Chapter 190
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Fu Xuezhou’s body temperature dropped rapidly.
As the evening approached, being in the North Pole during the period of continuous daylight was fortunate, and the sky was still bright at night. However, fine snow began to fall from the sky, and the temperature dropped to minus twenty degrees Celsius.
The North Pole’s snowstorms could be deadly. Even though Fu Xuezhou was wearing two people’s worth of down jackets, he fell into a semi-comatose state.
Lou Yan witnessed firsthand the effects of the low temperatures on Fu Xuezhou. Despite having the same injuries, Fu Xuezhou could remain conscious and even make love to him in Paradise. But back in the reality of the icy wilderness, Fu Xuezhou couldn’t even stay awake.
But even so, it wouldn’t take Fu Xuezhou’s life.
Fu Xuezhou was like moss grown in dark, damp places, with a vitality so strong it bordered on abnormal. Sometimes, Lou Yan even suspected if Fu Xuezhou had become immortal. His bullets couldn’t kill Fu Xuezhou, the Anomaly Lord couldn’t kill Fu Xuezhou, and even the extreme cold h*ll couldn’t directly kill Fu Xuezhou. It could only imprison Fu Xuezhou like a cage, turning him into an ordinary person and slowly letting him perish.
After calmly observing the weakly breathing Fu Xuezhou for a while, when the fine snow in the air turned into large snowflakes, Lou Yan walked over, embraced Fu Xuezhou from behind, and then wrapped both of their down jackets layer by layer around themselves like quilts.
Lou Yan’s chest pressed against Fu Xuezhou’s back, shielding him from the cold behind. He took off his gloves and stuffed his hands into Fu Xuezhou’s gloves, intertwining their fingers and holding Fu Xuezhou’s icy hands.
So cold, the warm breath between Lou Yan’s nose turned into white mist. He closed his eyes tightly, holding Fu Xuezhou even closer, rubbing Fu Xuezhou’s fingers with his own. He felt like he was holding a lifeless body without any warmth.
Fu Xuezhou was awakened by the warmth, slowly opening his eyes and turning his head to look at Lou Yan’s profile. The ice crystals on his eyelashes turned into droplets as he said, “Lou Yan?”
“Awake. Do you want to eat something?”
Fu Xuezhou shook his head tiredly, trying to sit up from Lou Yan’s embrace, but Lou Yan held him down, gripping Fu Xuezhou’s hand in front of him. “Don’t move. I’ve finally managed to wrap our clothes like this. If you move again, you’ll let the cold in.”
Fu Xuezhou obediently stayed still, returning to his original posture as he was held by Lou Yan, gazing at the heavy snow outside. Suddenly, a smile crept onto his lips.
Lou Yan took a sip of his drink to warm himself and happened to notice the smile. Curiously, he asked, “What are you smiling about?”
“I never expected there would come a day,” Fu Xuezhou said, “when I’d need you to take care of me.”
Lou Yan replied, “Let’s have an interview. Mr. Fu, how are you feeling right now?”
Fu Xuezhou pondered for a moment, then smiled slowly. “It’s a good experience.”
Lou Yan smirked, “You call this a good experience when you’re frozen like this?”
“Your body temperature is warm,” Fu Xuezhou said, “It gives me a sense of ‘being alive.’ That’s indeed a good experience.”
Lou Yan’s irritation suddenly surged. He restrained the urge to throw Fu Xuezhou out of his arms and tried to calmly say, “I didn’t tell you earlier when I came back and saw you asleep. I’ve found the way back. We’ll leave when the snow lets up a bit.”
Fu Xuezhou nodded. “Okay.”
“When we came to the North Pole, I already arranged for the return ship,” Lou Yan said. “The ship won’t arrive until tomorrow and will stay in the North Pole Ocean for three days to wait for us to board. Fortunately, we made it out in time. If we had stayed one more day in Paradise of Bliss, we would have missed the boat back.”
Fu Xuezhou nodded again.
Lou Yan checked the time and said in a low, gentle voice, “Go to sleep.”
Fu Xuezhou’s body really needed rest now. He leaned against Lou Yan’s chest, breathing steadily, and slowly closed his eyes.
…
After some time passed, Fu Xuezhou was awakened by Lou Yan.
