Chapter 169
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Lou Yan’s mind was in turmoil, and his expression couldn’t hold up. Rather than being shocked by Fu Xuezhou’s 292 reincarnations, he was now more concerned about what Fu Xuezhou said about Duan Zege. Lou Yan suddenly grabbed Fu Xuezhou’s hand that touched his eye corner, questioning in a deep voice, “What do you mean there’s no existence of him in your memory? Are you saying…”
Fu Xuezhou lowered his head to look at Lou Yan holding his hand.
His fingers were already squeezing so hard that they were turning white, and the veins on the back of his fair hand were tense.
With such a great emotional fluctuation, it turned out not to be because of his number of reincarnations, but because of Duan Zege.
The silver-haired man lowered his eyes, hiding the coldness in his eyes, and calmly asked, “When did he come to your side?”
Lou Yan breathed anxiously. “On the night of the Anomaly Resurgence, I met him in an abandoned factory.”
“There are only two possibilities in this situation,” Fu Xuezhou said lightly, “Either he died on the night of the Anomaly Resurgence in the previous 291 worlds, and his fate changed in this life because of your changes, allowing me to know of his existence. Or the identity he told you is simply a false one.”
This was exactly what Lou Yan thought. His face gradually turned ugly.
If it was the first case, then the situation with Duan Zege was actually quite similar to that of Lu Haoxiu. They both survived because of Lou Yan’s changes. But Lou Yan knew they were very different. He was sure that if he hadn’t saved Lu Haoxiu that night, Lu Haoxiu would have died. But as for Duan Zege, Lou Yan didn’t think he would have died in that abandoned factory that night.
When Duan Zege first appeared in front of Lou Yan, he was mysterious and seemed to be very skilled. He knew a lot about the strange occurrences, and he could even use tarot cards to find out things that Lou Yan didn’t know. Whether it was Duan Zege’s talent for divination or his actions to help Lou Yan out of the Strange Domain with his footsteps, it indicated that Duan Zege was not someone who would easily die.
And such a person, who had never been known to Fu Xuezhou in 291 worlds, was itself a strange and mysterious thing.
The answer couldn’t be the first case, so it could only be the second: Duan Zege’s identity was fake.
Duan Zege’s destroyed face itself was very suspicious. Without anyone recognizing his appearance, he could play any identity. He might not be called “Duan Zege” at all, and even his talent for divination could be fake.
Lou Yan’s eyes were dark, and he gripped Fu Xuezhou’s hand tighter. He felt a sense of being deceived and fooled. Who was Duan Zege after all? What was his purpose in coming to him?
Fu Xuezhou’s hand was already marked by Lou Yan’s grip, but the silver-haired man didn’t mind. He casually suggested, “Shall I help you kill him?”
“No!” Lou Yan instinctively refused. “You promised me not to harm him!”
After saying this, Lou Yan realized that his tone was too urgent. He looked up to see Fu Xuezhou’s expression and met Fu Xuezhou’s dark eyes.
Lou Yan instinctively felt something was wrong. He heard Fu Xuezhou’s unpredictable tone, “He’s of unknown origin and deceived you again. Do you still want him to stay by your side?”
Lou Yan had always had a strange soft spot and trust for Duan Zege. He actually had a kind of intuition that Duan Zege would not harm him.
This trust came inexplicably, and Lou Yan even suspected that this emotion might have been caused by Duan Zege, but he still didn’t want Fu Xuezhou to do anything to Duan Zege.
If Fu Xuezhou took action, Duan Zege would definitely not survive. Thinking of Duan Zege dying, Lou Yan inexplicably felt restless.
But intuition reminded Lou Yan that he couldn’t directly tell Fu Xuezhou what he thought. If he defended Duan Zege too much in front of Fu Xuezhou, Duan Zege might really die at Fu Xuezhou’s hands.
Thinking of how Fu Xuezhou had mercilessly killed Wen Jiu before, Lou Yan’s eyelids twitched. His expression instantly calmed down, and he said in a light tone, “His purpose should be me. Keeping him by my side would make it more convenient for me to find out his secrets without alerting him. I want to know who he really is and what his intentions are. After figuring all this out, I’ll deal with him myself.”
