You Look Especially Strange

December 31, the last day of the year 1688. Yaxiu smacked the lock on the rooftop door twice, popping it straight open, then adeptly pulled a can of spray paint and a sheet of stiff cardboard from his backpack. Cut into the cardboard was a series of silhouettes: Yaxiu's twin swords, Harvey's coffin, Igola's eye, Weixi's halberd, Feili's thrust sword, Niya's straight blade, and Rose's six-pointed snowflake. According to Weixi, they needed to spread Yaxiu's soul imprint across the entire country. Lacking specialized sorcery spirits for drawing soul imprints, however, they had to make do with Yaxiu's weapons instead. To reinforce the imprint's effect, Weixi had tossed everyone's weapons into the mix. Put nicely, it was because "the power of unity can surpass even light"; put bluntly, it was "who knows, maybe it'll work." With a dire shortage of sorcery spirits on their side, the constant looming threat of the mysterious chains, and an objective as unheard-of as instantly manifesting a Soul Heaven in physical reality—if Weixi had claimed she was certain of success, she would definitely have been lying just to coax Yaxiu into bed. Whether a divine temple or a Kingdom of Heaven, for a sorcerer it was the core of cores—one's very life hinged upon it. After all, Weixi would rather have died than become an angel precisely because she refused to surrender her divine temple and spend eternity under a Divine Lord's control. Attempting to crush people with a divine temple or a Heaven was the equivalent of a nation air-dropping its armories and parliament right into the center of an enemy encampment—who in their right mind would research how to get themselves killed better, faster, and harder?! Even Weixi was relying solely on her instincts as a demigod-level soul faction master to deduce that manifesting a Soul Heaven was theoretically feasible. As for the specifics of how to achieve it, she could only take things one step at a time. Not to mention the soul imprints of the others—even Yaxiu's own soul imprint might not even work. But things having come to this pass, they had no choice but to try everything. Besides, spreading the soul imprints required everyone to work together and rush all over the city. Staying busy against the clock left them no time to drown in anxiety. Yaxiu even suspected that the soul imprints might truly be useless, merely an excuse Weixi had cooked up to keep everyone occupied. At a time like this, even futile effort was better than waiting around for death. It was worth mentioning that because Rose had never been part of their combat roster, everyone had originally intended to use a tool like a "smartphone" to represent her soul imprint. But once Rose learned of this, she had drawn them a simple six-pointed snowflake pattern instead. Still, did it ever snow in the Nation of Stars...? Yaxiu held the cardboard against the wall and gave it a spray, leaving the seven stenciled designs graffitied neatly across the surface. Checking his assigned territory on his phone, he saw that he had finished it all. It was already ten at night—time to catch a train to Clock Tower Square for the countdown. Although Weixi had made it sound dramatic, babbling about "unforgettable memories" as if Yaxiu had to forge deep, indelible impressions in every single city, in practice there were plenty of shortcuts—such as doing things they would normally never do. They had already visited four cities prior to this, where Yaxiu had engaged in activities like scuba diving, an eating contest, tidal-bore watching, and rock climbing. Of course, he wasn't doing them alone; everyone had to participate together. That was why Yaxiu's memories were indeed quite vivid. After all, when Harvey was flailing around in the water he rammed his head straight into Yaxiu's lungs; Igola, in the middle of eating during the contest, suddenly threw up all over him; and when the tidal wave surged in, Weixi held him up in front of her as a human shield, soaking him from head to toe. Incidents like those were truly hard to forget... Now they had arrived in Linguang City, and as it happened to be New Year's Eve, the scheduled group activity was to join the New Year countdown at the largest clock tower square. New Year's already... Yaxiu looked at the city's neon glow, lapsing into a momentary daze. After a while, he packed up his things and headed to a nearby station to catch the subway. Calling a taxi was an option, but Weixi had insisted that taking public transit carved a much deeper impression of a city. After all, scenic views glimpsed from a cab window might soon be forgotten, but the sensation of being packed like a sardine in a crowded train was something one could hardly wipe from memory. Looking down from a high vantage point merely appreciated a city's appearance; only by stepping into the crowd could one feel its heartbeat. While transferring lines at an interchange, Yaxiu spotted Rose ahead. On a sudden playful whim, he walked up behind her, tapped her on the right shoulder, and ducked to the left. He had never tried teasing Rose before, and he was curious to see how this flawless assistant would react. And so Yaxiu watched as Rose stopped and looked to the right, seemingly puzzled over who had tapped her shoulder. She stood there quietly, aloof and plain as a white lily amid the flowing crowd, looking as though she were waiting for an invisible man to abruptly materialize. After a dozen seconds, Yaxiu had no choice but to speak up. "Rose." "Yes." Rose turned her head to look at him and asked, "Did you see anyone else? Someone just tapped my right shoulder." "...I'm sorry, it was me." "Why are you apologizing?" Rose tilted her head slightly, though she didn't seem particularly interested. She took him by the sleeve and led him into the