After a short moment of suffocation, Bu Bai broke away from his body and arrived at Boss’ side. The place he was in right now was not that vast white space but a spiral staircase. This was the place where he first met Boss.
“Bu Bai, everyone needs to bear the consequences of their own actions.” Boss faced him with his back, his snow-white fur fluttered against the background of the starry sky.
“I know.” Bu Bai reached out and grabbed Boss’ small paw, his voice brimming with reluctance to part. The only one he had failed was this person before him.
“It was me who brought you onto this road and it should also be me who brings you back.”
Before Bu Bai reacted, Boss had already used his fluffy head to knock him into the passage of reincarnation.
Everything before his eyes was enveloped into white light. Bu Bai couldn’t see anything. He reached out but couldn’t grasp anything. He could only hear a soft whisper, “Live your life well in the future.”
His body rapidly shrank and turned into the initial state of every life form. Memories flashed through his mind like revolving lanterns. Within this white space was nothingness.
The things he treasured, loved, and cherished, they were no longer his. Bu Bai felt a great sorrow surround him. He did not know how long he spent within that primal chaos. He heard a faint chuckle and then woke up.
He had thought that it was a new life that would greet him but when he opened his eyes, he was still himself. He had the same memories and the same appearance. Aside from his body becoming smaller, he was no different from before.
He was surrounded by a vast expanse of white and a gentle strength wrapped him up. He inexplicably felt a mother’s care from this and a voice in his heart told him that this was the place that he was conceived.
There was a transparent wall before him and through this thin film, he could see a little boy sleeping just opposite from him.
There was still some baby fat on the boy’s face and his long eyelashes were like exquisite brushes which made people, can’t help but look forward to his waking.
There were no other living creatures here, but Bu Bai did not find it boring. He liked using his small plump hands to touch the soft film. The film was very flexible, it was as if he could use his strength to touch the child’s adorable cheek. That enticing sensation made Bu Bai, this old man, have some stirrings of love in his heart.
Bu Bai found that even if he didn’t eat, he would not feel hungry and the light spiritual energy around him assimilated into his body. With nourishment day after day, he slowly grew up to be a teenager.
The boy opposite to him grew in step with him. But from beginning to end, he did not wake up. Bu Bai wanted to find someone to end his loneliness but there was no chance. His entire person wilted like a white cabbage, the kind that no one wanted.
“Why haven’t you woken up yet? If we continue on like this, I will die due to loneliness.”
Feeling wronged Bu Bai acted rashly and bit the boy’s cheek. Even if the former baby fat had already reduced, the feeling wasn’t bad. Nevertheless, Bu Bai vaguely thought of the glutinous rice dumplings he had eaten before.
That green youth just curiously felt his own cheek, seeming like he wasn’t sure what had bit it. His tender pink fingers stretched forward exploratorily.
“You, can’t see me?”
As if shocked by the sudden appearance of the sound, the youth looked around quickly, a bit of fear appearing in their eyes. However, unwilling to appear wear, he bit his lower lips and stubbornly assumed a staunch appearance.
Bu Bai was amused by his reaction and his laughter reached the youth’s ears.
“Who are you?” His voice carried a bit of soft stickiness. It was the uneasiness and ignorance that was due at his age.
“I’m beside you.” Bu Bai responded and suddenly thought that it was very interesting to tease an innocent youth.
“You’re the one from just earlier?” The youth used his finger to poke at the film and a small steamed bun protruded from the originally flat and smooth place. Bu Bai steadily wrapped him in the palm of his hand.
“Yes.”
Feeling the warmth, a slight redness appeared on the youth’s face. As if shy, he retracted his finger a little bit and after hesitating for a moment, he stretched out his other hand as well, wanting to touch a little more.
Bu Bai very understandingly wrapped both hands and the youth showed a happy smile.
“I can see you, you look very good.” Bu Bai revealed his privilege without any covering up and watched with interest as the youth’s face flushed red. He felt like he was like a pedophilic middle-aged uncle.
“Do you have a name?” Bu Bai asked.
“No, can you give me one?”
Stared at by the youth’s expectant eyes, Bu Bai was somewhat overwhelmed by the unexpected favor. He had never given someone a name before and it was inevitable that he was somewhat at a loss. He simply felt that there wasn’t any name that was worthy of his family’s child.
He thought for a long time until his mind became muddled. From within his chaotic thinking, there seemed to be a clear corner, with a touch, it was like a hard crystal instantly ruptured and small memory fragments pierced into his mind. He murmured, “How about Ye Wu. The beauty and tranquility of night, life born from nothing.”
The youth’s eyes constricted for a split second and he repeated this name in a whisper. As if he could see, his fingers brushed Bu Bai’s eyes and his refined nose and then reached his lips. His eyes were filled with a boundless infatuation and yearning. Have you come back?
