Then Whom Do You Love?

Angel leaned against Hua Jian's chest, feeling the strong, powerful heartbeat emanating from his ribcage, spreading a burning warmth.

He struggled to break free from Hua Jian's embrace, but Hua Jian tightened his arms, holding him close, his voice slightly deep: "You still haven't answered me, why did Tu Si Hua come out of your room?"

Angel saw that struggling was futile; Hua Jian's arms around him tightened even more, his body pressed so close to Hua Jian that he almost felt like merging into his flesh and bone.

This feeling of being shackled, of being manipulated, made his chest constrict, his breathing difficult. He looked up, aimed for Hua Jian's neck, bit down hard, and then gasped, "Why should I tell you?"

Hua Jian's face darkened: "Are you protecting Tu Si Hua like this?"

Angel saw that Hua Jian's expression was wrong; his ruby-red eyes seemed like those of a murderous demon, giving him the feeling that if he didn't explain clearly, Hua Jian would kill Tu Si Hua.

Angel said, "Tu Si Hua and I have no relationship whatsoever; it's not what you think."

He tried to pry away Hua Jian's arms that were trapping him, but Hua Jian turned his hand and grasped his soft, scallion-like fingers, savoring them as he said, "Bai Qi Wei told me something."

"Bai Qi Wei?" Angel repeated, the name sounding familiar, "What did he tell you?"

Hua Jian sneered, "Tu Si Hua, isn't he the Tu Si Hua (Cuscuta Flower)? Star, so the one you love is him."

"What?" Angel frowned. Who was Bai Qi Wei? Why did Hua Jian say he loved Tu Si Hua?

Angel said, "Tian Zhu wants me to deal with the Qing Jian organization, he wants the Qing Jian organization to submit to the Church. He put my soul into Ming Kai Chang's body, making me infiltrate Qing Jian as Ming Kai Chang. Tu Si Hua is Ming Kai Chang's lover. How can you say I love Tu Si Hua?"

He pondered the word "love." If he had to say love, the one he loved was the Angel. In his mind, an image of Hua Jian in white robes appeared, pure as an Angel descended from heaven.

He tried hard to suppress this image, not allowing some memory that was about to vividly surface to break through.

Hua Jian gripped his hand tightly, his red eyes sharp. He suddenly felt a cold, snake-like body coiling around him again. Wherever it crawled, it triggered shivers, and he fell into a hallucination of being swallowed, experiencing a sense of impending death.

"I don't love Tu Si Hua at all; to me, he's just a stranger," he said. The snake coiling around his body loosened its grip slightly.

Hua Jian's red eyes shifted, and he said, "I don't care if you love Tu Si Hua or not, he's dead for sure anyway."

Angel grew anxious. Tu Si Hua was completely innocent; he couldn't become a sacrifice for Hua Jian's terrifying possessive desire: "If you kill him, I won't let you off!"

"Do you love him that much?" Hua Jian's voice trembled slightly.

Angel was on the verge of going mad: "I don't love Tu Si Hua at all. What exactly did Bai Qi Wei tell you?"

Hua Jian: "Then whom do you love?"

Angel: "I love..." He was about to answer "Angel," but suddenly stopped. Why did he love Angel? When did he develop this feeling of love?

Xue raised him for twenty years. Apart from respect for Xue and a few teachers in the Garden of Eden, his only emotion towards Hua Jian was a hatred so deep he wanted to die. He had never experienced this kind of love, so when did love begin to exist in his emotionally deprived world?

"You love the Angel," Hua Jian finished his sentence.

Angel's head throbbed incessantly: "No, let's not talk about that."

"Why did you give the water caltrop bracelet to Tu Si Hua?" Angel tried hard to change the subject.

Hua Jian still held his hand. Hearing him speak, a water caltrop bracelet automatically coiled around his finger. The water caltrop on his finger transformed into a small flower, a fresh and beautiful yellow flower, as if spring was blooming on his fingertip.

Hua Jian: "Since Xue sealed the Garden of Eden, I couldn't enter it. I could only wait outside. Later, I suddenly fell into a deep sleep. When I woke up, you had already left the Garden of Eden. I finally found you, your body was with Tian Zhu, but your soul wasn't in your body.

