100

The person who had come was an ordinary person who hadn't awoken his divine eye. Strictly speaking, the only ones in the spiritual organisation capable of seeing spirits were divination masters. The rest of the staff were civilians from various countries, their status in the organisation was determined by the faction that had sent them over.

For example, the post of chairman was only open to those whose position was ranked among the top three in the spiritual organisation, and they had to campaign for it. The person in charge changed every two years, but there was also the possibility of continuing the term, depending on the election environment and competition that year.

This year was the start of a new term and the rankings in the spiritual conventions would inevitably affect the positions of all those from various countries. Therefore, it was no surprise that the competition this time was unnaturally intense. Even smaller countries would fight with everything they had for the sake of receiving a high score.

For civilians who didn't put on special equipment, they wouldn't be able to see existences like ghosts. So, when the delivery man handed over the package to the dark-haired youth standing by the door, his expression was completely calm.

The only person in his eyes was the youth and he was completely oblivious to the cold glare of a formless being without an external body. Moreover, this formless existence was glued to the youth, holding his waist from behind in an extremely intimate gesture.

Although he couldn't see it, the delivery man still felt his back go cold from the intense stare, but simply attributed the brief moment of discomfort as a figment of his imagination.

"Thank you for your hard work." Once the strange feeling passed, the delivery man saw the clean-looking youth, who gave him a comfortable feeling just by standing at the door, smiling at him.

Maintaining this courteous smile until the door was finally closed, Gu Yan reached out a hand towards the space seemingly empty to the eyes of others, and rubbed. He touched the black hair of the ghost who was currently resting his chin on his shoulders. His jet-black hair hadn't been tied up and instead scattered loosely. It didn't feel messy in the slightest, rather it was soft and supple.

The reason why he did so was that he'd noticed the change in the other person's mood. As long as someone got close to him, he would get moody easily, but in the same vein, this moodiness was easily coaxed.

"Qiuqiu, be good." Patting him, Gu Yan waited for the other person to look up once more before feeling a kiss on his cheeks.

This degree of possessiveness increased with each passing world, and as the receiver of this bottomless affection, he was extremely aware of this point.

By some coincidence, his lover was somehow always the villain boss who was responsible for the world's destruction. If this bottomless abyss wasn't filled, the endings of these worlds weren't difficult to imagine

But saving the world from its end wasn't the reason why he'd become the person to fill this gap.

"No one can take away what belongs to you." Feeling the penetrating gaze stuck onto his body, Gu Yan lowered his head and tore open the package. He didn't notice the moment he said that, a pair of dark and bottomless pupils rapidly shrunk.

Some indistinct memories seemed to emerge once more in his mind but disappeared just as quickly. Once again, he wasn't able to hold onto them. Holding this person was enough. The pallid ghost held the dark-haired youth in his arms, narrowing his eyes as he enjoyed the heat coming from the human's body.

If someone snatched him away…

Why did he feel as if something like this had happened before? Even if he didn't think about it, the dull ache from his chest couldn't be erased.

In the past… there was such a person who'd taken away the thing he cherished most. Although he had tortured that person to death in the cruellest way possible, he had never been able to find his most precious treasure.

That was the first and last time. Losing his treasure was because he hadn't guarded it well, and no matter how long he waited, that person never came back.

For the wait to finally come to an end was truly an incredible thing. He unconsciously held the person in his arms, who was analyzing the contents of the parcel, a little tighter. When the youth turned to look at him suspiciously, Xie Lan lightly planted a kiss against his lips.

Watching the suspicion in his eyes morphing into helplessness and indulgence, Xie Lan pushed his tongue into the other's mouth before pulling away.

This happiness was too intense, to the point that he felt that his heart might even start beating…

It was possible for a ghost to possess a body, but they did not have body heat, and under normal circumstances, wouldn't have a heartbeat. Humans need to have a pulse, but ghosts don't.

