Chapter 068 Three Sentences Fill the World-weary Villain with Hope (Thirty-three)
The man in black robe and Chen Yunli who suddenly appeared stared at each other.
Before he could look over, Chen Wenjian disappeared and hid in Chen Yunli's shadow. At this moment, he was looking at Chen Yunli's expression with great interest.
He was surprised, the kind of surprise that comes from meeting an acquaintance in a place where you would never expect to see one.
"Are you the newcomer who entered the shelter last night?" The black-robed man pulled his hood back up, not covering his face, as if it were a reflex. "How did you get in?"
"Come in?"
Chen Yunli came to his senses belatedly and turned to look back where he came from. He saw a light blue light shield twenty meters away separating the inside and outside, creating two distinct worlds.
Outside the light barrier were the dwellings of ordinary people, densely packed cramped houses like anthills. Inside the barrier, only a few large houses were scattered around, overhead a vaulted dome. Sunlight filtered through the elliptical holes, illuminating this isolated space within the shelter.
"That is..."
"Protective shield," the black-robed man said coldly, "to protect against those with ill intentions, and also against those who are not human."
Chen Yunli raised his eyebrows.
Chen Qiaoyun said that he was not a person with memories, but he was obviously aware of the inhuman existence in the shelter, and judging from his stressed expression, he didn't even trust the real survivors.
Chen Yunli looked at a few houses not far away that showed no signs of habitation and asked, "You live here alone?"
"I'm not alone. My lover is with me." A cold light flashed in the wide sleeves of the black-robed man, but his tone became increasingly gentle. "How did you get in? Have you also converted to the evil god and gained some power from him?"
The shadows beneath my feet were stirring, transforming into shapes that shouldn't exist.
Chen Yunli raised his toes and calmly stepped on the ground. "You misunderstood. I will never be his follower. You don't have to be so hostile to me. I came here just to see an old friend."
The black-robed man was stunned for a moment, then became even more alert after realizing what was happening: "Old friend? Are you referring to me?"
Chen Yunli nodded.
The man in black robe thought he was just trying to establish a relationship with someone else: "I don't remember ever meeting someone like you in the ruins."
"Not after the end of the world, but before." Chen Yunli thought for a moment, "You are my landlord."
“…”
The man in black robe... No, now I should call him Ning Bufan.
Landlord was a strange title. The business that once supported his livelihood had now become a trivial symbol in his memory. He didn't even know when he had forgotten it.
"You..." Ning Bufan couldn't tell whether Chen Yunli's words were true or not, but he couldn't help but let his guard down towards him.
He glanced at the protective shield in silence and stopped asking: "So you came here today to reminisce about the past?"
"Like I said, I just wanted to see an old friend and ask you a question."
Ning Bufan took off his hat: "Ask."
"Do you want to rebuild human civilization?"
Ning Bufan chuckled nonchalantly, "I do. But with the situation in the shelter—the dummies are messing around, the real people are decadent and incompetent—even without the evil gods getting in the way, we can't accomplish such a grand ambition."
"The fate of our generation will either be death at the hands of an evil god, or we'll spend our lives as scavengers in the ruins, collecting trash and pinning the hope of humanity's rise on the next generation. The answer to your question shouldn't be whether we want to, but whether we can."
Dust and clouds are silent.
Although it was cruel, what he said was indeed the truth.
Because of this, the task issued by the system is "to get Chen Wenjian to agree to rebuild human civilization" rather than "to lead humans to rebuild civilization."
The evil god is naturally tall and powerful, but his existence has never been related to the end of this disaster.
"We can't leave everything to those who come after us," Chen Yunli said. "Don't you think the tentacles of the evil gods in the shelter are too annoying?"
Ning Bufan tilted his head, seeming a little confused.
Chen Yunli did not explain immediately, but looked at the black and white house behind him. In his sight, a pale giant snake was coiled on the roof of the house. It looked lifeless and weak, but it stubbornly tightened its tail and tightly wrapped around the house.
He recognized this snake. In the previous world line, it was the first evil god he had defeated.
But the giant in memory has now fallen into a dying state and can only live side by side with weak humans.
Chen Yunli looked at Ning Bufan, but said to the giant snake: "I hope to see you next time. The shelter has been cleaned up."
…
Chen Qiaoyun was distracted for a moment when he suddenly woke up, only to find that the breath in the room had disappeared.
He dropped what he was doing and went inside to check. Everything was in its place, except Chen Yunli.
He walked out the door again, and sure enough, the toiletries on the table had been used, and there was a note under the mouthwash cup.
——I will be away for a while, so you can clean out the evil god believers in the shelter first.
The signature is Chen Yunli.
Chen Qiaoyun folded the note and put it in his pocket. He stood there silently for a while, turned around and went back to where he had sat before, picked up the tools and continued to polish and assemble parts.
His work quickly took shape, vaguely resembling a giant sword made up of various small weapons.
…
"Is this where you live above the ruins?"
His feet landed in the air, and Chen Yunli stood on the high platform. He raised his hand as if he could touch the passing clouds. The sun hanging in the sky was like a bright persimmon lamp, bright and warm, but not scorching.
He walked towards the edge of the stone platform, but Chen Wenjian took two steps back and looked at his back deeply, as if he was looking at a dream that was both close at hand and out of reach.
He had indeed had a similar dream, but in the dream he rarely looked at Chen Yunli from behind. Most of the time they walked hand in hand side by side.
