Chapter 70
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When Fan Yuan was knitting the rabbits, he never thought that one day he would be reduced to fighting with these knitted rabbits for space on the bed.
Gu Yang was particularly fond of these knitted rabbits. Every night before bed, he would kiss each of them, hug several of them in his arms, and fill the bed with them.
As a result, Fan Yuan could only stay on the other side of the bed, separated from Gu Yang by more than a dozen knitted rabbits. These knitted rabbits all faced Fan Yuan’s direction with their backsides, as if mocking him.
Fan Yuan laid on his side at the edge of the bed, watching Gu Yang’s loving kisses on the rabbits’ mouths.
He stretched out his fingers and aimed directly at one of the knitted rabbits in front of him. With a hard push of his fingertips, he sent the rabbit flying.
The flying knitted rabbit passed over Gu Yang and fell to the ground on Gu Yang’s side.
Gu Yang, who was kissing the rabbits, was startled and immediately bent over to pick up the rabbit. He turned back and glared at Fan Yuan, then patted the rabbit to remove the dust that couldn’t be seen on its body.
“Be good to them!”
Fan Yuan had already pulled his fingers back, but after being scolded by Gu Yang and feeling an itch in his hand, he couldn’t help but shoot another one.
Gu Yang was about to pick it up again, but Fan Yuan stood up with Gu Yang and pulled him back. He then aggressively squeezed into Gu Yang’s arms and pushed all the knitted rabbits away.
As Fan Yuan laid in Gu Yang’s arms with his waist wrapped around, Gu Yang was a little stunned.
Fan Yuan was rarely so childish, fighting for attention with a group of knitted rabbits.
Gu Yang’s hands slowly fell on Fan Yuan’s back, and he didn’t go to pick up the rabbit on the ground. Instead, he patted Fan Yuan’s back again and again.
That night, Gu Yang held Fan Yuan to sleep, and Fan Yuan had not left Gu Yang’s embrace since he crawled into it.
For Gu Yang, this feeling was rare but also quite good.
Since Gu Yang found out about the fake pregnancy, he had become more relaxed.
On the other hand, Fan Yuan was a bit restrained. He often put his hand on Gu Yang’s back, but immediately pulled it away, not daring to touch Gu Yang easily.
Whenever this happened, Gu Yang would proactively pull Fan Yuan’s hand behind him and then use his two soft, fluffy bunny ears to rub against Fan Yuan’s chin.
The long winter vacation gradually passed halfway, and the “Rabbit Bride” golden finger also reached its final countdown.
Without the expectation of the little bunny, Gu Yang’s desire to control Fan Yuan gradually increased.
In Gu Yang’s heart, Fan Yuan was his bride. If his bride didn’t behave, he would definitely lock Fan Yuan up.
But Fan Yuan was too obedient. If Gu Yang wanted to stick to him, he would let Gu Yang stick to him and never push Gu Yang away. This made Gu Yang want to find a reason to lock Fan Yuan up even more.
At night, Gu Yang curled up in Fan Yuan’s arms. The knitted bunnies on the bed were placed on a new shelf by Fan Yuan himself, and the bunnies were squeezed together layer by layer.
This shelf meant that no more knitted bunnies could compete for a spot on the bed with Fan Yuan.
This night was the last day of the “Rabbit Bride” golden finger.
As usual, Gu Yang didn’t sleep, curled up in the quilt and held by Fan Yuan, staring quietly at the small book on his left palm.
The small book emitted a faint light that only he could see in the night, and the countdown on it slowly decreased.
Which golden finger was this?
Gu Yang was a bit confused. He had only been in the world of “Fan Yuan” for less than a year, but he had a feeling that he had been here and by Fan Yuan’s side for a long time.
“The ‘Rabbit Bride’ golden finger countdown has ended. Congratulations on entering a new round of golden fingers. Random selection will begin now. Please stay tuned.”
Gu Yang held his breath nervously, and Fan Yuan, who was holding him from behind, also looked at Gu Yang’s open palm.
On that palm, Fan Yuan couldn’t see anything, but he knew that Gu Yang could see something.
