In the early morning sunlight streaming into the room, Cheng Jinyang lay silently on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.
He didn't want to face reality.
Perhaps there would be no more joy or sorrow in his life.
"Are you playing dead?" Miss Wang, who had finished grooming, approached Cheng Jinyang's bed and asked coldly.
"Wanrou," Cheng Jinyang sighed and asked, "If that great demon... has Xiao Li's memories, does that mean Xiao Li is still alive?"
"If you lost your memory, would that mean you're already dead?" Wang Wanrou countered.
Cheng Jinyang: ......
Damn it, I can't refute that!
Losing memory doesn't mean death, as there's still a possibility of regaining memories.
But, Su Lili can't come back to life... She was dead from the beginning, dead before I could even try to save her.
The thought of spending all this time with the adorable Xiao Li, who turned out to be a demon plotting to kill him, made Cheng Jinyang's scalp tingle.
Yet, what lingered in his mind was Wang Wanrou forcefully breaking the dream and bringing him back to consciousness, seeing the almost desperate expression on Su Lili's face.
Cheng Jinyang got up and went to the bathroom. After he finished washing up, he saw Wang Wanrou leaning against the door frame, saying, "Regarding your dream, it wasn't created by her, she just provided a login interface."
"I've hacked and modified the interface permissions, so you can use the dream safely without worrying about her control; of course, she might still come knocking in the dream, but as long as you don't yield, there won't be any substantial harm."
"No," Cheng Jinyang shook his head, "She won't kill me."
"If what you say is true, that she's trying to trick me into leaving Jiankang City, then she wouldn't have aroused my hostility in the dream; if she's really Su Lili, then she wouldn't kill me either."
"Is this your instinct as a trashy man?" Wang Wanrou shook her head, "From analyzing 'Su Lili,' I can roughly infer her intentions, but we still know little about the other means the demon possesses. In other words, encountering anything strange in the dream later wouldn't be surprising."
"More importantly, you need this dream to elevate your bloodline concentration..."
"You guys need it too, right?" Cheng Jinyang asked without looking back.
Wang Wanrou fell silent.
"Yes," she replied, "We do."
"What if I can't enter this dream?" Cheng Jinyang turned around, looking at her calmly, "Will you still stay by my side?"
"I'm not sure about them," Wang Wanrou replied, "As for me, if it were before I met you, no; if it's from now on, yes."
"What's the difference?" Cheng Jinyang smiled wryly.
"Before I met you, there were no traits in you that attracted me." Wang Wanrou succinctly stated.
"And now?"
"Now? It's just so-so," Wang Wanrou smiled, "If this world were like a boring grayscale painting, then you would barely qualify as one of the few dim colors."
"Just 'barely,' not the 'only' color?" Cheng Jinyang laughed.
"Don't flatter yourself, we're going to your 'Sister Xinnan' this morning," Wang Wanrou avoided the question.
However, for this young lady, not scoffing and mocking by denying the statement was enough to indicate her answer.
So Cheng Jinyang's mood improved slightly—using Wang Wanrou's metaphor, it was like adding a dim color to his gray inner world of despair.
The two of them had a simple breakfast, and then there was a knock on the door.
Ah Zhi is back.
Although the Heijian Xing family's territory was close to the Shendu Cheng family's, Xing Yunzhi did not choose to go directly to Luo Hall, but returned to Wujiang Town to find Cheng Jinyang first.
This was another bit of comfort, making Cheng Jinyang slightly happy.
"You seem off, is everything okay?" Xing Yuanzhi noticed his unusual look.
"Is it that obvious?" Cheng Jinyang touched his face.
"It's like coming back after a long day covered in sweat and dust, only to find the bathtub broken and unable to take a bath," Xing Yuanzhi said.
A wonderful metaphor from Ah Zhi. Normally he would have complained, "In fact, there is a public bathroom across the street."
However, he really wasn't in that mood right now, so he just smiled bitterly and said,
"Well, I'm heartbroken."
