Tang Guangyuanâs hand struggled unconsciously, slowly losing strength. The more energy he used, the more energy he wasted.
He noticed Chi Yan, and reached out towards him. âHe..heâŠâ a hoarse cry escaped his throat. He had a mournful expression on his face.
Chi Yan immediately took two steps forwards only to find himself powerless to helpâTang Guangyuan clearly didnât have anything on his throat. It was as if he was being strangled by air.
Chi Yan could feel a ice-cold aura beside him. He knew that there was a âpersonâ following him and involuntarily trembled. He already guessed who it was.
Itâs Ye Yingzhi. He found him.
Chi Yan could even somewhat hear his light chuckles and feel his icy breath on him.
Tang Guangyuanâs hand gradually lost strength until it could only hang down his side, his breathing slowly becoming weaker and weaker. Only his eyes were still looking towards Chi Yanâs direction.
Chi Yan couldnât bear to watch anymore. Seeing a person lose their life because of him while he couldnât do anything to help nearly triggered a nervous breakdown. He forcefully pulled himself together. He used his intuition to face the invisible âpersonâ by his side. Chi Yan even tried to reach out to grab the otherâs hand, the way he used to try to make up with Ye Yingzhi whenever he was angry.
He originally expected to feel nothing but air, that he wouldnât be able to grab anything. But his hand actually met with a cold body.
Even though Chi Yan couldnât see him, he could still touch him.
Chi Yan suddenly stiffened.
He recalled the sigh he heard earlierâ
âWhy didnât you come home? I waited for you all nightâŠ.â
Old Master Tangâs life was still hanging by a thread, barely breathing enough to stay alive. He looked like a man on his deathbed.
Chi Yan shut his eyes, not daring to watch anymore. However, he slowly approached the âmanâ next to him. Like how he he used to act spoiled as he admitted his mistakes in the past, Chi Yan hugged Ye Yingzhiâs waist as he leaned closely towards him.
In this intimate posture, teardrops had already unknowingly dripped down his face. Surprise, fear, terror, worryâall that pushed someone to their limits and make them have such a natural response was present.
He held onto Ye Yingzhi tightly, choking with sobs as he pleaded: âYingzhi, please let him go. Iâm begging you, please let him go okayâŠ. Everything was my fault, donât involve others. Letâs go home, letâs go home okay? Yingzhi, Iâm begging pleaseâŠ.â
He was already completely incoherent. His brain couldnât even register what he said or did. He could only beg and placade the other, his tear-stained lips repeatedly kissed the otherâs icy neck and cheeks. Towards the end, he couldnât even speak in sentences, barely able to whisper the otherâs name, sobbing and repeating âYingzhi,â âplease,â âgo homeâ over and over again.
Who knew how long this went on for, as Chi Yanâs nerves were pushed to the limits his perception of time became nothing but a haze. He felt the âmanâ beside him finally move, the invisible rope that wrapped around Tang Guangyuanâs neck was suddenly released.
Tang Guangyuan laid on the ground, immediately coughing and wheezing up a storm.
Immediately, Chi Yan felt an arm wrap around his waist, and the person beside him bent over to kiss his earlobe. A deep voice said: âKeep your promise. Iâll wait for you at home.â
Then, the arm let go and suddenly everything abruptly returned to being peaceful. Chi Yan weakly looked around, at loss of what to do. Only a bit of coldness lingered on his ears and waist.
Just like he suddenly appeared and nearly took away a life, Ye Yingzhi suddenly disappeared.
Chi Yan promptly hurried over to Tang Old Master and helped him sit up, patting his back to help him recover. After a long while, Tang Guangyuan finally recovered and slowly got up holding onto Chi Yanâs arm. He tried to speak but found that he still couldnât. He could only gesture for Chi Yan to help him back to his bedroom.
