Chapter 84
However, this grab of Xie Luan’s was only enough to hold on to the tip of the nox’s tail.
The moment Xie Luan’s hand touched the silver tail, the owner of the tail froze, the gap in space in front of him disappearing a second later.
After preventing the other from leaving, Xie Luan gently pulled the tail towards him.
The slightly cool tail was completely different from the feigned expression of indifference the nox had towards the youth. The tail seemed to refuse to follow its owner’s will as it couldn’t help but extend towards the youth.
If he didn’t want it, he could’ve just directly pulled his tail out of the youth’s hand. However, the nox didn’t do so. When he saw the youth was silent, his tail inched closer.
The youth was leaning against the headboard. After being touched, the silver tail could no longer resist, obediently settling in Xie Luan’s embrace. Ya Yi knew he couldn’t leave.
Although nobody told Xie Luan what their tail meant to the nox race, after spending so much time with Ya Yi in the other world, Xie Lian had a rough idea. Even if Xie Luan was a bit slow, he wasn’t completely blind.
The tail should be a very important area for the nox race. It wasn’t somewhere they would casually let others touch. Being able to touch it signified you were very close to the nox.
If Ya Yi let him touch his tail, Xie Luan didn’t understand why the nox was trying to avoid him. However, now that he had finally caught him, Xie Luan had much more important things to ask.
“What influence does this marking have on you?” It was different from how Xie Luan had remembered. Before, you could only see a very small black imprint near the nox’s collarbone, but now it even spread along the left side of the nox’s neck.
The black imprints, almost resembling tribal markings, had grown much larger. Even the color was much deeper than the light shade it was previously.
Xie Luan had always been worried about the marking, but he could never find any information about it. Even Zarad didn’t know anything about it.
Since he really couldn’t find any clues, Xie Luan could only set the matter aside.
He frowned as he examined the markings, unable to stop worrying about the changes. Because of that, he temporarily let the tail go and stood up from the bed, taking a step closer to the Nox. He reached out, wanting to touch the black markings on the other’s neck.
But before Xie Luan could touch it, Ya Yi suddenly held his wrist firmly, stopping it in place. In that moment, Xie Luan saw a trace of disgust flash through Ya Yi’s azure, vertical pupils.
“Very ugly.” Don’t touch.
The black markings were linked to the darkness in his own heart, the darkness that caused him to lose control and go crazy. Ya Yi understood that, so he didn’t want the youth in front of him to touch such a thing. Especially this thing that wasn’t actually his, but placed on him by an unknown existence.
Xie Luan understood that the target of Ya Yi’s disgust was himself.
“How does it affect you?” Xie Luan continued to push the question.
The nox’s beautiful, cold face didn’t have any expression as he stared at Xie Luan silently.
But under Xie Luan’s steady gaze, the nox finally lowered his eyes and explained the feelings he felt without adding any descriptors to make it seem more beautiful.
The growing darkness, the madness, losing all control- there was nothing beautiful in that.
But the one who allowed the darkness to take over his heart was himself. Ya Yi didn’t want to admit that he truly did have the urge to destroy this world.
The fact that he had already destroyed many planets, including the saen race’s planet, was also true.
But the way he played it all down and the cold voice he narrated it in made Xie Luan’s heart tighten.
All the negative emotions directed at the nox were taken in as nourishment by the black markings, growing the darkness in Ya Yi’s heart.
What worried Xie Luan even more was how somebody had deliberately placed the marking on the nox's body. This matched with his previous idea that there might be another enemy hiding in the shadows.
So even if Ya Yi didn’t try to destroy the world, that enemy would make the world end up destroyed anyways. That’s why when Xia Zuo killed Ya Yi, the world’s fate still hadn't changed.
After Ya Yi was done describing everything, including how he had destroyed many stars, Xie Luan’s throat bobbed. In the end, he just reached out and touched the black markings on the nox’s neck.
This time, his hand wasn’t stopped. The nox simply didn’t expect Xie Luan would try to touch it again.
Xie Luan’s finger touched the black marking. He stared at it, not moving for a long time.
He already touched it, so Ya Yi didn’t pull Xie Luan’s hand off. But when he saw Xie Luan’s frozen movements and gaze, he lowered his eyes, moving his head away.
“It’s not ugly.” Xie Luan said gently as he touched the marking.
As for the many planets he destroyed...
In fact, when Xie Luan realized he was in another timeline and saw this world’s nox controlling Gaiya, Xie Luan already had an idea about what happened to the Saen race.
His actions obviously weren’t right. Destroying things willfully was wrong, but Xie Lian just couldn’t open his mouth and blame him...
“You don’t need to hide from me anymore.” Xie Luan didn’t know why Ya Yi kept on avoiding him before, but after hearing him talk about the times he had lost control, he finally understood. The nox probably didn’t want to accidentally hurt him.
Xie Luan talked slowly. He had just accepted he was in the villain’s camp when suddenly, a strange creature jumped into his arms. Xie Luan instinctively caught it.
