The burning lines in the sky did not stop. They slowly grew thicker, spreading across the dark sky like cracks in glass. What had once looked like thin threads now looked like burning veins, glowing white-gold as they cut through the heavens. The light was so bright that Xu Yang could barely keep his eyes open. He tried to breathe, but his chest would not move properly. His breath came in short, painful gasps as the threads around him pulled tighter. What is happening to me?.... Why can't I breathe?.... His paws pressed against the stone as he tried to push himself up, but his body felt heavier than before. I really don't like this.... Can someone please make these things stop?....
The threads gave another hard pull, making Xu Yang's body shake. Great.... Of course it gets worse.... The trees around the shrine began to blur, their leaves losing shape as the ground faded and returned. Xu Yang staggered as the threads tightened around his chest. When are these things going to leave me?.... What even are they?.... Another painful pull came. Seriously.... This is not jewelry.... His ears flattened. I cannot wear this all day....
His claws scraped weakly against the stone, but the threads did not move. Can someone cut these off?.... His chest tightened again, and his tail lashed in frustration. I don't need this....Yan Luo noticed Xu Yang struggling and stepped closer. "Xu Yang." He crouched beside him, watching the threads around his body. "Can you hear me?" Xu Yang looked at him through half-closed eyes. Of course.... I'm not dead yet.... He tried to answer, but only a weak breath came out.
Yan Luo's expression darkened. "He's having trouble breathing." Qing Li looked toward Shen Lian. "Can you remove them?" Shen Lian did not answer immediately. Her eyes followed the threads from Xu Yang's body to the burning lines above the shrine. "Not yet." Qing Li frowned. "Not yet?" "If I cut them now, I don't know what will happen." Yan Luo's voice became colder. "Then find out quickly." Shen Lian looked at him. "You think I am not trying?" Yan Luo said nothing. His hand tightened around his sword as he moved closer to Xu Yang.
Before he could reach him, a thin white-gold thread dropped from the sky and struck the stone between them. The stone cracked with a sharp sound. Yan Luo stopped. Qing Li took a step back. "That was close." Yan Luo stared at the glowing crack. "It was warning us." Shen Lian's eyes narrowed. "No." Her voice was quieter. "It was marking the ground." A low hum suddenly rose from beneath the stone platform. Everyone went still. The sound was not loud, but it seemed to come from inside their bones. Yan Luo slowly stepped back. "Did you feel that?" Shen Lian did not answer.
The shrine stones began to vibrate and dust slipped from the old walls,but instead of falling, the dust stopped in the air. Small pieces of stone lifted from the ground and hung there, trembling as if something beneath the shrine was breathing. Qing Li looked around. His face had lost its usual smile. "Why is the dust floating?" No one answered. The hum became deeper. A crack appeared along the base of the shrine. It was thin at first, almost too small to notice, but white-gold light slowly began leaking from inside it. The crack widened by itself. There was no breaking sound. The stone simply moved apart, slowly and carefully, like something underneath was opening its eyes.
Xu Yang stared at the light. His breathing stopped for a moment. No.... I know that light.... The memory of first day of world's flashed through his mind for only a second, but it was enough to make his heart race. That's the same light.... The same one from when I first came here.... Then what is this thing under the shrine?.... The crack suddenly widened. Something moved behind it. Xu Yang's fur stood up. It was not a person. It was something that did not move like either one.
A long shadow shifted beneath the stone, and several old chains pulled tight with a deep metallic sound. The shrine walls shook. One of the carved faces on the stone wall seemed to change for a moment, its mouth opening slightly before becoming still again. Qing Li noticed it and stepped closer to Yan Luo. "Did that carving just move?" Yan Luo did not look at him. "Stay behind me." Qing Li stared at the wall. Another chain dragged beneath the shrine. This time, the sound was clear.Xu Yang's eyes widened. Something is awake....
