Yaxiu gazed at the elf maid standing before him, complete with a lace headpiece and pink twintails curling down on either side. Her watery eyes brimmed with charm, and a faint blush dusted her delicate cheeks. The maid dress accentuated her soft, ample curves, pressing them into a deep cleavage, while beneath the soft ambient lighting, her tightly pursed lips carried the moist, succulent luster of jelly.
He zoned out for a brief moment. Just as Weixi felt a spark of hope kindle, thinking she might get off the hook, Yaxiu suddenly pulled her into a deep kiss. His tongue parted her teeth with unstoppable force, sweeping inside to stir up a tempest.
"Mmh... mmh... mmph."
Weixi felt her tongue being tossed around like a defenseless white rabbit savaged by a big bad wolf. No matter which way she tried to dodge, Yaxiu's consummate technique cornered her at every turn. Her body stiffened, yet her very soul felt on the verge of being sucked straight into him.
*No wonder my dream self had to become a supreme sorcerer before... No, this can't go on!*
*I am the Spectre Prophet!*
Clamping down with her pearly whites, Weixi felt Yaxiu freeze for a split second. She realized she had bitten him hard enough to hurt. Even so, Yaxiu didn't pull back his forces in retreat. He stood his ground in her domain, and after a moment's pause, he slowly resumed his forward expansion.
Weixi no longer dared to bite with real force, only nibbling gently in the hope that he would back down. Naturally, such harmless resistance did nothing to halt his swelling momentum—if anything, it only looked like teasing coquetry.
By the time Yaxiu finished retrieving his memories and released Weixi, a thin, transparent strand of saliva stretched between them before snapping in their warm breath. Weixi slumped limply against his chest like a pool of melting ice cream, the tips of her ears flushed a tender pink.
Yaxiu wiped the moisture from the corner of her mouth with his sleeve and asked with a puzzled frown, "Why did you bite me?"
"I bit you because I felt like it! Do I need a reason?" Weixi gripped his arm to haul herself upright and snapped back indignantly. Yet her voice came out so soft and breathy that it sounded far more like she was acting cute.
Yaxiu asked, "Well? How was it?"
Weixi pondered for a moment. "Eighty-two points."
"...I was asking about the results of the inspection. What on earth are you grading?"
Weixi froze. "Oh, right... I still have to inspect your memories..."
"Don't tell me you forgot?" Yaxiu's lips twitched. "Does that mean we have to do it again?"
"No! I would never forget the main objective. One inspection is plenty!" Weixi hastily asserted her expertise. Closing her eyes, she concentrated for a moment, rapidly sorting and cross-referencing Yaxiu's soul memories.
Gradually, her expression turned peculiar, and she murmured, "Now this is interesting..."
Yaxiu asked eagerly, "How did it go?"
His tone was that of a terminally ill patient who had finally found the one quack doctor who might save his life.
Weixi opened her eyes, looked at Yaxiu, and enunciated each word: "The parts of your memories concerning Igola and Harvey have all been tampered with."
"To you, they seemed real, but the world gave no feedback to validate their existence. When you bathed together, the surface of the bathwater didn't shift for them. When you ate together, the food didn't decrease from their bites. When you crossed muddy ground, they left behind no footprints.
"You wouldn't notice these details when recalling them yourself. Only by extracting your memories could I deconstruct such fine points."
Yaxiu stared at her blankly. He never suspected Weixi was lying to him; if he didn't trust her assessment, there would have been no reason to seek her out in the first place. But hearing the most authoritative soul sorcerer confirm that his closest companions were nothing more than non-existent phantoms left him completely at a loss.
Could it be that the problem wasn't with the world, but with... him?
Seeing his devastated expression, Weixi reached out, wiped away a trace of moisture from his lips, and said, "However, aside from the two of them, no one else's presence has been altered."
"What do you mean?"
"I can't speak for anyone else, but when I compared our shared memories from the Country of All Stars, I discovered that we hold completely different memories—and both sets are genuine.
"For instance, scenes where 'Igola' spoke to me either don't exist in my memory, or it was actually me speaking to you. Yet in your memories, my actions weren't fabricated; every movement produced proper feedback from the world. Since the version of me in your memory is real, the 'Igola' speaking to me might not necessarily be fake, either."
Yaxiu stared straight at her, a bright light kindling in his eyes.
"Be aware: I haven't come to believe in their existence, nor have I verified it,"
Weixi warned. "The Four Pillar Gods, the Radiant Firefly Princess, the Divine Lord of Stars, the Four Great Divine Lords, the Heaven's Trial... there are far too many factors that could have scrambled your brain. The only thing I've confirmed is that the possibility of 'Igola' and 'Harvey' existing... is not zero."
"That's enough." Yaxiu let out a long breath of relief and grasped Weixi's hands. "That's enough. Thank you, Weixi. Thank you."
Weixi found this somewhat amusing. "Even though I browsed your memories, I honestly don't understand why you have such deep feelings for them. You were clearly just a bunch of death row convicts forced to team up to survive. Why are you so anxious just because they vanished?"
Yaxiu fell silent, then lowered his head and murmured, "Yeah, why am I?"
"The first time I met Igola, he was planning to use me like a prize Lalafell to squeeze out every drop of value. He's the best-looking and most treacherous man I've ever known, never trusting anyone and always assuming the worst. I actually hated listening to him nag. Every time he warned me to watch out for Annan, watch out for Lisi, watch out for Black Crow, watch out for Rose, it drove me crazy. But I couldn't do without him. Without his psychological counseling, my relationships and my life would have ended up a complete disaster... though things aren't much better right now, to be fair.