“Wuu.”
Round, limpid, azure eyes and slitted pupils stared up at him as he huddled in Xie Luan’s embrace. The nox who had returned to his cub form raised his head and let out a low cry.
He didn’t know how to respond to the youth in his adult form, so he intentionally reverted back to his cub form.
His fur was especially soft, his body round and warm. It felt wonderful to the touch when Xie Luan petted him.
The icy chill and cold eyes easily differentiated this world’s nox from the Ya Yi he knew, but there were still a lot of places that were similar.
It was still night, so Xie Luan rubbed the nox’s little horn before gently putting him beside his pillow and lying on the bed.
The first day in the dream was over.
Xie Luan felt like the black markings were a very important clue to the fate of the world. At the same time, it also verified some of his suspicions.
Starting from the next day, the soldiers stationed in the city would often see a young nox being held in a youth’s embrace. They were shocked at first, but slowly got used to it.
Xie Luan was only allowed to move around the core of the city, but for Xie Luan, the range was already very big so there wasn’t anything he was unsatisfied about.
Furthermore, even if Ya Yi didn’t say it, Xie Luan knew that the other’s orders preventing him from leaving the city was all for his own safety.
This world was several decades into the future. The condition of the entire interstellar was completely different from how it was in Xie Luan’s world.
The interstellar in Xie Luan’s world was peaceful. Under the star oath and efforts of all the races working together, the interstellar environment was stable and perfect for growth.
But in this world, all the planets were frequently in a state of war. The star oath had also fallen apart and broken away several years ago.
Leaving aside the big differences in the interstellar, Xie Luan had also learned a lot from the nox in his grown up form.
For example, this world’s Yunbao Branch had gone bankrupt and died away a long time ago. The cubs originally protected by the branch were all distributed to other places.
In these other places, none of the cubs seemed to be treated well.
“I, I’m Ravi…” The blonde young man who had spoken badly of Xie Luan in the warship’s main hall earlier was now standing in front of him timidly. His head was lowered, none of his earlier malice visible from his current humble appearance.
The moment the memories were shared, Ravi was just as regretful as the mermaid said he would be. Nevermind saying any more, just the first sentence he said to the youth in the main hall was enough to fill him with regret.
All the details were there, and there wasn’t a single irregularity in the over a year’s worth of memories of him growing up. It was impossible to fake it.
Especially the details. The mermaid’s golden markings, for example, were completely the same. With all the particulars
He rushed to the youth because he wanted to apologize in regret, but he didn’t know what to say. He could only timidly introduce himself.
Ravi?
Xie Luan was startled before immediately fixing his eyes on the blonde haired youngster, taking a good look at him.
Golden hair- it wasn’t a bright shade of gold, but rather a special looking dark blonde color characteristic of the kuwei race.
As a cub, the kuwei cub’s velvety feathers were a yellow color. As they grew older, their feathers would slowly change colors until it became the current dark gold shade.
In the moment Xie Luan was dumbstruck, as if Ravi was afraid the youth would get angry, the already adult kuwei turned anxious and hurriedly tried to salvage the situation:
“Tiuh-tiuh!”
He made the same cry as he did when he was a cub. An adult kuwei which had already turned into a human naturally didn’t have the same crisp call as he did when he was a cub, but the golden haired youth still lowered his head and chirped twice to Xie Luan.
In the memories he had received, the youth would always lower his head and coax the cubs when they made these crisp chips to him.
So Ravi thought that if he called the youth like that, the youth might be willing to forgive him.
Although he knew the golden haired young man was from the Kuwei race, Xie Luan didn’t think of the cub he knew. Now, though, it was clear who he was.
Seeing Ravi, Xie Luan involuntarily thought of the other two fluffs who were very close to him.
Did Peipei learn how to fly in this world? And where was Leeds, the cub who was originally supposed to be adopted with Ravi...
This wasn’t the only parallel world, and it was also decades into the future. Xie Luan felt like there were just too many things he was powerless to change.
He looked at the anxiously waiting Ravi and saw a few strands of golden hair were sticking out. He raised his hands, wanting to fix the other’s unruly strands.
Ravi’s eyes brightened as he peacefully stood there while the youth touched his hair, just like how a parent would tidy up their cub’s feathers when they were young.
“I’m done.” Xie Luan said after he was done tidying up.
When Ravi heard the youth’s words, his movements immediately turned very careful, as if he was afraid of messing up the hair the youth had tidied up for him.
When Xie Luan saw how slowly Ravi was moving, he couldn’t help but add, “If it sticks up again, you can just look for me.”
As soon as the words came out of his mouth, Xie Luan saw the other’s eyes turn even brighter.
Xie Luan stroked Ravi’s golden locks like he was petting the kuwei cub’s soft feathers.
Ravi could come to him as much as he wanted, but Xie Luan didn’t know how long he had left in this parallel world.