Everyone Is Non-Human Except Me [Rebirth] Chapter 43

Yun Yongzhou wore silver-rimmed glasses and a loosely buttoned white shirt, carrying a kind of refined yet wicked ascetic vibe. Having gotten used to seeing him in his usual instructor’s uniform, Wei Huan felt a bit thrown off by the sudden change in outfit—he couldn’t help stealing a few more glances. But that face was simply too good-looking, even he, a guy, couldn’t help but—

Couldn’t help what! Wei Huan blinked nervously several times, his heart pounding wildly.

What was he just thinking?

“Why aren’t you saying anything?” Yun Yongzhou asked again.

His hand was still firmly caught, and in that moment, Wei Huan couldn’t think of anything appropriate to say. Maybe it was because they had been classmates before, and now Yun Yongzhou had suddenly changed roles and become an instructor. But in his heart, he was still the same guy Wei Huan had teased back then. Seeing him now in this outfit kind of felt like role-playing.

But… he was really gripping too tightly.

“It hurts…”

As soon as Wei Huan said that, Yun Yongzhou immediately let go, a trace of apology flashing across his face.

Wei Huan retracted his hand and touched the wound he had earlier made with the light blade. Yun Yongzhou saw it too and knew he had used a blood medium, so he asked, “Why did you do that?”

Why do you have so many questions…

And I can’t seem to answer any of them.

Wei Huan awkwardly rubbed his finger. “Actually, I specifically came to the library to find information about blood pacts. Who knew it would be so hard to find? I ended up helping people move stuff all afternoon just to get my hands on this one.”

Yun Yongzhou quietly listened to him, watching the subtle expressions on his face and the small golden mark between his brows. It looked like a tiny golden firefly that had found its perfect resting place.

Even though he hadn’t really wanted to leave any kind of personal imprint on Wei Huan, this little mark somehow felt just right.

Just as cute as him.

“I thought, since I’d already found it, I might as well take a look… As I kept reading, I found some spells. It’s normal to want to try spells when you see them, right? But most of them were things like transferring senses and all that, so I didn’t dare mess around.” As he said this, Wei Huan suddenly grew a bit more confident. “I strongly suspect that when you first tried it, you just randomly gave it a shot and ended up transferring my pain perception. Isn’t that right?”

Wei Huan instantly regretted his bold accusation. How could he speak to an instructor like this? Was he asking to die?

But Yun Yongzhou just leaned back against the sofa with what seemed to be a faint smile. “You’re right about everything.”

Did he just smile again?

Did he? Or was Wei Huan seeing things?

Wei Huan’s heart was pounding like crazy. His brain felt like it had suddenly gone completely blank. When he came back to his senses, he tried hard to recall what he had just said, but he really couldn’t remember. “Uh, where was I…”

“You were saying you didn’t dare to try the other spells,” Yun Yongzhou kindly reminded him.

“Oh, right, exactly.” Wei Huan waggled his index finger. “Yep, I didn’t dare try the other spells. I was worried they might have irreversible consequences, and then I’d be the ultimate sinner of all time. So I thought I’d try the mind-link spell instead—it seemed pretty harmless. And then I just followed exactly what the book said and…”

Yun Yongzhou seemed to be listening intently, his beautiful eyes focused on him. Realizing this made Wei Huan a little flustered and unable to concentrate. “And it turned out like this, haha.” He laughed awkwardly, picking up the book from the ground and handing it to Yun Yongzhou. “If you don’t believe me, take a look—I followed it exactly.”

But Yun Yongzhou didn’t reach out to take it.

“I can’t touch it.”

“What?” Just as Wei Huan asked, he saw Yun Yongzhou lean forward and reach out with his long fingers to touch the book.

But somehow, his hand seemed like a phantom, passing right through the thick pages and continuing forward—until it grabbed Wei Huan’s hand that was holding the book.

“See?”

Those amber eyes reflected the flickering starlight, just like a river during a summer festival filled with sky lanterns stretching across the night sky.

“I can only touch you.”

His hand was caught again.

