The soul flag was restored but didn't cause any plot changes. Ye Zhizhou opened the system information to look it over, but the more he looked, the more his brows wrinkled. According to the timeline, the protagonist and Yuan Yao met when the protagonist was in his 40's. At that time, Yuan Yao was only 25 years old. Then right now, Yuan Yao...must have just been born recently?

Even babies aren't spared, this soul flag fluctuation is too ferocious.

Cen Yuebai walked over to pick up the fork and set it aside. He raised his hand and poked Ye Zhizhou's forehead lightly. "What are you daydreaming about?"

He snapped out of it, shook his head and thought about it for a bit before asking, "You first approached my sister to help her return to her body. Suppose that her body died before she was able to return, what would happen to her soul then?"

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"Her situation is special. It's equivalent to being forced out. If her body died, then her soul would gradually become weaker and weaker until it dissipated and returned to the reincarnation cycle." Cen Yuebai sat beside his bed and put his hand into the blanket. He gently lifted Ye Zhizhou's clothing and touched the wound. He leaned over and looked into his eyes. "Why did you feel like asking this?"

The wound was a bit ticklish when he touched it. He moved back and caught the hand that was making trouble at his waist, almost unable to keep his serious expression. He directly glared at Cen Yuebai before answering. "I just felt a little troubled. Have you gotten any results from your investigation? It seems like Fan Lang and the others don't know anything about the soul movement at all. Who do you think did it?"

Cen Yuebai couldn't help leaning over to kiss his eyes, before holding his hand and saying, "I went to the scene of Fan Lang's car accident and saw that there were traces of fighting nearby, but unfortunately, I couldn't identify which sect it was. Everything in the hospital seems normal, but Shen Mengxi's body was taken away here. Looking at the combination of the two clues, I can only guess that someone wanted to steal Fan Lang's body and Shen Mengxi's involvement was accidental."

Someone wanted to steal Fan Lang's body... He suddenly thought of something and frantically poked at the system in his mind. "Are the flags on top of the protagonist's head bound to the protagonist's soul?"

[Currently retrieving rules, please wait...Retrieval complete, soul flags are bound to the soul and cannot be changed.]

Bound to the soul? Then why didn't he see the soul flags on top of the protagonist's head when he saw him that day, at Shen Mengxi's school gate? At that time, the soul in Shen Mengxi's body was Fan Lang. It couldn't be that Fan Lang wasn't the protagonist?!

Once again, at midnight, he snuck into Fan Lang's room. The room was very dark with little light, and the flags that were glowing in the dim light were even more eye-catching. He couldn't help tightening his hold on the little mirror in his pocket, frowning deeply. What is going on...Why is it that when Fan Lang was in Shen Mengxi's body there were no soul flags above his head and yet when he returned to his body, they appeared again?

He poked at the small mirror while sprinkling a powdered form of the Cuimian pill on Fan Lang, moving closer to look at him. He asked in his mind doubtfully, "Do the soul flags only appear when the protagonist's soul and body match?"

[There is no such requirement in the rules.]

So what exactly is going on right now? He became increasingly confused. The Huanhun pill wouldn't make any mistakes. At this moment, the soul in Fan Lang's body is absolutely the genuine soul! So, that day, why were the soul flags absent when Fan Lang was the one occupying Shen Mengxi's body?

"You also think it's strange, don't you?"

The sudden voice scared him so much his heart skipped a beat.

Yin Feiyu pushed the door open and walked to the bedside, observing Fan Lang on the bed with him. He held a closed record folder in his hand. "When he woke up, your sister fainted, interesting. What's even more interesting is that his personality now is a bit different from when he was in your sister's body. "

His spiritual power actually didn't detect Yin Feiyu's approach. What's going on? He quickly calmed down but didn't follow the other person's train of thought, asking instead, "Do you know about the matter of moving souls? Or could it be you know the culprit?" Yin Feiyu has always been strange and he didn't feel like a bad guy but at the same time, he didn't seem like a good guy either. It looked like he noticed a lot of things, but had no intention of intervening, simply staying as a spectator. Ye Zhizhou secretly guarded against him and used his spiritual power to monitor Yin Feiyu for a few days but got nothing. In short, he couldn't understand this man.

"I forgot to mention it. My eyes are different from yours." Yin Feiyu took off his glasses and turned his head to look at him. The corners of his eyes crinkled as he smiled and it unexpectedly gave him a charming appearance. "Your soul is golden, and my grandfather said that a golden soul is rare. The owner of a golden soul must have great merit, a noble lifestyle and I should treat them with caution. Although I hate things like gods and demons, I have to admit they were very useful, so I believe in you."

