Don't be a Kept Man

Chapter 105: The System's Gone Crazy

Warning: Cliffhanger

As Yan Yu walked back downstairs, his footsteps faintly echoed down the stairway. There were bugs flying around in the faint yellow glow of the lights of the stairway, and the weather was so humid, it was hard to breathe. It did not help that there was a pungent smell spreading throughout the building from the nearby landfill either.

Leaning against the railing as he lit up a cigarette, Yan Yu stared at the broken and cracked wall in front of him. He suddenly felt that he wasn't living quite like a human and that this was quite good, yet he also felt that he really couldn't live like this anymore.

The cigarette in his hand burned all the way to the last dregs and he extinguished it on the railing. He walked back to his apartment and pushed open the door, not expecting Xun Chuan to be standing right behind the door. Their eyes met, and it was uncertain who scared whom first.

After the initial shock, Xun Chuan moved aside to let Yan Yu in and then floated back onto the bed. His legs swung back and forth as Yan Yu, not speaking a word, changed his shoes at the entryway before sitting down by the desk.  After a long period of silence, Yan Yu pulled the fourth drawer open.

Xun Chuan stopped his movements, desperately wanting to look, but then thought that he shouldn't be looking.

There was a fire brazier1 used to burn talismans underneath the desk. Yan Yu pulled it out and then threw in the stack of papers he took from the fourth drawer. An orange flame lit up, illuminating his face and bringing that much more of a tenderness to him as the flames reflected off their light.

Xun Chuan couldn't help himself and asked,

"What are you burning?"

With his eyes reflecting the light from the fire, Yan Yu calmly said,

"Something that will cause you misfortune."

If he had never divined this reading, then he would have never broken up with Xun Chuan. Without breaking up, Xun Chuan would have never gone to X City for him, and perhaps he would have not died then. Sometimes, there were things hidden beneath it all; everything belonged to fate.

Xun Chuan soundlessly floated over, and as he did so, the "yin" energy surrounding his body weakened the flames. They shivered nonstop, as if they would be extinguished in the next second. Yan Yu waved his hand and the fire regained its luminescence, burning even brighter, and the papers quickly turned into ash.

After the papers were all gone, Yan Yu poured a cup of water over the basin, extinguishing the last of the flames. He asked Xun Chuan,

"Hate me?"

Originally thought to be words that would tear out his heart and soul, but now they were spoken with such calmness.

Upon hearing this, Xun Chuan knew that Su Qing must have told him something. He uncomfortably pushed around the corner of the desk, and his eyes looked down at the fire brazier,

"No I don't. You could have just directly told it to my face......"

But the moment he said these words, he realized that there wasn't much meaning to them. If Yan Yu had honestly spoken to him about this, he himself may have never believed it. He'd probably have felt that Yan Yu wasn't even willing to give an acceptable excuse to break up. As fortune telling, this kind of thing, it was too unbelievable.

Xun Chuan did not even know that when humans died, they could turn into ghosts because of their deep, deep unfulfilled desires.

Yan Yu patted his pockets, wanting to have a smoke, but then he realized he was out. Xun Chuan pulled the lighter out of Yan Yu's hand, threw it aside with a bang, and then sat on top of Yan Yu's legs, sitting face to face with him.