Chapter 188: Chapter 188

"You’re wronging me! You don’t trust me! I told you I only think of Ling Xiao as family! But you still insisted on killing him!"

"I was wrong about that."

An Yan looked at him in shock. Li Tianyao actually admitted he was wrong?

"From now on, I’ll try my best to trust you!"

An Yan was even more shocked. "You... are you still Li Tianyao?"

He didn’t respond, just looked at her.

The light cast a shallow layer of shadows on his face. "Madness! I named this affliction myself. Bloodthirsty, murderous, and recognizing no one—isn’t it fitting?"

"What Li Qingqing said about your illness—is all of that true?"

Li Tianyao half-leaned against the headboard, his gaze fixed on her face. "We’re married now, right?"

"Don’t even think about it. I’m just ill, not dead!"

An Yan wordlessly met his gaze for a few seconds before speaking. "What happens next? After you lose your sanity and kill indiscriminately, what then?"

"I heal on my own. My pupils turn back to their normal black."

"How long does this state last?"

"It’s uncertain. Maybe a year or two, maybe three to five years. The longest episode, I think, lasted ten years."

"Ten years? Then how many people did you kill that time?"

Li Tianyao laughed. "Since I knew I would fall ill, how could I possibly be unprepared?"

"What did you prepare?"

An Yan had an unsettling thought. Could it be...

"I lock myself up! Chain myself up!"

His voice was surprisingly calm. "In any case, no matter the situation, I can’t die."

An Yan looked at him. "Do you still have your martial arts skills after an episode begins?"

What would a highly skilled martial artist do if locked and chained? she wondered. They’d definitely try to escape, again and again.

Suddenly, she recalled the scene where he had broken his own limbs to escape.

"Is it always because of some emotional trigger, a loss of control, that an episode starts?"

"Perhaps this is the world’s punishment for immortality!"

The man let out a laugh tinged with disdain and helplessness.

"How often do these episodes get triggered by such disturbances?"

An Yan looked into his eyes. "I want to know, besides me, what else has ever stirred your emotions?"

The man suddenly laughed and patted the space beside him, signaling her to sit there.

As soon as An Yan sat down, he pulled her into his embrace. "What stirs my emotions isn’t necessarily a person!" he said.

"It’s powerlessness! Watching Gu Shifang kill himself right in front of me, unable to stop him. Having no choice but to be led by him, searching age after age!"

An Yan opened her mouth, but said nothing.

If he called *that* powerlessness, then what did that make Gu Shifang, whom he had driven to use suicide as an escape, time and time again?

"Li Qingqing was right about one thing: you’re the only one who can stir my emotions, little one. This current episode... it’s because of you!"

"So, if you leave me because of this, then you truly are heartless!"

An Yan helplessly raised her hand to rub her brow. "So you’re like Li Qingqing too? You think that even if you fall ill and want to kill me, I should just stretch out my neck and let you?"

The man’s hand moved to her rounded shoulder, grasping it gently then firmly, back and forth several times. Finally, he seemed to make up his mind. "I won’t kill you," he declared. "When I can’t control myself anymore, I’ll let you go!"

"Find a good place to live, and come back when I’m well again!"

An Yan was speechless.

He pinched her chin, his grip a bit too forceful, making her wince in pain.

"Is there really no cure for this illness?"

"Cure it? To do that, I’d have to reveal my secret. How many people do you think could resist the temptation of immortality?"

His gaze sharpened. "Haven’t you yourself harbored thoughts of immortality?"

He was using her own words against her!

"Those experts... just letting them study Gu Shifang drove them mad! They thought they could unlock the secret to human eternal life! Hah!"

That scorn, that distrust of human nature, was a conclusion he’d reached over millennia, deeply ingrained in his very being.

An Yan changed the subject. "What about Li Qingqing?" she asked. "She seems to know a lot about your illness. She knows about your immortality too, right?"

"Mhm! She’s the only physician I can trust!"

The only one he could trust.

Those words made An Yan frown slightly.

Seeing how Li Qingqing always appeared so meek and submissive, An Yan had assumed she was an overlooked figure. Who would have thought she was the only one privy to Li Tianyao’s secret?

"She’s leaving tomorrow! If you don’t want to see her after that, just let her stay in her laboratory in Shangjing City. She and I are related by blood! You don’t need to be jealous about this!"

Who’s jealous? An Yan thought. It’s precisely because they’re related by blood that it’s even more repulsive, isn’t it?

"If she leaves, what about your illness?" An Yan asked.

"Haven’t you already confirmed that she was the one who brought Ling Xiao here? She’s using my illness to set a trap. Do you still dare to let her treat me?"

Li Tianyao released the arm around her shoulder and leaned back slightly. "I thought you’d want her to leave even more than I do!"

An Yan nodded. "Of course! I certainly don’t want her to stay. But I was just considering that she is your sister, after all."

"No one is more important to me than you are."

The man took her hand and placed it on his chest.

An Yan’s face flushed. She leaned forward with his movement, staring into his eyes. "Apart from the change in eye color, are there any other symptoms before an episode begins?"

Li Tianyao was silent for a few seconds, then slowly shook his head.

"Li Tianyao, could you give me a sample of your blood? I think... perhaps I can unravel this secret and cure your illness."

The man was silent again. After a moment, he extended his arm to her. "Go ahead," he said.

After drawing the blood, An Yan wanted to head straight to the laboratory.

To her surprise, Li Tianyao pulled her back. "It’s very late," he said. "Go to sleep first. Sleep right here."

An Yan silently looked at him, her expression resistant.

He added, "I don’t know when an episode will strike—maybe tomorrow, maybe the day after. So, little one, I want you to spend more time with me before it happens!"

He was definitely playing the pity card a little!

An Yan hesitated. It was indeed late. Besides, after Gu Shifang had given him that drug, Li Tianyao surely wouldn’t disregard their well-being to such an extent that he’d force himself on her.

So, she let go of her reservations and went to lie down on the other side of the large bed.

No sooner had she lain down than he reached out and drew her into his arms.

His unique scent, potent and masculine, enveloped her.

An Yan closed her eyes and allowed her body to relax.

Sleep is the best way to replenish energy, she thought. And there would be many things to do tomorrow.

Feeling her completely relax, the man reached out and turned off the light.

For the first time in over a thousand years, Li Tianyao thought, this world still held some interest.

「In another building.」 The source of thɪs content is novᴇlfire.net

Locked in her room by Lu Feng, Li Qingqing had been staring at Li Tianyao’s window the entire time.

When she saw the last glimmer of light inside extinguish, and realized An Yan’s room never lit up, she finally couldn’t bear it any longer.