CHAPTER 646: 604 MOON UNDER THE MOON

I did not sleep. Not only because I don’t need to sleep, but also because I want to cherish the time being close with Mazao more. People often cherish the treasures they regain after losing them. Mazao, in my heart, is a treasure I once thought I would lose.

At the same time, I can feel my affection for Mazao growing increasingly intense. Embracing her with this warm feeling is naturally the most comforting thing.

However, just like soaking in hot water for too long can make you dizzy, letting the love in my heart grow unrestrained might make me lose my normalcy. I feel somewhat unfamiliar with my own emotions, unsure and uneasy. In the latter half of the night, to calm my mind again, I lifted half of the quilt, sat up from the bed, put on my slippers, and quietly went out to the corridor.

The corridor in the mansion is quite traditional. After leaving the bedroom, you can directly see the courtyard outside, and if you look up, you can see the moon hanging in the night sky. Unlike the unusually large round moon in the post-mortem world, the moon in the real world maintains a comforting sense of distance. The silver moonlight shines down hazily, preserving the night’s natural darkness, yet not too dark to see.

The cold wind blowing from the courtyard helped me to smoothly come out of my slightly intoxicated mental state. Walking is good for massaging the brain, so I began to stroll slowly. Although this mansion belongs to me, I rarely roam around to take a look like this. The mansion at night appears to have an extra veil of mystery, at first glance like the house of someone else. I couldn’t help but recall the childhood experiences of small adventures in unfamiliar buildings.

Suddenly, I felt a strange intuition. As if receiving an invisible pull, I moved towards a location in the mansion. It was the room where Changan was to stay tonight. Upon reaching there, I found the door open and the room empty. After a simple search nearby, I quickly found the silhouette leaving the room in the courtyard.

The silhouette was familiar, yet it wasn’t Changan. In the courtyard, there was a large rock serving as a small hill landscape, and the silhouette stood quietly beside it. The hazy moonlight vaguely outlined the figure.

Long silver hair, a slender and beautiful back, a pale white dress fluttering in the breeze. The figure seemed to have noticed my gaze and turned around, revealing a pair of golden demonic eyes sparkling in the darkness.

Standing there was a beautifully dreamlike demon girl.

Yinyue.

"Long time no see, Zhuang Cheng."

Even though I "caught" her, this strange being did not exhibit any fear or shock, just greeted me with a calm smile, as if seeing a close friend.

Clearly, she was now using Changan as a vessel. Strangely, I did not feel a sense of urgency about this situation. Perhaps because in my unconscious, I had already sensed what the Yinyue before me truly was.

"Did you come back to life?" I ventured a question.

"You know very well I cannot revive through Changan again," Yinyue said with a smile, "Your destruction and sealing were very effective. I’ve been suppressed in Changan’s unconscious domain. Unable to continue running as an independent self, nor can the thinking as Yinyue be established again, let alone restore under the seal. I can only serve as a form of spiritual resource to fill in the existence that is Changan."

"Then what are you now?" I asked.

"I’m just dreaming," Yinyue said.

"Dreaming?" I asked.

"Humans like to interpret dreams as the regurgitation of the unconscious domain, don’t they? Large amounts of fragmented information are randomly pieced together, forming whimsical dreams. And I am fragmented information suppressed in the unconscious domain," Yinyue said, "So yes, I’m just dreaming, or rather, Changan dreamed of himself becoming Yinyue. He’ll wake up once the sun rises."

This matches my intuition. The Yinyue before me is a far more illusory existence than a Dream Avatar; it is a true dream, not an independent, vivid life, but more like an ephemeral wind, merely a phenomenon. When conversing with her, I even felt as if I wasn’t talking to a conscious being; her responses were like dreamlike murmurs.

Normal people, even if they dream of becoming someone else, wouldn’t encounter this situation. But Changan also harbors the power to turn illusion into reality, thus leading to this occurrence.

"Have you appeared in the past few months?" I asked, "And in this current state, do you negatively affect Changan?"

"No," Yinyue first answered the previous question calmly, "Originally, I shouldn’t be able to appear, but now that I can, it has something to do with you... You seem affected by a fate that attracts strange entities to emerge."

"Even so, this is probably a one-time, unreplicable coincidence, an insignificant flash before dawn.

"As for any other reasons... Maybe it’s because his heart feels a bit confused."

I speculated, "Did he associate with Little Bowl, think of Zhu Jiu, and thus thought of his birth mother?"