Fu Xuezhou tugged at his lips, his eyes devoid of amusement. “Is that so?”
“Of course,” Lou Yan smiled faintly, looking directly at Fu Xuezhou, enunciating each word, “I hate being deceived by others, and I hate being betrayed. If Duan Zege uses my trust to betray me, I’ll make sure he dies with me.”
Fu Xuezhou tilted his head slightly, and the gloominess in his expression eased a bit. “Good.”
With that, he reached out again to touch Lou Yan’s forehead. “But there’s no need to die with him.”
Lou Yan looked at him intently, seeing that he seemed not to have understood the underlying meaning of his words, smiled slightly, and said softly, “Of course, that’s what I think. I won’t sacrifice my life for someone like him.”
Lou Yan chuckled again and changed the subject. “Do you remember what Ye Ruan said before he died?”
Fu Xuezhou’s expression turned cold, and his eyes seemed to be swept by a blizzard. “I remember. He said the Anomaly Lord is at the North Pole.”
“Yes, so I plan to go to the North Pole to find the Anomaly Lord,” Lou Yan paused, subtly observing Fu Xuezhou’s expression, and asked knowingly, “Are you coming?”
“Of course,” Fu Xuezhou said coldly. He had never forgotten about this matter. If it weren’t for Lou Yan, he would have set off for the North Pole long ago. “When do you want to go?”
Lou Yan decisively said, “We shouldn’t delay. I’ll prepare in the next two days, and we’ll set off the day after tomorrow.”
Fu Xuezhou’s attitude towards him had changed a lot by now, and the color of the ghost marriage contract tattoo on his body was only one-third of what it used to be. It was time to head to the North Pole.
Counting the days, there were only 29 days left until the appearance of the extreme cold h*ll.
“I originally planned to take Duan Zege with us to the North Pole,” Lou Yan frowned, feeling annoyed, and paced back and forth, “It’s not easy to find the Anomaly Lord in such a vast place as the North Pole. Duan Zege’s talent for divination might help locate the Anomaly Lord, but now with this situation, we definitely can’t bring him along. But can just the two of us handle it?”
Fu Xuezhou nodded. “It’s enough. Lou Yan, don’t let too many people know about our plan to go to the North Pole to find the Anomaly Lord.”
Lou Yan looked at him. “Why?”
“Don’t let the cultists discover our purpose,” Fu Xuezhou frowned slightly, “Although they’re not strong, they can be troublesome.”
Lou Yan nodded in agreement. There were too many people watching them, both overtly and covertly, with cultists lurking in the shadows and the Anomaly Control Bureau on the surface. If any of these people knew their purpose, it would definitely cause a lot of trouble. It wouldn’t be good if the Anomaly Lord became aware of their intentions prematurely and left the North Pole.
Moreover, the Anomaly Lord’s strength was unknown, but it was definitely formidable. Bringing too many people along would only be asking for trouble. Especially since Lou Yan also planned to take the opportunity to kill Fu Xuezhou… This was something that couldn’t be known to anyone else.
“If we don’t want to be discovered by others, we’ll have to change the way we go to the North Pole,” Lou Yan stroked his chin in thought, “It would be best to go unnoticed. So, we can’t use my ship, otherwise, they’ll definitely get wind of it and follow us. We’ll need to change our identities… We can buy two tickets for a ship, blend in with the other passengers, and leave. We’ll also need cold weather gear… I’ll prepare all these things. Fu Xuezhou, you can pack your belongings in the next two days.”
Fu Xuezhou blinked and raised his hand, which turned into black tentacles between blinks. “Use tentacles to go?”
“…” Lou Yan was speechless. “You want to cross several oceans with your tentacles, endure the cold of the sea and glaciers with them? What about going to the bathroom in the middle? How will you eat? In such a cold environment, you’ll need something warm to eat. Oh, and you’ll also need to withstand the harsh weather and anomalies along the way, and find your way to the North Pole smoothly. Fu Xuezhou, are you serious?”
