Chapter 57: Truth Retraced

The next day.

When Wen Chu woke up, Xiu was already sitting up against the headboard.

They hadn’t engaged in excessive mating last night, and Wen Chu had slept soundly for a change, hugging Xiu’s arm.

In the past half month, he had always been awakened by various nightmares, either dreaming that Xiu opened his eyes and looked at him with disgust, or dreaming that as soon as he opened his eyes, Xiu was gone without a trace.

Waking up in such panic and seeing Xiu’s calm face, Wen Chu was even more afraid.

No one had ever taught him how to love someone. He could only use tears, use the most intimate ways to express it, and keep Xiu in captivity.

Now, seeing Xiu as soon as he opened his eyes, Wen Chu regretted agreeing to take Xiu out yesterday.

But Xiu had already heard his movement and turned his head toward him. “Awake? Do you want to eat breakfast?”

Wen Chu hadn’t reduced the size of the black mist in Xiu’s stomach. Xiu’s abdomen was now the size of a mid-term pregnancy, so he had to put a soft cushion under his lower back when sitting up.

He supported his abdomen, his golden hair cascading down. The room was pitch black, with only the kerosene lamp on the bedside table lit, shining on him and casting a warm glow over him.

It was as if Xiu was really carrying an egg for him.

Wen Chu’s gaze softened a little. He moved closer clingily, leaned gently against Xiu’s stomach, and said, “Anything is fine.”

Xiu thought for a moment. “There should still be toast and milk I bought for you at home. We can buy some more groceries and seeds when we go to the main urban area today.”

Afraid Wen Chu couldn’t cook, he had left mostly frozen meat, frozen vegetables, and canned food in the freezer for Wen Chu. There weren’t many fresh vegetables at home.

But since he was still here, naturally, they should cook fresh food if possible.

Wen Chu nodded in agreement. “Okay.”

Xiu probed tentatively, “Then I’ll go make breakfast for you now, and you go wash up?”

Wen Chu looked down and held Xiu’s hand, saying seriously, “You can’t see; I’ll help you find things—I am mist, I don’t need to wash up.”

Even in human form, he was essentially just a cloud of mist. The kind where if you cut him open, you’d see dark mist.

Xiu didn’t force Wen Chu. Anyway, it was good as long as Wen Chu was willing to talk properly. He readily let Wen Chu lead him by the hand, getting out of bed to fumble around making breakfast.

The toast and bacon just needed to be fried with butter, and the milk was heated in a small milk pot on the side.

The room was soon filled with a rich milky aroma. Wen Chu helped Xiu flip the toast, observing the butter in the pan seriously, finally realizing: So you have to put oil first when cooking.

No wonder he burned the vegetables black yesterday.

After the two had breakfast, Wen Chu directly controlled the mist to change himself into a small black cloak. He ran into trouble when looking at the still-naked Xiu.

Xiu’s belly was too big; normal clothes couldn’t fit at all.

Just as Wen Chu was wondering if he could use mist to change Xiu into a set of clothes, Xiu spoke up first.

“Can I wear clothes?” Xiu asked.

“Just wear them,” Wen Chu said awkwardly, really not used to Xiu coaxing him in everything like this.

Under his golden hair, Xiu’s earlobes turned red. He whispered, “I can only wear the black robe now. Could you please get it for me?”

Saying such things in front of Wen Chu, and even asking Wen Chu to fetch clothes for him, was a bit too shameful for him.

Wen Chu also stuttered instantly. “O-Okay.”

He went to get the black robe hanging on the rack for Xiu, turning stiffly to hand it over.

Xiu took it, thanked him softly, and then clumsily put the black robe on himself.

The pregnancy belly was covered by the loose outer robe. Xiu was very tall. After putting on the black robe and pulling up the hood to cover his face tightly, he looked exceptionally intimidating, appearing extremely cold and unapproachable.

No one would have guessed that under these rigorous robes, the cold man was wearing nothing underneath, and even carried a five-month pregnant belly.

Wen Chu’s heart skipped a beat, and his cheeks couldn’t help but burn.

Why is Xiu even more erotic wearing clothes than not wearing clothes…

Wen Chu’s gaze wandered wildly until Xiu asked in confusion, “Are we not going?”, barely snapping him back to reality.