"Women liked him, too. Anfier had feelings for him, yet he insisted on coming with me to Senluo. Gwen liked him as well, yet he... He chewed me out for breaking girls' hearts, but was he really any better?
"As for Harvey, nobody really wanted that guy around, and he didn't care much for the living world either. He was revolting, dragging a coffin wherever he went and spouting trivia about corpses during meals. If life were a buffet, he'd be the type who accidentally bit into shit and then made sure everyone else had to eat some too—all while genuinely convinced he was enjoying a delicacy. Aside from preaching his philosophy of death, he rarely talked, or rather, he preferred talking to his Alice... I really didn't want to invite him to my wedding.
"And yet, no one respected life more than he did. Strange, isn't it? A suicidal maniac who genuinely respected the lives of others. He'd always stand off to the side watching the crowd. He saw through everything; he was just too lazy to speak up, only stepping in beside us whenever we were courting death... He just wanted to wait until we died so he could turn our corpses into undead thralls, so that not even death could tear us apart."
Listening from the side, Weixi thought to herself that it was fortunate the Sword Princess and the others weren't here. If they heard him pouring out such rich, complicated feelings for two imaginary men, they'd probably start questioning their own charm.
After speaking for a while, Yaxiu went quiet. He stared blankly at the patterns on the carpet like a dog waiting for a frisbee, longing to chase after those fleeting memories. Having nothing better to do, Weixi noticed a plate of grapes on the small drinks table. She picked it up, peeled a grape with her fingernails, and fed it to Yaxiu's lips, just as she used to.
Once Yaxiu had nearly finished the grapes, he finally came back to his senses. "Weixi, you should go rest too."
"Alright." Without a hint of hesitation, Weixi got up and headed for the exit.
Just then, a hand caught her by the wrist. "Wait."
Weixi froze, then asked casually, "What is it?"
She didn't dare tease him lightly now. In this manic state, Yaxiu was a bit too aggressive; she had nearly lost all composure moments ago. She needed time to figure out his attack patterns. For now, it was much safer to flirt with him when others were around.
Yaxiu took her in from head to toe, the warm, delightful sensations from the dream seeming to trace her silhouette alongside his gaze. Just being looked at like that made Weixi's breathing turn shallow and rapid. Pursing her lips, she asked meekly, "Yaxiu, is there something else?"
"You don't have to wear this outfit anymore," Yaxiu said, letting go of her wrist. "Nor are there any restrictions on your hair color."
Weixi paused. "Huh?"
"I never truly considered you a maid. 'Demon maid' was just a casual title I threw out." Yaxiu paused for a beat before adding, "All this time, I've always viewed you as..."
"A prisoner," Weixi supplied. "You are the Divine Lord of Stars' prisoner, and I am yours. Lifting my restrictions so suddenly—is it because my status has changed?"
She tilted her head, a faint smirk curving her lips, instantly slipping back into the inscrutable demeanor of the Spectre Prophet.
Yaxiu shook his head. "No, you are still my prisoner. As long as I live, as long as the Ruby Chains remain, I am your keeper."
"Then what do you mean by this? Expecting this prisoner to be grateful for your mercy?"
"I simply don't wish to infringe upon your dignity."
This time, Weixi genuinely laughed. "I still have dignity in your eyes? In your mind, aren't I just an unprincipled, shameless demon?"
"Indeed, I still think that, and I don't expect you to ever reform," Yaxiu said in earnest. "Yet I have never met a sorcerer with more dignity than you.
"A failed rebirth, bound by chains—a demigod who refused to bow to a divine lord ended up reduced to a mere sorcerer's slave. Yet not once were you disheartened. Every minute, every second, you were searching for a chance to turn the tables, never abandoning the pursuit of your ambitions, giving everything to seize every opportunity during the Angel Hunt.
"You care for nothing and are willing to lay everything upon the altar. Nothing in this world can shake you, not even death. If there were zero hope of success, you would rather die than drag out an ignoble existence.
"As a person, you are unmistakably the scum of the earth. But as a sorcerer..." Yaxiu took a deep breath, admitting with helpless candor, "...you are the strongest of the strong.
"I can enslave the demon Weixi, but I could never dominate the Spectre Prophet. I won't release your chains; in fact, now that you've grown stronger, I will only keep a firmer rein on you.
"Even so, I want my companion... to live with dignity."
Weixi arched an eyebrow. Folding her hands behind her back, she leaned in close to Yaxiu. "Companion? You consider the Spectre Prophet a companion? Weren't you still full of hatred for me before your ascension?"
Yaxiu averted his eyes. "...You helped them through the crisis during the ritual."
"Is that the only reason?" Weixi leaned closer into his face. "Just because I helped them once, all your hatred vanished?"
"I still hate you," Yaxiu muttered, turning his head away. "It's just..."
"Just what? What made Master feel like he understands the Spectre Prophet better?" Weixi tilted her head, her lips curving upward irresistibly, her eyes brimming with teasing allure. "Could it be... because of the dream?"
Yaxiu shot her a glare and snapped, "Who was the one biting my tongue just now?"
Weixi's posture stiffened. Pouting, she turned to leave, but then paused and glanced back. "I noticed another important detail in your memories."
Yaxiu instantly perked up. "What is it?"
Weixi leaned toward his ear and whispered, "I found out... Master really likes my maid uniform and pink hair."
She planted a quick peck on his cheek, then fled the tent as if running for her life.
Chapter 1024