Smack!

Xia Lei’s slap landed on his own cheek. As soon as his palm left his flesh, he was immediately presented with the sight of a squashed mosquito. Judging by the generous splatter of blood, the mosquito clearly got a great meal out of him. There were a lot of insects flying around in the cornfield but none of them had bothered to touch Zhu Xuanyue. The fact that he was the only victim was absolutely frustrating.

Regardless, Xia Lei finished his story.

He had run his mouth for ages now and Zhu Xuanyue had taken in every single bit of information in complete silence. The more Xia Lei revealed about Ning Jing’s past, the softer her gaze became.

Xia Lei studied every minute shift. He thought to himself, “I’ve fed her so many things about Ning Jing but in the end, it all boils down to Ning Jing’s control within the body. If she’s not the one doing it, this state will not last for long…”

Zhu Xuanyue was still staring at him quietly when two large beads of tears escaped the confines of her eye.

Her tears rippled something inside Xia Lei’s heart, surfacing a surge of melancholy. A piece of his memory began to play out with flooding bitterness. Oh, Ning Jing… That unfortunate soul that left a quiet imprint inside his heart.

Zhu Xuanyue began walking towards Xia Lei.

And he did not move away. He stood his place and watched her close the distance.

Zhu Xuanyue snuggled against his chest with tears in her eyes. “I don’t know why but I feel so sad.”

Xia Lei placed his arms around her waist lightly. “It’s all in the past now. I’m glad that you’re back.”

Zhu Xuanyue reached up and held his cheek. “You feel so warm. I’m so afraid that you’ll leave me. Promise me that you’ll never let me loose, okay?”

Xia Lei nodded, though fully aware that this wasn’t a promise.

Zhu Xuanyue’s lips trembled and she broke out into a whine. Abruptly, she shot up and captured his lips.

That took him by surprise but Xia Lei did not push her away. He wasn’t trying to take advantage of her but it had taken him some effort to finally calm Zhu Xuanyue and awakened Ning Jing’s dwelling consciousness. If he had rejected her advance, triggered her in the process and awakened the part that belonged to Zhu Xuanyue, trouble would ensue.

Their lips were snug together in a sophisticated light kiss. However, things were starting to go down south seconds later. Zhu Xuanyue had taken advantage of his compliance to pry his teeth open and jam her tongue inside. He reluctantly allowed that to get this over with but she was relentless. She had no plans to spare him tonight.

The situation was going out of control. While Xia Lei was accepting of various kinds of kisses, Zhu Xuanyue was bringing him a lot of trouble amidst the chaotic timing they were in. Plus, her eyes were burning with lust, clearly eager for more.

At this rate, he was quickly losing control over the situation.

“Ning Jing, please stop. Calm down.” Xia Lei pried himself away from her onslaught with a light push.

The desire swirling in her eyes vanished, immediately replaced by resentment. She was now clearly agitated “What’s with you?! Why do you always reject me?! What the hell are you asking of me?!”

Xia Lei was quick to respond. His rejection had unintentionally awakened some part of Gu Kewen. He too had rejected her once upon a time when the Gu family had fallen into shambles and the woman was left all alone. Gu Kewen had stripped herself clean in front of him, hoping that she could exchange some peace and assistance using her body but Xia Lei had rejected her. With that, her feelings started to fluctuate greatly. It turned from hatred to love, then love to hatred. The only thing constant was the intensity of her feelings. After all, she was fluctuating between two extremes of the spectrum. It was only till her death she had the luxury of dying in his embrace. Her entire life had been nothing short of a complete tragedy.

Just as Xia Lei blanked out, Zhu Xuanyue threw a punch.

He reacted in the nick of time, stomping both soles into the ground and allowed his body to be carried backwards as he ruined a few stalks of corn in the process. Zhu Xuanyue’s fist had missed but the empty punch had sent a few nearby stalks rustling strongly.

“I hate you!” Zhu Xuanyue clenched her fists and screeched. Tears began to flood out of her eyes again. This time it wasn’t mere drops, it was cascading down like waterfalls.

Ning Jing was a sophisticated woman, reflecting even when in tears. Her crying was never an outburst of emotions. Gu Kewen, on the other hand, loved and hated with unrivalled passion. It was either crazy love or intense resentment, never in between. Thus, her cries were like a broken dam.

The distinct difference allowed Xia Lei to arrive with a conclusion- His rejection had triggered Gu Kewen. In front of him was a woman with three vastly different personas; The quiet and demure Ning Jing, the passionate Gu Kewen that switched from one end of the spectrum to another and the demon-like Zhu Xuanyue. These three personalities would switch around continuously. While there seemed to be a pattern, it was difficult to get a hold of its true nature.

“Gu Kewen?” Xia Lei was at wit’s end, really.

Zhu Xuanyue jolted a little but said nothing.

“Do you yearn for an apology?” Xia Lei said, “I thought it through… That incident shouldn’t have happened between us. If an apology is what you want, I’ll gladly give it to you.”

He was the one who brought down her family and took her life away. No matter how many years worth of bad blood they shared, what happened had already happened. While she was alive, Xia Lei did not have a chance to give her the apology she deserved. This too was an opportunity to bury the hatchet.

