Chapter 42

Afterwards, in the process of approaching Bifang almost instinctively, Fu Huanyu also thought about what he really wanted.

Is he grateful to Bifang?

It doesn't seem likely. If that were all, a generous gift would be enough.

So he is curious about Bifang?

There is some truth to that.

Want to be friends?

He seemed vaguely dissatisfied with such a relationship.

He couldn't help but let his eyes fall on this person. Whenever Bifang appeared in his sight, he would think of the scorching fire that night, the person holding his hand, and his hug.

What kind of person is this?

Why did he appear at the fire scene that day? Why did he dare to break in?

How old is he and what does he usually do?

Wasn't he scared that day?

Many questions arose in Fu Huanyu's mind, as well as an indescribable emotion.

The emotions were surging and surging, so vivid that Fu Huanyu had never felt before in the past seventeen years.

He wanted to meet Bifang;

He thought that if he finished his work early, he might have some free time to go to the night snack stall;

He found Bifang a bit introverted and shy, and that shy look made him feel strange.

He wanted to hear Bifang talk more about herself, and also wanted to see Bifang smile more. When he smiled, it was shy and gentle;

He began to look forward to the next day. He thought Bifang was very cute.

He was curious about how Bifang would react if he provided work resources for Shanhai Entertainment. Would she be surprised or touched? If touched, would she gaze into his eyes longer?

He wanted to touch Bifang's cheek and listen to his voice more closely...

He even began to imagine what it would feel like to kiss him.

The suspension bridge effect will not last for such a long time.

Even as time goes by, my mood becomes more and more subtle, and what I want in my heart seems to be increasing.

Fu Huanyu suddenly understood. No matter what the reason was for Bifang's appearance in the fire scene that night, and what that rescue meant to Bifang,

At least for Fu Huanyu, Bifang appeared at the most special moment in his life.

At the moment when Fu Huanyu was about to be completely swallowed by the darkness, this person suddenly grabbed him and pulled him back to the edge of the cliff like a piece of dry wood and rotten wood.

Fu Huanyu was shocked, incredulous, and also remembered it deeply.

Remembering Bifang's panting while running, his strength, his body temperature, and that hand——

Fu Huanyu will never forget the hand that brought him new life.

I never want to let go in my life.

*

"The reason I didn't tell you right away wasn't because I didn't trust you, nor was it because I was afraid my dad would get hurt." Fu Huanyu walked all the way to the door of the room with Bifang and stopped.

As they walked up, they were stepping on bloodstains, and it was not until this moment that Bifang finally saw the snake demon lying at the door, looking miserable.

In the huge room, a middle-aged man who looked similar to Fu Huanyu was leaning against the wall, his body tied up.

He looked at Bifang in a panic, and when his eyes passed by Fu Huanyu, there was a hint of evasion and guilt in his eyes.

It must be Fu Yan.

Bifang was speechless.

Fu Huanyu said calmly, "It's just that there are too many things, and I want to sort them out by myself first."

"I don't know when he started doing this, because I started living on campus in high school, and I rarely went back to this house since then. The number of times we could see each other in a year was not many. But I probably remember that he started to make me feel very strange about three years ago."

"He suddenly fired the nanny, saying he could take care of himself. Sometimes when I come home, I'll find that it seems that there were visitors before, and there were even quite a few of them. But since my mother passed away, he has had almost no social activities outside of work, let alone friends who can come to the house for parties. He suddenly locked some rooms on the second floor, and occasionally I would hear movement in there, but he said it was because of mice in the house. A man also suddenly appeared next to him-"

The man gave Fu Huanyu a very strange feeling, neither human nor alien.

In addition, Fu Yan's eyes and mental state also made Fu Huanyu feel that something was wrong.

His father's eyes, which had been filled with despair for more than ten years, suddenly lit up.

But that kind of light made Fu Huanyu feel a little uncomfortable.

It wasn't until today that he understood why he felt uncomfortable.

Because that is the light of madness.

This man is crazy.

He easily believed the instigation of a monster, thinking that he could recreate a wife by spending money.

Bifang looked back at the snake demon lying at the door and fell silent.

At this moment, he could almost feel the hatred of the man beside him from the two wounds on the snake demon's abdomen.

He thought that Huan Yu seemed to be indifferent and calm in facing everything, but in his heart, until today, he might still be hoping that one day his father would come to his senses.

However, the fact is that his desperate father not only did not stand up again, but even sank into the quagmire on his own initiative.

Hang out with monsters with ulterior motives, become a gourmet, and hold a spiritual dinner.

Fu Yan ruined his life.

How much hatred must Huan Yu have felt at that moment?