The random selection box kept changing, and every familiar or unfamiliar fairy tale story passed by Gu Yang’s eyes, making his heart tighten.
Until the speed of the fairy tale changes slowed down, it eventually stopped at “The Little Match Girl.”
Immediately, a box of matches appeared in Gu Yang’s left palm, and his rabbit ears on his head and rabbit tail behind him disappeared completely.
Gu Yang quietly removed the hand that Fan Yuan had placed around his waist and slid down from the bed, barefooted, and left.
He came to the corridor, opened the antique-looking matchbox, and inside, there seemed to be only ordinary matches. Gu Yang counted them, and there were only six matches in total.
He immediately took out one, lit it on the edge of the matchbox, and a faint flame lit up, shining on Gu Yang’s face.
In “The Little Match Girl,” the little girl saw many beautiful things she longed for through the light of the matches on her deathbed. Gu Yang recalled the details of the fairy tale and stared carefully at the burning match.
Until the match burned out, Gu Yang did not see anything special appear. It seemed like it was just an ordinary box of matches.
He put away the matchbox, turned and returned to the bedroom, and quietly crawled back into Fan Yuan’s arms, the chill on his body immediately dissipated. Gu Yang sighed, his forehead against Fan Yuan’s shoulder, closing his eyes, planning to take another look tomorrow.
Fan Yuan opened his eyes and slowly closed them again.
Gu Yang felt particularly heavy-headed after lying down for a moment. It was not so much that he fell asleep, but rather that he passed out.
Not only Gu Yang, but Fan Yuan, who was holding him, also fainted at the same time.
In the dark bedroom, countless small white lights gradually emerged. Those lights entangled, floated, interlaced, and converged, finally rushing towards the foreheads of Gu Yang and Fan Yuan, disappearing completely at their foreheads.
The golden finger of “The Little Match Girl” was activated.
Gu Yang opened his eyes in a battle of tug-of-war. As soon as he opened his eyes, he was scared and kept retreating from the ferocious-looking ghost in front of him. Just as he retreated a few steps, he was pulled back roughly by the iron chain on his body by the ghost.
It was only then that Gu Yang realized that he was not in the bedroom, and Fan Yuan was not beside him.
At this moment, he was wrapped in heavy, dirty iron chains, with the other end of the chain being pulled by the terrifying-looking monster in his hand. Several equally terrifying monsters surrounded him, constantly berating and pushing him forward.
Gu Yang forced himself to calm down, his bare feet stepping on the constantly uneven ground, occasionally being cut by some sharp stones.
Not only that, Gu Yang also found that his clothes had changed, becoming a tattered white prison uniform, a few strands of black hair drifting in front of him, and his hair growing long again.
The sky was dark, with red ghost fires shining around, a blood moon in the sky, and no starlight.
Where was this place?
“Hurry up! The demon king is waiting!”
A monster behind him pushed Gu Yang hard, and Gu Yang turned around angrily, but the monster just smirked.
“Oh, so fierce. You’re just a low-level demon with some special abilities. You can only be fierce for a while. When you see the demon king later, you’ll probably be scared to death!”
The monster chatted with the other monsters, and Gu Yang tensed up, being dragged along, stumbling all the way, leaving a trail of blood behind him.
He listened to the words “low-level demon” and “demon king” and almost thought he was in some book again. After calming down, he realized it was impossible. All of this should be related to the “Little Match Girl” golden finger.
In “The Little Match Girl,” the girl could see some illusions when the matches burned. Was the place he was in now also some kind of illusion?
Or was it a dream within a dream?
The monsters’ conversation continued on the side, and they didn’t avoid Gu Yang. Gu Yang actually heard a lot of information from them.
“I heard that the demon king is curious about this low-level demon and intends to catch him and use him as food.”
“This low-level demon has some special abilities. It is said that it lives by devouring love. It has deceived the feelings of many humans in the human world and lived by taking their love for him as food.”
“Really? Then he must have killed a lot of people, right?”
“How? This demon has a very timid heart and only dares to deceive people. He has never even gotten a drop of fresh blood on his hands.”
