Yu Sheng finally realized where the issue lay.
The conversation didn’t continue for the time being. Zhan Xiaotian busied himself nearby, and soon, he deftly cut out two pieces of thick animal hides. Though they hadn’t been dried and still carried a bit of a bloody smell, the hides were intact. Underneath, he laid down straw and dirt. Ignoring the scent, they would still do as passable bedding.
Zhan Xiaotian turned to him and motioned with a look, signaling that he should feel free to lie down.
The two temporary straw beds were placed side by side. Yu Sheng still looked like he had something to say. Sitting down, he touched the hide. It still retained a faint warmth, softer and much more comfortable than stone or dirt.
But before he could find the right words, Zhan Xiaotian suddenly grabbed his wrist.
We’re the same kind, aren’t we?
The same kind?
This sudden and contextless question made Yu Sheng tilt his head in confusion.
Zhan Xiaotian continued writing:
You’re like me, without a soul, different from those mortals who turn into ghosts after they die.
He didn’t expect to be found out so soon…
Yu Sheng knew what Zhan Xiaotian said was true. In order to split into three, he indeed looked similar to the three protagonists.
But he was just a low-budget version. He didn’t have their cheat-like abilities, and he was constantly affected by side effects. To call them the same kind was a bit far-fetched.
However, denying it now didn’t feel right either. Maybe Zhan Xiaotian was lonely and needed a similar kind of person to talk to—someone he could share his thoughts with?
Yu Sheng blinked and thought back. From the beginning, Zhan Xiaotian had been staring at him. Later, when Zhan Xiaotian was injured and healed quickly, he didn’t seem to hide this secret from Yu Sheng. Was it because he thought they were the same?
In Yu Sheng’s view, Zhan Xiaotian wasn’t stupid. He would understand how important it was to keep the secret of his immortality. If the wrong people found out, it would bring endless trouble.
After thinking for a moment, Yu Sheng wrote on the cloth in reply:
But I don’t heal as quickly as you do
Zhan Xiaotian paused, slightly frowning.
Yu Sheng had no injuries to prove his point, so he stretched out his finger, showing a small red spot he’d accidentally scraped while picking at his hand absentmindedly.
The tiny red spot looked like it was from a scrape. It wasn’t bleeding, just slightly raw and red. It didn’t hurt, but it was satisfying to poke at.
Zhan Xiaotian took his hand, brought it closer, and stared at it for a while. After confirming it truly hadn’t healed, he seemed mildly surprised and believed him.
Just as Yu Sheng was about to pull his hand back, Zhan Xiaotian held onto it again, flipping it over to examine his palm. He seemed to find it amusing, occasionally comparing it to his own hand, tracing the lines on Yu Sheng’s palm, or lightly pinching the pads of his fingers.
Then, without any warning, Zhan Xiaotian brought Yu Sheng’s finger—red spot and all—into his mouth and lightly licked it.
Yu Sheng: …!!
Yu Sheng sharply inhaled, yanking his hand back as if scalded. That ticklish sensation rushed straight up to his face, leaving it hot and unbearably irritating.
Was he part dog or something?!
Zhan Xiaotian tilted his head, looking at him with a puzzled expression.
An open wound like this, licking it will help it heal faster.
Alright, so he was part dog after all.
Yu Sheng figured that since Xiaotian was so pure, he couldn’t let his own thoughts stray into murky waters. He forced himself to calm down and pretended like nothing had happened.
Zhan Xiaotian mumbled something else, but Yu Sheng couldn’t make out what he was saying by reading his lips. He pushed the cloth and pen toward him with his finger.
Truth be told, Yu Sheng was hesitant. If the two of them talked too much or too deeply right now, the character dynamics in the future storyline might crumble even more disastrously.
At the same time, though, he couldn’t help but be intensely worried about Zhan Xiaotian’s current state, clawing at his heart to know what had happened to him and why.
Some things were just like that. When they weren’t right in front of you, it was easy to remain calm, objective, and mindful of the bigger picture. But once they were there, placed directly before you, it became far harder to keep the detached mindset of an outsider than you’d imagined.
Just like when he’d first picked up Xiaotian, fully aware that he was destined for a rough life, filled with hardships and face-slapping cannon fodder villains, Yu Sheng knew Xiaotian had his own script to follow. Yet, he couldn’t help getting caught up in the act, constantly forgetting that he was merely an NPC responsible for delivering cheat powers.
Ah… Could it be that his inability to maintain the right attitude was the reason the plot ended up so off-track?
Yu Sheng tried tapping into the system again. At a time like this, it was the only thing that could give him some peace of mind.
The system’s voice echoed directly in his mind, now the only sound he could hear. Unfortunately, the voice wasn’t pleasant—it was full of static and interference. Helpless, Yu Sheng muted the audio entirely and focused on deciphering the mosaic-like text.
After several exchanges, he finally confirmed two things:
First, his time-traveling back to the past wouldn’t result in punishment regarding his mission. It was classified as a system bug, so he didn’t need to worry about penalties or deductions.
Second, he was now free to interact with the protagonist—no problem there.
Yu Sheng pressed further on the second point. Why was it okay now?
The system explained that the character dynamics and storyline were already irreparably broken. It was impossible to calculate a scenario where the worldline or protagonist characterization could get any worse, so he might as well “fight poison with poison.”
Yu Sheng: …
Oh.
So, basically, it was like treating a dead horse as if it were still alive.
Still… it counted as good news.