Bifang pursed her lips and looked up at Fu Huanyu.

Fu Huanyu felt his gaze and looked over as well.

The two looked at each other.

Bifang hugged him silently. After a moment, he whispered, "...But even if you realize that the people around your father are monsters, you have no idea whether this snake monster is a first-generation monster or a second-generation monster. You shouldn't confront him with the Qiongqi Horn."

The Qiongqi Horn only poses a fatal threat to second-generation monsters. If that snake monster was a first-generation monster, Fu Huanyu would have been dead at this moment.

Bifang was deeply frightened when he thought of this.

Of course, he didn't want to blame Fu Huanyu too much. He knew that this man had endured too much... a lot of emotions, a lot of impulses, and it was not so easy to digest.

He just said solemnly: "Don't ever do something like this again, okay?"

He looked at Fu Huanyu and asked, "You chose to be with me, not just for me to worry about your safety all day long, right?"

Fu Huanyu's eyes moved slightly.

He said hoarsely, "I'm sorry."

He hugged Bifang tightly again and said in a very low voice: "I'm sorry."

Bifang was moved.

This one sentence is enough.

It's enough to just make sure that this man won't do anything dangerous alone again.

Bifang took a deep breath, patted Fu Huanyu on the back, and said softly, "I'll go take a look at that thing."

"That thing" refers to the ball of flesh that is still rolling back and forth in the corner of the room at this moment.

Fu Huanyu whispered, "Yeah."

Bifang walked into the room and came in front of Rouqiu.

The ball of flesh was about as high as his knees, rolling and jumping mechanically.

Although Fu Yan had just learned the truth and had gone crazy because of it, at this moment, when Bifang half-knelt in front of the meatball, he seemed to have a little hope again, just like a traveler who was about to die of thirst in the desert, looking at the oasis in the distance, praying that it was not just a mirage.

Bifang placed his hand on the ball of flesh.

Fu Huanyu walked up behind him and said, "My dad said that the snake demon found my mom's soul and put it in here. He also seemed to have spent money to buy a soul core. I don't know if it's true or not."

Bifang frowned and sighed, "There is a spirit core in here."

Hearing this, Fu Huanyu was stunned. Fu Yan immediately shouted excitedly: "What about Huihui? Where is Huihui's soul? Is Huihui's soul also in there? That snake demon didn't lie to me?!"

Bifang raised his hand suddenly and exerted spiritual power at the same time. Suddenly, both Fu Huanyu and Fu Yan saw with their own eyes that Bifang pulled something out of the flesh ball——

It was like a ghost.

But it's a dog.

Fu Yan was stunned.

His face was blank, as if he didn't understand anything and stared at the scene blankly.

After the puppy was pulled out, it fell to the ground, lying there trembling, with its tail between its legs, looking at them fearfully and whimpering softly.

Fu Huanyu already understood and lowered his eyes.

Bifang said, "...You only have half a spirit core, which is why the physical body formation is so slow. That's why they're willing to sell it to you. Normally, a complete and effective spirit core would be so quickly fought over among the monsters themselves that it wouldn't sell at all, no matter how high the price."

"As for the soul, except for evil spirits, almost all human souls generally only exist for a week after the death of the physical body. After a week, the soul will enter the cycle of reincarnation. Even evil spirits only exist for a year at most."

Fu Yan only knew the snake demon three years ago, but his wife passed away seventeen years ago.

How could she possibly find her soul?

Of course, they are all lies.

Fu Yan opened his eyes wide and lowered his head with a blank expression.

He stared blankly at the floor, as if his soul was shattered all over again.

After a moment, tears began to fall one by one.

Will he never be able to find his wife, the woman he loves most in this lifetime?

Will he live and die alone?

Will there be no hope in his world anymore?

"Woo..."

Fu Yan's body began to tremble.

He whimpered.

The slight sobs slowly turned into loud cries.

He banged his head against the wall again and again, just like the night seventeen years ago when he saw his wife's body, heartbroken.

"Huihui... Woo... Huihui..."

The only sound in the entire room was Fu Yan's crying.

However, from beginning to end, he never even glanced at his son who was standing not far away.

He could not see Fu Huanyu's silence, nor could he see Fu Huanyu's indifference.

He only cried out his despair.

It has been like this for seventeen years, and it is still like this at this moment.

Amidst Fu Yan's desperate cries, Fu Huanyu and Bifang stood still for a moment.

Fu Huanyu finally moved. He said to Bifang, "Let's go out first—"

Before he could finish his words, he was stunned because Bifang took a step and walked straight to Fu Yan, then stretched out a finger and placed it on Fu Yan's brow.

Fu Yan didn't notice his movements at all, and continued to cry like a wail, his cheeks pale, his eyes red, and his whole body trembling.

