Perhaps I Am Like You

Gu Yue pressed for answers impatiently. After all, the Soul Beast Clan had now utterly declined within the Douluo Plane.

The glory of the Soul Beasts had long become a distant memory.

Hundreds of thousands of years ago, when the Dragon God still existed, Soul Beasts were the true rulers of this continent. Humans were merely food for Soul Beasts, lowly ants, weaklings who could only tremble in fear.

But that war changed everything.

The Dragon God split apart, humanity rose to power, and Soul Beasts retreated into the depths of the Star Dou Great Forest, barely surviving amid the increasingly thin spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Over hundreds of thousands of years, powerful humans emerged one after another—Title Douluos, Limit Douluos, even deities descended—while Soul Beasts steadily declined through repeated hunts.

In today's Star Dou Great Forest, even a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast was rarely seen.

And she—Gu Yue, the Silver Dragon King—was one half of the Dragon God after its split, the Soul Beast Clan's final hope, bearing the mission of reviving her entire race.

That mission was too heavy.

So heavy that she had to strip away her own emotions; so heavy that she had to lead the Soul Beast Organization under the identity of "Gu Yue"; so heavy that she had to scheme constantly, proceed with every step carefully, and seek out even the faintest chance to change the fate of Soul Beasts.

And now—

A dragon descendant suspected of coming from another plane had appeared before her without any warning.

If this was not an opportunity, then what was?

If Zhong Shenxiu truly had an entire dragon clan behind him, if that clan possessed a bloodline no weaker than the Dragon God's, if they could form an alliance with such a force...

Gu Yue's heart began to pound violently.

She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.

She could not rush.

She could not appear too eager.

Though the child before her was only nine years old, those eyes—those pale golden vertical pupils—were not the gaze an ordinary child should possess.

They were the eyes of someone who had experienced countless battles.

They were the eyes of someone who had truly crawled out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

A person like that—no, an existence like that—could never be treated as a child just because he looked like one.

Gu Yue adjusted her posture, making her expression appear as calm and natural as possible.

"Perhaps there is?" she repeated Zhong Shenxiu's words, her tone carrying just the right amount of curiosity. "Why do you say that? Do you have memories? Or some sort of clue?"

Zhong Shenxiu looked at her.

Those golden vertical pupils were calm as still water, revealing no emotional fluctuation.

Gu Yue felt somewhat uncomfortable under that gaze.

Clearly, she was the Silver Dragon King who had existed hundreds of thousands of years ago. Clearly, she was an ancient being who had lived through the era of the Dragon God and witnessed humanity's rise. Yet beneath the gaze of those eyes, she actually felt as if he could see right through her.

As though—

As though none of her thoughts could remain hidden before those eyes.

Zhong Shenxiu withdrew his gaze and looked down at the empty plate before him.

"A feeling," he said.

Gu Yue paused.

"A feeling?"

"Mm."

Zhong Shenxiu picked up the teacup beside him and took a sip.

His movements were slow and steady, carrying a composure utterly unsuited to his age.

Gu Yue waited for a while. When she realized he had no intention of continuing, she could not help asking, "What feeling? Can you be more specific?"

Zhong Shenxiu set down his teacup.

"It's just a feeling," he said. "If I'm alive, they should be alive too. They're just not in the same place."

Gu Yue's heartbeat quickened once more.

Not in the same place?

Was that not hinting at another plane?

"Do you know where they are?" she asked. "Do you know how to find them?"

Zhong Shenxiu slowly raised his head, his pale golden vertical pupils staring directly at Gu Yue.

Her heart trembled beneath that look.

There was no anger in his eyes, no sorrow, not even much emotional movement.

Yet it was precisely that utterly unruffled calm that made her feel an inexplicable pressure.

It was as though he were looking at a—

Fool.

The corner of Zhong Shenxiu's mouth twitched slightly. It was an extremely subtle movement, one Gu Yue would almost certainly have missed if she had not been staring at his face.

Then he spoke.

"Tell me," his voice remained calm, though there was a hint of helplessness in it, "if I knew where they were, would I still be an orphan?"

Gu Yue froze.

She opened her mouth, only to find that she did not know what to say for a moment.

That was right.

If he knew where his people were, if he knew how to find them, why would he have ended up alone in Eastsea City? Why would he live alone in the academy dormitory? Why would he face this world alone?

Her questioning just now really had been...

A little stupid.

Gu Yue's cheeks flushed faintly as she awkwardly looked away.

"I... I didn't mean that," she said softly. "I only wanted to know whether you had any clues. Maybe I could help you..."

"No need."

Zhong Shenxiu interrupted her, his tone calm yet leaving no room for doubt.

He picked up his teacup again and took a light sip.

"When it's time to know, I'll naturally know," he said. "When it isn't time to know, knowing is useless."

Gu Yue fell silent.

Looking at the nine-year-old child before her, she suddenly felt that her behavior just now had indeed been somewhat improper.

Hundreds of thousands of years of life had allowed her to remain calm and rational in any situation.

Yet just now, the moment she heard that Zhong Shenxiu might have a dragon clan background, her heart had become unsettled.

Was it because she desired it too desperately?

Desperately wanted to find her kind, desperately wanted to find allies, desperately wanted to see hope for the revival of Soul Beasts?

Or was it because...

Of that dragon might?

That dragon might which made the bloodline within her submit instinctively?

Gu Yue took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.

She raised her head and looked at Zhong Shenxiu again.

This time, her gaze had changed.

The urgency and longing from before were gone, replaced by her usual cold and aloof composure.

"You're right," she said. "I was presumptuous."

Zhong Shenxiu glanced at her without speaking.

For a time, the atmosphere in the room became somewhat delicate.

Gu Yue stood and walked to the window, pushing it open.

The cool night wind blew in, carrying a faint salty tang of seawater.

With her back to Zhong Shenxiu, she looked out at the scattered lights of Eastsea City and suddenly spoke.

"Do you know, Zhong Shenxiu?"

"Mm."

"I have family I can't find too."

Zhong Shenxiu's chopsticks paused.

Without turning around, Gu Yue continued, "I don't remember what they looked like. I don't remember their names. I don't even remember whether they truly existed. But sometimes, I dream. In those dreams, there are so, so many... of my kind. They surround me, call out to me, and ask me to go back."

Her voice was soft, so soft it was nearly scattered by the wind.

"But every time I wake up, I don't remember who they are or where they are."

"That feeling hurts."

She turned around and looked at Zhong Shenxiu.

The lights outside the window reflected in her black eyes.

"So when I asked you those questions just now, it wasn't because I wanted to pry into your secrets, nor because I wanted to use you for anything," she said. "It was only... only because I wanted to know whether you were like me too."

"Whether you're searching as well."

Zhong Shenxiu looked at her.

At last, a trace of movement appeared in his golden vertical pupils.

It was faint and slight, almost impossible to detect.

But it was truly there.

He knew what Gu Yue was talking about.

He knew who the "kind" Gu Yue mentioned were.

The Dragon God from hundreds of thousands of years ago, the flourishing age of Soul Beasts from hundreds of thousands of years ago, that great war from hundreds of thousands of years ago which changed everything—

She was a survivor of that war.

One half of the Dragon God after its split.

The Silver Dragon King.

Those dreams she spoke of were not dreams.

They were memories.

Sealed memories.

The place she had come from.

And also the place she would return to.

Just like him.

Zhong Shenxiu lowered his eyes and looked at the empty teacup in his hand.

"Perhaps," he said.

Gu Yue paused.

"Perhaps what?"

"Perhaps I'm like you," Zhong Shenxiu said, raising his head to look at her. "Still searching too."