Chapter 66

Chapter 66

The Chris Coast is located in a small town called Whale Moon in Qiyu. Whale Moon borders the Lower City District. Although it belongs to Qiyu, compared to the bustling and dazzling city center of the Upper District, it exudes a distinct coastal charm.

The salty sea breeze constantly lingers over the cobblestone streets, and the winding alleys see sparse foot traffic.

Meng Shijiu wandered along these narrow and wide paths. Sunlight filtered through the eaves, occasionally falling on his face.

"You know this place well, Xiao Jiu?" Jue Ning asked, observing the silver-haired Alpha's ease of navigation.

Meng Shijiu: "How so?"

Jue Ning always maintained just the right distance from Meng Shijiu—neither so close as to be intrusive, yet keeping that silver hair within his line of sight.

His gaze drifted over the slightly upturned corner of Meng Shijiu's eyes: "Xiao Jiu looks very relaxed right now."

Much more at ease than when he was alone with him in a room.

There was something odd about this ease—like watching a butterfly perch on a flower stem, its wings gently fluttering with each breath.

Due to the butterfly's vibrant, beautiful wings and its delicate tremors, most people would be impatient to catch it—forgetting that this liveliness cannot be preserved.

—Even the most flawless specimen is missing that life.

The best moments often come right before touch.

Like right now, the look in Meng Shijiu's eyes when he glanced back showed no wariness, simply reflecting the entire sky of Whale Moon.

Meng Shijiu remarked offhandedly: "It's precisely because I'm not familiar with this place that I feel more at ease."

Jue Ning: "That makes a lot of sense."

A glint flashed in the gray-haired Alpha's eyes, as if amused to himself: "So, is it because Xiao Jiu has become familiar with me that sometimes he feels uneasy?"

Meng Shijiu: "..."

Meng Shijiu stopped walking: "You really know how to flatter yourself."

Meng Shijiu glanced at the shadow-like gray-haired Alpha and nodded slightly: "You walk ahead. The sun's too harsh."

This statement wasn't sincere, but at least he was willing to offer an excuse. Jue Ning agreed readily.

Meng Shijiu: "Go."

Meng Shijiu's voice came from right behind him. Jue Ning rarely had moments where he exposed his back to someone else. Instinctively, his shoulders tensed and his eyes narrowed, yet within that tension, a feeling of satisfaction welled up.

"Xiao Jiu." Jue Ning spoke from ahead.

His voice always called to mind something cold. This coldness differed from Meng Shijiu's crisp chill, like a stream or spring snow; it was a persistent damp chill, like a snake sliding over wet moss—

"You won't vanish again like last time, will you?"

—He was referring to the last time, when Meng Shijiu first arrived in this unfamiliar world, at the Chris Coast, and used his ability to leave.

The silver-haired Alpha behind him seemed completely unfazed by this dangerous tone.

—He even remarked calmly: "Good idea."

Then, there was silence behind him.

As if anticipating it, Jue Ning turned slowly—

The wind swept over the empty ground; not a shadow was left, as if no one had ever been there.

The person was gone.

Jue Ning looked down at the scar on his index finger, his thumb slowly rubbing the pale old scar, as if revisiting some secret pain.

His terminal rang.

He didn't answer. Soon, a man wearing a black mask emerged from the alley and approached Jue Ning: "He headed east. Should we have people seal the roads..."

Jue Ning: "No need."

Meng Shijiu had no interest in playing a game of hunter and prey with him.

Jue Ning, however, was particularly fond of games where the prey walks into the trap on its own.

...

That's what he said, but when Jue Ning returned to Chris and waited by the sea for a long time, only to find that Meng Shijiu seemed to have forgotten him—not replying to messages, no sign of movement—he still wondered if Meng Shijiu would even come back.

Pondering so meticulously what another person was thinking was truly not his style.

The tide rose and fell, the daylight shifting from blazing white to dusky yellow.

