Chapter 44
Ye Xiyao wasn’t sure how he lost consciousness.
It was complicated.
Normally, Ye Xiyao fainting might be due to absorbing too much demonic energy. His body naturally seeks a balance of energy, and if the demonic energy exceeds that balance, his body would automatically “convert” it into another type of power, during which he might easily pass out.
But it was also possible that Ye Xiyao fainted from sheer exhaustion during Xing Xu’s “examination.”
Xing Xu was like two different people with and without clothes. In broad daylight, he was full of sweet words, pretending to be gentle, considerate, and accommodating, as if Ye Xiyao were the most precious thing in the world. He chased after Ye Xiyao every day, apologizing and seeking forgiveness for being an exorcist. But when it came to doing that kind of thing, all his apologies were thrown out the window.
There was no consideration whatsoever. Not a single one of Ye Xiyao’s pleas for mercy was heard. Even an executioner would pray for divine forgiveness before taking a life, but when Xing Xu dealt with Ye Xiyao, he was utterly merciless.
When Ye Xiyao begged him to “stop,” Xing Xu pretended not to hear and even had the audacity to coax him: “Your knees must hurt, why don’t you sit here instead?”
Ye Xiyao was furious.
Was it his idea to wear out his knees?
No, it was when Ye Xiyao was trying to escape the bathtub that Xing Xu grabbed his waist and caught him, causing him to slip and collapse on the spot.
Ye Xiyao kept insisting that he was full, saying he couldn’t take in any more demonic energy. Xing Xu, cradling his face tenderly but cruelly, said, “Then release some.”
Ye Xiyao cursed, “You… bastard.”
Xing Xu replied, “Good job, baby, keep it up.”
Ye Xiyao was dumbfounded. “…Xing Xu, I’m really going to pass out.”
“No, you won’t. Our little treasure is the strongest,” Xing Xu said, lifting Ye Xiyao’s knees with a grin. “I’m about to do something bad—do you want me to teach you a few more curse words in advance?”
Ye Xiyao: “?”
He thought what Xing Xu had already done was as bad as it could get.
That was until Xing Xu picked him up and carried him over to the large mirror in front of the bathroom sink.
Ye Xiyao’s vision went black, and in a final, desperate struggle, he tried to curse him: “You… you…”
“I’m a beast,” Xing Xu helpfully provided, whispering in his ear while watching Ye Xiyao in the mirror.
“You…” Ye Xiyao, using the last of his strength before passing out, cursed, “Beast!”
—
Ye Xiyao had long since learned to assume the worst about Xing Xu. But even then, he hadn’t expected that Xing Xu could get any worse.
Sometime after he passed out, Xing Xu woke him up.
Yes, that very night.
On the same night when Ye Xiyao had been filled with too much demonic energy and drained of all his strength.
When Ye Xiyao opened his eyes, he found himself lying in the big bed in the bedroom with Xing Xu. His hair had been dried, and his body had been cleaned up. He had been sleeping comfortably, but Xing Xu had rudely forced his eyelids open—completely inhumane.
Ye Xiyao immediately closed his eyes again, but Xing Xu began pinching his eyelids. Ye Xiyao bit his hand.
Xing Xu wasn’t bothered by the pain and laughed, “Since you’re awake, get up and have a late-night snack with me. I just ordered takeout.”
“You eat it yourself,” Ye Xiyao said weakly, unable to muster any strength, and his bite gradually lost its force.
Xing Xu persistently teased his eyelashes, saying, “Come eat with me.”
Ye Xiyao was thoroughly annoyed, “What time is it?”
Xing Xu replied, “It’s still early.”
Just then, Xing Xu’s phone buzzed. He clicked his tongue, pulled out the phone, glanced at it, and answered in front of Ye Xiyao: “What is it… no rush, I’m busy right now, I’ll deal with it later… you hold your useless meetings every day, how many actual exorcists do you even have? Fine, stop nagging.”
After hanging up, Ye Xiyao barely opened his eyes and asked, “Who was that?”
