Chapter 740: Epilogue (11)
Cruise Party
[Part 5]
On the way back, it was a silent journey.
The decaying and bloody smell died away with their steps, and the surroundings gradually changed from ruined and decadent to clean and bright.
The silence faded.
The sound of human voices gradually drifted over from afar.
One of them stood out particularly clearly.
“What did you just say…?!”
The voice didn’t sound very old, but seemed to be gritting its teeth. “Say it again if you dare!”
“I didn’t say anything,” a low voice replied calmly.
The voices became clearer bit by bit as they approached.
“Bah, you clearly said something!!!”
The observant anchors had already tacitly stepped aside, terrified of being caught in the crossfire of anger, leaving a large vacuum zone around Orange Candy and Hugo.
“…”
Suddenly, Hugo looked up, his gaze passing through the crowd toward their direction.
He stopped in his tracks and nodded slightly.
Although Orange Candy was still fuming, she also realized something and couldn’t help but turn her head along with him.
When she saw Wen Jianyan, her eyes immediately lit up. In just the blink of an eye, her previous anger was thrown entirely to the back of her mind.
“Over here!”
She jumped up and excitedly waved her hand to greet him.
Figures shuttled back and forth in the long corridor of the cruise ship.
A joyful call came from not far away.
It seemed to pull a person straight out of the deep, cold, and silent memories, back into the bright and noisy world of the living.
[Part 6]
The group walked up to the deck together.
As Orange Candy skipped and hopped forward, she looked down at her thin arms and legs with a disappointed face:
“Is there really no way for me to grow a little taller?”
“Yes, there is,” Wu Zhu answered.
“?!”
Hearing this, Orange Candy snapped her head up, looking at Wu Zhu with delight.
Wu Zhu: “Only at a normal speed.”
Orange Candy: “…”
She glared at Wu Zhu, her expression fierce and unpredictable.
Taking a deep breath, she turned her head to look at Wen Jianyan and suggested with a fake smile: “Are you really not going to dump him and find a new one?”
Wen Jianyan sighed and said tactfully: “No plans for that at the moment.”
Wu Zhu lowered his head and smiled slightly at Orange Candy.
Orange Candy: “………………”
Ahhhhhhh I really want to hit him!
They continued walking forward along the corridor. When they reached a corner, a figure suddenly walked through the wall, startling everyone and nearly triggering some stress responses.
“Sorry,” Tarot Master stopped his steps, quickly realizing that any supernatural event happening on this ship could potentially cause some psychological trauma, and apologized. “It’s just faster to walk this way.”
Qi Qian pinched the bridge of his nose, looking speechless: “You’ve adapted to your new identity quite quickly.”
Su Cheng hesitated for a moment and replied: “Thank you?”
Qi Qian: “I wasn’t complimenting you.”
Su Cheng: “…”
At this, Wen Jianyan sighed for the second time tonight. He looked at Su Cheng: “So, is there a specific reason you came out this time?”
Su Cheng: “Yeah. Did you bring the things I asked you to bring last time?”
Wen Jianyan: “Of course.”
“Let’s go, I’ll drop them off at the captain’s cabin for you,” he said.
[Part 7]
The last time Wen Jianyan and Su Cheng met wasn’t too long ago. The main purpose of that visit was to establish a connection between him and Yun Bilan with reality.
“…I almost couldn’t recognize this place.”
Wen Jianyan said as he looked around the captain’s cabin.
This place had almost zero similarities to his memories, making one almost suspect they had entered another parallel world.
“It seems you’ve made quite a few changes recently.”
“After all, I have nothing to do on this ship,” Su Cheng shrugged, sitting down in the chair behind the desk. “Want something to drink? Coffee? Tea?”
In the distance, No. 8’s yell came through the wall: “Don’t ask for coffee!! We’re out of beans!”
Su Cheng said, “Then tea it is, how about it?”
Wen Jianyan: “…Alright.”
Five minutes later, No. 8 walked in holding the tea.
Before leaving, he didn’t forget to instruct:
Wen Jianyan: “…Okay.”
Su Cheng: “What about you, how has your body been lately?”
“Much better,” Wen Jianyan replied after taking a sip of tea.
The price of being forgotten was not easily erased.
Sometimes he would lose consciousness for over ten hours straight, or suddenly inexplicably lose control of his limbs, just like falling into that heavy rain at the edge of the world once again.
However, as time passed, this condition began to gradually improve, and by now he was almost no different from a normal person.
He put down the teacup.
Beside where the cup landed was a small potted green plant.
That speck of lush greenery stood out exceptionally in the darkness, and Wen Jianyan’s gaze couldn’t help but linger on it for a few extra seconds.
Su Cheng followed his gaze and said, “It’s fake.”
There was no sun or moon on this sea, and corpses lay strewn beneath the surface. The heavy Yin energy made it impossible for any plants to survive here.
“I just felt there should be some plants in the room, that’s all,” he added.
Wen Jianyan lowered his eyes, using his fingertips to flick its paper leaves.
A few seconds later, he suddenly spoke:
“…Sorry.”
This sentence came abruptly.
Like a stone dropping into water, ripples spread out bit by bit, breeding silence.
