Hei long stood here beneath the ruined shrine, surrounded by countless black Threads that seemed unwilling to approach him. For a moment nobody moved and spoke. The impossible sight left them completely stunned. In dragon demon form he remained motionless,his gaze resting upon them.Hei Long remained in his dragon demon form, standing motionless beneath the broken shrine. Black Threads curled through the air around him but never touched his body, bending away at the last second.
Lin Chen's eyes narrowed slightly as he tilted his head, pointing without fully realizing it. "Wait… don't tell me he's also a demon?" Everyone turned at once. Zhao Ming frowned deeply. "He is a demon too?" he looked between them, clearly lost. "Then who else is a demon here?" Lin Chen froze the moment he heard himself speak. His face twitched as realization hit him. "No...no, I didn't mean Xu Yang!" he raised both hands. "My tongue slipped!" Zhao Ming stared at him for a long moment, expression unreadable. "Is that so?" Lin Chen nodded so fast it looked painful. "Of course! Why would I lie at a time like this?!"
Before anyone could continue, the shrine changed. A low, distorted sound rolled through the ruins, not quite a roar and not quite wind, but something far deeper.Hei Long's body suddenly began to shift. Black light flickered across his form as the dragon-like structure collapsed inward. Scales dissolved into drifting fragments of shadow. Horns broke apart into mist. The overwhelming presence around him didn't vanish it condensed, folding into something sharper, denser, more controlled. The Threads in the air reacted instantly, trembling and pulling away as if even they feared what was happening.
Chen Yu staggered back slightly. "What is he doing?!" Zhao Ming's hand moved to his weapon out of instinct. "Everyone stay alert." Lin Chen's voice lowered. "Why does it feel worse now…" The transformation continued until even the last trace of the dragon form vanished, swallowed by collapsing darkness. Then silence.Hei Long stood there in human form.He exhaled slowly, as though adjusting to a body that no longer matched what he truly was, then lifted his gaze toward them. Golden eyes remained,deep and unreadable.
Lin Chen frowned. "Why is he coming closer?" Xu Yang did not answer. Because Hei Long was already walking. Step by step, slow and deliberate, each movement disturbing the air in a way that made the shrine feel even more unstable. The Threads parted around him like water avoiding a blade, unwilling to touch his presence. Wind shifted with his movement, brushing through broken pillars and cracked stone. He did not rush and hesitate. He simply closed the distance as if he already knew exactly where he needed to stand.
Lin Chen instinctively stepped forward half a pace. "Hey...what do you want from us?" Hei Long stopped only when he stood directly before them. Then xu yang spoke first, voice tight and controlled. "Hei Long." And something subtle flickered in Hei Long's expression. But he did not answer instead, his gaze moved past them, across the broken shrine, across the tangled threads, toward something deeper hidden beneath everything they could see. Finally, he spoke. "There is something here." Chen Yu frowned. "We already know that. It's the Threads." Hei Long did not look at him."Not only the threads." Zhao Ming's expression darkened slightly. "Then what else?"
Hei Long's eyes narrowed faintly, as though listening to something no one else could hear. "A beginning that was buried." The words settled like frost over the entire shrine. Lin Chen exhaled slowly. "Why does every answer here create more problems?" No one responded.Xu Yang had gone completely still, his eyes locked onto Hei Long with an intensity that hadn't been there before. "You know something."Hei Long met his gaze. For a brief moment, something unreadable crossed his expression, like a fracture forming beneath calm water. Then he answered softly. "Not yet." A pause. "But my body remembers what my mind cannot." The shrine wind shifted again.
Without wasting time group moved deeper into the ruined shrine, the ground beneath their feet uneven with cracked stone and broken carvings.Faint traces of ancient spiritual energy lingered in the corridors, flickering like dying embers, guiding them toward something long forgotten. Finally, they reached a collapsed hall its ceiling partially open to the sky, where broken beams of light cut through drifting dust and ash. And there, across the largest surviving wall, it was still visible.
Lin Chen froze the moment he saw it. "What is this place?"Zhao Ming stepped closer, eyes narrowing as he studied the painting. "This isn't ordinary ruin art." His tone darkened slightly. "This is sealed history."
Chen Yu frowned, glancing between them. "Sealed? Like Heaven tried to erase it?"
