Chapter 342: Extra (4)
The next day, Tang Yu’an woke up groggily and saw that Zhou Qi had just sat up as well.
He rubbed his eyes and sat up too, then hugged Zhou Qi from behind, resting his cheek against his back and mumbling, “Brother Qi, you’re awake…”
Zhou Qi paused and said, “We should go back.”
“Nooo, just a little longer…”
With his insistence, Zhou Qi had no choice but to lie back down. After all, the two worlds had a time difference—on the Huaxia side, it probably wasn’t even dawn yet.
He and Tang Yu’an cuddled under the covers, their bodies close and heads touching.
Tang Yu’an snuggled against him and quickly fell asleep again.
When Zhou Qi opened his eyes once more, he turned his head and found Tang Yu’an already awake, his eyes shining brightly, lost in thought.
“Morning…”
“Good morning!”
Tang Yu’an leaned in and pecked him on the lips. “Brother Qi, your lips are so soft and sweet!”
Zhou Qi: “…”
A flush crept up his face, and he looked away a little awkwardly—then leaned forward and kissed Tang Yu’an’s lips again.
“Alright, time to get up.”
“Wait a bit…”
Tang Yu’an clung to his arm, not letting him get up.
Seeing Zhou Qi’s puzzled look, he blushed but said with excitement, “Let’s try that thing from last night again… okay?”
Zhou Qi looked at him and swallowed hard.
Before long, the old wooden floorboards of the attic once again creaked and groaned.
After quite a while, the attic finally quieted down.
The two lay side by side, catching their breath, staring at the skylight above. Then Zhou Qi suddenly asked, “An An, how did you convince Aunt Tang?”
Tang Yu’an thought for a moment before answering, “I went back to Nanzhen…”
He told Zhou Qi about the journey he and his mother had made back to their hometown, including their return to the site of the original general store, and what he had said to his mom that day.
Tang Yu’an rested his forehead on Zhou Qi’s shoulder and softly asked, “Brother Qi, will you come back with me to take a look?”
He had actually tried to find Zhou Qi’s grandmother’s grave, but the cemetery had also been damaged by meteors and mutated creatures, so in the end, he found nothing…
Zhou Qi stiffened for a moment, then patted his hand. “Okay, let’s go back together.”
So they got up, washed, and ate. When they returned to the Huaxia world, it still hadn’t yet dawned.
In the dark, they used the teleportation array to return to Nanzhen—the place they had both grown up.
Looking at the crater left by the meteor, even though he’d mentally prepared himself, Zhou Qi still couldn’t help the bitterness in his heart.
They searched the surrounding streets and eventually found some incense and candles. They lit them and set out some fruits.
Zhou Qi hesitated, then took out a wooden board and began carving into it, stroke by stroke.
Chen Xizhuang.
“That’s Grandma’s name?”
“Yeah.”
Zhou Qi looked at the name on the plaque, recalling memories from his childhood. His eyes turned slightly red.
He had called her “Grandma” for over ten years, but only learned her actual name after she passed…
Zhou Qi placed the plaque on the ground and knelt with Tang Yu’an to bow before it.
“Grandma, I’m back…”
He gently began telling her about everything that had happened over the years, with Tang Yu’an quietly listening beside him.
When he finally finished, Tang Yu’an took Zhou Qi’s hand and said, “Grandma, don’t worry. I’ll always protect Brother Qi. We’ll always be happy together!”
Zhou Qi smiled faintly.
The sky finally began to brighten—it was dawn.
Under the morning light, something inside the meteor crater seemed to glint faintly. Zhou Qi’s heart stirred, and as he gently raised his hand, the flickering object flew into his palm.
“What is it?” Tang Yu’an curiously leaned over to look.
It appeared to be a half-broken peace jade, and surprisingly, despite the meteor strike, it had survived.
“Grandma’s jade…” Zhou Qi murmured.
This jade had been bought at a street stall during a lantern festival when his grandma took him out as a child. It wasn’t worth much but had always been a treasure to Zhou Qi.
Afraid of losing it, he had kept it safe at home… Who would’ve thought the house would be destroyed, yet the jade would remain?
Though broken, at least it still existed.
Tang Yu’an looked at the jade and suddenly blinked. “Brother Qi… this jade… something seems off?”
Zhou Qi was startled. He also sensed something strange about the jade’s energy. Could it not be just his imagination?
Just then, the Shadow Umbrella strapped to Tang Yu’an’s back suddenly flew up, opened on its own, and hovered above them.
As the umbrella gently spun, tiny specks of light floated out from the jade.
