Searching for the truth

Xixi raised her head, her fingertips gently tracing Gu Tinglan's tense jawline: "Gu Tinglan, you've been distracted a lot lately." She paused, "Do you... know something?"

Gu Tinglan's eyelashes trembled imperceptibly. He grasped Xixi's restless fingers, placed them on his lips and kissed them. "I'm thinking about my college entrance exam choices."

"You're lying." Xixi poked his chest, "You've even received your admission letter."

"You dare to hide it from me now, don't you?"

She spoke arrogantly, and Gu Tinglan raised an eyebrow, "When have I ever been afraid of you?"

Xixi didn't care whether he was joking or not. Anyway, this tone reminded her of his attitude when they first met. She slapped him on the chest in dissatisfaction, "That's right, Master Gu is afraid of nothing."

He started to act sarcastic.

Although the force was not enough to make him groan, in order to calm her down, Gu Tinglan still cried out, feeling the pain to the extreme.

Unexpectedly, this caused more dissatisfaction in Xixi. She frowned and sighed, "Why are you pretending? I didn't use much strength."

Gu Tinglan chuckled softly, and instead of fighting with her, he suddenly picked her up sideways. Xixi exclaimed and subconsciously hugged his neck, "What are you doing!"

"I suddenly remembered," Gu Tinglan carried her to the bedroom, "I said before that I can change the way to make you feel good——"

Gu Tinglan paused here deliberately, lowered his eyes, and gave Xixi, who looked confused in his arms, a wicked smile. He deliberately teased, "Do you want to continue?"

"No, no, no." Xixi's face turned red and she struggled to get off.

"Gu Tinglan!" Xixi suddenly stopped struggling after realizing something, pretending to be calm and staring into his eyes. "You, you changed the subject!"

Gu Tinglan put her on the bed, his hands supporting her sides, his nose almost touching hers, "So what do you want to hear?"

Xixi opened her mouth, but suddenly lost her words. She had indeed sensed something—those fragmented dreams, the vague call of the Tree of Life, the strange attitude of her people… but when it came to actually asking, she felt inexplicably timid.

"I..." Her fingers unconsciously tugged at the bed sheet, "I just feel like... I seem to have forgotten something very important."

Gu Tinglan's eyes darkened. He leaned over and kissed her lips. The kiss was gentle and lingering, until Xixi was so dizzy that she forgot the question just now.

"Are you hungry?" He asked softly, leaning against her forehead. "Shall I cook noodles for you?"

Xixi blinked and suddenly smiled: "Add two poached eggs."

"good."

"It would be better to add a chicken drumstick."

"OK."

As Gu Tinglan stood up, he caught a glimpse of a figure flashing by the window—it was Xi Yin. She was standing on the rooftop of the opposite building, looking at this side expressionlessly. In the blink of an eye, there was nothing there, but he knew he was not mistaken.

So, is Xi Yin using Xi Xi purely for his own benefit or is he using her with some emotional attachment?

"I don't want to sleep with you tonight." Xixi said vaguely while eating a chicken leg.

Gu Tinglan was interrupted by her voice. He frowned slightly when he received the message, but immediately recovered his composure and was in a teasing mood. "What? Throw it away after use?"

"Am I that kind of person?" Xixi retorted subconsciously, "Besides, you didn't let me use it."

"Yes, yes, I'm just serving you unilaterally," Gu Tinglan continued to tease, "Just tell me if you enjoyed it or not?"

This sentence brought back Xixi's memories of last night, and the heat in her body rushed to her face.

She didn't understand why Gu Tinglan had changed so much, as he had always avoided talking about these things before.

"Unhappy!" Xixi said angrily.

"Really?" Gu Tinglan didn't get angry. Instead, he looked reflective and said seriously, "Then I'll study it more."

"It's your first time after all, so please bear with me."

He no longer avoided the topic like before, but directly fought back, leaving Xixi dumbfounded.

Ahhh, Xixi really thinks that he has completely let himself go now. Was she so annoying before because of her outspokenness?

She doesn't care, that's all in the past. As long as Gu Tinglan likes her very much now, that's enough.

wrong……

It seems like it was led astray.

"I don't care. I'm not going to sleep with you tonight." Xixi immediately brought the topic back on track.

"Okay." Gu Tinglan nodded and didn't argue with her any further.

The next morning.

Gu Tinglan opened Xixi's door, and the quilt that was usually curled up was now spread flat on the bed.

really.

I knew Xixi would not let him brush aside the doubts with such vague words.

From the moment she mentioned sleeping separately, Gu Tinglan vaguely sensed her intention, but he just casually tested her determination and had no intention of stopping her.

Even if she doesn't come back by then, he has nothing to regret, because that is her own decision, and he only needs to provide help behind the scenes.