When I found your soul, I saw you making some kind of agreement with Tu Si Hua. I originally wanted to kill him, but Tian Zhu summoned me away. That camellia flower could summon me.

Tian Zhu said that the Artificial Angels would launch an attack, and you might get hurt, and I couldn't be there. Even if I went, he would summon me away, so I gave the water caltrop bracelet to Tu Si Hua."

Angel: "Why did Tu Si Hua forget you?"

Hua Jian: "Because I used 'Bewitchment'; I made him forget me."

"What is 'Bewitchment'?" Angel pressed further.

Hua Jian's eyes suddenly turned a deep, almost purple-red. Angel stared blankly at that captivating purple hue; a strange light flickered in those eyes, like a huge vortex, drawing people in, never to escape.

"Say you love me," Hua Jian said seductively.

Angel opened his mouth, his soft lips uttering the words: "I love you."

Hua Jian was stunned for a moment, as if enchanted: "Repeat it."

"I love you."

Hua Jian kissed those lips he had yearned for day and night, prying open his teeth, advancing rapidly, seizing that sweet, soft tongue, intertwining and lingering, gradually deepening, sucking, biting, until his tongue was swollen from the suction. Then, he reluctantly pulled away, moving his lips to Angel's delicate white neck, leaving a series of hot red marks there, an exclusive imprint.

Angel felt as if all the air in his lungs had been sucked dry; his entire body was like a drowning child. He felt his body growing softer and softer, as if a thousand ants were gnawing at his form, numb and painful. He couldn't help but groan, soft moans echoing in the dim darkness.

Suddenly, the Bewitchment lost its effect, and he regained his senses. He stopped Hua Jian's hand, which was trying to undress him, his voice completely devoid of charm, instead cold as ice: "Hua Jian."

Hua Jian turned his hand and seized both of Angel's hands. The water caltrop bracelet automatically tightened around his wrists; Angel's resistance was insignificant before him.

Angel looked at him indifferently, his words growing more hurtful: "If you force me again, I will hate you to death."

Hua Jian stared at Angel's lips, swollen red from kisses, thinking to himself, such sweet, soft lips, why could they utter such hurtful words? Indeed, if he didn't bewitch Angel, Angel wouldn't love him.

"Whether you hate me or not, it doesn't matter," Hua Jian brushed aside Angel's fallen hair, "After all, you cannot resist me; after all, I can have you."

Angel was so angry his teeth itched. He kicked his feet towards Hua Jian, but both his legs were caught by Hua Jian. His loose trousers were lifted, revealing his smooth legs.

Hua Jian sighed, "I won't do anything to you." Ultimately, he didn't want Angel to hate him.

The water caltrop bracelet released Angel. Angel suddenly sat up from the bed, pointing at the door: "Please leave."

Seeing Angel's resistance and indifferent expression, Hua Jian felt both love and hate—love for his beauty, hate for his coldness.

"You love the Angel, so I became the Angel. Why do you still not love me?" Hua Jian finally said. He didn't wait for Angel's reply and immediately left.

Angel looked in the direction Hua Jian left. Hua Jian's warmth still lingered on his lips. As soon as Hua Jian left, the entire room seemed to drop several degrees, the cold air pressing in.

He pondered Hua Jian's last words, and yet he sensed the grievance in Hua Jian's tone.

That possessive, self-willed Hua Jian, could he actually feel wronged?

He realized that he didn't understand Hua Jian at all, only knowing that Hua Jian was the camellia flower, Xue's demonic soul.

But Hua Jian said he had become the Angel, didn't that mean he wasn't the demonic soul? Could Xue have been wrong?

His head felt muddled and heavy. He covered his head, thinking, no need to think about Hua Jian, it's better to rest for a while and then go downstairs to take turns on night watch with Tu Si Hua.

He lay on the bed. Although he fell asleep quickly, in his dreams, Hua Jian's last words kept echoing in his ears.

Hua Jian's grievance was like a water-absorbing cotton ball, pressing down on his soul, heavy, submerging him in a suffocating sea. His heart clenched into a ball, making him intensely uncomfortable.

Past memories pierced through layers of thick black mist, reaching the outer layer.

Angel opened his eyes. He remembered all the past: the first Angel Hua Jian, the human Hua Jian, who used the Soul Severing Machine to become Angel Hua Jian again, along with Tian Zhu's true identity as God.