“Fu Xuezhou, wake up! Fu Xuezhou? It’s time for us to go.”
Fu Xuezhou opened his eyes and saw that Lou Yan had already prepared everything, wearing a hat and sunglasses, looking handsome as he stood before him.
Fu Xuezhou tried to stand up, but his body swayed. He furrowed his brows slightly, yet before he could show any annoyance at his physical state, Lou Yan bent down in front of him. “Get on, I’ll carry you.”
For a moment, Fu Xuezhou thought he hadn’t fully woken up yet. He raised his stiff hand to pinch his brow but hesitated and refused without hesitation, “No need.”
“Hurry up,” Lou Yan urged impatiently, turning his head. The lower half of his face under the sunglasses was both beautiful and sharp. “The snow has finally stopped. We need to go now.”
Fu Xuezhou pursed his lips tightly, unable to imagine himself being carried by someone else. He continued to refuse, “I’m taller than you. You can’t carry me.”
“Heh.”
Lou Yan chuckled coldly twice, then warned him with dwindling patience, “3, 2, 1—”
Fu Xuezhou silently laid on him.
Lou Yan sneered again, then picked up the two backpacks and left the shelter, walking into the cold wind while carrying the bags with one person on his back.
Though the snow had stopped, the temperature hadn’t risen. It had been a long time since Fu Xuezhou had been carried by someone, and he looked at Lou Yan’s profile and the small piece of fair skin on the back of his neck, feeling a bit strange for a moment.
It was a strange feeling, an emotion that Fu Xuezhou had long forgotten in his memory.
He couldn’t describe what it was, but this feeling didn’t make him irritable or guarded despite his physical weakness. It even made him feel a bit peaceful in the cold wind and snow.
Lou Yan’s steps were steady, and his pace was fast. Fu Xuezhou unknowingly closed his eyes and, in a daze, was suddenly awakened by a shaking sound!
The silver-haired man raised his head abruptly, his eyes cold. “What’s wrong?”
“Avalanche.” Lou Yan’s tone was unusually calm. “Listen, the avalanche seems to be quite extensive.”
Fu Xuezhou’s physical functions had deteriorated a lot, and his range of hearing had shrunk accordingly. He listened for a while and indeed faintly heard the sound of thick snow rolling. “In front?”
Lou Yan just made a sound of agreement, not saying anything else.
Fu Xuezhou didn’t ask further, assuming it was part of their route.
Lou Yan carried Fu Xuezhou for about an hour when he suddenly stopped. Before them was a huge crack about a hundred meters wide. It was pitch black inside, as if connecting to the depths of h*ll. A chilling cold rose from the crack, and strong winds swept up goose-feather-sized snowflakes above it. In just a short moment, Lou Yan’s hat was covered with a layer of snow.
So cold!
Lou Yan felt a bone-chilling cold emanating from the crack, awakening his soul instantly. So this was the extreme cold h*ll. Just standing on the edge was this cold; Lou Yan couldn’t even imagine how much colder it would be inside the crack.
Lou Yan kicked a rock into the crack, wanting to hear how deep the extreme cold h*ll was. But as soon as the rock fell into the gap, it disappeared without any sound, like dropping into the depths of the sea.
Unfathomable.
Lou Yan immediately understood how dangerous the extreme cold h*ll was. He stared at the abyss in front of him, his expression dark and unclear.
Fu Xuezhou suddenly coughed softly, seeming to wake up. Lou Yan silently put him down, threw the two backpacks aside, and said with a tone that was hard to decipher, “Awake?”
Fu Xuezhou looked at the abyss in front of him, his face even paler. “What is this?”
“The extreme cold h*ll.”
Lou Yan said those four words lightly.
Fu Xuezhou’s expression changed slightly. Lou Yan turned his head to look at him, then couldn’t help but sneer sarcastically, “You seem to have already felt how terrifying it is, right? That’s right, you should have a deeper understanding of cold than I do. Fu Xuezhou, you said your injuries wouldn’t kill you. But can the extreme cold h*ll take your life?”
Fu Xuezhou suddenly raised his eyelids to look at him, his eyes swirling with horror. The crimson pupils stared firmly at Lou Yan. “Are you trying to kill me?!”