As the group of ghosts and monsters chatted, they seemed to find Gu Yang very peculiar, and they all turned to stare at him, their eyes full of malicious intent.
“When he sees the Demon King later, he better not be scared enough to wet his pants!”
“That’s right. Our Demon King came out from the sea of blood, he has been eating meat and drinking blood since he was young, and has grown on the evil and monsters of the world. The bloody aura surrounding him makes us, intermediate demons, weak and unstable, so what would happen to this low-level demon!”
As they spoke, the ghost pulling the iron chain tugged hard again, causing Gu Yang to fall to his knees on the ground, his knees hitting the stones, and the blood seeping through his torn white prisoner’s uniform.
Gu Yang frowned tightly, the illusion was too real, and even the pain did not decrease in the slightest.
Throughout the journey, Gu Yang had hoped to wake up from this illusion several times. His face remained calm and composed, but he couldn’t help feeling anxious. These blue-faced, fanged ghosts had already surpassed everything he knew.
The road to the demon temple mentioned by the ghosts was long and difficult. Gu Yang’s wounded feet kept bleeding, and whenever the blood on his wounds had clotted a little, the ghosts pushed and pulled him, tearing them open again.
When Gu Yang was soaked in sweat, in pain, with a pale face and almost fainting, they finally arrived at the demon temple.
Looking at the towering demon temple in front of him, Gu Yang’s body shook, feeling pain in his feet and knees, no part of his body felt comfortable.
By this point, even though he was in such a painful situation, Gu Yang still had the mental capacity to speculate that this illusion might be a kind of dream-like existence, and that the matchstick burning down would lead him into this kind of dream.
He just didn’t know when this dream would end, or what the purpose of this golden finger was in giving him such a painful dream.
The ghost in front turned around and gave Gu Yang a cold sneer. “You’re quite stubborn. You haven’t even cried out in pain along this road. I hope you won’t wet your pants when you see the Demon King later!”
With that, the ghost pulled hard on the iron chain on Gu Yang’s body, and led him to the high temple gate that was almost out of sight.
As soon as they entered, Gu Yang felt a bone-chilling cold.
He was wearing thin and tattered prisoner’s uniform, and his feet were stepping on the smooth surface of the temple, which felt like walking on ice.
The demon temple was winding and twisting, and as they went deeper, they gradually saw more…
The farther you go, the lower the temperature.
Gu Yang had already been at his limit, and now with the extremely low temperature, the air he exhaled was accompanied by a chill mist. His face grew paler and paler, but his lips remained as red as blood.
“We’re here.”
In a daze, Gu Yang heard those two words.
Then he was pushed to the ground, and the iron chains on his body clattered to the ground along with him.
He could feel countless cold eyes around him, and Gu Yang propped himself up on the icy ground, unable to recover for a long time.
The monsters around him were discussing him, but Gu Yang didn’t care. He was in pain all over and just wanted to wake up from this all-too-real dream.
“Your Majesty, this is a low-level monster that feeds on emotions. How does Your Majesty plan to dispose of him? Will you skin him and draw his tendons to enjoy, or will you keep him in the back hall?”
The monsters’ words drifted past Gu Yang’s ears, as if through a veil, and he could no longer hear them clearly. He just opened his mouth and murmured subconsciously:
“Fan Yuan…”
“Fan Yuan…”
“Take me home…”
In the center of the demon temple, there were countless high-level monsters gathered.
Each one of them was a habitual brutal thug, but now they were all silent and looking up at the demon king on the highest throne, their eyes filled with awe.
The young-looking demon king leaned lazily on the armrest, his black eyes seeming indifferent to everything. His long ink-black hair was half-tied behind his head, and he wore a black robe with golden dark patterns, which shimmered slightly when he moved.
This was the demon king whom all the monsters feared and respected, but he had a young, perfect face.
The demon king’s eyes were calm, and he seemed uninterested in everything. When they pushed Gu Yang forward, he simply leaned his chin on his hand in boredom, tapping his finger on the armrest without even looking at him.
It wasn’t until Gu Yang murmured Fan Yuan’s name that the demon king suddenly stood up, quickly descending from the high throne and appearing in front of Gu Yang in the blink of an eye.
