"Your husband… he's finally gone?"
When she woke up the next day, Yu Ning remembered what had happened the night before and quietly studied Pei Chongqing's expression.
She had gone to sleep early and had no idea how long he had sat by the bedside that night, or whether he had been stewing in silent anger the whole time. But looking at his face, it was hard to tell anything at all. He was the kind of person who rarely showed any expression on a normal day.
After finishing breakfast, Yu Ning mulled it over and directly wrote out a supply list for Pei Chongqing. At the top of the first column, the item circled and marked as the priority was finding the Protection Stone, and she had even drawn a small stone beside it.
Yu Ning capped her pen and read the list aloud to Pei Chongqing. Seeing his brows lightly furrow without the slightest hint of resistance, she felt a subtle relief in her chest. Only after making sure he understood, remembered, and hadn't missed any items did she tuck the list into the waterproof pouch on his chest.
Every time he went out, he traveled light—carrying only a backpack—but when he came back, his entire body would be draped with bulging compression packs, making him look like a moving, oversized suitcase.
Yu Ning knew his physical abilities were far beyond ordinary people and that he had already deeply integrated and adapted to this world, but every time she thought of the spectacle of his return, she still couldn't help but marvel.
Before they had found a piece of pure land, she had also wandered and adventured with him for a while, experiencing firsthand what it felt like to be his "luggage." Back then, Yu Ning almost never walked on her own—she was always held in his arms or carried on his back. Only when they found a place to rest and needed to pause temporarily would Pei Chongqing be willing to set her down.
But even though he was powerful and rich in survival experience, that didn't mean he had never been hurt.
Yu Ning smoothed her hand over his chest, brushed aside the silver-white strands of hair, rose on her tiptoes to kiss him, and earnestly urged: "Be careful."
The precious translator had already been removed from his neck. Pei Chongqing lowered his gaze to look at her, his Adam's apple shifting as he responded in a low, hoarse voice—his original voice.
Yu Ning lowered her heels and released the embrace. Just as she was about to go open the door, Pei Chongqing suddenly reached for the pendant hanging at her chest, struggling to force out a raspy, halting monosyllable: "Bu… ah…"
His original voice was like black gravel scraping across rusted iron—rough, grating, and dull. It was precisely for this reason that the translator struggled to convey what he was trying to express.
But through his actions, Yu Ning could understand what he meant.
She pressed her lips together and, without overthinking it, promised: "I won't take it off."
Pei Chongqing had always believed without question whatever she said. At those words, he curved his silver-white eyes, and the corners of his lips gradually lifted into a stiff, practiced smile.
He reached for her hand wearing the wedding ring, his fingertip gently rubbing the band, then kissed her hand—not missing a single finger or the palm.
If he kept kissing like this, it would be no different from washing her hand… Yu Ning pulled her hand back and swatted him, scolding playfully: "Are you a puppy? That's so dirty."
She shooed him off. Pei Chongqing didn't linger, his gaze resting on her for a few seconds before he turned and walked away.
Yu Ning stood at the door watching him go, only turning back once his figure had vanished from sight. She picked up the food container from the kitchen and headed next door.
Standing before the bedroom door, Yu Ning took a deep breath, bracing herself as she reached for the doorknob.
The door, which should have opened easily, had its lock jammed twice in a row—the bolt stuck fast, refusing to budge. Yu Ning froze, then tried again in disbelief, until her palm was rubbed raw and hot. Only then did she hear the sound of the latch scraping against metal—
The door swung inward, and a shaft of light from the corridor cut through the figure standing there, casting a long beam across the floor that stretched all the way to the wall on the opposite side.
A wave of indescribable stench hit her face—like the damp, musty smell of heavy clothing left to mildew, or some kind of fermented chemical. Yu Ning's stomach churned violently as she covered her nose and mouth, frozen in the hallway, afraid to enter. She stared wide-eyed, finding it hard to believe that in just one night, Jiang Xian's bedroom had stewed up this kind of odor again.
The room remained dim and murky, sealed airtight on all sides with tape and newspaper, with only a faint, mottled yellow light peeking through.
Yu Ning let her eyes adjust to the darkness, steadied her pounding heart, and mustering her courage, stepped inside. She called out softly, "Jiang Xian?"
"Close the door! Close it!"
A man's frantic, breathless roar came from deeper inside.
Before she could even tell where the voice came from, his shout startled her. She flinched, obediently shutting the door, her heart pounding three heavy thuds with the slam—it was too dark. A chill of belated dread crept up from the soles of her feet and her wrists. She immediately reached for the light switch—nothing happened. The light was broken?
Yu Ning swallowed hard and asked again where he was, whether he could come out and show himself. He didn't answer. That uncertain unknown only made her fear climb higher.
Her mind was entirely focused on finding a lamp that could light up—and she did find one—the one on the bedside table.
The lamp cast a faint beam of light, settling her nerves somewhat. Yu Ning lowered her head, and in an offhand glance, caught sight of an extra pair of feet under the bed. She stumbled back two steps, her temples throbbing. Looking more carefully—weren't those Jiang Xian's feet?
Yu Ning crouched down on her knees and called his name, and sure enough, saw Jiang Xian hiding under the bed.
