22 1.22

"System…" I called out in my mind as the steering wheel moved under my hovering hands.

"Well it's as you've guessed," System replied, "we're not alone."

"H-hello?" I spoke to the car, feeling my sanity beyond saving.

The car radio played static abruptly, making me squeal.

"Xiao Yue," a childish voice called out through the radio, "Xiao Yue I found you."

Why did the voice sound familiar, despite the static?

"Wang Lei?" I remembered the first memory Lixin had 'gifted' to me, his voice sounded so similar to the young man who he had taken over.

"Yes Xiao Yue, it's okay now, I got you," the voice replied.

My eyes frantically scanned the car, looking for signs of danger. Finding none, I turned my attention to outside the car, noticing a road sign showing we were heading back toward the city.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked, feeling slightly more confident recognising it as the original Wang Lei.

"Somewhere safe."

I'd heard that before.

"Why are you helping me?" I asked, feeling guilty. I was not Zhiyue. As a ghost, could he not already see that?

"Helping you helps her."

I sat in awkward silence as the car continued to bring me through the quiet, sleeping suburbs. It was just turning midnight.

"Wang Lei, are you taking me to Lixin?" I asked, remembering they'd shared a body for a while right?

The car served at the mention of his name.

"No."

I gulped, feeling the temperature drop. If he wasn't taking me to Lixin just where was he taking me?

No one batted an eye as the car pulled up outside of a nightclub that was still buzzing with activity.

The engine still ran, as I glanced nervously amongst the crowd of people, wondering if any would come towards me. Even half an hour later no one approached me.

"W-Wang Lei, please, why are we here?"

I'd tried all of the car doors to find them all locked and was now sitting hugging my knees into my chest in the backseat.

"Waiting for him," Wang Lei replied, the static was louder as he spoke this time, then the engine completely cut out.

The car door beside me opened, making me fall out into steady arms.

"Zhiyue," an eerily familiar voice triggered my survival instincts as I fought against the man's grip to return to the car.

"Woah," he exclaimed, pulling me out to stand on two feet.

Cold blue eyes looked down at me.

"N-no," I stuttered, "y-you're dead."

The body I had murdered stood before me, holding my arms in a vice-like grip.

"Shhh…" his voice felt surprisingly soothing as my vision turned black.

***

With a scream, I jerked awake to find myself inside a bed. My hands grabbed at my body, searching for wounds, only to find I was wearing pyjama's.

My eyes frantically searched the room for answers. It was luxuriously decorated with feminine touches, similar to how the penthouse had been.

At the doorway he stood, leaning against the frame, watching me intently.

"Who are you?" I asked, knowing that it wasn't Wang Lei. 

"Calm down, you're safe," he spoke so gently.

Even the way he walked toward the bed I could spot the tiny differences in his demeanor compared to when I first encountered this body. It wasn't the original Wang Lei. The soul from before was now in Lixin. So who the hell was he?

"System, help?" I asked internally.

"There is a new soul in the body, likely one of us," it replied.

I gulped, remembering just how powerless I had been before the only other two immortals I had met. I was just a baby. Why was I so unlucky to find myself surrounded by these powerful souls?

Instead of sitting on the bed, he crouched down on the floor so our eyes met at the same level.

"Zhiyue, give me your hand please?" he asked, extending his own.

I moved slowly towards the edge of the bed, my hand trembling as it reached out to grip his.

"Good girl, now tell your System to scan me, it's fine," he smiled warmly, the gentle expression on his face strangely comforted me.

"Host, you know him," System surprised me, making my hand jerk. The new soul raised his other hand to engulf mine, cradling it.

"H-how?" I asked out loud, not caring that he could hear me.

"Your life before this, your original life, you knew each other," System explained, "he's showing up with a romantic soulmate connection."

I blinked, staring at the face that once haunted my dreams.

Lixin claimed to have been my husband in that life, now System was telling me that this soul had a romantic entanglement to the point it called us romantic soulmates. 

Was Lixin lying? Or had I betrayed him? I shuddered at the thought. Who know's what I had done, or what kind of person I was...

"Who are you?" I asked him.

"I guess it's obvious I'm not your Wang Lei hmm?" he nervously chuckled, anxiety flashing in his eyes, "you can call me Lex, you're an immortal too right?"

"Can I scan your System please?" He asked when I did not reply.

I found myself nodding instantly in reply, like a child that had finally found an adult to help. Neither I nor System really understood any of this. We were simply winging it.

Wang Lei had said he wanted to help Zhiyue. He was just a childish ghost who appeared to have searched for a new immortal since Lixin had failed him. All he wanted was to protect Zhiyue. I should extend an olive branch.

A short while later he pulled away from me, to sit on the floor and hold his head, laughing manically.

"I'm sorry, I'm so fucking sorry Luna," tears fell down his face making it impossible for me to feel anything but a longing to hold him and tell him it was all going to be okay.

What was going to be okay, I did not know, he just needed to know that.

"I-it's okay," I gingerly climbed down onto the floor to sit opposite him, "but… who are you?"