Chapter 102 – The Inferior Omega is Forcibly Loved by the Superior Alpha (Extra 2)
In the blink of an eye, another twenty years passed. Wei Yichen never married, and as he had promised Shuang Yu, he cared for Zuo Fei until the end of his days. Zuo Fei passed away at the age of 78.
After the funeral, Wei Yichen went to the Imperial Mausoleum alone. He knelt before the tombstone of Shuang Yu and Shi Heng, his eyes filled with lingering affection as he gently caressed Shuang Yu’s photo on the stone.
“Xiao Yu, I’ve fulfilled our promise… I miss you so much… All these years, I’ve been filled with regret… If, if I hadn’t mistaken someone else for you, would our ending have been different? You said meeting me was your misfortune, but meeting you was the greatest fortune of my life… In this life, I dare not ask for your forgiveness. If I can, I hope to meet you again in the next, so I can continue to atone… Yu… I love you. I’m sorry my confession is a full forty years late…”
A scalding tear fell onto Shuang Yu’s photo.
Just like Shi Heng, Wei Yichen chose to end his life with poison. As his consciousness faded, he seemed to see that little boy in the red and white basketball uniform again. Under the bright sun, the boy flashed a brilliant smile and held out his hand. “Brother, I’ve been waiting for you.”
Wei Yichen smiled. He slowly took the little boy’s hand and said softly, “Let’s go.”
“Little rain, little rain, pitter-patter, big rain, big rain, splish-splash~~ Drip-drop, drip-drop, ding-dong, ding-dong…”
The child’s tender voice rang out again. Hand in hand, the two children gradually disappeared under the bright sun.
***
Underworld.
Shuang Yu stood on the banks of the River of Oblivion, staring blankly at the murky water.
“What are you thinking about, Xiao Yu?”
An elderly female voice spoke up. Meng Po, leaning on a cane and holding a wine bottle, appeared beside him.
“I heard that the bottom of the River of Oblivion holds the sealed memories of many people. Only by forgetting these past lives can they be reincarnated… I was wondering if my memories from before I died are in there too.”
Shuang Yu offered a faint smile as he spoke.
“You want to find your memories from before you died?”
Meng Po raised an eyebrow, questioning him.
“I used to think my past life wasn’t important, but now I’m suddenly a little curious about who I was,” Shuang Yu murmured, a trace of confusion in his eyes.
If he had been someone of status in his past life, perhaps the distance between them would shrink a little…
“But what if those memories aren’t pleasant? What if they bring you pain? Would you still want to find them?”
“Life is made of sweet, sour, bitter, spicy, and salty flavors. It can’t be all happiness, just as it can’t be all pain.”
He shook his head, speaking with deep meaning.
“Actually, it’s not the memories you want to recall. You want to know if you had a lover, don’t you? What, did you run into another psycho on this mission?”
Meng Po smiled knowingly, teasing him.
“Yes… another psycho… I need to go ask Xie Bi’an and Fan Wujiu if they let their Hellhound take a dump at my doorstep! Psychos are terrifying… They live madly, and they love madly… But that kind of madness is addictive! Tell me, how does a lowly Ghost Emissary like me keep running into these great figures?”
Shuang Yu’s eyes filled with sorrow as he spoke, his voice choked with emotion. If they were just ordinary people, perhaps he wouldn’t be so sad. Dead is dead, and they would meet again in the Underworld anyway. But the truth was, none of the people he got involved with were ordinary. When ordinary people died, they went to the Underworld for reincarnation or punishment. But these psychos? When they died, they simply returned to their divine status. That lifetime was nothing more than an insignificant part of their training.
He was so insignificant that, let alone knowing the great figure’s identity, even if he did, he probably wouldn’t have the courage to stand before them. After all, the difference in their statuses was too vast. He had no confidence that the great figure would love him as madly as they did in the Small World. It was precisely this disparity that made his heart ache so terribly.
“The bottom of the River of Oblivion does indeed hold many sealed memories, including yours… So, do you want to seal away this relationship as well? Doing so… might lessen your pain.”
Meng Po sighed softly and handed him the wine flask.
Shuang Yu didn’t want to forget Shi Heng the way he had forgotten Feng Yan. Those memories and feelings were precious to him. He even had a very bold guess: Feng Yan and Shi Heng were the same person, even though the two were completely different. Feng Yan was calm and steady; although a psycho, he understood the bigger picture and knew when to compromise. Shi Heng, on the other hand, was more childish due to his age and status. He had indeed done many bad things to him, but his care for him had surpassed Feng Yan’s, being meticulous and all-encompassing. During those brief ten years, Shi Heng had personally cooked his three meals a day and his late-night snacks, never missing a day no matter how busy, and had taken care of him perfectly. The reason he’d fallen for Shi Heng in the first place was because of his constant care and companionship during the most arduous days of developing the software.
But even if they were the same person, it wouldn’t change anything. He was a lofty Deity in the heavens, while Shuang Yu was just an insignificant little Ghost Emissary in the Underworld Bureau. The gap in their status was too great. He had no confidence to stand before him and say, “I am the lover from your mortal tribulation.” He hoped to clear his sins as quickly as possible, so he could at least stand before him with dignity and bravely pursue love. Once he set his mind on something, he would do it; Shuang Yu was never a coward. But while the ideal was grand, the reality was harsh.
The truth was, if he couldn’t forget these past events, he would keep dwelling on them, struggling with them, and suffering, to the point where he couldn’t even work properly. To have a future, he had to let go. Only by giving something up could he gain something in return. Shuang Yu knew he had to make a choice. Whether human or ghost, one had to move forward; there was no sense in going backward. Rather than wallowing in self-pity, it was better to work harder and complete more missions. That would give him a better chance of clearing his karmic obstructions! No matter how reluctant or conflicted he was, he knew that temporary oblivion was his only choice for now.
“In the future, will I have a chance to personally retrieve those missing feelings?”
Taking the wine from Meng Po, Shuang Yu’s heart was bitter as he asked in a hoarse voice.
“Of course, you can. As long as you have perseverance, there’s nothing you can’t achieve, right?”
Meng Po nodded and replied with a smile.
She didn’t say how to retrieve those missing feelings, but Shuang Yu had a guess. To get back the sealed emotions, he would probably have to enter the river. There, Copper Snakes and Iron Dogs would fight over his flesh, and he would be eternally damned to the Nai River with no way out. Even a god would shed a layer of skin jumping into the River of Oblivion, let alone a minor Ghost Emissary like him. But he… was fearless. Because that psycho’s unreserved love was worth him giving everything!
“You’re right. Thank you for the wine.”
Shuang Yu smiled freely and took a large gulp of the wine. It was bitter at first, but a sweet aftertaste followed. As the liquid entered his body, every little memory of his time with Shi Heng was sealed away, bit by bit.
Clatter—
The wine flask fell to the ground, and Shuang Yu collapsed in a drunken stupor on the banks of the River of Oblivion. From the corner of his eye, a single crystalline tear rolled into the river, turning into a pearl and sinking continuously. At the murky bottom of the river lay countless old boxes, large and small. Among them was a particularly exquisite box, faintly emitting a dazzling golden light. On its lock was a Golden Lotus Mark! The pearl landed on the box and gradually merged into it. This was the third pearl to fall into the box.