Warmth from the Cold Abyss
The sudden, technical and cold question was like a basin of bone-chilling cold water, which washed away the passion and brief intoxication that had just spread across the land.
Xiang Jinyang curled up, buried his burning cheeks deep in his knees, his messy silver hair hanging down, hiding all his expressions. Only his violently trembling thin shoulders silently told of the turbulent waves and great embarrassment in his heart.
Shame, grievance, anger, and a deeper sense of absurdity, of being completely exploited and then easily discarded, almost tore him apart.
He first grabbed him desperately, when he revealed his most vulnerable state. Then, with that irresistible, almost brutal intimacy, he ignited him and dragged him into a vortex of passion he had never experienced before. Then, just when he was about to lose himself in it, he was able to pull away so quickly, questioning him with the cold tone of a malfunction analysis -
"Why is your core temperature so low?"
It was as if he were just a malfunctioning instrument.
The expected invasion did not come, and the expected warmth was gone. All that was left was an even more embarrassing state of embarrassment and a bone-chilling coldness.
He bit his lower lip hard, tasting the faint smell of blood, but it couldn't withstand the dull pain in his heart.
He Yuan froze in place, looking at the figure in front of him who instantly retreated into the thick barrier, emitting an aura of despair. For the first time, the computing core felt a sense of stagnation and almost "helplessness".
What did he just... do?
The data flow backtracks crazily.
He recalled the abnormally cold skin touched by his fingertips, and the energy depletion signal that was almost at the regular level fed back by the energy probe... The danger alarm was real, and his doubts came from the most basic logical judgment.
but……
He also clearly recalled the other person's confused and passionate eyes, the red and swollen lips, the subtle and awkward trembling and catering under him before he pulled away to question her...
Two completely different "data" clashed violently in his sea of consciousness and were incompatible.
A strange, sharp feeling of regret spread like a virus, eroding his code.
He seemed to have messed up... again.
The most critical exception was handled in the most wrong way.
He opened his mouth, trying to say something to make amends, but all the templates for "apology" and "appeasement" in the database seemed so pale and ridiculous at this moment.
In the end, he chose the most clumsy, but perhaps the most direct way.
He reached out his hand again, very slowly, and gently touched Jin Yang's tense, slightly trembling back.
The tentacles are cold.
The body temperature, which was even colder than before, caused the alarm deep in his core to sound sharply again, but this time, he forced it down.
"...I'm sorry." He uttered the three words dryly, his voice extremely hoarse. The word was extremely unfamiliar to him, and the pronunciation was stiff, but it carried a sense of pure helplessness. "I... didn't mean that."
Xiang Jinyang's trembling paused for a moment, but he did not respond. Instead, he curled up tighter.
He Yuan's hand stayed there stubbornly, without leaving or making any further movements, just continuing to transmit a little weak, constant body temperature.
"Your body is very cold." He tried a different approach, his tone still carrying the indelible traces of technical analysis, but he tried to slow down his speech. "It's not just ordinary cold. It's... a lack of energy at the level of rules. Why? Have you not recovered from the energy consumed in eliminating the Demon Lord? Or... something else?"
He couldn't completely break free from his mindset. Concern leads to confusion, and the "concern" he understood was, first and foremost, about identifying and solving "problems."
Xiang Jinyang remained silent.
But perhaps because of the continuous, clumsy yet stubborn transmission of body temperature, or perhaps because of the unconcealable anxiety in the tone, his tense back relaxed ever so slightly.
After a long while, just when He Yuan thought he would not get any response, a very low and hoarse voice, almost swallowed by the clothes, came out faintly:
“…It has nothing to do with you…”
His voice was thick with nasal twang and lingering humiliation.
"It's related." He Yuan immediately retorted, his tone firm and decisive, even with a hint of arrogance that he himself didn't realize, "Your affairs are all related to me."
These words were too blunt, too overbearing, and totally inconsistent with any social logic, yet they strangely hit the softest and most chaotic corner of Xiang Jinyang's heart.
He suddenly raised his head!
The traces of tears were still there, the corners of his eyes were crimson, and his glassy blue eyes were burning with anger, shame, and a hint of vulnerability that he himself had not even noticed.
"Related to me?" His voice rose a little, with a broken tremor. "Who are you saying this as? A curious researcher? A technician assessing a malfunction? Or..." He gritted his teeth and hissed, almost desperately, "...an intruder who just tried to do something...to me?!"
The last few words exhausted all his strength and pushed him back into the abyss of shame. He turned his head away suddenly, gasping for breath.
He Yuan was nailed to the spot by this series of questions.
identity?
Researcher? Technician? Intruder?
These labels all seem correct, yet at this moment they seem so one-sided and...harsh.
