Reborn As A Doomsday Villainess-Chapter 235: I can get turned on

"I wasn’t going to."

The rift began to close. He was being pulled back.

"No—damn it—Qingran!"

Qingran looked at him one last time, memorizing the lines of his face, the panic in his eyes, the love that still clung to his voice even now.

And then, without thinking, she reached up, yanked free the tie holding her hair, and twisted a small section around her fingers.

With a quick slice from Lingquan’s dagger, which he wordlessly handed over, she cut off the lock.

The hair fell into her palm.

Still warm from her scalp.

Still dark with the scent of her.

She stepped into the dying shimmer of the portal and pressed it into his hand.

"Here..." she said. "This is all I can give you right now."

Yizhou clutched it like it was the last piece of her he’d ever have.

she said. "Think of me. And don’t do anything stupid."

"I love you.." he choked. "So you’re not allowed to die. You hear me? You don’t get to leave me. We were supposed to serve this world together. We were supposed to get married."

"I remember.." she whispered.

"I’m going to kill whoever did this to you.." he promised. "I swear it. I’ll find them. I’ll destroy them."

Then, like a candle being snuffed out, the portal vanished.

He collapsed to his knees back in his reality, panting and trembling.

Her hair was in his hand was still warm.

—

Back in the room, Qingran stood frozen, staring at the space he’d disappeared from.

Silence hung over them.

Ruihuang didn’t say a word. Even Lingquan didn’t try to lighten the mood.

Eventually, Qingran looked down at her own trembling fingers.

And she whispered "Idiot..."

But she didn’t let go of the warmth that lingered on her lips.

Qingran took a deep breath and turned to Lingquan.

"We’re leaving as soon as we’re done with eating. Does the rot affecting me using my abilities?"

-_-

Lingquan sighed "Well..using your azure flame or mind reading ability will speeden the spread so you unfortunately cannot use it. You can only use your physical strength.."

Lingquan hesitated. Then he added, more gently this time, "You’re on a limit now, Qingran. The more you force your core, the more time you carve off your own life."

Qingran’s jaw tightened.

"Fine."

There was no outburst. No dramatic denial. Just that quiet, iron-threaded syllable.

She had already known. Felt it in her bones that if she overwhelmed herself, she would die faster. Even now, she could feel the ache blooming under her ribcage like a sick second heartbeat.

But she would endure it.

She always did.

Ruihuang finally spoke. "Do you still want to keep moving? With this condition, you could stay somewhere safe, build strength...."

Qingran cut him off. "There’s no such thing as safe. We move and face every risk head on.."

Her fingers brushing over the faint lines of black climbing up her forearm. "The cultists will keep coming. They don’t care if I’m dying. They’ll just keep sending more people after me and they’ll tear their mind apart just to find me."

She looked up then, meeting his gaze with grim finality.

"But I’m not running. Just laying low until I’ve gotten a plan.."

Lingquan gave a tiny nod, pride flickering in his face. "You’ve always been a stubborn girl."

She didn’t smile.

Ruihuang crossed his arms and leaned a shoulder against the wall. "Then we move. But I’ll carry you if I have to."

Qingran rolled her eyes. "Touch me and you die."

Lingquan cackled from the stove.

"Dinner’s almost ready. The rice is steamed and I used a premium pack of black pepper beef strips.. you’ll love it.."

Qingran’s stomach rumbled audibly.

She blinked.

Ruihuang blinked at her.

"...Don’t say a word.." she muttered.

"I wasn’t going to.."

But he was smirking now.

She turned away and sat back down on the mattress. Her legs were still a bit shaky.

Lingquan handed over a bowl first. It smelled surprisingly nice and she felt even more hungry.

She ate in silence.

No one rushed her.

And when she was done, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, stood up, and said, "Let’s go."

-_-

"Won’t you let the man finish his meal? Sit yo ass down.."

-_-

Qingran scoffed "I didn’t know he wasn’t gone.." she hissed and sat down back.

Then her mind drifted to the supermarket, she knew they must be searching for her. If she had forsee this she would have dropped off more food before she left.

She’ll just have to take care of this issue faster and get back to them.

"Let’s go, I’m not too keen on eating right now.."

-_-

"Are you saying my cooking is bad? Dear Ruihuang?"

-_-

"That wasn’t my intention.."

"Mm-hmm. You sure? Because that rice had the golden ratio of water to grain. And the pepper beef? That was love in a pan."

Qingran rolled her eyes. "Can we move now? Or do you want to host a cooking show while we’re hunted by lunatics?"

Lingquan sniffed. "You’re just hangry because you’re dying."

Ruihuang tossed his chopsticks into the empty bowl. "Let’s go. She’s already pacing."

Qingran didn’t wait for more banter. She took up, searched for any tear on her clothes, there was and she asked them to wait.

"I want to change my clothes, so turn around.."

-_-

Ruihuang was the first to turn but Lingquan only scoffed.

"I’ve seen everything, so why should I turn? It’s not like you’ll tell me to turn if I was a cat..."

-_-

"Well you’re not a cat right now so fucking turn.."

Lingquan hissed and turned around. He glanced at Ruihuang who has even closed his eyes.

"She has a pretty banging body, curves in the right places, ample..."

"Shut up! Don’t say anymore, I don’t want to know about it...."

Lingquan chuckled "I thought you said you weren’t interested in her?"

Ruihuang sent him a glare.."Yes but I’m still a man, I can get turned on.."

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