Fu Xuezhou withdrew his tentacles expressionlessly. “I was just kidding.”
Lou Yan glanced at him sideways, unable to suppress a smile. In the end, he chuckled lightly and lazily laid down on the bed, ready to sleep.
Fu Xuezhou remained motionless for a while, then walked to the bedside and said to Lou Yan on the bed, “Make room for me.”
Lou Yan pretended to snore deliberately, indicating that he didn’t hear. He had already fallen asleep.
Fu Xuezhou reached out without changing his expression and pinched Lou Yan’s nose. Lou Yan dodged left and right, but Fu Xuezhou’s hand on his nose followed him like a shadow. Lou Yan wrinkled his forehead a couple of times and finally rolled to the side, making room for Fu Xuezhou.
Fu Xuezhou climbed onto the bed leisurely and, after lying down, pulled Lou Yan into his arms. Lou Yan didn’t struggle and was hugged by Fu Xuezhou, leaning his back against Fu Xuezhou’s chest.
Fu Xuezhou found it somewhat strange. “Why are you so obedient this time?”
“Just too lazy to move,” Lou Yan’s voice was lazy with fatigue, “Let’s sleep.”
Fu Xuezhou’s hand rested on Lou Yan’s waist, buried in the back of Lou Yan’s neck, sniffing Lou Yan’s scent with his eyes closed, his expression calm and peaceful, with a hint of relaxation and contentment. His silver hair spread out on the bed, and from a distance, Lou Yan seemed to be completely nestled in the arms of the silver-haired man.
The two of them embraced each other, still in such an intimate posture, with the warmth passing between them. But Lou Yan, with his eyes wide open, looked at the curtains ahead, seemingly without any sleepiness.
Seemingly intimate, but actually having different dreams on the same bed.
Lou Yan slowly closed his eyes, hiding the coldness in them.
***
Time flew by, and Lou Yan secretly prepared the necessary supplies and equipment, and they already had their tickets. The next day at three o’clock in the afternoon, he and Fu Xuezhou would calmly board a ship from Chengdu, then transfer to another ship heading to the North Pole from ports in other provinces and cities.
Lou Yan didn’t tell Li Sanxin about his plan to go to the North Pole, for fear of Duan Zege finding out. His attitude towards Duan Zege had not changed, remaining as natural as before, and no one had noticed anything amiss.
The day passed quickly. In order to ensure that the ghost marriage contract could be removed before Fu Xuezhou died, Lou Yan dragged Fu Xuezhou to his place a few more times that night
Fu Xuezhou willingly cooperated, and the hotel bed creaked loudly, echoing throughout the night. After they finished, Lou Yan stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom, observing the ghost marriage contract on his body. He was pleased to see that the color of the contract had faded a bit more, nodding in satisfaction.
As the night passed, on the morning they were supposed to leave for the North Pole, Lou Yan suddenly heard a cry from Ye Buyan, mixed with calls for Lu Haoxiu.
He instantly opened his eyes, got up, and rushed to Ye Buyan and Lu Haoxiu’s room. As soon as he opened the door, Lou Yan smelled a foul odor of burnt skin.
Looking closer, Lu Haoxiu stood in the room, bewildered, with water dripping continuously from his body. Ye Buyan stood behind him, looking at his back with a solemn expression.
Lou Yan strode over. “What happened?”
“Lu Haoxiu got burned while taking a shower,” Ye Buyan’s face didn’t look good, “He accidentally turned the hot water to the maximum, and he couldn’t feel the heat or pain. By the time he noticed, it had become like this.”
Lou Yan looked at Lu Haoxiu’s back and furrowed his brow.
Lu Haoxiu’s back was covered in deep red burns, with large and small blisters swelling densely. Some of the blisters had burst, sticking to the flesh and forming a mess, making it look like the flesh was decaying!
In addition to this horrifying burn, Lou Yan also noticed other wounds of various sizes on Lu Haoxiu’s body. Some of the wounds had started bleeding again due to the hot water, showing that these were injuries Lu Haoxiu had incurred in the past two days without feeling.
