By the time he was nearing forty, counting from birth, the young "Tan Qu" had died young. His mind and experience had remained frozen at the age when he died, so in truth he was still a boy who had yet to undergo his Coming-of-Age Ceremony. No matter how mature he was, facing a reality that could shatter his worldview would still make him lose his composure.
Even someone who didn't know him well could hear the breakdown in his voice.
Yu Hai's expression changed, and he grabbed the other man's wrist first.
He forced the sword, half-drawn from its sheath, to stop.
Yu Hai said coldly, "Did you forget what I just said? Tan... Le Zheng, weren't you the one who cherished your life most? Whenever something happened or you suffered a setback, you'd try to break through by ending your own life. Do you think you're Li Santai Zi, making waves in the sea?"
Could suicide really become addictive?
The young "Tan Qu" flew into a temper at those words.
With his anger flaring, he flung off Yu Hai's grip and gasped in despair. "Then what am I supposed to do? Tell me, what else can I do? If you really were my closest friend, you shouldn't have kept this from me! Yu Gui Long, then tell me: am I alive, just like you, or some kind of unknown monster? I look at you and feel hungry. I look at it and feel hungry too!"
Yu Hai was alive, while the one pulled from the river was a corpse.
How could a normal person feel hungry for both?
At first, the young "Tan Qu" had managed to use reason to stop himself from thinking too much, deceiving himself into believing Yu Hai's words and that he could keep