One figure was shown kneeling at the center of the mural, head lowered, posture heavy with exhaustion or surrender. Beside him stood another figure taller, steady, almost protective, yet frozen in place as if unable to act. Around them, several shadowed silhouettes watched from a distance, neither approaching nor interfering, as though they were witnesses to something irreversible. Above it all dark threads began to descend from the sky, twisting like veins of corruption spreading across heaven itself.
Xu Yang stepped forward slowly.His breathing changed the moment he saw it. "This is real!" he murmured, almost to himself.Lin Chen turned sharply toward him. "You understand this?"Xu Yang didn't answer right away. His eyes remained locked on the mural, as if trying to force meaning out of something that hurt just to look at. Then, slowly, he reached into his sleeve and pulled out the Heaven Archive Report. The same document from earlier. The parchment looked heavier in his hands now, as if it carried the weight of what they were standing in front of.His fingers tightened around it.
"This matches what's in the record!" Xu Yang said quietly.Chen yu's expression sharpened immediately. "You're saying this mural… and the archive report… are connected?"Xu Yang nodded once, but his voice was lower now, heavier. "They're not just connected." He looked back at the painting, especially the kneeling figure. "They're describing the same moment."Lin Chen frowned deeply. "What moment?"Xu Yang hesitated.
Xu Yang didn't answer because the moment he tried to speak, the world around them shifted, the air in the hall flickering as the broken shrine, the faded mural, and the voices behind him all dulled into silence, and then he saw it, a flash, not a dream, not imagination, but something deeper, a memory that didn't belong to them yet tore through them as if it did, they were standing in a place filled with light, a mountain garden suspended above clouds where spiritual mist drifted between blooming sacred trees, white petals fell endlessly like snow, and somewhere in the distance a bell chimed softly echoing through heaven's serene air.
Xu Yang stood still in the vision but his body wasn't his own, they saw someone else through their eyes, a man in simple white robes standing near a field of glowing flowers that shimmered faintly with spiritual energy, his posture was calm but there was something lonely in it like someone who had lived too long without being seen, and then she appeared, a woman stepping into the flower field,her presence not disturbing the flowers but making them bend toward her as if recognizing her warmth, her hair flowing like ink in water and her eyes holding a softness that did not belong to the cold order of Heaven, the man turned slightly and said quietly, "You're not supposed to be here!" the woman smiled faintly and replied, "And yet I am!" he looked away and said, "If someone sees you!" but she interrupted gently, "Then let them see!"
Then she stepped closer, kneeling slightly to touch one of the glowing flowers and said softly, "They say these flowers record memory, is it true?" the man hesitated and answered, "They preserve what is lost after death!" she tilted her head and asked, "So even feelings stay?" after a pause he replied quieter, "If they are strong enough!" the woman smiled faintly, almost sadly, "That sounds lonely!" the man didn't respond but something in his expression softened, she looked up at him then and asked, "What is your name?" after a hesitation he said, "…I was not given one for attachment!" the woman blinked and said softly, "That's a sad answer!" silence fell again, then she smiled softer and said, "Then I'll give you one!" the man looked at her sharply and said, "You can't..." but she gently cut him off, "I already did." a faint breeze passed between them as she stepped closer, placing a hand over a glowing flower and said quietly, "I'll call you shou heng!" the man froze and whispered, "That name doesn't exist!" and she replied softly, "It does now."A gentle breeze passed between them, carrying drifting petals that moved like silent witnesses to something forbidden beginning to bloom. Then everything fractured. The bell in the distance broke into distorted echoes, and the vision shattered violently as if pulled away by an unseen force.
Lin Chen's breath caught first. "No… I'm seeing it too." he whispered.zhao ming didn't say anything he just stared at place where flower demon and that girl was. Chen Yu took an instinctive step back, his hand tightening. "This isn't illusion!" he said sharply. "This is… real memory projection." Xu Yang didn't speak at all. His lips parted slightly, but no sound came out, because he realized something terrifying the memory wasn't showing them a story anymore. It was letting them stand inside it.The flower field of Heaven stretched endlessly around them, glowing under a sky.White petals fell slowly, brushing past everyone's shoulders, and when Chen Yu reached out instinctively, his fingers passed through one yet he still felt its cold weight in his chest as if emotion itself had taken physical form. Lin Chen looked around in disbelief. "We're actually inside it…" he muttered. "How is that even possible?" Zhao Ming finally spoke, voice low and tight. "We didn't enter it." He glanced upward. "It pulled us in."