But after Bifang pressed against his brows and poured spiritual power into him, Fu Yan trembled in just one second, opened his eyes wide, and stopped crying suddenly.

He blinked blankly, and a remaining tear fell from his eye.

Then, he heard the young man standing in front of him slowly ask: "Have you calmed down, Uncle Fu?"

Fu Yan looked up in shock and looked at him.

Bifang sighed: "It seems that he has calmed down."

After saying this, Bifang took two steps back and returned to Fu Huanyu's side.

Fu Huanyu looked at him in a daze, and Fu Yan also looked at him in a daze. Neither of them understood what he meant.

But in that silent, delicate, and quiet second——

Fu Yan trembled, as if he realized something.

Bifang was standing next to Fu Huanyu. He seemed to be guiding Fu Yan's gaze... to look at Fu Huanyu, his biological son.

Feeling his gaze, Fu Huanyu subconsciously turned his head.

The father and son met each other's eyes and paused.

The air stagnated.

At this moment, Fu Yan was a little dazed.

Perhaps it was the effect of spiritual power, he shuddered and suddenly became clear-headed again, taking in the entire scene in front of him.

The furniture in the huge room had already been moved away by him.

The ball of meat that he had been feeding for three years finally stopped its mechanical rolling. Beside it, there was only the soul of a puppy, trembling in fear.

The room was covered in blood, and a snake demon was lying unconscious at the door.

He himself was tied up.

——The rope made of gauze curtains was tied to him by his son in order to calm him down.

With anger, with disappointment, with restraint.

Fu Yan's eyes gradually widened.

He looked at the unrecognizable scene before him, his lips trembling slightly.

etc……

How could he forget again?

How could he forget again?

It's not that he hasn't been sober in these seventeen years.

When he regained consciousness, he found that he was the only one left in the empty house. His son had grown up to be handsome and tall, but he was no longer as lively and cute as he was when he was a child. He was now only cold and gloomy.

While Fu Yan felt remorse and guilt, he also thought about how he should cheer up and treat Huan Yu well. How could he abandon his own son and live like a walking corpse...

However, no matter how sincere the feelings were, once they are gone, they are gone forever.

I don’t know when my son walked so far away, and it seems like there is no way to catch up with him.

After so many years, he has long forgotten how to be a father.

How can he naturally call his son and ask him to come home more often? How can he naturally smile at his son when he comes home?

Fu Yan won’t do that anymore.

He felt frustrated and self-loathing, and fell back into the abyss of despair.

And when he met the snake demon, he fell into madness again.

…

But at this moment, under the influence of spiritual power, Fu Yan's mind became clear again.

He felt cold all over.

How could he repeat the same mistake?

He lost his wife, but he still has a son.

The son he had abandoned for more than ten years.

Fu Yan looked at Fu Huanyu, tears streaming down his face again, and he said guiltily, "Huanyu, I..."

Fu Huanyu suddenly spoke up and said, "You will never remember anything related to me, right?"

Fu Yan froze.

Fu Huanyu said calmly, "It's the same with the father-son photos that were never taken in the past, and some other things... as well."

Fu Yan looked at him panickedly.

"I once thought, if you only love me, why did you give birth to me with me? Was it just for the sake of reproducing the next generation, like completing a mission? Then what am I?"

Fu Yan's face changed drastically, and he said, "No, I—"

But now, Fu Huanyu seemed to no longer want to listen to any of his difficulties and interrupted, "I have been thinking about this question for more than ten years and have come up with various answers. But when I re-examined this question recently, I suddenly thought of-"

"My mother certainly didn't expect that things between you and me would turn out like this."

Fu Yan stiffened.

His wife.

His mother.

The woman gave birth to their child with love.

And the painting she created was exactly what she wanted them to be.

At that time, she had never thought that this father and son would become like this after leaving her, right?

"Mom loves me, so no matter what your feelings for me are, at least to her, I'm not the result of completing a mission," Fu Huanyu said softly, "That's enough."

In this way, his existence has meaning.

As for what Fu Yan's love for his wife was and what it had become, Fu Huanyu no longer wanted to care.

That was the question that Fu Yan spent his entire life thinking about.

Fu Yan was stunned.

The first time he heard Fu Huanyu say this, it was like being hit hard. At this moment, when he recalled the lover in his memory, a great fear rose in his chest.

Yes, his eyes and his soul were always on Huihui.

He knew very well how much Huihui loved Huan Yu.

Fu Yan always remembered Huihui's happy smile when she looked at the father and son.

But after Huihui passed away, he actually...

He is such a father and has treated Huan Yu like this for seventeen years. How can he be worthy of Huihui?