He already had a hunch in his heart.
As expected, Xing Xu said, “The Bureau of Safety. They want me to attend a meeting about the demon from tonight.”
Ye Xiyao immediately turned over and looked at him, “Then you should go! This is important. That demon is definitely going to come after you again.”
“Let it come,” Xing Xu said with a raised brow and a smile. “That’s not a big deal. What matters now is that you get up and have a midnight snack with me.”
As he spoke, he really started trying to pull Ye Xiyao out of bed.
“…” Finally pushed to his limit after being forcefully woken up, Ye Xiyao erupted. He flung the blanket off and kicked Xing Xu, along with the pillow, off the bed.
Xing Xu landed on the floor with a thud, but grinned shamelessly at him: “Well, it looks like you’re fully awake now.”
Ye Xiyao, with a cold expression, jumped out of bed.
Today, his legs didn’t give out.
He had learned how to use the abundant demonic energy he couldn’t spend in one go to strengthen his trembling legs.
The atmosphere between Ye Xiyao and Xing Xu didn’t seem to reveal the massive divide between them that had once existed—the divide between an exorcist and a demon.
Ye Xiyao didn’t want to dwell on that issue.
The reason he hadn’t had a major falling-out with Xing Xu so far was partly because Ye Xiyao had a naturally mild temperament; the angriest he ever got was just ignoring people. On top of that, Xing Xu was shameless and clingy. Even if Ye Xiyao tried to give him the cold shoulder, Xing Xu would stick to him before two minutes had passed, leaving no opportunity for a proper fight.
On the other hand, Ye Xiyao had tried to consider things from Xing Xu’s perspective. He thought that Xing Xu’s earlier approach to him, while on a mission, was something Xing Xu couldn’t avoid. Ye Xiyao could be unhappy about it, but he couldn’t truly fight with him, knowing Xing Xu’s predicament.
But some things can’t be ignored forever.
Ye Xiyao wanted to pretend it was all behind them, but Xing Xu’s occasional reactions kept reminding him that it wasn’t over.
He walked up to Xing Xu and, looking down from above, suddenly said, “Xing Xu, I hate you.”
Feigning shock, Xing Xu asked, “For how long?”
Without thinking, Ye Xiyao replied, “For a long time.”
Then, realizing that wasn’t quite right, he corrected himself, “Indefinitely. I’ll always hate you.”
Xing Xu propped himself up, intending to move closer, but Ye Xiyao raised his hand and easily pushed him far away.
This time, Ye Xiyao was serious.
To add weight to his words, he lifted his chin.
“I’m sorry, I was too much tonight,” Xing Xu admitted, finally putting away his playful smile. “I’ll be more careful next time.”
Ye Xiyao neither nodded nor shook his head. He just stared at him. “You know it’s not about tonight.”
This look was different from any of their past exchanges.
Xing Xu understood that Ye Xiyao wasn’t angry about tonight.
It was something else.
“Why didn’t you go to the meeting?” Ye Xiyao asked.
“I don’t work for the Bureau of Safety; I’m just a freelance operative. I rarely attend their meetings.”
“But that demon was powerful,” Ye Xiyao said.
Xing Xu assumed Ye Xiyao was worried about him and reassured him, “Don’t worry, I can handle it.”
“I finally know what’s been bothering me,” Ye Xiyao said out of nowhere.
Xing Xu was confused. “What?”
Ye Xiyao lowered his gaze. “You revealed the truth to me before, telling me you’re an exorcist, and that your original mission was to kill me. After that, you kept apologizing, trying to make amends, afraid I’d stay angry, and sticking close to me at all times… I thought you genuinely wanted my forgiveness, but when I think about it carefully, something feels off.”
Xing Xu asked him, “What feels off?”
“Your attitude, your stance, your reactions—all of it,” Ye Xiyao said. “You’ve known about my identity for a while, but you didn’t report it, saying you were afraid they wouldn’t believe you. Only when I pushed you did you say you’d report to the Alliance government. But I’m your mission target, and I’ve clearly told you I have no ill intentions toward humans. So why didn’t you take me to your Bureau of Safety directly? Let me explain everything myself. Wouldn’t that have been the simplest solution?”
