Chapter 1208: Love

“Hm...yeah...”

Early in the morning, a string of lewd moans woke Zhang Wei.

Not having a good night’s sleep made him irritable. He rolled to his side and snapped at the lower bunk, “What’s wrong with you?! Watching porn this early?”

“The guy next door gave me a copy. Said it was Miss XX’s latest work.” His roommate sat before his laptop. “It’s exciting. Wanna watch together?”

“Fuck off!” Zhang Wei grabbed a pair of headphones and tossed them to him. “Put these on! Don’t bother my sleep!”

The sounds soon quieted. His roommate hadn’t put on the headphones, but had instead shut the video. He said with envy, “Our dear head of the room stayed out again. Must have gone to the hotel to ‘do math’ with his girlfriend.”

“When do you think we’ll get a girlfriend, Zhang Wei? I don’t want to spend my life watching porn to sooth my lonely soul.”

“Tsk!” Zhang Wei rolled back and insisted, “I can get a girlfriend any time if I want to. I’m only staying single because I pity you.”

“Wow, I’m moved!” His roommate grinned and didn’t expose him. “That’s a promise then! We’re walking this path together. Whoever got a girlfriend first would be a traitor!”

...

“I’ve kept you waiting, haven’t I?”

Zhang Wei looked up in surprise to find himself in a dim flat. Hazy light spilled out of the bathroom. Chen Ying opened the door, holding the towel wrapped around her body while drying the damp tips of her hair with another towel. She smiled at him.

Zhang Wei’s heart raced. His breathing quickened, and his palms became damp with sweat.

Chen Ying went up to him, tossing the towel she had used to dry her hair to him. It smelled of her shampoo.

Zhang Wei wanted to catch it, but he couldn’t lift his hand. The towel draped over his face and slowly slid down.

Chen Ying chuckled. With a suggestive expression, she slowly leaned over to caress his cheek with a hand.

“Feeling lonely?”

“Seeking pleasure?”

“I can do that.”

Zhang Wei opened his mouth, but no words formed.

Chen Ying pulled him into her arms.

It felt like getting electrocuted. His mind trembled, and his rationality quickly crumbled. In a haze, he fell into a tender sanctuary.

Chen Ying's soft breaths tickled his ear. Her occasional whispers ignited his nerves. Soon, her face blurred. Zhang Wei tried to blink his eyes clear, but then the face morphed into Zhou Jing’s. Her eyes were alluring, her smile seductive.

“Lonely?”

“Seeking pleasure?”

“I can do that.”

Then Zhou Jing’s face was gone, too. Zhang Wei felt wrapped in a warm blanket of energy. He felt light, as if he was melting into energy form as well to intertwine with the warmth and become one with it.

...

Warm, cozy, safe, heavy, swaying.

Zhang Wei was again a fetus in his mother’s womb. He had never felt so relaxed and comfortable. Everything was a hazy limbo. He wished that it would continue like this until he slowly melted.

Humans were born from nothing, then turned from something into nothing.

Just like other lives, humans continued to procreate and reincarnate.

Procreation was their only sacred calling, and pleasure the reward for a job well done. Nothing else mattered.

Yes, nothing matters.

I’ve completed my mission and gotten rewarded for it. I’ll return to nothing...right?

No!

Life is born from nothing, and will eventually become nothing.

Procreation is part of the essence of life, but it isn’t the purpose of it.

There must be a purpose, but it has to be found.

And I’ve found my answer.

...

Zhang Wei opened his eyes, returning to the present. His body was grappled by the tentacles of blood. They cut into him like razors while more tentacles tried to burrow into his flesh, corroding and melting him from the inside until he became pink bubbles.

“Aghh...”

Zhang Wei cried out in excruciating pain, but he didn’t fall. Enduring the overwhelming torment, he walked toward the source of the blood one step at a time—toward Lust.

“Aghh!”

Lust was screaming, too. She unleashed all her power in an attempt to break out of the realm and kill Zhang Wei.

Zhang Wei stayed on his feet and continued forward.

One.

Two.

Three.

His body withered away and broke down with every step. His flesh, memory, and emotions were getting torn to pieces and blown away. However, Zhang Wei’s stubborn will always pulled them back before they detached from him.

