Chapter 31 Sentinel's Direction | Gazing into the Abyss (The End) Sharing a Pillow in Depravity...
As Yuezhi sank into that boundless expanse of black viscous liquid, she thought she would suffocate and dissolve.
But unexpectedly, she fell into a lucid dream.
Countless fragments of memories, long buried in the dust, were gently lifted by this viscous substance and presented clearly before her eyes.
Twenty years ago, in an era of unfamiliarity and panic regarding how to deal with dungeon disasters, policy mandated that every family must send one child over the age of sixteen to the White Tower for training in case of emergency.
She was not the Pei family's biological daughter, but an "adopted substitute" who was brought back to protect their biological son, Pei Heng, from being forcibly conscripted.
At the age of fourteen, eight-year-old Pei Heng already showed extraordinary intelligence and an unusual dependence on her.
She clearly "saw" Pei's parents discussing whether to send her back to the orphanage or to give her away as a commodity to their business partners... Eight-year-old Pei Heng hid behind the door and heard all of this.
Then came the sudden car accident. In the instant the vehicle went out of control, a strange light flashed in young Pei Heng's eyes.
Waking up in the car and seeing her parents' corpses and Pei Heng's unusually calm demeanor, she should have felt fear and called the police. But the moment she realized what had happened, what filled her heart was a twisted, indescribable ecstasy!
When the whole world saw her as an outcast, her brother, in an extreme and cruel way, resolutely chose her and removed the "obstacles" between them.
Although those two years at the orphanage were impoverished, they were the happiest time in her memory.
She turned 16 and awakened to become a B-level guide.
She was overjoyed, finally able to earn money and take care of Pei Heng independently, no longer needing to depend on others.
When she excitedly explained to Pei Heng that guides needed to be paired with matching sentries, she saw a sudden shadow of gloom and immense disappointment fall over his face.
He ran away in a huff and hid in the abandoned basement of the orphanage, not wanting her to find him. Then, he encountered that unstable instance entrance that had somehow opened.
The distorted spatial energy engulfed him, and the thick, seemingly living black liquid submerged him...
When he reappeared, he seemed to have completely forgotten the unpleasantness of the morning, clinging to her as usual and murmuring, "Sister, we are siblings, of course we should always be together."
Those words clung to her like a curse.
From that moment on, he had been influencing and altering her memories.
Later, the disaster spread, and the orphanage was engulfed in flames. She was deceived by her memory and thought he had been seriously injured by a collapsing beam.
Only now did she remember that she had witnessed his body heal in a way that was different from that of ordinary Sentinels after being burned. She saw him turn into a monster... So he placed a sea of fire between the two of them, using a false memory of terror to cover up the real scene.
By touching her skin, he forged the same genetic sequence as her, deceiving the gene pool and becoming her biological brother.
Upon discovering her resistance, he altered the genetic sequence once again, removing the "barrier" between them.
Scene after scene, incident after incident, all the hidden truths, all the unease in her subconscious, were now laid bare, presented in a bloody and raw manner before her eyes.
Now, they have the closest relationship, and all his expectations and plans have been fulfilled.
*
My eyes snapped open, the forced drowsiness ending.
Yuezhi found herself standing in the center of a vast, desolate ruin, with the gradually shrinking and unstable dungeon exit behind her. Taking a step back would take her back to the normal world.
Not far away, Pei Heng stood there all alone.
He was facing away from her, his silver hair falling down, partially obscuring his expression.
The surroundings were empty; he had devoured all the monsters and "thrown" the humans out of the instance. Only the black slime on the ground, which had not yet completely faded, proved the terrifying power that had swept everything away.
He noticed she was awake, then turned around and left with his back to her.
"Aheng!" Yuezhi called out to him, her voice soft as she regained her senses, "Where are you going?"
He stopped in his tracks, without turning around, his voice low and calm, carrying a sense of utter despair and indifference.
“When I saw you appear outside the dungeon door, I realized… you would rather die than accept my love.”
He slowly turned around, his gaze falling on her face. His eyes no longer held their usual obsession and aggression, but only a desolate emptiness.
“I know I’m forcing you.” He forced a bitter smile. “Even if I alter your memories again and again, covering up the past that makes you uneasy… you will still sense that something is wrong, distance yourself from me, and try to escape from me.”
He raised his hand, palm against his chest, his eyes darting around. "The child inside... seems to have finally died. Life is meaningless. Fighting to the death for people who have nothing to do with me is even more meaningless."
"I'm leaving."
He shifted his gaze to the endless darkness deep within the dungeon. "Perhaps I'll become one of the monsters, perhaps... I'll become a new extremely dangerous dungeon, but those are not questions I should be thinking about."
As she watched him turn and leave, Yuezhi felt as if her heart was being squeezed tightly, the pain making it almost impossible for her to breathe.
“No!” She took a step forward.
Pei Heng turned to look at her.
Yuezhi met his gaze, and those newly awakened memories belonging to her true nature churned in her mind.
She was not a pure victim. After the fateful car accident, they depended on each other for survival. She enjoyed the feeling of being needed and possessed, even if it was built on lies and bloodshed, when a life willingly fell into loneliness for her sake.
Having experienced abandonment, exploitation, and rejection at a young age, her mental state is no longer quite normal.
"I just can't bear this love." She struggled to organize her thoughts, laying bare her most authentic and vulnerable inner self to him.
"It was too heavy, filled with control and deception, making me feel like I was suffocating. I came to participate in this mission not to die, but to give myself a breather, to think things through on the edge of life and death..."
She took a deep breath. "Now I understand. It's not your fault. It's because you fell in love with such a twisted version of me that you became so tormented, paranoid, and uneasy."