The white-gold light inside the crack grew stronger, shining across the courtyard and turning everyone's faces pale. Xu Yang tried to move backward, but the threads around his chest held him in place. No.... Not now.... Please not now.... His claws dug into the stone. I don't want to find out what's under there.... A deep sound came from beneath the shrine. It almost sounded like breathing. Once. Then again. The old stones trembled with every breath. Yan Luo stepped back. "Did you feel that?" Shen Lian didn't answer. The shrine stones vibrated and dust lifted from the cracks and hovered, suspended in midair like grains caught in invisible amber.
The ancient structure was responding.It was being acknowledged.The ground split along the shrine's base, a hairline fracture glowing with the same white-gold light as the sky. Xu Yang's breath hitched.He recognized that light, It was the same light that moment he awakened in this world. Shen Lian's grip tightened. "Do not move." I know what to do!." Yan Luo muttered. Shen Lian's gaze shifted toward him, precise even in the chaos. "Did you say something?" Yan Luo did not look away from the shrine. "Nothing." Shen Lian's tone sharpened. "If you want to say something, say it loudly." Yan Luo's expression remained flat, his attention fixed forward. "It's not my problem if you can't hear." Then he focus on shirne.
The fracture widened, and at first nothing came out because there was only darkness beneath the shrine, deep and still, but after a moment that darkness slowly began to move as if something underneath was waking up and pushing its way toward the surface. It did not climb through the crack like a person, and it did not even seem to have a proper body, but instead it felt as if something was forcing its way through the space between the stones and making the old shrine forget where its walls ended and the darkness began. The stones around the fracture started to fade as their edges disappeared, returned for a moment, and then disappeared again, while a cold wind rose from below and carried the smell of wet earth mixed with something much older that made Xu Yang's body tense. He stared at the opening without moving, his claws pressed against the ground as the thought came to him. Something is down there....
The darkness slowly rose higher until a shape began to form where there should have been nothing, and although it had the outline of a person, there was no clear face or body, only empty spaces where the details should have been, making it look as if someone had tried to erase a person from the world but had left the outline behind. Xu Yang's knees suddenly weakened as the soundless laughter returned inside his head, spreading through his thoughts instead of the air, and he pressed his claws harder into the ground while trying to keep himself upright.
Then his vision suddenly flashed, and he saw a stone road covered in rain with people running past him while their faces stayed blurred, and when someone suddenly grabbed his hand, a voice called a name that broke apart before he could understand it. The scene changed before he could think about it, showing him a burning sky above a city he had never seen, with red light shining between tall black towers while a woman stood alone in the middle of the road with blood on her sleeve and looked directly at him, her mouth moving as if she was trying to tell him something that he could not hear.
Before he could get closer, the scene changed again and he saw a child sitting beside a broken shrine while holding a small wooden figure in both hands, and when the child looked up at him, Xu Yang suddenly felt a strange sadness in his chest that made no sense to him, only for the child's face to disappear a moment later along with the road and the shrine until everything broke apart into small pieces of light. What… is this?.... Xu Yang's breath shook as another image suddenly struck him, showing a blood-covered hand, bare feet running across cold stone, a door slowly closing while someone cried behind it, and a sword falling from someone's hand before a voice whispered, "Don't forget me," only for the voice to disappear before he could see who had spoken.
No.... These aren't mine.... Xu Yang shook his head, but another image came before he could recover, showing a burning sky above a field of white flowers where a young man stood alone beneath a broken gate, and for a brief moment a name appeared in the air before the letters broke apart and vanished. Xu Yang's claws dug into the earth as the images continued to come faster, showing faces he had never known and places he had never visited, including a crowded street, an empty temple, a woman kneeling beside a dead body, a pair of red shoes left in the rain, and a hand reaching toward someone who was already gone, and although he could not understand what any of them meant, every image left the same strange ache inside his chest. I don't know these people.... I've never been there.... So why does it feel like losing something?.... His breathing became uneven as he tried to make sense of what was happening, and the thought slowly came to him. Was this what the threads were doing?.... Were they showing him what had been erased?.... Or were they putting something inside him that had never belonged there?....
