“What’s wrong? Have our pursuers caught up?” Song Liang asked, wiping the water from the corner of his mouth as he took in their expressions. Both men looked as though they had seen a ghost.
“N-no… not yet,” Xu Qingye stammered. He hastily changed the subject, pointing to the wild fruit and water nearby. “You must be hungry. Have some fruit.”
Song Liang nodded and picked one up. He took a bite. It tasted quite good.
The two men simply stood there watching him eat. Then Jing Lan glanced at the other man lying unconscious on the bed and asked, “Should we wake Young Master Xie so he can have something?”
“No need,” Song Liang replied. “He isn’t hungry, just tired. He’ll be fine after some sleep.”
Jing Lan persisted. “After a whole night spent fleeing in the cold without food, he ought to at least drink some water, even if he isn’t hungry.”
“I already gave him some,” Song Liang said without looking up.
Jing Lan was about to ask how an unconscious man could drink when he suddenly remembered what he had witnessed upon entering. His expression froze.
Beside him, Xu Qingye was equally speechless. He had never imagined things could progress this far between them in a single night. Weren’t they sworn enemies who would never rest until one of them was dead? Yesterday, they had been hacking at each other right in front of him. Today, they were passing water mouth-to-mouth? Was everyone in the imperial family this debauched?!
【Current Tyrant Score: 9 (Debauchery Score: 8)】
The notification chimed for the first time in a while. Song Liang looked at the visibly horrified Xu Qingye and declared with certainty, 【I knew this brat was the one spreading rumors.】
3085: 【……】
3085: 【Shouldn’t you be getting out of here?】
Jing Lan, too, began urging him to leave before their pursuers caught up. Xu Qingye naturally agreed, though his gaze still drifted instinctively toward Song Liang on the bed.
Song Liang lowered his head, idly turning the dagger in one hand. After a long silence, he answered, “We leave tomorrow.”
Both men stared. Jing Lan immediately asked, “Why?”
“It’s almost dark. I’m afraid of the dark.”
“……”
Jing Lan’s expression defied description. “Are you joking?”
Xu Qingye hurried to add, “Young master, the men hunting us could arrive at any moment. Staying here is dangerous!”
“I know. So if you want to leave, I won’t punish you.”
“……”
Xu Qingye’s eyes widened.
Jing Lan’s voice hardened. “Young Master Song, you went through so much to escape. Don’t you want to stay alive?”
Song Liang kept his head lowered, seemingly absorbed in the dagger, though his gaze strayed toward the unconscious man beside him.
“I will stay alive. Thank you for your concern, Young Master Jing.”
Anger rose in Jing Lan’s eyes, but there was nothing he could do.
Xu Qingye felt even more hopeless. He had secretly come down to rescue the young emperor only because he feared being implicated in his fall from the cliff—and had ended up taking a fall himself. Now, after he had finally managed to find him, the young emperor had abruptly decided to be unreasonable.
He simply couldn’t understand it. Why did this man keep swinging from one extreme to the other? Up on the cliff, he had been so brilliant and formidable. How had he suddenly become such a fool?
“Your Majesty, is there something holding you back?” His eyes flicked toward the man beside Song Liang as he lowered his voice. “Are you being… threatened?”
Song Liang glanced at him, his lips curving into something that was not quite a smile. “That isn’t far from the truth.”
Xu Qingye sucked in a sharp breath.
He knew it! All of Yanjing knew these two would love nothing more than to kill each other. How could they possibly have buried the hatchet overnight, let alone become close enough to share a bed? So the Prince Regent had used some underhanded means to threaten the young emperor, leaving him unable to get away. What a vicious trick!
He guessed it was probably some sort of gu parasite or poison. Unable to think of a solution, he considered the matter for a long moment before declaring, “If you intend to stay, young master, then of course I’ll stay too!”
Song Liang gave him a look but did not expose his true motives. In any case, having one more person stay would give him and Xie Yun a better chance of survival.
Although Jing Lan had not caught Xu Qingye and Song Liang’s whispered exchange, he could guess something from the shock and anger on Xu Qingye’s face. Frowning, he said he would stay as well—but only until tomorrow.
Song Liang nodded. “Thank you.”
Despite agreeing, Jing Lan still seemed displeased. “I’ll check outside for signs of pursuit,” he said, then left the cottage.
To Xu Qingye, this Young Master Jing was nothing short of a heaven-sent savior. He hurried after him, intending to offer a proper apology and thank him.
Only the two of them remained inside. Song Liang finally reached out to touch Xie Yun’s forehead. It was still burning hot. His breathing was so faint as to be almost imperceptible; only up close could Song Liang make out the slightest rise and fall of his chest.
3085: 【In his current condition, one night won’t be enough for him to recover.】
“But without this one night, he’ll die.”
【……】
For once, 3085 did not argue. Even without access to the villain’s current physical readings, it could tell that he had already pushed his body beyond its limits. Now that he had finally lain down, he could not be moved again. Otherwise, he would not survive.
