WuxiaWorldEU

CH 76.2

Character ListQiao Zhiya: Half-elf, half-dwarf MC.

Chu Rong: Marshal ML.

Zhuang Yu: A doctor in ML’s army.

Chu Yan: ML’s younger brother. Is the same age as MC.

Chu Huai: ML’s older brother, he’s in politics.

Feng: The Imperial High Advisor.

Jian: Feng, the Imperial High Advisor’s son. Studies History. Now has a forced amnesia.

An Lunn: Feng’s dead boyfriend. Jian’s biological father, the current Emperor’s second younger brother. Advertisement

Chu Rong’s hand was stiff, all the mild concerns on his face disappeared. He looked at the youth deeply, saying, “Qiao Zhiya, you don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

Qiao Zhiya’s courage was instantly dissipated by his sudden cold expression and glare. He tried to suppress the months’ amount of worry and panic, chasing his thoughts and luring him to run away. But the words were already half-formed, stuck on his throat. He neither can run away, nor vomit it out.

“I’m a liar.”

He let go of Chu Rong’s hand, stepped back and leaned against the door, head bowed as his eyes refused to meet Chu Rong’s. He started to babble, as his thoughts began to jumble into this entangled ball of knots. “I have been deceiving you ever since I met you. I am not an Exoplanet Native, I am not even a human! I deliberately misled you to make you think so. In fact, you should think of me as a monster. I wanted to confess to you before the competition, but I was afraid, I was afraid…”

“Chu Rong, I was transported here from a black hole, and I don’t know why this happened. I was clearly separated from my village that time, because I was going to forage for herbs and flowers in a forest, but the next second I remember, I appeared on that mine planet. Sorry, I lied to you and I—”

Suddenly his arm was pulled, yanking his limp body into a familiar embrace. His torrential words stopped abruptly, his fingers trembled, and he murmured, “Chu Rong, why are you …”

‘–Why are you hugging me?’

Chu Rong rubbed his hair, hoping he could offer some comfort as he whispered, “It’s okay, don’t be afraid, it’s me that’s wrong.”

‘Chu Rong is the one that’s wrong? What?’

Qiao Zhiya didn’t expect him to react like this. He was confused, but a faint hope inevitably rose up in his heart. Like a shy touch-me-not, he carefully asked, “…Chu Rong, why don’t you kill me, I am a monster… I came out from a black hole. You…”

“No, you are just Qiao Zhiya.”

Chu Rong interrupted him, bowed his head and kissed the top of his head. He pressed the youths’ head to stop him from tilting his head up, preventing him from seeing his solemn expression. With a calm voice, he said, “The real black hole disappeared ten years ago. It’s gone now, so you can’t come out from it. Don’t think about it, there’s no way I will ever kill you.”

Black holes disappeared ten years ago?

Qiao Zhiya was stunned, the panic in his mind disappeared, but his confusion grew instead. “If there is no black hole, how did I come here? I clearly saw it, an oppressive black void in front of my eyes, sucking me in. ANd it has the same appearance and behavior as the one I saw on the internet. It must be the same. Plus, I… still can’t contact my parents. If I didn’t come out from it, then who brought me here? If it’s not a black hole, if it’s… not… a black hole… then…”

He trailed off, as despair flared after the panic subsided.

The black hole is his only hope of going home. If that thing is not a black hole, what could it be? How can he find his way back? Can he still go home? Can he still find his parents? Can he ever see them again in this life?

A sudden bout of drowsiness struck, his thoughts became dull and slow, and he raised his hand to hold onto Chu Rong’s clothes.

“What on earth is that thing then…” he mumbled. His tight body slowly relaxing, leaning weakly on Chu Rong’s arms, closing his eyes, his voice gradually lowered, “Chu Rong, I want to go home…”

The body in his arms softened, so he quickly dropped everything else to hug Qiao Zhiya, who had fallen asleep. He carried the youth calmly towards the infirmary.

After a detailed inspection, Zhuang Yu frowned anxiously at the test results and commented, “There’s no problem. Theoretically, memory probing will not have such adverse side effects. Plus, I know you take all the precautions before doing so. And giving a soothing agent to Qiao should be fine too…”

“But this problem started more than three months ago.” Chu Rong frowned, guarding Qiao Zhiya, who was still in the medical cabin. His mood was irritable. “His mood has been tense these three months. He was still a nervous wreck, even after the competition finished with his win. At first, I thought his nervousness came from the psychological pressure from the competition, but that shouldn’t be the case. It looks like that my memory probing should be the root of all of this. He thought that he’s a monster, his hometown wasn’t destroyed, his parents were still alive, and he even thought that I would kill him.”

