Chapter 88

Chapter 88

This wish seemed to put her friend in a difficult position, yet Jiang Xingzhuo still received flowers the next day without a reply note.

Doesn't want to see me? Why? Since he could follow me off the island, he must not be from a different time or space as I once thought. He should be some other creature, but no matter what he is, it won't affect our friendship.

Maybe because he's ugly? Well, being ugly doesn't matter; having a beautiful soul is more important than having a beautiful appearance. After all, beautiful appearances are all the same, while interesting souls are one in a million.

Jiang Xingzhuo considered all possible concerns her friend might have and tried to reassure herself, but it didn't seem to help much.

[Meeting me isn't a good thing.]

Under the daily flowers was a note from her friend.

Jiang Xingzhuo wasn't too pleased.

[Whether it's good or not, shouldn't that be up to me?]

Her friend didn't reply.

Well, since you won't meet my demands, I'll show you how angry I can get.

Jiang Xingzhuo thought this way. She had been spoiled by this mysterious friend for nearly a decade. He had never refused any of her requests, leading her to depend on him emotionally. Naturally, she showed him all her childish, selfish, and self-centered sides.

Childish as she was, Jiang Xingzhuo decided to accept a handsome schoolmate's invitation to watch a movie. Although she hadn't realized what liking someone meant, she instinctively knew how to provoke her friend.

Sure enough, after the movie, when she returned home, she found the flowers on her bedside drooping again.

Jiang Xingzhuo ignored them. The next day, she enthusiastically helped a dim-witted school bully with his homework.

She started receiving wilted flowers. For some reason, every time she saw these flowers, an image of a sobbing figure lying on the ground, melting with sadness, came to mind.

She thought maliciously, "Hurry up and meet my demands, or I'll keep tormenting you."

Throughout her life, Jiang Xingzhuo always won in such tug-of-war situations.

The Death God, tormented by her, came up with a plan. He went to the Realm of Eternity and stole the clothes of the Winter God.

These gods, who already lived for tens of thousands of years, still felt it wasn't enough. To resist the laws of death and avoid aging, they made clothes with anti-death properties, which could temporarily shield them from the effects of death.

The Winter God, a minor deity born from the faith of those who revered winter, lacked a human form and resembled a snowman. The Death God stealing its clothes was like taking away a snowman costume, revealing a smaller snowman inside.

The costume was too fat and short to fit, so the Death God grabbed the Winter God's head, lifted it up, and demanded a custom-made outfit, threatening to sigh at it otherwise.

The Winter God cried as it made the outfit, never understanding why the Death God wanted to wear something that resisted himself.

On her birthday, Jiang Xingzhuo nervously dressed in a new dress, got her makeup done by a maid, and styled her hair before happily running to the meeting place. There, she found a plump white snowman sitting quietly on the steps, unmoved even by a barking dog.

"What is this?" Jiang Xingzhuo looked at him in surprise, feeling the coolness and the sensation of melting.

"A snowman," said a muffled male voice from inside the snowman's head, young but barely audible.

"What's a snowman?"

The Death God explained what a snowman was. It turned out to be another product from another world. In her world, there were only two seasons: spring and autumn, with no winter, hence no snow.

Jiang Xingzhuo opened her arms and hugged the snowman.

The Death God dared not move.

"Then I'm the only human on this planet who has hugged winter," Jiang Xingzhuo said happily, hugging the snowman.

He watched her smiling face and couldn't help but smile too, nodding. He thought about getting the Summer God's clothes next time so she could hug summer too.

That day, Jiang Xingzhuo and her special mysterious friend went shopping, watched a movie, and visited a bookstore. She held the snowman's withered hand, climbed onto his back due to his height and girth, and he carried her like a child.

At that moment, Jiang Xingzhuo was grateful for the privileges her role as a Keeper brought. Her friend wouldn't be kicked out of shops for being strange and clumsy.

Like Cinderella needing to leave before midnight, the Death God had to leave before the Winter God's clothes lost their anti-death effect, lest his presence cause disastrous consequences for the human he liked.

But once things start, they often don't stop.

After seeing her mysterious friend once, Jiang Xingzhuo wanted to see him again, and the Death God felt the same. They behaved like young lovers, hoping to meet every day and spend time together closely.

During that period, the gods gossiped, wondering why the Death God, who rarely left the Eternal Silence, was frequently venturing out. As one of the main gods, the counterbalance to the cosmic scale, he acted like a bandit, robbing almost every god except the Creator and the Goddess, none of whom dared refuse him, lest he sigh at them regretfully.

Jiang Xingzhuo engaged in puppy love with a mysterious creature whose face she couldn't see. Each time they met, he dressed up oddly, completely covered from head to toe, not a single hair exposed.

