Chapter 120 Emptiness

Di--di--

On the morning of November 21st, a buzzing sound from the intercom woke Jue Ge from his sleep.

Since he was sleeping in the living room anyway, it was easy to go and open the door.

About fifteen seconds later, Jue Ge, wearing pajamas and yawning, walked to the door, pressed the talk button on the wall-mounted device, and asked, "Who is it?"

"Hee hee hee... you have a delivery." That was the answer that came from the intercom.

And that sentence instantly woke Feng Bujue up.

"You are..." Even though it was coming through the intercom, Jue Ge quickly identified the owner of this voice, "Woody?"

Ka--du--du--du--

Before Feng Bujue finished speaking, the sound of hanging up and a series of busy tones came from the other end of the intercom.

"What is this guy doing?" Jue Ge didn't understand... why would a guy like Woody, who can teleport and doesn't really stand on ceremony, even use the intercom.

Bang bang--

The next second, two knocks suddenly came from the door panel beside him.

This time, before Jue Ge could even speak, the person outside the door laughed loudly through the door, "Hee hee hee... got a delivery for ya..."

"What the hell are you doing?" Feng Bujue cursed as he opened the door, speaking to the outside.

Standing outside the door was Woody, wearing a deliveryman's uniform and holding a large package.

"Hee hee hee... I'm here to deliver your package." Woody replied with a smile.

"So... why didn't you just teleport in?" Feng Bujue asked.

"Hee hee... how could I do that?" Woody laughed, "There's a single man and a woman in this house, what if I barged in on something good..."

"Ha!" Feng Bujue chuckled drily and continued, "Since you mentioned that so-called 'something good'... I have to remind you, I won the bet, right? When are you planning to settle your debt?"

"Hee hee hee... don't be so impatient, won't you invite me in first?" Woody replied.

"Come in, come in." Feng Bujue said, turning around and walking towards the living room while stretching.

When he returned to the living room, Ruo Yu's bedroom door happened to be opened, and Ruo Yu, wearing the same style of pajamas as Jue Ge (both were long-sleeved, long-legged flannel pajamas with buttons, but Feng Bujue's set was blue, while Ruo Yu's was pink), walked out of the room, sleepily asking, "Who is it? Knocking on the door so early in the morning."

"See for yourself..." Feng Bujue tilted his head and replied casually.

Then, Ruo Yu looked over Jue Ge's shoulder and saw the visitor...

In that instant, her expression changed drastically, and the spiritual energy in her body burst out almost instinctively, entering a state of readiness for battle.

"Hee hee hee... as expected of a descendant of the Shui family..." Woody pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, "Although she hasn't undergone very systematic training, her combat instincts in the face of danger are still extremely outstanding..."

Ruo Yu ignored him and looked at Feng Bujue, asking two words concisely: "Woody?"

"Yes." Jue Ge seemed very calm, giving a definite answer.

Hearing this, Ruo Yu took two steps sideways and sized Woody up and down, then muttered, "The last time we saw you... you didn't seem to look like this, did you?"

Indeed, compared to when they met at the Carnival (see the extra episode - Halloween Adventure), the Woody in front of them looked slightly different. Of course, this "difference" didn't refer to a difference in appearance... the "look" that Ruo Yu was talking about referred to "the way he looked when observed with spiritual vision"; that is to say, on the level of "spiritual appearance," Woody at this moment was very different from back then.

"Hee hee hee... naturally, there is a reason for that." Woody replied with a smile, "After all, that day was Halloween, and it was an outdoor activity. If I was too sharp... I might have caused some bad, disastrous phenomena. Therefore, I suppressed my aura the whole time that day, so the spiritual appearance you saw was weaker."

"Oh..." Ruo Yu nodded, replying expressionlessly, "Then why have you come here today?"

"Hmm?" Suddenly, a white light flashed on Woody's glasses, "Say... why are you imitating Feng Bujue's way of speaking to ask me questions?"

"I'm not..." Ruo Yu replied.

After saying this, her expression changed slightly, and after a couple of seconds, she muttered softly in an uncertain tone, "Uh... am I not?"