Xing Yuanzhi's ears immediately perked up. She first glanced warily at Wang Wanrou (did he confess to her), saw the girl from the Five Great Family had no reaction, and then tentatively asked, "Su Lili?"
Cheng Jinyang covered his cheeks, feeling a dull pain in his chest.
"Ah," Xing Yuanzhi didn't know what to say.
After a while, she whispered, "It's better to move on early. You can't be immersed in past illusions forever."
"Thank you for your advice, Yuanzhi," Cheng Jinyang said quietly, "If you can, could you help me wash the breakfast dishes?"
"No need to be polite, please wash them yourself," Xing Yuanzhi said.
"If Qingqing were here, she would definitely help me wash them," Cheng Jinyang sighed and stood up with the dishes in hand.
He walked into the kitchen, and Xing Yuanzhi immediately asked Wang Wanrou in a low voice, "What happened last night? Did Su Lili die in the dream?"
"Can a dead person die again?" Wang Wanrou countered, making Xing Yuanzhi feel like a fool.
"I mean, has the illusion he could only see in the dream shattered?" Xing Yuanzhi corrected herself.
"No," Wang Wanrou said, "It evolved into a demon."
Xing Yuanzhi: ???
As Cheng Jinyang placed the dishes and utensils in the sink, he turned on the tap and watched the water flow over the surface.
Su Lili...
He suddenly remembered three years ago.
In the memories belonging to the original owner, he saw Su Lili's lower body already engulfed in the demon's devouring, her breath weakening, sorrowful and painful as she said:
"You must live..."
"Live well... even if..."
"For me..."
But now, the demon devouring her had become her. How absurd and ridiculous! What a shame I've been with a impostor for so long!
Wait, I don't seem to be the original either! I transmigrated into the depressed Cheng Jinyang and assimilated his memories. So am I "Cheng Jinyang" or not? Similarly, if the demon assimilated Su Lili's memories, is it still "Su Lili"?
If so, then being with the demon is like Cheng Jinyang being with Su Lili. What's the difference between being fake or not?
If not, then both Cheng Jinyang and Su Lili are already dead. The me who transmigrated into Cheng Jinyang's identity hasn't interacted with the original Su Lili at all.
The one I got to know in the dream, who I grew fond of, who I genuinely liked from the bottom of my heart, was this demon incarnated as Su Lili!
Cheng Jinyang became more and more confused, feeling his head ache.
On one hand, he instinctively felt something was wrong, but on the other hand, he couldn't refute it: If we follow this logic, there's no issue of the dead girl, nor is there a problem with me "NTRing" the original. After all, I am Cheng Jinyang, how could I possibly NTR myself?
Either I assimilated with Cheng Jinyang, and the demon assimilated with Su Lili. In that case, Su Lili didn't actually die, and I didn't NTR the original, because I am Cheng Jinyang. How could I possibly NTR myself?
Or, both of them are dead, and the demon and I, two impostors, are pasting ourselves onto the identities of Cheng Jinyang and Su Lili. Then, it's a pure love without NTR. As for the demon killing Su Lili, what does that have to do with me? Su Lili was the childhood sweetheart of the original owner, not mine!
After thinking carefully for half a day, Cheng Jinyang finally realized that there was no need to dwell on the philosophical question of whether the demon was Su Lili. His own safety was the most important thing.
He just needed to confirm two things:
First, whether Su Lili's personality dominates within the demon's body.
Second, whether the demon intends to kill him.
Judging from the motive, these two points were essentially the same. After all, Su Lili's consciousness definitely liked him, and the demon's consciousness would definitely want to kill him.
His thoughts brightened in an instant. Though he still hadn't figured out the truth, the dark clouds of depression in his heart had dissipated a lot.
Cheng Jinyang washed the dishes in the sink, and as soon as he put them in the disinfection cabinet, he heard a cheerful call from below.
He looked out the window and saw Miss Qingqing standing downstairs, waving enthusiastically to him.