Chapter 197
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Lou Yan watched the gestures and expressions of the two of them and suddenly realized that this was a reenactment of a past scene.
He forcefully stubbed out the cigarette in his hand, took a silent breath, and stood quietly in the shadows, watching the subsequent development.
Count Grey reluctantly took off his hat, slowly sat up from the rocking chair, and said, “Fu Xuezhou, what do you want again?”
The Fu Xuezhou at that time was no different from the current Fu Xuezhou, with his silver hair tied up high, handsome yet indifferent, and his black combat suit exuding a strong smell of blood. Sunlight streamed in through the gap in the door, casting diagonal shadows on Fu Xuezhou’s face.
Fu Xuezhou seemed to have just finished a battle. In the short time he stood here, the blood soaked into the soles of his shoes had already left several traces.
“Give me something that can awaken someone’s past memories,” Fu Xuezhou said, “I need something that, after I use Phoenix Nirvana, can also allow him to retain his past memories like us.”
Lou Yan couldn’t help but wonder what expression Fu Xuezhou would have on his face when he said those words.
But the sunlight coming in through the crack in the door was too dazzling, and it conveniently covered Fu Xuezhou’s face, making it impossible for Lou Yan to see Fu Xuezhou’s expression.
Count Grey blinked slightly in surprise and curiously asked, “Who is this person?”
“You don’t need to know,” Fu Xuezhou said coldly. “Just give me the item. I know you have it.”
Count Grey shrugged helplessly and went into the merchandise shelf, taking out a silver lighter and placing it on the counter. “This is the only thing that somewhat meets your requirements. It’s called the Awakening Lighter, which slowly nurtures the user’s spirit and gradually strengthens their memory. It works slowly but safely. When it truly takes effect, the user will awaken all memories from the time they received it.”
Fu Xuezhou fell silent for a moment. “How slow is it?”
“Judging by the speed of your Phoenix Nirvana,” Count Grey calculated uncertainly, “the user should be able to recover all memories from the time they received it after carrying it with them for 2-4 world lines.”
“Too slow,” Fu Xuezhou said lightly. “And it only restores memories after receiving it. This lighter isn’t good enough.”
Count Grey chuckled bitterly, “This is the best thing I have that meets your requirements. Fu Xuezhou, you should know, you’re the only one in the world who can perform the Phoenix Nirvana. The reason I can retain my memories in your reincarnations is because the Anisange blood flowing in your body comes from me. If you want a human without Anisange blood to awaken memories from past timelines, this lighter is your best choice.”
Fu Xuezhou lowered his gaze to the silver lighter on the counter, his silver hair falling over it, the colors of the two almost indistinguishable.
Suddenly, Fu Xuezhou took out a piece of candy from his pocket, unwrapped it, popped it into his mouth, then turned around with the lighter and started to leave the shop.
Count Grey shouted after him, “You must leave behind an item of equal value, Fu Xuezhou! The value of the anomaly eye you gave isn’t enough to take away the Awakening Lighter!”
Fu Xuezhou didn’t stop, tossing a candy onto the counter as he walked.
Count Grey chuckled in exasperation, “Are you joking with me? This isn’t enough! Don’t forget about the curse in the shop. If you don’t provide an item of equal value, you’ll be cursed! And I can’t help you escape from the curse!”
Fu Xuezhou had already pushed open the shop door, the even brighter sunlight shining on him. The silver-haired man said indifferently, “It doesn’t matter. It can take whatever it wants from me.”
With that, Fu Xuezhou left, and the shop once again fell into darkness.
“How about that, are you moved?” Count Grey’s voice came from behind Lou Yan. “He went to such lengths to help you recover your memories.”
Lou Yan’s eyes flickered with complexity. When he turned to look at Count Grey, his expression had returned to indifference. “I have two doubts.”
Count Grey blinked. “Ah… Go ahead.”
“The first question, can you be sure that Fu Xuezhou bought this lighter for me? And not for someone else, but it ended up in my hands by chance?”
“Sure,” Count Grey shrugged. “I don’t know who Fu Xuezhou would give this lighter to, but the lighter can recognize its owner. Whoever uses the lighter for the first time, the lighter will recognize them as its owner, and even if the user wants to get rid of it, they can’t. So I can confirm that this lighter was bought by Fu Xuezhou for you, without any intermediaries.”
Lou Yan lowered his eyes, his handsome face still indifferent, showing no emotion.
“The second question, in my memory, I have no intimate relationship with Fu Xuezhou. Why would he give me this lighter? And why did he forget even my name the first time he met me in this lifetime?”
Count Grey pondered for a moment. “Wait a moment.”
He walked into the depths of the shop’s merchandise shelf, and after about ten minutes, he came back holding a dusty iron box.
It was a rectangular box, wrapped with thick chains as thick as a baby’s arm. Count Grey placed the box on the counter, gently blew off the dust, unlocked the chains with a key, then opened the box with another key, only to reveal another box inside.
Count Grey opened three boxes in a row, finally revealing the deepest one, where a deep black heart was still beating.
At the sight of this heart, Lou Yan’s gaze froze.
This was Fu Xuezhou’s heart, right?
Count Grey took out a piece of paper and placed it aside, then pulled out a black pen from his pocket.
Lou Yan glanced at the pen. “Memory Pen?”
“That’s right.” Count Grey removed the cap and pierced Fu Xuezhou’s heart with the tip of the Memory Pen. The black blood inside the heart was absorbed by the pen tip, mixing with the blood-red ink in the pen barrel.
Count Grey handed the pen to Lou Yan. “I found out that the Memory Pen can be used like this too. Now, focus all your attention on your doubts, then hold the Memory Pen and put it on the paper. It will tell you the answers in Fu Xuezhou’s memories.”