"Hee hee..." Woody laughed wickedly at the sight, and walked towards the sofa, "Looks like you two get along well." With that, he sat down casually and placed the package he was holding on the coffee table.

"Don't think you can forcibly change the subject by beating around the bush." Feng Bujue took two steps and sat down opposite Woody, "This is my forte, don't try to show off in front of an expert."

"That's right." Ruo Yu also took a few steps to Jue Ge's side and sat down next to him, the two of them looking at Woody across the coffee table like they were interrogating a criminal, "Answer my question first."

"Hee hee hee... okay okay~" Woody spread his hands, shaking his head, "You guys really leave me no choice." He paused slightly for a second, then continued, "There are many things to discuss today, let's talk about them one by one..." As he spoke, he reached out and patted the package on the table, "First of all, I, as the boss of Ou Shi Company, have personally come to deliver your competition prizes."

"What are the prizes?" Feng Bujue asked immediately.

"Besides the preliminary round prize that hasn't been shipped yet - the limited edition T-shirt - there are also the championship prizes." Woody replied, "Hee hee hee... considering that your team of five meet often, I've sent all the team's prizes here."

"So..." Ruo Yu continued in her usual cold tone, "What exactly are they?"

"Hee hee... the prizes are different for each of the five people, you should open them and see for yourselves." Woody replied.

"Sounds pretty mysterious~" Feng Bujue added.

"Hee hee hee..." Woody laughed, "The prizes I gave are all selected according to your individual tastes... you definitely won't be disappointed."

"Heh heh..." Feng Bujue also chuckled drily, "Like when you sent a Pegasus Saint Seiya cloth to a certain chuunibyou youth?"

"A Bronze Saint Cloth, nothing rare about it." Woody laughed, "Hee hee... in the end, the truly strong are strong even without wearing Saint Cloths."

"I'm not discussing whether he's strong or not with you..." Feng Bujue said, "My point is... is it really okay to give this kind of thing as a prize?"

"I already said that thing isn't rare." Woody replied, "When truly rare divine weapons appear in the world, they will trigger a joint scramble by many forces from all realms... but something on the level of a Saint Cloth, slightly stronger characters wouldn't be interested in getting their hands on..." He counted on his fingers, listing them one by one, "Firstly, there are too many limitations... you have to be recognized by the Saint Cloth's own will, you have to have resonance with your cosmos, and only humanoid creatures can wear it; secondly, the defense is too weak... not only can it be frozen by low temperatures, but it can also be shattered by various physical attacks. Although it has the ability to self-repair and grow, both are too slow; thirdly, and most speechless of all... a lot of the time, this thing is just used to show off, it doesn't really improve combat power much, and in the end, it still depends on whose cosmos realm is higher."

"Got it." Feng Bujue snapped his fingers at this point, continuing, "Even if you give the thing to Little Ma, he won't be able to cause any trouble with it, and he won't be targeted by any supernatural forces because of it. So... giving it is fine."

"Hee hee hee... exactly..." Woody replied.

"Okay, that's the first thing." Ruo Yu said at this time, "Please tell us the next thing."

"This second thing... hee hee hee..." Woody's glasses flashed white light again, he turned his face away, deliberately lowered his voice, and said to Feng Bujue, "Is it appropriate to tell her about this...?"

"Hmm..." Feng Bujue frowned and pondered, as if thinking.

"Hey." Ruo Yu immediately nudged Jue Ge's arm with her elbow, looking at the latter and saying, "He hasn't even said anything yet, and you already know?"

"I..." Feng Bujue also knew that he couldn't hide it here, "I know some things."

"Oh." Ruo Yu glared at him, "Then why do you get to decide whether it's appropriate to tell me about this or not?"

"Fine~" Feng Bujue avoided the other party's gaze, "I'll tell you, okay..."

"Hee hee hee..." Woody continued, "Then I'll say it."

"Hurry up and say it." Jue Ge urged in a rough tone.

Woody chuckled a few more times, then looked at Ruo Yu and said, "You know about Feng Bujue's 'fear' being sealed, right?"