Meanwhile wang xio, hei long and Qing li continued walking through the distorted village,the wind still lingering behind them. Broken lanterns hung in place without swinging, water in small stone basins didn't ripple, and even the shadows seemed incorrectly placed, as if the world had been drawn by a hand that forgot how reality should behave. Qing Li walked slightly ahead at first, his expression still tense, his breathing uneven from everything he had just seen, especially Ling Yuan's sudden disappearance. His mind kept trying to fix what he saw, to rearrange it into something understandable, but nothing fit properly anymore. After a long silence, spoke, his voice still carrying frustration and confusion. "Where are we going?" he asked, glancing between wang xio and Hei Long. Wang xio didn't hesitate this time. "Home!" he said simply.
Qing Li frowned."Which home?"he asked.Hei Long, who had been walking slightly behind them, spoke "How many homes do you have?" he asked. Qing Li stopped abruptly and turned toward him. "Excuse me?" he said, voice rising slightly. "We are not familiar. And I didn't ask you anything. So why are you talking like you're part of this?" His tone sharpened further as frustration and confusion mixed together. "Stay out of our business. You're not welcome."
Wang Xio stopped walking instantly. His expression shifted subtle at first, then visibly tighter,"Qing Li!" he said, voice lower now but firm. "How can you talk to him like this?" Qing Li turned to him, irritation flashing in his eyes. "Why?" he said. "I don't know him. He keeps speaking like he knows everything about us, like he owns the answers or something. Why should I just accept that?" Wang Xio's jaw tightened. "That's not what he's doing," he said. "You don't understand..." Qing Li cut him off quickly, raising his voice slightly."Then explain it properly!" he snapped. "Because right now, all I hear is someone acting like I should trust him without reason!"
Hei Long had stopped walking entirely now. He didn't respond or argue, he didn't defend himself. He just stood there, expression unreadable, eyes lowered slightly as if absorbing the weight of what was said. But deep inside him he felt pain after hearing that words!
His fingers curled faintly at his side.
Am I really not supposed to remember? The thought came in his mind.
Am I just something they can forget when it becomes inconvenient? (...)
His gaze lowered further, as if he could hide the weight of it even from himself.
Am I not worthy of being remembered?
A pause. What did I do… that I have to face this? (...)
His jaw tightened slightly, but his face stayed still.
Am I not important? (....)
The noise of the children's laughter in the memory felt distant now.
Even my friend… can't recognise me?Then what is the reason I am still alive?He was in deep thought. Then wang Xio exhaled slowly, then spoke again, more controlled now. "You're emotional!" he said to Qing Li. "But this isn't the place to direct it at the wrong person." Qing Li scoffed slightly. "Wrong person?" he repeated. "Then who is the right person? Because none of you are explaining anything properly. You act like I'm supposed to understand connections I don't even remember having." Wang Xio stepped forward slightly, lowering his voice but making it sharper in intent. "That's exactly why you need to be careful with your words," he said. "You don't know what you're cutting into." Qing Li looked away briefly, jaw clenched, then muttered under his breath, "I don't care. I just want clarity, not riddles."
Hei long spoke again, voice quiet but carrying something faintly restrained beneath it. "You don't need to trust me!" he said simply. Qing Li looked at him sharply again. Hei Long continued, still calm. "But don't confuse not knowing me with me being nothing to you."Qing Li frowned, visibly unsettled by it but refusing to show it fully. "That doesn't mean anything to me!" he said quickly. Hei Long didn't respond. He only looked away slightly.
Wang Xio watched both of them quietly for a moment, then spoke again, trying to bring control back into the situation. "We're wasting time arguing!" he said. "We need to move." Qing Li looked at him. "Where?" Wang Xio replied without hesitation this time. "Home." Qing Li stared at him for a moment longer, still visibly conflicted, still carrying frustration from moments ago, then exhaled sharply and turned away. "Fine!" he said finally. "I'm coming." And just like that, they started walking again.Qing Li walked slightly ahead again, but his steps were heavier now, his thoughts still tangled in unanswered questions. Wang Xio followed close behind, his expression controlled but distant, as if he was already thinking several steps ahead of what was happening around them. Hei Long walked at the back.
