Free Web NovelWith the stray beasts’ howls gone, things around the stone pillars gradually fell quiet again.
Under the still moonlight, amid snow stained red with blood, two figures seemed to be facing each other off. frёeωebɳovel.com
Wen Yuzhi watched the unfamiliar man before him warily.
He held the dagger in his hand. His lips were pressed together, his face expressionless, but traces of the killing intent that had not yet fully faded still lingered in those pale golden eyes, making them burn bright and fierce.
When he saw the man moving closer, Wen Yuzhi tilted his head slightly. His somewhat long silver hair slipped down from behind his ear and fell across the cheek that, at some point, had been splashed with a streak of blood.
“Who are you?”
He asked again.
As he spoke, Wen Yuzhi narrowed his eyes little by little. That cautious, careful look made him seem exactly like a feline animal with its guard fully raised.
The instincts Xi Heyan had honed on the battlefield made him extremely sensitive to killing intent.
And when those beautiful pale golden eyes fixed on him, when the cold look in the boy’s eyes fell on him, even though Xi Heyan knew that expression was not truly aimed at him, a tremor still passed through him before he could stop it.
It made him lose focus for just a moment.
But very quickly, Xi Heyan forced down that strange feeling.
And in the instant he chose to look away, he finally came back to himself from those jewel-bright eyes and truly noticed the other boy’s face.
The silver-haired, golden-eyed boy had an exquisitely delicate face. He looked like a doll placed in a display window, pale and aloof, beautiful and expensive.
Xi Heyan looked at Wen Yuzhi’s face, and yet a strange sense of familiarity rose in him almost instinctively.
He hesitated, then said, “You...”
Before he could finish, the howls of stray beasts rang out once more.
Clearly, the blood scent from the beasts Wen Yuzhi had killed had drawn even more of their kind.
This was obviously not a good time to talk, and this place was no longer safe.
“Come with me.”
Xi Heyan made the decision at once and immediately reached out to grab Wen Yuzhi’s hand.
Wen Yuzhi had been on guard against this unfamiliar man from the beginning. When Xi Heyan reached for him, his first instinct was to dodge.
But in the instant of contact, Wen Yuzhi did not sense any malice from him at all.
Instead, he caught a faint scent from him, something slightly bitter, like bitter orange.
And that brief moment of distraction made him miss the chance to avoid him.
By the time Wen Yuzhi reacted, he had already been dragged along and was running with him.
The howls of the stray beasts were getting closer and closer.
Wen Yuzhi could almost hear their coarse breathing at his ear by now.
Worse, his strength was almost completely gone.
His pale face was flushed red from the exertion, and sweat beading on his forehead had stuck strands of silver hair to his skin.
Wen Yuzhi could feel himself slowing down more and more.
As they passed a pile of broken stones, he stumbled and nearly fell to the ground.
Just as he was about to go down, a pair of hands reached out and steadied him with calm, solid strength.
And that movement happened to pull Wen Yuzhi fully into the other man’s broad chest.
“Sorry.”
The man’s low apology came from above his head.
Then, in the next instant, Wen Yuzhi suddenly felt his body leave the ground.
He had been picked up.
Xi Heyan’s hands were very steady. Even with the added weight of another person, his speed did not slow in the slightest.
Besides...
Wen Yuzhi weighed far less than he had expected.
Carrying him was no trouble at all.
It was just that having someone suddenly this close to him was not something Xi Heyan was used to.
A soft touch rested against his shoulder.
It was the boy’s cheek.
Xi Heyan still clearly remembered the way Wen Yuzhi had glared at him a moment ago, eyes wide, pale soft cheeks puffed ever so slightly, trying to look fierce, yet because of that lingering childishness, only seeming oddly adorable instead.
And now those slightly baby-fat cheeks were pressed against his shoulder, while a few messy strands of silver hair had slipped into Xi Heyan’s collar and brushed the skin of his neck, bringing with them a faint ticklish itch.
Xi Heyan frowned. But since they were still in the middle of shaking off the stray beasts, he had no hand free to do anything about it and could only force himself to ignore the sensation.
Wen Yuzhi was not entirely comfortable either.
Mansendis had carried him before. Mond had carried him before. Alvin had too. You could say that most of the Saint Clan in the palace had held him at one time or another.
But in Wen Yuzhi’s mind, the Saint Clan were his family, and being held by family felt perfectly natural. There was nothing strange about it.
This time, though, it was an unfamiliar man holding him.
Wen Yuzhi had never been this close to a stranger before.
Leaning in the man’s arms, all he could see from this angle was the other’s—
Back when he had still been with the Wen family, Wen Yuzhi had been taught that as an Omega man, especially around Alphas, he should keep his distance.