“That makes it sound like I have some kind of conspiracy,” Xing Xu said, staring at Ye Xiyao. His gaze was dark and deep, his eyes shadowed like a still, lifeless pool of water.
Ye Xiyao remained calm and frank. “I’ve thought about it from the perspective of an exorcist. If I were with the Bureau of Safety, I wouldn’t need to seek the forgiveness of a demon in this situation. But you’re strange. Why are you so insistent on making me forgive you? Why did you offer to become my food? Why, whenever I need demonic energy, do you give it to me without hesitation?”
Xing Xu played along at the right moment: “Why indeed?”
“There’s only one possibility…” Ye Xiyao said. “Your apology isn’t to comfort me as a human, but to placate me as a demon. When you offered to be my food, it wasn’t to please me—it was because you were afraid that if a succubus gets hungry, it might lose control and harm innocent humans. You kiss me, hold me, and do those things with me because I need demonic energy, and you just happen to need to release it.”
“How reasonable.” Xing Xu laughed suddenly, but his face was pale.
Ye Xiyao believed that his analysis was correct, so he continued, “When I say I dislike you, I don’t mean I dislike you as a person. I dislike that you keep deceiving me. At first, you approached me with a mission, and I convinced myself not to be angry. Because even if your identity is fake, the you who has been by my side for so long is real. But now, you’ve deceived me again.”
“Then tell me, what did I deceive you about?” Xing Shu stood up and walked closer to him step by step.
Ye Xiyao initially wanted to use magic to push him back, but fearing for Xing Shu’s soul, he just stepped back and said, “You said you encountered a great evil demon that not only stopped you from reporting my situation to the Alliance Government but also injured you, triggering a backlash from the demon-killing array. Now you’ve reported its situation to the Security Bureau, and they asked you to attend a meeting immediately, but you don’t want to go.”
Xing Shu replied, “That’s right.”
Ye Xiyao said, “You’re a liar.”
Xing Shu asked, “Why?”
Ye Xiyao responded, “For such an important matter, you don’t want to solve it. The Security Bureau calls you, but you say you want to have a late-night snack with me. Whenever I ask you something, you always draw close while talking. Even in the bathroom… At that time, the demon-killing array had stabilized, and I couldn’t consume so much demon energy, but you just wouldn’t stop… Xing Shu, there isn’t a single truth in your words.”
Xing Shu paused for a moment, slowly exhaling, and said helplessly, “So, why do you think I’m doing this?”
Ye Xiyao gave his answer: “You want to use me to completely dissipate the demon energy of the demon-killing array to ensure that when you face that demon, you can kill it.”
Xing Shu supported his forehead and said, “Oh my, you’ve made me start to doubt myself.”
Ye Xiyao took his denial at face value, feeling a lump in his throat, and said, “Actually, I don’t mind helping you dissipate the demon energy, as long as you talk to me properly… I hate that you deceive me; I hate that your kindness towards me has ulterior motives.”
After saying this, Ye Xiyao finally vented the frustration that had been bottled up in his heart for some time. He found humans to be strange. Being human was also strange. As a succubus, he took what his body needed. But the human part of his soul always felt empty. The thought that Xing Shu’s kindness was merely a means of using him left him feeling powerless.
He couldn’t bear to stay in the same room as Xing Shu any longer. “I’m going home; don’t follow me.”
In the silence that followed, Ye Xiyao got dressed, opened the door, and walked out of the bedroom. He didn’t know if Xing Shu had followed him; he didn’t look back.
The living room was pitch black, but a warm yellow light surprisingly shone from the dining area, standing out starkly. The broken TV and lamp on the floor had been cleaned up, and the sofa was also tidied. The whole living room had transformed from ruins back into a relatively neat state.
He really wanted to ignore everything and leave, but he couldn’t help glancing towards the dining area. On the table was a spread of hot dishes. Xing Shu said he had ordered takeout, but those dishes clearly looked freshly made.
