sunrise

The starry sky is dazzling, and so are the people under the moon.

Ying Yungui immediately regretted asking that question.

I'd been on guard for half the night, and while I looked fine, I was clearly not in good spirits. Shi Youchen had just woken up, and his consciousness might not even be fully clear. Talking in this situation was truly exhausting.

Just as he was about to say something to expose the truth, Shi Youchen spoke up: "I want to see if the rumors are true."

Ying Yungui was puzzled: "What rumors?"

Shi Youchen looked towards the mountaintop in the middle of the dark blue night sky, where it glowed white. He narrowed his eyes and said, "If I disrespect the gods, will I be punished?"

"God?" Ying Yungui twitched his lips in disdain and sneered, "I'm an atheist and don't believe in that stuff." He then asked, "So you came here just to pursue your faith?"

He just said it casually. After all, Shi Youchen didn't look like a devout believer.

Sure enough, Shi Youchen glanced at him and then looked into the distance: "I have no faith, and I will never have it in the future." Only those who want to live hard need faith.

"?" Ying Yungui was not stupid. He immediately thought of a possibility and asked tentatively, "You are not here for someone, are you?"

Upon hearing this, Shi Youchen actually thought seriously for a while: "You can say that."

Ying Yungui stood up suddenly: "I thought you were here to investigate something important, but it turns out you were here for someone else. Friends? Family? Or..."

"Lu Quezhi." These three words put an abrupt end to Ying Yungui's sudden dissatisfaction.

"I don't have any family or friends anymore."

Shi Youchen didn't think his relationship with Ying Yungui was particularly close. At most, they were just ordinary colleagues who were close to each other.

But perhaps because the surroundings were too cold and quiet, and the snow-capped mountains were somewhat solemn, he had no intention of concealing or lying.

The person next to him sat down again and tightened his collar.

"Oh." Ying Yungui pretended not to hear the light words that followed.

Not everyone is suitable to be comforted with warm words, and besides, those eyes don't look like they need comfort.

"I didn't deliberately try to find out about his affairs." Ying Yungui didn't consider himself a noble person. In the past, he was ruthless to those who betrayed the association. However, he didn't think that a psychic of Lu Quezhi's level would cause any huge losses, and naturally he didn't think there was any need to pursue any matter after his death.

Shi Youchen considered it for a moment, and out of respect for the deceased's privacy, he said selectively, "The last spiritual invasion in him was caused by himself. He asked me to do something for him."

Ying Yungui raised his eyebrows: "Did he admit it to you?"

"He didn't say it explicitly, but he can never hide his emotions." The implication is that it can be seen.

"Oh, knowing that you'll discover the truth sooner or later, I still need your help." His gaze lingered on Shi Youchen's tightly pursed lips, "You really continue to help him hide it."

"Do you think he has the character to plan those events?"

Shi Youchen knew that Ying Yungui was not stupid, and he was unable to explain too much. This one sentence was enough.

I have been with Lu Quezhi for some time, and anyone with a discerning eye can see that he is a simple man whose emotions are clearly visible on his face.

"It's not like that, so that's why you came to District 10."

The District 10 mental invasion document that Lin Zhouze had first shown Shi Youchen was released not long ago, and Ying Yungui naturally made the connection: "But those events happened several years ago."

"Coincidentally, before our mission was upgraded, a vicious supernatural incident occurred in a shopping mall in County D, District 10, and it was also a mental invasion." Shi Youchen said.

Ying Yungui seemed to be lost in thought: "D County? Which mall?"

Shi Youchen tried to recall it, but failed: "I can't remember clearly. I'll ask Yan Zhiyuan in the morning."

Ying Yungui hummed, then broke the silence after a moment, asking, "So what are you doing in the Snow Mountain?"

"Just looking for a place to relax." Shi Youchen curled up his legs and buried his head between his knees. "I'll investigate after I relax. I'm not in the mood right now."

Ying Yungui looked at his raised hair and was in a good mood: "What about the mission?"

"Wait until you've finished relaxing." A muffled voice came out, "Let's take it one step at a time. You're so nagging."

The last three words were so light that they were almost blown away by the wind.

Fortunately, the wind was blowing towards Ying Yungui.

Shi Youchen insisted on taking over the night watch, and Ying Yungui no longer had the heart to sleep. When the two were arguing with each other, Jiang Yu came out.

"I'll guard it, you all go to sleep." His voice sounded very comfortable.

Ying Yungui looked at Jiang Yu's clear eyes, then glanced at Shi Youchen's eyelids which were struggling, and decisively pulled his arm into the tent.

...

After barely lying next to Shi Youchen and pretending to sleep for two hours, Ying Yungui quietly opened his eyes. He even tried to keep his breathing quiet for fear of waking the sleeping person.

He really couldn't sleep. As soon as he closed his eyes, he couldn't help but think of the look on Shi Youchen's face when he looked at the snow-capped mountains. There was an emotion in those eyes that he couldn't understand, like yearning, like desire.