Bu Bai was still lost in a trace and did not sense the youth’s movement. He felt very painful and very happy. The contradictory emotions interweaved together and seemed as if it was going to tear his soul apart.
Or, was it to remove the hazy layer that covered the surface and reveal his true self. Who was Ye Wu? Bu Bai felt that he should know such a person. He looked very, very similar to the youth and had the same eyes that did not have his sadness. This youth should be bright and happy, then why did he show such a sad expression?
Bu Bai was tired beyond endurance by the chaotic memories and plunged into the darkness. He did not see the youth sweep past the firm unhindered and come to him. The youth hugged his unconscious body and incessantly murmured, “You finally came back to me, I waited too long, too long.”
Time moved, a hundred years passed swiftly.
When his consciousness returned, Bu Bai had already changed back to an adult’s appearance and the youth opposite to him had also grown into a handsome man. Heaven seemed to be especially generous to him and every portion of his body seemed like it had been polished, both refined and beautiful.
The spiritual energy surrounding him was very clear and Bu Bai seemed to feel a sense of peace.
The man was fast asleep. The spiritual energy around him was very thin which was completely different from Bu Bai’s situation. Bu Bai felt like he was depriving Ye Wu of his vitality. This thought came very suddenly but it was so natural that it made Bu Bai believe it with his heart and soul.
Between him and Ye Wu, only one could live. The thing that nurtured them could only support one life. This predetermined that one would be abandoned.
If they continued on as it was now, there was no doubt that Ye Wu would be the one to be eliminated. He had awakened later than Bu Bai and both his constitution and ability were a lot worse.
But Bu Bai didn’t want it to be like this. Perhaps this was a world where it was the survival of the fittest, but he had his own selfishness. He did not want to tread on Ye Wu’s life to live on. He wanted Ye Wu to be the one to live on.
He cherished him. There was no other reason. He just wished to fulfill his own desires.
Specks of glittering lights rose. It was Bu Bai’s dissipating life. He wanted to touch Ye Wu’s fingertips once again but could not reach across that distance.
Fortunately, he did not succeed. The man across him suddenly opened his eyes. His eyes were not their familiar black, but a blood-like scarlet that wrapped around Bu Bai.
“You still made the same decision.” Ye Wu said with a bit of blame and profound sorrow.
The deeply hidden memories were awakened and the emotions within them rushed forth. Bu Bai remembered this place. It was their birthplace. The deities called it the spiritless boundary for it was the territory discarded by the deities.
A place too barren and remote that it was unworthy of anyone’s care for it had no value to be made use of.
As if resisting, this barren world that had been neglected for tens of thousands of years began to produce new life and devoted all of its efforts into cultivating a lifeform that could break through this space and set foot in the land of the deities.
The only accident was that the life that should have been born was not just one, but two. From birth, the two were closely interdependent and could not be separated.
Hundreds of years of morning and night were relatively enough for the two to have different emotions. Even if Ye Wu could not see Bu Bai, he knew that he was by his side and would never abandon him.
Bu Bai was the one to wake up first so he knew more about the space that nurtured him and Ye Wu. Therefore, he knew more clearly that the resources here were not enough for both of them to live on. For him, every day that he lived with Ye Wu was like the final day.
He was afraid that there would be a day that Ye Wu would learn the truth and would do something foolish. He understood his little companion and that he placed him upon the most important seat, above all else, even himself.
At first, the spiritual energy did not show a clear shortage and the spiritual energy they used every day was the same. Later, the spiritual energy began to lean towards the stronger Bu Bai and Ye Wu’s survival gradually became difficult. Bu Bai noticed his companion’s discomfort in the first moments it began to happen and understood that the day had come at last.
He asked Ye Wu, “If you can’t see me, can you live on properly?”
Ye Wu looked at him with a smile and Bu Bai understood the refusal in it. He quickly extracted the little spiritual energy around Ye Wu.
Ye Wu felt a suffocating sleepiness and looked towards Bu Bai in fear. He had an unconditional trust in his companion and knew that Bu Bai would not harm him. Just that he instinctively predicted danger.
Ye Wu’s consciousness slowly faded and in this short moment, Bu Bai finally crossed the film that separated them and came to Ye Wu’s side, pouring all of his own power into Ye Wu’s body and then disappearing.
After another several hundred years, Ye Wu departed from the space that nurtured him. What surrounded him was a barren land. In the wake of his departure, the originally weak world began to cave in and disintegrated into fine dust that disappeared in the darkness.
In the end, all that was left was him alone.
Within his hand, Ye Wu grasped the crystal Bu Bai had changed into after his death. That transparent object emitted the breath of his lover. He placed it firmly beside his heart and waited for that man’s return.
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