Seeing the unpleasant expression on the silver-haired man’s face, Lou Yan felt extremely exhilarated for a moment. All the accumulated hatred, anger, and suppression since his rebirth turned into an unprecedented sense of revenge pleasure. Lou Yan couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
Wiping away the wetness in the corners of his eyes from laughing, Lou Yan said teasingly, “Fu Xuezhou, why do you find it so hard to believe? Is it really so difficult to understand that I want to kill you?”
Lou Yan sneered and looked at the man with hatred and disgust in his eyes, venting all the hatred in his heart with words sharper than the cold wind, stabbing at Fu Xuezhou.
“I’ve wanted to kill you for a long time, Fu Xuezhou.”
“Since you burned me to death in the fire, since I saw that smile when you set the fire, since I came back alive to square one, I’ve been wanting to kill you. Haha, why the long face? Why do you look so awful? Haven’t you forgotten the three or four times I tried to assassinate you before?”
Lou Yan couldn’t help but burst into laughter again, bending over in amusement. “Fu Xuezhou, why are you so naive? You don’t really think I’ve fallen for you, do you? How could I forget… how could I forget the pain of dying three times…”
His gaze darkened, he straightened up coldly and looked directly at Fu Xuezhou. “Just because I was forced to sleep with you, to pretend to be affectionate to you under the influence of the ghost marriage contract, is that it?”
Fu Xuezhou clenched his fist, blood dripping from his fingertips onto the pristine snow, his face cold and gloomy as he spoke through gritted teeth, “Lou Yan, come here. I can pretend I didn’t hear those words.”
“Pretend you didn’t hear?”
Lou Yan repeated, then suddenly his expression turned ferocious, striding over and grabbing Fu Xuezhou’s collar viciously. His face was terrifyingly dark, his voice low and menacing, “Who the f*ck do you think you are to pretend you didn’t hear? Fu Xuezhou, do you know how much I hate you? Do you know what it’s like for me to sleep with you, to be intimate with you, with disgust and hatred every moment, thinking about how to kill you every moment? Only then can I live well, only then can I hold on to this day!”
“Why should I, why shouldn’t I hold resentment against you, the true culprit behind all destruction?”
Lou Yan’s voice trembled slightly as he stared at the shattered expression on Fu Xuezhou’s face, mocking him, “Why do you look so heartbroken? Fu Xuezhou, I’ve said before that I’ll kill you. You’re not actually falling for me, are you?”
Lou Yan’s face was filled with a cold indifference, as if he had never truly cared for Fu Xuezhou, except for seeking revenge.
Fu Xuezhou’s eyes seemed to be covered with snow, his lips turning blue, his voice low and trembling slightly, as if blown by the cold wind, as he repeated a sentence he had once said to Lou Yan, “In the past 291 worlds, you’re the only one, out of 291 times, who has never betrayed me.”
A sense of pleasure filled Lou Yan’s heart, but suddenly froze, a hint of pain silently splitting open from his heart. Yet he deliberately ignored this pain, laughing as if he had heard a funny joke, “Fu Xuezhou, if everyone else besides me has betrayed you, then it’s your own fault. And now, I betray you too. I feel sorry for the me in those past 291 worlds. We should have betrayed you earlier.”
Fu Xuezhou closed his eyes, his breath ceasing, his voice hoarse, “Lou Yan…”
“Fu Xuezhou,” Lou Yan said coldly, “Don’t call my name. Every time you call my name, it makes me sick.”
Fu Xuezhou’s eyelashes trembled, he opened his eyes, looking calm, but Lou Yan felt like he was on the edge of a breakdown, “You’re going to kill me, why should I care if you’re disgusted or not.”
He paused, suppressing the taste of blood in his throat, his face growing colder, “Let’s talk.”
—He didn’t call Lou Yan’s name again.
Talk?
What else was there to talk about?
How you’re going to destroy the world after you’re bored?
“No need to talk,” Lou Yan’s bone spike glowed in his palm, expressionless as he placed it on Fu Xuezhou’s right arm. “Fu Xuezhou, do you remember I said I’d chop off your hands sooner or later?”
Fu Xuezhou stared at him, not avoiding, not speaking, just looking at Lou Yan, his eyes filled with complexity, as if carrying a heavy weight.
