CH 5

Allowing Herinos to hug him showed the intimacy between the two of them. Due to his personality in this world, if it had been anyone else Ji Ning would have knocked their hand away with a cold face. But now he had to follow the false memories given by Herinos. According to Herinos he certainly wouldn’t do that to his ‘close friend’.

So Ji Ning only showed a helpless look. Pushing at Herinos’ hand on his shoulder he said, “There’s someone watching.” 

“Senior, who is this gentleman?”

Gu Chen smiled at Herinos in greeting. Ji Ning couldn’t tell how he was feeling from his expression, after all, as a talented actor Gu Chen could maintain perfect control over his facial expression.

AD

“I’m his friend.”

Herinos moved his hand away in a casual manner and glanced at Gu Chen, but did not speak to him directly. Instead, he turned his head and asked Ji Ning with a smile, “Xiao Ning, who is he?” 

“This is Gu Chen, he’s an actor I work with who offered to help me apply my medicine.”

Ji Ning raised his injured arm without mentioning how it occurred, in order to protect Gu Chen. He explained to Gu Chen in a single sentence, “This is my friend Herinos.”

“Hello, Mr Herinos.” Gu Chen didn’t shy away and spoke honestly, “I don’t know if Senior has told you, but he was injured in order to save me. That is why it should be my responsibility to help Senior with his medicine.”

“So it was because of you?”

Hearing his words, Herinos’ smile immediately faded a little, his eyes deep. He asked cooly, “Do you think medicine is enough to apologise?”

“Of course not.”

Gu Chen shook his head, his voice gentle and sincere, making it difficult to pick fault with. “After the filming is over I will thank Senior again so-”

AD

He looked at Ji Ning with a soft smile and pointed at his terminal, “If Senior doesn’t mind, I would like to exchange terminal numbers with you, so I can contact you in the future.” 

“I don’t think that’s necessary.”

Herinos’ eyes flashed. Although he was still in his human form they were still intimidating, “He doesn’t need your thanks and you don’t have to involve yourself anymore.”

“I know that your friend’s injury has made you unhappy,” said Gu Chen, “but I would like Senior’s opinion rather than anyone else’s.”

“Oh?” Herinos laughed as if he heard something interesting, “But I so rarely get ignored…” 

As he spoke a deep red light flashed through his eyes, as his aura became more enthralling.

“Even when I do, people tend to change their minds later-”

“Enough.”

Facing the atmosphere that was becoming increasingly tense, Ji Ning had no choice but to raise his injured arm with a blank expression, “Is no one going to help me apply medicine?” 

“…”

The other two immediately fell silent.

“…Sorry.”

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Herinos returned to his original vampire appearance. He lowered his head, his long black hair falling to cover his face slightly as his pale and slender fingers stroked the skin along the edge of the wound. As he stared intently at the injury, Ji Ning couldn’t help but wonder if he wanted to take a bite.

However, the vampire prince didn’t seem to have any desire for blood. He just sprayed the medicinal mist, helped Ji Ning tidy up his sleeves, and stood up to tidy the medicine away. 

“Thank you.”

Ji Ning stretched out his arm, waving it around. He had to admit, the medicine of the future was magical. In his world, such a severe wound would have required stitches, but here it was healed with just a few sprays.

Hearing his thanks, Herinos smiled, “Do you still need to be so polite with me?”

“Did you want to attack Gu Chen just now?” 

Ji Ning wouldn’t act politely with him. He had seen the red glint of Herinos’ eyes. When he was in his human form that meant he was trying to use his abilities.

Herinos was silent again.

“The fact that I saved him has nothing to do with him. I would have saved anyone else.”

Although he knew Herinos was still unhappy, since he’d given him a valid explanation, even if he targeted Gu Chen later, he wouldn’t act too rashly. 

This was the best case scenario. If Gu Chen died, or Herinos prevented Gu Chen from ever falling in love with him, then he could never dream of completing his task.

“He’s just an ordinary person, don’t use your powers on him.”

Ji Ning said these words in a firm voice. He looked into Herinos’ eyes and said seriously, “Herinos, as my friend, I don’t want you to do this.”

“…Okay.” 

After a moment of silence, Herinos sighed, patted Ji Ning’s hair and said, “Since you’ve said that, I’ll promise that I won’t use my powers on him.” After saying this, he added, “As long as he doesn’t hurt you.”

Ji Ning smiled, “Thank you Herinos.”

Seeing Ji Ning smiling at him startled Herinos. His expression softened and he reached out to hug Ji Ning close. Resting his head on his shoulder, he closed his eyes and whispered.

“As long as you’re still here, it’s enough.” 

“…”

Hearing him say that, Ji Ning suddenly felt a little guilty. He had lied to Herinos and only stayed with him to avoid being killed by Huo Wuling.

But his own strength was still blocked by the seal and as of now, he has no other way to ensure his own safety. So even if he felt guilty, he had no choice but to hold Herinos’ thigh tightly. He would make it up to Herinos in the future.

Ji Ning hadn’t mentioned to him what had happened with Huo Wuling earlier because both the memories of that event and the system were related to transmigration and would have been hidden when Herinos read his memories. If he mentioned it casually, Herinos would definitely be suspicious. 