Lou Yan pursed his lips, looked at the pen for a moment, then reached out to take the Memory Pen and placed it on the paper, focusing on his doubts.
—-Why did Fu Xuezhou give me the lighter at that time?
The Memory Pen seemed to have a soul injected into it, moving on the paper on its own and writing in Fu Xuezhou’s style, as if it were Fu Xuezhou himself who wrote these words:
“He is the only one who has never betrayed me in 288 reincarnations.”
This phrase again.
Lou Yan’s heart skipped a beat.
As soon as the first line appeared, the second line followed:
“I believe in him.”
“I don’t have much time left. Besides the idea of killing the Anomaly Lord, I don’t have the desire to save this world. Human life and death have nothing to do with me, and I don’t care about the survival of the world.”
“But I know that at the very beginning, I once tried to save this world.”
“So I need a helper.”
Lou Yan looked at these words, his breathing slowing.
…So he, is the helper that Fu Xuezhou was looking for?
Is this why Fu Xuezhou gave him the lighter? Then why didn’t Fu Xuezhou explain it to him?
Lou Yan’s mind was half indifferent, half feeling a mixture of sadness and absurdity.
So Fu Xuezhou once wanted to save the world too. So Fu Xuezhou truly doesn’t care whether this world is destroyed or not.
Through these few sentences, Lou Yan seemed to see the fractured soul of Fu Xuezhou.
The Memory Pen continued to write smoothly and rapidly:
“I observed him for a long time. He is a natural leader, with rationality far outweighing emotion. He hates the anomalies and cultists even more than I do. He is more suitable than me to save this world.”
“If I can really kill the Anomaly Lord, then the rest of the anomalies can be left to him. I don’t want to live in this annoying world anymore. He can eat my heart and inherit my abilities.”
“No matter how he chooses, he is my last kindness to this world.”
The Memory Pen stopped here, and the paper was filled with red ink.
Lou Yan’s gaze fixed on the last sentence.
“He is my last kindness to this world…?”
“Hahaha.”
Lou Yan suddenly burst into laughter, tears streaming down his face. Count Grey was startled by his laughter, looking at Lou Yan in confusion. “Lou Yan, what are you laughing at?”
“I just find it ridiculous,” Lou Yan laughed with aching in his heart, one hand supporting the table, his back bending down, a muffled laughter coming from his chest, bitterness filling his eyes, “He actually said, he actually said that I am his last kindness to this world…”
Why did Fu Xuezhou say that? Why did he secretly consider Lou Yan his last kindness to this world without Lou Yan knowing anything? Why didn’t he explain anything to Lou Yan after doing all this, leaving Lou Yan to guess and speculate?
His words, besides highlighting his indifference and arrogance, were utterly useless!
How could Fu Xuezhou be so arrogant?! How could he!
Lou Yan hated him to death, yet he said Lou Yan was his last kindness to this world. Why? Why!
Why Fu Xuezhou of all people?
The person he hated turned out to be the one who allowed him to retain his memories and reincarnate. This was too ridiculous. His life, his efforts, seemed to have all been in vain, this feeling of being predestined, even made Lou Yan feel a sense of humiliation.
Lou Yan was a proud person. He couldn’t bear to have his hatred, his path, decided by others. It made him feel absurd that his own feelings and pain were also arranged by others.
Did Fu Xuezhou think he would be moved?
No, he would only feel more resentful, more disgusted!
Lou Yan’s soul was burning with anger and guilt. He wished he could grab Fu Xuezhou by the collar and yell at him: Who the h*ll do you think you are! Why do you arbitrarily consider me your kindness to this world!
Why not explain!!!
Lou Yan closed his eyes.
Before crossing three worldlines, Fu Xuezhou still possessed a laughable final kindness. So why, in this world, did Fu Xuezhou say to him, “Destroying the world out of boredom”?
If Fu Xuezhou hadn’t said such words… If Fu Xuezhou hadn’t said such words…
Suddenly, Lou Yan felt another kind of hatred towards Fu Xuezhou.
Why should the future me regret killing you?
Why should your death torment not only me now but also me in the future?
Clearly, it was you who said such words. Clearly, it’s your own fault. Why should I still suffer and be entangled because of you?
Clearly, I gave you a chance… Clearly, I gave you a chance!!!
…
“Fu Xuezhou’s viewpoint has always been wrong,” Count Grey looked at the words on the paper and immediately denied, “He thinks that after the Anomaly Lord dies, there won’t be any new anomalies born, but the old anomalies will still exist, and it’s necessary to kill the old anomalies to completely end the resurgence of anomalies. But I don’t think so. I think as long as the Anomaly Lord truly dies, all the anomalies in the world will disappear instantly, and there’s no need to bother killing other anomalies. So whoever you killed must not be the true Anomaly Lord. But he has always insisted on his own ideas, and as a result, he found you for this… He’s really stubborn.”
These words appeared in the diary. Lou Yan came back to his senses, he straightened up and looked at the Memory Pen in his hand, asking hoarsely, “It hasn’t answered my other question yet.”
Since Fu Xuezhou gave him the lighter, why did he forget even his name?
Count Grey handed a new piece of paper to Lou Yan. “Dip the Memory Pen in a drop of Fu Xuezhou’s heart blood again.”
Lou Yan stabbed Fu Xuezhou’s heart ruthlessly with the pen tip, then put the pen on the paper and focused on the question.
The pen moved again, this time with simple and straightforward sentences:
“I didn’t expect him to awaken, let alone that he would want to come and kill me. When I caught him, his expression was interesting, and I couldn’t help but want to tease him.”
“I asked him seriously: Tell me your name.”
“He seemed very angry. He thought I had forgotten him. Of course, I remember what he’s called.”
“Lou Yan, how could I forget you.”
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