Maybe it was because the other person was a golden crow, but Wei Huan felt that the part being held was getting scorching hot, a continuous wave of heat spreading to him, making him anxious and restless.

After the demonstration, Yun Yongzhou released his hand. Wei Huan dazedly withdrew it. “I see, so that’s how it works. Wow, that’s really advanced. But what’s with this author? He really should’ve written more here. It’s so incomplete. At least write what you’ll see, what you can touch, things like that…”

“Yeah.”

Yun Yongzhou usually never responded, and Wei Huan had long been used to talking to himself. Now that Yun Yongzhou suddenly started replying, Wei Huan actually felt a bit uncomfortable.

It felt like he hadn’t seen him for a long time.

“Instructor Yun, why haven’t you shown up lately?”

This question had been stuck in his mind for too long. Wei Huan felt that if he didn’t take this chance to ask, he wouldn’t be able to sleep.

When Yun Yongzhou heard this, his expression clearly shifted. The slight trace of happiness from before seemed to vanish, like he didn’t want to talk about it. “I took leave. Resting for a few days.”

“Really?” Wei Huan tried to lighten the mood with a smile. “Well, a lot happened while you were gone. Physical exams, group assignments—we were so busy. Oh right, do you know who I got grouped with for the mock competition? Let me tell you—”

“I know,” Yun Yongzhou said calmly. “You were grouped with Yang Ling, Jing Yun, and your opponents were Yan Shanyue, Zhao Xingjian, and a kid from Jiahui Academy. You did really well. I saw it all.”

More than once.

These were the kind of things any instructor would say, but Wei Huan somehow felt there was something special about it—though he couldn’t explain what.

His mood slowly brightened, like a cotton candy stick spinning at the fair, eventually wrapped in a big, fluffy cloud of sweetness.

No matter what, getting recognized by the person he once most wanted to surpass was always something to be happy about.

“When are you coming back?” Wei Huan immediately regretted asking. Why did he sound like a clingy little kid who wouldn’t let go? “I mean, when the combat group assignments happen, will you be there? I heard group assignments are usually led by the combat instructors. If it’s Yansui, that would be you, right?”

Yun Yongzhou lowered his gaze, staring at his own hand, where a small flame quietly formed in his palm. He clenched his fist, and the flame disappeared.

“Do you want me to come back?”

Wei Huan didn’t know how to answer. Ever since he was reborn, he’d always felt like there was another person living inside him, constantly shouting things he shouldn’t be saying—like “I want to see him,” “I want him to notice me,” “I want him to come back.” These weren’t his own thoughts. They really weren’t.

Were they….

It had happened so many times he started to doubt himself.

He was silent for so long that when he finally snapped out of it, Yun Yongzhou had already taken off his glasses and was lying on the glass coffee table in his own space, saying nothing.

His mood didn’t seem too good.

Wei Huan shuffled closer on the ground, then reached out and gently ruffled the hair on the back of Yun Yongzhou’s head.

“Instructor Yun, are you sick?” His fingers softly played with the loose strands of hair. “If you’re sick, just rest a little longer. Anyway, there are so many instructors at the academy, losing one won’t matter.”

Being touched like this, Yun Yongzhou felt at peace.

This guy was terrifying.

He clearly didn’t understand anything, yet time and again he brought his kindness directly in front of Yun Yongzhou, letting him see it, letting him touch it, making him fall into the illusion that maybe this really was his to have. Like a swamp disguised as a cloud, glowing with beautiful pink hues, luring him to step in, one foot at a time.

But a swamp is still a swamp. He knew that perfectly well.

And yet, he’d been stuck here for so many years.

“You should head back.” Yun Yongzhou still kept his head down. “The library doesn’t have a time limit, but I remember the dorms have curfew. You have fifteen minutes to make it back.”

Wei Huan awkwardly pulled his hand back.

“That’s nothing to worry about, really. The student dorms have curfews, but I can go—”

“Go where?” Yun Yongzhou suddenly looked up, obvious displeasure on his face. “Go to Shangshan?”

“What’s that got to do with Shangshan?” Wei Huan was completely confused. “I meant I could just crash on the library couch, or there are so many rest areas around campus. What’s the big deal?”

