After speaking, the guard immediately ran off.
He didn’t even dare glance at Yun Ji a second time.
He definitely wasn’t fleeing out of fear.
He was the guard, while Yun Ji and the others were death row prisoners.
He was the cleaver, not—he was the knife and chopping board, while Yun Ji and the others were the fish on the chopping block. Why would he be afraid of them?
But he really should buy Yun Ji a clean handkerchief, and ideally a basin with a continuous water supply.
Otherwise, every day when he came, he’d have to see Yun Ji disheveled and covered in blood, clutching a human head in her arms. He was genuinely scared!
Pah! He wasn’t scared at all!
The guard wrestled with his conflicting thoughts as he returned to his room.
His room was simple: one room connected to a small kitchen, with sacks of rice and flour piled by the kitchen door.
“Since she likes my cooking, I’ll make more varieties. I definitely need to buy meat and vegetables. I wonder what kind of meat she likes, if she has any dietary restrictions… Should I buy some alcohol too?
“Do death row prisoners in other places get to drink alcohol? Since this is the Blood Prison at the bottom of the sea, it’s normal to have higher standards for food and drink, right?
“And I need to apply for more prison uniforms. I can’t let her stay covered in blood like this forever…”
Muttering to himself distractedly, he unconsciously fiddled with the jade bead pendant hanging in front of the lamp.
The jade beads made a crisp sound, sending ripples through his thoughts and snapping him back to reality.
Why was he so concerned about Yun Ji?
After all, in just two and a half months, Yun Ji would be dead.
Whether she went hungry or wore clothes—none of that mattered.
He just, just didn’t want Yun Ji to go crazy again and disturb his sleep.
Yes, that was it!
He didn’t enjoy going to Yun Ji’s cell at all—the smell of blood was so strong, and for some reason, the head’s gaze seemed increasingly dangerous.
Survival came first. It would be better to stay away from them from now on.
Yun Ji had no idea about the guard’s internal struggles.
She was busy holding the head while searching for his lungs.
When the head was unconscious, the reassembled body parts wouldn’t run off, but once the head woke up, those body parts would scatter like unruly children let out of a cage.
They needed a good beating to behave.
The head’s vision wasn’t affected by the darkness, and he glumly pointed the way.
“I said left! Left, left, left! Why are you looking to the right? Can’t you tell left from right?”
Yun Ji, who had deliberately provoked the head to see him rage helplessly, innocently averted her gaze.
The head continued to fume: “You did that on purpose, didn’t you? You absolutely did it on purpose!”
Yun Ji activated her “sleeping husband” skill again, pretending not to hear.
Faced with Yun Ji, the head had no recourse. He could only take deep breaths, suppress his anger, and continue guiding her.
How humiliating!
He, the mighty Demon Lord, had been reduced to such pitiful state!
He felt both aggrieved and furious.
“Oww?”
[You’re not going to cry again, are you?]
Yun Ji finally gathered all the runaway organs, cradling them in her arms as she headed back. In high spirits, she laughed:
[You don’t look like a child, so why do you cry so easily? Did you cry a lot when you were chopped into mincemeat?]
The head snorted coldly: “Don’t slander me. I didn’t make a single sound back then.”
Yun Ji: [I wonder who it is that sobs every time I sing.]
The head recalled Yun Ji’s ear-splitting singing and imagined having to listen to it every day in the future. Overwhelmed by despair, he felt like crying again.
[But I believe you.]
The head froze in surprise.
Yun Ji lowered her head and smiled at him, “When that bully was picking on you, you didn’t shed a single tear, so I believe in you.”
For a moment, the head went blank, yet it seemed to hear the sound of its own heartbeat.
Glancing sideways, its heart was indeed going wild, frantically jumping around on Yun Ji’s arm.
Yun Ji fumbled for a while before finally grabbing hold of the heart.
She looked horrified, “Head, your heart has gone crazy!”
The head flushed with embarrassment and didn’t speak.
“Do you only cry in front of me?”
Yun Ji was saying things again that made him ashamed and angry.
He didn’t answer the question, only changed the subject, “Why are you so obsessed with piecing my body together? Don’t tell me it’s just for fun!”
But it really was for fun, to pass the time.
Yun Ji stared at the head with a troubled expression, and after a long while, finally found a reason:
“Mainly, you know, piecing your body together is something I have to do. I have hands and feet, so I can do it whenever I want. You don’t have hands or feet, so even if you wanted to, you couldn’t.”
The head: ?
Why did this woman’s words make him want to hit her?
The head laughed in anger:
“True, my body is so perfect, anyone would like it. It’s only natural that you’d want to piece it together.”
Yun Ji was left speechless and laughed too.
Her little companion was crybaby and delicate, and now she could add “narcissistic” to the list.
The head returned to its previous irritable state, shouting angrily as it gave Yun Ji directions, “You don’t know the way, yet you insist on running right up to the bars! How dare you make me give you directions!”
“The Guard brings me food. If I don’t go to the bars, how am I supposed to eat?”
Mentioning the Guard, the head’s expression turned strange, its face twisting as it sneered:
“You and that Guard seem pretty close. He even buys you meat and vegetables. Who knows what bad intentions he has? What if he puts something in your food? You wouldn’t even be able to defend yourself. You should be careful, understand?”
Yun Ji disagreed, “The lamp in my hand and my daily meals are all brought by the Guard. He’s a good person. How can you slander him like that?”
Besides, she had no way to test for poison. Was she supposed to starve to death?
The head said righteously, “So what if I slander him? It’s an honor for anyone to be slandered by me. Didn’t you say I’m your little companion? Who’s more important, me or him?”
Yun Ji looked at him strangely, “Didn’t you say you weren’t my little companion?”
The head immediately bristled, “Does it matter if I admit it or not? You’ve already decided for me!”
“Hehe.”
The head was infuriated by Yun Ji’s unapologetic attitude and didn’t want to speak anymore.
Shen Yinshuo only cared about Yun Ji’s Sword Bone. Aside from paying attention to her when she was meditating and occasionally dealing with the head, he remained quiet most of the time.
So after the head stopped talking, the only sound left in the cell was Yun Ji’s footsteps.
Yun Ji returned to the bars and, seeing that the head still wasn’t speaking, poked its cheek.
“What do you want?”
“Since you’ve admitted you’re my little companion, shouldn’t you tell me your name?”
Yun Ji pointed at herself, her eyes sparkling, “I’m Yun Ji, the ‘Ji’ from ‘bright and clear’.”
The head let out a forceful “hmph” and closed its eyes.
If it had a neck right now, it would have turned its head away sharply.
Yun Ji sighed regretfully, knowing the head wasn’t willing to speak further. After completing the daily singing ritual, he hugged the head and lay on his side, preparing to sleep.
Just as he was about to drift off, he heard the head’s muffled voice, which carried a hint of embarrassment and annoyance:
“Wei Sheng.”
As if in a fit of pique, he uttered the name and then fell silent, his ears turning bright red, not caring whether Yun Ji had heard it or not.
But Yun Ji immediately shot upright!
[You said before that if you told me your name, you’d be a dog! I still remember that!]
The head: ?