A face suddenly appeared in front of him, clearer than all the others, and Xu Yang saw a young man with tired eyes looking straight at him while his lips moved as if he was saying something important, but the moment Xu Yang almost understood the words, the face broke apart like ash and disappeared. A name appeared after it, but he could see only the first two letters before they vanished as well. Xu Yang's eyes widened as he reached toward the fading image, his paw passing through nothing as the thought escaped him. Wait.... I almost knew that.... For one terrifying moment, he could not tell what frightened him more, the fact that these memories were not his or the fact that some part of him was beginning to feel them as if he had really lived through them. Am I breaking?.... Or… was something else being put back?....
"It has begun reclaiming what was cut away." Shen Lian's voice finally reached him through the distortion, and Xu Yang's vision cleared slightly as he saw her standing near the shrine with her robe moving in the strange wind while Yan Luo looked toward her with a tense expression. "Reclaiming into what?" he asked, and Shen Lian kept her eyes on the dark shape beneath the shrine as she answered, "Into silence." Yan Luo's jaw tightened as he looked at her. "That's not an answer." Shen Lian did not turn toward him as she said, "It is the only answer I have," and Yan Luo watched her for a moment before turning back toward the shrine.
Shen Lian then looked at him again and said, "The other day, you were stopping Qing Li from asking questions, so what are you doing now?" Yan Luo's expression tightened as he answered, "This is different." Shen Lian studied him for a moment before asking, "Because now you want answers?" Yan Luo looked away and said, "I want to know what is happening before it kills someone." Shen Lian watched him quietly, but then her eyes moved toward Xu Yang, who was still struggling beneath the threads, and she noticed how Yan Luo kept looking toward the cat even when he was speaking to her. "Why do you care about that cat so much?" she asked, making Yan Luo turn back toward her. "What?" "You keep watching him, and every time something happens, you are the first one to move toward him." Shen Lian said calmly, her eyes narrowing slightly as she added, "What kind of cat is he to make you feel like this?" Yan Luo stared at her before answering, "Why can't I like a cat?" Shen Lian said nothing, so Yan Luo frowned and continued, "What's wrong with liking it and caring about it?" Shen Lian studied his face for a moment before asking, "Are you sure?" Yan Luo's expression became serious. "Yes." Shen Lian's voice became colder as she said, "You're not lying to me, are you? Because if I find out you're hiding something from me and it connects to our clan, I'm not letting this go."
Yan Luo's eyes hardened as he glanced toward Qing Li before looking back at Shen Lian. "Why would I lie?" he asked, then pointed toward Xu Yang and continued, "Do you really think this cat can do anything? He's just a normal cat who got trapped in all of this." Qing Li looked toward Xu Yang and then back at Yan Luo with a doubtful expression. "A normal cat?" Yan Luo looked at him. "Yes." Qing Li gave a small shrug and said, "He does seem to attract a strange amount of trouble for a normal cat." Yan Luo answered too quickly, "That's not his fault," and Qing Li raised an eyebrow when he heard the sharp reply, making Yan Luo realize how quickly he had defended the cat before looking away. Shen Lian noticed it too, but she did not say anything about it and simply turned her attention back toward the shrine. "Then protect your normal cat carefully," she said quietly, and Yan Luo's face tightened as he answered, "I was already planning to."
The clearing slowly became quiet again as the strange wind moved through the broken trees and the others watched the shrine, but the silence did not last long because the silhouette beneath the shrine suddenly shifted, making Yan Luo and Qing Li stop where they stood. The empty shape slowly turned, and although there were still no clear eyes, no mouth, and no face, Xu Yang somehow knew that it was looking directly at him, and the moment their gazes met, the whole world seemed to stop around them. The trees froze in the middle of their movement while a leaf remained hanging in the air and the dust stopped falling, and even the pale threads above the shrine became completely still as if the world itself had forgotten how to move.