Su Cheng looked up: “Why?”
Wen Jianyan looked at him through the steam, a layer of mist seeming to float in his eyes as well.
This time, there was no playful disguise, no embellishment of lies.
Only genuine, unreserved sadness.
“In the end, I still couldn’t bring you back to reality.” He took a deep breath and said word by word, “I’m sorry.”
He had made a promise.
And there was no longer any possibility of fulfilling it.
Su Cheng looked at him and shook his head.
“No need to apologize,” he said. “You’ve already done enough.”
Everyone wants to conquer heaven by half a piece, to break through ten thousand hardships with sheer strength. But the world doesn’t operate like that.
All endings have a price.
To reach this current moment, every single one of them had already done their utmost.
“Besides, I’m quite comfortable on this ship.”
Just as he said this, Wu Zhu walked in from outside.
“Done,” he said.
Su Cheng paused and added: “Oh, right, there’s also this.”
To be able to surf the internet on this ship.
Who would have thought this day would come!
[Part 8]
Qi Qian, Hugo, and the others continued heading towards the deck, while Wen Jianyan and Wu Zhu followed Su Cheng together to the captain’s cabin.
Su Cheng: “You can just put the things here…”
He glanced at Wen Jianyan’s empty hands and his voice involuntarily paused.
However, before his question could be voiced, the shadow under Wu Zhu’s feet suddenly grew. Like some bizarre derivative, it surfaced from the ground and dispersed in the next second.
In merely a moment, a massive box appeared out of thin air on that empty spot.
Standing empty-handed to the side, Wen Jianyan looked quite relaxed: “Take a look, is there anything else missing?”
Su Cheng: “…”
He swept a glance inside the box and roughly counted: “There shouldn’t be anything else.”
“Oh, right,” Wen Jianyan poked Wu Zhu. “And the internet, don’t forget.”
Even so, the duration it could be maintained each time was still limited.
Precisely because the difficulty was indeed outrageously high, Qi Qian had seemed so astonished when he heard about this, to the point of tolerating Wen Jianyan’s exorbitant demands.
Watching Wu Zhu’s retreating back, Su Cheng hesitated to speak.
Finally, after he left, he turned to look at Wen Jianyan: “Um, is he… well, always this easy to talk to?”
Wen Jianyan froze.
He stared at Su Cheng intently, suddenly realizing something.
…Right.
When he introduced Wu Zhu to the other guild members.
Su Cheng didn’t seem to be present at the time.
Like whether he has ulterior motives, huge schemes…
Wen Jianyan: “……………………”
Well, that wasn’t exactly wrong.
He gave Su Cheng a very complicated look.
Although a thousand sails had passed, things had changed, and everything had undergone earth-shattering changes since they first met, there were always some things that wouldn’t change.
For instance… this so-called “ally” identity hadn’t fooled a single person.
Except Su Cheng.
As well as his overly keen perception in certain aspects.
The entire process was wrong, but the conclusion was completely right.
“…” Sensing Wen Jianyan’s thoughtful gaze, Su Cheng couldn’t help but pause. “What’s wrong?”
Wen Jianyan hesitated, thinking deeply, trying to explain all this to Su Cheng in a simple and clear way without causing too much shock. After deliberating for half a minute, he slowly spoke: “Do you remember what I said after we left the Decai Center, when you suggested we form a team together later?”
Su Cheng was momentarily stunned, digging out that long-ago memory from the depths of his mind.
“Uh… I remember?”
Although a long time had passed, he still remembered the general content.
How did Wen Jianyan answer back then?
Right.
He seemed to have made some joke about a future partner or something.
“Now is already the future of that time,” Wen Jianyan said.
Wen Jianyan looked at him.
“…”
Su Cheng stared at him.
The world seemed to fall into a standstill at this instant.
Time froze.
All the understanding he had built before began to dissolve along with it, and then rapidly vanished at a speed visible to the naked eye.
And so, Wen Jianyan watched helplessly as Su Cheng’s expression cracked bit by bit.
“Wait, wait, wait wait wait…”
Su Cheng murmured.
He took two steps back, not even noticing that his body had passed right through the desk.
“Could it be… could it be…”
“Mm,” Wen Jianyan replied.
“Since when did you two…”
“Formally get together? That actually wasn’t too long ago.”
“…Meet?”
“Oh, meet. That was very early on. We met in the first instance.”
Su Cheng was struck by lightning: “…Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait.”
His whole person froze, seeming to recall something: “…After leaving the hospital… you said you made out passionately with an evil spirit…”
Wen Jianyan’s eyes shifted for a second: “…Ahaha.”
He indeed hadn’t lied.
“In the residential compound…” Su Cheng pressed his temples, seemingly having received an immense shock, his eyes in a daze. “And, and during that time you disappeared in the Changsheng Building…”
Wen Jianyan: “…”
How is this any different from a public execution?!
Su Cheng: “…”
His eyes zoned out for a moment.
In this instant, every single inexplicable “Lovers” card he had drawn before seemed to have a new explanation.
Looking at Wen Jianyan not far away, at this very moment, Su Cheng had only one thought in his mind.
You really did find a ghost partner here?!!!