Gu Yang was curled up on the ground, his eyes slightly unfocused, about to lose consciousness.
The cold air in the demon temple seemed to be infused with other magical powers that made it difficult for him to resist.
Just as he slowly closed his eyes, someone suddenly lifted him up by the waist, and his body rose up into the air.
When he slowly lifted his head, he saw Fan Yuan with his long hair.
He couldn’t tell whether this was a dream created by the “Little Match Girl” golden finger, or his own hallucination. All he knew was that he used his last bit of strength to lift his hand and hug Fan Yuan’s neck tightly. The strength he had shown before crumbled at this moment.
He pressed his icy cheek against Fan Yuan’s cheek and said “it hurts” over and over again.
“Fan Yuan, it hurts, it hurts so much…”
Fan Yuan held onto Gu Yang tightly and stroked his back gently. With his movements, the temperature in the demon temple suddenly rose, and the normally frozen demon temple became hot at that moment.
All the demons couldn’t believe their eyes as they watched their powerful and indifferent Demon King pick up the dirty, low-level demon and take him step by step towards the noble throne.
When they arrived at the throne, Fan Yuan put Gu Yang down on it, and then waved his sleeve and kneeled in front of Gu Yang. He placed Gu Yang’s feet, covered in wounds and blood, on his own knee.
With Fan Yuan’s gentle touch, the wounds slowly healed and disappeared.
After all the wounds were gone, Fan Yuan lifted his robe and wiped the dust off Gu Yang’s feet with the corner of it.
Finally, a high-level demon couldn’t hold back any longer and stepped forward to advise him:
“Demon King! You can’t do this! He’s just a low-level demon. If you raise him up and place him there, what will happen to us?”
Fan Yuan ignored him and continued to gently wipe the dust off Gu Yang’s feet, asking him, “Does it still hurt?”
Gu Yang shook his head, and his tears fell like broken pearls. The strength he had shown on their journey here seemed to have never existed, he always appeared delicate in front of Fan Yuan.
Fan Yuan asked again, “Are you still cold?”
Gu Yang shook his head again.
Looking at the aggrieved look on Gu Yang’s face, Fan Yuan stood up and leaned closer to him, kissing him lightly on the corner of his lips, while pressing his hand against the armrest of the throne.
“Isn’t this because of the dream you had, but you can’t control it yourself?”
Gu Yang’s eyes widened slightly as he looked at Fan Yuan. He hadn’t expected Fan Yuan to guess so accurately.
Then Gu Yang lowered his head again and shook it despondently.
“I can’t control it either.”
The high-level demon under the throne, who had been ignored by everyone, showed some anger on its face. Its eyes toward Gu Yang were full of contempt and malice. Just as it was about to speak again, Fan Yuan had already turned around, holding Gu Yang, and sat with him on the throne.
As Fan Yuan turned around, all the mid-level demons who had been constantly clamoring, along with the high-level demon who escorted Gu Yang here, disappeared like smoke, leaving only the clothes and a pile of dust on the ground.
Fan Yuan didn’t even glance at the demons turned to ashes, just leaned in close to Gu Yang’s ear and whispered, “Do you know when you’ll wake up?”
Gu Yang still shook his head.
Fan Yuan wasn’t angry either, just opened his robe and wrapped Gu Yang inside.
“Well, it’s a good dream, quite interesting.”
With Fan Yuan by his side now, Gu Yang felt like he had found his backbone and was no longer afraid. He didn’t care when he would wake up from this dream.
He rubbed his stomach and smiled at Fan Yuan. When he smiled, his lips were red and teeth were white, his face was like jade, and his eyes were full of trust and dependence on Fan Yuan.
“Fan Yuan, I’m hungry.”
Fan Yuan picked up Gu Yang and left the throne, heading towards the palace beside them, ignoring the demons behind him.
The demons had been kneeling on the ground, trembling since the high-level demon and the mid-level demons disappeared. Only after Fan Yuan had left with Gu Yang for a long time did they dare to raise their heads and look in the direction where Fan Yuan and Gu Yang disappeared, feeling the temperature inside the demon temple gradually rising. Everything today made them confused and in shock.
