So," Wei De asked, "has Yang Yi returned safely? From the ranch... no, the other world?" An odd expression appeared on his face.

"Yes," Secretary-General Andrew Wilder replied with a face full of reverence. "When you woke up yesterday, the Xia Kingdom was holding a ceremony to bestow the insignia upon her."

"Wonderful! I feel it, I feel His gaze... the target is precisely here..." Wei De said with devout excitement. "It was not in vain that I followed His gaze to Earth..."

After a few seconds, he ordered: "Bring the video from when the interdimensional channel opened six days ago, along with all data and videos regarding Yang Yi..."

Shortly, the materials were delivered before him. When he saw Yang Yi dive into the interdimensional channel, expectation lit his face; when the footage played to the moment the S-class alien creature at the channel entrance turned to ash, he was simply ecstatic.

"That's it! That's it!" Suddenly, he threw down the tablet, raised both hands toward the sky in a strange gesture, his face wild: "My great Lord, I have received Your instruction... a host body! A host body with the potential to grow into Your avatar!"

He was so excited he lost coherence, to the point where his soul and flesh formed some kind of misalignment; his facial expression could not convey his state, twisting into something strange, an expression not belonging to human emotions.

Yet the crowd below showed no sign of anything unusual; within this harmonious atmosphere lay a certain mysterious eeriness.

After a long while, Wei De finally regained calm. Having finished reviewing the remaining materials, his face returned to the gentle, refined smile belonging to "Wei De": "Thank you all for your enthusiastic assistance; I am very satisfied!"

"Serving the Master is our honor!" everyone present shouted in unison.

"Wei De's corpse has already been disposed of; everything here is normal. The surveillance... also happened to malfunction, didn't it, everyone?" Wei De said with a certain odd tone.

The crowd repeated: "Wei De's corpse has already been disposed of; everything here is normal. The surveillance happened to malfunction."

"Very good." Wei De nodded, then muttered to himself with a troubled air: "Sigh--if only I didn't want to startle the snake, how could someone of my stature... use such a low-level tactic..."

He strolled leisurely out of the United Nations gate; everyone pretended not to see his figure.

##

In fact, this candlelit dinner was not finished.

In the restaurant, glances occasionally fixed upon them; those who could come here were of the upper-middle class, and no one would be so tactless as to disturb them; they merely peered at them furtively from the corners of their eyes.

The object of their glances was Chris, but Chris's gaze was stuck on Yang Yi.

His gaze was burning, focused, lingering, and ardent; he seemed eager to swallow her whole at once, yet also like a child who had obtained the candy he longed for, unwilling to finish it in one bite, licking it only after a long pause to savor the aftertaste.

He did not look at the unfamiliar face before him, but at her eyes; no matter what form this girl took before him, her gaze, her beautiful black eyes, would not change; he vowed that among ten thousand people he would recognize her at a single glance.

"Eat something!" Yang Yi said with a smile; her smile was very gentle, an expression rarely seen on her face. "You have eaten almost nothing today."

"My dear, you know, I am already full..." He took her hand, treasuredly kissed her fingertips. "My heart has never been so full, so swollen..."

In the dim, blurred candlelight, his eyes, which appeared blue during the day, were nearly dark blue--he should have bought that royal blue sapphire--a thought inexplicably surfaced in Yang Yi's mind.

On his left wrist he wore a luminous blue watch, perfectly matching his eyes.

His casual light-blue suit had been taken by the waiter; now he wore a loose white silk shirt, the top three buttons unfastened, half-open.

He leaned slightly forward, his broad shoulders stretching the shirt and chest into a delightful gap; the gentle night breeze swayed the hem of his clothes, as if it too held a special affection for him.

Amid the flickering candlelight, amidst the fragmented reflections from the glassware, within his gaze that was gentle yet secretly laced with longing, Yang Yi felt a bit dry-mouthed and couldn't help licking her dry lips.

She picked up the red wine and drank it in one gulp to quench her thirst, yet her cheeks grew slightly warm.

She knew this was not the effect of the red wine; she had long been immune to alcohol.

Suddenly, a damp, warm, tingling sensation came to her fingertips; Yang Yi's whole body went numb, her blood rushing to her brain, nearly dazing her--he had lightly bitten her fingertips!

She instinctively tried to pull her hand back, but Chris held it tightly, refusing to let go; his blue eyes stared at her unblinking, carrying a touch of playfulness yet hiding a certain danger.

Yang Yi found herself unable to cope; this was too unfamiliar to her, almost like a dream--such enchanting, hazy scenes could only appear in illusions.

Immediately afterward, she inexplicably felt a bit of resentment, both for her own unfamiliar reaction and for his practiced flirting techniques--how many women had he used these techniques on? How many women had been intoxicated by this very scene?

Her mind cleared slightly; she straightened her back, leaned back a bit, and naturally withdrew her hand.

Chris sensed the change in her attitude, though it was very subtle.

"My dear, don't do this to me..." he sighed softly. "Although I have said I love everything about you--even your hot-and-cold attitude... but... but I am truly afraid; whenever this happens, I worry I have done something wrong again, which words made you unhappy, which action caused you to misunderstand? What are you unhappy about?... I truly want to crawl into your brain to see, or tear open my heart to let you see..."

Yang Yi suddenly smiled.

Chris looked at her helplessly; on the battlefield of love, he was powerless against her, having long surrendered; he knew it himself, and when facing her he was completely helpless, so he was almost too lazy to resist.

"I was just thinking," Yang Yi looked at the meal before her, which she had cut a few times but not touched, "how many women have you used these flirting techniques on?"

Chris paused, then sat up straight with a serious expression, leaning his back against the chair, and began counting on his fingers. "I've forgotten; since you want to know, I'll recall. Anna, that should be the first; Julie, the second; Hathaway, Liz, Deborah, Helen, Phoebe..."

As he kept reciting names, Yang Yi's eyes grew calmer and her expression more composed--Chris knew this meant she was once again putting on that mask, no longer showing her true emotions.

"My dear, I'm running out of female names in my head; can you contribute a few Xia Kingdom female names?" Chris tilted his head, saying with ill intent, "If using a phone search is allowed, I can keep counting like this until you are satisfied."

Yang Yi laughed in exasperation at him.

After laughing, the suppressed displeasure dissipated; she felt she had made a mountain out of a molehill.

"My dear," Chris took her hand again, pressed her palm against his cheek, and said seriously: "I cannot deny my past; that would be like denying myself. I am a human, not a machine that can arbitrarily alter memories and experiences, nor a character in a film whose settings can be freely fabricated. Everything in the past has formed the present me, whether good or bad."

His deep blue eyes were sincere and earnest: "I only know that since I met you, those past things suddenly became as light as smoke; I can only see you. My heart, longing for you, knots me up every moment; no matter where I am, no matter what I do... your eyes, your hair, your skin, your scent, your hands, your heart, your figure, your soft laughter, your shyness, your expressions, your temper, your complexity, your composure, your mask, your brilliance, your boldness, your beauty, your aloofness, your confusion, your possessiveness, your sexiness, your desires, your arrogance, your ideals, your dreams... I want to know more about you: your friends, your classmates, your past, your ex-boyfriends, the food you like, the books you love to read, your room, your desk, your sofa, the smell of your pillow, your dreams, your struggles, your darkness..."

"... all of you..."