Chapter 013 Li Xiao's Independent Side Story - Heartless (Part 3)

09

—So, when exactly does a ghost become a ghost?

Ghost thought that when he cut off his mother's flesh with his own hands and stuffed it into his mouth, he was no longer a human being.

10

At that time, everyone who was alive felt hungry, so hungry that they were dizzy and could die at any moment.

The young ghost doesn't know what death is; all he sees is people being carried away after they've fallen, and then they never come back.

The old woman at the end of the village, Aunt Li next door, the little girl under the locust tree, and the little girl's younger brother, Little Tiger... so many people, they just disappeared like that.

Mother said that Father is dead.

But his situation is different from theirs.

The ghost neither saw the father fall down nor saw him being moved away.

But if Mother says someone is dead, then they must be dead.

As Mother said this, she was bending down to cook soup.

A pair of eyes were fogged up by the steam.

—Perhaps it's because my father died, and my mother is heartbroken.

The ghost didn't think much of it at first, but seeing his mother suffering, he also started to feel sad and wanted to cry.

The soup was bubbling away, and the aroma made his mouth water.

It's so delicious!

The ghost wished it could poke a hole in its belly so that the soup would keep flowing down its throat.

As he was enjoying his meal, he suddenly caught a glimpse of his mother sitting at the table, lost in thought.

The act of eating paused involuntarily.

"Mother?" the ghost called out cautiously, afraid that the other person would suddenly collapse to the ground and be carried away, never to return.

His mother smiled at him: "Eat more, eat more. Don't waste your father's...good intentions."

But Mother, what exactly does Father's good intention mean?

[Our greatest wish is for you to live. Your survival is my and your father's greatest desire.]

[Mother drinks soup, Mother lives, Mother doesn't cry.]

Mother nodded in agreement, smiling on the surface, but tears welled up in her eyes.

As the ghost watched, he suddenly lost his taste buds, but his mother told him to eat, so he opened his mouth wide and buried his head to eat.

He would do whatever his mother said.

So when his mother asked him to eat the other person, he did as she asked.

My hands just kept shaking and wouldn't obey me.

After trying many times, I could only close my eyes and make a random cut in the end.

I cooked a big pot of soup using my mother's method.

Everything went smoothly, and he drank a lot of soup... a thick, flavorful soup.

Until the tongue touches something soft.

He suddenly felt nauseous, his teeth chattered, and then he vomited it all out.

Acidic fluid mixed with tears and snot kept flowing down my face.

At that time, he thought he would never feel hungry again in his life.

But he was wrong.

When I opened my eyes again, all I felt was hunger... and an unbearable, endless hunger.

11

The cat asked, "What happened to those soups afterward?"

The ghost replied, "I ate it all, completely clean, not a single bit left."

The cat paused for a moment, then decided it was best not to ask for more details.

The ghost then said, "You are the only person besides my mother who has ever said that to me."

The cat coughed and said, "Even if you say that, I wouldn't feel honored."

Then, the cat suddenly thought of a question: Could it be that all these days, the other party has been treating him like a mother?

Just as I was about to correct the other person's misconception, someone spoke first.

The ghost asked, "We'll never see each other again, right? Saying you'd wait for me to come back was a lie, wasn't it?"

Outside the cave, the rain poured down relentlessly.

Cats hate rainy days, hate getting wet, and hate being seen looking disheveled.

But……

"You will die in the rain."

The ghost's voice drifted quietly over: "But I wish you were alive."

After a moment of silence, the cat let out a cold snort: "Live? Do you want me to live, or do you want someone to stay with you in this godforsaken place for the rest of their life?"

The cat coldly observed the ghost, its own bluffing demeanor making it seem pathetic to itself.

He knew he was simply afraid—afraid of what was about to happen. Afraid of facing death while fully conscious.

For this reason, the cat once went so far as to beg the ghost to eat it.

However, he can no longer escape now.

The cat suffers from its own cowardice, and then resents the ghost who showed mercy.

He could have retained his last shred of dignity and died as peacefully as possible, but...

"Everything is ruined because of you. You were a burden to my parents when you were alive, and now you're still causing trouble for me even after you're dead. Please, get out of here, get out now!"

The ghost stood there speechlessly for a long while before turning around and disappearing into the depths of the cave.

The cat won, but felt no joy or comfort whatsoever. It even had an urge to call out to its opponent, but it resisted. It simply leaned against the cold cave wall and let out a dejected sigh.

