The white hospital room was quiet.
Two Heart-Questioning Scrolls lay side by side on the table, their paper so clean it bore not a single crease. A black fountain pen lay beside each scroll, its nib pointing toward the two of them, as though it had been waiting here all along.
Lu Wenchuan walked up to the table but did not sit.
Xu Zhihan did not touch a pen either.
The words on the scrolls began to change.
The first bore Lu Wenchuan's name.
[If Xu Zhihan returns to godhood, would you be willing to forget him in exchange for sparing him the backlash of heavenly judgment?]
The second bore Xu Zhihan's name.
[If Lu Wenchuan leaves the tower, would you be willing to sever your mortal-world connection in exchange for keeping his fate line intact?]
Lu Wenchuan looked at the first scroll, his expression cooling.
Xu Zhihan looked at the second and tapped the tabletop once with his fingertip.
"Shen Yu, you really are boring."
The white light in the corner stirred, and Shen Yu stepped out of it.
"Both of these questions have crossed your minds."
Lu Wenchuan picked up his pen.
Xu Zhihan turned to look at him.
Lu Wenchuan wrote his answer on the scroll.
[No.]
As the nib touched down, a layer of white smoke rose from the paper, as though it were about to burn away the answer. Lu Wenchuan did not stop. He added another line below.
[Whether he hurts is for him to say. Whether I forget is for me to say.]
Xu Zhihan glanced at it.
"Ugly handwriting."
Lu Wenchuan looked up. "At a time like this, you're still looking at my handwriting?"
"It's so ugly it's hard not to."
Lu Wenchuan laughed.