Chapter 91: “You still have me.”
Lucy was a regular at adult clubs and was used to seeing all sorts of things. Seeing these two together, she thought they made a good pair and found it quite reasonable.
“I knew it. The first time you came here, I thought you two were a couple.”
As the elevator doors opened, Lucy stepped out first and led the two to the door at the very end.
She used her long fingernail to poke the doorbell, and when the door automatically opened from the inside, she felt her job was done and left on her own.
Before leaving, Lucy gave them a knowing look and wished them a “pleasant evening.”
It wasn’t meant to be an ambiguous comment, but given what Shen Ti had said earlier, An Wujiu couldn’t help but find it somewhat suggestive.
Shen Ti, who was quite carefree, smiled at Lucy and then pulled An Wujiu by the arm, leading him inside.
“Good evening, Gabriel,” Shen Ti said as he pulled up a chair and sat down without any courtesy. “It looks like it’s a quiet night for you. Done for the day?”
Gabriel was sitting on the sofa in a bathrobe, holding a half-burned electronic cigarette. His pink afro looked especially fluffy tonight.
He caught the teasing tone in Shen Ti’s voice. “Yeah, and it seems you two are pretty leisurely as well.”
An Wujiu didn’t sit down and didn’t want to chat too much, so he got straight to the point. “Maguire is dead.”
He raised his hand to show Gabriel the game panel from the sanctuary, displaying the page of players in the same session, where Maguire’s avatar was greyed out with a red X and a brief note saying [Player Eliminated].
Gabriel immediately stood up from the sofa, striding over to An Wujiu to confirm the news of Maguire’s death.
“He’s really dead…” He seemed very excited, looking up to meet An Wujiu’s gaze.
In Gabriel’s eyes, An Wujiu saw a complex emotion of long-held hatred finally finding release.
“Do you hate him that much?” An Wujiu asked.
The joy on Gabriel’s face quickly faded, replaced by a slight gloom.
“If it were you, you’d hate him too.” He braced his hand on the small table next to Shen Ti’s chair and tossed the electronic cigarette onto it. “I have only one sister, and that bastard Maguire crippled her, paralyzing her lower body. She’s still in a private hospital now, waiting for a spinal implant surgery later this year.”
As he spoke, Gabriel couldn’t help but sigh. “If I’d known that bastard would lay a hand on her, I’d have crippled him when they first got together. He’s even got a hit-and-run case on him; the victim’s family is still looking for him.”
Gabriel let out a cold laugh. “Dying like this is too easy for him!”
An Wujiu hadn’t felt much about Maguire’s death initially, but now, hearing Gabriel’s story, he couldn’t help but sympathize with the man in front of him.
“Let’s not talk about this anymore. The moment I saw you two, I knew you had the skills to take him down.”
“Not exactly,” An Wujiu said softly. “He died at the hands of his own ally.”
“That’s because he was too stupid and arrogant.”
Gabriel’s room had a south-facing floor-to-ceiling window. An Wujiu hadn’t noticed it last time, but now, seeing the firelight outside, he realized it.
Through the window, he could see an empty lot in a residential area, like an abandoned sports field. People were burning something, the firelight illuminating the ground, where many red marks resembling symbols painted with some kind of dye could be seen.
The people in the firelight alternated between bowing and standing up to dance, resembling a primitive tribal ritual.
Contrasted with the towering holographic projections nearby, it was as if the gap between eras had merged into this land.
“What are they doing?” Shen Ti also noticed.
“Recently, some have been following cults,” Gabriel said, as if it were a common occurrence. “Yesterday, it was on the news. A man went crazy and set himself on fire in a square. Some say it was due to a brain infection from his prosthetics, while others claim he followed some bizarre teachings, burning himself for rebirth.”
He spoke disdainfully. “If he wants to burn himself, let him. There are too many crazy people. I’d rather they reduce their number without harming others.”
An Wujiu looked again at the people on the empty lot. The ashes swirled above the flames, reminding him of the instances he had been through.
“So, people really do believe in cults, even with such advanced technology.”
“Of course.” Gabriel shook his head. “Haven’t you noticed? The more advanced technology gets, the emptier people feel. Everyone’s been corroded by technology—not quite humans, not quite machines—not knowing what they’re living for or how to continue. When life loses its meaning, it’s either death or finding a new purpose.”
He looked at the people in the lot, feeling pity for them.
“In their emptiest moments, people are most susceptible to so-called beliefs.”
“Do gods have the time to save them?” Gabriel sneered. “More likely, they’re waiting for sacrifices, for these so-called false gods, evil gods, to resurrect.”
An Wujiu was silent, finding himself agreeing with Gabriel’s words.
He didn’t believe in the existence of gods. If they did exist, seeing the plight of their believers, they would remain unmoved.
So were they truly protecting these supplicants or merely using them?
After this conversation, Gabriel felt he had gone too far, picked up his electronic cigarette, took a puff, and exhaled a bluish-purple smoke.
Shen Ti waved away the smoke, which swirled around his head.