And the man beside him felt very much like an Alpha to Wen Yuzhi. Everything about him carried an aggressive, forceful presence.
The moment Wen Yuzhi was lifted into his arms, all he could smell was that faintly bitter scent coming off the man.
Wen Yuzhi could not really say he liked it.
But he could not say he disliked it, either.
It just felt unfamiliar.
If Mond had been here, he would have patiently explained to {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} the still-innocent little highness that the discomfort Wen Yuzhi felt came from the Salilaino bloodline’s strong territorial instinct.
They were like lone wolves, one by one, fiercely possessive of their territory. The moment an outsider intruded, it was immediately treated as provocation.
Wen Yuzhi was still young and still hazy about many things, but the blood flowing through him was the golden bloodline of Salilaino after all. Deep in his subconscious, he carried that same pride.
He, too, would find it irritating when his territory was invaded by someone else’s scent.
But just like Xi Heyan—
Wen Yuzhi also felt that now was not the time to dwell on that. Escaping the stray beasts behind them mattered more.
Perhaps because he no longer had to match Wen Yuzhi’s pace, Xi Heyan, though now carrying someone in his arms, was somehow able to move even faster.
Of course, he could have just dealt with these stray beasts first.
But it was nighttime, and night was when stray beasts were most active. Their sense of smell became exceptionally sharp, and killing one would only draw a steady stream of others.
Rather than getting tangled up in a direct fight with them, it was better to shake them off completely.
Xi Heyan was very familiar with this place.
After weaving through the ruins in a twisting route, he brought Wen Yuzhi back to the cemetery from before.
Only after arriving there did Xi Heyan’s tense body gradually relax.
He set the boy in his arms down.
Wen Yuzhi immediately retreated several steps. His pale golden eyes stayed fixed on Xi Heyan without blinking, the wariness in them not diminished in the slightest.
Xi Heyan did not mind his attitude. He explained, “This place is safe. They can’t come in.”
If there was any place left on all of Blackrock Star that could still keep the stray beasts out, it was probably only this cemetery.
Perhaps because they lived in such a cruel environment where survival was never guaranteed, the people of Blackrock Star held death in deep reverence. In order to prevent the dead from being disturbed, when this cemetery had first been built, defensive installations had been placed underground specifically to protect it from any outside intrusion.
Not even stray beasts could get in.
That was why all of Blackstone City had fallen into ruin, while this place alone had managed to remain intact.
Wen Yuzhi did not know any of that.
He looked half doubtful as the stray beasts chasing them rushed over.
But the moment they tried to step inside, they were blocked by a semi-transparent barrier of light.
The stray beasts tried to destroy the barrier, but no matter what they did, they could not break through it.
In the end, they could only circle outside unwillingly, their scarlet eyes fixed on Wen Yuzhi and Xi Heyan, forced to watch the two humans hide inside a place they could not enter.
Watching those furious, frustrated stray beasts, Wen Yuzhi finally believed what Xi Heyan had just said.
This place really was safe.
He relaxed slightly, though he still kept a distance from Xi Heyan that felt adequately safe.
Neither of them spoke.
All they could hear was the enraged howling of the stray beasts outside, while inside, everything remained quiet.
Wen Yuzhi sat on a stone, recovering his strength, still gripping the dagger tightly in his hand.
Xi Heyan leaned against a tree, his gaze falling on Wen Yuzhi’s face again and again, seemingly by accident.
Only when Wen Yuzhi felt that stare becoming more and more obvious did he finally fail to hold back. A little annoyed, he lifted his eyes and looked straight back.
“May I ask if there’s something you need?”
There was clear displeasure in Wen Yuzhi’s tone.
Being stared at so directly and so obviously would make anyone feel a little offended.
Xi Heyan knew his behavior was rude as well.
It was just that he was genuinely too curious.
Under Wen Yuzhi’s wary gaze, Xi Heyan hesitated, then said, “I think you look a little like a friend of mine. Do you...”
He paused there, but in the end still chose to voice the question that had been sitting in his heart.
“Do you happen to have an older brother?”
“...?”
Wen Yuzhi froze.
He clearly had not expected Xi Heyan to ask something like that.
But...
Wen Yuzhi frowned and said flatly, “I don’t have an older brother.”
His father only had one child. Where would an older brother come from?
Xi Heyan felt puzzled too.
Even though some time had passed, he still remembered that hurried glance from before.
The boy before him might not be completely identical to that person, but he was nine parts—perhaps even ten parts—alike.
