In the cold room that seemed like an operating theater, the air fell into silence.
After a long while.
“How annoying.” The woman sighed, her ice-blue eyes full of impatience. “What’s wrong with you? Can’t even die properly—still so talkative even now.”
“I don’t want this either.” Bai Fan said weakly. “Wouldn’t it be better if you just let me go?”
“Shut up!”
“Have you ever eaten Haidilao? You look like a foreigner. Haidilao is a specialty of Lincheng, you know. Let me tell you, there’s a roadside place on North Road that’s particularly delicious…”
Bai Fan kept rambling on.
His chest no longer rose and fell, his throat had stopped moving, but his voice still kept coming out.
Even he himself didn’t know how those words were being spoken.
It was just that some instinct told him he couldn’t stop. Couldn’t stop.
If he stopped, his consciousness would fade, and he would truly die.
The woman watched him in silence.
Her ice-blue eyes locked onto that mouth that kept opening and closing, as if she were looking at some unnatural monster.
“And the barbecue stall on South Street—it gets really lively at night…”
Finally.
The woman couldn’t take it anymore.
“Why aren’t you dead yet? The activator’s effect should have worn off long ago!”
“How should I know?” Bai Fan got angry too. “If I can’t die, then let me go!”
“Even if I let you go, you can’t leave!” She glared at him. “You’re already a corpse!”
“Then save me.” Bai Fan’s voice suddenly softened.
“Can’t you save me? As long as you can save me, I’ll do anything except sell myself…”
He paused, thought for a moment, and then hesitantly added, “Selling myself is fine too.”
The woman was stunned for a moment, then let out a helpless laugh.
“You…” She shook her head. “Even like this, I really can’t do anything about you.”
“You’re willing to save me?”
“I changed my mind.”
“Th-thank you…”
Bai Fan barely managed to twist his stiff face into an ugly smile.
“If you’re willing to save me, I’ll work for you like a beast of burden for the rest of my life.”
The woman’s eyes above her mask curved. She seemed to be smiling too.
“I was planning to see you off.”
She said cheerfully, “I originally wanted to collect your Spiritual Essence after your thoughts had completely dissipated, but now it’s too much trouble.”
The smile on Bai Fan’s face instantly froze.
“Wait…”
The woman raised her scythe again, the blade aimed at his chest.
“Losing a bit of Spiritual Essence is better than being annoyed to death by your blabbering.”
“Stop—!”
The scythe fell without a moment’s hesitation.
The pale blade light reflected off Bai Fan’s face.
At that moment.
Time seemed to stretch infinitely.
He watched the blade getting closer and closer.
Countless images flashed through his mind.
The streets of Lincheng.
The smoke from the late-night barbecue stall.
The sounds of friends laughing and joking.
And the home he could never return to.
After struggling for so long, was this really how it would end?
‘I don’t want to die.’
‘I don’t want to stay here.’
‘Stop…’
‘Please…’
‘Stop it…’
‘I said—stop!’
Boom!
Something seemed to respond to his cry.
The blade suddenly halted, stopping less than a hair’s breadth from his chest.
The woman’s pupils contracted sharply.
In the void, a faint, ancient gate slowly opened.
Stairs descended from the high heavens, and a dazzling pillar of light poured down from beyond the gate, completely engulfing Bai Fan.
The scythe trembled violently, white flames burning along its blade.
Collapse, separation, annihilation.
As if utterly purified by some higher power.
The woman’s protective suit also began to dissolve, turning into countless specks of light that drifted through the air.
Bai Fan stared blankly at all of this.
Then.
A warm, smooth piece of white jade slowly floated up in front of his chest, emitting a soft fluorescence. It was the keepsake left to him by his parents before they left.
And the one thing he had always carried with him all these years.
Bai Fan slowly raised his head.
What came into view was a stunningly beautiful side profile, silver-white hair cascading down.
Ice-blue eyes reflected his face, and those eyes held a smile.
As if she had been waiting for a very, very long time, and had finally met the person she wanted to see.
The girl murmured softly.
“Bright Divine Jade… it’s finally reacted.”
“As I thought, it really was you. I’ve waited so many years.”
Before Bai Fan could think, a majestic and ancient voice suddenly echoed in his mind.
“Obey your master’s command…”
The voice reverberated, shaking his soul.
The girl suddenly leaned down, snow-white hair falling by her ear.
Her pale hand pressed against his chest along with the white jade, her ice-blue eyes curving into crescents.
“I have a way to bring you back to life.”
Bai Fan stared at her in a daze.
“What’s the price?”
“Sign a contract with me.”
“I’ll sign.” Without hesitation, he had no right to refuse in his current state.
As long as he could live, it was better than dying here.
The girl nodded in satisfaction. “Good. A wise man submits to circumstances.”
She raised Bai Fan’s hand, and an invisible force gathered at her fingertip.
The next moment, his finger moved uncontrollably through the air.
One by one, mysterious runes appeared, like stars being lit.
Finally, they connected into a complete text.
“Cohabitation Pact, gather!”
Weng! The runes suddenly contracted, forming an ancient contract suspended in midair, faint divine radiance flowing along its edges.
The girl said with a smile, “This is a contract written using your soul’s consciousness. Once you sign, you can’t go back on it, you know.”
Bai Fan took a deep breath.
“Sign.”
The girl pressed the contract between the palms of their hands.
“Repeat after me.”
Bai Fan opened his mouth, and his voice gradually overlapped with hers.
“By blood as record, by shadow as witness.”
“I, Bai Fan / Bai Li, in the place of darkness, coexist in hardship, share fortune and fate, dwell together like boat and tree.”
“We bind our bodies and share our fate, not going against each other’s will, not violating each other’s heart. The Cohabitation Pact is hereby established.”
As the last word fell.
The contract suddenly burst into radiance. Countless runes shot into the sky, spinning and dancing around the two of them, then turned into flowing light.
One by one, they merged into each other’s bodies, and deep in their souls, an eternal, indelible mark seemed to appear.
The contract was formed.
The snow-haired girl quietly looked at him, and finally, relief showed in her eyes.
“As I thought… it really was you.”
Who was me?
Bai Fan wanted to know the answer, but what mattered more now was…
Weakly, Bai Fan asked, “Can you save me now?”
“Of course.” She nodded. “From now on, we’re partners for life or death.”
Her tone suddenly became light and cheerful.
“Next, I’ll share Spiritual Essence to repair your soul, but there might be a slight change. You’d better be mentally prepared.”
What change? As long as it wasn’t turning into some kind of alien monster…
She placed her palm back on the white jade.
The jade emitted a warm, gentle light, and a current of warmth flowed into Bai Fan’s body.
Starting from his chest, it spread to his limbs and bones. His lifeless body gradually regained sensation.
Cold blood began to flow again, stiff fingers started to tremble.
Thump. His heart beat once, then a second time, then a third…
Like a long-dormant spark rekindling.
Bai Fan’s vision went black, and he completely lost consciousness.
…
He didn’t know how much time had passed.
When he opened his eyes again, the snow-haired girl was crouching beside him, watching.
Her expression grew stranger and stranger—from anticipation, to confusion, and finally to astonishment.
Bai Fan opened his mouth. “What’s wrong?”
But the moment the voice left his lips, even he was startled. The voice was soft and crisp, completely unlike his original self.
The girl blinked, then revealed a meaningful smile.
“Congratulations.”
“The surgery was a success.”
“You’re a girl now~”
GuardianLoli was speechless at these sentences.