Chapter 113 Wait for Me to Return

Chapter 113: Wait for Me to Return

The sky, which had been overcast for so long, finally let the snow fall.

It leaked through the gaps in the clouds, blanketing everything—swirling and tumbling, as if someone high above the heavens had overturned something, pouring down the chill of an entire winter.

As Xiao Yan fell, his weight pulled Liu Qingci half a step forward, and he knelt on the bluestone slabs.

Liu Qingci wanted to cover the wound, but he didn’t know where to press.

His hands hung in the air, trembling, unsure where to place them.

"The imperial physician…" he said hoarsely.

As if it suddenly dawned on him, he turned and shouted over his shoulder, "Someone! Call the imperial physician!"

Liu Qingci’s voice rent through the falling snow.

On the empty palace path, only his own echo echoed off the walls, then was swallowed up by the snow.

No one came.

No one would come.

Liu Qingci remembered: the entire palace was under Xiao Jing’s control, let alone the Imperial Medical Bureau.

Xiao Jing wanted Xiao Yan dead—who would dare to save him?

Liu Qingci’s aching eyes finally welled up with tears, his voice choked, nearly breaking.

"Xiao Yan… don’t die…"

"I… I still have so many things I haven’t asked you…"

"I still have so much I want to tell you…"

The tears on Liu Qingci’s face were scalding now, so hot they seemed as if they could melt all the snow in the sky.

But the body in his arms grew colder and colder.

As cold as if the snow that fell on him would never melt.

"Don’t die…" Liu Qingci sobbed, his words breaking off. "Don’t die… I’ll take you out of the palace, find a doctor… we’ll find a doctor… just hang on a little longer."

His tears fell on Xiao Yan’s face—on his brow bone, on his eyelids, on the corner of his lips.

They mixed with the snow, indistinguishable from one another.

Xiao Yan’s perception was blocked; he couldn’t even feel the warmth of Liu Qingci’s tears.

He could only watch as teardrops hit his face one by one.

Each one stabbed at his heart, causing a fierce ache.

Liu Qingci held Xiao Yan tighter, as if trying to press him into his very bones, as if that might keep him here.

Xiao Yan reached out and tugged at Liu Qingci’s sleeve.

Liu Qingci froze completely, then leaned down until his forehead nearly touched Xiao Yan’s.

"Xiao Yan… Xiao Yan… can you still hear me?"

Xiao Yan tried to speak, but when he opened his mouth, no sound came out.

Seeing his blood-soaked robe lapel, he realized he had just coughed up blood.

He watched Liu Qingci’s tears flow even more fiercely.

After he spat the blood, he found he was able to speak.

"Don’t cry…"

Liu Qingci shuddered and leaned even closer.

"Xiao Yan… Xiao Yan!"

Xiao Yan looked at the man in front of him, wanting to look at him a few more times.

But the scene before him began to blur.

He felt his consciousness being drawn away, bit by bit—starting from his limbs, spreading slowly to his torso, and finally converging at the crown of his head.

It was a strange, indescribable feeling of drifting away.

As if he were standing on one bank of a long river, watching Liu Qingci on the opposite shore, while the river was growing wider and wider.

The water flowed silently, carrying him away, pushing him further.

He knew that his mission was complete—that he was about to leave this world behind.

Xiao Yan’s eyelids became heavy.

He used every ounce of strength to keep his eyes wide open.

I can’t close them, he thought.

Liu Qingci’s face drifted in and out of his sight, now clear, now blurred.

He saw the ceaseless tears in those eyes, saw the pale face smeared with blood.

Just as he tried to speak, his mouth opened, and blood welled up again.

He forced it down his throat.

"Qingci…"

His voice was so hoarse it was almost inaudible.

Liu Qingci nodded frantically, pressing his ear against Xiao Yan’s lips.

"I’m here! I’m here! Speak!"

Xiao Yan looked at the profile so near him.

There was so much he wanted to say—so much that he didn’t know where to start.

Consciousness was receding like the tide, sweeping away every grain of sand from the beach.

Xiao Yan mustered his last ounce of strength and spoke.

"I..."

He wanted to say that he wasn't really from this world.

That he came from a really, really faraway place.

That meeting you was the luckiest thing in his life.

But there wasn't any time.

Darkness was slowly closing in from the edges of his vision, leaving only a small patch of light in the center.

In that patch of light was Liu Qingci's face.

He wished he had so much more time to tell Liu Qingci all this, slowly.

He mustered all his strength and spoke as clearly as he could, making sure Liu Qingci heard every word.

Xiao Yan said, "Wait for me."

Liu Qingci stood frozen.

Tears gathered in his eyes, not falling.

Xiao Yan looked at his dazed expression.

He tried to smile one last time, but darkness had already swallowed his sight.

The last thing he saw was Liu Qingci's eyes, suddenly wide with shock.

Then everything was silent.

Only the snow fell, silently.

Falling onto that red stain between them that would never melt away.

Snow covered the hems of their robes, the bloodstains on the ground, and the arrow tip.

From a distance, they looked like two snowmen nestled together.

——

"Warning! Warning! OOC Warning!!!"

"Warning! Warning! OOC Warning!!!"

"Warning! Warning! OOC Warning!!!"

As Xiao Yan's consciousness returned, the first thing he heard was that familiar, piercing buzz.

The alarm was still going, not even thirty seconds in.

Then came Little K's piercing shriek:

"Ahhh—Host! What are you doing?! Why would you say that?!"

Xiao Yan opened his eyes to a blank expanse of white.

No snow, no palace path, no Liu Qingci's face, no arrow tip protruding from his chest.

Just endless white, as if someone had gathered all that heavy snow from before and packed it into this space.

He looked down at himself.

His chest was unmarked—no blood, no arrow. That dark robe was as pristine as ever, not a single wrinkle in sight.

"Host!!!"

Little K's voice was nearly piercing his eardrums.

That glowing orb shot out of the void, bouncing around him frantically, its halo glowing red with panic like a meteor on fire.

"Do you have any idea what you just did and said?!"

"Wait for me to come back?"

"You—a person who died in that world—telling someone alive to 'wait for me to come back'?!"

"This OOC warning is totally deserved!!!"

Xiao Yan stood perfectly still.

He watched the glowing orb spinning anxiously, his expression as deep and still as calm water.

Little K howled, "Aaaaaah—"