The terrifying aspect of losing sensation was vividly displayed before their eyes—a small mistake, and Lu Haoxiu could die in daily life due to the lack of sensation.
Lu Haoxiu lowered his head embarrassedly and muttered, “Sorry, I didn’t notice that the hot water was so hot…”
“What are you apologizing for?” Ye Buyan snorted, his tone somewhat impatient, “This is your body. Can’t you pay a little attention to your own safety?”
“Enough,” Lou Yan interrupted as Lu Haoxiu seemed about to cry, “Ye Buyan, go call Li Sanxin over. He’s a doctor, let him take a look at Lu Haoxiu.”
Ye Buyan left with a stern face. Lu Haoxiu, feeling no pain on his body, didn’t think it was that serious. He said with a sullen face, “Brother Lou, Brother Li is a veterinarian…”
Lou Yan gave him a cold glance. “So what? Considering your carelessness, it’s good enough to have a veterinarian look at you.”
Lu Haoxiu: “…ying”
When Li Sanxin arrived and took a look, his face turned serious. He said directly, “No good, he needs to go to the hospital. I suspect this part of his back has already necrotized.”
Lu Haoxiu couldn’t help murmuring, “It can’t be that serious, right…”
“Don’t talk,” Li Sanxin scolded him with a dark face, “Yanzi, drive us to the hospital!”
The group hurried to the hospital, and by the time they came out, it was already one o’clock in the afternoon.
In the hotel, Duan Zege, who was taking care of Little Yu, hurried over to find them. Lu Haoxiu reluctantly cheered up and said a few words to Little Yu before rolling back to his room to rest. Once he left, the other people no longer concealed their worried expressions.
Lou Yan pinched his brow. “Sanxin, keep an eye on Lu Haoxiu more in the future. It’s better not to let him go out until he recovers.”
At these words, Duan Zege glanced thoughtfully at Lou Yan, and Li Sanxin nodded with a serious face.
Lou Yan then looked at Ye Buyan. “You’re about the same age as him, and you’re classmates. If you have nothing else to do, just stay with Lu Haoxiu these days. It’s better not to let him be alone.”
Ye Buyan nodded without hesitation. “Okay, I’ll stay with him.”
After saying these things, Lou Yan hurried them to leave. Duan Zege, however, stood still. Lou Yan glanced at him and then at Little Yu, who was looking at him expectantly, and touched his pocket. He took out a few pieces of candy from it and handed them to Little Yu with a calm tone, “Do you have something to tell me?”
Little Yu smiled happily while holding the candy, and Duan Zege peeled off a piece of candy and gently put it into her mouth, letting her play on the sofa by herself. Then he walked over to Lou Yan, and together they looked out of the window. He smiled and said, “You’ve assigned tasks to Li Sanxin and Ye Buyan. Why not assign me something?”
Lou Yan couldn’t help feeling annoyed and irritable when he saw him. He wanted to smoke, but looking at Little Yu beside him, he ultimately just peeled off a piece of candy and put it in his mouth.
The sugar cube moved in his mouth, spreading sweetness rapidly. Lou Yan suddenly realized the benefits of eating candy.
It could make his expression not reveal any strangeness, giving him the ability to endure any bitterness and anger under this hint of sweetness.
Lou Yan bit the sugar cube with his teeth and said lightly, “I was about to assign you something. You also need to take care of Little Yu. She’s young and was rescued from the cultists. She also has different abilities. There might be cultists watching her secretly, trying to take her away. You need to protect her at all times.”
Duan Zege nodded decisively. “Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of her. As long as Little Yu is with me, I won’t let those cultists take her away.”
Lou Yan replied with a nod. A long shadow fell over his eyelashes, and he said calmly, “Of course, I trust you.”
Duan Zege couldn’t help but furrow his brows, turning his head to look at Lou Yan.
Lou Yan’s profile showed no expression at all, his cold and stern profile lines and sharp features revealed a different kind of depth and mystery in the sunlight. Duan Zege, with his dry grass-like hair, looked at Lou Yan and suddenly asked in a low voice, “Lou Yan… Are you planning to leave for a while? Where are you going?”
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