Lou Yan suddenly felt a surge of anger rush to his head. He abruptly moved the bone spike downward, Fu Xuezhou’s right arm severed from the elbow, blood spraying onto the ground.
Fu Xuezhou’s face grew even paler, he covered his right hand, still looking at Lou Yan.
Lou Yan’s face was splattered with Fu Xuezhou’s blood, his expression growing darker as he continued to press the bone spike against Fu Xuezhou’s left arm. He had expected Fu Xuezhou to resist or evade, but Fu Xuezhou seemed frozen in place, not even flinching.
Why wasn’t he reacting!
Lou Yan’s eyes were bloodshot, but for some reason, the bone spike couldn’t bring itself to strike down on Fu Xuezhou’s left arm. Hatred and anger intertwined in his heart as Lou Yan suddenly picked up the bone spike and aimed it at Fu Xuezhou’s eyes.
Fu Xuezhou watched quietly.
His eyes were originally blood-colored, but at this moment, the crimson pupils became even deeper, red to the point of being abyssal, appearing thick and dark.
These eyes reflected nothing but Lou Yan.
The bone spike was only a centimeter away from these eyes. With just a little force, Fu Xuezhou would be blinded, and he would never be able to come out of the extreme cold hell.
Lou Yan’s reason urged him to act, but the reality was that his hand remained motionless, the bone spike hovering in front of Fu Xuezhou’s eyes.
His expression changed constantly. Why wasn’t he doing it?! Lou Yan, what are you doing?!
Lou Yan’s other hand clenched the bone, making a cracking sound. His face grew darker and darker, until finally, he abruptly withdrew his hand, expressionless, and pressed the bone spike against Fu Xuezhou’s shoulder. Then, without any hesitation, he pushed forward forcefully—Fu Xuezhou was pushed and fell into the abyss of extreme cold h*ll.
It didn’t matter.
Lou Yan told himself: even if he didn’t need to chop off Fu Xuezhou’s legs and arms, even if he didn’t need to blind his eyes, it didn’t matter.
This Fu Xuezhou wouldn’t escape from this terrifying, abyss-like extreme cold h*ll.
He would only feel the approach of death bit by bit in the depths of the crack.
Fu Xuezhou’s pupils constricted, he stared at Lou Yan, his back facing the abyss as he fell.
In this moment, time seemed to slow down a thousandfold. Lou Yan stood coldly at the edge of the cliff, his posture rigid as he watched Fu Xuezhou fall. The man’s silver hair scattered, his clothes billowed in the wind, feathers and snowflakes swirling around in chaotic confusion. It all seemed like slow-motion footage, with Lou Yan able to discern every expression on Fu Xuezhou’s face.
The pain, the disbelief, the silence.
And the bewildered confusion.
It was as if Fu Xuezhou was asking Lou Yan:
“You taught me what is like”
“Gave me warmth in the midst of the storm.”
“Why then push me into the abyss?”
…
…
Lou Yan withdrew his expressionless gaze, turning away without a hint of nostalgia.
Fu Xuezhou was finally dead.
His revenge was finally successful!
Great.
Lou Yan told himself that he no longer had to endure the nausea of acting alongside Fu Xuezhou. He could finally live his life properly, without the presence of an unstable bomb in the world. He no longer had to wake up from nightmares, wondering if the world would burst into flames the next moment.
Lou Yan felt happy, light-hearted, and relieved. He tried to force a fitting smile, but his face seemed frozen by the cold wind, unable to produce a genuine expression.
Lou Yan gave up on forcing a smile. He maintained his cheerful mood for a dozen steps before suddenly halting.
A solitary figure stood amidst the snow, his casual ease turning into irritation and hostility. Lou Yan’s expression grew darker and darker. Suddenly, he turned and strode forcefully towards the two backpacks lying by the crevice, kicking one of them into the abyss.
Lou Yan closed his eyes heavily, his hands clenched tightly in his pockets.
This was his final act of kindness.
Fu Xuezhou, Fu Xuezhou.
He didn’t want Fu Xuezhou to live; he just wanted Fu Xuezhou to have a slightly better end before death.
Lou Yan stood alone on the edge for several minutes before decisively picking up his own backpack and leaving the extreme cold h*ll.
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