The three of them continued walking through the reconstructed village. For a while, nobody spoke.Then a loud shout exploded through the street. "XU YANG!"Qing Li turned. He saw not far ahead, a group of children came racing around a corner. One of them was laughing so hard he could barely run straight. And that child was xu yang. The moment Qing Li saw him, he recognized him instantly. Not because of memory, but because nobody else could possibly be that troublesome.Child Xu Yang held a small cloth package tightly in his hands as he sprinted through the street. Behind him, an elderly shopkeeper was chasing after him with surprising determination."You little thief!"
Child Xu Yang laughed loudly without slowing down, clutching the cloth package against his chest as he darted around a cart in the middle of the road. "You said nobody could steal it!" The old shopkeeper stumbled after him, red-faced and out of breath. "I was joking!" "Then you shouldn't challenge me!" Xu Yang shot back, looking entirely too pleased with himself.The old man nearly tripped over a loose stone. Catching himself at the last second, he pointed a shaking finger at Xu Yang. "You demon child!" "I'm not a demon!" Xu Yang protested while running backward for several steps. "You're worse!"
Adult Qing Li stared at the scene unfolding before him. "He's insane." Beside him, Wang Xio let out a long, familiar sigh and rubbed his forehead."He always was."
A moment later, Child Xu Yang rushed through the shrine gate and straight into the courtyard. Three children were already there.
Child Qing Li was sitting on a low stone wall beneath a tree. The moment he saw Xu Yang sprinting toward them with someone chasing him, he immediately looked suspicious.
"What did you do now?" Child Xu Yang proudly raised the package above his head like a trophy. "I won." Child Qing Li's eyes narrowed."You stole something again."
Child Xu Yang grinned widely, still holding the cloth package tightly against his chest as if it were a priceless treasure, even while the shopkeeper shouted behind him. "I borrowed it," he said proudly, taking a step backward with a light bounce in his movement,clearly unbothered. Child Qing Li narrowed his eyes at him, arms crossed, leaning slightly forward in disbelief. "That's stealing!" he said.Xu Yang tilted his head, completely unfazed, and corrected him without hesitation, "Temporary stealing."He slowly closed his eyes, inhaled sharply through his nose, and then rolled them so hard it looked physically painful, as if the universe itself had disappointed him. "That's literally the same thing." he muttered, shaking his head slightly while rubbing his temple like he was trying to erase what he just heard.
Child Xu Yang clutched the package tighter against his chest, stepping back as the old shopkeeper stumbled into the courtyard, red-faced and breathless, his voice cracking with frustration. "Give it back!" he shouted, pointing at him. Without even a second of hesitation, Xu Yang instantly ducked behind Ling Yuan and grabbed the back of his robe like a shield. "Protect me." Ling Yuan, who had been calmly reading beneath the tree, slowly lifted his gaze with a tired but patient expression. "What did you do?" he asked, voice flat but not angry. Xu Yang straightened slightly, still hiding behind him, and replied with complete seriousness, "I proved a point." Ling Yuan's eyes narrowed a fraction. "That's not what I asked." Xu Yang flashed an innocent grin, the kind that immediately made everyone in the courtyard suspicious. Ling Yuan sighed softly,understanding he would not get a proper answer.
Footsteps echoed from the shrine entrance as Child wang xio entered carrying scrolls under one arm, his expression shifting the moment he saw the scene. He looked at the exhausted shopkeeper first, then at xu yang hiding behind Ling Yuan, then at the suspiciously held package. Slowly, he closed his eyes as if accepting fate itself. "No." Child xu yang poked his head out. "I haven't said anything yet." Wang xio opened one eye. "You stole something." Xu Yang blinked innocently. "How did you know?" Wang Xio opened both eyes now, and said,"Because you're smiling." For a second there was silence, and then the courtyard exploded into laughter. Even Child Qing Li nearly lost his balance on the stone wall, clutching his stomach as he laughed. The shopkeeper looked personally betrayed by everyone's reaction. "I don't understand why you're all laughing!" he shouted. Child Qing Li pointed at Xu Yang without hesitation, still laughing. "Because he deserves whatever happens next." Xu Yang gasped dramatically, clutching his chest like he had been struck. "Traitor!" Qing Li smirked. "You deserve worse."
