133 The Outpost (4)
So it wasn't human after all.
Three-hour break.
Not a penny more, not a penny less.
When Qin Fu'an woke up, a young boy who collected garbage was still sitting downstairs, battling with the piles of discarded trash in the room, while a lot of trash that could be sold at any time was already laid out beside him.
Qin Fu'an stood at the top of the stairs, looking down at the scene quietly.
The little cloud in the fourth-tier dungeon has most of its past memories, unlike the pitiful creature in the beginner dungeon who keeps reincarnating and having its memories wiped away.
Both were fully aware of this, but neither had ever personally exposed it.
Qin Fu'an slowly walked down the stairs, the noise of which startled Xie Yunhuai, who was dozing off after working in the garbage heap.
He silently looked up, the dim light casting large swaths of light onto his exceptionally slender and elegant neck skin. It wasn't the deathly pale white of Xie Zeyuan's neck, but rather like flawless, slightly cool white jade, silently enticing one to subconsciously reach out and touch it.
So Qin Fu'an's already condescending gaze naturally fell on that large expanse of exposed skin, dark and unfathomable. After several seconds, he gently shifted his gaze away.
He walked downstairs, bypassed Xie Yunhuai who was sitting there, and reached out like a stranger, pushing open the door and leaving.
Just as his fingertips were about to touch the doorknob, the ghost behind him, who had been silent all along, finally spoke in a low voice: "Wait."
"What's wrong?" Qin Fu'an stopped what he was doing, turned around, and looked at the other person with a faint smile in his green eyes.
Xie Yunhuai stood up, smiled awkwardly at him, and then asked, "Are you going to work at the Outpost for the Dead?"
Qin Fu'an nodded.
"Then can I be your first customer?" Xie Yunhuai's eyes brightened slightly, and his youthful and innocent face was filled with a hint of expectation. Few people could truly refuse him.
Qin Fu'an had even less reason to refuse.
He nodded again and affirmed, "Of course, it's my honor."
"What kind of package do you want to send and to whom?" he asked, his light green eyes gazing at Xie Yunhuai with quiet gentleness.
Even knowing that it was just a little cloud in disguise, no matter what the little cloud looked like, it was still his little cloud.
Extended, disheveled, timid, flamboyant...
Every single one of them belongs to Qin Fu'an.
Xie Yunhuai didn't answer immediately. He just patted his pocket and said to him, "You'll find out when the time comes, Mr. Courier. Let me go to the Outpost with you. You probably don't have anything with you that can scan and pay right now."
Qin Fu'an looked at him thoughtfully.
Xie Yunhuai pursed her lips slightly and looked back at him without flinching.
The next second, Qin Fu'an smiled and nodded: "Okay, come with me."
His fingers finally touched the doorknob again, and he pressed down, opening the door.
The night wind smelled fishy and cold. Qin Fu'an raised his hand and zipped up his deliveryman's uniform all the way, then looked back at the boy who had followed him out.
Wearing only a thin short-sleeved shirt, she probably didn't expect to suddenly have to go out. When the wind blew on her, she shivered slightly.
Qin Fu'an: "..."
Is it a self-inflicted injury or a honey trap?
He couldn't tell the difference, but he ate them all.
He deftly slid the zipper back down, took off his fairly thick work jacket that was still warm from his body heat, and stretched out his long arms, easily enveloping the slender boy in warmth.
"Put your clothes on properly, don't catch a cold." As he withdrew his hand, he also patted the other person's soft, fluffy head.
Xie Yunhuai lowered his head and dressed silently. After zipping himself up completely into the large, warm coat, a very faint smile flashed in his downcast eyes.
They were just pretending not to know me.
They even pretended to admit their mistake.
Qin Fu'an is a liar.
Every time we meet, I'm deceiving myself. This person is truly despicable, like the most beautiful flower blooming in the mud, tempting others to pick it, only to find themselves sinking into the swamp.
No one can escape the swamp's embrace.
Xie Yunhuai also seemed unable to do so.
All he could do was hold onto the flower tightly before being swallowed by the swamp.
Even if he were swallowed up, he would make sure that flower slept with him forever.
This was a destiny predetermined from the first glance; neither he nor the flower could escape it.