"I'm sorry, it's my fault that this love has become a shackle for both of us." Her voice choked with emotion.
Yuezhi looked at the slight glint in his eyes and continued, "If you insist on leaving, then I will not leave this instance either."
She raised her hand and pointed to the remaining, slightly wriggling black slime around her, which seemed to be alive.
“You can devour me,” she said calmly, as if with a sense of relief. “We’ll become monsters together, and then wait for others… to utterly crush us.”
Upon hearing this, Pei Heng's pupils contracted sharply as he stared at her in disbelief, at the self-destructive and madness hidden deep within her eyes, just like his own.
He turned around, took a few steps to stand in front of her, so close that they could feel each other's breath.
Those eyes, which always held storms and obsession, were now filled with immense, almost overflowing tremors and a hope so humble it was almost unbearable.
Pei Heng reached out, his fingertips trembling, wanting to touch her face, but he didn't dare, and in the end just hovered in mid-air.
He looked at her, and with all his might, asked the question that had lingered in his heart for eleven years, from his adolescence to adulthood, from dependence to madness, the question he most wanted to get an answer to.
"Yuezhi, do you love me?"
Yuezhi looked up at him, and all her past struggles, fears, and longings for a normal life seemed utterly pale at this moment.
Why care about those things? From that car accident, from the moment he was swallowed by black liquid in the basement of the orphanage, they embarked on a path of no return.
Pei Heng became this monster for her sake, and deep down, she also harbored an appreciation for this twisted obsession.
She took a step forward and threw herself into his arms.
She wrapped her arms around his lean waist, pressed her cheek against his chest, which was cold and pale from the explosion and subsequent self-healing. His heart was pounding wildly through the thin skin and muscles, beating for her.
“Love.” She looked up into his eyes, which were instantly illuminated by light, her voice clear and firm, with a twisted, resigned acceptance.
"Aheng, I love you."
Those dark pasts, buried secrets, mutual deception and manipulation, have become brands, shackles.
She smiled, somewhat eccentrically.
She was willing to be bound tightly by the unknown darkness with him, dancing in shackles.
They were already an integral part of each other's flesh and blood, emanating a putrid stench, yet intertwined together with vibrant life.
The remaining black slime on the ground seemed to sense the drastic change in its owner's emotions, and silently began to burn, flickering with dark flames.
The flames no longer brought destruction; instead, they resembled an eerie campfire, enveloping the two of them.
In the firelight, Yuezhi tiptoed and kissed his lips.
Pei Heng froze for a moment, then responded to the kiss with a force that seemed to crush her and integrate her into his very bones.
In her confusion, Yuezhi thought: she could never get rid of Pei Heng in this lifetime.
As he wished.
She accepted the love of a monster and also unleashed the monster within herself. They became accomplices in burying crimes together, relying on each other for survival in the years to come.
She kissed him deeply, making this heavy, twisted, and bloody love the grave she willingly entered.
*
When the entrance to the extremely dangerous dungeon, which was about to disappear, was suddenly and completely burned by dark flames that ignited from within, revealing two figures standing hand in hand behind it, everyone waiting outside the ruins was stunned.
Immediately, a deafening cheer erupted!
"They're out! Number 001! Guide Yuezhi! They're still alive!"
Amidst countless shocked, ecstatic, and awe-inspiring gazes, Pei Heng held Yue Zhi's hand tightly and steadily walked out of the remaining turbulent energy flow.
Yuezhi stood beside him, her face showing no fear of surviving a disaster, only a calm after the storm. She slowly grasped his hand, her grip firm yet gentle.
A few years later.
Pei Heng remains the undisputed Number One in the tower, a Damocles' sword hanging over the dungeon's impending doom.
As for Yuezhi, thanks to her merits in perfectly cooperating with Pei Heng during several major crises and her increasingly superb command skills, she has been promoted to a senior commander in the core of the tower.
Standing side by side, they became the most renowned and reassuring duo in the tower.
With them on the front lines, no matter how perilous the mission, it always manages to turn out well. The two have saved countless lives, becoming an unwavering banner for humanity in the fight against dungeon disasters.
In the command office of the high-ranking officers in the tower, on a leisurely afternoon when there were no urgent tasks.
With a soft click, the door locked from the inside.
Almost simultaneously, Yuezhi was pulled back by strong arms around the waist and gently pressed onto the large, heavy desk. Several documents awaiting review scattered on the floor, making a slight sound.
Pei Heng's silvery-white hair fell down, brushing against her cheek, bringing a slightly ticklish sensation. He lowered his head and kissed her lips.
Yuezhi did not resist. She stretched out her arms and softly embraced his strong back, her fingertips clearly feeling the taut lines of his muscles and his vibrant life force beneath the fabric.
She tilted her head back and gently responded to his kiss, their lips entwined, making soft, blush-inducing sounds.
Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the blinds, casting a hazy, warm silhouette of the two figures embracing tightly.
"Sis, you're getting more and more used to me."
His kisses lingered on her slender neck, leaving a moist trail, his teeth teasingly tracing the bulging arteries.
"Try to pull your teeth in, are you trying to bite me to death?" Yuezhi breathed softly, her fingertips unconsciously curling up and crumpling his uniform jacket.
"How could I bear to see you die?" The young man's voice was hoarse, magnetic, and tinged with amusement. "I love you the most."
Yuezhi let out a soft hum, her cheeks flushed, and opened her mental landscape to merge with his soul until the boundaries blurred.
Amidst the ruins, they shared a sob, facing death with a will to live.
[End of this article]
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Author's Note: This concludes the story. Thank you all for your continued support! [shy]
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