“Wuchang…”
Yu Qing repeated the name without expression.
In truth, the answer did not surprise him.
He had sensed it already. He should have known long ago.
After all, there was only one bastard in the entire world who kept coming back to provoke him like this.
He had thought that hearing an answer he had already expected would leave him calm. At most, perhaps, he would be surprised.
Maybe even slightly moved.
Everyone knew Painted Skin had no heart, but even someone without a heart could still be moved for an instant.
Especially when the other person was now his only believer.
And yet Yu Qing found himself furious.
…
A kind of anger with nowhere to go.
A fraud who had disappeared for five years had come back without a single honest word.
A different name.
A different voice.
Even his handwriting had changed.
If Wuchang had a physical body at this moment, Yu Qing probably would have attacked him already.
Uncle Yuan was still sprawled on the floor, unable to accept or believe the two characters Wuchang that had appeared in the register of believers.
He simply could not understand it.
Nothing like this had ever happened in the island city before.
One deity worshipping another deity.
His hands shook around the page as he looked blankly at his employer.
“Wh-why would he worship you? You two… did something happen between you later?”
“We had no relationship,” Yu Qing said coldly.
Then, as though Uncle Yuan had unwittingly presented him with a convenient outlet, Yu Qing pursued the matter.
“And what exactly do you mean by later?”
Uncle Yuan: “…”
The poor old housekeeper’s instincts told him he had chosen a terrible moment to speak.
But his employer had already asked.
If he left the question hanging, he would only suffer more.
So Uncle Yuan answered aggrievedly:
“Well… you two were on good terms for a while before, weren’t you?”
Yu Qing gave him a sidelong look that suggested one more word might be the end of him.
Uncle Yuan thought bitterly, You’ve mentioned this at home before too, sir. You didn’t react like this then!
What could he do?
This ancestor of his had always been the kind who could only be handled by stroking his fur in the right direction.
Uncle Yuan slapped himself lightly across the mouth.
“Pah. Ancient history from eighty thousand years ago. Why am I digging it up?”
As he spoke, he sneaked a glance at Yu Qing.
Seeing that his expression had not worsened, Uncle Yuan decided he had found the correct approach.
“Anyway, you two grew distant again afterward. Before he disappeared, you were already minding your own business and staying out of each other’s way! I remember the year Wuchang disappeared, I even said something to you…”
That had been during the first year after Wuchang suddenly vanished.
One day, Uncle Yuan had mentioned him in passing, perhaps out of a mixture of fear and gossip, intending to discuss the suspicious circumstances with Yu Qing.
Yu Qing had shut him down with a single sentence.
“What did you say to me back then again?”
It had been nearly five years.
Uncle Yuan thought for a moment, slapped his thigh, and remembered.
“Oh, right! You said his affairs had nothing to do with you.”
The low-income apartment building should have been noisy.
It possessed the longest corridors in the island city, the most complicated layout, and the greatest number of cramped, crowded rooms.
All sorts of people lived here.
Yet at that moment, inside this exceptionally bare little apartment, Uncle Yuan’s words were followed only by silence.
The blue-winged swallowtail butterfly continued circling Yu Qing tirelessly, listening to his believer’s voice and carrying it to him as it had always done.
That believer was still occupying Yu Qing’s body.
Yet because the butterfly was carrying his voice, every word reached Yu Qing beside his ear, making it sound as though the speaker were standing directly behind him, close enough to touch.
Yu Qing could hear Mi Xiaobai breathing clearly.
He could even sense the other man opening his mouth, as though he wanted to say something.
Then Uncle Yuan, apparently incapable of tolerating silence, smacked his lips thoughtfully and said with exasperation:
“But I still think you were a little worried about him back then, sir.”
Yu Qing: “…”
Can you get lost?
“Mi Xiaobai.”
Yu Qing had no intention of letting Uncle Yuan keep spouting nonsense. He addressed the person inside his body instead.
“I don’t know why you decided to invent a fake name to fool people, but I’ve already seen every trick you used before. I’m not that easy to deceive anymore.”
