Chapter 135: Delicate Heart
"The divine anchor is nothing but a blessing, Yu’er. A relic bestowed by the heavens themselves to ensure this city’s protection. Without it, we would be swallowed by the tide of monsters."
’And I’m one hundred percent sure of your lies, you scoundrel of a man.’
Her intuition, sharpened by two lives and her system’s subtle alerts, told her so immediately. She reclined slightly, swirling the wine in her cup, pretending to consider his words with an air of innocent intrigue.
"A relic of the heavens, you say?" she murmured. "How fortunate. It indeed feels heavy, almost oppressive. Surely a divine blessing should inspire comfort, not unease."
Xu Mochen’s fingers tightened around his cup. He quickly forced a smile again, leaning forward as though confiding in her. "Yu’er, that is only because you are sensitive. Others would not notice such things. You always did have a delicate heart." He reached as though to brush her hand, but Ling Yu casually shifted to refill her own cup, dodging the gesture with elegant precision.
Delicate heart? She almost laughed. If only he knew the iron that had forged her soul in the flames of betrayal and apocalypse.
"Perhaps," she said smoothly, "but sensitivity can also be a gift. It allows one to sense dangers before they arrive. For instance, I sense that the divine anchor might not be as simple as you claim." Her gaze sharpened, but her tone remained feather-light, teasing, even flirtatious. "Tell me honestly, Mochen. What price did you pay for such a treasure?"
The silence that followed was thick. Xu Mochen’s mask slipped just enough for the corners of his mouth to twitch downward. His eyes flickered, betraying calculation, hesitation, and resolve. He forced a hearty laugh, raising his cup. "Yu’er, you have grown sharper than before. I like this side of you." He downed the wine in a single gulp. "But there are some matters beyond your concern. All you need to know is that with me, you are safe. Safer than anywhere else in this crumbling world."
Safe? Ling Yu’s lips curved into a delicate, mocking smile. "Safe," she echoed softly, tilting her head. "Safety is a relative thing, Mochen. After all, what may seem like protection to some... may feel like a cage to others."
His eyes narrowed briefly at her words. There it was, the flash of possessiveness in his eyes that he could not hide. She could see it in the way his gaze lingered on her, not as though she were an equal or even a partner, but as though she were already claimed, an object he intended to keep.
So that’s it.
He wanted to mold her into Jiang Meng’s replacement, to rewrite the past where he had abandoned her, to reclaim his control over her.
Ling Yu laughed lightly, her voice silk-laced with thorns. "But let us not dwell on cages. You’ve built quite the fortress here. Four major factions, if I recall correctly? And you, of course, at the center. I must admit, your rise has been... impressive."
The flattery, subtle as it was, worked its way into his pride. Xu Mochen leaned back, relaxing slightly, his lips curving upward. "Impressive, yes. But not without hardship. The factions bicker, each with its own agenda. Yet they all bend, in the end, to my will. For without me, they are nothing."
Arrogant fool.
Ling Yu sipped her wine again, filing away every scrap of information. He was proud, desperate to impress her, and eager to prove himself as the center of power. That weakness and his vanity were exactly what she needed.
The night stretched on with cups refilled again and again. Xu Mochen tried to bend their conversation toward sentimentality, reminiscing about their past, weaving words of tenderness that sounded hollow in Ling Yu’s ears. She humored him, smiling, nodding, and occasionally feeding the illusion with a softly spoken memory or a teasing remark. But each time he pushed toward romance, she steered the topic back to the city, the factions, the anchor.
Slowly, piece by piece, she drew out the truth.
As she had expected, the divine anchor was no heavenly relic. It was just a construct, an artifact forged through blood sacrifice, bound to the city’s foundations. It did indeed repel monsters, but at a horrific cost. Those who vanished without explanation, the beggars who disappeared from the streets, the criminals who were "punished"... all of them had been offerings to fuel the anchor’s power.
And Xu Mochen? He was one of the key overseers of this grim mechanism.
Ling Yu’s fingers tightened around her cup beneath the table, her calm façade unbroken.
’So it’s true. He sold his humanity for power, cloaking atrocity in the guise of leadership. The snake in silk robes indeed.’
She let none of this show, of course. Instead, she leaned closer, her lips curving into a smile that was almost tender, her voice dipping low. "Mochen... it seems you’ve carried far more than I realized. To think, you bear the weight of this city on your shoulders. Truly... I underestimated you."
His eyes lit up at her words, drinking in the illusion of admiration. "Yes, Yu’er. You always failed to see my greatness. But now, now you will understand. With you at my side, everything will be perfect again."
’Perfect?’ Her smile widened, though her eyes remained ice. ’No, Xu Mochen. Nothing will be perfect for you. Not when I’m here by your side.’
[Status Window Update: Quest Progression]
[Quest Progress: "The Snake in Silk Robes"]
[True nature of the Divine Anchor discovered.]
[Xu Mochen’s weakness identified: Vanity and obsession.
Optional Objective Unlocked: Manipulate Xu Mochen into revealing the Anchor’s vulnerabilities.
Reward: ???]
The drinking stretched until late into the night, the candles burning low, the chamber heavy with the scent of wine and false intimacy. Xu Mochen leaned ever closer, intoxicated not only by the drink but by the illusion that Ling Yu spun around him. He thought he was winning her back.