Chapter 86

Chapter 86

Facing the empty ice field, the Twisted Figures were utterly baffled, completely unaware of what had happened.

On the other side, the "Mirror Ghost" also realized that the Space Vortex it had hidden in the mirror dimension after fleeing had disappeared!

As one of only two ancient gods who knew the Twisted Figures' backup plan, the "Mirror Ghost" had escaped immediately upon sensing danger, but it never expected the Space Vortex to vanish.

That vortex had been inside its mirror—no one else could’ve known. Yet now, the surrounding mirrors were smooth and flat, without even a trace of the "vortex."

Its face twisted in shock, and at that moment, with the sound of a knock, Sang Huaiyu appeared.

With a snap, fractures spiderwebbed across the mirror, and a long, sinewy hand emerged from within.

Before the "Mirror Ghost" could even think of searching for the Twisted Figures, it widened its eyes in terror and vanished into nothingness on the spot.

Sang Huaiyu brushed off his fingers, then glanced at the opposite mirror, his gray eyes filled with confusion.

Had he just felt the Space Vortex here?

But it vanished again in an instant?

...

Shi Yu had no idea that Sang Huaiyu had just appeared. After patching the "leak" in his left hand, he moved on to the other side, feeling like a damn sieve.

Home alone, yet his bones were full of leaks—where the hell was all this wind coming from?

After fixing his shoulder, Shi Yu breathed a sigh of relief, thinking he could finally take a break.

He rubbed his left shoulder and looked outside, only to find—the gloom overhead had... lightened?

The layer of black haze shrouding the outside had thinned, and the chaotic energy had suddenly calmed, as if things were improving?

Shi Yu blinked, puzzled.

Was fixing his leaks *fixing* the weather?

Meanwhile, at the Ability User Association, Han Chuyi also noticed the change in the sky. They were still clueless, yet the chaotic magnetic field had already begun to recover, as if self-repairing—though no one knew how long it would last.

He monitored the data closely and, after waiting a while, checked the report.

"Huh. A third restored."

A third?

Wang Shan was surprised, but any recovery was a good sign—far better than that creeping dread earlier.

Oddly, after surviving so many Horrors and abnormal weather before, this time hit different—like the sky was falling.

Wang Shan exhaled hard as the team uploaded the data, awaiting orders from the Association.

...

Turns out, the "leaks" were indeed connected to the weather outside.

Shi Yu, still puzzled, had to test the theory—and sure enough, it was true.

Each patch job cleared another patch of sky.

This works so well it's crazy.

Nah, this is way too strange.

Shi Yu stood there stunned, giving himself a suspicious look. After a moment's thought, he gritted his teeth and decided to seal off all the problem areas once he'd rested a bit.

A few minutes later, the skies cleared completely, the dark clouds overhead dispersed, and everything that had just happened seemed like it never occurred.

In the icy plains dimension, the Twisted Figures let out a shriek. Upon realizing all the Space Vortexes had vanished, it looked utterly terrified!

There's no way!

Even if Sang Huaiyu is incredibly powerful, tracking it down one by one would take time—how could it happen this fast?

Horror twisted its features, completely clueless about what happened. Yet, in an instant, the energy in the icy plains shifted.

The Twisted Figures sensed that Sang Huaiyu had discovered it and immediately fled, abandoning its previously secured safe point in a flash. After distorting the void, it dove into another dimension.

As the dimensions rapidly switched, the Twisted Figures blinked rapidly between spaces.

Once Sang Huaiyu also entered the dimensional space, it couldn't afford to think.

In this do-or-die situation, only one thought filled its mind—find Shi Yu.

Get to where humans gather and locate the human connected to Sang Huaiyu.

Even knowing that human wasn't some nobody, it had no other choice now.

The Space Vortex plan had been exposed before it could fully take shape, drawing Sang Huaiyu’s pursuit. The other ancient gods were likely already dead.

Now, it could only resort to a desperate last stand, hoping Sang Huaiyu would hesitate—if not, it would detonate itself and drag that human to hell with it!

The overlapping dimensions twisted and flickered. Just as Shi Yu finished fixing his defenses and stepped outside to observe the sky, he felt the spatial distortions.

Shi Yu: ???

Again?!

Is this ever gonna end today?!

He made a weird face. Just as he was about to focus his Spirit Threads to act, he suddenly remembered—Sang Huaiyu had said He’d already set up protections in the villa; no one else could enter. His movements paused slightly.

Still, Shi Yu threw up some extra shields for himself and the Little Monster, just in case.

A few seconds later, a spatial gate flickered open, and a shadow oozing malice and distortion emerged. Spotting Shi Yu, it perked up.

But before the Twisted Figures could rejoice, the next moment—as it gathered its self-destruct energy—it slammed straight into the villa’s boundary. In an instant, before it could react, it was blocked outside.