Xu Yang looked around in disbelief, as if the entire world had suddenly turned against him. "I trusted you." Qing Li raised an eyebrow. "That was your first mistake." That only made the laughter worse.Ling Yuan calmly held out his hand after a moment. "Package." Xu Yang hesitated, hugging it tighter for a second, then slowly loosened his grip when Ling Yuan gave him a quiet, unblinking stare. With a reluctant sigh, he handed it over. Ling Yuan opened it, looked inside, and blinked once.
That small reaction made everyone lean in. "What?" Child Qing Li asked, hopping down from the wall. Ling Yuan lifted the package slightly. "The package contains sweet buns." Silence followed for half a heartbeat before Child Qing Li looked genuinely confused."You stole food?" Xu Yang crossed his arms instantly. "I won food." Qing Li pointed at him. "You stole food." Xu Yang frowned. "The distinction matters."Qing Li shot back,"It really doesn't." The shopkeeper, trying to catch his breath, suddenly pointed at xu yang again. "He challenged me!"
Everyone turned toward him. The old man straightened slightly, clearly offended. Xu yang said,"He said nobody in this village could take food from his stall without noticing." Qing li stared at him and said "so you stole food?" Xu Yang proudly said,"No..i proved I was correct." The shopkeeper nearly collapsed again. "You were caught!" Xu Yang shrugged casually. "Eventually." "THAT'S NOT THE POINT!"Child Wang Xio pinched the bridge of his nose, looking more exhausted than any child should have been. "Why are you like this?" he asked flatly. Xu Yang tilted his head. "Like what?" Wang Xio's stare sharpened. "No sense of danger." Child Qing Li added, still grinning, "No sense of responsibility." Wang Xio nodded. "No sense of shame."
Xu Yang looked genuinely offended now. "I have shame." "No." "I do." "No." "I absolutely do." "No." The responses came from Wang Xio and Qing Li at the exact same time, so perfectly synchronized that even they paused for a moment. Then the courtyard broke again into loud laughter. Child Qing Li doubled over, Ling Yuan lowered his head slightly trying to hide a smile, and even the shopkeeper looked like he was struggling not to laugh despite everything. Xu Yang stood in the middle of it all, frozen, looking around at them with wide eyes. "You rehearsed that." Qing Li wiped a tear from laughing. "We didn't." Xu Yang pointed at both of them. "You did." Wang Xio sighed. "We really didn't." Xu Yang's eyes narrowed. "Then why did you answer at the same time?" Child Qing Li immediately pointed back at him. "Because you're predictable."He looked around slowly, completely betrayed, and muttered under his breath, "I live among enemies."
Adult Qing Li exhaled sharply, arms crossed as he watched the children. His gaze shifted between the child version of Xu Yang and the chaos he was causing, disbelief slowly replacing amusement. "Is that really the same person I know now?" he muttered, brow twitching. "He's not just troublesome… he was born as trouble." His eyes narrowed slightly as Child Xu Yang immediately argued with Child Qing Li in the distance, only confirming his point. "He hasn't changed at all."
Beside him, Wang Xio let out a long, tired breath, pinching the bridge of his nose as if already exhausted by memories alone. "I'm in doubt," he said flatly, watching Child Xu Yang attempt to defend his "temporary stealing theory" with absolute seriousness. "Whether he ever actually grew up… or we all just adapted to the damage." His gaze lingered for a moment, softer but conflicted.Qing li looked at children again then His eyes shifted toward Hei Long, who was quietly watching the children without moving, as always distant, as always unreadable. Qing Li frowned slightly and tilted his head. "Hey!" he called out, voice quieter now. "Where are you right now?" A pause. His expression softened just a fraction. "Why are you not with us?"
Hei Long did not answer.He simply stood there, eyes fixed on the children.
The courtyard was still filled with laughter when Xu Yang crossed his arms and turned his head away with exaggerated disappointment. "Fine!" he muttered. "Laugh all you want. I'll remember this betrayal." Child Qing Li pointed at him again, still laughing. "You'll forget in five minutes." "I will not." "You already did last time." "That was different circumstances." "You got lost in your own village." Xu Yang froze for half a second. "That was a strategic exploration." Wang Xio sighed heavily from the side, clearly used to this level of nonsense. "It was getting lost." Ling Yuan, still holding the package of buns, quietly broke one in half again without saying anything and handed it back toward the group as if distributing peace itself. Child Xu Yang's eyes lit up instantly. "See? Even Ling Yuan understands fairness." Child Qing Li took the piece but didn't stop smirking. "He understands you're hungry." "Same thing." "No, it's not."