Beside Tang Guangyuanâs bed was a telephone and an address book. He opened the address book to Ms. Guiâs number, indicating for Chi Yan to call her over. Then, he waved his hand towards Chi Yan, with an expression of sorrow and self-blame, hoarsely said: âYou⊠should go.â
Chi Yan nodded.
The Old Master continued to exhaust himself, throat squeezing out his next words: âIâm⊠sorry, canât help⊠for now.â
Chi Yan quickly stopped him: âPlease donât speak anymore. Itâs me whoâs sorry. Iâm the one who got you involved and caused you great harm.â
Tang Guangyuan waved his hand and didnât speak anymore.
Chi Yan waited until Ms. Gui arrived before leaving. He looked very calm, as if the helpless person panicking and begging for help wasnât him.
He said: âThank you for helping me this time. Iâve already thought it through. Originally I was the one who took Ye Yingzhiâs ashes without permission. Taking without permission is improper. Besides, the ashes I stole belonged to a proper gentlemen. Itâs me who owed him first. This time when I go back, Iâll repay him however he wants. Iâll repay everything that I owe. This is karma. You donât need to worry about me.â
He forced a slight smile and bowed towards Tang Guangyuan in apology.
The worst case scenario was only death, he thought as he lowered his eyes.
Tang Guanyuan was still wheezing. He watched as Chi Yan apologized once again before leaving. In the end he couldnât say a single word.
When Chi Yan left the villa, it was already almost 11:00. This area was a little obscure. Cars seldom pass by, not to mention taxi. He didnât bring his phone so he could only rush towards the bus stop, hoping to catch the last bus.
Just before reaching the bus stop, he saw a bus stopped there. All the buses here can take him back near his place, so he didnât even check before running towards the bus. He rushed in, quickly paying the bus fee.
The bus driver kept looking straight ahead, not reacting to him at all. The bus was really empty. Besides Chi Yan, there only 3 or 4 passengers scattered around. Chi Yan scanned around a bit before choosing a seat in the back.
The last bus waits a bit too long. It wasnât until 2 minutes after he sat down that the bus shakily started up. Chi Yan sat in a daze as he looked out the window at the pitch-black streetscape. He didnât know what exactly was waiting for him at home. He only knew that he had nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.
Through todayâs events, Ye Yingzhi has already made it very clear. Old Master Tang was powerless against him, and even almost lost his life. The monks and Taoists Chi Yan met throughout his life could barely protect him from ordinary ghosts, so how could they be of any help against the Ye Yingzhi who strikes terror amongst all evil things?
This whole time, he was lost in thought. He didnât have a watch or a phone or anything that could tell time. He only knew that the bus kept moving and the window was still pitch-black. They probably havenât gotten very far, but he didnât know how long itâs been. Suddenly, he had a moment of clarityâsomething wasnât right. This is a public bus. Why havenât they stopped at all after such a long time? This whole time, no one needed to get on or off at all?
After realizing this detail, he became alert. He temporarily refrained himself from thinking about his familyâs Ye YIngzhi and secretly paid attention to what was inside the bus.
He silently counted at a normal pace to 300. The bus kept going forward at the same pace, no curves on the road, no changing lanes, no bumps. It was as if the road only had one vehicle. Even the scenery never changed. It was still a foggy blanket of black. From an unknown distance, there was a cold white lightâChi Yan originally thought that it was the city lights.
Chi Yanâs hand tightened into a fist as he focused on the passengers in the front. When he got on the bus, his mind was occupied and he was in a hurry. He hadnât really paid attention to those people. The way he glossed over multiple abnormalities as similar to when he was trapped in an illusion by Ye Yingzhi. Only now did he suddenly realize so many discrepancies.
The 4 passengers, including the driver, made 5 people. All of them wore dark clothes and long sleeves, solemnly sitting up straight, without the slightest movement. This was completely different from how usually most people had their heads down looking at their phones.
The busâs incandescent was deathly pale, and under such light, none of them had shadows.