Chapter Thirty-Seven: Forever Seventeen
The appointed time finally arrived, after a agonizing wait filled with endless sorrow. The afternoon sky was overcast, with leaden clouds hanging low over the rooftops of London, as if bearing an unbearable grief.
Behind the headquarters of the Xuyue Organization, the long-abandoned old warehouse area, filled with rusted machinery and discarded containers, appeared even more desolate and lifeless under the bleak winter light. The cold wind howled through the holes in the tin roof.
Qianxu Wuyun arrived at the agreed location ahead of time—a low-temperature storage warehouse converted from an abandoned hydraulic press room. It had once been used to store special materials that required constant temperature preservation, but had been abandoned for many years.
The heavy iron door was covered in rust, and when pushed open it made a harsh creaking sound. A chilling smell, a mixture of rust, machine oil, and some kind of old refrigerant, rushed out. The warehouse was large but unusually empty, with only a few huge, abandoned refrigeration units, resembling the skeletons of prehistoric beasts, standing against the walls, their metal pipes wrapped around them like dead vines.
In the cracks of the cement floor, a layer of white frost that never melts is condensed. The temperature here is much lower than outside, and your breath instantly turns into white mist.
She stood in the center of the warehouse, her body trembling uncontrollably, not entirely from the cold, but more from the fear and despair deep within her soul. Her bright yellow eyes had lost all their luster, like two stagnant pools, with only occasional, almost frantic ripples of pain revealing the turbulent waves within her heart.
She clenched her fists tightly, her nails digging deep into her palms, trying to use the pain to maintain her last shred of consciousness.
The footsteps approached from afar, very light, with a hint of hesitation, and finally stopped at the warehouse door.
Zhong Si pushed open the door and walked in. He was wearing a slightly thin dark coat, and his face appeared somewhat pale in the dim light, but his violet eyes were unusually calm, even carrying a faint sadness that seemed to see through everything.
He saw Qianxu Wuyun standing in the center of the warehouse, her back stiff, as if she would shatter at the slightest touch.
"Qianxu?" he called softly, his voice sounding faint in the empty, cold warehouse.
Qianxu Wuyun turned around abruptly, trying to force a smile, but it twisted into an expression even more unsightly than crying. "You've come..." her voice was dry and hoarse.
Zhong Si slowly walked towards her, his steps deliberate, his gaze sweeping silently over the cold surroundings before finally settling on Qian Xu Wuyun's eyes, filled with struggle and pain. He stopped a few steps away from her, saying nothing, simply watching her in silence.
This unusual calm made Qianxu Wuyun's heart sink completely. None of the doubts and questions she had anticipated came to pass. This silence was more unsettling than any interrogation.
"I...I found a place here that seems to hide some old files...may be helpful...to find out about BXX..." She began to recite the excuse she had already prepared, her voice getting softer and softer, and even she herself could not believe the story.
She pointed to the deepest part of the warehouse, where a row of huge, heavy metal cabinets, designed to insulate against the low temperature, stood. Their doors were tightly shut, and thick icicles covered their surfaces. "It's...it's right behind there...it takes two people to move it..."
Zhong Si glanced in the direction she was pointing, then looked at her again, a faint, almost pitying light flashing in his purple eyes. He nodded slightly, his voice eerily calm: "Okay."
Without the slightest hesitation, he strode towards the row of metal cabinets. Qianxu Wuyun stood frozen in place, her heart pounding wildly, almost bursting out of her chest.
Why didn't he question her? Why didn't he ask? This submissiveness, this almost...surrender posture, filled her with an overwhelming sense of panic.
She stumbled after him. Reaching the metal cabinet, Zhong Si reached out and tried to push one of the frost-covered doors. The door didn't budge, as if frozen to the wall.
"It seems... stuck." He turned to look at Qianxu Wuyun, his eyes still calm, even carrying a hint of... encouragement? "Do you need to find some tools? Or, do you know of any mechanisms?"
The breath, silent and uneventful, suddenly ceased. The time had come.
The snake's arrangement was flawless—behind that cabinet door was not a file at all, but a disguised interface for a tampered refrigerant emergency release valve.
Forcibly activating the wrong "mechanism" will trigger a chain reaction, causing the remaining, already sealed liquid ammonia pipeline in the warehouse to leak, and causing the temperature in this confined space to plummet to a fatally low level in a very short time.
Her hand trembled as she reached for an inconspicuous tool bag at her waist, inside which was a specially made, oddly shaped wrench—the "key" given to her by the Dream Snake, the key to "open" the gates of death.
"I...I think I know..." Her voice was barely audible, trembling with sobs. She pulled out the cold wrench and walked to a seemingly ordinary access panel on the side of the cabinet. Her hands trembled violently, and she couldn't quite get the small valve right.
Just then, Zhong Si suddenly spoke softly, his voice not loud, but it exploded in Qian Xu Wuyun's ears like a thunderclap:
"Thousands of catkins".
She froze, then turned around abruptly.
Zhong Si stood a step behind her, not looking at the wrench in her hand, but quietly looking into her eyes. There was no fear or anger on his face, only a deep sorrow and understanding that almost pierced through Qian Xu Wu Yun's soul.
“It’s alright,” he said softly, his purple eyes like two bottomless lakes reflecting her terrified and distorted face. “I know.”
I know.
Those four simple words, like the sharpest ice pick, instantly pierced through all of Qianxu Wuyun's disguises and defenses.
The wrench in her hand fell to the cold cement floor with a loud clang. She trembled violently, her eyes widening in disbelief, and tears instantly streamed down her face.
"You...what did you say...what do you know?!" Her voice was shrill, filled with desperate denial.