The only difference was that the boy in front of him looked younger, his features rounder and more childish, while the other had already begun to show the striking beauty of adolescence.
If their ages had not seemed off, Xi Heyan might really have thought the boy before him was that friend.
They looked too similar.
If the other person were made a few years younger, would he not look exactly like this?
That was why Xi Heyan had asked if Wen Yuzhi had an older brother.
Unfortunately, Wen Yuzhi had given him a firm answer without hesitation.
He did not.
Still, Xi Heyan did not give up. He tested the waters and asked, “Can I know your name? That friend of mine, his name is...”
“...Brother Yan?!”
Xi Heyan was interrupted for the third time.
Chong Fengshuang’s voice rang out from outside, along with the white wolf’s excited howl.
Very quickly, a noisy rush of footsteps came closer too.
The hunting team had found them.
And the stray beasts still circling outside were cut down by the hunting team before they even had time to run.
The crowd parted, revealing Chong Fengxue at the rear.
She had injuries on her body, obviously from a fierce fight with the stray beasts. And aside from her, every member of the hunting team bore wounds of one kind or another.
When Wen Yuzhi and Chong Fengshuang had run into the stray beasts, the others had run into trouble too.
A group of stray beasts several times larger than the usual ones had surrounded them.
By the time they had finally managed to kill those beasts, a sandstorm had scattered everyone.
Chong Fengxue had spent a long time gathering the whole team back together.
And when she counted heads, she found that Wen Yuzhi was nowhere among them.
Fortunately, the white wolf’s sense of smell was sharp. Following the faint scent in the air, it led everyone here.
What Chong Fengxue and Chong Fengshuang had not expected, though...
was to see another extremely familiar face standing beside Wen Yuzhi.
“Brother Yan!”
Chong Fengshuang was the first to run over, full of excitement.
Xi Heyan stared at him for a good while. “You’re Little Shuang?”
“It’s me! When did you come back?” Chong Fengshuang was excited, but also somewhat surprised. More than that, he was worried.
Worried that something must have happened to Xi Heyan out there.
“It’s a long story.”
Xi Heyan clearly had no intention of getting into that topic here.
Chong Fengshuang knew something like that was probably impossible to explain quickly, so he did not press further and instead looked over at Wen Yuzhi.
Wen Yuzhi was currently being harassed by the white wolf.
The clingy giant beast had only been separated from him for a short while, yet it was acting as if it were overwhelmingly excited and relieved.
It kept rubbing its head against Wen Yuzhi’s leg over and over, and no matter how Wen Yuzhi pushed, it would not budge.
Chong Fengxue walked over and, after glancing at the white wolf currently acting spoiled, said, “It was worried about you.”
As she spoke, she also noticed the bloodstains on Wen Yuzhi’s clothes.
“Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine.” Wen Yuzhi shook his head. “This is all stray beast blood.”
“This person... you know him?”
“Xiaoxue, you know him?”
Wen Yuzhi’s voice and Xi Heyan’s rose almost at the same time.
Neither of them realized that Chong Fengxue and Chong Fengshuang were equally curious about how Wen Yuzhi and Xi Heyan had ended up together.
Curious as he was, Chong Fengshuang still stepped forward to explain.
“This is the Brother Yan I mentioned to you before. The clothes I gave you, and the room you’re staying in now, both belonged to Brother Yan. Oh, right! His name is...”
“My name is Xi Heyan.”
Xi Heyan took the initiative to give his name, then looked at Wen Yuzhi and asked, “And he is...?”
Chong Fengshuang immediately answered, “Brother Yan, I forgot to introduce him. This is Wen Yuzhi. Uncle Chong rescued him outside not long ago.”
After saying that, Chong Fengshuang leaned closer and added quietly by Xi Heyan’s ear, “He’s probably some young master from a good family who ran into trouble by accident. Uncle Chong already checked. He’s not one of their people.”
“...”
Xi Heyan fell silent for a moment, then said slowly, his voice slightly hoarse, “I know.” freeωebnovēl.c૦m
He knew even more clearly than Chong Fengshuang did that Wen Yuzhi could not possibly be one of them.
Wen Yuzhi...
Xi Heyan had not expected there to be such a coincidence in this world.
Same face. Same name...
If he still could not figure it out now, then the head on his shoulders had been wasted.
Wen Yuzhi had gone still too.
Xi Heyan...
If he remembered correctly, that was the name of the online friend he had made.
...Could it really be the same person?
Wen Yuzhi turned to look at Xi Heyan.
Just then, Xi Heyan happened to be looking at him too.
The moment their eyes met, every last trace of doubt turned into certainty.
It was him.