Then the sky flickered, and for one second the whole lattice of lines disappeared as darkness filled the space above them before the threads returned a moment later, although they were no longer in the same places. Qing Li's smile disappeared as he looked up and asked, "Did anyone else see that?" Yan Luo slowly raised his sword and answered, "Yes," while Shen Lian's eyes narrowed as she said, "It noticed him." Xu Yang's heart dropped as he looked toward the empty shape. Me?.... Why does everything always notice me?.... The silhouette moved closer without taking a step, and the space between it and the shrine seemed to shrink as Xu Yang tried to move back, only for the threads around his chest to suddenly pull tight and jerk his body forward.
"Xu Yang!" Yan Luo stepped toward him, but a white-gold thread struck the ground between them and forced him back, making Shen Lian immediately warn, "Don't come closer!" Yan Luo stared at her and said, "Then tell me what to do." Shen Lian kept her eyes on the silhouette as she answered, "Nothing." Yan Luo's grip tightened around his sword. "You're asking me to stand here and watch?" Shen Lian finally looked at him and said, "If you move now, it may notice you too." Yan Luo stood still, clearly unhappy with the answer, while Qing Li's expression became serious as he said, "I think it already noticed all of us." Shen Lian did not answer, because at that moment the silhouette suddenly leaned forward and the world flickered again.
Xu Yang saw the same burning sky for a moment before another scene appeared over it, showing a huge black door covered in strange marks with countless hands pressing against the other side, and as Xu Yang stared at it, his breath caught because whispers began filling his ears, so many voices that he could not tell them apart until one voice suddenly sounded close enough for him to understand. "You were not supposed to remember." Xu Yang's eyes widened, but before he could react, everything vanished and the trees began moving again as dust fell from the air and the strange wind returned. Yet something had changed, because the threads around Xu Yang's chest constricted. Symbols burned briefly along the glowing lines above, ancient characters that dissolved the instant the mind tried to comprehend them.
Yan Luo squinted upward as the pale threads crossed over one another and slowly formed strange patterns across the sky. The lines did not look like ordinary threads anymore, because some were thin and sharp while others had become thick enough to look like white-gold cracks hanging above the village. He watched them tighten around the dark shape beneath the shrine before asking, "Is that a seal?" Shen Lian's answer came almost immediately. "No. A ledger." Yan Luo blinked and looked at her. "A ledger?" Shen Lian finally turned her eyes toward him. "Heaven is not sealing him." Another thread moved across the sky and joined the others, making the whole lattice tremble with a low sound that seemed to come from everywhere at once. "It is accounting for him." Yan Luo frowned as he followed the movement above. "Accounting for what?" "Everything." Shen Lian's voice remained calm. "Where he is, what he has changed, what should be around him, what should not be around him, and what happens if he remains here." Yan Luo's expression became darker. "You're saying Heaven is keeping a record of him?" "Not a record like a book," Shen Lian said. "It is measuring him against what this world believes should exist."
Yan Luo looked back at Xu Yang, who was still trapped beneath the threads. "And if he doesn't match?" Shen Lian's eyes stayed on the burning lattice. "Then Heaven corrects the difference." Yan Luo's grip tightened around his sword. "By killing him?" Shen Lian was silent for a moment before answering, "Perhaps before, that would have been enough." Yan Luo's eyes narrowed. "Before?" Shen Lian looked at him. "Now it is doing something else." The threads above them tightened again, and several new lines appeared between the clouds, crossing the sky in perfect straight paths. "It has already decided that destroying the error is not the only way to correct it."
Xu Yang's heart slammed against his chest as he listened. Accounting.... Not destruction, not judgment, but calculation.... He stared at the glowing lines around him. So Heaven really has a giant cosmic spreadsheet with my name on it?.... Great. Just great....
He tried to move one paw, but the threads tightened around him. Okay.... Even moving is illegal now.... He looked up at the endless lattice, watching new lines appear and shift the pattern. This wasn't an attack. Somehow, that was worse. It was treating him like a problem that needed fixing. Xu Yang swallowed. If Heaven thinks I'm an error.... what exactly happens when it finishes correcting me?....