In conclusion, this should be the side-effect of that memory probing – a serious memory disorder, and also a lack of personal sense of security.

Zhuang Yu turned the test result over again, glancing at Chu Rong’s troubled expression from the corner of her eyes. She was hesitant, but still said it regardless: “Then, any test we can do is totally meaningless because nothing can be detected from it. My suggestion is to wait until Qiao wakes up, then you will have a good talk with him. Find out his memory problem’s degree of severity. In addition, you better ask him in detail if he has been exposed to any dangerous things during this time.”

“His situation is too strange now. We must prioritize to soothe his emotions, don’t let him make outrageous conclusions, or else it could affect other aspects of his mental – or even physical health. And those memories you saw before… well… in short, we must handle this with utmost care.”

Talk to Qiao Zhiya again?

Chu Rong turned to look at sleeping Qiao Zhiya, the frown on his face was as clear as day. He slowly clenched his fists, and agreed with Zhuang Yu’s suggestion. “I will talk to him again.”

“It’s best not to stimulate him anymore, Qiao’s state of mind is fragile.” Zhuang Yu reminded him.

Chu Rong didn’t answer. Instead, he got up and took Qiao Zhiya out of the medical cabin.

Inside Qiao Zhiya’s mind, a myriad of scenes flashed by. Then, all of sudden, a yawning nothingness of black hole suddenly appeared in front of him, swallowing all of his being inside it and–

Green eyes opened in panic as Qiao Zhiya startled awake.

“You woke up?”

The top of his head was gently patted. His consciousness gradually returned to him, and he found that he was lying on the bed in his room, surrounded by a familiar warmth and smell. His erratic heartbeat calmed down. He sat up and looked up at Chu Rong who was looking at him. He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but no words came out.

Instead, he was washed away with a sheer feeling of bewilderment.

‘What did I want to say again? I don’t remember…’

There was a flash of warmth inside his magic pool. He couldn’t help raising his hand to support his forehead, then suddenly remembered something. He looked at Chu Rong, words tumbling out from his hesitant lips, “Chu Rong, I am not a human, nor is the Imperial High Advisor. He… He had scales on his hands, he gave me a part of his power, and instilled a bunch of memories that were not mine. That night, I had a weird dream – there are ships, places like a big laboratory. I… I don’t know what are those. Those aren’t my memories; they’re fake. And also… Jian also put a scale on my forehead, just after I finished making that engine. I was so exhausted then, and my magic pool got abnormally hot. But as soon as that scale touched my body, the problem went away. I wanted to tell you about it before, but I always forgot… ”

He then froze in place, face contorted into a confused expression. He mumbled, “Yeah, why did I forget, I obviously wanted to tell you this a long time ago…”

Chu Rong digested his words. He pulled down his hand, sat up and faced him, raised his hand and touched his face, and said, “Do you remember anything else? Say it all.”

Qiao Zhiya met Chu Rong’s gaze, all gentle and tolerant. If anything, it made him even more nervous. He took his hand as he leaned forward, asking, “Chu Rong, I lied to you. Why don’t you get angry with me? Aren’t you shocked? These things I said aren’t…”

Chu Rong looked so calm.

Chu Rong looked at him cautiously, his throat rolled, he pressed his urge to hold him in his arms, and nodded calmly. “I am angry.”

Qiao Zhiya’s hand trembled. He slowly let go of Chu Rong’s hand, and lowered his head and continued to ask, “Will you kill me? I swear, I never thought of hurting humans. I just kept my history a secret to protect myself. I do not want to hurt you… y-you… do you hate me?”

“If you tell everything you hide from me, I won’t hate you.” Chu Rong touched the youth’s sweaty forehead, then tilted up his head so they could lock gazes. He leaned closer, emphasizing his words. “Remember, everything hidden will someday surface. It’s an inevitability.”

Does this mean he has a chance to be forgiven?

With hope in his eyes, Qiao Zhiya looked forward. “S-so… I just have to confess?”

Chu Rong nodded, pulled him to the bed, then bundled him up with the quilt. He then patted him gently. “Tell me, and I’ll listen to you.”

Qiao Zhiya froze again, taking a look in his arms – their bodies were very close, as if this was just a normal bedtime story. It felt odd – he had been stressing about this “confession” for so long, and yet, he wasn’t met with any hint of fury. There’s a spark of joy when he heard he could be forgiven, but a sense of confusion permeated too deep for him to bask in the joy for long.

Then, he started to talk.

Chu Rong listened quietly, and patted his back gently with his hands, without showing any overly intense emotions and without interruption. After he finished speaking, he even poured a cup of warm water for him.

