Seeing that Little Jinpeng seemed not to hear her whisper, Baimeng suppressed a trace of regret and smiled with a sense of relief.
"It's nothing!"
Giving the soft, warm little body one final, tight hug, she pressed her forehead against Little Jinpeng's, holding back her reluctance. Closing her eyes, Baimeng withdrew her consciousness from the dream.
"Bye-bye."
What the God of Dreams did not see was that after her form dissolved, the little one reached out a hand toward her.
When he pulled his hand back, the soft, pale palm—too small to catch even a few fingers of that person—had turned back into the scarred hand of a Yaksha.
Xiao cupped one of the flower petals that had drifted everywhere when the God of Dreams vanished, watching as the petal slowly faded and shattered into specks of light. As those specks brushed across his palm, carrying a trace of chill, they healed his every scar and took away the persistent pain that had dogged his steps like a shadow.
He touched his own forehead, complex emotions that defied description surging within his golden pupils.
On the other side, Baimeng opened her eyes, looked at the person sleeping soundly on her lap, and poked his face, which was much thinner than it had been in his childhood.
Free from waking worries, his peaceful sleeping face truly looked like an angel's.
"You were so cute when you were little. Why did you stop smiling as you grew up?"
The God of Dreams muttered softly, the corners of her mouth curling upward.
"Awake?" A deep, magnetic voice sounded from behind her. Baimeng's hair stood on end in an instant, and she broke out in a cold sweat.
She swallowed hard and slowly turned her head.
The owner of the voice was right before her eyes. Against the light, his facial expression was unclear; only his solemn, corundum-colored eyes shone brilliantly and with absolute clarity, fixing their gaze upon Baimeng at that very moment.
Her heart sank bit by bit, her throat tightened, and the God of Dreams grew stiff all over, wishing she could turn on her heel and run.
But she couldn't. Leaving aside the young boy still sleeping soundly on her lap, even if she actually tried to run, someone who had only just gotten used to this body wasn't necessarily going to outrun the Geo Archon.
"Zhon-, ahem, Lord Zhongli, what a coincidence." Her voice nearly cracked the moment she spoke. Baimeng restrained her voice and forced the words out in a tremor.
"Indeed a coincidence." Zhongli nodded, his tone verging on gentle. His melodious voice sounded like a breeze brushing across an ancient bell, carrying the echoes of vicissitudes, and the sealed history surfaced before the listener's eyes in its wake.
Only, Baimeng was in no mood to appreciate it right now, nor did she have any spare capacity to analyze the other's emotions. She only felt her heart pounding violently with that voice, practically leaping out of her chest.
Think! Think fast! Is there any way out of this?!
Baimeng desperately worked her rusted brain, but it remained completely blank; none of those sudden flashes of brilliance found in mystery novels made a natural appearance.
Her vocal cords seemed to have rusted as well, and her tightened throat refused to let a single note pass through. In the end, she could only keep her face stiff, locked in a staring contest with the Geo Archon.
"?"
Seeing her remain silent, Zhongli didn't say a word either, simply gazing quietly at this soul who had died at his hands a millennium ago.
I beg you, say something! Stop looking at me like that, it's so terrifying,ahhhh!
Baimeng was on the verge of tears. She even hoped the other person would say something to hand down her punishment—anything was better than the torture of ongoing silence, for overthinking was the true killer that scared people to death.
Because she didn't know what was on the other's mind: were they thinking about how to finish her off? Or wondering why this villain had suddenly come back to life? Were they going to interrogate her about the secret of resurrection? Thinking of this, Baimeng's breath caught, and she almost felt the ignoble urge to drop to her knees and beg for mercy.
No, no, no. To look on the bright side, what if he didn't remember? I mean, so much time had passed; how could the Archon who had slain all invading enemies remember a mere little god...
"Asmoday?"
The Archon's voice mercilessly shattered Baimeng's unrealistic fantasies.
Baimeng actually knelt. She was extremely grateful she hadn't been standing up, or her legs surely would have gone weak and she would have crashed to the ground with a loud *thud*, leaving not an ounce of her dignity intact.
"This is truly surprising." Zhongli smiled, his eyes brimming with nostalgia as if looking upon an old friend.
"Is that so?" Baimeng gave a dry laugh. She could no longer feel her legs and wished she could immediately prostrate herself on the ground and beg him to spare her life, her thoughts once again galloping away like a runaway horse.
If she yelled out right now that she wasn't the God of Dreams, could she survive? She could just say she was an innocent passerby who happened to be walking past—what "Asmoday"? She'd never heard of such a thing in her life, ahahaha... She really, really wanted to run away...
Yet out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Xiao, and her chaotic thoughts instantly stagnated. The inner voice Baimeng had forced down poked its head out once more.
That wasn't right.
Simply refusing to admit it wouldn't wipe the past clean. Although sometimes it hadn't been her original intention, from the very beginning, she was the one who had started the game, created the account, and chosen to leave the little one behind.
No matter what, the person who had directly or indirectly caused those evil consequences ought to do something about it.
She didn't want to die, nor could she die. At least until she had atoned for the sins committed by "Asmoday," she could not simply walk away.
Having thought it through, Baimeng relaxed as well.
There would always be a way. Even for Xiao's sake, she had to put in the effort.
She might as well lay everything out on the table and honestly tell Zhongli that she meant no harm. Yes, that was what she would do!
Baimeng took a deep breath and prepared to speak.
"I..."
"It truly is a surprise. I never expected that someone I killed once could come back to life." Zhongli was still smiling gently, and a spear appeared in his hand.
The balloon named Baimeng was punctured, and the courage she had just mustered leaked all over the floor.
She didn't dare speak!
She was actually going to die!
Her heart wailed. Baimeng's trembling hands didn't know where to put themselves until they brushed against a warm body.
A thought popped into her head.
"Indeed. Neither did I."
The God of Dreams smiled, her sweet voice laced with honey yet carrying a deadly poison. She wrapped both arms around Xiao, pulling the sleeping boy into her embrace.
"I didn't expect I'd get to see my dearest child again."
Zhongli's movements stopped. He narrowed his eyes, staring dangerously at Baimeng.
Seeing him grow so tense, Baimeng actually breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, Zhongli cared more about Xiao than about killing her. And fortunately, she hadn't misjudged people back then, having entrusted him to someone worthy of trust.
"Don't be so nervous, Lord Zhongli." Lowering her head, Baimeng used her fingertips to comb through Xiao's short hair. "I have no desire to die a second time."
Finally escaping that intensely oppressive gaze, Baimeng let out a quiet breath of relief.
"Since that's the case, return my person to me."
Without relaxing his grip on the spear, Zhongli found a large stone and sat down.
"Besides, Xiao is no longer your child. He is a citizen of Liyue, a child of Liyue."
Which was another way of saying he was *your* child?
Baimeng was amused by her own thought.