Chapter 23

“This is your boyfriend?” Wang Xing was somewhat surprised. Her lips parted and her eyes widened.

Xiao Chen chuckled, turning around to look at the man. The other was no different from usual. He carried out his principle of dressing completely in black and having a simple hairstyle. He had masculine facial features, a hook nose, and a pair of gray pupils. He looked exceedingly like a mixed-race person.

“That’s right, isn’t my boyfriend handsome?” Xiao Chen held the man’s hand as they sat down on the sofa.

But Liang Jing, who was standing at the side, was a bit impatient. He quickly came up and faced the man. Probably because he wanted to jump straight to the main topic, he said, “Do you really understand a lot about the god of death?”

The man’s gaze didn’t waver, and his expression remained unchanged. “En.”

“Can the Kuman Thong actually save us?”

Liang Jing was a little suspicious. He had always felt that something like this sort of sorcery wouldn’t be too good.

Yesterday, he had pleaded with someone in order to buy a Kuman Thong. But he had remained very careful and later asked a great master. He discovered that there were some dangers in using a Kuman Thong.

Astonishingly, the formerly expressionless man curved the corner of his mouth. “Have you heard of Sisyphus?”

“What?” Liang Jing frowned. The man’s smile made him uncomfortable.

“In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was the son of Aeolus, the god of winds.” Xiao Chen lifted his head and explained, “In mythology, he once wanted to kidnap the god of death. His goal was for the world to be free of death. And because he didn’t fulfill his agreement with the god of death, his deception led to his punishment of pushing a boulder up a hill, only for it to roll down again when he neared the top.”

Wang Xing unconsciously blinked. Although the man’s gaze never fell on her, whenever she moved a little closer to him, she would experience an inexplicable chill which penetrated her bones.

“What does that mean?” Yuan Zhong’s face appeared quite healthy. There wasn’t a trace of his anxiousness from a few days ago. In fact, he could be described as energetic if it weren’t for his feeble walking pace.

“It means,” Xiao Chen began as he tilted his head. “No one can fool the god of death.”

You can be luckily rescued again and again, but the god of death can continue to punish sinners until they die.

Xiao Chen scanned everyone sitting in the room.

Liang Jing choked and hastily asked, “Is there no other way?”

“Atonement.” The man had reverted to his initial indifference. Only when he touched Xiao Chen would there be a hint of gentleness in his eyes.

The expressions of the three other people briefly cracked. They looked at each other, a tense atmosphere enveloping their surroundings.

“What?” Wang Xing exclaimed in shock.

The man didn’t reply, and Xiao Chen didn’t explain. He just smiled at them.

He pulled the man up and planned to go out. Suddenly, Yuan Zhong said, “We still don’t know his name yet!”

The man paused.

Xiao Chen turned around and said, “You can call him Colby.” Then, he left without looking back.

Colby, someone who comes from darkness.

In the Bible, limited atonement didn’t exist. Even the Lamb of God, who took away the sin of the world, was eventually crucified. His spilt blood washed away the sin. Without bloodshed, it would never have been pardoned.

There is only one way to atone.

“So annoying! Laozi has already been buying lottery tickets for three or four years now, and I haven’t won once! Sh*t!” The boy ran his hand through his hair. Then, he tore the lottery ticket he had purchased into shreds. He grabbed a cigarette from the table and started to smoke. He was in an irritable mood as he depressingly smoked by himself. Eventually, he walked out of the bedroom.

Yuan Zhong glanced at the back of the boy and snorted.

In this year, who would believe that they could win the lottery?

Yuan Zhong wiped his hair and was about to sit down. Abruptly, he remembered that he had bought a random ticket when he helped the boy a few days ago.

For some reason, he rifled through his drawer and pulled out his wallet. When he saw the one-inch photo of a girl in the slit of his wallet, he couldn’t help but be nervous.

There was no money in the wallet. It only contained this picture and a Thai Buddha amulet.

He carefully compared the numbers written on the notebook by the boy.

“Thump, thump.” Yuan Zhong’s heartbeat suddenly accelerated.

The first numbers were the same.

The second…

The third…

Yuan Zhong’s hands began to tremble.

The last one!! He glanced at the winning number and then at his lottery ticket.

His face, which was originally exhilarated, instantly cooled.

“F*ck!” Yuan Zhong yelled.

“Atonement…” Liang Jing kept muttering this word with an ugly expression.

Wang Xing said with difficulty, “That time…”

Liang Jing stiffened, but he didn’t rebuke her.

“Should the two of us go and find that girl’s family?” Wang Xing lowered her head, pain evident in her voice.

Liang Jing’s expression changed. “What are you saying? Do you think they will let us go? Do you want to go to jail?”