“Going.” Wen Chu was concise.

Xiu was obviously not fit for walking right now, and Wen Chu couldn’t drive. He simply wrapped himself and Xiu in mist, lifting the two of them to fly toward the main urban area.

From high above, Wen Chu saw the West District overgrown with shrubs and green grass.

Under Xiu’s indulgent feeding, the black mist had covered the entire West District. Wen Chu sealed this area tight, allowing no one to approach, but the humid vapor also bred countless plants.

If only Xiu could see. The current West District looked very suitable for farming.

Wen Chu looked away and confirmed with Xiu, “To the foot of the statue?”

Xiu nodded. “Yes.”

So Wen Chu sped up, taking Xiu all the way to the main urban area.

Of course, this rapidly flying patch of mist attracted the attention of many people, but Wen Chu didn’t care. He openly brought Xiu to land slowly on the ground amidst the black thick fog.

Right in front of the statue of the God of Steam.

An overly beautiful white-haired youth, a tall, indifferent figure in black robes, and ominous black mist—this combination looked exceptionally evil. From the moment they landed, Wen Chu heard constant exclamations from the surroundings.

The reversed word order made it impossible for Wen Chu to quickly distinguish what these people were saying; he could only catch keywords.

“Monster,” “Evil God,” “White-Haired Ghost.”

Wen Chu turned his head, held Xiu tighter, lowered his eyes, and chuckled lightly.

Isn’t he a monster? Out of place with these humans.

“What do you want me to see?” Wen Chu asked coldly.

Xiu fumbled forward, his fingertips touching the statue of the God of Steam in the Central Plaza.

Time had reversed to when the statue of the God of Steam was just erected. At this time, the statue’s face was blank, and the surrounding scaffolding had not yet been removed.

But the moment Xiu touched it, the statue suddenly opened its eyes.

These were a pair of transparent blue, extremely thin eyes, just like the eyes Wen Chu had seen countless times.

Heaven and earth suddenly inverted. The newly built main urban area instantly became extremely distant. In these eyes, Wen Chu saw the beginning of the world—

The first external combustion engine was invented, and people entered the Steam Age.

At this time, the main power source was still black coal. Steam locomotives and steam aircraft emerged one after another. Countless plumes of black smoke were discharged into the sky, and from then on, the ground was shrouded in a layer of smog that never dispersed all year round.

They mined coal, various sects arose in the city, and theology and science began to confront each other.

Until one day, a religious sect whose members were mainly bottom-rung workers used a summoning circle to summon Xiu.

Xiu still had golden hair at this time, with no black energy on his body, looking coldly at the believers before him.

The believers knelt one after another. The cardinal cried to the god about the unfairness of resources. Those who controlled coal resources became capitalists, while they could only work hard without getting enough food or warm clothes, leaving countless people homeless.

The god nodded and condensed a blue stone in his hand.

“This is my power,” Xiu said. “The energy contained within is a thousand times that of coal. I can provide you with resources, but—”

Xiu frowned slightly, looking at the red mark on his ring finger.

He said, “I need a quiet courtyard, a vegetable patch, the cleanest food, and water.”

The crowd was ecstatic, shouting “God bless the world,” and took the blue stone from Xiu’s hand as if crazed.

Using the church’s power, they built an exquisite courtyard for the god in the suburbs. The stone tower stood tall. Xiu didn’t ask for much else; after moving into the courtyard, he began to grow vegetables and raise chickens, only using his power to give them a cart of blue stones occasionally when the bishop visited.

From then on, a sect named “Steam Church” arose.

With John as the bishop and Claude as the special consultant—one lost his sister to tuberculosis, the other lost his brother in a boiler explosion—facing the upper class with vengeance-filled fury, they occupied cities step by step with weapons transcending the era.

As the scale of the war expanded, more and more energy was consumed.

The bishop went from visiting once a month to once a week, and finally to visiting daily. Xiu was annoyed to no end by him, so he asked the bishop to build a statue in the Central Plaza as his avatar.

As long as people prayed to the statue, he would continue to bestow Steam Hearts upon them.

The statue rose from the ground, and the fires of war raged in the human world.

