PSW - Chapter 72
Chapter 72
For a moment, Yu Yinan couldn't tell if Zheng Yi was joking or being serious. But it didn't matter anymore; she had long since lost the ability to tell the difference about anything.
"So, is that how you like me?"
Zheng Yi gazed at her, and Yu Yinan met her eyes. Those dark pupils were like stars again, her gaze shifting and flowing, filled half with pity and half with an emotion Yu Yinan couldn't quite decipher. Just as Yu Yinan tried to get a clearer look, Zheng Yi suddenly pursed her lips into a brilliant smile. "Oh, you~" she cooed, the final syllable rising in a soft, gentle, and slightly drawn-out lilt, as if she were pondering something.
"Jiejie, do you want me to like you that way?" Zheng Yi was still smiling with an innocence that seemed ignorant of the world's ways. Strands of her hair were scattered, and her snow-white neck looked so slender it could be easily broken. "Is what you want… my equality?" She took a step forward. Though she was smiling, the aura she projected in that instant made Yu Yinan want to retreat.
But Yu Yinan didn't back away; she stood her ground. The Zheng Yi before her was like the flame she had struggled to conjure in the darkness that day, and now, Yu Yinan's eyes could see only her. It was as if an invisible mental pressure was bearing down on her, yet at the same time, as if nothing had happened at all. For some inexplicable reason, Yu Yinan felt a sense of suffocation. She opened her mouth, but on some strange impulse, she raised a hand to brush away the stray hairs on Zheng Yi's face.
"I don't," Yu Yinan heard herself answer.
"Yes, I guessed you wouldn't," Zheng Yi's smile deepened. She caught Yu Yinan's hand and brought it to her lips, lightly kissing the back of her fingers. Her eyes remained fixed on Yu Yinan, unblinking, the smiling dark orbs now tinged with a touch of glassy cruelty. Yu Yinan's fingers flinched as if shocked, but Zheng Yi held them tight.
"Then, Jiejie, how close do you want to be with me…?"
"…I just." Yu Yinan murmured in a low voice, "I just… I just want you to… care about me, even a little bit."
"Jiejie, you're being so vague. How am I supposed to know what to do?" Zheng Yi simply watched Yu Yinan, watched her slight struggle, her weakness and hesitation, her difficulty in speaking her mind, watched her-
"I want… you to like me a little more than you like other people." She would work hard to become stronger, to close the gap between them. She would try her best to make Zheng Yi rely on her, just a little.
"Alright."
She… just agreed like that? So casually… Yu Yinan felt a sense of unreality, unable to tell if those two words were sincere or just a perfunctory reply. She felt a little dejected, but before she could lower her head, Zheng Yi raised a hand to cup her cheek and leaned in to kiss her.
No matter how many times it happened, Yu Yinan was lost in it. She hugged Zheng Yi tightly, feeling as if all the blood in her body was boiling. She had become that flame, ready to burn to ashes from a single kiss.
But this kiss lasted longer than any before.
Yu Yinan unconsciously took a step back, her back suddenly hitting a cold wall. Only then did she realize she had been backed into a corner at some point. Tears glistened at the corners of her eyes, ready to fall, and her cheeks were flushed. When their lips parted, she gasped for air like a drowning person.
The person before her seemed so unreal in that moment. It was clearly Zheng Yi who had initiated it, with a passion that was hard for her to handle, even making it difficult to breathe. Yet, this person's eyes were always clear, devoid of any lust, without even a hint of shyness. Zheng Yi's fingertip lightly tapped Yu Yinan's glistening lips. Yu Yinan grew even more flustered and turned her head slightly to avoid it. "You-"
The word had barely left her mouth before it was sealed away again.
Yu Yinan was almost completely submerged, her mind unable to function. Her heart beat faster and faster, and she even felt a tingling numbness at the base of her spine. Her fingers weakly gripped Zheng Yi's T-shirt.
Enough, this is enough… she wanted to say. But a voice deep inside her screamed that it was far from enough. She liked Zheng Yi. Any touch, any… holding hands, hugging, kissing… she craved Zheng Yi.
It was a completely new and unfamiliar desire, so turbulent and fervent.
Just then, a sharp pain shot through Yu Yinan's lip. She looked at Zheng Yi through a watery haze, her eyelashes trembling as a tear rolled down from the corner of her eye.
Zheng Yi, however, just chuckled and licked the blood from her own lip, looking back innocently. "Jiejie, you bit me last time, too."
"I'm sorry." The blood on Yu Yinan's lip welled up, and a droplet trickled down, only to be gently wiped away by Zheng Yi's finger. She let go of Zheng Yi's shirt, raised her hands to wrap around her lower back, and kissed her with an almost reverent tenderness, soft and lingering. "I'm sorry…"
"Zheng Yi…"
Yu Yinan held Zheng Yi tightly. Her mind was a mess, filled with a sense of bewilderment and unreality. But even so, she felt that things weren't too different from before. After all… they had kissed before.
Perhaps she had been special all along.
Compared to ordinary people, compared to most people, compared to the other humans in this wasteland… Zheng Yi already treated her as someone very special.
"Can I… be a little willful?" Yu Yinan asked in a muffled voice.
"Can I be the most special person in your heart?"
"I still like you so much."
"Zheng Yi…"
Zheng Yi thought with some indifference: Isn't Yu Yinan being willful enough already?
She remained silent for a moment, offering no response, and Yu Yinan started sobbing again. It was as if a few kisses had stripped away all her composure, leaving her dazed, emotionally sensitive, and prone to wild mood swings.
