On the very edge of the City of Wishes, there is actually a hidden villa.
It has no house number, no road signs, and it cannot even be observed.
It is simply there, but except for those who have received an invitation, no one can find it.
On the large bed on the second floor, a figure lies motionless. His distinct, sharp-featured face still carries a lingering sense of coldness even in sleep.
The hands of the antique clock tick toward alignment. With a subtle sound, a pair of azure eyes suddenly snap open.
The confusion in his gaze dissipates rapidly. As Yu Suheng frowns and sits up, he hears a voice he has found increasingly irritating lately.
[Yu, are you alright?]
The voice drifts in the air. Yu Suheng cannot see it, but he can feel its gaze.
Too lazy to acknowledge it, Yu Suheng turns and walks downstairs.
This villa is completely different from Li Xin’s “haunted house.” It is exquisitely decorated, fully equipped, and, one could say, spotless. However, at a glance, the interlacing black and gray tones make the house feel devoid of the presence of the living.
Yu Suheng passes the bar counter. He glances at it casually, and the next moment, an exquisite, steaming cup of coffee appears out of thin air in front of him. Yu Suheng picks it up and heads toward the garden.
This garden is planted with stretches of North Ridge Irises. These flowers, which grow in the human world, are truly fragile; in this world of only gray and black, they always look aggrieved and dejected.
Yu Suheng doesn’t know much about flowers, but the person who brought them is someone he cannot refuse, so he has no choice but to show a little patience.
Watching them drooping, looking so delicate that they seem ready to die for him at any moment, Yu Suheng sets the coffee cup on the table. After staring at them for a long while, he finally speaks: “Rules, give them some light.”
The Rules, which had been staunchly opposed from the start, are now somewhat numb: […That is against the rules. And why on earth are you raising these things? What is wrong with the flowers of the Divine Realm?]
They are beautiful, can adapt to any environment, and most importantly, they don’t die easily.
Yu Suheng pulls out a chair and sits down, an obvious aura of hostility radiating from him: “My patience for you is limited now. If you don’t agree, I don’t mind going to ‘The Sun’ for a chat.”
Rules: […]
Recalling the series of rebellious figures, the Rules surrender: […Fine. One hour, restricted to this garden only.]
Yu Suheng doesn’t answer, taking it as a tacit agreement.
He doesn’t speak again. Sunlight filters through the clouds and falls into the garden, dyeing Yu Suheng’s gray hair a beautiful white-gold. The drooping flowers stretch out again under the long-lost warmth of the sun.
Soft petals brush against Yu Suheng’s ankles, finally improving his mood a little bit.
With his mood improved, it is time to settle the score.
Setting down the coffee cup, Yu Suheng looks toward a certain spot in the air, his tone filled with questioning: “Did you send him in?”
The Rules, which hadn’t left for a long while, had been waiting forever only to be met with this question. It is absolutely furious: [No! I’m looking for him too! Am I insane to send him to your side!?]
The resentment in this sentence is impossible to ignore. Yu Suheng is silent for a moment, staring at the empty air for a long time before asking, full of bewilderment: “I’ve always wanted to ask, why do you hate him so much? Because he is a human?”
[Because he covets a god!!] This time, the Rules are truly about to explode: [That human has been searching for your tracks for a very long time! Sweet talk, cunning words, ulterior motives! You have seen his past—he is a madman who crawled out of the underworld! If he hadn’t taken advantage of your moment of weakness, how could you have…]
“How could I have what?” Yu Suheng suddenly interrupts. He frowns, unable to understand its sudden madness.
[You wouldn’t have wavered! You wouldn’t have come here to accept punishment!]
The anger of the Rules finally manifests completely, and the flow of air slows down.
At this moment, the entire City of Wishes is engulfed in a thick, dark gloom. The players near the bulletin board are stunned by the dark, churning clouds above:
“What the hell? Is the City of Resentment finally dropping the act and planning to wipe us out in one go!?”
As for the oblivious culprit himself, Li Xin is standing in front of a floor-to-ceiling window at this moment. Noticing the strange color of the sky, he leans against the freshly cleaned window frame with great interest.
The delicate flowers in the garden have only enjoyed ten minutes of comfort before wilting again. Yu Suheng puts down his coffee cup and sneers: “Stop going crazy. Do you really want to tear this place down?”
At this moment, the voice of the Rules no longer possesses that human-like liveliness. It watches from high above, its gaze scrutinizing: [World.]
Yu Suheng closes his eyes, his voice remaining devoid of inflection: “I am here.”
[If the punishment fails to free you from this wavering, do you know what that means for what comes next?]
Yu Suheng stands up and replies coldly: “I know.”
[You are the World, the shelter for all things. You are the only one in this world who cannot be disappointed.] The Rules gaze at him, showing no mercy: [The World should gaze upon its people forever, not stop for any one person, let alone change.]