Qiao Zhiya, accustomed to being taken care of by him, drank the water without question. He even nuzzled Chu Rong to express his thanks, purely subconsciously. After he realized what he was doing, he remembered that he’s a “guilty” person right now. He laid stiff, wanting to climb out of Chu Rong’s arms.

“If you run away, I will not forgive you.”

Chu Rong spoke suddenly, and Qiao Zhiya stiffened and leaned back.

Putting the cup on the bedside table, Chu Rong held him tightly and looked at the youth with widened eyes. Finally, he couldn’t curb his urge, so he directly kissed him. After that, he asked, “Did you finish talking?”

Qiao Zhiya was nervous again and nodded. ‘Now… is it time for the “trial”?’

Chu Rong raised his hand and pulled his straightened ears, then slowed down and said, “I know everything about you, and forgive you. Now, it’s time for me to confess to you. Whether or not you forgive me… I’ll let you decide.”

Qiao Zhiya was surprised. “You also… concealed something from me?” He never thought that Chu Rong would do such deceitful things.

“Yes,” Chu Rong nodded, adding, “Not only that, I did something much, much worse than what you’ve done to me.”

Qiao Zhiya was baffled. He tried hard to think about what Chu Rong had done to him to warrant such a reaction. Suddenly, his mind flashed over the day when Chu Rong stripped him naked and touched him all over. His face flushed as he whispered, “It’s okay. I consented to all of that stuff. I like you, and I like doing that with you. You can do whatever you want… ”

“It’s not the kind of thing.” Chu Rong immediately rebuked. He tightened his hold, stomping this inconvenient burning desire inside his lower stomach. He tried to forget Qiao Zhiya’s shy, blushing expression – but it’s hard. Finally, he sat upright with a frown, adjusting his position properly before continuing, “I mean, I did a memory probe to you. I explored your memory a few months ago, and you… didn’t know of it. So, I already know your origin. Don’t be afraid, I won’t kill you, and I will never hate you for it. I know you are not malicious to me. “

‘Memory probling? What is that?’

Qiao Zhiya hesitated for a moment before realizing what it meant, and asked, “So you… saw my memories? Then I …”

“You have an uncle named Qiao Xi. He likes you very much. When your father decided to leave his home village, your uncle sent you a crystal token.” Chu Rong interrupted him, raised his hand and patted his hair. Then, he let out a light laugh. “Qiao, you were very cute when you were a kid. You had long hair back then. I wish I could meet you sooner.”

“Qiao Xi” – although this was the lingua franca version of it, it was as correct as it could be – after all, it was originally in Elvish. He did have an uncle named Qiao Xi, who gave him a crystal token to protect him. He did have long hair when he was a kid, and he only cut it short because it was unusual in the dwarf village.

Qiao Zhiya was in a mess and suddenly didn’t know what to say.

Chu Rong actually explored his memory without his permission. This was a great offense. He should be angry, as he did something wrong without his permission. But, but…

“Did you probe my memory because you don’t trust me?” Only this question was asked in the end.

“No.” Chu Rong shook his head. Afraid of emotionally stimulating him, he cupped the youth’s face and replied, “It was because we decided to formally get engaged at that time. I am too special in the Federation. If you become my legal fiance, everyone will inevitably try to dig into your past. So, I decided to clearly identify your origin in order to protect it better. But I know you guarded your origin very tightly, and so, I can only use this disgusting method out of my cowardice. I apologize.”

After he spoke, he caressed his face and asked, “Will you forgive me? Or, would you blame me, or even hate me? Qiao Zhiya, if you decide to abandon me, I will accept it and pursue you again.”

It turned out to be just a pre-engagement insurance process… Blame Chu Rong? Hate Chu Rong? Abandon Chu Rong?

No no no, he can’t do it, he still likes this person and wants to be with him forever.

It’s just memory probing. It’s just his past. He can understand.

And he wants to understand.

“It’s okay.” He persuaded himself almost immediately. He stretched his arms around Chu Rong’s neck, leaned over to nuzzle his face, and even comforted him in turn. “I know you won’t hurt me, so it’s okay. I won’t hate you, and I forgive you. Chu Rong, I like you. “

This is also good. Since they are both in the wrong, they can forgive each other’s slight.

It turned out that his so-called secret was no longer a secret. It turned out that his fears and fears during this period of time were superfluous. Chu Rong already knew his origins, but even so, Chu Rong still decided to be engaged with him and spend the rest of their life together.

“Thank you.” He couldn’t help tightening his hold, his heart finally settled down. “I’ve been hiding you for so long, sorry.”

Chu Rong hugged him back, touched the back of his head, and said, “No, it’s me who has to apologize. I’m sorry.” For this time, and for many previous self-assertions and concealments.