It’s not like he hadn’t spent nights outside before.

Yun Yongzhou fell silent again. Every time he was with Wei Huan, he felt like he reverted to his reckless teenage self, unable to control his emotions.

Wei Huan was also puzzled. Why was Yun Yongzhou so against him going to Shangshan? Did it have something to do with Su Buyu?

Did they really have some grudge? Wei Huan thought carefully. Every time those two were together, they barely spoke, and the atmosphere was super tense.

Could it be…

A terrifying thought crossed his mind.

Could Yun Yongzhou like Su Buyu?

“What are you thinking about? Your eyes are about to pop out of your head.”

Startled by Yun Yongzhou’s voice, Wei Huan snapped back to reality. “Ah? Nothing, nothing, my brain just glitched for a sec.”

No, no, that can’t be it. Those two don’t match at all. Sure, their CP was pretty popular in Shanhai for a while—the whole ‘fire and water can’t mix, lovers and rivals’ trope…

Yun Yongzhou glanced at the time. “You won’t make it back now.”

Wei Huan looked too. “Oh, right.”

“Come sleep in my dorm.”

“Huh?” Wei Huan was a little hesitant. “I… I don’t think I can get in.”

“You can.” Yun Yongzhou said directly, “I just gave the order. You can go straight in.”

The way he said it left no room for refusal. Besides, it wasn’t the first time he’d crashed at Yun Yongzhou’s place—nothing to be embarrassed about. Wei Huan made a sound of acknowledgment, “Then I’ll stay a little longer.” Then he hesitated and asked, “By the way, do you know how to turn off this mind-link? It’s not written in the book.”

“It’s my first time connecting too.” Yun Yongzhou put his glasses back on, squinting slightly as if in thought. “If you know how to connect, theoretically, you should also know how to disconnect.”

Wei Huan was at a loss for words. Why did it feel like Yun Yongzhou was talking a lot more than before?

When it came to how to connect, he felt a little guilty. He could only pretend to flip the pages of the book while silently chanting in his mind— I don’t want to see you anymore. I don’t want to see you anymore. I really don’t want to see you anymore.

When he looked up again, Yun Yongzhou was still there.

It didn’t work.

Liar.

“Can’t turn it off?” Yun Yongzhou propped his chin with his hand and looked at him.

Wei Huan gave a soft “mm.” “Instructor Yun, if you don’t mind me bothering you, can we just leave it like this for now? I can’t figure out how to shut it off right now. I promise I won’t open this again so casually next time.”

“It’s fine.”

Wei Huan turned his gaze back to the book. He realized he rarely had chances to quietly spend time alone with Yun Yongzhou. Back when they were still students, apart from large lectures and missions, they hardly ran into each other. Every time he saw Yun Yongzhou, he was always alone—walking alone, eating alone, returning to the dorm alone.

At the time, he was always curious—did Yun Yongzhou never feel lonely?

While Wei Huan kept his head down reading, Yun Yongzhou quietly watched him.

This kind of time was incredibly precious to him. Even if he was trapped in this space, as long as he could watch Wei Huan freely doing the things he liked, Yun Yongzhou was happy.

He couldn’t recall exactly when his feelings for Wei Huan had changed into something different from how he felt toward others, but he was certain—he had always envied him.

He loved Wei Huan’s youthful spirit, loved the light he carried, loved his unbreakable pride.

He loved his freedom that belonged to no one.

Wei Huan’s eyes drifted over the pages. There wasn’t much left about blood bonds; only one line remained—”Empathic Link.”

[Once a blood bond is established, both parties can sense each other’s danger in critical moments.]

So that’s why Yun Yongzhou always arrived just in time to save him?

It wasn’t like he hadn’t asked before if he could sense Yun Yongzhou too, but at the time, the answer had been no.

Wei Huan stared at his own index finger.

Since the blood bond couldn’t be broken, instead of leaving it one-sided, why not form one from his side as well? That way, he could hand his key over to him too.

His eyes fixed on the book:

[When forming a blood bond, one must silently recite the heart’s incantation and draw the family crest with fresh blood onto the other party’s body.]