The statue in the Central Plaza watched all this coldly with those transparent blue eyes.

The City of Steam flew into the sky. John and Claude moved into the City of Steam. The workers of the “Steam Church” they led became the upper class, while the lower class was left on the ground.

The statue couldn’t move, so they took the statue’s eyes—which was the power connection point between Xiu and the statue—suppressed the Steam Church heavily, and enshrined the statue’s eyes in the City of Steam.

Then, another ground revolution… The world’s development stagnated because of this. All conflicts focused on the struggle for the Steam Heart. The ground and the City of Steam fell into an endless cycle.

The world headed toward the end.

Only at the moment when the world headed toward the end did Xiu realize what he had brought. He tried to reset time to change the karma he brought, but as a summoned god, if he reset to before being summoned, he would also cease to exist.

Unable to do otherwise, Xiu could only use the statue as an anchor point, resetting the timeline again and again to the point after the statue was established.

At this time, the City of Steam had long been built.

And the randomness of the world line reset was high. Every tiny change would lead history in a completely different direction.

In the first time reset, Xiu met Minnie.

The red-haired girl who crawled out of the slums had wolf-like green eyes, ambitiously saying she wanted to conquer the City of Steam in the sky.

Then she occupied the City of Steam and became king, and the world fell into a dead loop again.

Wen Chu saw a layer of very light black energy covering Xiu’s body.

This was the price he paid for forcibly reversing karma—his power was continuously weakened from then on.

Then came the second reset. Xiu saved Catherine. Then the third, the fourth…

Countless scenes flashed by. Xiu sped up these memories, finally freezing the scene at the last reset.

He opened his eyes, covered in black energy from head to toe, looking calmly at the City of Steam rising into the air in the distance, listening to others talk about the God blessing the world five hundred years ago.

The world line was like a knotted ball of wool, completely messed up.

Xiu lowered his eyes calmly, looking at the red-haired girl not far away.

He curled his lips and laughed extremely lightly.

He still didn’t understand the meaning of his coming to this world. From the beginning, all he wanted was a quiet environment to grow vegetables and raise chickens alone, waiting for a certain moment to arrive.

But he destroyed this world with his own hands; he had to be responsible for it.

Xiu beckoned to the sallow and emaciated red-haired girl.

“Come here.”

This time, he decided to reset himself.

To completely clear the countless resets of the world to zero.

…

The recollection ended.

Xiu’s voice came from beside him. “This statue is the anchor point for countless resets, so the world line after the reset is also recorded in the statue.”

His voice was a little nervous. “I wanted to explain to you that since the world line has begun to return to the origin point, I have no reason to seek death. You don’t have to be so worried all the time.”

“I saved this world also because I wanted to make up for my own mistakes.”

Wen Chu’s throat was dry.

He had thought Xiu liked farming just out of interest, but seeing the newborn god make such a request, a very bold guess formed in his heart.

[Is Xiu waiting for me?] Wen Chu asked.

[Yes.] The System answered very quickly this time.

The System explained concisely: [He transmigrated with you, you just got separated.]

The moment the guess was confirmed, Wen Chu’s head was almost dizzy.

Xiu was waiting for him.

Xiu still remembered the promise to raise him, which was why he was obsessed with growing vegetables, even…

Wen Chu couldn’t help thinking, Xiu persisted in staying in this world, repeatedly resetting the world line—besides for the sake of this world, was there also a tiny bit for him?

Just this little bit of care was enough to make his nose sting.

“I…”

As soon as Wen Chu opened his mouth, he realized his voice was trembling.

Xiu turned his head, fumbling to touch Wen Chu’s face, and sure enough, he touched wet tears.

“Why are you crying again?” Xiu was helpless.

Limited by his pregnancy belly, he couldn’t pull Wen Chu into his arms, so he could only gently wipe away Wen Chu’s tears.

“Don’t cry. What explanation do you still want to hear? I’ll explain to you.”

Wen Chu’s tears burst like a dam instantly.

He really wanted to throw himself into Xiu’s arms and cry, asking him what this quick transmigration was all about, and if he remembered past events at all. But when the words reached his lips, he couldn’t say a single word.

