Chapter 240: Remember Me (3)
Lan Meishan did not look afraid. He did not look nervous. If anything, he looked lost. Lost in a way Ningyan could not quite understand.
Again and again, he would find Meishan staring at him with that familiar expression, as though searching for something that had long been taken away.
Under normal circumstances, Ningyan might have found it amusing.
Perhaps even flattering.
Now, however, a different feeling had begun to settle in his chest. An unpleasant one.
Because regardless of how much he enjoyed Meishan’s company, the reality remained the same.
He was a demon beast. The Beast King of the Phoenix Clan. A calamity feared across the realms.
And Lan Meishan was a serpent beast.
Even if Meishan agreed to remain by his side, there would inevitably come a day when they stood on opposite sides of a battlefield.
A day when Ningyan might be forced to kill him.
The thought irritated him far more than it should have.
"Is it because of who I am?" Ningyan repeated.
Yet once again, Lan Meishan did not answer.
The silence stretched between them. Long, uncomfortable and heavy.
Eventually, Ningyan nodded to himself. "I see."
The disappointment in his voice was impossible to hide. He rose from his seat.
"Very well." A faint smile appeared on his lips.
"Thank you for inviting me to dinner."
This time he did not look at Meishan. Because for some reason, he did not wish to see those emerald eyes.
He did not wish to see whatever expression was on that beautiful face.
So he simply turned away and walked.
The lantern-lit streets of Fire City stretched endlessly before him, alive with celebration and laughter.
Yet Ningyan heard none of it. His chest felt strangely heavy.
At first, he thought it was anger. A wounded pride.
But the further he walked, the more he realized that was not true.
It was disappointment. Pure and simple.
And somehow, that felt even worse.
A familiar sensation prickled at the back of his neck.
Ningyan stopped, turned and saw Lan Meishan striding toward him with an urgency that immediately caught Ningyan off guard.
Before he could react, Meishan had already reached him. A firm, unyielding hand closed around his arm.
Ningyan’s eyes widened.
The distance between them vanished instantly.
They stood so close their breaths mingled. So close their noses nearly brushed. And for the first time that night, Lan Meishan’s composure completely shattered.
"You have to remember me, Ningyan." The words came out strained and desperate.
Ningyan froze. "What?"
His mind went blank.
Instinctively, he tried to pull away. But Meishan’s grip only tightened.
Raw, unhidden pain flickered openly across his face. "Why can’t you remember me?"
Ningyan stared. Unable to process what he was hearing. "What are you talking about?"
Meishan’s gaze searched his face as though hoping to find even the smallest trace of recognition.
Anything.
"What did they do to you?" His voice had dropped into a whisper. "What did your clan do to you?"
Ningyan’s confusion immediately twisted into irritation. "What do you mean by that?"
The moment the words left his mouth, Meishan released him frustratedly.
He turned his face away and Ningyan found himself strangely stunned.
Because this was the first time he had seen such obvious emotion on Meishan’s face.
The first time the serpent beast had looked truly shaken.
Ningyan stepped forward. "You..."
A thought suddenly surfaced.
One that refused to leave.
"Did you know me?"
Meishan immediately looked back at him. Hope flashed across those emerald eyes so quickly that Ningyan almost missed it. "You remember something?"
"No." Ningyan shook his head.
"But..." He frowned. "You keep speaking as though we have met before."
The fragile hope remained.
Then Ningyan asked the question that had been haunting him. "Were you the one who killed me?"
Everything stopped.
The hope vanished. Instantly.
"What?" Meishan looked genuinely horrified. "Is that what they told you?"
Ningyan’s eyes narrowed. The hostility he had been suppressing began to rise once more.
A faint black-red aura slipped from beneath his robes.
"Are you trying to turn me against my clan?" His voice became colder. "Denying everything they told me?"
The surrounding air trembled.
Meishan stared at him for a long moment.
Then determination hardened in his gaze. "You are coming with me."
The words sounded less like a request and more like a command.
Ningyan blinked and let out a low, amused laugh as he took a deliberate step backward. "You have become very bold, Lan Meishan."
A violent wave of blackish-red energy erupted from his body.
The lanterns hanging throughout the street swayed wildly beneath the pressure.
His violet eyes darkened, transforming into those crimson-black demonic eyes that radiated hostility and destruction.
The air itself grew suffocating.
Any ordinary beast would have collapsed beneath the pressure.
Yet Lan Meishan did not move. Not even a step.
"Ningyan." His voice remained calm, gentle... painfully so. "I do not want to fight you."
"I do not want to fight either." Ningyan’s voice came out sharper than intended. "But everything coming out of your mouth only proves what everyone has been telling me."
The demonic aura surrounding him grew heavier.
"It is not safe for me here." His eyes narrowed. "You all fear me."
His lips curled into a cold smile. "And perhaps you should."
Black-red mist drifted from beneath his robes. "I will wipe all of you out eventually."
The words sounded less like a threat and more like a promise. "Just as you wiped out my kin."
Silence followed.
A long silence.
Lan Meishan simply looked at him. Looked at the hatred. The pain. The confusion.
The loneliness hidden beneath it all.
Then he sighed. A quiet, almost exhausted sound. "I’m sorry."
Ningyan froze. The hostility shattered instantly.
His eyes widened. The black-red aura flickered. "What?"
For the first time that night, genuine surprise appeared on his face. "What did you just say?"
The demonic pressure weakened.
The crimson-black faded from his eyes, returning them to their familiar violet hue. "Why are you apologizing?"
His voice had lost all its anger. Only confusion remained. "What did you do?"
Lan Meishan stared at him. At the face he had mourned for three hundred years. At the beast he had failed to protect. At the husband who no longer remembered him.
The apology had not been for tonight.
It had never been for tonight.
But none of those words could be explained here. Not now. Not like this.