Chapter 181: Heart Scale

"A Si, tell me."

She took a deep breath. "What happened?"

A Si was silent for a moment, then suddenly raised his hand, gently wiping across the corner of her eye with his finger pad, wiping away a patch of wetness.

There were still some neighbors at the door who heard the commotion and wanted to join in the fun. Their footsteps reached the ears of the two. A Si reached out his hand.

"Accompany me for a walk, wife?"

Su Mian looked at him and nodded.

The mountain village in spring should have been a beautiful scene, with creek water under the bridge and sunshine on the rapeseed flowers.

After Feng Liping died, the whole village was shrouded in a dark gray layer, the river water turned crimson, and the branches and leaves of the ancient camphor tree covering the stone arch bridge withered.

The rapeseed flowers in the fields had bloomed, in clusters here and there, but they had already been trampled into a mess by the living dead.

The players were used to it. After all, every time someone died, the instance would turn gray by a degree, and their eyes were almost used to it.

A Si held her hand and walked onto the stone bridge. The wind gently blew over the deserted ruins and fields, cold enough to chill one's bones. He draped his coat over the girl's shoulders.

"In the past, I disdained power, because in every world, I possessed supreme power."

"But not long after, I discovered I was wrong."

"I don't possess any power."

He lowered his head to look at her, his fingertips gently rubbing her palm.

"Monsters in cages are always trained before people dare to let them out to feed."

"Outsiders watch the monster being cared for and looked after, getting many things others can't get, and start to envy and be jealous for no reason."

"But they don't know that if the monster makes them slightly dissatisfied, it will be banished once again."

Su Mian frowned at him, not saying a word, but her hand tightened slightly, her breathing rapid.

A Si took a deep breath, the exhaled breath carrying a tremor. He knew Su Mian couldn't bear to hear these things, so he didn't intend to tell her from the beginning, but he had selfish motives.

He thought, in the last bit of time, Su Mian could only belong to him.

So he did an extreme act, killing Mao Rongjun and taking his place.

Yet just this one change allowed the girl to keenly perceive everything.

"So... what is the result of the banishment?"

Su Mian stared at him and spoke.

"Falling leaves return to roots."

He stretched out his hands, tightly hugging the girl, gently stroking her back. A Si felt the girl pulling his clothes, very hard, clutching the clothes in her palm, with astonishing strength, yet her whole body was trembling.

She had guessed something long ago, she just didn't want to believe it.

And, A Si being "banished" was very likely because of her. Becoming Forty was also because of her. She knew it all, A Si just didn't say it.

Only this time, it sounded more serious than maintenance.

Because he helped an opposing side, he became the target of the spearhead.

But he never said it, just silently helping her behind her back. Clearly burdened with great pressure, yet when Su Mian looked back, she could only see that consistently smiling face.

"I..."

Su Mian suddenly thought of something and looked up abruptly, her eye sockets wet. A Si interrupted her and shook his head.

"I know what you are thinking in your head, but, Mian Mian, you can't."

"The Script Murder world allows you to stay in a certain instance, but you can't."

"I often call you a kitten, not because I really think you need to rely on someone to survive, but because you are cute."

"You are a kitten, and also a butterfly, yearning for freedom, needing to fly to the sky."

"No one can trap you, including me."

"If one day," he weighed his words, "I need to leave for a period of time..."

"How long?"

A Si was silent, lowered his eyes, and then spoke. "Maybe a long time, maybe... not too long."

"You are coaxing me."

"You aren't even sure yourself, are you?"

Su Mian finally couldn't help but redden her eyes. She punched A Si in the stomach, but the punch was soft, with no strength at all, her breathing abnormally intense, finally completely unable to bear it and roared out.

"I just started dating you and you are leaving. Are you sick in the head? Aren't you very awesome? Mountain God, Arbiter... a bunch of messy titles."

"Don't you want to possess me? What are you using to possess me, letting me go, are you willing to?"

"Freedom my foot! Leaving for a period of time my foot!!! You think I'm a three-year-old child and I believe these words of yours? Stop pretending to be deep here, speak, why are you pretending to be a mute."

A Si's Adam's apple rolled, but he never got a word in.

"You can't bear to part with me?"

"Then can't you be a bit more vicious?"

"Can't you tie me up? Lock me in that broken residence of yours, and not let me go anywhere?"

"Aren't you best at doing this kind of thing? Don't you always say I'm yours? Then why are you pretending to be a good person now?"

Su Mian looked up at him, her eyes red to an unbelievable degree.

"If you acted a bit more like a jerk, a bit more selfish, I might... I might be able to be angry enough to stop liking you."

"Then I wouldn't have to be here like a fool, unable to bear it."

When this sentence fell, she collapsed first.

Su Mian lowered her head and cursed, her hand still clutching his clothes.

She raised her foot and kicked him.

"What do you count as now?"

"Half-dead, giving me your last words?"

A Si shook his head, staring fixedly at her. "Since I chose to tell you, I must be sure I will come to find you. What I'm not sure about is just the time."

"So I dare not promise how long it will take to appear before you."

"But I know I love you, so I won't give up, and I don't want to make you wait. Choosing not to say it, just letting you treat me as disappearing for a period of time to manage other instances."

He smiled, appearing relaxed, but his heart was beating abnormally intensely.

Reluctance.

He also knew he was reluctant. What he feared most was seeing such a scene, Su Mian collapsing, pathologically questioning him, heart-aching to the point of making him unable to breathe.

Su Mian finally calmed down a little and rubbed her eyes. "Are you really sure or pretending to be sure?"

"Really sure."

A Si took out a thin rope necklace from his pocket. The pendant of the necklace was a milky-white scale, oily and translucent black, reflecting colorful light under the light.

He leaned over, lowered his head to put the necklace behind her neck, and put it on carefully. Su Mian froze and stroked it.

The scale was still slightly warm, as if it had just been torn off its owner. Su Mian's breathing stalled.

"This is..."

"Heart scale."

A Si spoke, brushing aside the hair by Su Mian's ear to kiss her. "A new amulet, you can't use it to exchange for points."

Hearing his joke, Su Mian couldn't even laugh. "Are you sick."

She said dully. "It must hurt a lot..."

A Si shook his head, holding the girl's body, his voice trembling. "If I am still alive, it can protect you forever. If I die, it will rot."

"I will never let it rot, Mian Mian, you can wait for me, or you can not wait..." ===== CHAPTER 182 =====