Family crest…

But if he really drew his family crest, would Yun Yongzhou discover his identity? Would his demon mark appear on Yun Yongzhou’s body? No, that’s not right—he didn’t even have a demon mark on his own body now, so how could it appear on Yun Yongzhou?

After struggling for a bit, Wei Huan asked, “Instructor Yun, can you give me your hand?”

Yun Yongzhou, surprisingly, didn’t say anything and simply extended his hand, palm up.

“Also, can you close your eyes? Just for a bit—I promise.”

Yun Yongzhou frowned slightly.

“Don’t worry, I won’t do anything bad, really, really.” Wei Huan grabbed his hand, still a little worried he’d be caught. After hesitating, he scooted around on the floor to sit with his back to Yun Yongzhou while still holding his hand. “Whoever peeks is a dog.”

Seeing this, Yun Yongzhou’s lips curved into a smile behind him. His back was so close, just a little closer and he could hug him from behind.

Wei Huan stared at the notebook on his lap, guiding a blade of light to lightly cut his fingertip.

It hurt like h*ll—he’d been bleeding all day. He quickly drew his family’s Nine-turn Wind Crest onto Yun Yongzhou’s palm, terrified he’d be discovered, though Wei Huan didn’t really think Yun Yongzhou would remember the pattern of his demon mark. He began to silently recite the heart’s incantation.

It had to work.

In an instant, an intense light burst from the top floor of the glass house. He felt his body violently struck by a surge of demon energy, and before he could even react, his consciousness was swiftly overwhelmed. His body went limp and collapsed directly into Yun Yongzhou’s arms.

Even though he’d already gone through this once before. Just for the sake of so-called fairness, he still had to do it.

He thought back to a long time ago, when their groups worked together on missions, gathering ten or so people to eat. The lively Wei Huan was always the center of attention, and everyone joked about him—he never got mad.

They’d all had a bit to drink and started speaking without filters. Several classmates kept pestering Wei Huan, asking if he’d ever had someone he liked.

Wei Huan awkwardly denied it, but no one believed him.

“Come on, how could you grow up without liking any girls? There are so many beauties in Shanhai, in Jiahui, in Shangshan—one more beautiful than the next!”

Among the group, Yun Yongzhou had always been the most silent, but his silence couldn’t hide his concern.

“Could it be that Wei Nine likes guys? Hahahaha!”

He remembered Wei Huan immediately grabbing something off the table and throwing it at the guy, laughing while he did, “F*ck you, I like guys? I’m the only son of nine generations—my family’s counting on me to carry on the name!”

“Isn’t your family from the Beiji Tiangui? Maybe you’re just really deep in the closet, hahaha!”

Yang Sheng, snacking as always, chimed in for the kill, “Wei Huan’s totally a sucker for pretty faces—he’s good with anyone as long as they’re good-looking.”

“Get lost,” Wei Huan gave him a strong shove, tipsy and slurring a little, “Good-looking is one thing, but I really don’t like guys. But hey, I’m not against it—I support everyone’s right to love!” He suddenly raised his glass and downed it.

After drinking, he grinned foolishly, “But I’m still a baby—my mom won’t let me date~”

Yun Yongzhou silently watched him, swirling the alcohol in his own glass.

Why did it have to be him?

Why did it have to be me?

Seeing Wei Huan unconscious in his arms at this moment, Yun Yongzhou felt complicated. He knew he was being selfish. In fact, he had already anticipated that Wei Huan was going to form a blood pact, and he had plenty of time to stop him.

But the moment Wei Huan grabbed his hand, he couldn’t think about anything else. He became childish, lost all sense of logic—because he had liked this person for so many years.

Just getting a tiny bit of response from him was enough to make him so happy that he couldn’t think straight.

Even though he knew, this was just the kind of person Wei Huan was. That bit of kindness he showed him didn’t actually carry any special meaning.

Yun Yongzhou reached out from behind and caught him. The space between them might have been distant, but every inch of the sensation was real—the warmth of his skin, the softness of the back of his neck.