After closing the door, Xie Yunhuai turned around and followed Qin Fu'an.
Two figures walked side by side on a dark street in the dead of night, their shadows stretched long by the pale moonlight.
Xie Yunhuai gently tugged at Qin Fu'an's sleeve.
He doesn't like the two of them to be too far apart, especially when it's just the two of them; it makes him feel neglected and uncomfortable.
But he didn't expect that Qin Fu'an would grab his hand and hold it in a clasp. The warmth of the other's palm was constantly transmitted to him. Xie Yunhuai quickly glanced at the two hands that were clasped together, and the emotions that had been silently brewing in his heart just now vanished completely.
"I heard that the couriers at the escape station are always changing." Xie Yunhuai, who was being led by the hand, spoke up to the person beside him after walking for a while: "Most of them are dead."
He stopped speaking, turned his head to look at Qin Fu'an, and asked softly, "What about you? Will you die here too?"
In his memory, there were many, many lifetimes of Qin Fu'an. Each lifetime was different, but the Qin Fu'an he encountered in each lifetime was similar. He didn't seem to change much, as if... only he himself was forever immersed in the cycle of reincarnation.
Qin Fu'an merely found an anchor point in a certain cycle of reincarnation, then entered his world, attempting to disrupt his cycle and take him out.
Xie Yunhuai was waiting for Qin Fu'an even before Qin Fu'an appeared in this world.
Xie Yunhuai guarded those memories, and also that small, dilapidated building, waiting for Qin Fu'an for a very, very long time.
Finally, the first human appeared, but it wasn't Qin Fu'an, so Xie Yunhuai coldly witnessed his death.
Soon, he encountered a second person, a human woman. While she was wandering the streets and being rejected or teased by other strange creatures, Xie Yunhuai asked her a question. In exchange, he offered to let her stay in his small, dilapidated building for a few days.
Xie Yunhuai asked her: Do you know a human named Qin Fu'an?
But the human named Zhao Yi shook her head and smiled bitterly after recalling the events, saying that she knew many, many humans, but had never heard of the name Qin Fu'an, let alone seen a pair of strange green eyes.
Like the previous human, Xie Yunhuai quietly witnessed her death.
Then came the third, the fourth... and so on, I don't know how many.
Some of them would find the small, dilapidated building based on clues left by Zhao Yi. Xie Yunhuai never refused their requests, with the only condition being that they ask if they know a green-eyed human named Qin Fu'an.
Several of the humans lied, using the pretense of knowing Qin Fu'an to deceive Xie Yunhuai, but Xie Yunhuai saw through their clumsy lies and their ever-expanding fear and greed.
Xie Yunhuai used some tricks to make them die faster.
The only person in this world who can deceive himself is named Qin Fu'an.
Xie Yunhuai didn't remember how long he waited, but the best answer he got was just, "I think I heard about it by chance."
Xie Yunhuai couldn't help but wonder what kind of person Qin Fu'an was in the other world. Was he unknown? Low-key? Hiding his strength?
He was clearly very strong when we first met, so why is he unknown in another world?
What difficulties have you encountered? Or are there more unavoidable reasons?
Until recently, Xie Yunhuai acquired a new memory.
In that memory, he saw Qin Fu'an's enormous snake tail tightly coiled around him...
Those were memories that Xie Yunhuai frantically closed and sealed after his initial shock, and he has never dared to touch or reopen them since.
Qin Fu'an.
So it wasn't human after all.
Perhaps it's a monster just like itself?
Just hiding among the crowd?
But whatever it is, it must be someone similar to oneself—a strange creature, an evil spirit, or an existence completely opposite to most others.
They are both outliers and their own kind.
This realization kept Xie Yunhuai happy, and his good mood lasted until the death of the previous courier at the express station.
In just half a day, he met the new deliveryman.
Long, narrow, snake-like green eyes, and facial features exactly the same as in my memory...
Qin Fu'an.
Xie Yunhuai gripped Qin Fu'an's fingers tightly, gently licking his name with his tongue, his eyes curving slightly, a smile playing on his lips.
I've finally waited for you.
That rest stop for humans on the run seemed to have no reason to exist.
[Author's Note]
Baojuan, my throat...
I'm feeling really unwell today, so that's all for now. I'll try to update more once I'm better!
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