Everyone Is Non-Human Except Me [Rebirth] Chapter 65

Sh*t.

It’s an illusion spell.

The voice of the dark witch drifted faintly from afar. “The first time I met him, he also used a bunch of light blades without saying a word. So much hostility.”

She had seen Yun Yongzhou?

Wei Huan suddenly remembered the look on Boss Jue’s face when Yun Yongzhou was mentioned. She must have met him too.

Why would Yun Yongzhou be entangled with these demon witches?

In that brief moment of distraction, two dark-red venomous snakes coiled up from beneath his feet, climbing around him, then transforming into flower vines rooted in the earth, binding Wei Huan so tightly he couldn’t move. He turned his head, trying to warn the others, “Watch out…”

But behind him—there was no one.

“Where did you take them?” The light blade reappeared in Wei Huan’s hand, and he slashed at the vines underfoot with all his might. With one blow, the vines turned into impenetrable rock.

Looking up again, the dark witch had already floated to him, her body lifted by the ever-extending flower vines, drawing closer and closer. Wei Huan was nearly wrapped from head to toe, unable to move his arms at all.

“I’ll ask one more time—where are they?”

As the distance closed, her red veil revealed her face — beautiful, yet both cheeks were partially covered in flower petals fused into her skin. She didn’t open her mouth, but her voice echoed out, “I told you, they’re resting.” Her hand touched Wei Huan’s chest. “Don’t get agitated. I gave you a chance to return — you should be thanking me.”

So it was her.

The moment her hand touched him, Wei Huan’s entire body went numb.

He suppressed his emotions — this was the closest he’d ever been to the truth. The feeling made him tremble uncontrollably.

“Who came to summon your soul seven years ago? And why?”

“More than one came to me.” Her hands cupped Wei Huan’s face. Those pupil-less eyes seemed to pierce straight through him. “And more than one wanted to summon your soul.” Since she couldn’t see, her pale hands groped along Wei Huan’s face, muttering to herself, “This face… seems different.”

“Tell me,” Wei Huan gritted through his teeth.

The dark witch paused, then smiled like an innocent girl. “I can. But you know, no demon witch in this world does anything for free.”

She tapped his chin. “So — what will you trade me?”

A trade.

Wei Huan said nothing, his eyes locked onto her face. She laughed again. The vines at his feet curled another loop around him, bringing her back in front of him. “But… in your current state, is there anything left you could possibly offer?”

She sniffed lightly, raised a hand to her mouth and chuckled, “Not even your demon energy is yours anymore.”

Wei Huan spoke coldly, “What do you want?”

The dark witch closed her pure-white eyes, as if sensing something. A long, withered vine extended from her crimson sleeve, brushing past half of Wei Huan’s body and stopping at his wrist.

“This one’s nice. I like it.”

Wei Huan instantly snapped alert. It felt like a string in his heart broke.

“You’re insane! Don’t touch my bracelet!”

The withered vine grew thinner and thinner, nearly slipping into the bracelet’s crack. The dark witch smiled, her tone doubtful, “Your bracelet? I may be blind, but I can still recognize my favorite kind of bones.”

Her words cut deep. “Was this really given to you?”

Wei Huan wanted to answer firmly, but the words caught in his throat.

He lacked confidence.

“Whether it was or not has nothing to do with you.” Wei Huan’s eyes were rimmed red, each word ground out from between clenched teeth. “If you dare touch it, I swear I’ll kill you.”

The bracelet instantly transformed into a sharp light spike, stabbing at the witch’s temple.

“I’m not sure if you still have the power to do that,” the dark witch said calmly, blinking with innocent curiosity. “But if you kill me, you’ll never know what really happened seven years ago.” She turned her back to him. “Guess. Guess who came. For every correct answer, I’ll tell you what they sacrificed.”

The light spike vanished, returning to Wei Huan’s wrist. The flower vines crept up toward his throat, making it hard to breathe.

The Dark Witch Princess turned her head. “You better hurry. Time’s running out.”

Wei Huan frowned — he noticed a strange glow shimmering at the hem of her dress. The light was incredibly familiar.

[With this mermaid scale, you can walk freely on the sea floor.]

A flash of memory — he jolted awake.

“Buyu?”

The Dark Witch Princess clearly hadn’t expected that answer. Her dark-red brows lifted slightly, and the flower vines beneath her twisted and grew into a throne. She turned and sat on it, lazily leaning back. “So you still remember that half-demon who gave you everything.” She toyed with her veil. “You got one right. Want to know what he did for you?”

