Work Text:
The air was rather humid in the dungeons. The moisture wasn't quite enough to make breathing difficult, but it was sufficient to cause discomfort nonetheless. There were torches outside, suspended on the walls of the corridor. In the absence of passage to the open sky, they were the only source of illumination down there. Only small rays of light could make it through the gap between the wall and the heavy metal door.
In this small room, Shen QingQiu sat, his mind a confused mess.
This didn't make sense.
He was supposed to have died.
There was no way Shen QingQiu would remember wrong. He remembered this part of the novel especially clearly, because when Shen Yuan read it, he'd been so affronted that the scum villain Shen QingQiu died so quickly and painlessly, and so honorably too (Dying in battle! That's much too good for a shameless scum!). He'd cussed out the author in the comments section back then.
Of course, his opinion changed after he transmigrated.
He tried his best to change his fate, he really did, but the plot wasn't so easy to change. Despite Shen QingQiu's best efforts, he couldn't prevent the war that broke out with the demons, nor the attack on Cang Qiong Mountain. When Luo BingHe closed in on him, eyes sharp and unmoving from Shen QingQiu as he pushed aside the obstacles in his way, Shen QingQiu had found solace in the fact that his death would be quick.
(And he'd made prior arrangements with the Sun and Moon Dew Flower Seed, so dying here wasn't beyond his expectations. At least the plant body was ready.)
But Luo BingHe's following actions didn't follow the original script.
He didn't kill Shen QingQiu. He didn't slit Shen QingQiu's throat the way he did in the novel, he didn't raise Shen QingQiu's head by his hair as the latter choked on his own blood, he didn't laugh at Shen QingQiu's miserable state as the light went out in the former teacher's face.
Luo BingHe did none of those.
What he did, was take hold of Shen QingQiu's arm in a painful grip, unsheathe Xin Mo, and cut an opening through space, into which Shen QingQiu fell.
That had happened a few days ago.
Shen QingQiu wasn't sure exactly how many days had passed. He received meals (which tasted suspiciously like Luo BingHe's cooking, but that was impossible, right?) every now and then, but he couldn't see the sky so there was no certain timestamp. Asking the system produced no results, as it had been installing tons of new updates ever since Luo BingHe first showed his face.
Well. The system was no help so he'd have to figure out something by himself.
What was Luo BingHe thinking? Why didn't he kill Shen QingQiu? Could it be, Shen QingQiu's attempts at kindness in the past had done the opposite of his expectations and deepened Luo BingHe's hatred toward him, so he wanted to make Shen QingQiu suffer the way Shen Yuan and tons of other readers had demanded?
Dear lord, have mercy on him! He didn't want to die like that!
He thought back to the methods of torture that he and other readers had come up with for Shen QingQiu. A chill went down his spine. If he'd known that he would transmigrate into Shen QingQiu's body, he never would have roasted this character so much!
Now he's probably going to suffer before dying!
Maybe he should have killed himself back there on Cang Qiong. The plant body was ready and the arrays had been set up too, he just needed to 'die' and then he would be free from all this mess. Why didn't Luo BingHe just kill him!
Suddenly, there was a disturbance outside. The sound was hushed and there was no yelling of any sort, so Shen QingQiu thought Luo BingHe must've come to visit his prisoner at long last and the guards were greeting him. Another chill went down Shen QingQiu's spine. But he decided, even if he were to die, he would do so with pride. So he steeled his nerves and looked to the door coolly.
Following a soft thud, there was a short silence. And then the sound of a sword being drawn, then the heavy steel door being sliced off its hinges and a loud, heavy thump as it was kicked down.
Light flooded into the room, blinding Shen QingQiu's eyes momentarily. But he could see the person who had entered.
It wasn't Luo BingHe.
White robes billowed in the breeze produced from the door's fall. A pair of steely eyes gazed around the room, stopping when they found the lone person sitting inside. Without a word, the newcomer tossed an object at Shen QingQiu, which he caught.
It was Xiu Ya.
"I'm leaving if you don't move soon," that man said emotionlessly.
Shen QingQiu felt the corners of his mouth twitch. "Liu Shidi, would you really leave empty-handed after going through all this trouble to find me?"
Liu QingGe clicked his tongue. He turned his back to Shen QingQiu with a flick of his sleeves, but didn't leave.
Shen QingQiu couldn't help smiling. How reliable, Great Master Liu!
He stood quickly, checked his appearance to make sure nothing was out of place, and went to Liu QingGe's side. "Really, Shidi, you should learn how to be nicer. Others might think you've come here to kill me, seeing the look in your eyes."
"I will kill you if you get yourself captured again," Liu QingGe retorted coldly.
Shen QingQiu's smile widened. Liu QingGe's words were harsh, but Shen QingQiu knew him well enough to know that it was his way of showing his worry.
Don't get captured again, was what Liu QingGe meant.
"Then you'll have to do your best protecting me," Shen QingQiu joked. He was originally expecting a snort or a glare from Liu QingGe, saying he was a shameless man for needing another man's protection. But surprisingly, Liu QingGe just looked at him solemnly. His eyes were determined, as if he was accepting an important mission.
"I will," Liu QingGe said.