Three of the Seven Demons · Sloth

As Yun Jingheng's feet touched the gray sand, the salty sea breeze rushed towards him, but before he could even see what was on the surface of the sea, the air half a step in front of him stirred.

Like a drop of ink falling into clear water.

The drop of ink began to spread from an unseen point in mid-air. At first, it was just a tiny black dot, but then it expanded as if it had been inhaled. Black ripples spread outward from the center, circle after circle. The air was enveloped by the black layer and twisted a few times. Then, a figure emerged from it.

The person appeared very quietly.

Unlike Greed, whose robes rustled against the gravel as he emerged from the depths of the valley, or Scarlet, who leaned against the pool and languidly tried to draw his attention.

The man's arrival was almost silent; only the black ripples spread outwards one last time after he had completely solidified, before dissipating as if evaporated.

He is very tall.

He was a head taller than Greed, with broad but not thick shoulders. The outline of his skeleton was clearly visible beneath his clothes, like a house with only beams and pillars and no walls.

He wore a very dark gray robe, several shades darker than Greed's, the hem trailing below his ankles, the edge leaving a shallow dent in the gray sand.

His face was so striking that you didn't want to look at it a second time.

It's not because he's ugly.

It's because he looked extremely tired.

The lines of her cheekbones drooped downwards, the skin and flesh along her jawline hung loosely, and her eyelids drooped down, covering most of her eyes, revealing only two narrow, grayish-blue slits underneath.

His hair was grayish-brown, reaching his shoulder blades, but it was all stuck together, as if it had been soaked in seawater and then dried, soaked again, and dried again, over and over again, until he was too lazy to separate it anymore.

He stood there, his hands tucked into his sleeves, his weight on his right leg, his left leg slightly bent, his posture so relaxed that Yun Jingheng felt as if he were looking at a withered tree that might fall at any moment.

"Are you the one driven by quick Desire and Greed?"

He speaks very slowly.

Each character is like a bucket of water being pulled up from an extremely deep well with a rope, swaying and drifting upwards, only to be slowly poured out when it reaches the wellhead, the overflowing water flowing slowly and viscously.

"Those who can solve his problem are all quite intelligent. But most of the smart people who come to me fail."

He tilted his head slightly.

The half-exposed gray-blue eye slowly shifted beneath the drooping eyelid, its gaze moving from Yun Jingheng's face, over his shoulder, and landing on a certain direction on the sea behind him.

"It seems... she's one of the girls Desire mentioned about your family?"

"..."

"Stand here and watch, don't go over there."

Yun Jingheng had barely taken half a step forward when an invisible barrier rose up from the sea in front of him.

He couldn't see what the barrier looked like, but the air in front of him condensed into a gel-like substance. When his toes touched the gel, it felt like he had hit an extremely thick, soft wall. The force that propelled him forward was evenly dissipated, and he was bounced back half a step.

"She hasn't finished her questions yet."

The Sloth voice drifted over again, like a withered leaf falling very slowly, swaying in mid-air as it drifted down.

"You've already covered your own issues; she has to go her own way. If you've already done it for her, then what's the point of her being here?"

Yun Jingheng stood behind that invisible barrier, his gaze passing through to the Reef Island on the sea.

Ye Xinglan's figure still stood there, her light golden hair blowing in the sea breeze and falling back down. Her shoulders were slightly bent, and she was holding a welding torch in her hand.

But he didn't bang his head against the wall again.

He couldn't refute what Sloth said; he truly couldn't take her place.

He knew Ye Xinglan's personality well. If she knew that someone had interfered and helped her pass the trial, her pride would keep her up at night for three days.

He stood on the gray sand and loosened his fist.

"Okay," he said.

"What about my question?"

Sloth watched him.

The two narrow, grayish-blue slits opened slightly beneath the drooping eyelids, revealing pupils that were very light in color, almost transparent, like glass beads that had been soaked in water for a very long time.

No rush.

Sloth said slowly, "Do you know why most people fail when they come to me? Because they don't know what the questions are. Sloth's questions are both the least like questions and the most like questions."

Yun Jingheng was taken aback.

Sloth pulled both hands out of the sleeves of his robe.

Those two arms were so thin they looked like branches that had been dried out for a long time, with bluish veins bulging under the skin, and the knuckles on the back of the hands protruding like a row of small stones.

He raised his right hand and pointed his index finger towards the Reef Island in the sea.

"Look at her."

Yun Jingheng looked in the direction he was pointing.

Ye Xinglan was still on that Reef Island, but she was moving much slower than before.

Her hand holding the welding torch froze in mid-air, the tip of the torch less than an inch away from the power source plate, but she couldn't bring it down no matter what she did.

Her shoulders were trembling, her light golden hair was stuck to her forehead with sweat, and she looked like a puppet whose support had been removed, with only a few strings at the core holding her up so that she wouldn't fall.