The round sun was about to meet the horizon.

After Jue Ning first met Meng Shijiu, his visits to the seaside gradually became fewer.

Because he realized he was no longer just looking at the sea; he began to think of a specific person.

When the sound of the tide surged, he would remember that silver hair clinging to the person's neck. When the sunset sank, he would recall those fleeting golden shards of light in those jade-green lakes.

If this continues, you won't be able to see the sunset by the sea anymore.

Didn't you want to see it?

Jue Ning gazed at the seaside.

When Meng Shijiu wasn't there, his expression was a nearly solidified coldness. Stripped of its oppressive aura, this face's superior bone structure instead revealed a kind of cruelly perfect beauty.

The sea breeze swept past his sharp features, tousling his hair, yet it couldn't disperse the chill frozen between his brows.

Suddenly, he let out a derisive laugh. The sea breeze lifted the hem of his clothes, like some silent mockery.

—

Whale Moon's Shuyin Hall.

The dome opened wide, and daylight poured down like a divine decree.

Ancient music reverberated within the hall. The beam of light descending from the dome was like the fingertip of a deity, diffusing a hazy glow in the air, making it unclear whether it was sky or light.

Dark red rose petals drifted down from the opening in the dome, fluttering like butterflies within the light beam.

A flock of snow-white pigeons took flight, skimming past this nearly sacred rain of flowers. The leading one caught a rose petal in mid-air, folded its wings, and landed in the palm of the silver-haired Alpha.

The silver-haired Alpha stood at the boundary between light and shadow. His posture wasn't as languid as usual, revealing another, gentler temperament. He opened his palm, and the white pigeon released its beak, letting the petal fall lightly into his hand.

Dark red against deathly pale skin, like the freshest of sacrifices.

Meng Shijiu sensed something and turned, looking at the man who had appeared behind him at some point. He paused briefly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to intrude."

The man wore the black robes of a priest, a glimpse of pale skin at the collar, his face obscured.

He stood in the shadows, making no sound.

The man gave a slight shake of his head. After the white doves flew out of the hall, he bowed slightly to Meng Shijiu from the shadows, appearing very solemn. "Fate has brought you here."

Meng Shijiu: "..."

"Actually, a child just asked me for directions, saying you were having some kind of festival. The moment I got here," Meng Shijiu pointed at the door, "they vanished and the door shut."

The man said nothing, only bowed respectfully toward him again from a distance.

Meng Shijiu's hand, still raised in the air, stiffened slightly. "That's not..."

Meng Shijiu lifted his face. The flurry of petals drifting from the dome fell into his light-colored eyes, as if they held a lavish blizzard of crimson snow.

A slow, grand melody flowed solemnly through the hall. Meng Shijiu felt a headache coming on. "How about we put a pause on these ceremonies? The tourists aren't even here yet, are they?"

The man seemed somewhat puzzled. "Why? You have been chosen; you are the destined one. The roses fall for you, the hymns are played for you. This hall has waited a millennium; it needs no other witnesses."

Meng Shijiu: "..."

The silver-haired Alpha withdrew his hand. At his feet lay a pile of overlapping rose petals, leaving him nowhere to step.

He muttered, almost to himself, "See should learn from you. This whole setup is perfect for tricking and abducting a kind-hearted little soul like me..."

By the time Meng Shijiu turned around, the man had already vanished.

The main door, which had been shut tight, was now open.

He was free to go.

Meng Shijiu glanced back again. The rose petals drifting from the dome hadn't stopped.

He didn't leave.

Tourists began to file in through the main door, their faces changing when they saw Meng Shijiu.

Meng Shijiu watched their varied expressions.

Astonished, admiring, puzzled, lost.

Some frowned, some stared wide-eyed, some held their breath.

It was like watching an art-house film fond of close-ups.

It was rare for Meng Shijiu to gaze at others like this.

Among these faces with their shifting expressions, a familiar face suddenly appeared.