What a simple and pure affection.
"How can I become stronger…"
"Take your time." Zheng Yi finally spoke, her voice low. "Jiejie, what are you rushing for?" The apocalypse had only begun four months ago.
Yu Yinan continued to sob quietly. She was too embarrassed to let her tears fall on Zheng Yi's shoulder, so she just raised her hand to wipe them away herself. Hearing Zheng Yi's question, she couldn't bring herself to say something like, "You're only nineteen."
"I want to become more powerful," Yu Yinan said sullenly. "I want an ultra-high-temperature flame blade, too."
Zheng Yi patted her on the back and gently pulled her away. "Then why don't you go outside and practice for a while?"
Yu Yinan stared at her in silence. Her tears hadn't completely stopped, and now they threatened to intensify. She bit her lip, and the stinging pain and taste of blood filled her mouth again. Frowning slightly, Yu Yinan licked the wound, wiped away her tears, and gradually calmed her breathing. But the tips of her ears were still bright red, and the heat hadn't left her body.
"Jiejie, I don't have a heart. It's useless even if you cry your eyes out," Zheng Yi said with a sweet, innocent smile. "The sun's about to get scorching. Aren't you going to sleep?"
"I am." Yu Yinan raised her hand, moving it toward Zheng Yi's as if to test her reaction, and slowly took her hand. Yu Yinan's emotions finally settled completely. She understood that this was already good enough. If she pushed any further… Zheng Yi probably wouldn't have the patience to "coax" her.
When they lay down on the bedding, Zheng Yi turned on her side to sleep. Yu Yinan tentatively draped an arm lightly over Zheng Yi's waist. Before it could fully settle, Zheng Yi's hand blocked it.
"It's hot."
"Can you make some ice walls?" Yu Yinan asked in a low voice. "Just once. Ever since the temperature rose, you haven't let me hold you while we sleep." Yu Yinan could feel her cheeks burning. Saying something like that had taken who knows how much courage and caused her immense embarrassment. Her heart pounded with uncertainty, but then the hand blocking her was finally lowered.
Several ice walls rose from the ground, forming almost flush against the room's walls, and the temperature inside quickly dropped.
"Zheng Yi," Yu Yinan called softly. The joy of that moment was indescribable. Her eyes brightened, as if she had found the right way to interact with Zheng Yi.
"Zheng Yi." She pressed against Zheng Yi's back, holding her a little tighter. "Then, can I have a goodnight kiss?"
"?" Is this what it means to be human? So willful.
"Zheng Yi…" Yu Yinan called softly. For some reason, she remembered the earlier scene and whispered again, "Saint?"
"…" Zheng Yi rolled over, leaned in to place a kiss on Yu Yinan's forehead, then pressed her fingertips to her lips. "Quiet. Sleep."
"Mm." Yu Yinan blinked. A thousand emotions surged within her, but sleepiness was not one of them. On an impulse, she lightly bit Zheng Yi's fingertip, then, afraid she had used too much force, quickly let go and licked it with the tip of her tongue.
When those dark eyes suddenly opened and looked at her, Yu Yinan felt a pang of guilt and shyness. She raised her hand to wipe Zheng Yi's finger clean and properly placed her arm back by her side. Yu Yinan's earlobes were so red they looked like they might bleed. What on earth am I doing!
"You're right. I think… I'll go outside and practice my ability a bit more," Yu Yinan stammered. She scrambled up in a fluster, put on her shoes, and headed out. "You sleep. I won't disturb you."
Zheng Yi watched Yu Yinan walk out the door before rolling over and going back to sleep. As for Zero One, who had been chattering nonstop in her mind from the very beginning, Zheng Yi just snapped two cold words:
'Shut up.'
[…] With a belly full of unanswered questions, Zero One had no choice but to swallow its emotions. Fortunately, it was just a system. No matter how many emotions it had, it wouldn't explode, much less get depressed.
But, but… what was all that? They just kissed again, all vague and ambiguous and for no reason at all!
Zheng Yi never gave Yu Yinan a straight answer! They didn't even define their relationship! What was Yu Yinan thinking? Was a simple kiss enough to make her so dizzy she forgot everything? Was she satisfied with that? Was that all it took to placate her?
For a rare moment, the system actually felt a sense of exasperated disappointment.
Holding each other to sleep? A goodnight kiss? What is this, a grade-school romance? Zero One was utterly speechless. It really wanted to write a few letters to the system next door to vent, but it was afraid that in its heated rant, it would accidentally expose its host's true nature. It just couldn't figure it out. So what if Zheng Yi glanced at you? You even wiped her hand for her? You should have bitten down hard, drawn blood, broken her bone, eaten her flesh and blood! Zheng Yi might have even been more excited by that.
And Zheng Yi was such a bully! Zero One couldn't help but think. It quickly recalled the "shut up" and immediately added, and she bullies systems, too!
Yu Yinan, a twenty-five-year-old adult, couldn't she show a little more adult assertiveness?
She was clearly so jealous before.
Honestly, what a raw deal. Zero One stared at the carefree, sleeping Zheng Yi for a while, then glanced outside. It couldn't see the details, but Yu Yinan was actually concentrating on practicing her ability, continuing to train the high temperature of her flames. It sighed again: when you run into someone like Zheng Yi, being pure-hearted just makes you so incredibly easy to manipulate.
Get instant access to all the chapters now.
Comments
Post a Comment