I Deceived You!

"Xiao Xia?"

Qian Renxue was the first to Frisk the change in his emotions. She looked up with some unease, her golden eyes filled with worry.

Bibi Dong also sensed his stiffness and emotional fluctuations. She tightened her grip on his shoulders, her purple eyes questioning him.

Finally, Lin Xia opened her eyes again.

This time, his eyes no longer held the weakness and tenderness of before, but were filled with heavy guilt and a frank and resolute determination.

He avoided Qian Renxue's concerned gaze, and also avoided Bibi Dong's gentle stare. His eyes fell on the bandages stained with blood, and his voice, though strained, echoed clearly in the silent room:

"Sorry..."

Those two words, like ice water, instantly extinguished the flames of warmth that had survived the ordeal.

The tear stains on Qian Renxue and Bibi Dong's faces had not yet dried, but their expressions froze simultaneously.

"Sister Xue'er... Teacher..."

Lin Xia's voice was low and hoarse, as if each word she uttered required immense effort.

"I... took advantage of... your feelings for me..."

Lin Xia confessed with difficulty, word by word:

"The injuries... are real. The Star Dou Core... encountered the Dark-Gold Dreadclaw Bear... severely injured and on the verge of death... it's all true..."

"But..."

He took a deep breath, as if trying to pierce his own soul:

"The Forget-Worry Vine... is fake. Ancient records... state that I made it up..."

"You think... I sought death to sever ties with karma... to make you completely forget me... but that's all a lie..."

"All of this... this so-called 'truth'... this so-called motive... is a lie..."

The room was deathly silent.

Lin Xia dared not look into their eyes; he could imagine the shock, bewilderment, and even... anger at being deceived that filled them.

Lin Xia continued speaking, her voice filled with endless regret.

"It was me... it was me who asked Yan Zi, Lingling, Nana... and Senior Bi Ji... to help me act out this scene..."

"Because... because I saw your confrontation at the Moonlight Pavilion... I saw the pain of Teacher being ravaged by Rakshasa... I saw the despair and coldness in your eyes, Sister Xue'er... I was afraid..."

"I'm afraid that if things continue like this... the teacher will be completely devoured by the Rakshasa... I'm afraid that you and your daughter will be driven to a complete and irreconcilable break because of me... I'm afraid... I'm afraid of losing either of you..."

"Conventional methods... gentle persuasion... were completely useless in your situation at the time... I had no choice but to... I had to resort to drastic measures... the most extreme methods... to force you... to force you to see your own hearts clearly... to see... what losing me... or rather... about to lose me... means to you..."

"I know... it's despicable... it took advantage of your care and love for me... and made you suffer... heart-wrenching pain..."

Lin Xia's voice grew increasingly low and hoarse, with a heavy nasal tone, and tears welled up in the corners of her eyes.

"I'm sorry... really... I'm sorry... I didn't mean to lie to you... I just... really... really had no other choice..."

The long confession finally came to an end.

Lin Xia seemed to have exhausted all her strength, and closed her eyes dejectedly, waiting for the impending storm—angry accusations, icy disappointment, and even... disgust and alienation after being deceived.

He was prepared to face anything.

However, the expected storm did not arrive.

The room remained eerily quiet, with only the slightly rapid breathing of the three people.

A few seconds later, the frozen air seemed to be broken by two completely different air currents at the same time.

"So..."

Qian Renxue's voice rang out, carrying a strange, cautious tone of seeking confirmation, as if afraid of startling something.

"You mean... that... Heart-Eroding Forget-Me-Not Vine -Not Vine... doesn't exist at all? You actually... didn't really want us to forget you? All that... that desperate self-sacrifice to liberate us... was... an act?"

Lin Xia closed her eyes in pain, nodded with difficulty, and let out a muffled "hmm".

Almost at the same moment, Bibi Dong also spoke. Her voice was no longer choked with sobs, but instead carried a kind of calm that was Sheer Force suppressed after extreme tension, and even a hint of... urgency that was hard to Frisk.

"So... what about your injuries now...?"

"The injury is real!"

Lin Xia quickly added, afraid that they would think that even her injuries were faked.

"The bones are broken, and the internal organs are damaged, that's for sure! But... but Senior Bi Ji and Lingling are controlling it. It looks scary, but it hasn't really harmed the core of his life..."

Lin Xia paused, then lowered her voice even further.

"So... I am really weak right now... but... but I won't die..."

"Call--!!!"

A long, trembling sigh, as if forcefully expelling all the fear and despair pent up in Lin Xia's chest, exploded like thunder on both sides of her simultaneously!

Immediately following were two almost overlapping reactions, both thick with sobs yet strikingly different:

Qian Renxue: "Xiao Xia, you big idiot!!! You scared me to death!!! Waaaaaah!!!!"

Bibi Dong: "You scoundrel!!! Are you trying to... are you trying to scare me and your sister Xue'er to death?!"

The expected angry accusations did not materialize.

Qian Renxue's voice was filled with lingering fear and immense relief at having regained what she had lost, even carrying a hint of aggrieved sobs and a touch of coquettish anger, as if saying, "How dare you scare me like that!"

Bibi Dong growled almost through gritted teeth. Her tone was less of a scolding and more of a cathartic release of lingering fear after surviving a disaster. Every word carried the lingering fear and a kind of... almost exhausting relaxation.

Lin Xia suddenly opened her eyes, completely stunned.

What came into his view were two exquisitely beautiful faces with identical expressions—not anger, not coldness, not disappointment, but... a huge, mountain-like... sigh of relief!

Qian Renxue still had tears on her face, but her golden eyes were burning with raging anger. However, the object of that anger was clearly not Lin Xia's deception, but his behavior of "making himself look so miserable and then scaring people"!

She couldn't help but use her uninjured hand to punch Lin Xia's shoulder hard, yet not too hard, her voice trembling with tears.

"You bastard! You scoundrel! Do you know how scared I... do you know how terrified my mother and I were when we saw you like that... when we heard Senior Bi Ji say that your Soul Dissipation... your Heart Death...?! We... we really thought... we thought we were going to lose you forever!!! Waaah..."

As Qian Renxue spoke, she started crying again, this time purely from the humiliation and lingering fear caused by being overly Astonish.