"What did you see?" Sloth asked.

"Persist in."

"Do you see how tired she is?"

"I saw it."

Yun Jingheng's brows furrowed.

He turned his head to look at Sloth, whose grey-blue eyes slowly turned to meet his gaze.

His reflection was mirrored in those transparent pupils, a tiny one, his brows slightly furrowed, his jawline taut.

"Are you just going to make me stand here and watch, stand still?"

He turned his head to look at Sloth.

Those grey-blue eyes paused on his face for a moment, something flashed beneath his drooping eyelids, a fleeting instant, like a fish flipping belly up in deep water and sinking back down.

"Your question isn't about standing still," said Sloth.

His voice slowed again, like a moth with its wings pinned down, still fluttering. "You heard my choice—rush over to help her, or stand here and do nothing. You chose not to, but your heart kept churning."

Yun Jingheng's pupils contracted slightly.

"While you were standing here, at least four things were on your mind. First—would she be able to hold on? Second—would rushing over to help her break the rules? Third—would standing still really get you through this? Fourth—were you thinking about whether what I just said had any other meaning?"

Sloth raised that withered, branch-like hand again, its index finger drawing a tiny circle in the air. The circle hung suspended in the air between the two people, like a water droplet frozen in place.

He turned his body slightly to the side, tilting his head towards the gray mist on the sea, a strand of his gray-brown, matted hair sliding down his shoulder blade.

"Now, look over there."

Yun Jingheng looked in the direction he was looking.

The fog on the sea surface dissipated. Near the Reef Island, less than two meters away from her, a small object enveloped in warm light appeared out of thin air.

It was translucent, like silk or mist, wrapped in a very soft milky white luster, and the outline of a house could be seen inside.

The small blue-brick building on Sea God Island.

His home.

The window was closed, and an extremely old wisteria vine climbed the window frame, its branches hanging down from the windowsill, the tips swaying slightly in the air.

The light coming from inside was warm and yellow, like a lamp covered with a gauze lamp shining through the window paper.

He could even see the asparagus fern on the windowsill, the one his mother had grown. After his mother passed away, his father moved it to the study, but he remembered that it had originally been placed on the windowsill of that window.

"Go inside."

A Sloth voice drifted over slowly, winding around him from behind, like a very thin thread tied to his lower back.

"Once you go in, you will enter an illusion. You won't know if it's a test, or when it will end."

Yun Jingheng's foot moved.

He was unaware that he was moving forward.

The gray sand receded beneath his feet, and the sea parted before him, creating an extremely narrow channel. The black water on both sides stood upright as if sliced by an invisible knife, revealing a damp gray stone staircase underneath.

The stone steps led toward the small building floating in the warm light, and with each step he took, a fine layer of warm water melted from the soles of his feet.

He walked to the door.

The door was ajar, and wisteria branches hung down from above the door frame, their tips brushing against his forehead, cool and slightly damp from the moisture absorbed by the plant.

He placed his hand on the door panel, and the touch from his palm was exactly the same as he remembered: the slightly rough surface of the blue bricks, polished repeatedly, still carrying a trace of the warmth of the sun.

He pushed open the door.

Warm light emanated from within, enveloping his face.

The furnishings in the room were almost exactly the same as he remembered, except that each item was clearer than he remembered.

The bed he had slept in since he was a child was placed against the wall, with beige bedding folded neatly.

A book lay open on the desk, half-open, its pages slightly curled. A fountain pen sat next to the ink bottle, its cap not put back on.

The asparagus fern on the windowsill is still there, its leaves gleaming a clean, full emerald green in the warm light.

Then he saw his mother.

Ya Li sat in a wicker chair by the window, her head down, sewing something.

Her hair shone with a very soft luster in the warm light, tied up in a bun and hanging down in front of her right shoulder, the ends swaying slightly between the flurry of needlework.

She wore a plain white top with the cuffs rolled up twice, revealing slender but not thin forearms.

She didn't look up.

"Your son is back?"

Her voice was warm and gentle, with a slight upward lift at the end, like a string gently plucked by the wind.

Yun Jingheng stood rooted to the spot, his feet seemingly nailed to the blue brick floor.

"What are you doing standing there?" Ya Li put down her needlework and looked up.

That face shone softly in the warm light, a faint smile playing on its lips, and the light in its eyes was like a pool of water rippled and then dispersed by the wind.

She looked at him, her gaze level, neither too high nor too low, fixed on his face, as if she were looking at him, yet also as if she were looking at someone she hadn't seen for many years.

"Come here and let Mom take a look."

Yun Jingheng walked over, and at the same time, a carefully woven memory flooded his mind.

"Mom, the teacher assigned a lot of homework."

Ya Li smiled. "Okay, give it to me, Mom will write it for you. Go play."