Zhang Wei continued forward.

Four.

Five.

Six.

He stood before Lust’s insidious, madly undulating body, seeing the head trapped in place. He couldn’t lift his hands. Blood and flesh had peeled away, revealing the bones.

Seven.

Finally, he took the last step and leaned in, lowering his head. He pressed his lips to Zhou Jing’s.

Time seemed to stop at that moment.

The blood and energy Lust unleashed crumbled at once. The intangible hands of the Strange Realm molded her back into her first form.

Gone was the terrifying blood demon. In its place was Zhou Jing, being kissed by Zhang Wei.

Zhang Wei’s injuries healed. He recovered enough strength to lift his hands and cup her face gently. The kiss turned loving, passionate, and drawn-out.

The patterns on Zhou Jing’s body faded. The red light in her eyes lost its edge and softened. She slowly closed her eyes, wrapping her arms around him and kissing back.

Ten seconds later, Zhang Wei let go of her and took a step back, looking at her quietly.

Zhou Jing opened her eyes, meeting his gaze.

After a silent moment that seemed like an eternity, a tear ran down Zhou Jing’s cheek.

“Is this love?” Zhou Jing asked.

“This is love,” Zhang Wei said.

Zhou Jing smiled. It could be indifference, or exhaustion. “It’s...nothing much.”

She scattered into red energy particles and dissipated.

Zhang Wei was suddenly lightheaded. The world spun around him, and he collapsed to the ground.

He had a dream.

He dreamed of being the college student falling for and dating Zhou Jing in the game. They ate together, went to the cinema together, and studied in the library together. Sometimes, they would miss the curfew. Sometimes, they would spend the nights at a hotel.

They were close. Their circle of friends quickly mingled.

The group of young people hung out. They went to internet cafes and tabletop game bars. They went camping at camping sites. They traveled to nearby cities. They went to the beach.

Soon, Zhang Wei and Zhou Jing graduated and rented a small flat. They went around applying for jobs and had interviews. They found work with okay conditions.

On a winter night, they rescued a stray cat about to freeze to death after work. In a moment of weakness, they took the cat to a pet shop for its shots, and thus they had a cat together.

The chilling wind whistled outside the apartment building, while the warm light inside created a small sanctuary where they had hotpot together, the cat curling into a ball and snoring softly on the blanket of the warm table.

They planned for their future while putting food into the boiling broth.

Zhang Wei believed they should buy a house first. With their parents’ support, they should be able to afford the down payment of a house in the suburbs. Zhou Jing disagreed. She didn’t want to live with a mortgage, and it would be too tiring to commute to work from the suburbs. She would have to leave home early and return home late. Much of her time would be wasted in the subway.

They couldn’t reach an agreement, so they talked about something else, about a more distant future.

Zhang Wei wanted a girl, and Zhou Jing wanted a boy. They disagreed again. This time, Zhang Wei compromised and said, “I’m fine with either a boy or a girl. As long as it’s my kid.”

They laughed, shocking the cat awake.

That was where the dream ended.

Zhang Wei slowly opened his eyes to find himself lying on the cold surface of the bridge. White Dew knelt by his side, having just given him an adrenaline shot and a dose of Medicine C.

She helped him up. Zhang Wei noticed then that Vermilion Bird and Raven Shark were lying on the side. Vermilion Bird had gotten into a coma, while Raven Shark was only out cold temporarily. He would soon wake up.

“Lust?” Zhang Wei asked weakly.

White Dew seemed tired, too. “She suddenly went berserk, and the realm was going to crumble. Raven Shark and I got spat out first. When the realm went down, Vermilion Bird and you were the only ones left. Lust’s gone. I can’t sense Lust. Must have died.”

Zhang Wei stiffened.

“How did you kill it?” White Dew asked.

Lust died. They won without sacrifice. He should’ve been happy, should’ve rejoiced in their victory. But Zhang Wei’s heart was filled with a sense of loss and melancholy.

“I don’t know...” He looked to the side at the Li River below. Under the white moon, the grey water flowed into the edge of the pale universe like a stream of combined threads of life.

“Maybe...with love.”