"There’s a lack in his heart. If reality is truly beautiful, who would want to indulge in dreams?" Yinyue said, "Or perhaps, justifiably, having the courage to face reality... But he is still somewhat distant from this realm."

She paused and then said, "As for the latter question, the answer is no. I do not mind thinking of Changan as ’another self’, and Changan is gradually and genuinely assimilating me. Unless he encounters unfortunate events that make him wish to abandon his own existence, his self will remain unshakable.

"So, please continue to treat me well—as well as Changan."

"Tonight, there’s still a long time ahead. If you’re willing to agree, I can give you many ’special rewards,’ okay?"

I caught the ambiguous undertone in her words and refused without hesitation: "Stop with this disgusting talk. Don’t forget you’re using my friend’s body right now. I don’t want to develop such a relationship with my friend."

"But would the little girl from the Zhu family be okay?" Yinyue asked with a smile.

"Die within my friend’s consciousness, Yinyue, never come out again." I said.

"Don’t be in such a hurry, Zhuang Cheng, I still have one last thing to say to you." Yinyue said.

"Go ahead." I replied.

Yinyue showed a faint smile and slowly said, "Thank you for taking care of my child all along."

"The real Yinyue would never say that." I stated.

The real Yinyue never cared about her biological son.

"Yes, that’s why this is just Changan talking in his sleep." Yinyue looked up at the moon sky with longing.

The next day, that Yinyue disappeared like dew welcoming the morning sun.

Coming without a trace, leaving without a trace, perhaps that’s what her existence is about. That was probably the last time I met her.

Changan returned to normal, as if he couldn’t remember the experiences during the dream, and was completely unaware of what happened last night. Perhaps some things are better left unknown, so I didn’t tell him about the night’s events. Under Mr. Zhu’s supervision, he continued his studies at Luoshan Academy, showing his usual carefree smile.

Maybe it’s not just Changan, nor is it just the Ancient Moon God from Ancient Moon Village of old. Persisting in her alternative self-sustenance, Yinyue might have set up her retribution body and responding body elsewhere, or even other "resurrection" moves. Those "Yinyue"s whose existence is uncertain, who knows what kind of opinion they might hold towards Changan. I did warn Changan about this, and he took it seriously. In the future, it’s necessary for me to find and exorcise them one by one.

In the morning, Lu Chan organized the updates of the past four and a half months and reported them to me.

Ming Zhuo’s current specific location remains unknown. Although Lu Chan has also proposed secretly helping me in the search, given his power, it’s virtually impossible to pinpoint the Impermanence in its lurking state. It’s better to expect results from Fa Zheng’s side; meanwhile, I’m using "Fireflies" distributed across various locations for large-scale carpet searches myself.

In the afternoon, since I had an appointment with Mazao, I took some time to accompany her to meet her parents.

In the past, Mazao underwent treatment for soul loss at the Saltwater City Army Hospital, so it’s natural that her parents also reside in Saltwater City. We possess the skill of space transfer and reached Saltwater City in an instant, then walked towards the specific location. The walk served as preparation for Mazao and also as time for myself.

Mazao was afflicted with soul loss at the age of ten, and her recorded age is thirteen now. What should I answer if her parents ask about the relationship between Mazao and me afterward?

First of all, I would never do something as lame as "hide" anything, much less "lie." Being afraid to be honest about our relationship would be an insult to Mazao. That said, does telling the truth really pose no problem?

Even though Mazao’s soul has wandered through unknown eras in the chaotic time of the Doomsday Era, the heart struggles to mature in a world permeated with frenzy. Mazao, as someone of Great Success Rank, clearly follows the theory that "appearance reflects the heart," indicating that her soul might still linger around the age ten when she first got soul loss but certainly wouldn’t exceed thirteen or fourteen.

Therefore, relying on the so-called "psychological age" is evidently hypocritical, let alone mentioning physical age. No matter how much people say "Impermanence can trample on worldly ethics," I still find it hard to entirely ignore others’—especially Mazao’s parents’—strange gazes.

Of course, even when subjected to strange gazes, I won’t waver in my decision.

So, I can only follow my old ways, impulsively charging forward with the mindset of "the bridge will straighten itself when the boat gets to it."

"...Zhuang Cheng." Mazao’s voice trembled with nervousness.

"I’m here," I answered.

I initially thought Mazao was seeking spiritual support from me, but after a deep breath, she asked a different question: "Zhuang Cheng...how do you get along with your parents?"

"My parents?" I was surprised.