The shadow went completely rigid on impact.

Shi Yu's mouth twitched, finally recognizing the frenzied figure.

Wasn’t this the space-wielding ancient god that had ambushed him at the milk tea shop last time?

Why was it looking so damn pathetic today?

Like it was being chased by a dog.

Just as Shi Yu thought this, he looked up and saw Sang Huaiyu materializing right behind it.

Shi Yu: "..."

Oops, shouldn't have said that.

Ahem, so it was the evil deity chasing it.

But he probably didn’t say that out loud, right?

Shi Yu blinked, flashing a friendly smile at Sang Huaiyu in the sky, reassured.

"You take care of it."

"I’ll stay right here and stay put."

Standing inside the villa, Shi Yu had absolutely no intention of stepping out to tempt fate.

Sang Huaiyu glanced at him, recalling the words he’d overheard earlier—Shi Yu seemingly calling him a "dog"—and arched an eyebrow slightly before turning his gaze to the pathetic creature.

The Twisted Figures never expected that even its self-destruction couldn’t breach the villa. The moment Sang Huaiyu appeared, it was terrified.

A muffled, incoherent whisper rose into the air.

Sang Huaiyu listened as the former Space Ancient God pleaded in a raspy voice for mercy.

"Don’t you want to know the locations of the other space vortices?"

"I can tell you."

Even as an Ancient God, after barely surviving once and becoming neither human nor ghost, the Twisted Figures didn’t want to die. It frantically tried to save itself, hoping to use the "Space Vortex" as a distraction so it could escape.

But the platinum-haired deity who had been indifferently listening to its pleas turned to look at it.

"Space Vortex?"

The Twisted Figures thought there was hope and bobbed its head frantically.

The next second, Sang Huaiyu quirked a faint smile, with feigned confusion. "The Space Vortexes have all been destroyed."

"You're rather... useless, aren't you?"

He knew?

In the Twisted Figures’ horrified expression, its voice died in its throat in an instant.

The dark entity had no time to struggle before it completely dissipated into the air, leaving not even a trace behind.

Sang Huaiyu lowered his hand and slowly turned his gaze to Shi Yu.

Shi Yu: "..."

Wh-why the hell is he looking at me?

Feeling a little guilty under that stare, Shi Yu put on an innocent face. Once he saw it was all over, he clapped enthusiastically.

"Mr. Sang, you’re amazing!"

The Little Monster, caught up in its mother's excitement, clapped along.

"Wah!"

The sound of "blah" intertwined in the air. Sang Huaiyu was just going to speak when his gaze involuntarily drifted toward his abdomen.

As the Little Monster was about to open its mouth, he lowered his eyes and asked, "Did you understand the dimensional shift just now?"

Little Monster: ...

Nothing was more awkward than this sudden silence. The Little Monster's confused "blah" became hesitant.

Shi Yu's expression turned odd as he heard the Little Monster hesitate before whispering to him.

"Blah."

Mama, was there a dimensional shift just now?

Shi Yu: ...

So you didn't get any of that?

Shi Yu rubbed his eyes in exasperation, sure the creature was seriously slow.

But, well, was Mr. Sang being a little harsh?

He glanced at Sang Huaiyu across from him.

Sang Huaiyu looked away and spoke gently:

"Being strict with it now is to save it trouble later."

"Xiao Yu, don't you worry about it."

"Besides, this Little Monster needs to adapt better to combat."

You see, its parents were highly adaptable to survival, yet this Little Monster was astonishingly slow.

Sang Huaiyu mused to himself.

If He wasn't mistaken, the sudden restoration of the Space Vortexes had to be Shi Yu's doing?

After chasing the Twisted Figures here, Sang Huaiyu clearly felt that the repairing energies originated from this villa.

Aside from Shi Yu, there was no one else.

Shi Yu met the god's stare and inexplicably felt as though he'd been seen through, making him strangely uneasy.

Wait, could He know about the connection between the changing sky and him?

Shi Yu himself had only just figured this out by experimenting.

Surely… it hadn't been exposed yet?

They locked eyes, and Shi Yu nodded before glancing outside, puzzled.

"Mr. Sang, why aren't you coming in?"

After defeating the ancient deity, Sang Huaiyu had remained standing outside, which Shi Yu found strange.

The shirt-clad man turned his head.

"I didn't wanna scare Xiao Yu."

When He first struck, the ancient gods were nearly wiped out. Though He felt nothing Himself, His aura of death was suffocating.

He worried He might scare the one He cared for.

Shi Yu froze, not expecting such an answer.

Worried... about scaring him?

His heart suddenly skipped a beat, inexplicably uneasy.

Biting his lip, he said, "It's alright, Mr. Sang. I've got nerves of steel."