But, I still feel a little unwilling.

Why did she leave without saying anything?

If you think about it, it's because he didn't want to tell her anything, so he deserves it.

Gu Tinglan couldn't say those things in person, but she also had the right to know her origins. Letting her discover it herself should be the best solution.

On the other side, Xixi had already arrived in the demon world.

It is called the demon world, but in fact there is no grass growing in it. There is only one piece of pure land, which is where the tree of life is. It can barely be considered the home of the succubus clan.

Because succubi go to the human world when they are born and probably will never come back, this place is not a real home for them.

Xixi stood beneath the Tree of Life, gazing up at the towering ancient tree. Dark purple vines entwined its thick trunk, and translucent threads dangled from its canopy, shimmering faintly blue in the moonlight.

She reached out and touched the trunk, and the pulse beneath the bark seemed to resonate somewhere in her heart.

"You feel it, don't you?"

Xi Yin's voice came from behind. Xi Xi turned around and saw her standing three steps away. The moonlight cast a cold glow on her long black hair and devil horns.

"Xi Yin..." Xixi retracted her hand, "How did you know I was here?"

Xi Yin walked forward slowly, and gently stroked a scar on the tree trunk with his fingertips: "Because you want to know the truth."

The bark glowed faintly at Xi Yin's touch, revealing countless tiny runes. Xi Xi suddenly felt a sharp pain in her chest. She clearly had no heart, but the pain was worse than having it ripped out.

"We, the succubus clan, have no parents," Xi Yin's voice was as light as a sigh, "all of our clan members were born from the fruit of the Tree of Life. But only you..."

The runes on the tree trunk suddenly began to flow, converging into a swirling pattern. Sissi stared at the pattern, feeling strangely familiar—but she couldn't remember where she had seen it before.

"You were not conceived by the Tree of Life," Xi Yin put his hand on the trunk, "Instead, you conceived the Tree of Life."

Xixi's breathing hitched.

"What do you mean? If I remember correctly, I'm a succubus, right?" Xixi was so panicked that she was babbling nonsense. "The Tree of Life is still a tree after all."

"How can I give birth to a tree?"

Xi Yin: “…”

She looked at the panicked child in front of her, and understood that she was having trouble accepting this absurd truth, so her tone became less serious.

"All its nutrients are provided by your heart." Although she couldn't bear to hurt Xixi, there were some things that could not be avoided.

Xi Yin still told the truth.

"Impossible?" Xixi obviously couldn't accept this statement. It was too absurd.

How is that possible?

"But the succubus clan doesn't have a heart, right?" Xixi asked this question subconsciously, but looking at Xiyin's expression, she became more and more uncertain.

She seemed to have never asked Xi Yin whether he had a heart, nor had she had any contact with other members of the tribe. So how did she know that no one had a heart?

Xixi gradually had an answer in her heart, but she still looked at Xiyin pleadingly, hoping that she would give a negative answer.

However, Xixi just lowered her head and uttered a few cold words:

"You're the only one who doesn't have one."

This completely shattered Xixi's fantasy.

Whether she had a heart or not was not what she cared about most. The only thing she cared about was those tribesmen who had looked at her with strange eyes before.

"Then... why do my people exclude me?" Xixi asked the question tremblingly, and she clenched her fists.

"The reason your tribe rejects you is because..." Xi Yin dug her fingertips deep into the bark, "Each generation of succubus takes turns providing nutrients for your heart, and your heart... in turn provides nutrients for the Tree of Life."

“It goes on and on.”

Xixi stumbled back a step, instinctively clutching her chest. She had never felt a beating there since she was born.

"Then why, my heart would be at the tree of life."

Xi Yin turned around, her eyes glowing a strange purple in the moonlight: "Because this is a curse." She took Xixi's hand and pressed it against the tree trunk, "Feel it."

In an instant, countless images flooded into Xixi's mind——

The withered branches of the Tree of Life... The tribesmen fell one after another... A group of girls with demonic horns were nailed to strange wooden stakes, blood flowing down the stakes...

Just like the tribesmen I had seen in the basement before, they were nailed to wooden stakes and covered in blood.

Xixi pulled her hand back abruptly, gasping for breath. "Since the Tree of Life can see these images, why don't you go and save it?"

"Save?" Xi Yin lamented her naivety. "How can we save her? It's hard to even stand up and speak in front of the exorcist."

"Why? Why me? Why choose me?" Xixi was a little overwhelmed. It didn't matter much to her whether she had a heart or not, but so many of her tribesmen had died because of not having a heart.

This was something she couldn't stand.

Xixi suddenly understood the source of the fear in the eyes of her people. They didn't hate her—

It is the fear of the coming sacrifice.

No, then Lin Mo captured those girls to provide her with nutrition? Why did he do that?