Chapter 68

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Chapter 68: The Queen’s Inheritance (VII)

“Don’t you sleep?” Qi Leren whispered to Ning Zhou lying beside him.

The lantern had been extinguished, but Ning Zhou still had his eyes open in the narrow space wrapped by the enchantment.

“I can’t sleep,” Ning Zhou said.

“Me neither,” Qi Leren sighed softly.

The number displayed by the system had dropped from 1109 to 912. Every minute and every second, people were dying. This anxiety made them unable to sleep peacefully.

“Let’s sleep for a while, or our spirits will be very bad tomorrow,” Qi Leren said.

“Hmm.” Ning Zhou turned over and changed from lying on his back to lying on his side. The two men looked at each other face to face, but the light was too dark. Qi Leren could only see Ning Zhou’s eyes, which were a deep blue.

“I kind of miss the Village of Dusk.” Qi Leren whispered, “Although I haven’t been away for long, I have this constant feeling like I left home for the first time. It’s strange; it’s obviously not a beautiful place.”

But even if it wasn’t a beautiful place, it was also a pure land in this Nightmare World. Where people tried their best to create a place that they could live in and call “home”.

Ning Zhou listened quietly to what he said, and sometimes would make sounds in answer.

“In fact, at that time, I also saw the letter you wrote to Chen Baiqi. I wrote back to you, but you didn’t receive it…”

“The letter must still be at the letter exchange. I’ll get it when I get back.” The receiving and sending of letters in the Underground Ant City was still very old-fashioned, requiring people to go to the “post office” to collect them. Ning Zhou had never seen the reply since sending his letter, and naturally he didn’t know that there was still a letter he hadn’t received.

“Don’t don’t don’t don’t! You’ve already met me, what are you going to gain by reading the letter!” Qi Leren almost sat up nervously and his face was red. In his letter, he had written that disgusting sentence, “I like that straw ring very much, and I want to give it back to you.”!

Although the two had a mutual understanding now, he was still embarrassed to let Ning Zhou see the letter. He would rather go back to the Village of Dusk and secretly buy a ring, and then on a beautiful day, on the beach in the sunset, give Ning Zhou the ring in a marriage proposal.

Before Ning Zhou could speak, Qi Leren asked, “When is your birthday?”

“The Establishment Day. The Village of Dusk’s Establishment Day,” Ning Zhou said.

“…” Qi Leren, a foreigner, looked confused.

“December 22nd.” Ning Zhou added, realizing that Qi Leren didn’t know which day it was.

“That’s not far away.” Qi Leren felt a joy in his heart. It was only a few months away.

“Mm. What about you?”

“It’s passed.” Qi Leren said his birthday and smiled again, “Let’s spend it together next year.”

“Hmm.”

It was already late at night. The two people were whispering of the life they wanted to build together, and at some point without noticing they had begun to hold hands. The temperature shared with another person suddenly gave this cold and horrible underground world a comforting warmth.

Qi Leren fell asleep, but Ning Zhou didn’t. He watched Qi Leren quietly for a long time, and then let go quietly.

Qi Leren murmured, having lost the warmth in his hand, and tried to catch the lost warmth, but he didn’t catch anything. Ning Zhou stood up carefully, picked up his coat that had been set aside, passed the sleeping Qi Leren, beckoned to the eagle resting in the corner, and quietly walked out of the enchantment.

In this silent night, this silent world, this dull Underground Ant City, the fog had not dispersed, and countless demons appeared from all directions, eyeing this person who had suddenly appeared.

Ning Zhou didn’t go too far. He stood on the roof watching an endless fog, like a giant dragon overlooking the world from a cliff. The eagle hovered in the sky, feeling more and more intense demon pressure from its master, and it flew farther.

The continuous oppressive feeling made the demons as restless as lower demons, but these ordinary demons were not the things that Ning Zhou cared about. From the moment he had stepped into this field, he had faintly felt that a monster was hiding here. It seemed to be a monster, but it was strange. In the middle of the night, its presence was stronger than during the day.

The talking eagle let out a cry in the air, Ning Zhou understood the meaning, jumped gently from the roof, landed on another eave a few meters away, and ran in the direction the talking eagle had given.

&&&

Half-asleep, Qi Leren turned over and vaguely felt that he was sleeping on warm grass. Lazy sunshine was shining on his face. He was moved by this pleasant feeling and didn’t want to wake up at all.

But he still vaguely remembered that he had been holding a person’s hand, but now his hand…

“Ning Zhou?” Qi Leren woke up, sat up from under the blanket and looked nervously at his side.

Empty. Ning Zhou was gone.

There was a chill in Qi Leren’s heart, and countless horrible thoughts flashed in his mind, but when he saw the place where Ning Zhou had left his coat before going to bed, he calmed down again.

Ning Zhou left by himself and took the eagle away. As for where he went and what he was doing…

Qi Leren put on his coat and went to the boundary of the enchantment to go out, but his hand touched the enchantment as if he was touching a piece of cold glass—Ning Zhou had set up a two-way enchantment.

Qi Leren just stood there for a long time. His mind was a mess, and he didn’t know what he was thinking.