—The faint rumble of thunder could already be heard.

How much longer...?

The cat closed its eyes, fantasizing about dying in its sleep.

However, the ghost returned shortly afterward.

12

The cat originally didn't intend to pay any attention to the other party.

But he smelled blood, a smell that made him suddenly open his eyes, and then he saw a ghost standing two steps away.

The flash of lightning at the cave entrance illuminated the ghost's gaunt face, turning it deathly pale, and also revealed what it was clutching in its hand—a beating heart. Blood stained the ghost's hands, with some dripping through its fingers and seeping into the soil.

The cat stared in disbelief at everything before it, finally managing to find its voice: "What are you doing now?"

The ghost tilted its head, chuckled, and said, "I hope you live."

13

Ghost doesn't know whether he has followed his mother's wishes or not.

He wasn't dead, but he certainly didn't seem to be alive either.

Having wandered in the mountains for many years, besides food, this was probably the question that the ghost thought about most.

But he couldn't figure it out; the only person who could give him the answer was no longer there.

Those who passed by would run away as soon as they saw him; those who couldn't run away either became stupid or wet themselves, so he really had no reference value.

Until one day, the ghost met the talking cat.

The cat said something that only his mother had ever said to him.

The ghost then thought, "This must be the other person."

If I were to live like you, I'd rather be dead.

When the ghost heard the cat say that, he was overjoyed. He thought he was alive, just as his mother had hoped.

"I am really happy with the cat, just as happy as when my mother was still alive."

"I am male."

"That's not what I meant. Besides, my mother is very beautiful."

"...Are you implying that I'm ugly?"

The ghost laughed: "You talk like a little girl, and you're so clean like a little girl. But you really are the most beautiful cat I've ever seen."

The cat snorted: "Well, you could say that—"

"Although I've only ever seen one cat, you."

"..."

After a while, the ghost asked, "Are you leaving?"

The cat nodded; he needed to leave before the first bolt of lightning struck.

"Will you come back?" the ghost asked again.

The cat stopped in its tracks, its chest filled with the sound of the other's heart beating heavily.

"Wait for me to come back," said the cat.

The ghost stared at him, forcing a smile—the same horribly ugly expression he always had… but you get used to it. It even started to look somewhat pleasing to the eye.

"This is unbelievable," he thought.

...

The cat always remembered the way the ghost nodded and said he would wait for him to come back, and the warmth that welled up in its heart at that moment.

For a long time afterward, the cat kept recalling all of this, trying to figure out if the ghost had lied to him.

However, all my efforts were in vain.

Because cats have no way to verify their own ideas.

Because he could no longer find the ghost.

...

end

Many years later, in a small town at the foot of Hidden Mountain.

In the bustling market, a group of children were playing and chasing each other across a small bridge paved with stone slabs.

The last child wasn't paying attention and bumped into an oncoming pedestrian, almost falling to the ground.

Fortunately, someone pulled him up. He fell face-first into someone's chest.

I could hear a strong heartbeat in my ear.

The impact on his eardrums was so strong that it completely stunned him.

Are you alright?

The child looked up, and the young man's concerned expression suddenly caught his eye, causing the child to pause slightly.

This person was far too handsome, more handsome than any man or woman he had ever seen. And for some reason, he felt a sense of familiarity, as if he had seen him somewhere before, though that was clearly impossible.

"Thank...thank you, brother." The child awkwardly thanked him, still standing there blankly, staring at the young man as if trying to stare a flower into his face.

The young man smiled slightly, and the child's heart began to pound inexplicably. He didn't know why, but he felt a little embarrassed and couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Um—" He mustered up his courage to speak to the young man, something he had never done before, "Big brother, you're not from around here, are you? Is there something you need to do here?"

He realized his words were abrupt, but the young man still smiled at him, his smile somewhat resembling that of a demon in a painting.

—But do demons really exist in this world?

While the child was lost in thought, he suddenly heard the other person say, "I'm here to find someone and return something."

"Oh." The child nodded, seemingly understanding. "What kind of person was he?"

He thought he might be able to help with this.

But the young man said he had already found it.

"Oh." The child couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. He felt extremely useless.

"However, that person doesn't seem to remember me. So—"

The young man paused slightly, his emerald eyes gazing intently at the child: "I plan to stay here permanently, until he remembers me. What do you think?"

"Huh?" The child didn't understand why the young man would ask him about this, but suddenly felt an indescribable happiness welling up in his heart.

-fin-