【Host…】 After a long moment of hesitation, 3085 could no longer hold back. 【Are you…】
“Am I what?”
【Are you treating him as Xiao Yi?】
“The same face. The same eyes. The same presence…”
Song Liang’s lowered gaze was unusually calm. His fingertips gently smoothed the disheveled strands of hair over Xie Yun’s forehead.
“Even the way he grips my waist when he kisses me is the same. If he isn’t Xiao Yi, who is he?”
【That’s because the data is the same, and so is the character model. As for how he kisses you…】 For a moment, 3085 could think of no explanation. 【Perhaps some residual data wasn’t cleared properly.】
Song Liang ignored it, studying the sleeping face beside him. Apart from the long hair, he looked exactly like his younger uncle.
“Xiao Yi,” he called softly.
There was no answer.
3085: 【See? He can’t even hear you. He isn’t reacting at all.】
Song Liang paid it no heed. He lay down beside Xie Yun without taking off his clothes, intending to rest a little so he could face whatever worst-case scenario might come next.
Seeing this, 3085 stopped disturbing him and quietly retreated into the depths of his mind.
The cottage fell silent. Song Liang’s breathing gradually steadied. He did not notice the lashes of the man beside him flutter, or the faint gleam that escaped his half-open eyes. For a moment, those eyes stared vacantly and coldly at a point in empty space before slowly closing again.
As Song Liang had expected, the first wave of pursuers arrived before nightfall. They were not the Golden Plume Guard, however, but Red Candle—the assassins they had encountered earlier. This time, they did not use those golden concealed weapons. Instead, they surrounded the cottage with blades in hand.
Jing Lan and Xu Qingye went out to meet them, but they could not withstand an assault by dozens of men. They soon began losing ground. Song Liang had no choice but to leave the man beside him and head outside with his dagger.
Knowing Song Liang was wounded, Jing Lan called for him to go back the moment he appeared. Before he could finish, however, Song Liang drove his dagger through an assassin’s heart. As he pulled it free, he wrapped his legs around another assassin’s neck and snapped it outright. His movements were even cleaner and faster than Jing Lan’s own. The sight nearly left Jing Lan rooted to the spot, and he would have been cut down had Xu Qingye not warned him.
“Our young master is impressive, isn’t he?”
That was what Jing Lan heard him say. There was even a proud smile on his bloodstained face.
A turmoil he could not quell surged through Jing Lan. He instinctively glanced back at the cottage. When he turned around again, he met Song Liang’s icy gaze, and his heart jolted.
In the next instant, Song Liang swiftly dispatched the assassin engaging him, then spun around and rushed back into the cottage.
“Your Maj—”
Jing Lan gritted his teeth and swallowed the rest. Raising his sword to block an assassin’s blade, he brought his other hand to his lips and let out a piercing whistle. More than a dozen figures immediately emerged from the darkening woods around the cottage and charged the assassins.
Xu Qingye froze in surprise, momentarily at a loss as to where these unexpected reinforcements had come from.
Inside the cottage, Song Liang burst through the door just in time to see a man in black standing beside the wooden bed, a short blade poised to plunge into Xie Yun’s chest.
His gaze sharpened instantly. He hurled his dagger.
Caught off guard, the man in black hurriedly dodged backward. The dagger buried itself halfway into the wall. A chill ran down the assassin’s spine at the sight, but he had no intention of becoming entangled with Song Liang. He raised his blade toward Xie Yun again—only to find that Song Liang, who had been ten paces away, was already beside him.
With a wet thunk, Song Liang wrenched the dagger from the wall, turned, and drove it savagely into the assassin’s wrist.
“Argh!”
A bloodcurdling scream rang out. Song Liang paid it no heed, pinning the man’s wrist—flesh and bone alike—to the bed boards.
The howls were almost deafening. Clutching his hand, the assassin struggled like a madman. Blood spattered across the floor and onto Xie Yun’s body.
This was the scene Jing Lan encountered as he rushed inside. His face drained of color, and he shouted in alarm, “Stop!”
Song Liang gave him a cold glance, then pulled the dagger free without hesitation. But he did not release the assassin’s wrist. Instead, he reversed his grip, hooked the blade upward, and sliced hard.
A bloody piece of flesh flew from the blade and landed at Jing Lan’s feet. He looked down in horror. It was a piece of human flesh, freshly carved from the living man.
Agonized screams filled the cottage. The stench of blood hung thick in the air. It was like hell.
“After warning you so many times, I thought you might have learned. Yet you still dared to go after him.”
Jing Lan looked up at the red-robed youth standing beside the bed. Frost seemed to coat that handsome, spirited face. Cold and imperious, he looked every inch a sovereign who truly ruled the world.
“Rong Jing, who gave you the nerve to lay a hand on someone who belongs to me?!”
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