Chapter 143

The strange scene on the pedestrian bridge attracted more and more attention, with people stopping to watch the two boys who seemed surrounded.

The standoff didn’t last long. Mo Yin noticed the leader speaking into his earpiece while nodding. The group exchanged glances, stopped advancing, and casually walked down the bridge, their quick steps blending in with the other commuters rushing to catch the subway.

Once they all disappeared, the psychiatric hospital’s vehicle below the bridge also left.

Mo Yin released Li Xiu’s arm and gripped the bridge railing, watching the blue flashing lights fade away.

“Let’s wait a bit longer.”

Mo Yin looked at Li Xiu beside him. Although it had only been a few days since he last saw Li Xiu, he felt like Li Xiu had changed somehow in his eyes.

He reached out and touched Li Xiu’s forehead.

Li Xiu’s forehead was injured, dried blood hidden in his black hair, feeling rough to the touch.

Mo Yin didn’t ask, and Li Xiu didn’t explain.

Mo Yin’s fingers caressed a few times before Li Xiu held his hand.

The sky had completely darkened, and the streetlights below the bridge lit up.

“Are you hungry?” Li Xiu asked.

Mo Yin shook his head, “Are you?”

Li Xiu also shook his head.

“Where are we going now?” Mo Yin asked.

Li Xiu smiled, “I don’t know.”

Despite the chaotic situation, Mo Yin felt a special kind of joy and smiled, a smile more genuine and heartfelt than any he had before.

As they smiled at each other, their faces lit up, Li Xiu lowered his head, resting his forehead against Mo Yin’s. For some reason, Mo Yin felt a wave of sadness, not caused by Li Xiu but something deeply buried in his heart, suddenly surfacing on this night.

Li Xiu said, “We probably have one night.”

Mo Yin understood Li Xiu’s meaning.

Mo Yin had disrupted Zhong Zeyong’s plan.

Li Xiu had disrupted his father’s plan.

Both sides would be sleepless tonight, using all their resources to tear at each other. In this intense moment, the two uncontrollable factors finally had a moment of freedom.

By morning, Li Xiu might be taken away by his enraged father, and Mo Yin might face retribution from the Zhong family.

The future was uncertain, but for this night, they were free.

Mo Yin suddenly hugged Li Xiu, who raised his arms to hold him.

“Li Xiu, I’ve been thinking about you,” Mo Yin said.

Li Xiu’s arms tightened slightly, “I’m sorry.”

Mo Yin was surprised, “Sorry? For what?”

“For everything.”

Mo Yin didn’t understand and looked at Li Xiu.

Li Xiu turned his face slightly, the wind stirring his hair, his eyes seeming to shine with a moist gleam.

Mo Yin said, “It’s okay.”

Even though he didn’t know what Li Xiu was apologizing for, it didn’t matter. He was strong and willing to forgive the Li Xiu he liked.

Li Xiu smiled, “Thank you.”

Where could they go tonight? Where should they go?

Back to school?

Such a free night, going back to school seemed like a waste. Who knew what would happen tomorrow?

Mo Yin and Li Xiu looked at each other. “I’ll take you home,” he said.

They took the subway from the bridge, then a bus. Two hours later, Li Xiu arrived at a completely unfamiliar place.

A narrow alley with damp ground, Mo Yin led Li Xiu by the hand. He pointed to a dilapidated building, “That’s my home.”

A large character for “demolition” was painted on the building’s outer wall.

Despite this, a few families still seemed to live there. Mo Yin could see clothes drying on the balconies, left out and forgotten or perhaps the residents were too busy to bring them in.

Mo Yin led Li Xiu upstairs.

Concrete stairs kicked up dust with each step.

The hallway was dark, and they didn’t use their phones for light, moving forward in the darkness.

This path was one Mo Yin had walked countless times as a child. The smells and temperatures seemed etched in his memory, feeling both distant and yet as if it were just yesterday.

They finally reached the eleventh floor, the top floor of the building.

The copper-green door was rusty, covered with spider webs. Their eyes had fully adjusted to the darkness. Mo Yin touched the door, which creaked slightly.

Mo Yin turned around, his eyes gleaming in the darkness. “Are you scared?”