"While this person on the bed..." He put his glasses on again, quirking his lips in disdain. "The first day he was admitted into the hospital, his soul was a chaotic gray. On the second day, he lost his soul and it became blank. Now, his soul is gradually turning black. A black colored soul represents great evil, they can't be reincarnated after death. I really don't want to cure him."

[The probability of Yin Feiyu and the protagonist falling in love has dropped to 0%. The fourth soul flag has been pulled out. Congratulations to the host, may the host persist in his efforts.]

Ye Zhizhou's surprise was considerably dulled by the system prompt that suddenly popped up. His thoughts continued to fly around his brain, but nothing was shown on his face. He continued to ask, "Then, can you see the color of Cen Yuebai's soul?"

"Cen Yuebai, ah." Yin Feiyu narrowed his eyes and then looked to the door at the side of the room. "Since you're here, stop hiding. Don't worry, I don't have any ideas towards your little lover."

Ye Zhizhou, who was trying hard to pretend to be wise, raised his eyebrows. He couldn't help turning his head to look at the door when he heard this.

"This is why I hate the people that opened their third eye." A cold voice came from behind the door. Cen Yuebai pushed the door open and used the corridor lights to enter. He looked at Fan Lang, who was unconscious on the sickbed. "A great evil disciple, so it's like this. It's not moving souls, but a merged soul. No wonder the first soul returning magic failed."

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Merged souls? So the soul flags... Ye Zhizhou turned to look at Fan Lang on the bed and turned on the system's scanning function. The problem was that the system could only scan the condition of the physical body, it has no special abilities for souls. Only after he scanned half of Fan Lang's body did he react, and turned the system off in frustration. Powerful technology and golden fingers in this increasingly unscientific world really aren't useful... This mission is difficult.

Cen Yuebai walked past Yin Feiyu to go to Ye Zhizhou and took ahold of his hand, kneading it. "Go back and sleep, it's late."

Ye Zhizhou, who snuck out of the room, looked at him guiltily. He obediently followed Cen Yuebai as he walked out, but when he was about to walk past Yin Feiyu, he suddenly remembered his previous question so he asked again, "So, what color is Yuebai's soul?"

Cen Yuebai stopped and turned to look at Yin Feiyu with sharp and threatening eyes, completely different from his usual cold indifference.

"An ordinary person's soul is warm and light yellow. The more evils they do, the more turbid their colors are. On the contrary, the more merits and kindness they have, the purer their color is." Yin Feiyu didn't answer his question directly. Instead, he turned around and walked out while saying, "A man who is merciless, has no willingness, has no merits, and has nothing, but was born with an immortal affinity and bore the consequence of murder. You tell me... what color would his soul be?"

Once again, he saw Yin Feiyu's confident and relaxed white back, but Ye Zhizhou's mood this time was somewhat heavy.

Born with an immortal affinity yet his life carries the consequence of murder... consequence of murder... He looked at Cen Yuebai, who was stopped in front of him. He wanted to say something so he opened his mouth, but he hesitated and ended up just closing it. Every life, his soul is loaded into the world, occupying another person's body... but his lover was actually reincarnated for so many lives without the memory of his previous lives. Regarding this mysterious consequence of murder issue, even if he asked about it, it'd be impossible to get an answer from his lover. However, for his lover who has never committed any evil deeds in this world to be faced with this kind of issue, he must feel powerless and find it difficult.

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There was a sudden fluctuation in the spiritual power net surrounding Fan Lang. He composed himself and then tightened his hold on his lover's hand, walking out with him. "The effect of the powdered Cuimian pill is almost over, let's go. We can talk more when we get back."

Cen Yuebai looked down at their entwined hands, and his stiff body slowly relaxed. So what if he carried the consequence of murder, as long as this person doesn't let go, as long as this person stays by his side...

It was silent the entire way back to the room. Cen Yuebai didn't go to the guest bed, but instead squeezed onto the sickbed, holding Ye Zhizhou tightly in his arms with no gaps exposed. It was as if he was afraid that Ye Zhizhou would run away the second he loosened his arms.

Ye Zhizhou moved sideways to hug him back, tilting his head to kiss Cen Yuebai on the chin. He released a soothing spiritual power to surround them and said in a warm tone, "Yuebai, we'll always be together."

Cen Yuebai hugged him tighter and then said in a low voice, after a moment of silence, "A few years ago, when master realized that his life was ending, he divined my fate for me while hiding the fact that he used his life as a sacrifice... The result of the divination was a bloody hell."

Ye Zhizhou's heart tightened. He wanted to look up to see Cen Yuebai's expression but found that he was held down and couldn't move.