Not only from this jade—glimmers of light also began converging from all around the town, slowly being absorbed by the Shadow Umbrella.
When all the strange phenomena ended, a small red flower had appeared on the umbrella’s pure black surface, alongside the existing green patterns.
[Congratulations! Wish of the Artifact Spirit has been fulfilled. “Shadow Umbrella” restrictions fully lifted and upgraded.]
Tang Yu’an was momentarily stunned and quickly opened the item description.
[Shadow Umbrella]
Description: Standing beneath this umbrella conceals all presence. It calms the mind and wards off illusions. When used in forests, it blends seamlessly with the environment.
Status: Bound.
Bound to: Tang Yu’an
Skill:
[Soul Manifestation]: Acquired through absorbing the longing and emotional attachments of departed souls. When used, the user can see the spirit of someone they miss under the umbrella.
Tang Yu’an stared blankly at the skill description, then looked toward the jade in Zhou Qi’s hand.
“Brother Qi, it’s Grandma!”
“What?”
Tang Yu’an grabbed the Shadow Umbrella and held it above their heads, then activated the skill [Soul Manifestation].
They saw that the half piece of jade in Zhou Qi’s palm began to emit faint glowing lights. The lights gradually gathered and took the shape of a figure.
Zhou Qi stared at the apparition in a daze, and tears suddenly streamed down his face.
“Grandma…”
The elderly woman looked a little confused at first, but once she saw Zhou Qi, she smiled gently and kindly.
Zhou Qi reached out to hug her but passed right through her body. He had stepped out from under the umbrella, and when he turned back, the figure had vanished…
Tang Yu’an quickly shifted the umbrella to cover him again.
Zhou Qi saw the spirit once more and finally understood how it worked.
Grandma Chen opened her mouth to speak, but he couldn’t hear her voice—he could only make out her words from her lips: “Good boy.”
She reached out to caress his face, and Zhou Qi quickly lowered his head. Even though they were separated by life and death and couldn’t touch, he could still feel her presence.
“Don’t cry,” Grandma Chen said to him.
Zhou Qi’s tears wouldn’t stop. He wiped them away, trying to see her face more clearly.
Back then, he had rushed home from school with everything he had, but still didn’t make it in time to see her one last time. It became the greatest regret of his life.
Now he finally understood—Grandma had never really left. She had always stayed behind, quietly watching over him…
At that moment, Grandma Chen turned to look at Tang Yu’an.
Tang Yu’an, already crying as well, saw her come over to hold his hand. He quickly cooperated and raised it. In the end, Grandma Chen placed his hand and Zhou Qi’s hand together.
She gently patted their joined hands and smiled with loving satisfaction.
“Stay safe and be happy…”
As those words seemed to echo around them, her figure faded in the sunlight, eventually turning into tiny lights that scattered and vanished.
Zhou Qi instinctively reached out, trying to hold on—but halfway there, he stopped.
The living and the dead walk different paths. Grandma had lingered in the world for so long just for him. It was time for her to rest…
Even so, tears still streamed down Zhou Qi’s cheeks. Even when her figure had vanished completely, he couldn’t bring himself to look away.
“…Brother Qi.”
Tang Yu’an called to him softly. Zhou Qi looked at him, then pulled him into a tight embrace.
“Promise me,” he said hoarsely, voice still choked with emotion. “Promise me you’ll be okay. That we’ll stay together, always. Okay?”
“Mm, I promise you,” Tang Yu’an sniffled. “We’ll always be together. No one will ever tear us apart!”
The two of them held each other and cried for a while. After some time, they finally calmed down. Much of the gloom in Zhou Qi’s heart had also lifted.
He plucked a few strands of his hair and combined them with other materials to create a strong, thin cord. He tied the half jade pendant to it and finally hung it around Tang Yu’an’s neck.
Tang Yu’an tried to refuse. “But this was Grandma’s gift to you…”
“You keep it for me,” Zhou Qi said. “I feel better knowing it’s with you.”
In the end, Tang Yu’an accepted it.
He looked around the town. Maybe because of the phoenix fire’s purifying power, though it was still a ruin, under the sunlight it carried a clear and sacred feeling.
“I hope all those who died in the apocalypse can rest in peace.”
Zhou Qi thought for a moment and said, “Why don’t we go house by house and offer our respects?”
“Okay!”
Smoke from incense slowly began to rise across the town, and the Shadow Umbrella quietly followed its master.
In the faint fragrance of incense, it seemed that pure and gentle souls appeared beneath the umbrella one by one, saying their final goodbyes to the human world—before gently fading into the heavens and earth…