Li Xiu responded by stepping forward and pulling the door open.

“This isn’t our house. Two years ago, they planned to demolish this place, so we moved out.”

“I don’t know if this can still be considered my home, but I was born here and lived here for over a decade. It should count as home, right?”

The house had clearly been uninhabited for a long time.

After the developer won the bid, it seemed they forgot about this place. Surrounding buildings had been demolished, leaving a wasteland. Only this building stood alone on the city’s outskirts.

The small, less than sixty-square-meter apartment was empty, filled with dust and darkness.

A kitchen window had broken at some point, creating a draft that stirred up the dust as Mo Yin led Li Xiu to the balcony.

The stars outside were bright, finally allowing them to see each other’s faces.

Mo Yin seemed to be in good spirits, and Li Xiu also wore a smile.

“This place isn’t bad, right?” Mo Yin asked.

Li Xiu nodded. “It’s pretty good.”

Mo Yin leaned against the balcony, pointing inside.

The room remained pitch black, the starlight only reaching the balcony.

“There used to be a sofa here, bought second-hand. In fact, everything in our home was second-hand. There was a glass coffee table in front of the sofa, covered with a tablecloth. We didn’t have a TV because the images and sounds can easily trigger a mentally ill person. My mom had a mental illness too. Did I ever tell you?”

Mo Yin turned to look at Li Xiu.

Li Xiu’s face looked beautiful under the starlight. “You have now.”

Mo Yin smiled faintly and looked down. “Oh, right. I usually use this to scare people.”

“Are you scared?” Mo Yin asked.

Li Xiu said, “No.”

“You shouldn’t be,” Mo Yin scrutinized him. “I’ve always thought there was something off about your mind too.”

Li Xiu laughed, nodding with his lips pursed and a curved smile. “I think so too.”

Mo Yin sighed and lowered his head, interlocking his fingers, lightly tapping them together. “I’ve always been scared of becoming abnormal. Mental illness has a high genetic probability, and I know…” He paused and smiled again. “I do have a bit of abnormality.”

Li Xiu didn’t comfort him by saying he hadn’t inherited it. Instead, he said, “Being abnormal isn’t so bad.”

Mo Yin laughed again. “Coming from someone who’s not exactly normal, it doesn’t sound very convincing.” He looked up at Li Xiu again. “But now, I think you’re right.”

Li Xiu gazed at him quietly, and Mo Yin felt a strange emotion. He leaned in slightly, and Li Xiu also moved closer, placing his hands on Mo Yin’s shoulders and gently kissing his lips.

Mo Yin didn’t know why, but the inexplicable sadness returned.

His eyes felt hot.

He forced himself not to cry and said, “But I might be more abnormal than you think.”

“Right here.”

Mo Yin spoke calmly. “My mom jumped from here.”

“That day, Mo Xueming went out for a job, and it was just me and her at home. When she had an episode, she usually just broke things or hit people. That day, she smashed everything she could in the house. The floor was covered with shards, and she lay on the floor crying. Her cries sounded like some wild beast’s howl. I watched her, thinking she was truly in pain.”

“Then, she suddenly stopped crying.”

“She walked over here.”

Mo Yin stomped his foot. “Right here.”

He instinctively followed her to the balcony.

She climbed onto the railing and looked back at him.

For several minutes, he neither spoke to dissuade her nor reached out to pull her back.

Only a long silence hung between them, the most gentle and quiet moment he knew of her.

Then, she smiled at him and jumped from the building.

He leaned over the balcony and looked down. Amidst the screams, Mo Xueming trembled and knelt on the ground, looking up to see a figure standing on the balcony.

“I don’t feel guilty at all,” Mo Yin said indifferently. “Sometimes I think about that day. Do you know what I think about it?”

Mo Yin looked at Li Xiu and smiled. “If she hadn’t jumped that day, maybe I would have pushed her down as Mo Xueming said.”

“I sent Mo Xueming to the mental hospital not just to live my own life, but because I was afraid that one day, I might lose control and push him down from the building too.”

“I wouldn’t shed a single tear.”

“I don’t have normal emotions.”

“Li Xiu, I’m not normal.”