The silhouette beneath the shrine pulsed once, and the fracture in the stone widened another inch as a deeper sound moved through the ground. The soundless laughter returned inside Xu Yang's head, but before he could react, a soft thud broke through the tension. All three of them turned at once. Xu Yang sat at the edge of the shrine steps, his tail wrapped neatly around his paws, while his golden eyes reflected the burning lattice above him like two small pools of molten light. His breathing was still uneven, but he was no longer looking at the strange shape beneath the shrine. He had tilted his head slightly upward, almost as if he were simply watching the sky. But he was not watching the sky. He was watching the threads.
Shen Lian's eyes narrowed as she studied him. "That cat…" she whispered. Yan Luo immediately frowned. "It's just a cat." "Then why is it looking at the lattice?" Shen Lian asked. Yan Luo looked at Xu Yang, then back at her. "Cats look at strange things." Qing Li glanced at Yan Luo. "That is your explanation?" Yan Luo gave him a look. "Do you have a better one?" Qing Li opened his mouth, then stopped when he noticed Xu Yang's eyes. "Actually..." His expression became more serious. "I don't." Shen Lian took one slow step toward the shrine. Xu Yang's gaze followed her. Their eyes met, and her breath stopped for a moment, not from fear but from a strange feeling she could not explain, as if she had seen those eyes somewhere before but could not remember where. The cat opened its mouth, but no sound came out. Shen Lian's eyes sharpened. "What were you trying to say?" Xu Yang stared at her. Seriously?.... Even when I say nothing, I somehow look suspicious.... He closed his mouth and looked away. Shen Lian watched him for another moment before quietly saying, "Interesting."
The lattice above them suddenly flared, and a huge wave of white-gold light spread across the sky, so bright that the broken shrine, the trees, and even the ground beneath them were washed in pale light. Yan Luo and Qing Li raised their arms to shield their eyes while Shen Lian turned her face away, and the pressure that followed came down so hard that Xu Yang was driven onto one knee. The air seemed to become heavy around him, pressing against his back and chest until he could barely breathe. The threads snapped tight again, but this time there were more of them, appearing one after another from every direction until they crossed around him like a cage made from burning light.
Xu Yang's claws dug into the stone as he tried to hold himself up.The light above him grew brighter, and he could see tiny marks moving along the threads as if something was checking each line one by one. It felt cold despite the heat of the light. The threads were not angry. They were simply working. One line crossed another, stopped, then changed direction.Another disappeared and returned in a different place. Xu Yang stared at them with wide eyes. It was like watching someone correct a mistake on a page, except the page was the entire world and he was the mistake.
"The ledger is correcting an error." Shen Lian said. Her composure broke when several lines suddenly bent toward Xu Yang at once. "It noticed the interference." Yan Luo grabbed her arm and pulled her back from the edge of the clearing. "Interference from what?" Shen Lian did not answer at once. Her eyes stayed on Xu Yang. "From something that should not exist here." Yan Luo stared at her. "What does that mean?" Shen Lian looked at him, and for the first time, uncertainty appeared in her eyes. "This is what I'm trying to find." Yan Luo looked toward Xu Yang as another thread passed above him. "You think the cat is the interference?" "I don't know," Shen Lian said. "And that is the problem."
Yan Luo's face tightened. "Then don't treat him like the problem until you know." Shen Lian looked at him. "You are proving my point." Yan Luo said nothing, but his hand tightened around his sword as he stood between Xu Yang and the burning light.The silhouette beneath the shrine suddenly surged upward, its shape becoming almost human as darkness filled in the missing parts. A hand appeared first and pressed against empty air, but the air bent beneath its fingers as if something on the other side were pushing against glass. The fracture widened again, spreading through the old stone with thin glowing lines, and then the soundless laughter stopped.