“Speaking of which, I asked around about your mother,” Gabriel said, gesturing for An Wujiu to sit down.
An Wujiu followed his lead, sitting next to Shen Ti, listening to Gabriel sigh, feeling a sense of foreboding.
“My mother… did something happen to her?” An Wujiu frowned.
Gabriel looked at his face, feeling sorry for the kid who, like himself, cared deeply for his family but was helpless, and felt a bit of pity.
“Are you sure you didn’t get it wrong?” He tried to get An Wujiu to recall carefully. “Was she really hospitalized? You’re not mistaken?”
An Wujiu had indeed doubted his memory.
But those scenes were too vivid, etched clearly in his mind. He could even recall the faint lines on his mother’s pale face lying on the hospital bed.
“I’m not sure.” An Wujiu faced his doubts directly.
Gabriel relaxed his tense brows, thought for a while, and seemed to choose his words carefully. “Here’s the thing. I had someone search all the hospitals in the city, big and small, public and private. There’s no one with the name you gave me.”
“Could she have used a different name?” Shen Ti asked An Wujiu.
“I tried other criteria, like age and ethnicity, but still didn’t find a woman matching your description. I found it strange, so I expanded the search to include all citizens, not just hospital patients.” Gabriel looked at An Wujiu, his expression becoming uneasy.
Seeing An Wujiu’s still calm face, he decided to tell him the truth.
Gabriel turned the ring on his middle finger, projecting a page for them to see.
“A friend helped me find this. Look, is this your mother?”
An Wujiu looked at the projection in front of him. It contained only a few lines of text and a photo at the top. The woman in the photo appeared to be about thirty years old, with deep black but unfocused eyes. Her dark hair was tied up at the back of her head, and her pale face was almost bloodless, but very beautiful.
This image differed somewhat from An Wujiu’s memory of his mother, who looked younger and brought back some unpleasant memories.
Suddenly, An Wujiu’s mind flashed with some never-before-seen images. The woman in the projection stood before him, setting fire to the house they were in. Her face was flushed with the firelight, extraordinarily beautiful. And he was burning in the flames, the fire almost reaching his throat. He felt like a witch hunted in the Middle Ages, bound to a stake, being burned alive.
Shen Ti noticed something was off with An Wujiu and placed his hand on the back of his hand. “Are you okay?”
An Wujiu snapped out of the unfamiliar memories, his chest rising and falling slightly, clearly unsettled.
Gabriel, seeing him like this, also found it strange but compared the present An Wujiu to the woman in the projection.
“If you two didn’t look so much alike, I wouldn’t suspect it was her.”
An Wujiu stared at the few lines on the projection. At least the name matched. But the woman suffered from a mental illness, not the illness he remembered, and she had died ten years ago by suicide.
Shen Ti frowned slightly. How could this be? He had considered many possibilities, but he had never thought that An Wujiu’s mother, whom he had been searching for, had been gone for ten years.
Turning to face An Wujiu, Shen Ti saw that his face remained calm and composed, but his eyes were fixed on the words in the projection, unwilling to accept the truth. However, there was no room for negotiation with this fact.
Gabriel also felt the heavy atmosphere. Being someone who cared deeply about his family, he was not good at offering comfort and believed that someone like An Wujiu didn’t need comforting either. So, he continued.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with your memory, so I can only tell you what I found.” The page turned to the next one. “This is what I discovered. This woman’s medical history shows she had delusional disorder, not a severe illness, but she was admitted to a mental hospital in the city. That hospital has since closed down, and not many records remain. In short, she committed suicide after being admitted.”
An Wujiu didn’t speak, quietly listening to the description.
“That’s all I could find about her past.”
The page displayed her marital status, which matched An Wujiu’s memory. She had an Asian husband, and they had a son and a daughter. But the records were incomplete. There was no ID or specific job information for her husband, including An Wujiu himself and their children.
An Wujiu thought, if he was indeed her son, then the sister who ran away from home in his memory must exist too. But did she really run away?
“If you’re her child…” Gabriel said, “You should have a citizen chip. Just scan it, and you’ll get a lot of information.”
“I don’t have one.” An Wujiu replied straightforwardly to facilitate Gabriel’s search.
Gabriel nodded and promised, “I’ll keep looking. This is indeed strange. You know, in my line of work, I often have conflicts with clients and need to check their backgrounds. There’s rarely anything like this.”
Shen Ti asked, “What do you mean?”
“People with chips can be traced through their ID, recording everything from birth to death. Privacy doesn’t exist anymore. A person is just a database. You could even find out what color underwear they’re wearing in bed.”
Gabriel spoke crudely but accurately, which was why An Wujiu found it odd.
“Seeing so little information is a first for me. It feels like it’s been deliberately hidden or deleted.”
Gabriel took another puff of his cigarette. “But there are still many places to check. That closed mental hospital is a good place to start. Don’t worry, you helped me with my enemy, so I’ll help you to the end.”
Just then, someone knocked on the door, calling for Gabriel, saying someone was causing trouble downstairs.