There was a demon who couldn’t help whispering:
“It’s just a lowly, low-level monster…why does the Demon Lord value it so much?”
Before the demon finished speaking, his entire body started to disintegrate from his feet, and finally, like the other disappearing demons, he turned into a pile of ash.
Fan Yuan held Gu Yang and walked through the long corridor. Gu Yang reached out to touch Fan Yuan’s long hair and grabbed his long robe.
This kind of Fan Yuan made Gu Yang feel particularly fresh and rare. A hint of red light flashed in Fan Yuan’s black pupils, and the red light rotated once around the pitch-black irises before disappearing deep into his pupils.
“But they’re just a bunch of illusory phantoms.”
Gu Yang heard Fan Yuan say something and looked up at him:
“What did you just say?”
Fan Yuan lifted Gu Yang up and asked him:
“What do you want to eat?”
At this point, Gu Yang was no longer influenced by the “Rabbit Bride” system, and immediately shouted out:
“Meat! I want to eat meat!”
In another sleeping chamber, Fan Yuan waved his hand and created a large table of meat for Gu Yang. Gu Yang sat at the table, drooling, and still flattered Fan Yuan:
“Fan Yuan, you’re amazing!”
Fan Yuan sat next to Gu Yang and served him food:
“Gu Yang, this is your dream. What I do depends on you.”
Gu Yang felt a little embarrassed after hearing that, he turned his head and avoided Fan Yuan’s gaze, picked up his chopsticks and started eating, but his heart was pounding.
He was not sure if the dream caused by the match burning down had any connection to his consciousness, but he really hoped that Fan Yuan would always be the supreme being, not subject to any harm or oppression.
Fan Yuan should be the Fan Yuan who lives freely.
It seemed that Gu Yang was really hungry. He waved his chopsticks and ate quickly. The meat was very fragrant, but for some reason, no matter how much he ate, he couldn’t get full.
Even after two empty plates, Gu Yang touched his still-empty stomach, feeling a little lost:
“I’m so hungry…why can’t I get full?”
Fan Yuan sat next to Gu Yang, propping up his chin with one hand. He looked at Gu Yang’s bewildered expression, his dark eyes narrowed as he thought of something.
Just as Gu Yang was about to continue eating, Fan Yuan took away his chopsticks.
Then with a wave of his hand, the food on the table disappeared. Gu Yang looked at Fan Yuan in confusion.
Fan Yuan reached out and grabbed Gu Yang’s waist, pinching it to place him back on the table. “Gu Yang, do you remember your persona?”
Gu Yang didn’t understand, “What persona?”
Fan Yuan bent down and approached Gu Yang. His dark eyes stared at him quietly, “Your persona in this dream.”
A lightbulb went off in Gu Yang’s head, suddenly remembering the conversation he had with the monsters on the way here.
Lower-tier monsters that survive on love…
How can love be eaten…
Unconsciously, Gu Yang grabbed Fan Yuan’s collar, feeling a bit helpless as he asked, “Fan Yuan, I won’t starve to death in this dream, will I?”
Fan Yuan raised his hand and held Gu Yang’s nape, bringing him closer and gently sniffing his neck.
Whether it was related to Fan Yuan’s demon king persona or not, the scent emanating from Gu Yang was very enticing. When Fan Yuan smelled it, it carried an alluring charm.
He followed Gu Yang’s neck all the way to his lips, where the fragrance became even stronger.
Fan Yuan extended his thumb and parted Gu Yang’s lower lip, lowering his head and pressing against it. “How could that happen? I’ll definitely feed you.”
Author’s note: The big demon king Fan Yuan has arrived! Please enjoy carefully to avoid backfiring! A new golden finger “The Little Match Girl” hope you all like it~
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I never expected “The Little Match Girl” as a fairy tale possibility, but it’s a very interesting setup! I can’t wait until they both get to see each other’s greatest desires and grow closer as they learn more about each other. It’s pretty scary that everything that happens in the dream feels so real, though, so I wonder if it’ll have any effect on them in real life.
Thanks for the chapter! :D