After hanging up, Kong remained silent for a long time.
Dog crouched beside the window, his head tilted back as he watched the scattered snowflakes outside, but he seemed to sense something was wrong with Kong's mood.
"Kong, are you unhappy?"
Dog ran over to Kong in a few strides, crouched down, and looked up at him as he asked.
With his eyes closed, Kong pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. "It's nothing. I was just thinking... twenty years have already passed. Does it still mean anything?"
"Mean anything?" Dog stared at him blankly, seemingly unable to understand what Kong was thinking.
"Moon City..." Kong rose and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking out at the city's nighttime splendor. "Twenty years. Everything is changing. Even this high-rise beneath our feet didn't exist twenty years ago."
"Dog," Kong slipped both hands into his pockets and looked up at the night sky, "we're people abandoned by time."
Dog couldn't understand, but he could sense that Kong was lost.
"Go take Flower's place and protect Qin Manjiang," Kong said.
"Flower's really strong. Stronger than me!" Dog didn't think he would do a better job of protecting Qin Manjiang than Flower.
"But... you're better suited to it than she is." Kong turned to look at him. "Qin Manjiang is becoming dangerous. He won't consume blood food, and his mental state is getting worse and worse."
"Will he be more dangerous than Jiang Du?" Dog suddenly asked.
Kong seemed not to have expected that question from Dog. After a moment of silence, he shook his head. "I don't know. During that phone call just now, he seemed to have become Jiang Du. Or rather... Jiang Du is becoming part of his personality."
Dog's eyes widened.
Would someone like Jiang Du willingly