Are you testing me?
Xie Chen's voice wasn't loud, but it was like a boulder thrown into stagnant water, creating not ripples, but towering waves. The previously restrained oppressive aura around him erupted like a ferocious beast released from its seal! The pale blue energy patterns in the air shone brightly, emitting a piercing shriek, and the gravity in the entire room seemed to double instantly!
Su Nian groaned, her knees buckling as if she were about to collapse to the ground from the force. She braced herself against the back of the sofa with one hand, her knuckles turning white from the effort, barely managing to stay upright. Breathing became extremely difficult, as if a thousand-pound weight was pressing down on her chest.
She raised her head, stubbornly meeting Xie Chen's eyes, which were churning with a storm of destruction. Fear washed over her like ice water, but she knew she couldn't back down now. Backing down meant that her previous questioning had been nothing but a bluff, and that she would completely lose this fleeting opportunity that could potentially break the deadlock.
"Isn't that...?" she said with difficulty, each word seemingly squeezed out from between her teeth, carrying an indomitable tenacity. "You give me tea from the world of fantasy and play music from the world of e-sports... You're using 'them' to test me, to test my reaction to the 'past'... At the same time, you're also using 'my' reaction to suppress 'their' echoes, aren't you?"
She accurately exposed the dual motives behind his actions!
Xie Chen's pupils contracted sharply. He took a step forward, and as he did, Su Nian felt the ground beneath her feet tremble. He looked down at her, his eyes as cold as ice, yet beneath that ice burned a fury powerful enough to incinerate everything.
"You think you can guess my thoughts with a little cleverness?" He reached out his hand, not to touch, but to shake it from a distance!
"Ugh!" Su Nian felt as if an invisible hand was gripping her neck, and a strong sense of suffocation instantly overwhelmed her, her vision turning black at the edges. This was a suppression on a purely energy level, even more despairing than physical chains.
[Host! Vital signs are rapidly deteriorating! Warning! Warning!] 088 issued a piercing alarm in her mind, [Activate emergency defense protocol! Burn points! Hold on!]
A faint but real warm current surged from Su Nian's body, barely resisting the deadly pressure and allowing her to maintain a sliver of clarity.
At this critical juncture of life and death, another unexpected event occurs!
Xie Chen's body swayed almost imperceptibly, and the dark aura surrounding him suddenly became chaotic and stagnant for a moment. His cold, murderous gaze blurred for an extremely brief instant, as if another image was trying to cover it—a cold loneliness belonging to a Celestial Lord, carrying a trace of barely perceptible pain when seeing someone important injured...?
Although the anomaly lasted for less than a fraction of a second before being suppressed by the more violent darkness, the invisible force gripping Su Nian's neck loosened slightly as a result!
Now!
Using all her remaining strength, Su Nian seized this fleeting opportunity to squeeze out broken but clear words from her almost crushed throat:
“Look…you…can’t suppress…'them'…and…can’t deceive…'yourself'!”
These words, like the last key, forcefully pried open that tightly closed door!
"Shut up!" Xie Chen roared, his voice no longer just cold anger, but mixed with a hint of panic, almost pathetic, as if his secret had been exposed! He abruptly withdrew that invisible power, as if he had touched some taboo.
Su Nian collapsed onto the soft carpet, exhausted, clutching her neck and coughing violently, gasping for the precious air, her vision blurring in waves.
Xie Chen stood rooted to the spot, his chest heaving slightly. He no longer looked at Su Nian, but instead looked down at his hands, his eyes filled with scrutiny, disgust, and… a trace of confusion he himself hadn't even noticed. He could clearly feel the “impurities” within him that should have been completely devoured and digested, stirring restlessly in a way he couldn't fully comprehend. This internal resistance was especially pronounced when he showed murderous intent or caused harm to Su Nian.
This was completely different from what he had expected. By devouring the fragments, he gained power, but he also introduced uncontrollable variables. These variables all seemed to be closely connected to the woman before him.
A long silence filled the room, leaving only Su Nian's gradually calming breathing and the low hum of the energy field.
After a long while, Xie Chen finally raised his head again. The storm in his eyes seemed to have subsided somewhat, but it was replaced by a deeper and more complex emotion, like a quagmire of countless contradictory feelings mixed together.
He walked up to Su Nian and squatted down. This action no longer carried the oppressive air of superiority, but instead added a strange...equality?
