If...if he left again—

He didn't really want to continue to regret.

The snow outside the window was getting thicker, and the rustling sound of pink tentacles crawling on the window frame could be clearly heard.

Lou Xun suddenly felt a sharp pain in his temple.

The sound did not come from his ears, but vibrated directly inside his skull, like countless ice spikes scraping repeatedly along the grooves of his brain.

When Severus let out a thrilling laugh, he actually saw flickering patches of dirty color on his retina—that was clearly the embodiment of pollution from the sound.

"It seems that you finally remembered?"

Following these words, a crack suddenly appeared in Lou Xun's vision.

He saw himself inserting a dagger into Bai Di's heart under the burning black sun, while the other party's bloody fingers gently stroked his cheek.

The touch in the memory was incredibly hot, but in reality, Bai Di's wrist, which was held by him, was as cold as a corpse.

"Well... only a little..."

Severus' voice suddenly split into three, with the bottom layer mixed with the teeth-grinding sound of bones rubbing against each other.

The frost on the window glass was twisting and deforming, gradually forming countless prying eyes.

"But I'm sure everyone will remember—"

Lou Xun's knuckles made a crisp sound of dislocation.

He found himself rubbing the throbbing veins in Bai Di's wrist with his thumb, an action that was terribly familiar.

Certain scenes flashed back in his mind: in different time and space, he repeatedly clasped this wrist, sometimes kissing it, sometimes breaking it.

"You are me..."

Bai Di suddenly trembled.

Only then did Lou Xun realize that his nails had dug into the other person's skin, oozing tiny beads of blood.

Bai Di's pupils suddenly contracted.

Those mother-of-pearl blood beads were slowly sliding down his wrist, and the moment they touched the floor, they bounced like living things.

What was even more terrifying was that he saw his eldest brother's reflection distorted on the surface of the blood bead. Countless overlapping faces were appearing on that familiar face, and each one was staring at him with the weird smile that his eldest brother Lou Xun had.

But who is that?

Is this the Severus mentioned by the person who suddenly came in?

"Brother...?"

Bai Di's voice was stuck in his throat.

The shadows on the wall were completely out of control. The tentacle-like projections were multiplying wildly. Some of them even crawled up the wall to the ceiling, interweaving into some kind of blasphemous totem in the light and shadow cast by the kerosene lamp.

He smelled the scent of rust mixed with the fishy odor of the deep sea - the smell was too familiar, just like the stench of death emanating from the sticky liquid soaked with countless corpses in the bunker submerged in a sea of ​​blood.

Several fragmented images flashed across Bai Di’s retina—a pale arm stretched out from a sea of ​​blood, with Lou Xun’s face on each finger.

"wrong......"

Bai Di staggered back half a step, his temple throbbing.

A terrifying realization was forming in his mind: Was the person standing in front of him really Lou Xun?

Or... has something else already been stuffed into that body?

He thought of the deformed creatures in the bunker that could imitate human voices. They were the same, maintaining their human form on the surface, but something was wriggling beneath their skin...

No! Then where is his elder brother?

His big brother is so awesome!!

Impossible, absolutely impossible!!

Blore suddenly lowered his voice and called out Bai Di.

Bai Di followed his gaze and found that his shadow on the floor was dissolving, and strange bubbles were coming out as if it had been splashed with strong acid.

What’s even more terrifying is that miniature human faces keep emerging from the bubbles, all of which are expressions of Lou Xun at different times.

"We've all been in contact with the sea of ​​blood..."

Bai Di felt his thoughts becoming confused, his memory like muddied water.

"Why is it only Big Brother...?"

At this moment, Lou Xun suddenly raised his hand and pressed his left eye.

Golden slime oozed from between his fingers, dripping onto the floor with a corrosive sizzling sound.

When he took his hand away, the eye turned completely black, but a miniature, rotating galaxy appeared in the place of the pupil.

"Bai Di."

Three different voices were squeezed out of Lou Xun's throat at the same time, the bottom one had a distinct inhuman tremor.

"You finally found out?"

The tentacles outside the window suddenly grew longer, and the pink tips penetrated the glass and danced wildly in the room.

Lou Xun's face emerged from each tentacle, and they all said in unison, "We are all polluted—just in different ways."

Severus' laughter suddenly turned into a high-frequency noise, and all the glassware in the tavern exploded at the same time.

The glass fragments suspended in the air reflected Lou Xun's current appearance - his irises were melting, and golden liquid metal flowed down his cheeks.

"Look."

Countless voices sang in his head.

"We even fester in the same way."

It's been too long.

So long that time itself became torture.

It was so long that he almost forgot who he was, but at a certain moment he was pierced by a familiar look and a familiar words, and was forced to remember the reincarnations that should have been forgotten.

——He has seen civilization collapse in flames, stars go out in the void, and countless similar faces float and sink and disappear in the long river of time.

And every time, Bai Di would leave.

Every time.

Lou Xun, or rather Severus, let out a low laugh from his throat, and he stroked Bai Di's wrist almost morbidly, the pulse under his fingertips beating so vividly, so... fragile.

If he breaks it, will he never be able to walk again?

This thought coiled around him like a poisonous snake, causing Lou Xun's breathing to become tight.

Outside the window, pink tentacles had covered the entire wall, and the sticky, wriggling sound seeped into the tavern, like some malicious whispers.

"Do you think this is just a coincidence?"

Severus' voice was filled with a twisted smile.

"Memories are returning, the world is changing, the shadows of the past are awakening... and you are finally going crazy, right?"

Lou Xun slowly raised his eyes, and there was an almost inhuman coldness in his dark pupils.

"crazy?"

He whispered, and his other hand touched the back of Bai Di's neck, like a beast grasping its prey's vital spot.

"No, I just...finally figured something out."

——This time, he will use his own way to make sure Bai Di can never leave again.