“Sorry, Kewen.” Xia Lei bowed slightly.

A smile broke out across Zhu Xuanyue’s face. His apology seemed to have brought her some sort of comfort. It felt like it was relief that brought a smile to her lips.

Noticing her delighted smile, Xia Lei could finally ease his tension. He thought darkly, “This won’t do. She’s incredibly unstable and it’s going to be extremely dangerous for me to stay close. She wants to go to Area 51 and I want to head to the same destination. But to enter with her current condition will certainly mean a violent fight in Area 51. She wouldn’t have an issue to escape but what about me?”

While Xia Lei was lost in his own thoughts, the smile on her lips vanished. She uttered coldly, “Xia Lei, what the hell are you trying to pull? You called me Ning Jing and then called me Gu Kewen. Why have you not called my name yet?”

Xia Lei held his gaze at her sharply.

Zhu Xuanyue, the true owner of this body, was back once again. It was a piece of cake for her to override consciousness that belonged to Ning Jing and Gu Kewen.

Uncle Xia was now Xia Lei. This seemed to be a tell-tale sign of her maturation progress throughout all this time. This felt like a warning to him that she was no longer that bleary and easily manipulated girl before.

“There was a slight accident back in India’s Reincarnation Lab when that bastard tried to stop me. I mean what gives? Hmph! He’s so full of himself.” Zhu Xuanyue uttered nonchalantly. “He was gravely injured and escaped. After that, you brought me to China. In your eyes, I looked like I had lost my memories but in reality, I was just in dormant mode due to the damage I sustained. Thanks for taking care of me. It allowed me to recover fairly quickly. After I started to feed, my recovery was even faster. While I’ve yet to reach my original peak, it won’t be long till that day comes.”

Xia Lei’s heart thumped loudly. “You regained your memories? No, you’re awakened now? Then, answer my questions. What is with that box? And that black-robed man, who the hell is he? Also… Just… Who in the world are you?”

“That’s a lot of questions but I don’t wish to answer any of it,” said Zhu Xuanyue.

“Why?”

“Unless necessary, I cannot tell you anything. But let me get this straight, anyone who learns of my secret will not walk away alive.” Her glare turned piercingly icy.

Xia Lei gulped, immediately stunned.

“I have my own destiny to follow while you have yours. Those answers can only be answered by you, then…”

“Then what?”

“You need to accept your own fate.”

Xia Lei refused to accept vague answers. “Alright, fine. You can refuse to answer me but how about dropping some hints? A crumb of it won’t hurt. Where did the box come from? There’s a space within it, where is that?”

“You really think I won’t kill you?” Enormous murderous intent radiated off Zhu Xuanyue.

Xia Lei was weirdly calm. “To die in your hands would be much better than dying in the black-robed man’s hands. So please, give me some hints!”

The keyword here was ‘hint’, which meant differently from ‘answers’.

Zhu Xuanyue scoffed. “Don’t even try to fool me with wordplay. I have been speaking Mandarin long before you were born. I have mastered every single language in the world. Do you think I would not be able to tell ‘hint’ and ‘answer’ apart?”

Xia Lei refused to back down.

“Your lack of fear towards me stems from the fact that you were the one who awakened me. And within me, exists two women that loved you deeply in the past. Is that correct?” Zhu Xuanyue raised a brow.

Xia Lei offered no answer, opting to stare at her cautiously. Truthfully speaking, while he was worried that Zhu Xuanyue would attack him, he was not afraid of her at all. Perhaps she was right. There was no way she could kill him with the protection of not one but two women that harboured feelings for him in the past.

To provoke her further was not wise. Even with an array of choices, Xia Lei still would not do it. Before the heap of mysteries that were tied to his destiny could be solved, the man had no choice but to shoulder the risk!

Nearing Xia Lei, Zhu Xuanyue’s murderous intent weakened in all of a sudden. She was taken aback. She mumbled under her breath, “I really… I really can’t attack you before reaching my initial state.”

Those words brought a flood of relief to Xia Lei’s nerves. “Then give me a hint.”

There was a beat of silence before Zhu Xuanyue relented, “I only know little about the box. It does not exist in this world and it has to do with time. To me, it is nothing but a prison and I’m afraid to touch it. The prehistoric chosen one tried to solve its mysteries but failed miserably. The black-robed man trying to kill you is none other than the prehistoric chosen one himself.”

“He…” Though he long had such suspicions, hearing its confirmation from Zhu Xuanyue’s lips felt utterly bizarre. “Isn’t he supposed to be dead? Didn’t you kill him? His body is left behind in a tomb underneath the Holy Church of Sepulchre and I even found a lot of the box’s shards within his frame.”

Zhu Xuanyue answered, “When you reach his level, you wouldn’t need to ask me questions like this. The endgame of human evolution is the pure energy state. Physical bodies can be easily destroyed but the soul could never be easily wiped out of existence. Even if you’re injured, you can still return through various different channels. The human of the future can afford to abandon their bodies and create stronger vessels using alloy material. That way, they will not be limited by the inhabitable climate faced during space exploration.”

Xia Lei felt his jaw go slack. “You… You’re from the future?”