He didn't want to reveal what he was, and Jiang Xingzhuo didn't press further, letting him maintain his mystery. Perhaps that was his most charming trait.

Although they began meeting regularly, the daily flowers continued to arrive, now accompanied by a card with a unique, subtle, and beautiful love poem each day. These were flowers for a lover, not just a friend.

Every morning, Jiang Xingzhuo would wake up, place the slightly wilted flowers in a vase, read the love poem, imagine the shy and earnest face behind the words, and enjoy a whole day of happiness.

Jiang Xingzhuo didn't mind platonic love. She had few worldly desires, and many of her human friends, those who could truly communicate with her, often marveled at the divine aura she exuded, which made her a Keeper.

Jiang Xingzhuo believed that the so-called "divine aura" meant she lacked typical human emotions. But it was hard to say whether she became a Keeper first, growing up alone on the island, or if her "divine aura" led her to become a Keeper.

Regardless, finding a soulmate and experiencing this wonderful joy was already a rare and precious thing.

But things wouldn't go smoothly forever.

One morning, years later, Jiang Xingzhuo woke up feeling dizzy and disoriented. She accidentally knocked the flowers and the card with the love poem off her bedside table.

Her body grew weak, her immune system weakened, and she fell ill. Soon, she was bedridden, her complexion paler day by day, her organs failing, yet no doctor could find the cause of her sudden decline.

The Death God paced anxiously within the Eternal Silence, unable to understand why this was happening. Was it because of him? But he always wore protective clothes, ensuring his flowers and love letters were free of any lingering death essence before sending them through the Time Spirit to Jiang Xingzhuo. If anything, the Time Spirit should have been affected long ago.

Fear engulfed him. Faced with death, even the Death God was powerless. He sought the Creator, his brother, the only god unaffected by him, the opposite of death, the other end of the cosmic scale.

"Truly... surprising, death." The Creator, upon learning that the God of Death had been in love with a human all these years, let out a sigh of astonishment.

"Can you save her? If not, I'll go get a divine essence myself." The God of Death said, his clear blue eyes reflecting an endless universe and void. His meaning was clear: if the Creator did not save Jiang Xingzhuo, he would kill a god to obtain a divine essence for her.

The Creator's eyes widened even more in surprise. Other gods might not know, but He did. The God of Death was not an evil deity; bringing death into the universe was not his intention but a mission bestowed upon him by the cosmos, one he could not shirk. He had never taken any life willingly.

"She is human and cannot bear a divine essence. The immense divine power would tear her soul apart, leaving you with nothing. However..." The Creator looked at Jiang Xingzhuo's soul reflected in the Mirror of Time and Space, his golden eyes shimmering with an unusual light. "She is a Keeper of Vows."

"Do not keep me in suspense." The God of Death was impatient.

"Fine, it's something for the future anyway. I think I know why she fell ill."

"Is it because of me?"

"It is because of you."

"But I have already..."

"Your existence in her mind is forbidden," the Creator said mercilessly.

The God of Death froze. What?

"All beings who become connected to you will face death, even if they only exist in someone's memory. She has guessed your identity. She knows she is in love with the God of Death and has even imagined what you look like."

Just a pair of eyes missing—Jiang Xingzhuo could not imagine what his eyes looked like, but it was enough to kill her.

Jiang Xingzhuo was very clever, and the clues given to her were ample.

She remembered receiving her first flower from him the day after discussing death with a philosopher;

All the flowers she received had a slight wilt, yet he was a sincere and adorable person. If he had control, he would never intentionally give her such unfresh flowers;

Every time he met her, he was wrapped up tightly as if not doing so would harm her, and he once said that meeting him was not a good thing;

She learned his language from him, and the first word he taught her was "God of Death," much like parents instinctively teaching their children to call them.

Her lover was a legendary deity, the terrifying God of Death. She felt no fear; how could a deity with such a character be feared? She even observed his figure, drawing his likeness on paper, imagining every feature except his eyes. "God of Death" was imprinted in her mind, and his appearance gradually became clearer.

But Jiang Xingzhuo did not know this was taboo.

Humans could not gaze directly at the God of Death, could not love the God of Death; all living beings should fear the God of Death. This was an unshakeable law; otherwise, the universe would surely be doomed.

And the God of Death himself did not know that he was only allowed that little bit.

"If you want to save her, I can help erase everything about you from her mind. That way, she will gradually recover."

"...Alright."

The Creator went over to clean up his brother's mess. When He returned, He found the God of Death lying on the ground, his entire being melting in sorrow, his beautiful blue eyes dull and tears streaming down his face.