He watched as the blood trace in his palm slowly disappeared, finally condensing into a small blue dot. Yun Yongzhou’s usually sharp expression softened, like a warm night breeze.

“Idiot.”

Wei Huan was woken up by Yang Ling.

He vaguely felt like he’d just had a dream, but as soon as he opened his eyes, the contents of the dream began to fade. He only remembered that, in the dream, he seemed to be held in someone’s arms. The wind outside was howling, but he was securely protected, as if he was wrapped in a warm cocoon.

“Stupid human, hurry up and get up! If you want to sleep, go back to the dormitory!”

Wei Huan groggily opened his eyes. “Why are you…”

“Someone asked me to come get you. Hurry up.” Yang Ling saw the book Wei Huan was hugging and picked it up to flip through it. “What’s this? Why won’t it open?”

“Nothing, just a notebook.” Wei Huan rubbed his eyes and climbed up the ladder, putting the book back in its original place.

The mind-link… was it over?

While standing on the ladder, he quietly called Yun Yongzhou’s name—but got no response.

“What are you muttering about!” Yang Ling pulled a brown paper bag from her backpack and shoved it into Wei Huan’s arms—it was still warm.

“What’s this?”

“Something you won’t die from eating.”

This little brat still didn’t know how to talk nicely, but she was quite considerate. Wei Huan chewed on a croissant as they walked out, his mouth full, mumbling, “You’re allowed in here?”

“I said hello already.”

Tch, the perks of being a faculty member’s little sister. Wei Huan didn’t overthink why Yang Ling knew he was here. He ate his bread and left the library with her, heading back to Yansui.

Since the last mock battle, his classmates had been treating him very differently. In the beginning, hardly anyone truly saw him as part of the class. But now, everyone had to admit that aside from his race, this classmate wasn’t any different from them—he was even more outstanding.

The last class of the morning was in the No Speak Building. All the students packed up and headed over. It was a silent meditation class, meant to give students uninterrupted time to meditate and reflect.

But forget about reflecting. As soon as things went quiet, Wei Huan’s head was filled with last night’s events. He wanted to know whether the blood pact with Yun Yongzhou had actually succeeded. If it had, shouldn’t there be some sort of reaction?

His mind wandering, he absentmindedly touched the ring on his middle finger, which triggered a holographic screen—it was his photo album.

The teacher wasn’t around, so Wei Huan planned to quickly close it and pretend nothing had happened. But just as he raised his hand, Yang Ling, sitting next to him, suddenly grabbed it and covered the ring on his middle finger. Her wide apricot eyes stared at him with an exaggerated [I caught you!] expression.

Worried that the teacher might return, Wei Huan quickly pouted, suppressed his pitiful expression, and pressed his palms together in a pleading gesture.

But Yang Ling didn’t care.

She wrote on her notebook: [You’re playing with your phone in class. I’m going to tell the teacher.]

Seriously, why are there so many ridiculously strong little kids around here? No matter how hard he pulled, he couldn’t free his hand. He could only force a smile and mouth to Yang Ling: [Please, auntie, it was an accident!]

Yang Ling lifted her chin smugly. If she were a little fox, her tail would be sky-high right now.

Wei Huan was thinking that when—unbelievably—the real fox actually got involved.

He could only watch in shock as his left hand was suddenly wrapped in pale blue foxfire, moving to swipe across the photo album screen. Wei Huan’s expression screamed, “Are you kidding me?” He turned around to look at Yan Shanyue sitting behind him.

Seriously? Are you guys a tag-team couple now?

But Yan Shanyue’s eyes were fixed on Wei Huan’s album. When she paused on one particular photo, her brow furrowed.

Wei Huan turned to look. It was a screenshot from a previous video call with Qing He, showing the demon mark left on his body from captivity.

Just as he suspected!

“You recognize this demon mark?!”

Yang Ling panicked and quickly covered Wei Huan’s mouth.

Too late.

When Wei Huan got dragged away by the giant in the mural, he still shouted in defeat, “Boss Shanyue, wait for me! I have questions! Save this poor kid! This time I’m really begging you to save me!”