Across the far horizon, a perfectly straight line suddenly appeared from one side of the world to the other. It did not glow or burn. It was simply there. Above it, the sky remained filled with the burning lattice and pale light, but below it, everything began to fade. The sky turned dull gray, the trees lost their clear edges, and the distant houses became flat shapes. Even the wind became thin and weak, as if the sound of the world was slowly being taken away.
Xu Yang stared at the line as the ground beneath his paws seemed to lose its depth. The stones looked flat, and the trees beyond the line seemed much farther away. Dust faded before it touched the ground. Reality on their side of the line was losing its shape.
Yan Luo's voice came out low. "Shen Lian… what is that?" She did not hesitate. "The boundary." Yan Luo stared at the line. "A boundary for what?" Shen Lian's eyes remained fixed ahead. "The separation is complete." Her voice became quieter. "This region is being removed." Yan Luo turned sharply toward her. "Removed where?" She answered without looking at him. "From the world that remembers him."
Xu Yang felt the threads dig deeper into his chest as the sky above him slowly lowered, and beneath the shrine, the silhouette lifted its head and smiled. It was the first clear expression it had shown, and somehow that small smile frightened him more than the empty face had. For the first time, Xu Yang understood what Heaven was doing. He was not being erased. He was being isolated. The silhouette beneath the shrine paused as the lattice above shattered, not broken but rejected. The sky split open. And something beyond Heaven looked down.
After the sky fracture and Heaven's withdrawal, the light vanished. It was there, tearing the sky apart, and then it was gone. The burning lattice disappeared, leaving only pale morning clouds drifting across an ordinary blue sky, as if the world had decided to forget what it had almost lost. The strange pressure disappeared with it, and the air became light again so quickly that Xu Yang nearly fell forward. For several breaths, nobody moved because the silence felt wrong after everything that had happened. The broken shrine stood beneath the calm sky, the old stones covered in dust and cracks, while sunlight slowly touched the rooftops and the tops of the trees as if nothing unusual had happened at all.
Then the villagers began to emerge. Doors opened one after another as frightened faces appeared from the houses. People stepped into the streets, looking at the clear sky and then toward the shrine while quiet whispers spread through the village. "Did you see that?" one man asked. "Of course I did. The sky nearly split open." "It must have been Heaven's wrath," another villager said nervously. "We must have done something wrong." "No," another man argued. "It was a demon's curse." "Then why did the sky change?" "I don't know. That's why it's a curse."
Near the well, a quieter man kept staring at the sky. "Did you see it change?" he asked. "Change?" "The sky. I remember the light, but I can't remember what was underneath it." A woman pulled her child closer. "Don't talk about it." "Why?" She looked toward the shrine. "Because whatever it was, it already noticed us." The child looked toward the shrine. "Mother, what was there?" The woman quickly turned his face away. "Don't look." An old villager frowned at the broken shrine. "There is nothing there now." He rubbed his forehead. "But I feel like we're forgetting something." Nobody answered.
At the edge of the clearing, Shen Lian stood unmoving, her eyes fixed on Xu Yang sitting atop the broken stone lantern. The cat looked calm, his tail resting beside his paws as morning light fell across his dark fur. Shen Lian watched him for a moment before walking closer. "You must be enjoying this," Shen Lian said quietly, her voice carrying just enough to reach him and no one else. "I didn't expose you. I didn't find out who you are… but I know you are not just a cat." She took a small step closer, gaze steady. "Whatever you are, I know you don't mean harm."
Xu Yang didn't move. He sat as he always did, with his paws under his body and his tail wrapped around him as if nothing had happened. Shen Lian's fingers curled slightly. That lattice… it wasn't sealing a demon. It was isolating something. She looked at him for another moment, her eyes becoming more serious. Xu Yang only flicked his tail and looked away. "Strange little cat," she murmured. "Stay out of trouble." She turned and walked away, leaving Xu Yang sitting on the broken shrine steps.