He was curled up in a ball, clutching his head, trembling like a leaf, muttering something under his breath.
It took considerable effort to snap him out of it and drag him out from under the bed. When Jiang Xian saw her, the fear on his face receded slightly, and he immediately threw his arms around her, pulling her into a death grip, as if trying to draw warmth from her body.
The sudden intimate contact left Yu Ning at a loss—especially since he reeked of sweat from days without washing. She finally identified one source of that stench, but even after being immersed in it for so long, she still couldn't get used to it.
Yu Ning pressed her lips flat, holding back the bile rising in her stomach, and hugged him back, running her hand down his back again and again to soothe him.
She didn't notice that from the loose pocket of her knit cardigan, a round, white sphere covered in red blood vessels had emerged.
At the center of this sphere was a silver-white pupil, which, as it watched them embrace, gradually became dyed red, then black, by the blood vessels.
It wanted to play a malicious trick—conjure an Aberration, or produce a foul stench—to force these two apart, but it couldn't.
The jade stone hanging at Yu Ning's chest was perfectly pressed between them.
It was a piece of flesh carved from His heart, not something naturally formed and transformed in this foreign world. It carried an equal share of His life and power, able to protect her, and also able to shield her from all the malice and fear He emanated.
The jade emitted a faint, ethereal green glow, passing a warm, thick current of heat over their pressed skin, and like a heart, pulsed almost imperceptibly.
Yu Ning could feel the change in the jade. When Jiang Xian calmed down and released her, she didn't think twice—she took it off and put it around his neck.
…She didn't want to be held like that forever.
Let him borrow it for now, until he settled down.
Jiang Xian's gaze fixed on the jade, his voice low: "What is this?"
"The Protection Stone can calm the mind—it's quite effective," Yu Ning explained, her body slowly sinking back until she was fully seated on the ground. She didn't elaborate further on its effects, instead asking with concern, "What's wrong with you? Did you have another nightmare?"
She helped him up and sat him on the edge of the bed. She turned to get him a glass of water, but he pressed her hand down, gripping it tightly on his knee. Her body swayed slightly, but in the end, she didn't move away or pull her hand free. She let him hold it, even leaning in to murmur soft words of comfort.
The tiny eyeball had nowhere to go, forced to lurk in the shadows at their feet, peering out. Its pupil was as gloomy as a black hole, the whites stained with engorged blood vessels so red they seemed ready to drip blood. The elastic sphere slowly compressed and flattened as it sank, as if it wished it could rot away on the spot.
Ten li away, in a shopping mall, its owner had just endured a fierce battle. Bare-chested, he stepped over a rotting corpse, intending to wash the filth from his body and claim his spoils—but he stood frozen in place because of the separated eye he was using to spy.
His pallid face was utterly bloodless, his furrowed brows carrying the gloom of the dead, especially with the hollow socket where his other eye should have been. His features twisted as the other perspective loosened, veins bulging, contorting beyond control.
Liar.
That word flashed through Pei Chongqing's mind. It was a term Yu Ning had taught him through a fable—not difficult to pronounce, but he had never used it because of its derogatory nature.
But now, it nearly consumed his mind.
He didn't understand. He had left, gone to do what she asked—why had she broken her promise and given the other half of his heart to someone else?
He understood even less why she would show kindness to that man when he had already filled her body so deeply with his seed that she couldn't possibly accept another's.
Was it because he hadn't yet made her pregnant? Or because the skin he had so carefully woven had already grown tiresome to her?
Or was it because of his flaws, his imperfections?
Pei Chongqing vividly remembered the atmosphere at the dinner table—how he couldn't blend in. He couldn't put it into words, only felt a surging rage beneath his chest.
Yu Ning used to speak only to him, smile only for him—until that scum appeared.
—That whoremonger.
Pei Chongqing thought of another obscure word, borrowed from another story Yu Ning had told him.
"Your husband… he's finally gone?"
After hearing Yu Ning's words, Jiang Xian let out a relieved breath and couldn't help but say it.
Yu Ning stared blankly at his relaxed expression, somewhat confused.
Jiang Xian also caught the indiscretion in his own words. He stroked her hand and quickly tried to cover it up: "Sorry, I just think there's something very off about him."
The cover-up didn't quite land; he still couldn't resist badmouthing him. But it was his honest opinion, not entirely born of selfish motives.
Yu Ning felt uncomfortable at his touch. She quickly pulled her hand back, her tone carrying a hint of protectiveness mixed with inexplicable guilt: "What are you saying? What's off about him?"
"Don't you remember what I told you before?" Jiang Xian countered, his crimson eyes unblinking. "Or have you spent so much time with him that you've grown used to his strangeness?"
Yu Ning opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by his certainty: "He's definitely not a normal person—whether by his words, actions, or appearance. What kind of person is pale all over, with white sclera and white hair? And that towering build? It defies all logic!"
"He hasn't hurt us." Yu Ning frowned, instinctively defending him. "I've been with him for over a year, and he's never once hurt—"
"Over a year?" Jiang Xian seized on the key phrase, rolling it over in his mouth. "You've been together for a year?"