“It has nothing to do with him.” It seems it didn’t expect the Rules to pin the blame on Li Xin. Yu Suheng’s sharp gaze shifts into the distance, almost amused by the absurdity: “I’ve been wondering when you’d become so targeted toward a human, and it turns out you think everything is his fault?”
“I admit there is no precedent for this, but to say he is the cause of the current situation—do you yourself think that is reasonable?” Yu Suheng looks up at the distance, suspecting this thing has a bug: “Do you remember that he is only twenty-something years old now?”
[…]
This unexpected answer leaves the Rules feeling a hint of confusion, but it does not agree: [But before this, your gaze never lingered on anyone, and you never wavered… until he appeared.]
This time, Yu Suheng is silent for a long time before speaking again: “I did indeed waver… but it had nothing to do with him, nor did it happen suddenly…”
After speaking, he closes his eyes tightly, and after a long time, he lets out a deep breath.
Countless scenes flash before his eyes once more.
Those images are fragmented and disordered, yet they always have only one theme—
Endless fires, stealing and slaughter in the ruins, children holding daggers, roaring beasts, a mother questioning with red eyes… and the pools of wine and forests of meat that forever stand in contrast.
Plundering, fighting, riots, hypocrisy…
All that echoes in his ears are the endless screams and roars.
And he stands amidst the crowd struggling forward, pushed and shoved, looking up at that skyscraper that pierces the clouds.
He can clearly feel the despair surrounding him, but he knows he cannot do anything.
Maintain the balance of the world, clear away major hidden dangers that might disrupt that balance, record and observe everything.
But he cannot intervene directly.
This is his prison, because no one knows where a god’s step will lead everything.
Suppressing the surging thoughts, Yu Suheng reaches out to stroke the soft petals, reaching a conclusion for himself: “Even a god cannot be completely without wavering.”
“It is I who let the malice spread; it is I who am trapped by my own cocoon.”
The Rules do not understand his silence, only expressing confusion: [You will go back to how you were, won’t you?]
Yu Suheng closes his eyes slowly but gives no answer.
Before everything moves toward its end, no one can answer that question.
But suddenly, he remembers a rainy night.
That night, he had been standing at the entrance of a small alley in the Lower City, witnessing a scene of carnage wrapped in cries and despair.
Such scenes played out here every day; theoretically, there should be nothing that could stir his eyes, which had seen too much.
But that day, the heavy rain mixed with the scent of blood soaked him through. The crying children, the cold blades, the roaring, and the manic laughter filled his ears.
He knew he could not step out of this dark corner, but that day, as if bewitched, he took the first step, the second step… The intent to kill spread in his eyes, almost burning.
There was only one voice in his ears questioning: Is this the world you created and shelter?
It has long since rotted into mud, repeating an endless cycle of destruction.
The parasites are everywhere—why do you let them be?
This voice grew increasingly fierce, even causing him to ignore the warnings of the Rules.
The result of doing so could very well be the beginning of a total fall into the abyss, but the disappointment accumulated over millions of years had long since turned into anger in places no one could see.
His gray hair and cold eyes ignited with a faint light, and that face, which had not shown any emotion for so long, carried a sharp, piercing intensity.
Like a blade drawn from its sheath.
And just before everything was about to become irreparable, a hand suddenly reached over the violent wind and covered his eyes from behind.
Immediately after, a familiar warmth mixed with a cold, ghostly fragrance held him tightly from behind.
“Don’t go. You cannot move forward any further.”
A voice, urgent yet still calm, whispered near his ear, forcibly halting Yu Suheng’s actions and waking him from the murderous intent he couldn’t conceal.
Yu Suheng was stunned for a moment. He knew who had come. But before this day, he had never thought that anyone could bypass his natural vigilance.
He also realized for the first time… that he had long since become accustomed to this person, who always appeared by his side using various legitimate or illegitimate excuses.
With his eyes covered in the pouring rain, he couldn’t see the other’s face, but he didn’t need to guess to know that the man must be in a rare state of dishevelment.
There was a banquet in the Lower City tonight. In this near-rotting city, only those heartless enough could gain more, and this person was one of them.
As the star of that banquet, he had left that luxurious, warm ballroom surrounded by countless admirers to stand in the rain with him, getting himself drenched and disheveled.
The sounds in the alley had disappeared at some point. Yu Suheng didn’t know if those people had grown bored of the helpless “lambs” and left, or if they had been forcibly driven away by the person behind him.
He actually wanted to say something, wanted to ask how much he had learned about things he wasn’t supposed to know, but before he could speak, he felt exhausted.
In the end, in that rain, the World said nothing and asked nothing. His back remained straight, but the faint breathing near his neck made him freeze for a moment:
“Everything will change, I promise you.”
Listening to these words, seemingly hidden within the heavy rain and breathing, Yu Suheng was silent for a very, very long time.
He didn’t think there was any room left for change, nor did he think a human could achieve it. But the person behind him held him tightly, stubbornly waiting for his answer.
In the end, he closed his eyes amidst the familiar warmth and scent, responding softly:
“Okay.”