Zhong Si looked at her, and slowly, very slowly, a faint yet heartbreakingly gentle smile appeared on his face. In that smile, there was no resentment, only relief and an indescribable longing.
“I know… why you’ve come.” His voice was still very soft, as if afraid of disturbing something. “I’ve probably sensed it for a long time. Your eyes, sometimes… are too sad, unlike how you appear.”
Qianxu Wuyun was struck dumb, collapsing to the ground. She looked up at him, tears blurring her vision. "Then why...why didn't you expose me?! Why didn't you run away?! Why did you come?!" she cried hysterically.
Zhong Si slowly squatted down, looking directly at her as she slumped to the ground. He reached out, his cool fingers gently wiping away the scalding tears from her cheeks. This gesture, full of tenderness, caused Qian Xu Wu Yun to curl up in pain.
“Because…” Zhong Si’s gaze seemed to pierce through her, seeing far away, seeing that red-haired figure, seeing the brief but real warmth that this organization had given him, “Because… this was my own choice.”
His voice carried a detached calmness, as if he were stating a fact that had nothing to do with him.
"Siago is too tired. He carries too much on his shoulders. My existence may always have been his weakness. BXX will not let that go. Rather than letting him suffer even greater harm in the future because of protecting me, or... causing the organization to fall into a greater crisis because of me... it's better to... end it like this."
He looked at Qianxu Wuyun with complete understanding and acceptance in his eyes: "So... let it be, Qianxu." Zhong Si looked at her, a faint light of relief flashing in his purple eyes, "Living is too tiring... pretending every day, being afraid of losing every day, watching Xiage get hurt every day because of protecting me... if my death can let you live, can let Xiage no longer have a weakness, can become a real blade that lives only for revenge... then perhaps, that is the best ending."
These words were like a dull knife, cutting back and forth across Qianxu Wuyun's heart. He knew everything! He knew she was there to kill him! He knew all of this! And yet, he chose to accept it! For Xiya, for the organization, and for… her? This was more painful than the most vicious curse!
"No...it's not like that! No!" She shook her head frantically, lunging forward to grab Zhong Si's collar. "I was forced! Meng She threatened me with everyone's lives! I didn't want to kill you! I didn't want to!"
She was incoherent, trying to explain, trying to salvage the situation, even though she knew it was all too late.
Zhong Si let her hold him, his eyes gentle yet sorrowful. "I know you have your reasons." He gently patted her trembling back, like an older brother comforting a child. "So... it's okay. Do it, Qianxu. Complete your mission. And then... try to live."
His tolerance and understanding became the final straw that broke Qianxu Wuyun's back. Overwhelming guilt and despair completely consumed her.
She let out a wail like a dying beast, shoved Zhong Si aside, picked up the wrench from the ground, and rushed toward the inspection port like a madwoman. With all her might, she jammed the wrench into the valve and then twisted it hard!
A soft "click" sounded, not from the valve, but from the sound of something deep inside shattering completely.
Immediately following was an even sharper hissing sound of rapidly leaking gas! A white, pungent stream of cold air suddenly gushed out from the camouflaged interface!
The temperature inside the warehouse plummeted at a visible rate! The frost on the walls and floor thickened and spread rapidly, and the moisture in the air instantly condensed into tiny ice crystals!
The extreme cold, like a living monster, instantly seized the two of them!
Qianxu Wuyun was thrown to the ground by a powerful gust of air, and a chilling sensation instantly spread throughout her body. She struggled to lift her head and looked at Zhong Si.
He remained in a squatting position, his body beginning to tremble violently, his teeth chattering uncontrollably, making a "clucking" sound.
Her exposed skin quickly lost its color, turning bluish-purple. But his gaze as he looked at her was strangely calm, even carrying a hint of...comfort?
His lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but the extreme cold had frozen his vocal cords, and he could only exhale a cloud of rapidly condensing white mist.
His eyelashes quickly frosted over, and his violet eyes gradually lost focus, becoming veiled by a cold, white film.
He reached out to her with great effort and extreme slowness, as if trying to touch her one last time, but his arm only rose halfway before falling limply to his sides.
His body curled up like a small animal afraid of the cold, and he remained in that position, frozen in the thick frost, like a cold sculpture. Those once clear and lively purple eyes had lost their luster forever, leaving only endless emptiness and tranquility.
The temperature inside the warehouse had dropped to a point where life could not survive. Qianxu Wuyun felt herself about to freeze to death. Looking at the familiar body not far away, rapidly covered in frost, immense grief and extreme physical pain intertwined, causing her to let out a silent scream.
She struggled to crawl over, trying in vain with her almost frozen hands to brush away the frost from Zhong Si's face and to warm his cold body.
But it was all too late.
She killed him. In the cruelest way, she killed the only boy who had ever given her genuine warmth, the one who knowingly walked into a trap. And his last words to her were, "It's okay."
A strong wave of dizziness and suffocation washed over her. Just before her consciousness was completely swallowed by darkness, she seemed to see Zhong Si's body emitting a faint, butterfly-scale-like light. Then, that light, like shattered starlight, slowly dissipated into the frigid air.
"Butterfly Sea's" talent, along with his young life, has been completely silenced in this cold tomb.
When Xiya grew uneasy because Zhong Si hadn't returned after a long wait, she followed the clues and forced open the warehouse door, only to be met with this hellish scene.
His beloved "Little Butterfly" had turned into a cold, snow-covered body, while the woman he had always doubted lay unconscious beside him, her face frozen with tears of extreme pain and despair.
At that moment, the world of West Asia completely collapsed. It was far more complete and more devastating than when Yanni was lost years ago.
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