The Protagonist is Always Intimidating Me - Chapter 80

Wind and snow bury withered bones; no one waits for my return.

“Who are you?”

The darkness asked him.

“I am Yuan, born in the darkest depths of the Abyss.”

“Who are you?”

The young man, on the verge of being devoured, clung to the last shred of consciousness to ask the final question of his life.

“I am you, the gentle yet powerful Captain of the Xingge Hall’s guard team, Mo Jiuge.”

Yuan leaned against the cold throne, his sharply defined and handsome features unusually dazed. In his previous life, Mo Jiuge had already been devoured by him, but in this life, the process had been delayed until now.

Many things were different this time… Yuan lowered his lashes. No one knew that the master of the Abyss had once experienced death, only to be thrown back into this cycle of reincarnation by some unexpected twist.

In his previous life, he was born in the Abyss, accompanied only by endless silence and darkness. The place was saturated with overwhelming negative energy and countless shackles; no living creature ever passed through, and not even the water was alive.

The Abyss created him. The Abyss imprisoned him.

To escape the terrifying loneliness, he used every means possible to find a way out, until he discovered his ability to devour.

Through devouring, he could obtain all of his victim’s powers and memories. The outside world was dazzling and colorful, human hearts were full of variety, water could flow, and sunlight on the skin was warm rather than scorching…

The more he learned, the more he craved. Eventually, he was no longer satisfied with devouring insignificant individuals who merely whetted his appetite. His inner greed expanded, and the Master of Xingge Hall, who carried the blood of dragons, became his perfect target.

Exploiting flaws in the seal, he carefully laid out his plan: Tian Cheng, Feng Qingxuan, Feng Suiling…

Unable to obtain and unable to love, the overwhelming malice engulfed Mo Hankui, while Yuan watched with interest from the sidelines, waiting for the moment when that man’s heart would be completely destroyed by darkness…

But Mo Hankui went mad.

On that day, he transformed into a dragon and took the initiative to attack the laws of Heaven. After being subdued, he fell into the Abyss, giving Yuan the perfect opportunity.

…Mad?

Yuan, unable to comprehend it, devoured the man. After devouring Mo Hankui, who bore dragon energy, Yuan’s power increased dramatically. By a twist of fate, he also discovered Mo Hankui’s sealed memories from a previous life, which were chaotic and fragmented, yet all inextricably tied to a small, youthful boy.

The gods, as punishment, had locked those memories under heavy seals and cast them into reincarnation. Unexpectedly, a casual touch of them drove Mo Hankui into utter madness, even to the point of challenging Heaven itself…

Bai Meng…

Yuan softly murmured the boy’s name. Perhaps it was the influence of the devoured body, but for the first time, an impossible thought crossed his mind—leaving this world.

The world outside was even bigger… Perhaps, he might even encounter Bai Meng.

At that thought, an unfamiliar tightness and anticipation, akin to a heartbeat, arose in his hollow chest.

So, he devoured the laws.

In an instant, the entire world turned to ashes.

By the time the gods discovered it, this inconspicuous demon emerging from the depths had already devoured countless worlds along his path, becoming a thorny problem for the gods.

The gods employed their usual method, the Heavenly Tribulation.

When a flash of white light passed and Yuan awoke once more, he found himself back in the lightless underworld. He had not devoured anyone. Even the seals on the Abyss’s boundary had been reinforced countless times…

“……” Yuan: “Damn it!”

Yet, Feng Suiling’s allegiance, Tian Cheng’s fanaticism… all the developments were the same as before. Fearless, Yuan continued the course of his previous life. However, at a certain moment, his plan was disrupted by an inconspicuous youth.

Until he devoured Mo Jiuge, who had deeply buried his pure feelings. In his memories, that youth had been suppressed beneath duty and rationality. That youth did not belong here…

Bai Meng was the anomaly in this lifetime.

But Yuan did not dislike this anomaly.

In the pitch-black underground, a young man with horns was bashfully practicing with a puppet made from a corpse. His rushed tone and flushed cheeks betrayed his inner excitement, like a young man about to meet his beloved—nervous and restrained, yet overwhelmed with joy.

How exciting. It was finally time to meet the youth who had influenced him in both his past and present lives.

Even if that person had no idea who he was.

“What does it matter…” The demon tossed aside the childish puppet and slouched sideways on the chair. His dark-purple nails wove through his inky, mid-length hair. His pupils, devoid of whites and glowing with dark violet light, occasionally flickered with glimmers, only to be hidden again in the darkness. The corners of his smiling eyes were tinged with vivid hues; he had never expected to meet someone who didn’t belong to this world after being reborn.

“You came for Mo Hankui…?” The young man transformed into the form of Mo Jiuge. The once gentle features now bore a decadent air due to the wicked curl of his lips. In the lifeless, empty hall, he immersed himself in a monologue.

“Whether it’s Bai Fan or Mo Hankui… Soon, I will become them…”

“It’s nothing more than starting over again.”

He met the youth under a false identity. He manipulated the youth into losing his memory. He kept drawing closer, only to be met in the end by a hand piercing his chest.

“You’re a heartless monster…”

But—

The youth did not stay to hear the rest. His thin silhouette slowly walked away, the stench-laden wind of the Abyss rising around him. Yuan was left behind, swallowed once more by boundless darkness.

I have no heart…

The demon hunched over, wracked with pain from his chest, tears streaming uncontrollably down his face.

I have no heart, yet I still ache at your cruelty, still weep at your departure. Just because I have no heart, I can only face these things…

You would rather die than be with me…

And yet I am Jiuge—I am Bai Fan…

It hurts so much…

Whether those feelings belonged to Mo Jiuge or Bai Fan, he could no longer tell. After devouring so many, the chaos of those emotions eventually struck back, leaving him lost, unable to recognize himself…

Zhuang Zhou dreams of being a butterfly—who is Zhuang Zhou, and who is the butterfly?

The demon returned to the place of his birth. Endless silence and solitude spread through the depths. With an unchanged expression, he returned to the heavy shackles and quietly fell into slumber.

— Bai Meng, I return your memories to you.

As for me, I’ve had those fragmented memories, and once journeyed through this mortal world. Even here in this endless abyss, just the thought of them will keep loneliness at bay…

Bai Meng will wait for Bai Fan, Mo Hankui, and Mo Jiuge to return. He can become them, but he will never truly be them.

Before closing his eyes, a single crystal-clear tear traced down his jaw, splashing to the ground where it blossomed into a flower before vanishing without a trace. No one in this world knew it had ever been there, except for this patch of soil.

He disappeared from the mortal world. No one waited for his return.

Postscript: But in the end, this fellow couldn’t sit still when Bai Meng got married. He changed his identity and snuck in quietly again…

But that’s a story for another time ( ?ω< )★