The shopkeeper, still standing there exhausted, rubbed his face and muttered, "I don't know whether I should punish him or thank him." Child Wang Xio looked up at him without hesitation. "Punish him." Xu Yang immediately pointed at Wang Xio. "Traitor number two." Wang Xio didn't even blink. "Number one is already taken." That made Qing Li laugh harder again, almost losing his balance on the wall.Xu Yang then suddenly turned serious for a brief moment, glancing at the bun in his hand as if noticing something small and strange. His expression softened slightly,before he quickly masked it again with a grin. "Anyway!" he said loudly, trying to regain control of the moment, "I still won." Child Qing Li raised an eyebrow. "You stole bread." "I redistributed resources." "That is not a thing." "It is now." Ling Yuan quietly watched all of them argue again, his gaze calmer than everyone else's.
Adult Qing Li stood frozen, watching, listening, feeling everything at once as if the scene was pressing directly into his chest and refusing to leave. Something in him tightened painfully as he observed how naturally they moved around each other.Then Child Xu Yang suddenly broke one bun in half, then another, then another without hesitation, and the laughter in the courtyard slowly began to fade as everyone noticed the shift. Child Qing Li frowned, leaning forward with suspicion in his voice as he asked, "What are you doing?" but Xu Yang didn't answer, only calmly handing one piece to Child Qing Li, another to Child Wang Xio, and another to Ling Yuan, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, before standing up and carrying the final piece across the courtyard.
The others followed his movement instinctively, watching him step away from the group and toward the shrine steps where Child Hei Long sat alone, quiet and distant, holding a bundle of carefully woven white flowers in his small hands, not speaking, not laughing, not joining in, just observing everything like someone who had never been fully invited into warmth before. Child Xu Yang walked straight to him without hesitation and dropped down beside him, holding out the bun simply and saying, "Here." Hei Long blinked slowly, looking at the bun, then at Xu Yang, not moving for several seconds as if he didn't understand why something was being given to him first, like the idea itself was unfamiliar. Xu Yang nudged it closer again and said softly, "Take it." Hei Long hesitated, his voice small when he finally asked, "For me?" and Xu Yang answered immediately, "Obviously." Hei Long stared at him, still uncertain, and said quietly, "You can have it."
Xu Yang shook his head without even thinking and replied, "I already had one." Hei Long frowned slightly, "You didn't." Xu Yang shrugged, completely unbothered, "Details." That made Hei Long pause, confused for a moment, and Xu Yang only smiled wider and said, "You think too much." A long silence followed before Hei Long slowly accepted the bun, his fingers tightening around it like he was afraid it might disappear, and then he smiled.Xu Yang pointed at him and said, "There." Hei Long blinked, startled, "What?" Xu Yang leaned closer, amused, "You smiled." The child turned his face away, denying it instantly, "I didn't." Xu Yang laughed, "You did." "No." "You absolutely did." Across the courtyard Child Qing Li shouted, still watching the exchange with disbelief, "Did you just steal food so everyone could eat it?" Xu Yang turned his head with exaggerated offense, "I stole it because I was hungry." Qing Li snapped back immediately, "You literally gave it all away." Xu Yang paused for a second and said casually, "That is unrelated." Qing Li groaned, "You're an idiot." Xu Yang grinned brightly, completely unbothered, "You're welcome."
Adult Qing Li felt his chest tighten painfully as he stared at the children."Why does this look so familiar?!" he whispered.Beside him, wang xio had gone completely silent again, his expression stiff and unreadable, but his eyes darker now, fixed on the courtyard like he was watching something he already knew would end badly. Hei Long, too, stood unmoving, his gaze locked on Ling Yuan and the others, not shifting even once, as if afraid that looking away would make the memory change faster.
The courtyard, however, continued as if nothing was wrong the children laughing, arguing, teasing each other without care, the sound bright and alive in a way that felt painfully distant from where the three of them stood. Then Qing Li whispered again, almost breaking under the weight in his chest, "How?" Neither Wang Xio nor Hei Long answered him. The silence that followed felt heavier than any explanation. Qing Li's voice dropped lower, trembling now, more confused and emotional as he took a small step forward without realizing it, eyes never leaving Ling Yuan's figure. "How do you forget someone like that?" he asked His throat tightened as he continued, voice barely steady, "How does someone this important just disappear?"