Xiu didn’t know about the past; he was just waiting for him according to the agreement.

“You… why did you dig out your eyes…”

Wen Chu cried so hard he was out of breath.

Xiu cupped his face, anxious hearing him cry. He pursed his lips and said, “The statue is my avatar. To completely destroy the eyes enshrined by them in the City of Steam, I had to destroy my own eyes first.”

“Under the influence of causality, as long as this world is still retracing, my eyes cannot recover; otherwise, the statue’s eyes in the City of Steam will appear again.”

“But you don’t have to worry too much. With the clearing of the world line, my eyes should be able to recover slowly too.”

Sniffling, Wen Chu leaned into the crook of Xiu’s neck, his tears soaking Xiu’s hood directly.

This reminded Xiu of that wet little mist when they first met, also leaning against his neck and soaking his clothes like this.

Truly made of water; once the tears start flowing, they can’t be turned off.

Xiu patted Wen Chu’s back helplessly. “I am here now. Don’t cry.”

Their strangeness certainly attracted the attention of surrounding people, but the reversal of time was irreversible. People uncontrollably became fewer and fewer, and the main urban area became smaller and smaller.

Finally, the world plunged into darkness.

When it brightened again, it was the main urban area engulfed in the flames of war.

The Church of Light led by Catherine developed countless believers, pressuring the upper levels of the City of Steam, and war broke out again.

Wen Chu and Xiu stood under the faceless statue like this, embracing from the beginning of the previous timeline to the end of this timeline.

Xiu was surprised to find that he could see a blurry shadow.

He saw the white shadow buried in the crook of his neck, reached out to touch the back of Wen Chu’s head, and opened his mouth wanting to say he could see.

But on second thought, such a blurry shadow was no different from not seeing. Saying it would only make Wen Chu happy for nothing.

Better wait until I can see a bit clearer to tell Wen Chu.

Finally, Xiu said, “What do you want to eat tonight? Let’s go buy groceries?”

Wen Chu was teary-eyed. “Cabbage-wrapped meat.”

Xiu: …

Xiu sighed lightly. “I’ll make you something else; it’s also delicious.”

How did he raise him to only know how to eat one dish?

Wen Chu nodded with tears in his eyes. At this time, even if Xiu said he wanted his life, he could agree, let alone just a choice of dish.

He didn’t know the prices, so he packed a pocketful of gold coins directly. When buying vegetables with Xiu, he took out two or three coins, asking tentatively if it was enough.

The vendor revealed a shocked expression, tremblingly accepted one gold coin, and then poured out a small mountain of copper coins as change for Wen Chu.

Only then did Wen Chu know that on the ground, the least valuable thing was the paper money issued by the City of Steam, while rare metals like gold were completely hard currency with demand but no supply.

Since Wen Chu really couldn’t carry so much money, it ended with the vendor cutting off a small corner of the gold coin.

Xiu asked Wen Chu, who was carrying the vegetables, casually, “Did you find the gold coins I left for you behind the bookshelf on the second floor?”

Wen Chu told the truth. “No, I earned it working for Minnie. I still have four boxes.”

Xiu: …

Minnie really worked hard to actually scrape together so many gold coins.

Wen Chu announced proudly, “Now I have lots of money. I can support you for a long time.”

Listening to his cheerful tone, Xiu couldn’t help curling the corners of his mouth. “Happy now?”

Wen Chu nodded vigorously. “Happy.”

He was really easy to satisfy. As long as Xiu had a little place for him in his heart, and considered him for a moment between him and the world, instead of thinking wholeheartedly about saving the world, Wen Chu was very happy.

Xiu still remembered their agreement, which made him even happier.

So, in the future, he would work harder to keep Xiu in captivity, take care of Xiu, and make Xiu like him a little more.

Wen Chu curved his eyes, circling Xiu’s arm. “Let’s go home.”

Xiu didn’t realize the danger and nodded.

The next moment, he was swept up by thick fog, rising into the air with Wen Chu again.

The West District was still covered by thick fog, pitch black as night. Xiu thought his eyes were having problems again and could only see black. It wasn’t until he was brought back to the small stone tower by Wen Chu and found that the inside of the stone tower was also pitch black that he realized something was wrong.