After instinctively replying, he saw the man opposite him gave a low chuckle, as if recalling their first meeting.

"So you're not scared of me now?"

Shi Yu couldn't tell whether the "fear" Mr. Sang referred to was the same as what he was thinking.

He stared at Him, confused.

Sang Huaiyu swallowed hard. After cleansing the ancient gods, long-dormant emotions stirred in His veins, darkening His eyes as He looked at Shi Yu.

Yet, the stench of bloodshed forced Him to restrain Himself.

When Shi Yu unknowingly turned to Him, He said, "Xiao Yu, could you fetch me some paper?"

Shi Yu nodded and went into the villa, returning with a few sheets of paper and wet wipes, handing them to Sang Huaiyu.

As Sang Huaiyu reached out, Shi Yu noticed blood on the back of His hand.

Just a few splatters—likely from some unfortunate soul’s demise—were wiped away with deliberate slowness by Sang Huaiyu.

At that moment, His face was unreadable, His platinum blonde curls slightly falling, His handsome features unnervingly magnetic under the setting sun.

Shi Yu's eyes kept drifting back.

"Wala."

Mom, what... are you looking at?

Catching his mom looking outside, Little Monster hissed.

Shi Yu: "Nothing."

"Keep your voice down."

He quickly averted his eyes and murmured to Little Monster. Yet, his thoughts kept circling back to the sight of the dark god cleaning His hands.

Wait, what was he thinking?

Blinking himself out of it, Shi Yu jerked back to the present and suddenly turned to Sang Huaiyu.

"Mr. Sang, would you like some water?"

Sang Huaiyu paused, caught off guard by the gesture, but replied, "I appreciate that, Xiao Yu."

Shi Yu awkwardly looked away and went to the living room to run the tap for warm water.

As Sang Huaiyu reached to take it, Shi Yu mumbled, "Um, if there’s nothing else you need, Mr. Sang, I should probably head up."

Sang Huaiyu nodded, watching through the white silk as he hurried upstairs, deep in thought.

After cleaning up the bloodstains, Sang Huaiyu stayed outside until nightfall. Only when feeling his energy had settled somewhat did he re-enter the villa.

The moment he returned, Shi Yu, still on the second floor, sensed his return. Back in his bedroom, he leaned against a polar bear stuffed animal while playing a game, but his mind was elsewhere, constantly kept wandering back to Mr. Sang.

One moment, he recalled how effortlessly the man had crushed the Twisted Figures; the next, he pictured him drinking water… His mind was all over the place, making it impossible to focus on the game.

“Bro, what’s up with you?”

“Why didn’t you attack just now?”

His teammate on-screen was baffled, probably wanted to reach through the screen and shake some sense into him.

“Huh?”

Shi Yu blinked, only to realize his in-game character was already dead.

Shi Yu: “…”

Wait, when did that happen? How had he not noticed?

“Sorry, man, I spaced out for a sec.”

Shi Yu quickly apologized.

“You… never mind.”

The teammate seemed to want to say more but held back, seeing how earnest Shi Yu was in admitting his mistake.

Relieved, Shi Yu half-heartedly finished the match, though his ears were tuned to pick up any noise from next door.

What was Sang Huaiyu doing now that he was back?

The idea had just crossed his mind when Shi Yu heard the study door open, followed by the sound of running water from the bathroom.

His supernatural hearing allowed him to pick up every movement in the house, even through the hallway and a closed door.

Shi Yu lowered his gaze, feeling a twinge of shame when the “Victory” screen popped up.

The ancient god was obsessive about cleanliness—of course he’d shower after getting involved in violence so many times today. Just as he thought this, the noises from next door stopped.

Done already?

Shi Yu let out a breath, glancing toward the neighboring room, only to hear a knock at his door.

Just one light knock—quiet but enough to make his pulse quicken.

He snapped his head toward the door.

Mr. Sang?

This late, it couldn’t be anyone else.

But why would Mr. Sang come knocking now?

Hadn’t he just… come from the shower?

The smell of body wash wafted through, filling Shi Yu’s nose. In a haze, he didn’t even realize he’d opened the door until it was done.

"You're really not afraid of me anymore."

He went momentarily still as the malevolent deity across from him suddenly declared.

In the next second, that hidden aggression surfaced.

Shi Yu's body tensed with nervousness, completely unable to regain his composure. None of the scenarios he had imagined about Mr. Sang after opening the door fell within his predictions—instead, his mind went blank, utterly incapable of thought.

The man, freshly showered and radiating freshness, leaned down and nuzzled affectionately against his cheek.

Just as Shi Yu's heart pounded wildly, a hand grasped the back of his neck, and a low voice murmured, "Xiao Yu—did you know, when you handed me the water glass this afternoon, I wanted to kiss you?"