Five hours ago.
Thud!
The loud impact of Xie Luochen's body against the ground resound across the darkness of endless silence. Lying on the cold floor he closed his sight in deep contemplation to the problem ahead. No matter how far he walks, the road seems endless and only the soundless pieces of floating memories occupy this area. Lighting up the otherwise dark pathway.
What can he do?
Cherry blossom eyes open a slit to peer at the bright screen beside him. A young woman waves brightly at him with a face covered by an umbrella. Under the light of the shining sun, only her cherry lips are visible as they curve into a charming smile. Her slender body twirls amidst a field of blooming wild flowers as the wind blows with a gentle sigh. Picking up on those loose petals lying on the grass and inducing them to flutter along her spinning movements.
Watching at that scene for a few moments, Xie Luochen moved his sight onto another screen next to the first one. A young woman with pale lips stained with crusted blood grins at him with a mocking challenge. Covered by the shadow of night, her upper face is not visible, but he's sure those eyes of hers are filled with derision. She lifted and placed the nozzle of a gun to the side of her head. While a continuous trickle of blood slips from the corner of her mouth onto her white shirt, she chuckles with a few soundless words before pulling the trigger.
At the same time the trigger was pulled and a temporary white flash, Xie Luochen closed his eyes from the image. The momentary darkness calmed the restlessness of those nightmarish scenes playing around him. Although the face of the woman in his memories are blurry without a visible face, intuition told him. It whispers to him that every woman in those scenes are the same person.
"Chu Nuan…" He murmurs.
What exactly is she to him? An enemy? Friend? Why does she appear in memories that belong to him?
"..." No answer came to him.
Tap. Tap.
Suddenly, a light tapping sound entered his ears and interrupted his thoughts. Opening his eyes, Xie Luochen sees a pair of black shoes covered in fog entering his vision. Tracing them upwards to a familiar black mist, a brief gleam of clarity went by.
"...."
"Are you giving up?" The hazy voice asked without emotion.
"...."
"Do you not want to leave this place?" It inquired again with patience.
"...."
"Was the person yelling on the top of their lungs a while ago, not you?"
The figure lying on the ground finally moved. Flipping himself over, Xie Luochen's eyes narrowing at that clump of mist. "Get lost." He answered airily, "I'm trying to think."
"Oh?" It replied back with an equally light voice, "why do you need to think?"
Upon hearing this question, the color of Xie Luochen's irises darken visibly, "what do you mean?" He won't be so naive as to think that this question is only a simple inquiry. "Do you know the way out?" Sitting up from the ground, he peered into the fog searching for some form of difference.
"Why would you need to think?" The voice repeated. "This place is a part of you, an enclosed space created for the purpose of locking away your past. You are the owner, you are the creator of this dimension. So, why do you need to think of a way out?"
I am the creator?
"Is this not the road to Hell?" Xie Luochen asked with mild confusion.
"Have I ever told you it is?"
"...." He did not.
But…..glancing at the endless pathway similar to the one he and Chu Nuan traveled through some time ago. He couldn't help but wonder, if this is a space created by him. Why did he create a path so similar to the one leading to Hell?
"I guess you consider your memories of Her Honor akin to walking down Hell itself." The figure surrounded by fog clicked its tongue in sympathy as it spectated on the nearby screen.
The perspective is of someone looking about one hundred-twenty degrees upwards at a slender figure standing before them. Protected by a circle of bodyguards, the face of the young woman is masked by a pair of large shades. Pale lips curve into a malicious grin as she pulled out a stack of bills and flung it onto the screen. Colorful bills scurry along the wind as it carries them throughout the area and without looking back, the woman left with her entourage. Leaving behind the person staring at that disappearing silhouette, hand unable to pull back.
"Her Honor looks so refreshed." The mist murmured under its breath in a voice only it can hear.
Is that how it is? Startled Xie Luochen stared at the same projection the fog is observing. It that what I think of Chu Nuan as? A source of terror?
It couldn't be, other than fear and pain, there should be something else. What is it? Concentrate.
But no matter how much he tries to remember, a binding headache seems to overtake him the longer it took.
If I am the owner of the room, then I must be able to control its operations. Taking a deep breath to calm his hasty emotions, he closes his eyes to feel the changes in the surroundings.
Silence. Nothing could be detected.