He had seen a similar expression on Lu Zhiqi's face before, but at that time he had just successfully advanced to Level 6, so he interpreted that expression as envy.

Lu Zhiqi was envious of himself, but what about Youchen at that time? What was he envious of?

He couldn't figure it out, so he gave up and left the tent. He found that there seemed to be many more branches under the campfire, and the flames were red as if they had absorbed blood.

Jiang Yu was sitting there cross-legged with his eyes closed.

Ying Yungui rubbed his wrists and moved closer to the campfire. He and Jiang Yu had only met a few times, so he felt there was no need to communicate.

Jiang Yu spoke at this time: "What is your mission level?" He opened his eyes, but there was no emotion in his eyes.

Ying Yungui tilted his head, stretched his neck, and asked him, "Why are you so nervous?"

Jiang Yu was very clear about the identity of the person in front of him, and naturally knew that there was no need to hide anything from him: "Number 7098."

"Just as I guessed." Hearing the person's identity, Ying Yungui stopped what he was doing and started fiddling with the branches outside the campfire. "It must be a natural one."

He didn't seem to want Jiang Yu's exact answer, and said, "It doesn't matter. What I can tell you is that the cross-region mission is not the main purpose of our trip."

"So you don't have to worry about Luo Zhao."

Ying Yungui threw a small branch into the fire, tilted his head and looked at Jiang Yu with a playful look.

"Don't you just want to know how dangerous the mission is? Will it involve Luo Zhao who is traveling with us?"

"You like that girl?"

Jiang Yu didn't get angry after being seen through, and replied: "I am her bodyguard, and it is my duty to ensure her safety."

"Bodyguard." Ying Yungui repeated, "She treats you as her childhood friend, so you should treat her as your employer, tsk tsk."

Jiang Yu's expression finally showed a slight change. He unconsciously pinched his knuckles and said with pursed lips, "Protecting her and liking her, it's not a relationship that can only exist one or the other."

"You're quite frank." Ying Yungui laughed and extended his hand to Jiang Yu: "Let's get to know each other again. No. 7000, Level 6 Telekinesis Natural System."

Jiang Yu shook his hand back: "Number 7098, Level 4 Wood and Nature."

Ying Yungui asked, "Why do you always stay with her like this?"

Jiang Yu replied: "The only advantage of being a psychic that I accept is that I can protect her." Missions, points, and status are not important. No matter how high you climb in the association, it is meaningless if you can't protect the people you want to protect.

"A romantic." Ying Yungui clapped his hands symbolically, "Then you must protect her well. She is the only child of the Luo family."

Jiang Yu hummed, glanced at the time and said, "It's almost dawn."

With a "thump", the small stool that Ying Yungui had been holding fell to the ground. He laughed and walked towards the tent where Shi Youchen was sleeping.

...

Shi Youchen was shaken awake. He opened his eyes in a daze and saw Ying Yungui's approaching face and his white teeth that could not be ignored.

"You should be thankful that I'm not in a bad mood when I wake up." The beautiful woman who just woke up spoke in a low and sexy voice.

Ying Yungui said with a joking smile, "Then I'd rather be beaten up by you than have you miss such a rare moment."

“?” Shi Youchen adjusted his hair, not understanding what he meant.

"Shi Youchen, let's go watch the sunrise."

Jiang Yuwan declined Ying Yungui's perfunctory invitation, saying that she would stay in the camp to wait for Luo Zhao and Li Sen to wake up.

So Master Ying, who had not slept all night but was still full of energy, pulled Doctor Shi, who had slept for half the night and was still yawning, and moved up the mountain in the last bit of darkness.

Ying Yungui chose a spot on the east side with a wide view, turned around and asked Shi Youchen, who was still squinting, "Are you afraid of heights?"

"Ah?" Shi Youchen was like a nearsighted person at this time. He couldn't see clearly and couldn't hear clearly.

So Ying Yungui leaned close to his ear and asked again: "Are you afraid of heights?"

The exhaled breath swept across the earlobe with a hint of coolness, which was both cold and itchy, and Shi Youchen shrank his neck.

He shook his head.

Then, in the blink of an eye, he and Ying Yungui sat side by side on the thick and hard branch.

"Go to sleep, I promise you won't fall." Seeing that the man couldn't even fully wake up like this, Ying Yungui said helplessly.

Sometimes Youchen's eyelids were like leaves covered with dew, swaying in mid-air.

He opened and closed his eyes like this for a while, and after an unknown amount of time, he heard a joyful yet restrained voice in his ears: "Here it comes."

Being too close, Ying Yungui's voice penetrated his left ear and awakened his dormant brain.

Then Shi Youchen's eyelashes trembled slightly, and he just saw the orange-red in the middle of the scroll tearing apart the moon white and green.

A round moon suddenly rose into the sky, driving away the stars and the waning moon.

The rosy glow dispelled the last bit of fatigue in the dark pupils, and then poured itself into it.

Ying Yungui whispered in his ear, "Now both the day and the night here have seen you."