It seemed as though he could only wait until Huo Wuling appeared in the future…

Even though he was thinking all of these things, Ji Ning kept a calm appearance, still abiding by his character settings. Despite his injury, he called up the script from his terminal to review his lines until it was late enough that Herinos asked him to rest.

As a vampire of the blood clan, Herinos didn’t actually need to sleep, but he said that since he and Ji Ning hadn’t seen each other for a long time, he planned to sleep with Ji Ning tonight in order to match his schedule.

The hotel provided a bed large enough for two adults to lie in comfortably. In the memories created by Herinos, the two of them had often slept in the same bed, and Ji Ning wanted to spend a lot of time by Herinos’ side, so naturally he shouldn’t object. 

By the time they lay down to rest, the wound on Ji Ning’s arm had healed enough that it wouldn’t affect his sleep.

Although Ji Ning’s body was very tired from the activities of the day, perhaps due to the mental shocks he’d suffered, he couldn’t fall asleep even after laying in bed for a long time.

He was also aware that Herinos wasn’t asleep but instead staring at him. Even though he was used to being in the spotlight, he still felt a certain pressure from being observed at such a close distance and finally had to ask Future to activate ‘sleep mode’ to force himself to sleep.

Even under the power of sleep mode, Ji Ning slept restlessly. 

His dreams were chaotic. In the boundless darkness, there were pieces of glass-like fragments floating, displaying various scenes, all of which were worlds that Ji Ning had previously experienced.

It appeared as if he was in the interior of a kaleidoscope. With each rotation of the barrel, the fragments changed their combinations and shapes, reflecting different faces and figures. Ji Ning stood in the darkness, watching the changing people in a daze.

Gradually the fragments merged together, along with the hazy illusory shadows, leaving only two figures.

Huo Wuling and Ji Ning, who had the transparent body of a ghost. 

This was the world of the infinite stream novel, ‘God Killing’, when Ji Ning was a ghost Huo Wuling had taken from the underworld. When they first met, Huo Wuling had been planning to raise a ghost. He had entered the underworld where all the ghosts of the world were imprisoned and chose Ji Ning from countless others.

Back then, Ji Ning had just entered ‘God Killing’ and was trapped inside a dense crowd of ghosts. The surrounding ghosts tried to tear his body apart, clawing at his skin and he was terrified he was going to die in that hellish place.

Yet the moment Huo Wuling appeared, all the ghosts fell silent to look at him.

Huo Wuling, who was still a teenager at that time, strolled leisurely through the courtyard of the underworld. His shirt was white and clean and when he raised his head he revealed a beautiful and warm face that carried a slight smile. 

It was a land of death, immersed in pure darkness all year round, but he seemed to glow with a light that captivated every single ghost.

He was radiant.

The ghosts felt as if they had met their natural enemy and instinctively felt the extreme danger, but they didn’t dare to move, like porcelain statues they stood frozen in place.

Only Ji Ning, who saw the young man and recognised him as Huo Wuling, extended his hands towards him with joy, gazing expectantly. 

His cold fingertips were grasped by a warm hand.

“You chose me?”

In the silence of ten thousand ghosts, they looked at each other, maybe for a moment, maybe for a very long time, before Huo Wuling laughed lightly and pulled Ji Ning from the ghosts to let him stand by his side.

“Then… as a return gift, I will also choose you.” 

The young man smiled and stroked the ghosts’ beautiful face. He kissed his forehead and said.

“Promise me you won’t betray me.”

Crack

In the next moment, the two overlapping shadows shattered like glass, leaving only darkness. The figure of an older Huo Wuling stepped forward out of the abyss. 

His snow white shirt was stained with blood that gushed from a cavity in his chest, dripping down his body to puddle around his feet.

He raised his head, eyes empty, as he gazed in the direction of Ji Ning. His bloodless lips parted as he asked in a voice so soft it was barely audible.

“…Why?”

“You promised me back then, you said you wouldn’t betray me.” 

“You promised me-”

Ji Ning woke from his dream, sat up and gasped for breath. Herinos, who was sleeping beside him, woke up to the noise. Touching his shoulder, he asked, “Did you have a nightmare?”

“…”

Ji Ning nodded, still panting. Herinos poured him a glass of water, helped him to drink it, then asked, “So scared…what did you dream of.” 

“…Dreamt of a ghost.” Ji Ning was soaked in cold sweat. He calmed down for a while, then lifted the quilt, got out of bed and said to Herinos, “I’ll take a shower first, I’ll talk to you later.”

The sensor recognised someone was moving and automatically turned on a soft light. Following it, Ji Ning walked to the bathroom and closed the door.

Following his movement, the mirror light in front of the washbasin lit up, the pale light illuminating the mirror’s surface. But it was not Ji Ning who was reflected. It was Huo Wuling.

The Huo Wuling inside the mirror stretched out his hand, passing through the mirror’s surface and entering the real world. His hand grabbed Ji Ning’s wrist. 

“Ningning.”

He laughed.

“I’m here to pick you up.”