Many new ghosts who'd just died would deliberately maintain a heartbeat because they still hadn't come to accept the fact that they were no longer alive. But after some time, they'd gradually let go.

A ghost's heartbeat wasn't normal. They were no longer human and didn't need to maintain a false front to fool themselves. The lively pulse would slowly fade into a cold and heavy silence, never to beat for anything else – this was the truth for many ghosts.

The source of his heart's reaction was probably that whenever he saw the youth, he wanted to live again. And the happiness he felt, just like the warmth of the human body, was akin to a ray of light in the dark and unfathomable abyss; even the coldest heart would melt.

"I like Ah Yan." Just as he whispered those words, the Ghost King's eyebrows dipped as he immediately changed his words, "No, not like. Love."

Love. This word was more appropriate. Xie Lan narrowed his eyes happily, burrowing his face into the youth's neck like a cat.

He needs to hold onto his precious treasure tightly.

Gu Yan felt as if a big cat had come and was acting spoiled, clinging onto him. Moreover, this person was clinging tightly onto him, refusing to let go, as though he wanted to integrate onto his body like a cat.

Although he couldn't tell for sure what sort of emotional changes his lover had gone through, from the fluctuations he'd seen earlier, Gu Yan more or less had an inkling.

"I also like Qiuqiu." Breaking away from the invitation letter he'd been reading, Gu Yan kissed the cold ghost's neck and smiled, "Hm…it's not like. It's love."

Mimicking the manner of speech from earlier, Gu Yan saw a sudden flash in those deep and dark eyes which were fixed on himself. He planted a kiss on the other person's forehead.

His lover was extremely easy to coax. It went without saying, he wasn't being deceptive since they were his heartfelt words.

Therefore, what followed was a struggle to finish reading the contents of the letter between his lover's occasional peckings. Once he memorized the words, Gu Yan casually tossed it onto the table.

The letter was only to inform him of his participation as a member of the convention. The actual pass to enter the venue was the black crystal card in his hands which was also his identity card.

The black crystal card was incredibly thin and comparable to a cicada's wing. However, its surface was smooth, without anything else, the sort that no one would believe was an 'identity card'.

The letter contained another note to explain the purpose of the card, but as the author, Gu Yan naturally didn't need to read it.

The crystal card contained nothing apart from a microchip which held the user's personal information. No matter the event setting, this card's existence was akin to an all-access pass.

By event setting, it also included the spiritual convention this time around.

"What appearance does Ah Yan want me to take when we go?" Smooching the youth's earlobes, Xie Lan asked softly.

Xie Lan knew that there'd be many people who could recognise him at the spiritual convention. So, if he were to show up in his current appearance, it'd probably scare many weak-hearted humans to death.

But if he was to change his appearance, he wanted it to be one that the youth liked. Thus, he had brought up the question.

Gu Yan didn't know why, but when he heard this question and recalled that his lover had been waiting in this world for a long time, he suddenly thought of how he'd made the other person wait for him in the first world for a long time.

"… Eli." Changing appearances. Gu Yan couldn't help but murmur this name.

That Heidis… His family's Qiuqiu had always been waiting for him to return back to that world. The difference in time flow had made it such that Gu Yan had always been able to find his lover as soon as he entered a new world. However, the length of time his lover had waited in all those worlds were undeniable.

This name caused Xie Lan to freeze. He subconsciously realised that the youth was calling him.

Having crossed through space and time, some incredibly absurd fragments of memories appeared in his mind. However, no matter how ridiculous they seemed, Xie Lan knew it was reality.

These were other worlds. If he'd ever existed in other dimensions, he knew that he must definitely have loved this person as deeply as he did now.

"Eli…" His tone had clearly changed. Gu Yan was visibly frozen by the beautiful silver-haired man in front of him.

"Mn." The silver-haired officer answered, his pale green eyes fixed on the youth. It was immediately followed by a slight arch of his lips; a rarely seen smile.

His wait had finally come to an end. It was a truly wonderful thing.