He still seemed as composed as ever. As he walked slowly toward Meng Shijiu, Meng Shijiu finally saw something in his demeanor that was different from usual—

It was resignation.

Meng Shijiu frowned.

He hadn't done anything. Where did Jue Ning's resignation come from?

The gray-haired Alpha stopped before him, his voice like a sigh:

"We're going to miss the sunset."

Meng Shijiu shook his head.

He averted his face and raised his hand, letting the light from the dome and the falling roses land together in his palm, his voice light as a feather. "I am beneath the sunset right now."

Jue Ning watched him quietly for a moment.

In the hazy glow, the silver-haired Alpha's figure seemed almost translucent. The swirling rose petals landed on his shoulders and hair, then slipped away lightly—except for the one in his palm.

If not for those eyes, so calm and peaceful, as if containing boundless energy, he might truly have thought Meng Shijiu was merely a dream.

He gently raised his hand, placing it over Meng Shijiu's palm, pressing down on that rose petal. "Then, may I join you?"

Meng Shijiu gave a slightly exasperated tug at his lip, then nodded indifferently, magnanimously pulling Jue Ning into the light with him.

Meng Shijiu had seen Jue Ning's moment of resignation clearly, but he had also misread it.

He thought Jue Ning's resignation meant letting go, but Jue Ning's resignation was like a snake, coiling around that hand, refusing to let it break free.

Meng Shijiu couldn't shake it off, couldn't even be bothered to curse. "No more pretending?"

Jue Ning slowly loosened his grip, but his fingertips, like a serpent's tongue, glided over the bones of Meng Shijiu's wrist, circling maliciously over a prominent joint. "I was just afraid little Jiu would run off again."

Meng Shijiu lowered his gaze, seeing the crushed rose petal stuck to his palm, its juices staining his cool, pale skin. Jue Ning stared at it for several seconds, his gaze so blatant it seemed he might lick away the mess.

Meng Shijiu quickly withdrew his hand, then pressed his fingertips against the spot below Jue Ning's collarbone. "Jue Ning."

But Jue Ning, as if unable to bear it, lowered his head and, like drinking poison to quench thirst, took a deep, desperate sniff at his palm.

—

By the time they reached Chris, not a trace of the sunset remained on the horizon.

The sea beyond was a pitch-black expanse, as if nothing existed.

The lights from the shore cast onto the water, cut into a silvery, winding line by the waves.

Meng Shijiu first sat down on the sand without a care, then glanced at the impeccably dressed, ramrod-straight gray-haired Alpha beside him and couldn't help but chuckle.

Jue Ning raised an eyebrow and sat down next to him.

The sound of the waves was close.

Night could devour a person's clarity of mind, yet also grant a lucidity and authenticity absent during the day.

Jue Ning: "Like the sea?"

Meng Shijiu: "My god."

Meng Shijiu: "Who wouldn't?"

Jue Ning: "What don't you like?"

Meng Shijiu: ?

Meng Shijiu: "Were you actually paying attention to what I was saying?"

Meng Shijiu grew suspicious, "You weren't staring at me again, were you?"

He suddenly turned his head and leaned in close.

It wasn't really necessary—there were lights on the shore, and an Alpha's night vision was excellent—but he leaned in anyway, bringing with him a cool, crisp scent.

The night was Jue Ning's element. Meng Shijiu couldn't even perceive the intense emotions swirling in those dark eyes.

Unable to read him, Meng Shijiu slumped back, bored. "I said, who wouldn't like the sea?"

Jue Ning paused, then repeated, "Hmm? Who wouldn't like you?"

Meng Shijiu: ?

Meng Shijiu: "Get lost."

The gray-haired Alpha feigned a tone of helpless indulgence. "Alright, fine then."

Jue Ning said slowly, "It just means everyone is bound to like Xiao Jiu."

Meng Shijiu: "You get lost, too."