“And this worship…”
Yu Qing turned toward the tiny deity statue on the table.
He had meant to continue speaking coldly, but the words stopped the instant he opened his mouth.
The tiny candle flame before the statue swayed in the breeze.
Back and forth.
Like the little skeleton’s claws lightly scratching at him whenever it wanted attention.
“This offering is actually rather…”
Uncle Yuan had been about to say that the offering was rather touching.
After all, it had arrived precisely when Yu Qing needed it most.
But according to the island city’s conventional wisdom, unsolicited kindness always concealed ulterior motives.
There was no such thing as free goodwill in this world.
Wuchang truly was good at beguiling people!
Even Uncle Yuan had nearly fallen for it.
Coming back to his senses, he immediately changed course.
“…rather good at winning people over. Far too calculating!”
Uncle Yuan might have been timid and deathly afraid of Wuchang, but as far as he could tell, Wuchang was currently relying entirely on the blue-winged swallowtail butterfly to communicate with Yu Qing.
His real body had to be somewhere far away.
Surely he could not hear Uncle Yuan.
That meant Uncle Yuan had to fulfill his duty as a loyal servant.
“Sir, you absolutely cannot fall for his tricks!”
“I won’t,” Yu Qing said calmly.
According to the rumors of the island city, Wuchang was indeed exceptionally skilled at beguiling people.
But the Ghost Deity Painted Skin happened to have no heart.
And Yu Qing was still furious.
How could he possibly be moved so easily?
He was just about to continue speaking when a crisp sound suddenly rang out.
Yu Qing froze.
What was that?
While he was still wondering, a familiar holographic screen abruptly burst into existence before him.
Lines of glowing blue text appeared.
[Congratulations!]
[Your act of worship at a critical moment has moved the Ghost Deity Painted Skin, allowing you to achieve the Epic Hidden Achievement “A Single Thought.”]
[Tap here to claim your special reward.]
Yu Qing: “?”
Before he could react, the blue-winged swallowtail butterfly stumbled midflight and bumped straight into the holographic screen.
By sheer coincidence, it passed directly through the button for claiming the special reward.
Clang!
A cheerful chime sounded, and a reward notification burst into view.
[Deity Bond — Unlocked.]
[You may unlock a path of destiny unique to you and this deity through instance quests, hidden achievements, special side quests, and other methods.]
Yu Qing: “??”
Then came another cheerful clang.
A second reward notification bounced in front of the increasingly irritated Painted Skin.
[Deity Favorability — Unlocked.]
[This interaction feature is now active. Every action you take and every word you speak concerning this deity will affect Favorability.]
[Reach certain Favorability thresholds to claim special rewards. Go give it a try!]
Mr. Painted Skin was now covered in question marks.
Unfortunately, the infuriating clang showed no awareness of the mood.
It sounded for a third time.
[Because of your act of worship, the Ghost Deity Painted Skin is deeply pleased.]
[Favorability +2.]
Other deities routinely granted Favorability in increments of +10.
Painted Skin, by contrast, had condescended to offer a mere +2.
It was still more than enough to make Mr. Painted Skin furious with embarrassment.
Yu Qing swept the holographic screen away with one hand.
He could no longer tolerate remaining in this miserable room for even another second.
With a cold expression, he turned to slam the door behind him—
only to remember that he had already sliced through the narrow iron door and kicked it onto the floor.
His lips pressed into a tight line.
He turned and walked away instead.
The little skeleton nearly lost its footing and dug its claws tightly into Yu Qing’s shoulder.
The blue-winged swallowtail butterfly beat its wings frantically to catch up.
Uncle Yuan stuffed the register of believers away.
He hesitated at the doorway for two seconds, then grabbed the deity statue from the table, wrapped it inside his clothes, and took off running.
“Sir! Wait for me!”
The holographic screen that had suddenly appeared, along with those completely unexpected rewards, had sent Yu Qing’s irritation through the roof.
Yet they produced a rather remarkable effect on Wuchang.