subway car. There were no empty seats inside. Rose leaned against the corner, with Yaxiu standing just outside her. As warning beeps chimed, the subway doors slid shut, and an announcement echoed through the car: "Next stop: Tianhou. Doors will open on the right in the direction of travel..." Yaxiu took out his phone, intending to scroll through some short videos, but noticed Rose standing quietly with her gaze fixed straight ahead, doing nothing whatsoever to pass the time. After a slight hesitation, he asked, "Aren't you bored?" "No." Yaxiu thought about it, slipped his phone back into his pocket, and said, "You know, you don't have to force yourself." "Hm?" Rose lifted her eyes and gave him a questioning glance. "You don't need to take part in all of our activities. Things like the eating contest or rock climbing—if you don't want to, it really doesn't matter," Yaxiu said. "Feili and the others didn't join in every single one either." During the eating contest, Yaxiu, glutton that he was, had naturally finished his share, but the fastest eater by far had surprisingly been Rose; the two of them were the only winners who cleared the challenge. Not only had Igola made a pathetic spectacle of himself by vomiting all over Yaxiu, but even Weixi and Harvey had failed to finish due to their frail mortal bodies. "Do you want me to participate?" Rose asked in return. "Of course I do, but I don't want you pushing yourself." "Then I understand," Rose replied calmly. "I am not forcing myself." Yaxiu's lips parted, and he let out a helpless sigh, shaking his head. Looking at Rose, his expression turned conflicted. After hesitating for a moment, he summoned his courage and asked, "This might sound a bit conceited, but... Rose, do you like me?" Faced with this question, Rose did not answer immediately. Instead, a touch of bewilderment crossed her face. "What is liking?" "Well..." Yaxiu thought for a moment. "It's like... if I stopped paying you, would you still be willing to work for me?" "Then I definitely do not like you," Rose answered decisively. "I will never work for anyone for free." "Fair enough. I wouldn't either. Saying that made me feel like hanging myself from a lamppost," Yaxiu mused. "Then let me put it more directly: would you ever want to engage in reproductive behavior with me? Not in vitro fertilization, but completely in the buff, passionately entwined together..." Rose considered this for a second. Then, across her porcelain, doll-like face, an expression of disdain and disgust slowly spread. In all the months Yaxiu had known her, this was the first time he had ever seen such a vivid range of emotion on her face. "...Then I understand completely." Yaxiu took a deep breath. Although this outcome was a relief, Rose's reaction had dealt a minor blow to his pride nonetheless. "But if that's the case, why haven't you used this time to do things you enjoy instead of sticking with us? You don't strike me as the hot-blooded type who feels obligated to save the world." "Why are you asking redundant questions?" "Redundant?" "What does liking even mean?" Rose asked. "What makes a person someone you like, or an activity something you like?" "It's the person you want to see, the things you want to do." "The person I want to see is you, and the thing I want to do is work." "Then what do you work for?" "Labor is the essence of humanity; labor distinguishes humans from animals and elevates humanity from the natural world," Rose recited. "I don't work for anything. I work for the sake of working." "That is what the textbooks say. Did I do something wrong?" She seemed slightly lost. "This is my first time being human too. I don't really know what I'm supposed to do." Yaxiu stared at her blankly, then broke into a soft smile and changed the subject. "I wasn't in top form during that eating contest. Next time, I'll definitely eat faster than you." "Impossible," Rose said seriously. "I know your appetite very well. You cannot eat more than me." Yaxiu chuckled. "What if I ordered you to throw the match and lose to me on purpose?" Rose knitted her brows. "Then it would not be a fair competition. Absolutely not." Yaxiu reached out and smoothed Rose's bangs, thinking to himself that this was good enough. He had no intention of digging into whatever issue Rose had; after all, practically everyone he knew had a few screws loose, himself included. Compared to them, Rose's symptoms were already on the mild side. Besides, he wasn't really worried. While Rose seemed indifferent to everything, she did care deep down—she just hadn't realized it herself yet. She was like a little monster that had only recently stepped into society, flustered and uncertain before her awakening humanity. "Still, why must you work for me? Why is it me you want to see?" Yaxiu coaxed gently. "Is it because we're childhood friends, and I'm an important friend of yours?" "We are childhood friends," Rose conceded the first half. "But you are not an important friend of mine." "If it isn't out of friendship, why do you work for me?" Yaxiu asked. "Aside from me, plenty of people would gladly hire you for a high salary, wouldn't they?" Rose thought for a moment, then gave a curious answer: "You are special." "Special?" Yaxiu blinked. "Do you mean the impression I make in your heart?" "No. My impression of you is violent, deceitful, lazy, and lustful." "...You're talking about the old Heath, right? That has to be him, right?!" The corner of Yaxiu's mouth twitched. "Aside from being lazy, none of those apply to me! If you call me deceitful, Igola will cry!" "In any case, you are special," Rose said. "You are different from everyone else. After all, in my eyes, everyone looks strange." Yaxiu felt somewhat flattered. "So in your eyes, I..." "That's right." Rose nodded. "You look especially strange."