“That’s it for today.” Gabriel put down his cigarette and stood up. “You two can stay here tonight. I’ve prepared rooms for you. Someone will take you there shortly. I heard that the games in the sanctuary are tough. You must be tired, so relax and rest here.”
Despite looking like a mob boss, Gabriel was actually warm-hearted.
An Wujiu didn’t want to refuse his kindness and, considering that he and Shen Ti couldn’t stay at a hotel and would be disturbing Yang Erci if they went to his place now, Gabriel’s place was a good option.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Gabriel patted his shoulder and hurriedly left with his men waiting outside.
In less than a minute, the person Gabriel mentioned came. It was a young boy with freckles, reminding An Wujiu of Josh.
“Please follow me.”
The boy spoke quickly and enthusiastically, chatting about the best drinks and desserts as they rode the elevator. An Wujiu remained silent, with only Shen Ti responding occasionally.
When they reached the top floor, the boy handed them two wristbands. “Room 801 is yours, and you’ll stay in 802. If you need anything, just press the button on the wristband, and I’ll come right up to assist you.”
Shen Ti, who was usually aloof unless he initiated conversation, thought of An Wujiu. Although An Wujiu appeared cold, he was polite and easy to talk to. Considering him, Shen Ti didn’t ignore the service boy.
“Could you bring us some of tonight’s recommended dishes? I think I’ll be hungry later. Thank you.”
The boy smiled brightly, with a hint of redness on his ears. “You’re welcome. I’ll place your order right away.”
After the boy left and the elevator doors opened, Shen Ti turned to An Wujiu. “Do you want to stay with me, or would you prefer some time alone?”
He knew An Wujiu was in a bad mood and wanted to give him space.
An Wujiu looked up, the dim corridor lights softening his features. He wasn’t sure what he wanted.
But Shen Ti didn’t wait for an answer. Instead, he took An Wujiu’s wristband and put it in his own pocket.
“Didn’t I say? You need to actively choose me.”
He gently held An Wujiu’s hand, interlocking their fingers, then opened one of the room doors and led him inside.
The room was decorated in white tones. It wasn’t particularly cozy, but it was spacious and very clean.
“I’ll just stay with you, we don’t have to talk,” Shen Ti’s voice was gentle. “Tell me what you want, and also tell me what you don’t want me to do.”
He didn’t want to pretend to be a perfect lover in front of An Wujiu. He wasn’t, and he was afraid of making mistakes, so he needed An Wujiu’s guidance.
Seeing the focus and gentleness on Shen Ti’s face, An Wujiu suddenly thought of the first time he met him.
It’s hard to imagine that this person now completely belonged to him.
An Wujiu didn’t say anything, just reached out his hand and unbuttoned Shen Ti’s coat.
For a moment, Shen Ti felt his back tense up.
He didn’t realize it was nervousness.
But An Wujiu simply unbuttoned his coat, then reached out and hugged him.
He pressed his face against Shen Ti’s collarbone, wrapping his arms around his waist and back. He seemed to burrow into Shen Ti’s coat, escaping from everything outside.
At this moment, An Wujiu desperately needed the tight contact, the full scent, and the blended warmth to prove that the person in front of him was not an illusion.
Not a beautiful bubble that was given to him and then taken back.
Shen Ti’s heart softened instantly.
He discovered a strange fact.
In the past, he couldn’t understand why people felt sad about death.
Everyone has to die, sooner or later.
No one’s life was precious enough for Shen Ti to think it was worth lamenting.
But at this moment, he seemed to be able to feel the pain in An Wujiu’s heart, like a cold river slowly flowing from An Wujiu to him.
“So she’s already dead.” An Wujiu’s voice was very light, as if it would scatter with the wind.
When he learned that the mother he was searching for might already be dead, his mind went blank.
He didn’t understand why there was such a discrepancy between reality and memory, but it was true.
Because of his memory loss, even his sorrow felt disjointed and abrupt. He felt he should be more focused on finding out his own origins, why he lost his memory, rather than wallowing in this ten-year-delayed grief.
But no matter how dull he was, the pain still spread.
Shen Ti couldn’t help but raise his hand and gently stroke An Wujiu’s hair at the back of his head.
For some reason, Shen Ti thought of a time in one of his games when he met a mother with a child.
So he imitated the way that mother comforted her child, placing his palm on An Wujiu’s back and patting it gently.
This gave An Wujiu the feeling of being cared for for the first time.
But strangely, this feeling seemed very familiar, as if in his childhood, he had once received such protection.
However, he knew very well that even his memories were fake, let alone such elusive feelings.
An Wujiu raised his face and looked into Shen Ti’s green eyes.
Shen Ti’s left hand slid down to his waist, and naturally, he lowered his head and kissed An Wujiu’s lips lightly, like a dragonfly touching the water.
“You still have me.”
Shen Ti kissed him again.
This person, who once hated the world and only wanted to die quickly, was now gently making a promise to An Wujiu.
“I won’t leave you.”
For every Ko-fi received for a perticular novel, I will release a new chapter!