"I know." Ruo Yu replied immediately.

"Your 'love' has also been sealed, do you know that?" Woody said again.

After hearing this sentence, Ruo Yu's expression changed, and she replied after five or six seconds, "I don't know..."

"Hee hee... it's normal not to know, because your situation is different from Feng Bujue's." Woody continued, "Feng Bujue's 'fear' was sealed by me more than nine months ago; while your 'love' was sealed as early as when you were an infant..."

Woody paused for two seconds, observed the change in Ruo Yu's eyes, and then said again, "Hee hee hee... don't look at me like that, your seal wasn't applied by me, but by one of my colleagues. As for the reason... at this stage, I must refuse to disclose it."

Hearing this, Ruo Yu pondered for a moment, then looked at Feng Bujue again, "You already knew all this?"

"Ah, it's been a while." Feng Bujue replied.

"You know that I didn't fall in love with you, and won't fall in love with you, why did you still start a relationship with me?" Ruo Yu didn't care that there was a devil sitting next to them, and asked directly.

"When I fell in love with you..." Feng Bujue replied in a calm tone, "I didn't know that your 'love' was sealed." He didn't care that there was a devil sitting next to them, and said without changing his expression, "By the time I knew, it was already too late." He looked directly into Ruo Yu's eyes, saying with the force of an argument, "I'm the kind of person... who is stubborn, I won't give up halfway because of a little bit of difficulty."

"Falling in love with someone who can't possibly fall in love with you, is that just 'a little bit of difficulty' for you?" Ruo Yu said again.

"That's right." As Feng Bujue said this, he glanced at Woody, "And, I've already solved this difficulty."

Woody took over the conversation smoothly, saying to Ruo Yu, "Hee hee hee... yeah, he's really worked hard..."

In the next two minutes, Woody described the bet between himself and Feng Bujue to Ruo Yu, and supplemented some details about the seal. After speaking, he was silent for a moment, waiting for the other party to digest this information.

After listening, Ruo Yu pondered for a long time, and then said to Woody in a lukewarm manner, "So, the second thing you came to do today is to remove the seal in my mind?"

"Yes." Woody replied.

"Hmm..." Ruo Yu nodded slightly, "I understand..." Then, she stood up, "I refuse."

After saying these three words, she turned around and left.

"What are you doing..." Feng Bujue also stood up quickly, grabbing Ruo Yu's arm.

But Ruo Yu very decisively shook off his hand, and ignored Jue Ge's words, replying in a cold tone, "I've also bothered you for quite a long time, it's time to go back."

These words made Feng Bujue's expression change several times, and many complex and indescribable emotions flashed in his eyes.

He seemed to want to say something... but in the end, he didn't say it.

"You guys chat, I'm going to pack my luggage, I won't keep you company." And Ruo Yu... said as she walked back to her room and closed the door.

............

That day, dusk.

Woody had left.

Ruo Yu had also left.

Feng Bujue moved a chair with a backrest and sat in front of the window, bathed in the sunset.

On the slightly uneven wall in front of him, the traces of Arthas's "big claw print" were still faintly visible.

In the living room behind him, the beautiful figure of the woman seemed to still be in front of his eyes.

However, at this moment, they had both left.

Although this was not a very large room, but with two fewer people, it felt... empty all of a sudden.

For so many years, this was the first time Feng Bujue felt... that his heart also seemed empty.

Looking back at the large room, the days that the two people and one cat had spent together were vivid in his mind. Although this time was not long, but now that he thought about it... every day was worth cherishing.

The reason why people have that feeling of their heart being hollowed out is precisely because... their heart was once filled with certain beautiful things.

It's just that we often overlook those bits and pieces of happiness, until... the moment we lose them.

"Did I do something wrong?" Feng Bujue slumped in his chair, looking at the sunset, asking himself a question.

"Perhaps..." Two seconds later, he answered himself.

"Wouldn't it have been fine to deceive and conceal? Isn't that what I'm best at?" Then, he asked himself another question.

This time, he was silent for a full minute before speaking again; "Compared to deceiving her... it turns out... I'm more willing to deceive myself..."