While Yu Sheng was lost in thought, Zhan Xiaotian, during his moment of distraction, seemingly found a large piece of paper and a few brushes with an inkstone, and started scribbling words.
Yu Sheng was momentarily stunned. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that the back of the paper was actually filled with scriptures.
Probably something he found in a ruined temple... Using these was much more convenient than writing on some scrap cloth with charcoal.
He leaned over to take a closer look and realized that Zhan Xiaotian’s handwriting was quite beautiful. Every stroke was sharp and carried a rugged strength.
Perhaps, thinking of Yu Sheng as a "kindred spirit," Zhan Xiaotian was writing about past events, almost as if they were chatting, jotting down some trivial details.
This included why he lived in the deep mountains and forests, why he didn’t have any family, and so on.
It turned out that this Zhan Xiaotian in front of him had once interacted with others. He had good talent, was strong, and was not afraid of fatigue or pain, making it easy for him to earn money.
He said that he didn’t remember his past, didn’t know how many years he had lived, and didn’t have parents or a family, nor any friends. He was just born this way, and he didn’t understand why other lives were so easily injured or killed.
He didn’t think there was anything wrong with him, but those who discovered his physical condition would always change their attitude towards him. He hated that, and over time, he grew tired of it. So, he simply secluded himself in the deep mountains and forests to enjoy peace and quiet.
Yu Sheng grabbed another piece of paper. It seemed there was a lot of waste paper here. Although one side had scriptures, it appeared to have been handwritten by the previous residents, the cultivators here, and wasn’t meant for distribution, so it wasn’t wasteful.
He told Zhan Xiaotian that having such a constitution was not a bad thing.
After thinking for a moment, he added another sentence at the end:
“If you had died because of those three spirit beasts back then, I would never have been able to live peacefully for the rest of my life.”
Zhan Xiaotian stopped writing and looked up at him.
“I don’t understand.”
Zhan Xiaotian continued writing.
“Do you also think I’m just a rock?”
“A rock? Why would I think that?”
Zhan Xiaotian told him that there had been someone who had discovered his secret but didn’t envy or hate him, and hadn’t schemed against him. That person had still treated him the same. However, not long after, that person grew distant.
Because that person thought he had no soul.
He brought up what was said when he was being evaluated and suddenly secluded himself in such a deep mountain forest, avoiding people. It seemed that person had been the trigger.
He was told: "Because you don’t die, you have no reverence for life."
He was also told: "Someone like you is not human, you’re no different from a stone."
He also said to Zhan Xiaotian, "Stones cannot truly understand life and death, or have emotions."
Yu Sheng was momentarily at a loss for words.
Everything seemed logical, and Zhan Xiaotian hadn’t done anything wrong. But because of this, to fear him and distance himself didn’t seem something to blame others for.
"But you saved me."
Yu Sheng mentioned the spirit beasts but did not reveal that he was also capable of defeating them.
Zhan Xiaotian told him that, compared to saving people, he had killed many people. To him, there wasn’t much of a difference between the two.
He knew that when people died, they would turn into ghosts and go to another place, and he knew that most people didn’t want to become ghosts, that they clung to the mortal world.
"I don’t want to be a stone anymore."
Not wanting to be a stone, not wanting to be an outcast in a crowd, and unable to understand why death was scary, or understand all the emotions—joy, anger, sadness, and happiness.
The system said that these three main characters had existed since the world split into three realms, and it seemed they had lived for many years.
But even so, the Zhan Xiaotian in front of him didn’t seem like someone who had lived a long time. He looked at the plants, the stones, the flying birds, the running beasts, the living people, and the dead people, all with the same gaze. Even when he looked at Yu Sheng, there was no difference in his eyes.
He wasn’t afraid of death, not afraid of being injured or bleeding, and didn’t care about himself the same way.
Just like the god in the records, who walked the mortal world—clearly the ruler of the world, but when descending to the human realm, only received fear from people and was called the coldest, most heartless god.
The god didn’t want to be like that, so in order to understand everything better and experience it all, he split himself into three parts, losing his memory of being a god, wandering confusedly through the three realms, facing all kinds of strange tribulations.
Yu Sheng felt a softness in his heart. He raised his hand and touched Zhan Xiaotian’s head.
The latter looked at him, seemingly still not having found the answer he was looking for. He yawned and ended the conversation, then went back to bed to sleep.
Yu Sheng had many concerns and couldn’t sleep, so he sat by the side, meditating with his eyes closed until midnight.
When he opened his eyes, he saw that Zhan Xiaotian had woken up at some point and was lying sideways, looking at him. He didn’t know how long he had been staring, but when he saw Yu Sheng look back, he reached out, wrapped his arm around his waist, and pulled him backward to lie down.
Zhan Xiaotian looked down at him. Suddenly, he supported himself with his arm, trapping Yu Sheng beneath him. His lips slowly parted, and he said something.
Yu Sheng: ...?
He wanted to ask, "What did you say?" but Zhan Xiaotian suddenly became stubborn, refusing to write. He kept repeating the same mouth movements over and over. When Yu Sheng got so curious that he became anxious, Zhan Xiaotian finally traced his finger on Yu Sheng’s chest, writing word by word.
"Help... me... please..."
After what felt like the nth time, Yu Sheng finally recognized the three words. He cleared his throat, speaking in the lowest and quietest voice, worried his voice would sound strange, but cautiously repeating the words.
Zhan Xiaotian nodded, smiled in satisfaction, and then continued to point at himself and then at Yu Sheng.
"Give... you..."
"Give... me? Huh???"
What on earth did Zhan Xiaotian want to do?!