It really was Su Buyu.

Why had he come here?

Wei Huan’s thoughts were a chaotic mess. He didn’t know whether to believe anything this demon witch said — she hadn’t even shown her true form, just played illusions the whole time. Maybe she was lying. Maybe Su Buyu had never come at all.

“You’re scared to find out, aren’t you?” the Dark Witch Princess’s voice struck his heart like a drum.

“You’re afraid someone paid a terrible price for you. You’re afraid your cowardly heart will feel guilt — and that guilt, that gratitude, will make you unable to turn him away.”

Clearly just a stranger.

Clearly knew nothing.

“What nonsense are you spouting?” Wei Huan’s chest heaved violently. The vines had almost covered his entire body, crawling from his neck to his face, choking his breath.

“Did I say something wrong?” The Dark Witch Princess met his gaze. Her voice was calm, each word cutting deep. “Can you swear… you’d never fall in love with someone out of gratitude and guilt?”

Wei Huan suddenly felt his wrist burn unbearably.

Those words scorched his heart.

A silhouette of Yun Yongzhou’s back appeared in his mind. Since his rebirth, that person had always been nearby.

He was moved by the hand reaching out when he was at rock bottom. He was grateful for every timely rescue.

Was it really as she said…

The vines tightened around his neck. Air thinned. Consciousness wavered at the edge. He was about to pass out.

The Dark Witch Princess’ voice lingered:

“You’re probably not thinking of Su Buyu now, are you?”

Buyu…

Wei Huan struggled, but couldn’t break free. “You… what did you do to him?!”

Her expression darkened. “I truly pity him.” She bent and touched a flower blooming on the vine. “I pity all of you.”

“You—what the h*ll are you…” His arms bound, he summoned thousands of golden blades.

The Dark Witch Princess smiled. “Time’s up.”

She turned away. The scales on her red dress shimmered faintly. Seeing her leave, Wei Huan shut his eyes and hurled every blade toward her.

“You’re not leaving…. Tell me everything!”

Thousands of blades pierced the Dark Witch Princess’s body. The vines stopped growing.

She turned her head, the last words spoken from her lips:

“You should wake from your nightmare.”

The blades withdrew. A burst of blinding light exploded before Wei Huan’s eyes—brilliant as day. He heard nothing. Saw nothing.

His consciousness slowly returned to his body. His heavy eyelids twitched. He opened his eyes.

Darkness.

“Wei Huan! Time to eat!”

He jolted awake. Fully alert.

A book fell off his face and landed on the floor. He sat up with a start. The flapping wings of startled pigeons echoed around him. He looked around, dazed.

A garden he knew by heart—even blindfolded. The two ancient twin trees. The swing his father had made.

He was on that swing, gently swaying.

This was the aerial courtyard of the Nine Phoenix family.

“Dinner! Hurry down!”

His mother’s voice again. Wei Huan stepped off the swing, onto familiar grass, and walked to the edge of the garden.

Looking down from this floating garden, he saw her—his mother, still young and beautiful, shielding her eyes from the sun with one hand, holding a spatula in the other.

“If you don’t come down, I’m flying up there and smacking you with this!”

For no reason, tears streamed down Wei Huan’s face.

“What’s wrong? So hungry your brain stopped working?” she waved. “Alright, I won’t hit you. Come down. Your dad’ll be back soon.”

He never thought he’d get another chance to eat with his parents.

His mom loaded his bowl with food. “Were you napping up there? Why do you look so out of it?”

His dad teased, “Must be. So many books on the lawn—it’s 80% your son sleeping with one on your face.”

“Your son, huh?” She knocked his chopsticks with hers and made the food fall. “Next time neither of you are allowed in the garden. I finally got a break and don’t have nine clones to clean up your mess.”

“She’s hinting again,” Father Wei whispered to Wei Huan. “Split yourself into nine too, help your mom. No—eight. Save one to play chess with me.”

He waved his hand in front of Wei Huan’s face. “Son? Why are you staring at us like that?”

Mother Wei also noticed. “You sure you’re not still dreaming?”

Wei Huan’s throat burned, nose stung. “I… I really just had a nap?”

“See?” Mother Wei tapped Father Wei’s bowl. “He admits it.”

Father Wei laughed, “What else? You slept twice?”