He reached out and gently brushed his fingertips across the non-existent bruise on Su Nian's neck—his power was energy-based and left no physical trace, but the pain of near death was real.
His fingertips were still icy cold, but his movements carried a strange...uncomfortable gentleness.
"Does it hurt?" he asked, his voice low and hoarse.
Su Nian froze, looking at him warily, not understanding what he was planning to do now.
“It seems ‘they’ don’t like me hurting you.” He said to himself, a twisted, self-deprecating smile curving his lips. “How ironic.” He had searched for ten years, devoured everything, only to discover that beneath the foundations of the kingdom he had built lay countless time bombs named “Su Nian.”
Su Nian's heart pounded like a drum. She carefully observed his expression and tentatively spoke softly, "It's not that 'they' don't like... Xie Chen, it's you... it's 'you' who don't like it."
She emphasized the word "you" again.
Xie Chen paused in his touch of her neck. He raised his eyes and looked at her intently, his gaze seemingly trying to pierce through her skin and reach the depths of her soul.
“Do you know?” he said slowly, his tone eerily calm, “For the past ten years, I’ve imagined countless scenarios after I find you. Breaking your wings, so you can only depend on me for survival; or turning you into a mindless puppet, to stay by my side forever… These are the most direct and effective methods.”
Su Nian's heart sank.
“But,” he changed the subject, his eyes revealing an almost obsessive, chilling curiosity, “would what you get then still be ‘you’? The ‘Su Nian’ who would smile at me, get angry at me, and secretly plot to escape?”
He reached out, not to touch her, but to point to the photos on the surrounding walls. "I have countless images of you, but they are all dead. I want the living, the real, the complete you."
His gaze refocused on Su Nian's face, which was churning with madness, possessiveness, and a twisted loneliness that yearned to be understood.
“Since ‘they’ are restless because of you, since ‘I’ am fractured because of you…” His voice carried a decisive, chilling tone, “Then, Su Nian, come and help me.”
Su Nian was stunned: "...Help you?"
“Help me, ‘appease’ them.” A strange light flickered in Xie Chen’s eyes. “Help me, make these noisy ‘echoes’ completely a part of ‘me’. Or…” He leaned closer to her, his icy breath brushing against her earlobe, like the most intimate whisper between lovers, yet carrying an invitation from hell, “Help me find a way to completely ‘eliminate’ them. No matter the outcome, in the end, only the one ‘me’ and the one ‘you’ will remain.”
He straightened up and looked down at her, who was sitting on the ground, as if an emperor were issuing a decree:
"Prove your 'sincerity.' Not with pale words, but with actions. Become my 'accomplice,' and together we'll complete this final... piece of the soul puzzle."
Su Nian sat on the ground, looking up at the man in front of her who had gone completely mad, her whole body feeling cold.
He gave her a choice, a choice far more terrifying and profound than mere imprisonment. He wanted her to actively participate in this "organization" or "cleansing" of his soul, to personally decide the ultimate fate of those "sides" who had once been connected to her.
Become his accomplice...
This means she will no longer be a passive caged bird, but will actively step into the core of his twisted mental world. This is undoubtedly dangerous, placing herself on the edge of an even more unpredictable abyss. But conversely, it also means she has gained a certain degree of "initiative," the opportunity to understand him more deeply, and even... influence the final outcome.
Should we go with the flow, feign cooperation, and seek an opportunity to escape or retaliate? Or...?
In Su Nian's mind, the look in the Immortal Lord's eyes when he destroyed his cultivation for her, the moment when the vampire prince handed her the ring in the morning light, the tyrant's focused gaze as he placed the crown on her head at the coronation ceremony... those heart-stirring, bittersweet, and real moments flashed uncontrollably.
Eliminate them?
Her heart felt as if it were being gripped tightly by an invisible hand, sending a sharp pain through her.
Looking into Xie Chen's eyes, which were filled with madness and loneliness and awaiting an answer, a vague idea gradually became clear to her.
Perhaps the real solution is neither to succumb to his madness nor to completely destroy the fragments, but rather...
She took a deep breath, suppressing the dryness in her throat and the turmoil in her heart, met his gaze, and asked softly:
"So, which one would you like me to 'appease' first?"
Instead of agreeing directly, she threw the question back at her, and at the same time, she cautiously took the first step towards becoming an "accomplice".
Xie Chen looked at her, and deep in his eyes, something seemed to loosen very slightly.
(End of Chapter 155)
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