"You have merits and virtue, and are destined to live a happy, long life, yet I..."

"I know you don't have a bad heart." Ye Zhizhou interrupted his words and anxiously arched in his arms. "If you're living with a consequence of murder, we can redeem it slowly. Besides, we've been married for several lifetimes. You can't leave me alone! Don't you want to be with me? You shouldn't care too much about this..."

"We'll stay together." Cen Yuebai suddenly hugged him and turned over, pressing him under his body. He showed a rare bout of intense emotion. "You can only be mine! Even if I'm going to hell, I'll take you with me!"

Ye Zhizhou stared at him blankly and then let out a loud laugh, destroying the mood, "You're so... Every time, you say the same line..." He still isn't tired of saying this, even after a few lifetimes.

Cen Yuebai's heart, full of terror and anxiety, was cleared by his laughter. His mood felt a bit seized up. "You..."

"I like you. No, I love you." Ye Zhizhou raised his arms and looped it around Cen Yuebai's neck, pulling him down. He pressed their foreheads together and said slowly, "I have a secret. You must've noticed it already, but you respected me and didn't ask about it. Now, I will also respect your secret. The consequence of murder, I'll forget it when I wake up tomorrow. You don't have to worry about it too much and you shouldn't care about it. You are you. I believe that you've never done anything bad in your life. You're a good person. Just like in the last life and the previous life before that... You've always been a good person and I just happen to like you, this good person, understand?"

Cen Yuebai's expression gradually became gentle. In his mind, the emotion and mental state that he suppressed for many years due to the image of the bloody divination, was finally released. Little by little, it was filled with a warm and soft feeling. "Understood." He relaxed his body, which was pressing Ye Zhizhou down and kissed his eyes. "I love you too... always..."

The scattered spiritual power in the air felt the familiar approach of another spiritual power. Ye Zhizhou closed his eyes and smiled, hugging the man on top of him tightly. No matter what color his lover's soul was, he believed in this person and loved him deeply. That was enough.

The two happily and sweetly went to sleep and completely forgot about Fan Lang, whose soul was turning black upstairs.

The following morning, Ye Zhizhou woke up in a daze. He glanced at the small mirror beside the pillow and instantly jolted awake, quickly sitting up.

Oh shit! The mission!

Cen Yuebai happened to be walking in with breakfast. Seeing Ye Zhizhou's hair all curled up in disarray as he sat on the bed with a face full of fear, Cen Yuebai frowned a little and walked forward to feel his forehead. He asked with concern, "Did you have a nightmare? Or did you not sleep well?"

"Yuebai! The soul merging, the soul merging!" Ye Zhizhou grabbed Cen Yuebai's hand, almost frantic to the point that he couldn't speak properly, "How is Fan Lang right now? What's going on with the merging souls? Yesterday we... no. Yesterday, Yin Feiyu said that Fan Lang's soul was turning black. Is this because of the soul merging?"

Cen Yuebai relaxed his furrowed brows and sat down beside the hospital bed, patting Ye Zhizhou comfortingly. After Ye Zhizhou calmed down a bit, he said, "Merging souls is different from stealing someone's body. What he's stealing isn't just the other person's body, but their life and chance of reincarnation. It takes time to merge souls, don't worry. Fan Lang's soul hasn't been completely overtaken yet. There's still a method."

Ye Zhizhou quickly asked, "What's the method? How long does it take to merge souls? How do you stop it?"

"The quickest would be one or two months while the slowest would be around three to five years, depending on the strength of the invading soul. As for a way to stop it... Separate the invading soul and kill it."

Separate the invading soul... Ye Zhizhou repeated this sentence for a moment, and then pulled his hair. So that damn invading soul is the real protagonist of this world! Why are the protagonists in difficult mode never normal?! This time, it's unexpectedly just a soul that would snatch a body from others!

[Soul flag fluctuation detected...The fourth removed soul flag has been restored. The flag has been transferred to the soul of Yuan Wei. Asking host to please pay attention! ]

Ye Zhizhou took a deep breath after seeing the system prompt that suddenly popped up.. Yuan Wei? The son of the big boss?!

Does that invading soul have a grudge against the Yuan family?!

The author has something to say:

Thank you Jun Shi for the mine! Love you! 3=

PS: This brain hole can't be closed again QvQ

PLOT TWIST, ahahaha another plot twist, protag wasn't the protag. This arc is so wild already,

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Also ML and YZZ are so cute

Translator's Note

E/N: This is the consequence of an action (in this case murder) from a previous lifetime. It's like saying that you did a lot of bad things in a previous life and then end up being reincarnated as a bug. Thus, you're living with the consequences of your actions in the previous life.