Yu Qing strode quickly down the corridor.
Beside his ear, he heard slow, steady breathing.
The other man seemed to have relaxed.
Or perhaps it was something else.
Whatever the case, after a moment, the familiar voice finally spoke.
“I’ve actually wondered quite often how I should explain my sudden disappearance to you.”
Yu Qing did not slow as he hurried downstairs.
“Who cares?”
Uncle Yuan had been right.
Before the other man disappeared, they had already gone some time without seeing each other.
They had been living entirely separate lives, neither interfering with the other.
Strictly speaking, nobody owed anyone an explanation for such… unnecessary matters.
Mi Xiaobai—or rather, Wuchang—rarely sounded this hesitant.
For all those years before, his voice had almost always been careless or indifferent.
This time was different.
“I was verifying something,” he said. “But before I had a definite answer, I couldn’t recklessly tell you about it.”
“No need,” Yu Qing said.
Mi Xiaobai seemed to have expected that answer.
When his prediction was confirmed, he gave a small laugh.
The laugh immediately made him sound irritating again.
But what he said next was serious.
“As for the time… I didn’t realize it had been five years. From my perspective, I should only have been gone for a few months.”
Yu Qing’s steps finally faltered.
Then he heard Mi Xiaobai mutter almost to himself:
“Maybe time flows differently inside and outside? That would be quite a problem.”
Yu Qing thought, You’re occupying the butterfly’s channel just to talk to yourself now???
“That still needs to be verified,” Mi Xiaobai added. “If I’d known it would be five years, I probably would have—”
He stopped.
Would have what?
Not disappeared?
Not done whatever he had done?
Yu Qing instinctively followed the thought for a moment, then pushed it away.
His expression turned strange.
Based on everything he knew from those years in the past, Wuchang was hardly quiet, but most of what he said was teasing.
He rarely bothered to offer serious explanations for anything.
When they were still young, Wuchang had once said outright that he hated explaining his actions to other people.
He hated the feeling of being constrained.
After all, he had almost nothing to do with anyone in the island city.
Most of what he did depended entirely on his own mood.
There was nothing to explain.
But today seemed different.
Mi Xiaobai’s voice was low, yet in the unusually quiet corridor of the low-income apartment building, every word sounded exceptionally clear.
He thought for a long time before saying:
“I probably would have wanted to… see you once more before I disappeared.”
Yu Qing stopped dead.
He stood there with his brows tightly drawn.
He wanted to say that speaking like this was extremely strange.
For some reason, the words never came.
Outwardly, he still looked entirely unmoved.
His anger had not faded, and if anything, he seemed impatient.
He even wanted to say something sharp enough to silence the constant murmuring beside his ear and make a certain person stop talking.
Yu Qing was silently searching for the right words when that irritating ding suddenly sounded again.
The holographic screen gave a tiny bounce and displayed a line of text before him.
[The Ghost Deity Painted Skin heard your words.]
[Favorability +3.]
Yu Qing: “…”
Mi Xiaobai gave a soft, surprised “Ah.”
He muttered something under his breath, then actually continued explaining:
“As for the name, the voice, and the handwriting… I did deliberately change the handwriting.”
“I knew I’d disappeared for a while. Coming back to find you after that was, admittedly, a little…”
He searched for the right word.
Finally, he said:
“Uneasy. Or you could call it nervous.”
“I was worried that the moment you realized it was me, you’d do everything possible to throw me out without leaving me any chance to speak.”
Yu Qing replied coldly:
“That is indeed something you should have worried about.”
The instant the words left his mouth, the detestable holographic screen bounced again.
[Favorability +1.]
Yu Qing’s face darkened.
In the reflection of the corridor window, Mi Xiaobai could see Yu Qing’s expressionless face.
In stark contrast, glowing blue numbers kept appearing beside him.
Little by little, Favorability continued climbing.
Mi Xiaobai watched for a while.
Then he suddenly burst out laughing.
“Damn.”
“I really am a bastard, aren’t I?”