That very day, You Yi was packed up and moved to a new nest.
Literally packed up and taken away.
After finishing the story, Wis'adel did not leave right away. Instead, she took off the cloth bag she carried with her, tore it open, and wrapped him up entirely, not giving him the slightest chance to protest.
Then she carried him to an even more remote place. It was full of jagged rocks, the path was even harder to traverse, and human traces were even scarcer.
You Yi thought she was being far too cautious. She lacked any real sense of security. The original place had been huge, with complicated terrain. If he wanted to hide there, it would have been nearly impossible for anyone to find him.
Wis'adel treated his complaints as though she had heard nothing.
Of course, what he was really thinking was this: if more people came after the survey, wouldn't that give him a chance to pick out a decent host?
Those Sarkaz from before had not quite been good enough. He had not taken a liking to them.
How much of that was sunk-cost thinking was hard to say.
Over these past days, his relationship with Wis'adel had grown closer and closer, and it left him with the feeling that he was almost there—that if he just closed the distance a little more, he would succeed.
At a time like this, settling for some random host felt deeply unsatisfying. It would feel like he had lost.
There was another reason as well: choosing a host was extremely important. Once true symbiosis was formed, separation was not something to be done lightly. At best, it would be a crippling blow. At worst, he would have to start all over from scratch.
What he had with Wis'adel the last time had not been real symbiosis. It had only been a simple attachment, a temporary clinging to her body. For a non-permanent relationship like that, hosts could be changed at will, but the available functions and potential for growth were both limited. It was bad for long-term development.
If fine grain was on the table, he obviously did not want to settle for wild grass and weeds.
And besides, when a soft, sweet-smelling pretty girl was an option, who would look twice at some rough, stinking old man?
Granted, this pretty girl had a foul mouth, an unlikeable personality, a touch of lunacy, and right now she was skinny and dried up besides... well. Other than the fact that she would one day become powerful and beautiful, she did not seem to have many strengths.
But that was fine. He could still hold on a while longer. If worst came to worst, he could find a temporary host first, use them as a runner, and then keep searching for someone better.
With such plans in mind, two more days passed.
That day, Wis'adel came as usual, but instead of asking for a story, she told him:
"I'm going on a mission."
You Yi paused. "What kind of mission?"
"Escort work. I'm going with a few mercenaries. I probably won't be back for several days."
You Yi let out an "Oh," his tone easy. "All right then. Looks like I'll get a few peaceful days to myself."
Wis'adel did not answer.
After a few seconds of silence, she turned and left.
You Yi watched that small, thin figure disappear into the light at the mouth of the cave, and suddenly he felt that something was off.
But he could not quite put his finger on it.
A symbiote's senses told him that Wis'adel's emotions were a little strange. There seemed to be a trace of reluctance in them.
Forget it. She would be back in a few days anyway.
Thinking that, You Yi tucked himself deeper into the crack between the rocks.
Three days later.
He sensed Wis'adel approaching, but her footsteps were unsteady, her breathing disordered, and a thick smell of blood clung to her.
In an instant, every one of You Yi's senses snapped fully open. He saw that small figure staggering into the cave, covered in blood. More than half her clothes had been torn away, exposing horrifying wounds beneath.
Cuts from blades. Blunt-force injuries. Bruises from tumbling down a slope. Old wounds layered over fresh ones until there was barely any intact skin left.
She braced herself against the rock wall and gasped for breath, blood running down from her forehead and smearing half her face red.
And yet she was smiling.
"Hey. Today I want to hear a story."
You Yi froze for a moment. Then that puddle of black slime struggled toward her. "You're hurt!"
"Won't kill me."
Wis'adel slid down the wall until she was sitting on the ground, her eyelids already growing heavy. "Tell me the rest of the one from last time. The part after Ursus Lion Camel Ridge."
"You need treatment!"
"I said, I want to hear a story!"
Her tone was harsh, but her condition was visibly getting worse.
The blood was still flowing. Her breathing was growing weaker and weaker. Her pupils were beginning to lose focus.
"Are you stupid? What story is there to hear at a time like this? You're going to die like this!" You Yi's voice echoed in her mind, laced with agitation.
Wis'adel lay there beside that puddle of black matter, staring up into the darkness at the cave ceiling.
"If I die, then I die. This life of mine was never worth much anyway."
Then she looked at him and smiled again.
"But I didn't expect there'd actually be someone who cared whether this worthless life lived or died. Feels kind of nice."
You Yi said nothing.
He looked at her—at this girl who was little more than skin and bone, whose body was covered in wounds, yet who still forced out a smile.
And suddenly he realized that this time was unlike every time before.
She had come here as though to say goodbye.
"Wis'adel."
It was the first time he had called her by the name she would bear in the future.
She did not move. Her eyelids were growing heavier and heavier.
"Don't fall asleep."
Her lashes trembled slightly.
"I need you alive."
Her breathing stalled for an instant.
You Yi's voice softened. "If you die, who am I supposed to tell my stories to?"
The corner of Wis'adel's mouth twitched faintly. Her voice was so weak it was almost inaudible. "Then tell it."
"Listen carefully. I'll tell it right now."
The moment those words fell, the black substance slowly climbed up her calf.
This time, there was no resistance at all.
Not because she was too weak to resist.
It was only at the moment he entered that You Yi realized the door in her heart had, at some point, quietly come undone.
It was just that no one had ever pushed it open themselves.
Now, he had entered.
Symbiosis.
Not the shallow attachment of last time, but a deeper fusion, a true symbiotic bond. You Yi could sense everything about her.
Her battered body. Her chaotic pulse. And those blurred images deep within her consciousness.
Nights spent surviving alone in the wilderness. The frantic pounding of footsteps while being hunted. The moments she hid between rocks, not daring to make a sound. And one warm, indistinct figure—something she could no longer remember clearly.
Those were some of the only positive fragments in her memory.
You Yi did not take her energy at once. Instead, he fed her with what little energy he himself had left.
That energy streamed endlessly into Wis'adel's ruined body, and her wounds began visibly closing at a speed the naked eye could follow.
The blood loss stopped.
Her ragged breathing gradually steadied.
And You Yi's own consciousness began to blur.
…
When Wis'adel woke, night had already fallen.
The cave was dim, with only a faint thread of moonlight shining in from the distant entrance.
She moved her fingers and discovered that her body was covered in a layer of black substance, from fingertips to toes, from waist and abdomen to chest, nearly wrapping her whole body, leaving only her head above the jaw exposed.
She lowered her head and looked at the flowing black layer covering her body. Strangely enough, she did not feel tense.
Because she could feel that her body was warm now.
That sensation of life draining away, that feeling that she was on the brink of death, had vanished completely.
She tried moving her arm. It responded with complete ease.
Then she carefully tested the abdomen that had been slashed open before. It, too, moved with no problem at all.
"So you really are a restless one. Sneaking around and doing this sort of thing while I was asleep."
She spoke softly, her voice echoing through the cave.
There was no reply.
"Hey?"
"You Yi?"
Still no reply.
Wis'adel's heart clenched sharply.
-------
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