A little later, Yan Luo walked with his hands behind his head while Qing Li carried a small stick he had picked up along the way. Xu Yang walked between them with his tail held high. For a while, no one said anything. Then Yan Luo looked around the quiet path and sighed. "Well, that was unpleasant." Qing Li glanced at him. "The sky almost split open, and we're still alive. That's good enough." Yan Luo gave him a look. "Your standards are low." Qing Li smiled and tapped the stick against his palm. Xu Yang flicked one ear and walked a little faster. Qing Li watched him go. "I think he disagrees." Yan Luo laughed quietly. "Probably."
They walked farther down the path, and the village slowly disappeared behind the trees. The forest was quiet now, with only the sound of leaves moving in the wind. Yan Luo looked down at Xu Yang. "You were very quiet back there." Xu Yang kept walking. "Too quiet." The cat suddenly stopped, sat down, and began licking his paw as if he had become very busy. Qing Li turned away to hide his smile. Yan Luo noticed. "What?" "Nothing." Qing Li pointed at Xu Yang. "He's ignoring you." Yan Luo stared at the cat. "You can hear me, can't you?" Xu Yang continued licking his paw. After a moment, he flicked his tail and brushed it against Yan Luo's ankle before walking ahead.
Qing Li laughed softly. "I think that was his answer." Yan Luo looked down at his ankle. "He's getting rude." "He learned from someone." Yan Luo immediately looked at him. Qing Li raised both hands. "I said nothing."After a few more steps, Yan Luo's expression became serious. "Heaven wasn't targeting the village." Qing Li's smile faded as he looked back toward the shrine. "It was targeting him." Xu Yang kept walking as if he hadn't heard. Yan Luo watched him for a moment before following. "Troublesome little thing," he muttered. Qing Li glanced at him. "And you still follow him." Yan Luo didn't answer.
Soon they reached the stream at the edge of the village. Qing Li knelt down and washed his hands while Xu Yang stepped onto a flat stone and looked into the water. For a moment, the water looked darker, and a faint red line seemed to move beneath the surface. Xu Yang blinked, and it was gone. He stared at the water for another moment before looking away.Finally, it's over.... I hope nothing new is coming. Can I sleep peacefully today?.... He curled his tail around his paws and watched the quiet stream.
Yan Luo crouched nearby and picked up a blade of grass. He held it in front of Xu Yang and moved it slowly from side to side. Xu Yang's eyes followed it. Yan Luo smiled and moved it again. When Xu Yang swatted, he quickly pulled it away. The cat missed. Yan Luo laughed. On the third try, Xu Yang stopped and slowly looked up at him with an annoyed expression. Yan Luo's smile faded. "What?" Qing Li turned away, clearly trying not to laugh. Xu Yang turned his back on both of them and sat down.
Qing Li stood and brushed the water from his sleeves. Yan Luo stretched, finally relaxing after everything that had happened. "You spend a lot of time in the middle of trouble for someone who hates it," Qing Li said. Yan Luo glanced at him. "And you spend a lot of time making it worse." Qing Li smiled. "I'm just curious." "That's what gets you into trouble." Qing Li gave a quiet laugh.
Xu Yang opened one eye and looked at them before closing it again. Neither of them seemed to notice.
After a few steps, Yan Luo looked back. "Come on." Xu Yang stayed on the stone. Yan Luo waited. "Xu Yang." One ear moved, but the cat still didn't get up. Yan Luo sighed. "We're leaving." Xu Yang finally stood, stretched, and walked past him without looking back. Qing Li shook his head. "He really does whatever he wants." Yan Luo started walking beside him. "That's the problem." "Then why don't you stop him?" Yan Luo looked at Xu Yang walking ahead. "Because every time I try, things somehow get worse." Qing Li smiled. "Then I suppose we should let him be." Yan Luo glanced at him. "For once, that's a good idea." The three continued down the path, Xu Yang walking ahead while Yan Luo and Qing Li followed behind, with the forest quiet around them as if nothing had happened.