“Eat, eat. Then we’ll clean the house. Nine of your mom, nine of you, and one of me. We’ll get it spotless.”

“You two never take it seriously,” Mother Wei grumbled. “More people doesn’t help if you all mess around.”

Wei Huan lowered his head, stuffing food into his mouth while quietly letting tears fall. It’d been so long since he’d had his mother’s cooking, so long since he saw his parents bicker like this. He used to find it annoying—but now, it was precious.

“Oh, right,” said Father Wei. “Old Yang came to me just now and asked me to tell you that he is back from the business trip. You go to Bifang’s house after dinner. By the way, take the demon tea I brought back yesterday and the little rhinoceros and give them to your sister Little Ling.”

Instructor Yang…

Wei Huan quickly swallowed. “Dad—what year is it?”

Mother Wei touched his forehead. “You scared me—I thought you were feverish.” She tapped his forehead. “No fever. Why are you saying weird things?”

“Playing around too much,” Father Wei sighed. “Don’t even know the date. Perfect—go let Old Yang test your combat skills. School’s starting soon. Time to focus. I heard Yang Sheng’s been training for the entrance exam already. You’ll train with him from today.”

Entrance exam…

Wei Huan suddenly stood up from the table and started walking around, as if searching for something.

“What’s wrong with this kid…” Mother Wei whispered.

Father Wei shrugged, also confused. “Maybe the pressure’s getting to him?”

“Don’t push him.”

At last, Wei Huan found the kitchen knife on the cutting board. He slowly lifted it up in front of him and looked at his reflection in the metal surface.

The face he hadn’t seen in a long time, and the nine-turn wind pattern on his collarbone.

Mother Wei followed him into the kitchen and jumped in fright when she saw him holding the knife. She quickly snatched it away. “What are you doing? If you don’t want to go, then don’t! Talk properly, what are you doing with a knife!”

Wei Huan turned to her, eyes fixed on her face. “Mom, hit me.”

“Hit you?” She froze for a second, then laughed awkwardly. “Are you still mad? Mommy was just joking just now. I’d never really hit you with a spatula. Have I ever…”

Wei Huan grabbed her hand and brought it to his face. “Just hit me once.”

His voice was tinged with a sob. Though Mother Wei didn’t know what was going on, she lightly tapped his head twice. “Okay okay, I hit you, alright? Did you feel it?”

Wei Huan nodded heavily, holding back the stinging in his nose.

He felt it.

“Come on, come on, let’s eat.”

He didn’t know what was going on, but his parents were here, real and present. They laughed, talked, cleaned the house with him. His father still played wind tricks on his mother, and she would conjure multiple copies of herself to lecture him. He, like always, would switch sides—sometimes whining to his mother, other times siding with his dad.

Every touch felt real, from fingertips to heart.

“You said you had a dream?” Yang Sheng raised his palm and a gust of wind shut the front door that Wei Huan had forgotten to close. He was about to walk over when he saw Wei Huan leading a small rhinodog, which barked at him twice, making him stumble back a few steps. His voice grew a bit shaky. “W-what kind of dream?”

Wei Huan set the items down and changed his shoes. Just as he was about to speak, Little Ling came running out of the room, throwing herself at his leg, looking up with a childish voice, “Brother Huan, you haven’t come to our house in forever. Don’t you miss Little Ling?”

Seeing her like that, Wei Huan felt a twinge of sadness. “Of course I missed you.” He gently tugged her braid. “Be good. This is a gift for you. Give it a hug.”

“Doggie!” Her eyes lit up. She scooped up the little rhinodog and bounced around with joy. “Thank you, Brother Huan!”

“Take it back to your room.” Yang Sheng, who had been hiding on the side, shook his head and sighed. “Good thing school’s about to start. Otherwise I’d be coming home to a house full of dogs every day, and one of these days, one’s gonna pounce on me.” He flopped down on the sofa and tossed a fruit core at Wei Huan. “Hey, you didn’t finish. That dream.”

Wei Huan caught the fruit, squeezed it, then sat down next to Yang Sheng and returned it to the fruit bowl. “Right, the dream. It was a really long one.”

He sat beside him and said, “It’s kind of scary.”

Yang Sheng took a big bite and mumbled with his mouth full, “How scary could it be? What, you dreamed you died or something?”

Wei Huan paused, then looked down and chuckled softly.

“Yeah. I dreamed I died.”