Soon, Ye Xiyao realized what the takeout was. In the center of the dining table was a large birthday cake.
Seeing that, he hesitated but ultimately couldn’t resist approaching it. It was decorated with a cheeky, round, little demon with a tail that curled around a few times, and at the tip was a pink heart. Candles were stuck in the cake, and the number 22 stood upright, waiting to be lit.
Ye Xiyao belatedly pulled out his phone to check the time. It was 23:55.
So his birthday hadn’t passed yet. For a brief moment, he felt relieved, glad he hadn’t missed those five minutes.
To him, the sense of ritual had always been optional because Ye Xiyao had done everything alone from childhood to adulthood, so there was no need to fuss over every second. But in that moment, those extra five minutes felt like an escape route, allowing him to realize that Xing Shu wanted to share this birthday with him by inviting him for a late-night snack.
Just as he was about to turn back, Xing Shu suddenly wrapped around him.
He held Ye Xiyao’s fingers and sighed, “I threw away my lighter while quitting smoking. I beg you to calm down and lend me a light.”
“…Mm.”
For Ye Xiyao, using demon energy to light a candle was not a difficult task. As the candle lit up, Xing Shu turned off the dining room light.
“Ye Xiyao, I heard everything you said just now. I thought about it and realized you were right. From your perspective, I do seem full of schemes.”
Xing Shu leaned close to his ear and said, “You considered my position very well—why I’m so insistent on your understanding, why I want to stay by your side, why I insist on having a late-night snack with you in such an urgent time, why I kiss and hug you even when you don’t need the demon energy. When you analyze these matters, it doesn’t sound like something an exorcist should do.”
Ye Xiyao silently watched the flickering candlelight, which flickered like his heartbeat.
Xing Shu’s voice was soft against his ear, devoid of any disputing seriousness, as if he were sharing some affectionate secret with Ye Xiyao: “But you made one mistake from the very beginning.”
Ye Xiyao had no intention of continuing to confront him and muttered, “Then explain it to me. I’ll listen if you’re right.”
“Okay, I’ll explain.” Xing Shu smiled and said, “It’s simple. You shouldn’t start from the perspective of an exorcist. You should think from the perspective of a person, from your own perspective… Ye Xiyao, if you want to hold hands, kiss, and embrace someone, unrelated to tasks, stepping away from the relationship of exorcist and demon, without using or deceiving each other, and you can’t help wanting to stay by their side, what could be the reason?”
Ye Xiyao was about to speak when Xing Shu interrupted, “Forget it, don’t stand in your own shoes. I’m afraid you’ll say it’s because you’re hungry.”
Ye Xiyao: “…”
He almost said that.
Xing Shu continued, and to avoid Ye Xiyao misunderstanding, he spoke straightforwardly: “Forget that I’m an exorcist. Simply as a person, everything I do for you actually has only one reason. Ye Xiyao, I like…”
Ye Xiyao suddenly tightened his grip on Xing Shu’s hand and said, “Wait, the candle is melting.”
“I said I like you! I’m telling you I like you!” Xing Shu exclaimed in frustration, turning Ye Xiyao’s face towards him and kissing him heavily on the lips. “For goodness’ sake, don’t look at that damn candle; look at me! I’m just as urgent as that candle, ready to melt away. Honestly, since I started liking you, I’ve forgotten what I am—what an exorcist! I truly can’t bear the title. Now every time the Security Bureau asks me about task progress, I have to pretend I’m not familiar with you, to prevent them from thinking I’ve been led astray by your charm… well, I can’t refute that.”
Xing Shu babbled on, with the main point being that he liked Ye Xiyao, liked him intensely, to the point that his head felt like it was on fire.
The things Ye Xiyao had accused him of were indeed problematic, filled with suspicions. It was entirely reasonable to say he was trying to use Ye Xiyao to help dissipate the demon energy of the demon-killing array.
But as long as Xing Shu liked Ye Xiyao, the issue had a new answer.