He went downstairs, telling Tu Si Hua to rest. Tu Si Hua nodded.

On the first floor, several oil lamps were lit, their flames flickering weakly. Outside the wooden window, a white line appeared in the pitch-black sky.

He stared blankly at the trembling flame, realizing something was amiss.

Why did Hua Jian, who separated his demonic soul through the Soul Severing Machine, not become the kind of Artificial Angel that existed almost without any emotion? Instead, he possessed possessive desires and emotions.

If asked what was different about Hua Jian from before, he couldn't immediately answer.

Sitting on the side, Xi Chang saw this and asked, "Xiao Kai, what are you thinking about?"

Angel made up a story: "I'm thinking, can we win?"

Xi Chang asked him seriously, "Do you think Qing Jian can win?"

The wind came, and the flame trembled violently. The already weak flame almost extinguished under the cold wind.

Angel answered truthfully: "The opponent is very strong; there's almost no chance of winning."

On Noah's Ark, God emerged from the holy light. Bai Qi Wei was called the Saint. The Flower of Evil deeply remembered the Saint's face. After memories surfaced, God's appearance also reappeared in his mind.

Tian Zhu's true identity was God, and Qing Jian was just a group of humans.

Xi Chang: "I used to think so too."

"Not anymore?"

Xi Chang: "Not anymore."

Angel saw Xi Chang smiling, and he also smiled: "Why? Is there some trump card?"

Xi Chang didn't answer Angel's question, saying, "Do you know about prophecies?"

"I do."

"I don't believe Tian Zhu can break God's prophecy. I am inclined to believe that the apocalypse will arrive on schedule in 2060."

Angel thought to himself, Tian Zhu is God. However, Tian Zhu made such a prophecy, yet acted contrary to it in the human world, intending to directly enter a new world. He didn't understand Tian Zhu's true intentions.

"So, as long as the apocalypse arrives on schedule, Tian Zhu's new world conspiracy will fail."

Angel was startled. He looked at the others on night watch, only to see them bowing their heads, seemingly unable to endure and having fallen asleep.

Angel: "Your goal isn't to oppose the Soul Severing Machine, but the apocalypse." He couldn't understand Xi Chang. He had been moved by Xi Chang's words, but now looking at him, Xi Chang's elegant face suddenly became utterly unfamiliar.

Xi Chang: "Shang Xing, long time no see. This is the first time I've met you with this face."

Angel couldn't help but stand up and step back: "Who are you?"

Xi Chang: "I have been your companion for so long, witnessing you from wanting to become an Angel, to becoming a demon, to becoming an existence even more evil than a demon. You transformed into the appearance I longed for. Why do you now still want to become an Angel?"

Angel was truly stunned. He couldn't believe Xi Chang was...

Xi Chang instantly appeared before him. He stammered, "How can you be..."

Xi Chang extended his hand, his palm sweeping across Angel's eyes: "You can see my true face."

He opened his eyes wide. Standing before him was a headless person. He reached out to touch it, and indeed, the neck was empty.

Mei Mo was a skull. He had once wondered whose head the skull was. Now he knew: it was Xi Chang's head.

His temples throbbed painfully. He had just recalled memories, and now he clearly knew Xi Chang's true identity; his head felt like it was about to explode.

Xi Chang sat back down: "If Tu Si Hua hadn't told me his prophecy, I wouldn't have known you would return to my side in Ming Kai Chang's body."

Angel was almost unconscious: "What prophecy did Tu Si Hua tell you?"

"He said that the one returning in Ming Kai Chang's body was not Ming Kai Chang's soul, but a soul named Shang Xing, Angel."

So, Tu Si Hua received a prophecy so detailed it included his name. Tian Zhu, as God, had calculated from the very beginning to put his soul into Ming Kai Chang's body.

No, when he was the Pope, the prophet had already received an almost comprehensive prophecy, predicting two apocalypses that would occur after the prehistoric era. The prophecy that appeared in the prehistoric era was merely a prediction of the future.

Tian Zhu already knew what would happen in the future.

"If you listen to me, I can protect you. Otherwise, you will only be in an infinite self-destructive loop."

Tian Zhu's words were still clear before his eyes. He thought it over and over, his mind a tangled mess. Suddenly, his vision darkened, and he fell unconscious.