Chapter 134 part2 (1/2)

They were at the top of a rocky mountain, and night had already fallen in the desert. Yu Hao didn’t eat a mouthful of sand again like he had imagined. Strangely, the sandstorm had already stopped, and what replaced it was a quiet desert — like a deathly silent city. A shining Milky Way appeared in the sky.

Under the starry sky, an ancient city appeared in the distance. There seemed to be many buildings all around them, but they had already been buried by gravel, with only a few remaining ruins and broken walls. Two dried up riverbeds appeared at the bottom of the Gobi desert that winded from the city, passed through the rocky mountain they were on, before meandering back.

“The storm has stopped.” Yu Hao said.

“Amidst his impressions, perhaps he can only feel at peace during the night. Look, the monsters have disappeared.” Chen Yekai said, “This means that he suffers all kinds of torture during the day and only feels safe when he sleeps at night. If no accidents occur, night in desert shouldn’t last long. We need to hurry.”

Yu Hao realised that when Chen Yekai was around, he didn’t need to analyse dreams anymore.

They jumped down from the rocky mountain. Yu Hao kept his daggers and followed behind Chen Yekai as he thought about how to separate the flying scalpel from his daggers, while Chen Yekai was vigilant to all movements in their surroundings.

“Wait for me for a bit.” Yu Hao felt really uncomfortable during the walk and said this.

In the silent desert, Yu Hao sat down on the spot, took off his basketball shoes, and poured the sand out. Chen Yekai watched from the side. Yu Hao suddenly felt that, it seemed that after coming to Beijing, Chen Yekai didn’t talk as much anymore. Or rather, after Ou Qihang’s incident, Chen Yekai’s attitude had changed in a subtle and peculiar way.

“Your team uniform during the basketball match.” Chen Yekai said, “At that time, Huang Ting hadn’t transferred to Beijing, and everyone would still gather together; it all seems just like yesterday.”

“Time flies by so fast.” Yu Hao smiled a little sadly. He didn’t know why he would suddenly talk with Chen Yekai about this. However, he did miss his life in college a lot. At that time, everyone was still together, they didn’t worry about anything and could gather at any time with just one call to go to the foot of Mt. Yunding to eat delicious stir-fry.

“Okay, let’s go…Chen Laoshi.” Yu Hao followed behind Chen Yekai again, “Is the flying scalpel a part of your totem?”

“Maybe? Do you want to ask what it means by me giving you my totem?” Chen Yekai turned his head sideways to look at Yu Hao. The two lines of footprints had formed like folds in the silky desert sand. The night was beautiful, but Yu Hao couldn’t help but remember Ou Qihang’s words, ’embarrassment is good’.

“I need to think of a way to return it to you.” Yu Hao said.

“I didn’t give it to you.” Chen Yekai said, “To be exact, you ‘forcibly took’ it away.”

Yu Hao answered, “Un…So, I don’t really want it to be like that.”

Chen Yekai said, “The scalpel symbolises my courage. It belongs to me, but it also belongs to you as well. You had taken my courage away, but you had also bestowed it upon me again. In a certain sense, you’re the source of my courage. Letting it protect you once in awhile isn’t a bad thing, you don’t have to mind.”

Yu Hao has always felt that there was nothing between him and Chen Yekai. However, Zhou Sheng always talks about it, and Situ Ye would mention it once in awhile, which made him a little suspicious too. Yu Hao himself had had enough of suffering the pain of unrequited love from another party, yet still leaving him hanging with hope. If someone doesn’t like another, then refuse them clearly — this would be good for both parties. Chen Yekai though, had never discussed such issues with him formally, and the only sign was the concern he showed Yu Hao before he finally received a response from Zhou Sheng. So how could Yu Hao bring it up?

“I feel like you’ve changed after coming to Beijing.” Yu Hao said.

Chen Yekai said, “Do you think I’m avoiding you?”

“It’s not to that extent.” Yu Hao said, “You’re very busy, right?”

“Want to hear the truth?”

Yu Hao said, “Yes.”

They were walking slowly in the desert. The ancient city in the distance looked very close, but it was really far away after they started walking. The whitish colour of a fish’s belly was gradually appearing on the horizon.

“To be honest, I wasn’t busy. There was a period of time when I really wanted to see you.” Chen Yekai slowed down a little and let Yu Hao catch up. The two of them walked side by side, “But I know that long-distance relationships are very difficult to go through, especially in situations where there are too many obstructions. If I showed you too much concern, I was afraid that it’d put your relationship to even more tests.”

Yu Hao laughed, “That wouldn’t happen, sometimes you really do overthink too much.”

Chen Yekai said, “Un, I think I often overthink too much too.”

When he said it like that, Yu Hao instantly felt something inexplicable.

“Do you like Ou Qihang?” Yu Hao suddenly asked.

Chen Yekai seemed to have expected that he would definitely ask this question. He answered, “Do you really want us to be together?”

Yu Hao laughed. If he hadn’t gone through Ou Qihang’s baptism, he would think that this conversation in the dream today was really too awkward.

Chen Yekai said, “I was often invited out by him, because I wanted to take the chance to find out something.”

“What is it?” Yu Hao frowned.

Chen Yekai pondered, then explained, “What Huang Ting would do after Zhou Sheng erased his memories.”

“There’s still a follow-up?!” Yu Hao was surprised, “It happened so long ago, he shouldn’t go that far ba!”

“You don’t understand Huang Ting.” Chen Yekai said solemnly, “As long as there’s one portion of the case that’s illogical, he will remember it very clearly and raise his doubts during appropriate opportunities.”

Yu Hao frowned deeply and pondered.

Chen Yekai continued, “After Xiao Ou came to Beijing, Huang Ting looked for him thrice. Twice last year, and once this year. The last time was during your internship.”

Yu Hao said, “He won’t be able to get anything out of him, Qihang has already forgotten everything.”

Chen Yekai said, “If Huang Ting was the only one analysing the inside story, then he may not be able to find any clues. But you’ve forgotten an important point — Xiao Ou has doubts about this as well. With his personality, if a portion of his memory fragmented, he definitely wouldn’t let it go so easily.”

Yu Hao started feeling like this was a little dangerous now.

Chen Yekai made a gesture with both hands, “So this is equivalent to the involved party, Ou Qihang, and the criminal investigator, Huang Ting, jointly pursuing a lost memory. Now that I think of it, what I regret the most is sending the Golden Crow Wheel to the STA for an appraisal……”

“But you said that the data was destroyed.” Yu Hao said.

“Yes.” Chen Yekai said solemnly, “But there are still people who know of its existence. I’ve gone to the research lab twice. My Shidi is still there, and everything is as usual. I wanted to erase his memories, but after contacting Zhou Sheng, we realised that he never dreamed of me, so we can’t enter his dream.”