"...Haa. Forget it." Standing up from the ground, Xie Luochen started to stretch his tense body. The light cracking of joints rang out as he loosened himself.
"Giving up?" The fog asked with curiosity.
"Hm." Xie Luochen answered carelessly, "I just thought of another idea. If I can't find the exit-" He cracked his knuckles while stretching his neck from left to right. "I just need to make one."
—————
Bam!
Another projection crumbled into crystal dust as Xie Luochen's hand removed itself from the falling particles. Blood dripped from the back of his hand and onto the ground in a rhythmic tempo.
This is already the Nth screen he broke.
Now here is the question, why break the screens? First is because in this dimension, other than the screens, there is nothing but darkness.
Second, if this room really is created for the purpose of housing memories. If the things this room was supposed to protect disappears, wouldn't this place lose its meaning? Like an hourglass, breaking the barrier that holds the sand will allow the particles to flow out. The particles being the memories that he smashed and himself included.
Of course, there is the possibility that destroying the screens is the same as ruining the pieces of memories, causing them to disappear. But, the reason why he decided to continue with this plan is because of that strange figure enclosed in fog.
Xie Luochen noticed on the second meeting. Although this mysterious character appears abruptly each time he is sent here. They have not shone an ounce of hostility, even patiently explained the situation to him. Another reason is due to its introduction the first time they met, "I am your guide."
A guide, someone that advises and points the way, and true to its words, other than leading him with slight hints, this figure has not done anything worthy of his doubts. That is why Xie Luochen has those reasons to believe that as long as he shows signs of making a mistake, the figure in the mist will remind him.
This positivity is what led to his current appearance, bloody and out of breath. Surprisingly, the projections were easy to break. Similar to glass, one punch was enough to destroy and turn them into shards. He showed no signs of stopping as he attacked his way through all the while keeping an eye on the silent fog a few yards away. After what seems like hours, only one more screen is left in his sight. The memory of the time when Chu Nuan took him to the spider lily field, which is also the largest screen out of them all.
"This one here represents the present." The haze finally spoke. "The ones you broke before symbolizes the past. You abandoned the past and now you will destroy the present?"
"..." Xie Luochen ignored the question as he stared wordlessly at the familiar scene, the blood flowing from his knuckles dripped rapidly as he clenched his hands. Pursing his thin lips, a deep voice full of determination confirmed his own thoughts whilst his steps began forward, "I don't remember the past anymore." His fist lifted and landed loudly on the screen, "I am aware of the present, but it will not stop me." Heavy punches crack the thick glass, "because what I am looking at is the future!" Switching from using his hands, his right leg raises and in the next moment, descended forcibly on its surface.
Crack!
Under the constant onslaught, the glass broke into glittering particles and fell slowly like snow onto the ground and Xie Luochen's body.
"The Young Master has made his decision. Congratulations on passing your tribulation." The voice said with a tinge of satisfaction.
But the voice was unable to reach his ears. An abrupt pain shook Xie Luochen's head as a rush of memories flowed out like a broken dam. Glass shards that littered on the ground flew up as though a nonexistent wind picked them up and encased themselves around his body.
Images that belong to him, but at the same time, seemingly not, played inside his consciousness as it gradually integrates itself into him. The particles of sand that broke free from the confines of the globe did not disappear, it just combines itself with something else is all.
Decade worth of recollections drown him in a sea of memories, leading him to be short of breath. Time ticks by in a gradual manner within the space now completely dark without the glow of the screens. Only the constant panting and groaning of pain emerges from his hoarse throat.
In the end, he fainted.
Darkness once again.
Xie Luochen opened his eyes to the same darkness as before. What happened? He stood there confused as to what had transpired. The fog is not here as well.
"Luochen." A gentle familiarity calls at him.
Turning around abruptly, his eyes widened at the scene in front of him, "Chu Nuan?" Unable to believe, he took a step forward, "why are you here?" Is she trapped as well?
Ignoring his question, Chu Nuan grinned at him brightly as she moved towards his direction, "do you remember our reunion a few months ago?"
Not understanding her train of thought, he hesitated for a moment before replying, "I remember."
Seeing his uneasy expression, she chuckles as her body moves closer, "at that time, I was so happy to see you. Even when you were so cold to me."