Li Xiu kissed him again, his dry lips gently touching Mo Yin’s. Mo Yin stood still like a statue, but Li Xiu’s tenderness gradually made him open his lips.

They embraced tightly.

Li Xiu said, “I’m sorry.”

Mo Yin didn’t know what he was apologizing for, but the sadness within him surged stronger. He could barely control the heat in his eyes, and when he couldn’t, tears began to fall. His breathing became rapid, as if his soul was about to burst out of his body.

He held Li Xiu, tears streaming down his face. Soon, he felt his own shoulder getting wet too.

They sat down, their backs against the dusty balcony, holding hands.

Outside, there might be chaos.

Mo Yin’s mind conjured images of a refined man shouting angrily into a phone, Zhong Jiaming getting up from the ground with a bleeding nose, pointing at the surveillance cameras, directing forcefully. The school was quiet, students in evening study, and the dormitory supervisor was engrossed in a TV show while munching on sunflower seeds.

Suddenly, the whole world seemed to unfold before his eyes, but none of it mattered to him.

Mo Yin hadn’t yet had time to ponder this peculiar feeling.

Li Xiu said, “I’ve stored up a lot of medication.”

Mo Yin looked at Li Xiu.

Li Xiu gazed forward, his profile showing a smile. “It was originally enough, but you ate a few, so it’s not enough now.”

Li Xiu turned to look at Mo Yin.

“Mo Yin, I like you. You saved me.”

Mo Yin wasn’t sure if he should say, “I like you too, you saved me as well.” His heart was still filled with a strange sadness. He looked at Li Xiu and saw that Li Xiu’s eyes were also full of sadness.

Mo Yin’s mind conjured another strange image—a few men smoking, wearing safety helmets, gathered and talking.

“Are you sure there’s no one left?”

“Sure, it’s all registered.”

“This building is really tricky, it’s haunted and they refuse to move.”

“Stop talking, let’s get it over with before those people come back.”

“The ground floor has been checked, no one there. Do we need to check upstairs?”

“Why go upstairs? This place is creepy, even homeless people wouldn’t come here. Let’s get to work.”

Mo Yin couldn’t explain why his mind was suddenly filled with so many strange images. He frowned, closed his eyes tightly, feeling a sharp pain in his temples and intense ringing in his ears. He held his head with both hands and bowed down. Li Xiu hugged him, and Mo Yin heard a distant voice telling him it was okay. Li Xiu’s hand pressed against his forehead, his breath warm on Mo Yin’s cheek.

“Boom—”

The feeling of weightlessness from the world collapsing surged. Dust and smoke swirled around them. Mo Yin’s hand was flung away, and he felt himself falling, but it lasted only a moment.

No, don’t—

He opened his eyes abruptly. Li Xiu’s face was very close, quietly watching him.

The key point was the two intertwining forces, one black and one white, emerging from their bodies. The black and white intertwined, forming a net that shimmered on the dome, supporting the collapsing world, freezing everything in place.

People in the city’s center, engrossed in their power and desires, students focused on their studies—all were frozen in that moment.

“Who are you?” Mo Yin asked.

“Li Xiu” smiled at him. That smile would never appear on Li Xiu’s face, just as Mo Yin’s current calm, detached expression would never appear on “Mo Yin’s” face.

He smiled, looking both relieved and apologetic. “I’m sorry.”

The next moment, the sensation of weightlessness continued to wash over Mo Yin.

Almost instinctively, Mo Yin reached out and grabbed “Li Xiu” by the collar. He had remembered everything! In this world on the brink of destruction, he finally recalled that he was Mo Yin, the Naturals, not Mo Yin, the high school student. And the “person” before him couldn’t possibly be the high school student Li Xiu!

Chaotic thoughts flooded his mind. Suppressing the sensation of his mental strength pulling, Mo Yin gritted his teeth and pressed on with his questioning.

“Who are you really? Are you a Natural? Or some other kind of creature?”

“Li Xiu” simply smiled, lightly touching Mo Yin’s ear as if with infinite nostalgia.

Amidst the rapidly collapsing world, he said, “You’ve won, every time, it’s been you who won.”

“Don’t come back.”

Volume Five: Kings don’t see kings