Night wrapped the campus in quiet layers of amber light.
The festival decorations were gone, leaving only strings of lanterns fading along the walkways. The air smelled faintly of fallen leaves and concrete still warm from the day's sun. Yu Zhen walked beside Lian Xuan, their footsteps matched unconsciously.
They did not speak at first.
They didn't need to.
The silence between them carried something heavier than words — tension braided with recognition, the newly awakened soul-fragment pulsing softly in Yu Zhen's chest like a second heartbeat.
[SOUL THREAD STATUS: STABLE] [MEMORY FRAGMENT 2 — INTEGRATION PHASE] [AFFINITY LEVEL: 90/100] [BOND PRESSURE: INCREASING]
They reached the edge of campus where an old pedestrian bridge crossed a narrow canal. The lantern lights reflected on the water like falling stars.
Lian Xuan stopped there.
Yu Zhen halted too, sensing the shift before seeing it — the way his Alpha's posture tightened, how his gaze darkened with restrained intensity.
"You collapsed in the library earlier," Lian Xuan said quietly."You said you were remembering."
Yu Zhen nodded.
The silver thread in his chest glimmered faintly, reacting to the proximity of the Alpha whose soul was tied to his.
"I remembered other versions of you," Yu Zhen said softly."A general standing in a marble courtyard… a hunter in moonlit forests… a shadow guarding palace walls."
Lian Xuan didn't answer at first.
Finally:
"And in all of them… what was I to you?"
Yu Zhen met his gaze.
"My protector."
Something stirred — deep and violent — beneath Lian Xuan's calm expression, as if he were holding back a storm.
The System pulsed with warning.
[INSTINCT FLARE DETECTED] [ALPHA EMOTIONAL STATE: UNSTABLE] [MILD INTERVENTION ADVISED]
Yu Zhen took a slow breath.
"But also…" he continued, careful yet honest, "the one who loved me."
The air around them grew heavier.
Lian Xuan stepped closer — until only inches separated them.
"Loved?" he echoed."That word is small for what this feels like."
Yu Zhen's pulse fluttered.
In the palace world, emotions had been secondary to survival. But here… without armies or court intrigue or ritual danger, everything Lian Xuan felt came through purely.
Unfiltered.
Instinct became emotion.
Possession turned into something raw, vulnerable — almost frightening in its intensity.
Lian Xuan dipped his head slightly, eyes golden and burning.
"Every time I look at you," he said quietly, "I feel like if I don't pull you closer… something will tear me apart."
Yu Zhen didn't retreat.
Instead, he stepped closer too.
The bridge lantern behind them flickered.
"I know," Yu Zhen whispered."That feeling follows you across worlds."
Lian Xuan's hand lifted, hesitating only once before resting at Yu Zhen's waist — not tugging him closer, but grounding them both.
"I don't need memory to know what you are to me."His voice dropped to a low murmur."You are the only thing I refuse to lose."
Yu Zhen's fingers curled lightly into the front of Lian Xuan's coat.
The soul-thread between them surged.
[SOUL RESONANCE SPIKE] [MEMORY STABILITY: FINALIZING] [AFFINITY LEVEL: 95/100]
For a moment, neither of them moved.
The closeness was charged — heat without touch, intimacy without urgency. In every world they rushed toward survival first, but here, under quiet lantern light, they finally had space to face the truth instead of the battlefield.
Lian Xuan's forehead rested gently against Yu Zhen's.
"I don't want another world to take you away."
Yu Zhen's lips curved with bittersweet warmth.
"It will," he said softly."Just not forever."
Lian Xuan stiffened.
"You know something you haven't told me."
Yu Zhen hesitated.
[SYSTEM ALERT] [DISCLOSURE LIMIT — PARTIAL TRANSPARENCY ALLOWED]
"You have pieces of your soul scattered across worlds," Yu Zhen said carefully."So do I.We don't belong to only one life."
Lian Xuan absorbed that silently. He didn't deny it — didn't brush it aside — only exhaled slowly as though something inside him finally made sense.
"So when I feel like I've already lost you before…""…that's because I have."
Yu Zhen nodded faintly.
For once, Lian Xuan did not show anger or struggle.
He simply pulled Yu Zhen closer — not forcefully, not desperately — and held him.
"Then no matter how many lives come and go," his voice murmured near Yu Zhen's ear, steady and ferocious,"I will keep finding you."
Yu Zhen closed his eyes.
"That's what you've always done."
The Awakening
Without warning, golden light flared between them.
The soul-fragment responded to the emotional connection rather than danger this time — integrating completely.
[MEMORY FRAGMENT 2 — FULL INTEGRATION COMPLETE] [AFFINITY LEVEL: 100%] [SOUL THREAD: STRONG] [NEW ABILITY UNLOCKED — Shared Dream-State]
A flash of memory struck both of them.
• Moonlit vows whispered beneath collapsing heavens.• A silver-haired figure falling through divine light.• A promise carved into eternity:
"Find me."
Lian Xuan staggered back half a step —
—and then stilled, breath sharp.
"…Yu Zhen."
It was the first time he had spoken the name like it belonged to him.
He looked at Yu Zhen with eyes no longer clouded by instinct alone — but flickering awareness.
"I remember… fragments."
Yu Zhen's breath caught.
"You're not supposed to yet—"
"I don't remember everything," Lian Xuan said quietly."But I remember enough to know this."
He stepped forward and pressed his brow once more to Yu Zhen's.
"No world takes you from me."
"Not tonight.""Not ever."
The words weren't a desperate promise.
They were a declaration.
Departure Signal
The System chimed sharply.
[WORLD 2 OBJECTIVE COMPLETED] [PREPARING TRANSITION TO WORLD 3 — VAMPIRE REALM] [TRANSFER TIMER: 12 HOURS]
Yu Zhen inhaled slowly.
This peaceful world was ending too soon.
He lifted his gaze.
"We don't have long."
Lian Xuan responded without hesitation.
"Then we don't waste it."
[FRAGMENT 2 — COMPLETE]
[AFFINITY — MAXED]
[BOND STATUS — FULLY STABILIZED]
Yu Zhen and Lian Xuan now shared partial cross-world memory awareness for the first time — raising emotional stakes, intimacy, and danger for the next life.