I Love You Always

Xu Rouguang's body warmth was the last thing Lai Mingjie remembered that morning. When he opened his eyes, he found himself in a hospital. Tubes of blood and dextrose were connected to him, and his vision was still a little blurry. He scrunched his eyes in an attempt to make it clearer but to no avail. For now, he only moved his non-damaged arm and played with the hair next to his fingers.

Even with Xu Rouguang's regenerative ability—as long as it wasn't at its purest form, the person healed wouldn't be at optimum condition. The regeneration energy within the ball wasn't enough for a weak-bodied Lai Mingjie. The most threatening injuries in his body were taken care of, but his arm was still busted. The bruising around his head was still there, as well as the amount of blood that he lost.

He had no idea what transpired after that, but he could imagine how much commotion it caused in JT. Liu Qiu was sleeping next to him; he could only imagine how much of a heart attack she suffered from upon hearing what happened to him.

What made Lai Mingjie sad was that Xu Rouguang was nowhere to be found. His eyes weakly moved around to make sense of other things in the room, only to spot a silhouette of a woman in white by the window. She was seated on the couch for visitors, reading through a book she brought with her. She appeared to be so pristine that she wasn't worried about the patient in the room.

Lai Mingjie flickered his eyes slowly. He then murmured under his breath, "Nuwa..."

"I see you're awake." Nuwa turned to him with her empty smile before getting up from her seat. She went to Lai Mingjie's side, brushing the strands that stuck to his forehead. "You must be very scared."

"Dunzhao was supposed to be imprisoned. How come he found me? How come he escaped?" The demon king wanted to growl and roar, but he was too weak to even lift his head. Moreover, even with Nuwa around, she didn't bother to heal him or just make him feel just a bit better. She was only stroking at his forehead like a mother. "Did you know he was out?"

"These things belong to the truths that you must find out yourself. However, I have to make a revelation." She shook her head. "Not only Dunzhao would come to see you. Now that Dunzhao knew you couldn't be recruited into their ranks, they might try and erase you from existence. Their lot... had obtained things I had buried from the knowledge of the civilizations. As long as they threatened the peace, the Imperial Army will mobilize.

"As for your safety, I cannot guarantee anything. You must find your own way to salvation." Nuwa bent down to press her lips on Lai Mingjie's forehead, soothing the pain of his cracked skull which soon healed. "The more Xu Rouguang remembers, the higher your chances of avoiding this kind of ugly ends. Make haste."

She got up from her position and turned to leave. Lai Mingjie would grab her hand to ask more questions, but he could barely move his body. He only sighed and closed his eyes. "This is too confusing. If she doesn't tell me anything about Dunzhao's escape, I would have to regard that it's connected to General Xu's memory loss..."

He took a deep breath, notwithstanding the pain on his chest. His eyes tore open and stared at the ceiling. A thousand words of complaint and rage was on his mind, but all he could do was to bitterly chuckle. It's been so long since he felt like he was a strong being. Perhaps, life in the endless void was a lot better than living as a human. Even though Xu Rouguang could help him indulge in heaven wine and fruits, the nauseous truth still remained.

A shell.

He was just a shell. Nuwa had carved up everything he was ever proud of and sew his soul to a series of humans that grew weaker and weaker lifetime after lifetime. Even his bearing had been changing; emotions kept on surging like he had them for the longest while.

Lai Mingjie bit his lip and forced himself to calm down. He was not in the condition to thrash around in rage; even the fact that he couldn't move was making him more furious. The anger started turning to tears, and Lai Mingjie didn't enjoy the feeling of having his face wet and his breathing interrupted by hiccups.

His fingers clutched on the hair he was holding. Like needles, the feeling stung Lai Mingjie as a faint image of a woman appeared in his mind. He couldn't recognize her; neither could he put a name to her blurred face. Her mouth was moving without a sound, but he could feel his heart getting soothed. Her indistinct smiles were making him feel warmer, and her silent giggling was combing the tangled strings in his heart.

"You're here again...?" Lai Mingjie couldn't help but to try and remember her. She felt like a very distant memory, but her image would always resurface to ease him from the depths of his soul.

A slight smile came to his lips as he felt like he could reach out and touch her. Warmth came to his hands, and his smile grew deeper. With the woman so close to him, he felt like all the burdens on his shoulders disappeared. Before he knew it, he was drowned by the feeling.

They were floating in the air—him and that unknown girl. She was wearing the garbs of a princess, and she smelled like the freshest fruit Emodao couldn't remember. Her palms weren't soft, and the slender fingers of her left hand seemed to be riddled with thin cuts. Nonetheless, he loved the way she held onto his face like absorbing all the pain in his world.

Her mouth started to move again, making happy-looking shapes. Even if there was no sound, Emodao seemed to hear words that she chirped: 'You're not worthless!

'I believe you did everything you can!

'I will always be here if you need to rest.

'Even if the heavens tear you away from me, I will find you... no matter how long or how painful it takes.'

'I love you always...'

Love? How funny. Lai Mingjie had never fallen in love with anyone. He was a beast; he had no room for emotions as fragile and vicious as love. No matter, this woman had a heart for him; and he was being soothed by her presence.

The woman sealed their lips together, and Lai Mingjie could indeed feel the warmth on his mouth. The warmth was drawing him out of the dream, and soon enough, he figured out why. His eyes began to flutter open, finding Xu Rouguang taking advantage of a sleeping Lai Mingjie again. However, he was in no mood to get angry. The pain in his body was receding fast.

Xu Rouguang broke the kiss and rubbed Lai Mingjie's face, his worried eyes cast down at the demon king's weakened ones. He smiled faintly. "You've been sleeping for twelve hours now. How are you feeling?"

"That was twelve hours already?" Lai Mingjie closed his eyes again. "Why aren't you healing me in an instant?"

"Ah, we're already here in the hospital. If you suddenly grow so healthy, it might be troublesome." Xu Rouguang was kneeling beside the bed so he could whisper towards Lai Mingjie. His eyelashes fluttered repeatedly as he continued to worry. "All I could do is to make you comfortable. Is it really painful?"

"Hmm... don't worry." Lai Mingjie only smiled contently. "I'll be fine."