He knew that Ning Zhou couldn’t have left without saying goodbye, especially when they were still in the same task, but a strong sense of loss still arbitrarily filled his mind.

Wait. Ask Ning Zhou when he comes back.

But… what can I do if I ask?

Qi Leren returned to the stone floor, took off his coat, and nestled back into the blanket.

In such a small enchantment, he couldn’t hear the sounds outside. He didn’t know what was happening outside, but he could imagine.

Perhaps in this huge underground mausoleum filled with dense fog, there was a black dragon flying through the air, spewing the fires of destruction along the way…

&&&

The black dragon landed on the eaves when it arrived, and its soul was burning with the destructive force in its body. It endured this inhuman torture and crawled on the ground, waiting for this terrible force to gradually subside.

As he had expected, there was indeed a terrible monster hidden in the fog. It was like a black whirling swamp, constantly devouring this chaotic world. With its encroachment on the world, the surrounding fog became more and more intense, and a steady stream of demons poured out from its body. It was like a huge demon factory, producing these strange monsters.

This was not the strangest thing. The strangest thing was that in the middle of the swamp, there was a woman wearing a long palace dress. She seemed to have been born in this swamp. She had no feet, but was suspended above the whirlpool, staring at the magic dragon in the sky with dirty bleeding eyes.

There were almost no humanoid demons, so what was this woman?

Instead of thinking, the magic dragon burned the demon nest with the fires of destruction. Fortunately, the power of destruction could destroy this as well. Although a steady stream of demons brought some troubles to the magic dragon, it finally destroyed the nest, together with the woman.

With the collapse of the demon nest, the surrounding fog began to disperse gradually. The demons who had survived didn’t know fear, but their intuition made them flee in succession and they escaped into the thin fog without trace.

The magic dragon flew back to his shelter, and his remaining will stopped him from breaking into his enchantment to wake his sleeping lover. Instead, he curled up next to the enchantment, suppressing his instincts and telling himself again and again: You are not a devil, don’t do unforgivable things.

Don’t hurt your lover.

But there was a voice in the depths of his soul letting out a mocking snicker. It didn’t speak, but Ning Zhou knew what it wanted to say. He resisted this instinct in silence, endured the pain of his soul being cut, and waited for himself to restrain this irresistible temptation and become human again.

The cold scales were fading rapidly. He changed back to his human form. Ning Zhou leaned against the wall, looked at the distant fog that receded like the tide, and looked down at his hand.

It was a human hand, but the nails had not yet turned from sharp to round nails, telling him what he had looked like not long ago.

No matter how many times he tried to love himself, he deeply hated the dragon that symbolized destruction. Ironically, he couldn’t resist its power.

The more you want to save, the more you fall into the abyss of destruction.

He knew very well that unless one day he could put aside everything, close his eyes, not go to see the destruction of the world by demons, escape into a secluded valley, and not listen to this devastated world, this kind of hypocritical years would calm his inner anger and sadness, so that he no longer needed strength, and naturally he wouldn’t be attracted by his original force.

But could he do it?

He couldn’t do it.

Ning Zhou looked back and looked at the house he had come out of. In the enchantment under the low eaves, his lover was sleeping.

He was as attached to the world as his lost lover.

&&&

Ning Zhou and his eagle entered softly into the enchantment. It was dark inside, but he could see the Qi Leren curled up in blankets with his back to him, breathing gently, as if he was still asleep.

Ning Zhou carefully took off his coat and nestled back into the blanket. He suddenly heard Qi Leren’s voice: “Where did you go?”

At this moment, Ning Zhou was even more nervous than when facing the demon nest, and he could not hide this state from Qi Leren. He “smelled” the scent of death that Ning Zhou had not yet cleared, and quietly waited for his answer.

After a long time, Ning Zhou’s voice came from behind: “I couldn’t sleep, so I went out and looked around.”

Qi Leren didn’t breathe, and almost turned to look at Ning Zhou and lecture: Who the hell would wander around in this dangerous area in the middle of the night? And also come back with the death still clinging to you?

But he didn’t yell at him after all. Instead, he asked himself: What could Ning Zhou have done?

Wake him up, take him with him, and make him let him watch as he became a magic dragon under the dominating force of destruction? This was cruel to him, but also cruel to Ning Zhou. No one wanted to let his loved ones see them lose control.

In his final understanding, he couldn’t do anything for Ning Zhou. Instead, he should let Ning Zhou hide from him and not let him worry.

A sense of powerlessness welled up in Qi Leren’s heart, which made him feel tired. He knew that Ning Zhou would only be more pained and tired than he was. So he endured the inexplicable grievances and bitterness in his heart, silently wiped away the traces of wetness in the corners of his eyes, turned around, and carefully held Ning Zhou’s cold hand, but did not open his eyes or look at the guilty forbearance on his face.

“Go to sleep, we have to wake up early tomorrow.”

He knew it well, but he quietly hid all his worries. He was careful, but tried his best to maintain the hard-won calm and warmth, and he was more understanding than anyone else, and cherished it more than anyone else.

The two people holding hands were praying in the bottom of their hearts: May such happy times never have a deadline, and may those who love each other never be separated.

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