Chapter Fifteen I'll Accompany You

  The old place Yun Hai Fan was talking about is the cement path they used to walk together when they were studying in the mortal world, winding around the lights of ten thousand families and the sounds of the campus, quietly extending into the distance where the highway couldn't reach.

  Without direction, without purpose, they strolled slowly along the small road that had been walked countless times. The French plane trees planted along the roadside left only bare branches in this season, and just before, a batch of branches had just been pruned, through the sparse remaining branches, you could see the clear sky unique to winter days. The last time I had such a mood walking from here was during the summer vacation, when the plane trees were shaded, the withered leaves that fell in early spring grew into dense shade in midsummer, and the sunlight filtered through the dense leaves, casting dappled shadows, like autumn leaves trampled on the ground, crisp and fragmented, carrying all the beauty of a leisurely day.

  Yunhai Fan tilted her head, it was just six months ago that something happened, why now there is some vicissitude of life? She lightly opened her vermilion lips: "Hey, little one, how long has it been since we've had a moment like this?"

  "A long, long time ago... No, wait, it was just after school started."

  "Yes, it's just after the start of school, but why do I feel like it's been a really long time already..."

  It seemed like just yesterday, they were each holding a steaming bowl of Kantō-style hot pot, walking around the streets in circles, unfazed by the biting wind that cracked their skin. All they remembered was each other's faint smiles and the aroma of seaweed and mushrooms wafting through the air. Xiaoke said to Yunhai Fan, "You should eat more mushrooms, Yunhai Fan, because your facial paralysis needs the magnesium from the mushrooms to get better." Yunhai Fan laughed and said, "Xiaoke, what kind of twisted logic is this? Didn't you say that I have excessive liver fire and need to eat light foods? If I dare to say 'light', then I'm just drinking plain water."

  From sunset to the twinkling lights of ten thousand homes, they didn't remember how many rounds they walked, only that when they returned home, they couldn't see the road without streetlights even with their mobile phones lighting the way.

  It's winter again in the blink of an eye.

  It's as if the sea has changed into mulberry fields, and the girl who once sat on the school playground making a vow to be the top student in her grade has now become the main target of the literary exhibition's crackdown - skipping class and violating rules without any restraint; The eternity she had mistakenly believed in shattered before reality like it was nothing; The reality she had deeply believed in quietly changed in the difference between the magical world and the mortal world; The equal world that once existed is now forcibly divided into a jungle where the strong prey on the weak, they are on the edge of being hunted, carefully relying only on each other.

  Nowadays, only this friendship remains unchanged.

  Just like the milk tea shop by the roadside, it exudes a warm and cozy atmosphere that has stood the test of time.

  The end of Wutong Avenue was a small milk tea shop, Yunhai Fan ordered a Burnt Grass Milk Tea with ease, and Ke wanted a cup of Hazelnut Love Milk. It was a weekday in the mortal world, so there weren't many people in the store. The small milk tea shop was surrounded by printed glass, the grid-patterned tabletops were spotless, and they easily found seats by the floor-to-ceiling windows, sitting down as the afternoon sunlight shone through the glass onto them, feeling comfortable and at ease.

  The warm milk tea dispelled all the chill of winter, Yunhai Fan couldn't help but smile as he watched Xiangke contentedly sipping the dense foam: "Still the same old self, huh."

  "You're the same." Xiang Ke didn't care about her occasional nostalgia and sentimentality. "How's your divine scroll research going?"

  "No progress." Yunhai Fan smiled wryly and took out the book, symbolically shaking the wordless divine scroll. Xiangke's attention was not on the so-called divine scroll, but rather a glimpse of Yunhai Fan's right hand, which had been covered by his pocket all along, and he exclaimed softly: "Xiaofan, what's wrong with your hand?!"

  "Ah, it's nothing." Yun Hai Fan lightly wiped it off, but accidentally tore the wound open. Bright red blood flowed out of the wound and dripped onto the book. The pages turned gently, as if by some unseen force, and the blood spread across the paper, only to be absorbed completely by the soft, dry pages. A faint golden color appeared on the page, as if the hidden text was now visible.

  Toward Ke, it was also a moment of stupidity, not noticing that Yun Hai Fan had already pricked his finger, and fresh blood was dripping drop by drop. Probably because he couldn't confirm the amount needed to make the words appear on the book, Yun Hai Fan didn't dare squeeze his fingers hard, fearing that too much blood would dirty the pages. He could only first drip the blood elsewhere, waiting for the speed to slow down before transferring it to the book.

  Xiang Ke watched as the blood dripped from her fingertips, gathered, grew larger, and then fell again, thinking that Xiao Fan must be in a lot of pain.

  Fortunately, after three drops, a line of small words appeared on the title page of the book -

  The contract is fulfilled as specified.

  Yun Hai Fan only then took out a band-aid and bound up the wound on her finger, but she didn't care about the injury on the back of her hand.

  Toward Ke, who was "hiss" inhaling the cool air, didn't dare to imagine if it were herself whether she would have the courage to try the heart-piercing pain of ten fingers connected to the heart.

  "You've turned into a snake!" Yun Hai Fan patted Xiang Ke's head, "And you're still spitting out letters."

  "Whatever." With a scolding tone, Xiang Ke took out the gauze and helped her wrap it around her hand in circles. Having stayed at the magic school for so long, it was hard to predict when one would get injured due to various reasons, so commonly used gauze and band-aids were always carried on their person.

  Of course, most of the reasons still come from bullying by students in parallel classes.

  Yun Hai Fan's expression remained unchanged, but only those who knew her well could tell that she was actually extremely sensitive to pain. The previous action had left her other hand pinched white, and she could barely shift her attention elsewhere.

  "When will you stop getting hurt." Xiang Ke let out a soft sigh, Yun Hai Fan had already told her about what happened in the library, she listened quietly, seemingly feeling some heartache.

  "These wounds of mine won't be suffered in vain." Yun Haiyan spoke lightly, presumably because she had been concentrating on enduring the pain for too long, her complexion was a worrying pale.

  "Is this a contract with the Scroll of God? Apart from this line, can you see any other words?" Xiang Ke glanced at the elegant font and thought that the owner of the book should have seen more than just this.

  Otherwise it's too ordinary.

  Yun Hai Fan flipped through the pages of the book: "I didn't see much, it said that as spiritual power increases, you'll be able to see more and more content."

  "What else did it say?"

  "It says... it says that the essence of puppetry is a contract, and all manipulation begins and ends with the fulfillment and dissolution of the contract." Yunhai Fan furrowed his brow as he translated those abstruse classical words.

  "This... exhibition has never mentioned these before."

  "Yes." Yun Hai Fan seemed to smile but not quite, "Xiao Ke, don't you want a more skilled puppetry teacher?"

  He gently tilted his head, quietly gazing at Hai Fan, with a gaze as gentle as when he watched her sitting on the grass, shouting that she must be the first place. For Hai Fan, who knew him like the back of her hand, it took only an instant to understand the meaning behind those words. Only after a long while did she slowly open her mouth. Her voice was not loud, but clear and steady, like the wind blowing over the seven seas, carrying the original vitality and purity, as well as the trust that had never wavered from start to finish.

  "No matter what you want to do, I'll be with you."