Chen Yunli didn't know what he was thinking. He stopped at the edge of the stone platform and looked down. The vast wasteland turned into a grayish-white spot, embedded in the mountains, deep seas, dense forests, swamps and other desolate places that had never been set foot by humans. It was like an ink spot that destroyed the harmony on the majestic and magnificent map of mountains and rivers.
So small and fragile that it makes people feel powerless.
"I dreamed of that city. It was originally well built."
Chen Wenjian's voice suddenly sounded in his ears, and Chen Yunli only then realized that he had moved silently to his side. His black robe was blown up by the wind, rustling, and he accurately avoided and held Chen Yunli, like a subtle hug.
"You shouldn't just dream about it." Chen Yunli took the initiative to approach him, casually pulling up the fluttering hem of his clothes and wrapping them around her shoulders. "This sunlight is cold, not warm at all."
Chen Wenjian was a little flattered. The evil god who had been so arrogant and a little crazy before was now like a young boy who had never seen the world. He didn't know where to put his hands. After hesitating for a long time, he mustered up his courage and put his arms around his waist.
"The time sequence is fixed in autumn. The sun and wind in late autumn are both cool."
Chen Wenjian raised his hand to catch a ray of light, turned it into an exploding firework, and placed it in front of Chen Yunli.
"But for me, this is warm enough."
He deliberately avoided Chen Yunli's previous sentence.
Chen Yunli tilted his head to look at him. He curled his eyes and smiled in a puzzled manner: "What's wrong?"
Before he finished speaking, Chen Wenjian felt a slightly cool hand stroking his hair. The fingertips were covered with thick calluses. Like a blunt knife, it slowly slid down from his ear and pressed lightly on the side of his neck.
There was no beating pulse. Beneath this thin humanoid skin, tissue was surging like a magma swamp... but even that did not exist.
"you……"
"I want to see your true form."
Chen Yun left the door straight to the point, and his short tone stabbed these knife-like words into Chen Wenjian's eyebrows, perfectly stripping off his beautiful and harmless disguise from head to toe.
Chen Wenjian's face changed slightly. At this moment, he saw clearly the face of the tiny human in front of him - not kind and amiable, but with sharp teeth, and smart enough to see through the heart of the evil god.
If someone else said the same thing to him, before his reason could react, his sudden burst of instinct would tear that person to pieces in an instant.
But the person who spoke was Chen Yunli. Before the killing muscle reaction was triggered, Chen Wenjian had already skillfully suppressed his anger and murderous intent.
"You shouldn't ask me that." Chen Wenjian's nails grew long and sharp. He wanted to touch his cheek but retracted halfway and only touched his hair lightly. "I might kill you for this."
I'm just testing your bottom line.
As soon as Chen Wenjian finished speaking, he heard Chen Yunli's undisguised voice, which was almost like a spiritual loudspeaker howling in his ear.
His eyebrows twitched, and he felt helpless and at a loss as to what to do.
"Let me see your true form." Chen Yunli said again, this time it was no longer a test, but a sincere plea.
Chen Wenjian was silent for a long time: "Why?"
Chen Yunli clearly knew what his original form meant. It was not just a form, but also the source of his power and his scars.
No one could heal those wounds, not even Chen Yunli. Even if he looked at them for one more second, the wounds would fester again.
The person in his dream shouldn't have the heart to treat him so cruelly.
But Chen Wenjian thought again and felt that this was something Chen Yunli would do, so he looked at Chen Yunli intently, waiting for an answer.
"Why? This is a strange question." Chen Yunli said in a matter-of-fact tone, "I've seen you in many embarrassing and shameful situations, and you didn't try to avoid them then. Why are you being coy now?"
Chen Wenjian was stunned.
"I am the person created by your dreams." Chen Yunli's character creation was very precise. "I have always been loyal to you, but you can't always be loyal. So why did you bring me here? To accompany you to bask in the sun for the rest of your life?"
“…”
Chen Wenjian was speechless.
Chen Yunli was much shorter than him, and looked even smaller wrapped in a heavy cloak. However, the look he gave him as he looked up at him was as vast and lofty as the universe.
In his eyes, Chen Wenjian was not an evil god who could easily destroy the world. On the contrary, he was the small and fragile one.
He nodded uncontrollably, and a brilliant light enveloped him. His figure began to change slowly and sluggishly.
The cloak slipped from Chen Yunli's shoulders, and he opened his arms to catch a small black shadow falling from the light.
It was a black cat the size of a palm. Although Chen Wenjian tried his best to look better, he could not resist the instinct stimulated by his gaze and still showed his most authentic appearance.
Its front paws were twisted, its tail was broken, and its eyelids drooped, covering its empty eyes.
Chen Yunli closed her eyes and tightened her arms around him.
The intense heartache and anger came from the bottom of his heart to Chen Wenjian's perception, making him subconsciously want to disconnect and isolate this "toxic" emotion.
He was born from human desires, fed on their greed, anger, ignorance and resentment, and grew stronger and stronger, becoming what he is today.
But the very thing he lived on was also the thing he hated.
"Chen Wenjian, I'm very angry now."
Chen Yunli lowered her head and spoke in his ear, her soft lips brushing against the tip of his ear, causing him to shiver involuntarily.
"Can you dream me again and take me into your dream?"
Chen Wenjian looked up at him, then suddenly realized that his dark eye sockets might scare him, so he immediately lowered his head.
"Okay. What kind of dream do you want?"
"Find the people who hurt you, let me beat them up, and then create eighteen levels of hell and throw them in. They'll spend tens of thousands of years on each level."
"...You want to avenge me?"
"For you, for me, and for the world down there."
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