What kind of love is this?

Fu Yan's mind went blank. At that moment, he was completely confused and panicked.

Fu Huanyu took a deep breath, closed his eyes, opened them again, and exhaled slowly.

He actually did not expect Fu Yan to find the answers to these questions within his lifetime.

The real world is not a fairy tale, and not all stories have a happy ending.

Maybe from now on Fu Yan will have a sudden realization and change himself. Maybe after tonight, after a brief period of clarity, he will fall back into the madness of year after year.

——But being able to say these words, Fu Huanyu felt that he seemed to have put an end to the past seventeen years.

Bifang took his hand again and wrapped it up.

Fu Huanyu's hands had cool fingertips but warm palms.

If it is wrapped like this, it won’t take long for the man’s hands to be warmed up completely, right?

Bifang also sighed and said, "Uncle, if you calm down, let's talk about the dinner."

There is another important matter that needs their urgent resolution.

*

Su Xuan said goodbye to Gu Shuo temporarily, hurried to meet up with Yan Yue and others, and headed to their destination.

Of course, their cars were moving separately to avoid attracting too much attention.

Su Xuan contacted Xia Yan and Bifang, and confirmed that the convener of the spiritual power dinner was indeed Fu Yan. After they were all safe, they started a video call.

In the video, Bifang said, "Fu Yan contacted ten people for today's dinner. The remaining eight are unknown to him and the snake demon. He only sent invitations through friends, but their circle always likes to be mysterious, so they currently don't have their contact information or identities. Rushing to find out would only alert the enemy, so it's better to just wait and see."

Su Xuan and Yan Yue thought about it for a moment and quickly agreed.

Bifang continued, "The spiritual power dinner is scheduled to start at 7 o'clock. A woman named Xiao Ye will arrive half an hour early. She should be the stepmother of Xia Yan's friend."

"There are three monsters imprisoned in a room on the second floor of Fu Yan's villa. Huan Yu and I have already untied them and released them from the cage, but I have asked them to remain hidden there until you arrive. Furthermore, the snake monster has already announced tonight's food, so we still need the monster's cooperation."

Bi Fang: "Fu Yan's mood has stabilized. We will let him see Xiao Ye later and ask him to claim illness. Huan Yu and I will host tonight's spiritual power dinner."

Su Xuan immediately said, "It's not safe for the two of you alone, so I can sneak in too. Yan Yue happens to have a wizard from his bureau with him, so we can ask him to help us change our appearance."

After all, they have been traveling all over the world and are now somewhat famous. It would not be good if these gourmets could recognize them.

Hearing that Yan Yue brought a sorcerer, Bifang showed a relieved expression.

But he obviously had something left to say, and he hesitated and mumbled.

Su Xuan was puzzled: "What's wrong? If you have any problems, just tell us. There are so many people here, and problems can be solved easily."

At this time, Fu Huanyu's voice sounded outside the screen.

"My dad said that their spiritual power dinners have some unwritten rules. The gourmets who attend the banquet are always in pairs of men and women. Of the eighteen gourmets originally scheduled for tonight, nine are men and nine are women."

Before Su Xuan, Yan Yue, and Xia Yan could react, they saw Bi Fang blushing and saying awkwardly, "Those gourmets don't know exactly how many people will be at the dinner. Fu Yan and the others never mentioned it, so if you want to come, Brother Su, you can add to the number, but... you have to find a companion. Either a female companion or a male companion... and then one of you will have to dress as a woman."

Su Xuan: “…………”

Everyone else: “…………”

Su Xuan said in a daze: "Ah, then, what about you and Fu Huanyu?"

Bifang closed his eyes. "...I'm dressing up as a woman. Actually, I was still thinking about how to dress more like a woman until just now."

After all, he is very tall and has a big frame.

So when he heard that Yan Yue brought a sorcerer, he felt relieved.

Su Xuan was stunned. He looked at Yan Yue in a daze: "Then I..."

Yan Yue shuddered and said quickly, "We didn't bring any female comrades with us on this mission, so we definitely can't call them on at short notice!"

"..." Su Xuan, "Then you..."

Yan Yue: "No, I can't. I'm the commander-in-chief of the operation, so I definitely can't go in with you. But there's a comrade in our other car you've met, named Xiao Gu. He's very brave and very proactive, and he's definitely willing to go in with you!"

After separating from Su Xuan, the man felt a little uneasy, so he followed him out and got into their other car.

At this moment, five cars were holding this impromptu video conference together, and Yan Yue felt that the person must have heard it.

He said righteously, "As for which of you two will dress up as a woman, you can decide for yourselves."

Su Xuan: “…………”