It seems a bit too dark.

He had explained clearly. was Wen Chu still unwilling to let a little sunlight into the West District?

Xiu looked at Wen Chu somewhat worriedly.

Wen Chu reached out and untied his black robe.

As the robe fell to the ground, Wen Chu affectionately held Xiu’s hand, leading Xiu toward the stove. “Xiu, I want to learn cooking with you.”

Xiu: …

Something seems wrong.

Having just been bathed in sunlight, Xiu was slightly unaccustomed to his skin touching the damp and cold air inside the stone tower again.

Wen Chu looked up at him. Xiu saw blurry blue patches of color on the other’s face.

So they are blue eyes.

White hair, blue eyes—feels like he would be very beautiful.

Xiu patiently held Wen Chu’s hand back. “Okay.”

He should just be clinging to him and acting spoiled, right?

Thinking this, Xiu lowered his head to fumble for the vegetables, but was hindered a bit by his overly large belly.

He finally remembered he still had a pregnancy belly and couldn’t help turning to ask Wen Chu, “Our child… when will it be born? Should we prepare some baby products for him?”

Wen Chu paused, then said nonchalantly, “No need. This is just an egg, not a child.”

Once it’s born, I’ll throw this ball of mist outside to watch the door.

Xiu didn’t understand. “Egg?”

“He wanted Xiu to carry an egg for ninety-nine years…”

Watching Xiu carefully protect his belly, Wen Chu felt very guilty. “You’ll know when it’s born.”

The System laughed gloatingly: [How do you plan to explain to him that after working hard for ten months of pregnancy, nothing is born?]

Wen Chu felt even guiltier.

[I didn’t know Xiu liked me a little bit either.] Wen Chu felt wronged. [I thought he abandoned me for this world.]

Although that was the fact, the contrast between abandonment with him in heart and abandonment without caring was extraordinarily blissful.

Wen Chu sighed: [It doesn’t matter. Even if he likes this world more than me, I will continue to work hard. It’s already much better than the first world.]

System: […]

System: [Stupid.]

[I looked all night last night. There is a way to make your egg neither real nor expose the lie while smoothing things over. You…]

[I want it!] Wen Chu’s eyes sparkled, very consciously. [Mother System, please!]

The System paused. [There are conditions. The matter of me deceiving you, we write it off.]

Wen Chu agreed readily. [Okay.]

He happily led Xiu to cook.

He was keeping score. Not only did the System lie to him, but the System bullied him, the System played him, the System called him stupid…

Hot rice and hot dishes were served.

Xiu’s eyes could see blurry color patches, and his cooking was much more proficient. Tonight he made braised beef and stir-fried vegetables.

Wen Chu sat affectionately next to him, saying he couldn’t see and the pregnancy belly was inconvenient, so he bound his hands again and fed him with a spoon to his mouth.

“Xiu,” Wen Chu said with a smile. “After this, you’re going to lay the egg, so rest first. I’ll help you buy groceries and cook well. You also care about the egg’s safety very much, right?”

Xiu paused, nodded, and obediently ate a mouthful of rice from the spoon Wen Chu fed to his lips.

He actually didn’t care about the issue of offspring. It was just because he was carrying Wen Chu’s egg in his belly. If it was gone, he didn’t know how sadly Wen Chu would cry holding him again.

Is Wen Chu acting spoiled now too?

Cute.

Wen Chu’s smile didn’t reach his eyes.

The more Xiu cared about this egg, the more he wanted to get that ball of mist out of Xiu’s stomach and kick it like a ball.

The world ranking before him, he barely tolerated it. It wasn’t the first day he knew about Xiu’s sense of responsibility toward this world; anyway, he would replace it one day.

But if there was another egg, he would explode.

But letting Xiu stay pregnant with a big belly was the reason to continue keeping Xiu, so his behavior wouldn’t appear too unreasonable, making Xiu realize he wasn’t acting spoiled.

Hope the System doesn’t continue to lie to him about the egg.

Otherwise, he can only force Xiu to carry the egg for ninety-nine years without giving birth.

---

Author’s Note:
Wen Chu: (Cheerfully says terrifying things)
Xiu: (Only seeing color patches) Even cuter.