Chapter 48: Are You Free Tonight?

"Did you see that? Their faces were absolutely priceless!"

The next morning, Feng Liancheng was still endlessly savoring yesterday's scene. "Spoils of war! Listen to that! How low-key yet arrogant. Who is the winner? Who is the loser? Arcadia has been arrogant for so long; this time, they deserve to eat a bitter pill!"

Yang Yi yawned.

Since Misty Town, she had slept very little and eaten very little, yet her physical constitution had actually become better than before.

But recently, the hunger pangs had grown increasingly urgent, and that distinctly human weariness and mental exhaustion had returned.

However, she did not dislike this change; this was what it meant to be human, wasn't it? Humans get tired, get irritable, sleep poorly and feel sluggish, eat little and get hungry; this allowed her to blend in with the crowd and not be too out of place.

If she absorbed enough Life Source, she would become immensely powerful; she would not need to eat, sleep, or rest, would feel no fatigue, and her life would be long, becoming more and more like a...

She had not failed to consider those benefits; it had been instilling in her mind every day the scenario of absorbing even more Life Source: a magnificent, long, carefree, and free future, even one of supreme ego, where everyone would be her servant.

But Yang Yi was currently a human, a normal human, a human with moral boundaries.

To pave her own path with the lives of her own kind, she could not do it.

She also considered this proof of her being "human."

To do what one knows cannot be done is courage; to refrain from doing what one knows can be done is self-restraint.

Occasionally, in a moment of respite, a fleeting sense of self-satisfaction arose in her mind; she was moved by her own "great sacrifice," torturing herself to benefit all of humanity; this was simply saintly, damn it.

'Stop moving yourself! It's truly disgusting! I'm about to vomit!' it said viciously.

'Yes, thinking that way is indeed a bit disgusting,' Yang Yi agreed with its view. 'Too pretentious.'

It felt as if it had been choked.

It felt that Yang Yi had become increasingly brazen recently; in their past verbal battles, it had won far more than it lost, while Yang Yi had lost far more than she won. It could always strike directly at her inner weak points, making her completely break down, and it would then derive genuine joy.

But recently, Yang Yi seemed to have seized the initiative, employing a tactic of "a dead pig doesn't fear boiling water," which made it jump with frustration every time.

It felt it needed to bring out some real skill.

'Do you really care about humanity? Do you really value their lives? So many excuses, just to conceal your own cowardice.

'You have always been disguising yourself as an harmless little lamb, not to numb others, but to comfort yourself. Because until now, you have been unable to face your true self deep within; you wish to hide yourself in the crowd and try your best not to appear out of place.

'But at the same time, you avoid the crowd, avoiding intimate contact with them, because you feel you are different from the rest.

'You are unwilling to associate with the mediocre masses, yet you dare not admit it, or even doubt whether you possess any talent.

'Yang Yi, you are not only hypocritical and cowardly, but also ridiculous.'

Yang Yi did not answer; her breathing quickened slightly, and the rise and fall of her chest accelerated.

Sharing the same body with her, it discovered this very quickly. This made it immensely pleased.

"Yang Yi, what are you thinking about?" Feng Liancheng waved his hand in front of her. "The meeting finishes today, and we return tomorrow. If you have anything else to handle, do it quickly..."

Feng Liancheng winked and made faces, and Yang Yi understood his meaning.

Should she still meet with Chris?

The two were separated by a thousand miles; they probably wouldn't see each other more than a few times a year. Was it necessary to maintain the so-called "romantic relationship"? Moreover, she had no expectations for their future—because she had no expectations for her own future.

Besides—that day, the look of intoxication and bewilderment on his face flashed into her mind, and that sweet and vibrant aura still lingered on her lips...

No, no, she had almost absorbed his life; she had almost drained him dry, just for a mere kiss.

If she had woken up a moment later, she would have witnessed a dried-up corpse with her own eyes.

%

During the noon break, she lay on the large hotel bed, looking at his message on her phone, hesitating for a long time without replying.

"Are you free tonight? I miss you so much..."

He had asked this yesterday, but she had refused on the grounds of work, then gone to help Zhang Zhang Ningning deal with the Soul-Hosting Demon. When Zhang Zhang Ningning begged her for help, her first reaction was: Oh, perfect, I just made an excuse that I was busy; here is a perfect reason to be busy!

Now? Tomorrow she was leaving; should she meet him one last time?

Just as she was torn, his video call suddenly came through, startling her so much that her phone almost fell onto her face.

She hurriedly sat up and tapped to answer the video call.

"Hi, my girlfriend, what are you doing?" Chris held a cup of some unknown juice, lying comfortably on a lounge chair.

His hair was half-damp, he wore sunglasses, and his upper body was bare.

Judging by the background, it should be by the terrace pool; perhaps he had just been swimming.

Those robust and full pectoral muscles, the powerful and graceful lines of his shoulders and neck suddenly entered the frame, causing Yang Yi to hold her breath, almost unable to draw another breath.

The impact was too great.

"Ahem..." Yang Yi cleared her throat, forcibly shifting her gaze from below his neck to his face. "Preparing to reply to your message."

His handsomeness was like a sharpened sword; there was no subtlety or indirectness, just simple and direct. No need to savor it, no need to add any impression points, because true beauty is simple and direct in itself.

Whenever she faced him, Yang Yi felt somewhat at a loss.

"I saw the news; today is the last day of the meeting. Are you returning tomorrow?" Chris's tone was a bit downcast; he put down his cup and looked seriously at the screen.

It turned out that under the sunlight, his pupils were almost light blue, clear and transparent; she thought of the clear white sand and seawater in the shallow sea area.

"Yes," Yang Yi nodded. "My flight is tomorrow morning."

"Then can I see you tonight?" he asked hopefully.

Yang Yi's heart went "thump-thump" wildly; she wanted to refuse him, yet could not bear to refuse him; she wanted to simply break up, but seeing his expectant eyes, she could not say it.

A former nightmare suddenly surfaced in her mind: Chris crawling beneath the altar, his handsome face becoming withered and haggard, yet his expression was one of intoxication and bewilderment, as if he had seen the most beautiful scene of his life.

This face overlapped with the face on the terrace that day; Yang Yi's heart sank, grew cold, and kept falling downward.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw several scattered invitations on the bedside table; in her flustered state, she randomly picked one up. It was an invitation to a banquet that evening, hosted by the United Nations, mainly inviting representatives from various countries at the conference, aiming to facilitate exchange and enhance understanding in a relaxed environment.

"Uh—I need to attend a dinner banquet, I'm afraid..."

Chris looked extremely disappointed; Yang Yi even wished she could take a knife and stab herself to death.