CHAPTER 682: NOT AFRAID

Even after the call ended, Shen Nianzu still could not come back to his senses for a while, feeling badly shaken.

He tossed his phone aside and turned to Jin Jiuchi, who had been watching him quietly from the start. But the moment he met those clear, beautiful, yet unmistakably inhuman eyes, his heart trembled once more and the question he was about to blurt out became stuck in his throat.

"You..." he began, licking his dry lips. "Did you hear all that?"

"Hm," Jin Jiuchi replied with a soft hum.

"Then you..." at this point, Shen Nianzu was at a loss of how to word his question in a more subtle manner, but apparently Jin Jiuchi saw through him at a glance. He had, after all, become much smarter lately like his Nian’er said.

"You want to ask whether I know anything about this Cycle, don’t you, Nian’er?" His manner of speaking was as blunt as ever, an unreadable smile hanging off the corner of his lips. "The Oracle said it might be the origin of the Nightmare, and I, as the heir, should have come from that place too..."

The two of them had been snuggling closely on the bed, watching a comedy show when the call came in. At that time, Shen Nianzu had only muted the screen, so the soft glow of the screen now spilled across Jin Jiuchi, shrouding half of his face in the darkness and making his different colored eyes gleam in a way no human could. He looked both dangerous and mysterious, like a lazy beast lounging in the dark, his fingers drawing idle circles on the side of Shen Nianzu’s waist as he spoke. A wave of goosebumps rippled along Shen Nianzu’s arm and he couldn’t help but reach behind him to grab that mischievous hand.

Now that Jin Jiuchi had put it out like that, he no longer hesitated. "So do you?" he asked, staring straight into those eyes that had once unnerved him so, yet had slowly become something he grew fond of.

Jin Jiuchi stared at him quietly for two more seconds. "If I say I know nothing, will you believe me?"

"Of course," Shen Nianzu blurted out without hesitation, only to frown in displeasure once the question fully sank into his mind. "Why are you asking such a useless question? Just answer me honestly. If you know nothing, then fine. But if you do, it can help us greatly when we enter the Cycle later."

In response, Jin Jiuchi burst out into laughter— pure, unrestrained joy and mirth shone in his eyes. He laughed so hard that the entire bed shook together with him. As if it’s not enough, he also pounced on Shen Nianzu and rubbed his face all over Shen Nianzu’s chest in a state of extreme excitement. "Nian’er, I love you...! Ah, I love you so much! How can I possibly love you this much?! Love love love, love Nian’er so much!!!"

"You...!" The veins on Shen Nianzu’s forehead throbbed. "Damn it, can you be serious for once?!"

He was left utterly speechless. Just how did this husky suddenly go crazy without rhyme or reason?!

Fortunately, Jin Jiuchi seemed to be equipped with ’Shen Nianzu Radar’, and his wild cackling subsided just as Shen Nianzu was about to snap and kick him off the bed. Even then, his shoulders still quivered with the remnants of laughter, and when he finally raised his head, his eyes twinkled twice as brilliantly as if awashed by clear spring water.

"I wish I knew something so I can help you, Nian’er," he muttered. "But I really don’t have any recollection of that place. To be honest, I didn’t even know I was the heir until... until Xinxin told us. You know me— I was born as two incomplete halves. I’m a defect. It had always been me and my brother since as long as I could remember."

"But you’re complete now..." Shen Nianzu brushed his fingertips gently across the corner of the man’s eyelid. "... aren’t you?"

Jin Jiuchi cocked his head to the side, thinking. "Hmm, I guess you can say that...?"

Shen Nianzu narrowed his eyes. "What’s with that uncertain tone?"

"It’s just... there are some things I still can’t remember," Jin Jiuchi confessed honestly. "Like how I came here, or why, or how did I manage any of it in the first place. Tsk, why does that make me sound so suspicious?" he frowned in deep thought for one excruciating second before giving up altogether, flopping down once more on Shen Nianzu’s body and burying his face into the crook of Shen Nianzu’s neck like an ostrich. "Augh, I don’t know! Let’s see tomorrow... maybe I will be able to remember one thing or two once I step into that damned Cycle!"

"Okay, let’s just do that." Shen Nianzu replied, helpless.

He had no expectation in Jin Jiuchi to begin with, so there was no disappointment upon receiving this kind of answer. But thanks to Jin Jiuchi’s antics, all the tension, anxiety and panic upon hearing Ying’s message seemed to have melted away without him realizing.

Tomorrow, they were going to enter that final deciding Cycle.

The Nightmare City, huh... Shen Nianzu became lost in thought as he absentmindedly ran his fingers through Jin Jiuchi’s thick and fluffy hair like he was kneading a plush ball. I wonder what kind of Cycle that will be, to be able to produce something like the Nightmare?

Sounds like a real pain in the ass...

"You’re really not afraid of me, huh, Nian’er?"

"...What?" Shen Nianzu blinked, his train of thoughts interrupted by Jin Jiuchi’s question, causing him to blank out for a while. "Who’s afraid of whom?"

"You. Afraid of me." Jin Jiuchi’s voice remained muffled as he spoke into his jade doll’s neck, "Being the heir of the Nightmare or whatnot, it’s all bullshit to me. But you... I don’t want you to think that me and that despicable creature are cut from the same cloth."

Now it was Shen Nianzu’s turn to laugh.

"Geez, Nian’er!" Jin Jiuchi whipped his head up, pouting. "I’m being serious here!"

"Okay, okay," Shen Nianzu cleared his throat, trying to suppress his laughter under Jin Jiuchi’s accusatory gaze. "Have you been worrying about this all this time? Silly." He flicked Jin Jiuchi’s forehead gently, then flicked him harder once more when Jin Jiuchi tried to bite his finger.

"You are you, and the Nightmare is the Nightmare," Shen Nianzu said leisurely, "The two of you can’t be more different, so why are you associating yourself with it? I’ve never once lumped the two of you together."

But then again, that was strange in itself, wasn’t it? In hindsight, upon knowing that Jin Jiuchi was the Nightmare’s heir, he should have been afraid... he should have been wary that Jin Jiuchi would one day become the second Nightmare and unleash hell upon this Earth and the humans within. And yet not even once had such a thought crossed his mind.

This silly and perverted husky, becoming the Nightmare? Heh, he’d better not overestimate himself.

"Hehe," Jin Jiuchi grinned happily with all his sharp teeth displayed, his eyes curving into slits. "See? This is why I love you, Nian’er."

"Alright, let’s go to sleep and stop thinking too much." Shen Nianzu hooked the man’s neck and pulled him down to the bed, closing his eyes. "We’d better get all the rest before we can do it no more tomorrow."

"Aye, aye, Captain!"

Shen Nianzu smiled quietly to himself. He had thought that tonight would be a sleepless night, but breathing in the familiar scent of Jin Jiuchi and feeling a familiar weight of the arm slung around his waist, he ended up falling asleep in no time at all.