Wang Xing stopped talking for a moment and was silent.

She had never forgotten that day.

That day, she and Liang Jing had drunk some alcohol. Later, they drove in an unlicensed car on a section of the road that was unmonitored. The driver was Liang Jing, but the car was hers.

After hitting that girl, they hurriedly ran away.

They lived in a state of fear for a couple of months.

When they were sure that the police wouldn’t come knocking on their doors, they agreed to never bring this matter up for the rest of their life.

Who could have guessed that things would change?

“What should we do then?” Wang Xing was increasingly anxious.

Although it was true that the Kuman Thong had saved her life, would it protect her forever?

Liang Jing didn’t say anything.

“Ding.” A text message arrived.

Liang Jing took out his phone. But when he saw the contents of the message, he was horrified.

Wang Xing was puzzled. “What’s wrong?” She moved closer to him to look at the message. However, it left her completely dumbfounded.

It was sent by an anonymous person.

The photo was set late at night, with no streetlights in the background. But it remained surprisingly clear, and it was obvious that the focus was a black car in the center. The body of a girl who had been crushed lay near the rear of the car. The photo was shot at an unbiased angle, but it just happened to perfectly capture the people in the front seats——they really were Liang Jing and Wang Xing.

“How is this possible?” Cold sweat poured from Wang Xing, and her voice quivered.

Weren’t the police even unable to reveal a suspect? Who sent this to them?

Liang Jing’s hand twitched, and the phone directly fell onto the ground.

“Clatter.” There was another message.

Liang Jing’s face twisted. He forced himself to pick up his phone. After he read the message, his heart sank.

‘Your sin will eventually come back and find you.’

Signed, God of Death.

Wang Xing seized the phone. Her eyes widened, and tears were squeezed out from the corners of her eyes. “What should we do? What should we do? I don’t want to die! I really don’t want to die! I don’t want to go to jail!!”

Everything that seemed to be a coincidence was actually a piece of the god of death’s plans. This included each sinner’s time of death, place of death, their next actions, and every instance in which they had the delusion of being saved. Perhaps, even the sins committed by the sinners were only a part of his plan.

“Come and sit in my arms.” The man raised a corner of his mouth and stared at Xiao Chen.

Xiao Chen was like a pile of soft bones as he climbed into the man’s lap and wrapped his arms around the other’s neck.

“Your courage was really impressive today.” The man stroked Xiao Chen’s hair.

“Oh.” Xiao Chen blinked, looking very innocent.

The man observed him and couldn’t help but tighten his grasp. His eyes slightly narrowed with a hint of danger.

Then, he carefully placed Xiao Chen’s head on his chest. “Sleep. I will hold you.”

This was the sole light in the tens of thousands of years of his existence.

Xiao Chen obediently closed his eyes.

The man’s hand stopped at Xiao Chen’s shoulder blade. Further up was Xiao Chen’s neck, the most vulnerable part of his body. As long as he exerted the slightest force, this child would die.

He quietly sat in the dark night, holding the person firmly in his arms.

He was the god of death, a demon, the Devil. He wasn’t any sort of kind person. He symbolized evil and was undoubtedly born with original sin.

He was jealous, jealous of everyone who came in contact with this child. Even if it was just one glance, one sentence, it would drive him crazy.

But he pretended to be very good in front of this child. He kept controlling his desires! He feared that he would scare the other!

He would even swallow Xiao Chen into his stomach so that he would become a part of himself!

In this way, no one would be able to steal Xiao Chen’s attention from him!

How unfair! There was only Xiao Chen in his world, but he wasn’t the only one in Xiao Chen’s world.

His fingers traced Xiao Chen’s face. Xiao Chen had already fallen asleep, but he unconsciously wrinkled his nose and hugged the man closer.

The man was pleased.

Never! Never leave me!

No one! Can deceive the god of death!

T/N: After being rejected from literally every BL manhua group out there, your sad, lonely, and pitiful translator decided to translate manhua alone. (╥╯^╰╥)

King Sisyphus was the crafty and deceitful king of Corinth. In exchange for causing a spring to flow on the Corinthian acropolis, he revealed the location of a nymph that Zeus had abducted to her father Asopus. Zeus was enraged and ordered Death to chain him in Tartarus. King Sisyphus slyly asked Thanatos to demonstrate how the chains worked. As Thanatos was doing so, Sisyphus seized the opportunity and trapped him in the chains instead. As a result, no one died on Earth. An exasperated Ares, whose opponents wouldn’t die, freed Thanatos and turned King Sisyphus over to Zeus. Later, King Sisyphus managed to escape the underworld again before his eventual punishment.