"I…" An aching pain struck at his chest when he recalled the way he acted. "Sorry…"
"Why apologize? You did nothing wrong." She smiled as an arm snaked her way up his neck and pulled him forward. The tip of her pink tongue ran across her cherry lips as almond eyes narrowed with a seductive flare. "I waited for you for such a long time, is an apology the only thing you'll give me?"
Cherry blossom eyes shook with bewilderment as his hoarse voice trembled with an inquiry, "what do you want me to do?"
"What can I do?" She asked in reply, "can I do anything?" Slender fingers ran from his nose down to his thin lips. Her thumb kneaded at the bottom lip in a steady rhythm, generating enough force to turn his pale lips red.
The temperature of the space seemed to be rising at a rapid pace, "wait. Wait a moment." Xie Luochen rejected. Now is not the time for this.
"I don't want to." Without pause, soft lips pressed onto his opened mouth along with the insert of a supple tongue.
"?! Wai- ngh." His voice barely came out with it being suddenly blocked, confusion turned into shock as the cold touch of her hand slipped into his clothes. He tried to pull away only to be stopped by Chu Nuan's insane strength. Taking the opportunity for his distraction, a leg slipped behind his knees and kicked back with force as one hand protected his head and another pushed him backwards. In a matter of seconds, Xie Luochen found himself lying on the floor looking up at a grinning Chu Nuan whose mouth was still clinging onto a thread of silver saliva.
"Shh. Be obedient." She coaxed while a hand securely clamp onto both of his wrists and restrained them over his head.
"Chu-" Struggle became useless as she forced the words he tried to speak back into his throat with another compelling kiss. The taste of her tongue carried a type of spiciness that made his whole mouth numb. How can she be so strong?! His weary body began to perspire as a sudden movement triggered him to arch his back. "Ngh!"
Evil claws crept into the folds of his shirt and gathered it over his shoulders revealing the compact muscles underneath. It was already too late the second his skin felt the coldness of long fingernails gliding from his chest to the side of his slender waist. "Ugh!" The slow agonizing feel of nails running along his bare skin is akin to hundreds of small ants skidding over his body.
He writhe in pain as a gradual build up of tension pooled at the pit of his heated stomach. The spicy taste of something wreaking havoc in the cavity of his mouth produces a dizzying fog that restricts his thoughts. Through the murkiness of this bizarre state, Chu Nuan's voice can faintly be heard.
"Luochen….gift…."
"En?" Xie Luochen tried to peer past the fogginess of the mist over his eyes and look at the woman on top of him. "What did you say?"
"I have something for you, a gift full of love." She said as a hard object is placed in his hand.
??? The touch of a soft cloth covering something heavy abruptly appeared in his hand.
Getting an opportunity to rest from the consistent assault from above, misty eyes became steadily clear enough to see the item in his hand. Cherry blossom eyes twitched at the familiar red cloth in his hand. That recognizable lily design along those thin strings holding onto the sides of the cloth, is this not the panties from chapters ago? Why is it here? Staring closer, it seems to be wrapping around a pineapple shaped object.
"...this…." A small grenade without a safety pin appeared in his sights the moment he lifted the cloth aside.
Looking up with jerky movements he asked, "Chu Nuan….this?"
Chu Nuan grinned with a wide smile as her two hands curved to form a heart whilst answering, "Xie Luochen! This is my gift to you, love you!" Charming almond eyes gave him a quick wink before-
Bang!
The grenade exploded.
__________
?! Waking up with a start, Xie Luochen sat up with a large amount of sweat flowing down his face.
"??? Em am alif?" (I am alive?)
???? Perceiving an unknown object hanging on his mouth, Xie Luochen furrowed his brows as he spit the item out. A powering taste of spiciness and numbness spreading inside.
"Spicy soy stripes?" Bewildered Xie Luochen picked up the snack from the ground in confusion. Where did this come from? Does that mean the taste from before…..shaking his head to clear away the thoughts, a crinkling sound of plastic immediately captured his attention.
Turning around instantly, his eyes came in contact with the figure covered in fog once again. Squatting on the ground with a white plastic bag labeled "Spicy Soy Stripes," the mysterious figure nibbled on the stripes in a low murmur. "So slow…"
"You…" Throwing the snack onto the floor near the mist, anger can be faintly sensed in his actions. "Did you put this in my mouth?"
Unaffected by the anger, the figure chuckled in a low voice, "I was afraid you'd be hungry after not eating for so long."
"...."
"Don't be mad, I did it out of love~"