Chapter 029: To the Hotel

Lu Yuan's hands enveloped Cheng Xiao's chilled fingers. "You're inflicting their crimes upon yourself. Why?"

Her laughter tasted of rusted metal. "I know it's futile. But when those voices crawl back..." She shuddered, "...this feels like my only weapon."

"Self-immolation isn't rebellion," he countered softly. "You're the arsonist and the pyre."

Cheng Xiao's retort died beneath his compassionate gaze. Collapsing onto the grease-stained table, she dissolved into silent tremors—a dammed river finally bursting.

Of course she understood the emptiness of this vengeance. What alternative existed for a girl whose sole armor was the flesh others coveted?

Lu Yuan slid beside her, palm tracing circles between her shuddering shoulder blades. "Breathe."

"Why me?" She lifted a face streaked with kohl-tinted tears. "What sin did I commit?"

"None." His jaw tightened. "Mediocrity despises radiance. Your existence indicts their grayness."

Cheng Xiao's tears suspended mid-fall.

"Problem?" Lu Yuan arched an eyebrow.

"You're...unfairly attractive when profound."

The absurdity shattered the tension. Lu Yuan's snort harmonized with her hiccuping giggles—discordant music of catharsis.

"Serious question," she dabbed her nose with a napkin, "am I doomed to eternal victimhood?"

"Become the sun." He gestured with a congealing lamb skewer. "Shadows can't cling to daylight. Focus on..."

"Mother's grave weeds over. Father trades me for gambling debts."

The skewer clattered.

Silence pooled until Cheng Xiao whispered, "Does the weight ever lighten?"

Lu Yuan's throat constricted. All platitudes turned to ash. "You've...shouldered Atlas' burden alone."

Something fractured. Cheng Xiao surged across the tacky vinyl booth, burying her face in his cashmere sweater. The diner's chatter dipped as regulars pretended not to notice the trembling girl and rigid-shouldered man.

When her storm subsided, Cheng Xiao recoiled. "My face!" She fumbled for her compact, gasping at the raccoon-eyed reflection. "Two minutes!"

Lu Yuan watched her flee, abandoned skewers weeping grease onto chipped porcelain.

——

Returning with hastily reapplied lipstick, Cheng Xiao froze. The tableau remained preserved—untouched cutlery, congealed fat islands in crimson sauce.

"You waited?" Her whisper cracked.

Lu Yuan shrugged. "Thought you deserved one intact ritual tonight."

"Why?!" Her clutch bag thumped the table. "I'm nightclub garnish! You're..."

"Recognize your own reflection?" His gaze never wavered. "Beneath the armor beats something uncorrupted."

Her chin trembled. "Then why here? Salvation or defilement?"

Truth crystallized between them like frozen breath.

"Both." No flinch. "I crave you. Not like those jackals. No masks between us."

Cheng Xiao studied him—the hunger, the honesty, the absence of false piety. Slowly, her lips curved—wounded lioness baring fangs.

"Lu-ge?"

"Hmm?"

She leaned across the remnants of grilled meat, eyes blazing with fractured resolve.

"Take me where champagne corks pop at midnight."

The system pulsed:

[Crossroads Activated]

[Route A: Paladin's Path - Safe Harbor]

[Route B: Honest Depravity - Suite 2801]

[Route C: ???]

Lu Yuan tossed bills onto the grease-smeared check, Cheng Xiao's palm already branding his.

Some wars required satin sheets, not speeches.