Xia Lin’s eyes were wet, but he forced himself not to cry. He reached out and patted Qi Shang on the back. “Qi Shang, you brought me back. You were amazing.”
He could tell Qi Shang needed reassurance more than anything. After a long moment, Qi Shang finally steadied himself. “Xia Lin, can you send me a message every hour from now on—just to let me know you’re safe?”
Xia Lin shook his head. “It’s not that I think the idea’s bad. It’s just—what if someone pretends to be me and sends the messages? Clever people can be their own undoing. Qi Shang, you don’t have to worry so much. Not that many people want to hurt me.”
Qi Shang’s voice was low and firm. “Fine. But I swear I won’t let anyone hurt you again.”
Xia Lin glanced at his phone and then at the bed. “I’m starving. I’m going to make something in the kitchen.”
Qi Shang pressed him back down. “Lie down. I ordered takeout a while ago. It’ll be here soon.”
Xia Lin folded his arms in mock protest. “I’m not going to eat in bed, am I?”
Qi Shang’s expression turned solemn. “I’ll feed you.”
Sitting up, Xia Lin sighed. “Qi Shang, I fainted, yes, and I have rope marks on my skin, but I wasn’t hurt otherwise. Don’t treat me like some porcelain doll. It makes me uncomfortable.” He cradled Qi Shang’s face in his hands. “I’m here. I’m not going to disappear. Let’s just be like we were before, okay?”
Qi Shang stared into Xia Lin’s honest, gentle eyes and couldn’t help but nod. Relief eased out of Xia Lin in a long breath. “Okay. I won’t cook, but I’m going to take a shower first. By the time I’m done the food will be here.”
After the shower they ate together in a quieter, more normal way. They laughed at nothing in particular; the room felt ordinary and safe, which was still something of a miracle.
Halfway through the meal, Qi Shang looked up and asked, “Xia Lin—what if we went abroad to university?”
Xia Lin blinked. “Why? Weren’t you planning on studying at Longhu University with me?”
Qi Shang shook his head. “Overseas we could register our marriage. And we wouldn’t have to wait until you’re twenty-two to get married.”
Xia Lin snorted and accidentally spewed half his soup. He wiped his mouth and grinned. “Qi Shang, we’ve only been together a short while, and you’re only eighteen. Aren’t you jumping the gun a little?”
Qi Shang’s eyes were earnest. “We’ve been together almost a year. Do you not want to be my partner for life? I’m not accusing you of hiding anything—I’m just asking.”
Xia Lin rolled his eyes, the old tsundere slipping back in. “I’m not hiding anything. Fine. But you still have five months until the college entrance exam. Here’s the deal: if you score at least fifty-five points above the first-tier cutoff, I’ll agree.”
Qi Shang’s confidence didn’t waver. “Deal. I’ll do it. I’ll talk to my parents and get them ready to start our immigration process.”
“So sure of yourself?” Xia Lin mocked, but privately he was relieved at the conviction in Qi Shang’s voice.
He did a quick mental calculation. He didn’t have long in this world—maybe a year at most. And Qi Shang’s darkness meter, whatever measure the system used, hadn’t even hit thirty. It was the way things always went: either the system pushed someone to finish their task at the last second, or the host tried everything to delay the system so they could savor the time they had left.
Xia Lin wasn’t like the others who begged the system for tasks and tore themselves apart to complete them. He wanted to stay a little longer, to steal more ordinary days with Qi Shang.
A shadow of a thought had been crawling at the edge of his mind for a while—no matter how the system tried to hide things, it couldn’t fool him entirely. The villains he’d met in the five worlds... maybe they weren’t five different people after all. Maybe they were the same face in different masks—
“Xia Lin, come here!” Qi Shang’s voice cut through the thought, bright and impatient.