What did the demon-killing array matter?
Kissing him, hugging him, and wanting to be close to him was purely because he liked him.
What meetings, what terrible demons—everything had to take a back seat for Ye Xiyao.
Was the birthday important?
Xing Shu’s birthday was not important, but Ye Xiyao’s birthday was important.
On this day, 22 years ago, Ye Xiyao was adopted by the welfare home in Lucheng City. He became a part of humanity, found a sense of belonging in human society, and grew up on this land.
So on this day, 22 years later, Xing Shu could be here with him, pouring their hearts out to this candle.
Therefore, for such an important moment, Xing Shu had to stay by Ye Xiyao’s side.
Alright, Xing Shu had said all he needed to say, and everything was clear.
He thought that now Ye Xiyao wouldn’t be sad, wouldn’t doubt that he was being used, and wouldn’t be afraid that Xing Shu was hiding anything else from him.
The only concern after confessing was not knowing how Ye Xiyao would respond.
If Ye Xiyao didn’t like him, then Xing Shu wouldn’t be dramatic. He would still be there for Ye Xiyao, providing whatever he needed, for however long Ye Xiyao wanted him around.
But if Ye Xiyao liked him too…
Damn, if Ye Xiyao liked him, there was nothing more to say; they could just eat cake!
Unfortunately, after hearing Xing Shu’s confession, Ye Xiyao didn’t give any answer.
He turned his back to Xing Shu and said, “There are 30 seconds until midnight, and I still haven’t made my wish.”
Xing Shu: “…?”
Ye Xiyao: “25 seconds.”
Xing Shu grabbed his hand, their four hands clasped together in a wishing pose, grinding his teeth in frustration: “Hurry and make a wish, little ancestor.”
He waited for Ye Xiyao to finish his wish and then give him a response.
Although no one would truly believe that a birthday wish could bring about miracles, people’s psychology always craves some expectation. Xing Shu understood that.
But Ye Xiyao remained silent, delaying his wish.
“Ten seconds left,” Xing Shu thought he might not know what to wish for and said, “If you can’t think of anything, just wish for happiness.”
Just when Xing Shu thought Ye Xiyao would casually wish for something like health or happiness to wrap it up, he heard Ye Xiyao say, “You really like me.”
“Couldn’t be more true, I like you more than anything.” Xing Shu instinctively replied.
But as soon as he said it, he realized that Ye Xiyao had already blown out the candle on his own.
The entire room darkened.
Only then did Xing Shu understand that Ye Xiyao’s words were not a question; he was making a wish.
Ye Xiyao was wishing that Xing Shu’s confession was real.
He hoped that Xing Shu hadn’t lied to him.
He hoped that Xing Shu really liked him.
What…
Does that mean?
Xing Shu’s mind suddenly felt like it had rusted, becoming a bit sluggish.
Damn it, the phone had to ring at that moment. He wanted to hang up, but Ye Xiyao turned on the light and said softly, “Answer it; what if it’s something important?”
After saying that, he began to lower his head and cut the cake.
From behind, he didn’t show any emotion, as if Ye Xiyao was quite calm and composed.
Xing Shu followed along like a wound-up robot, doing whatever Ye Xiyao asked him to do.
However, just as he picked up the phone, Ye Xiyao suddenly turned around, tiptoed, and pecked his cheek, then ran away.
Xing Shu’s throat felt dry; he was about to chase after him when a voice came from the other end of the line—it was Luo Yiji. Xing Shu restrained his excited breathing and maintained his last bit of composure.
He noticed that the cake on the table had been cut into a messy state by Ye Xiyao.
It seemed the birthday star wasn’t as calm as Xing Shu had thought.
On the other end, Luo Yiji urged Xing Shu to hurry to the Security Bureau.
Xing Shu was somewhat distracted, responding, “Oh, okay, um, sure… By the way, do you want some cake?”
Luo Yiji replied in confusion, “This isn’t the time to talk about that.”
Xing Shu said, “Alright, I’ll bring you a piece.”
Luo Yiji: “…”