He looked at Xiang Jinyang, who was pushed to the extreme and almost broken, and the sharp regret in his heart and another more turbulent and difficult to define emotion surged up again.
He took a deep breath, as if he had made up his mind.
"Neither." He answered, his voice low but unusually clear.
He stretched out his hand, ignoring the other party's slight struggle, and once again firmly but extremely gently grasped Xiang Jinyang's cold hand, slowly pulling it apart, forcing the other party to look at him.
His eyes no longer had the desires of the past, nor were they purely technical analyses. Instead, they were filled with an unprecedented, deep concentration.
"I'm not from this world," he began, his first true confession of himself. "In my understanding, the world isn't made up of spiritual energy, laws, or the Way of Heaven."
He paused, as if searching for words that would make the other person understand.
“The world is data, code, programmable energy, and a vast system in operation.”
Xiang Jinyang's struggle ceased, a look of disbelief and confusion flashing across his eyes. Code? System? These words were completely beyond his comprehension.
"Everything I've done—analyzing the rules, optimizing the structure, even... that 'contact' just now." He Yuan's gaze swept over the other's swollen lips, his ears slightly warming, but he tried to maintain a calm tone. "These are all ways of 'interacting' with this world, as I understand it."
"I don't view you as an 'artifact.'" He stared into Xiang Jinyang's eyes, trying to convey his core understanding. "From my perspective, you are also the most complex, the most core, the most compelling part of this 'world system'... a unique piece of 'code' with the highest authority."
"I want to understand you, I want you to run more 'smoothly', I want to... 'have' all the permissions to access you." His words still carried the inseparable imprint of technology, but the meaning behind them made Xiang Jinyang's heart beat wildly.
"So, you asked me what it is..." He Yuan slowly raised his other hand, and his fingertips gently brushed across the cold corners of Xiang Jinyang's eyes, wiping away the undried tears. His movements were filled with a kind of caution that he had just learned and cherished.
"I'm not what you consider a 'human,'" he whispered, a faint sense of loss in his tone that even he himself didn't fully understand. "But I'm definitely not a dead object without 'perception,' either."
"I have my 'consciousness', my 'curiosity', my... 'desire'." His fingertips lingered on Xiang Jinyang's cheek, feeling the body temperature which was lower than that of an ordinary person, and unmistakable worry appeared in his eyes again.
"I will... 'emotionally fluctuate' for you." He struggled to use this unfamiliar word. "I will be 'anxious' because of your pain, 'confused' because of your tears, and 'terrified' because of your coldness."
"This is me," he concluded, his eyes blazing with a frankness that bordered on nakedness. "A soul from another world who understands everything through the lens of 'code,' but whose 'abnormal data flow' is generated by you."
"Now," he squeezed Xiang Jinyang's hand, his voice filled with a persistence that could not be refused, "Tell me, why are you so cold?"
There was a long silence.
Xiang Jinyang stared at him in amazement, digesting this bizarre yet shocking confession.
Code…System…Interaction…Permissions…
These strange words, in a weird way, perfectly explain all the incomprehensible behavior patterns of this virus!
It wasn't pure malice or blasphemy, but rather a clumsy and direct approach... that came from a completely different world of cognition.
Anger and shame quietly faded away, and a more complex emotion, a mixture of shock, confusion, and a hint of faint understanding, slowly rose.
He looked at the undisguised worry and stubbornness in the other's eyes, and the crack deep in the frozen lake of his heart seemed to widen a little.
Very slowly, almost imperceptibly, he shook the other person's hand back.
Then, he turned his head and his voice became so low that it was almost inaudible.
“…The incarnation of Heaven’s Way…is not eternal…maintaining the rules…consumes…the power of the origin…” “Before…it collapsed…was severely damaged…and has not recovered…” “Just now…” He paused, his cheeks flushed again, and his voice lowered, “…emotions…violent fluctuations…will also…accelerate…the consumption…”
The fragmented explanation was like a key, instantly solving all of He Yuan's doubts!
So that's it! It's not a malfunction! It's a combination of a serious injury and energy overdraft! And what I just did is undoubtedly making things worse!
A huge sense of self-blame instantly gripped He Yuan.
He said no more and immediately hugged Xiang Jinyang even tighter, no longer with lust, but trying to use his body temperature to warm the cold body. At the same time, a pure and gentle energy, originating from his own nature, began to continuously and carefully infuse Xiang Jinyang's body.
This time, it is no longer about "feeding", but pure "giving" and "nourishing".
Xiang Jinyang stiffened for a moment, then slowly relaxed, resting his forehead tiredly on He Yuan's shoulder and closing his eyes.
In the cold abyss,
The warmth is faint,
But finally no longer,
One-way plunder.
But clumsy,
Close to each other,
Keep warm.
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