How to Feed an Abyss!

Chapter 19.2 – Their Story

After rehearsing for a month, it finally came to the day of the official performance. Shi Yuan invited Lu Tinghan to watch the show, but Lu Tinghan couldn’t come due to something, so he had to give up.

That night the theater was lit up and returned to the prosperity before the end of the world in a blink of an eye, forty or fifty spectators came and sat in the dark.

As they said, difficult the first time, easy the second, and the beginning of everything was the most difficult. Shi Yuan’s fear of people was still there, and except for that preview where he froze for a while, his other performances were absolutely fine.

He played Lin Mo and the tree demon on stage.

In the last scene, Leo stood in front of him in shining armor. After seeing his appearance, the sharp sword in his hand fell to the ground. He murmured, “You are… are you Lin Mo?”

Shi Yuan didn’t answer.

He was dressed in white and bright light enveloped him.

——Facts have proved that Cheng Youwen’s vision is quite good. Even through the thousands of actors in the past and present, the calmness and softness of Shi Yuan are unique, which contrasts with the evil appearance and is extremely impactful. When he stood in the light, he was transcendent and gentle, as if he came from another world.

He watched the world’s sorrow and joy, love and hate. He saw through Leo’s meanness and hypocrisy, and knew how much Leo wanted to be a true hero.

Leo wanted the monsters of the world to disappear.

The God of Salvation said, “I will make the monsters disappear, but I want your life in return.”

At this moment, Leo understood—

Death was not his punishment, but part of his desire: he had run through snow and desert, he had crawled through mud and thorns, he had had the truest friends, he had drunk the strongest wine, he had defeated the most vicious monsters, he had been scarred, he wanted to kill the past, he wanted to become a true hero.

He readily promised: “Let me be that martyr.”

God of Salvation: “As you wish.”

Leo died in the golden dawn.

He was a martyr, a true hero.

At the end of the performance, the audience stood up and applauded, and the applause thundered for a long time.

It came to a successful conclusion and was a huge success. It was indeed the best performance ever by the Wild Rose Troupe. After returning backstage, Cheng Youwen was so excited that his face flushed, and danced with his hands and feet, almost dropping himself.

Not only him, but even Xia Fang, who had always disliked the troupe for being poor, was smiling.

They bought snacks, soft drinks, and even cakes, all for a simple celebration. Cheng Youwen was particularly happy. He sang two songs that were completely out of tune, making Qin Luoluo tremble wildly. Tracy concentrated on eating snacks, Wolfgang was as silent as ever, sitting in the corner and smiling.

“Cheers!” they shouted. “To the troupe! To Lady Isabella!”

Shi Yuan sat among them, watching the excitement of everyone, and listening to them talk about the performance just now, the air was full of orange soda splashing sweet and sour.

He ate a few bear biscuits and thought they were delicious, so he secretly hid two to take back, he wanted to give them to Lu Tinghan.

“Shi Yuan!” Qin Luoluo grabbed his shoulders and shook him vigorously. “You performed so well! Sure enough, I still have vision!”

Cheng Youwen was so excited that his tone went up an octave: “That’s because I’ve changed the script well! My level is here, the plot is so good, of course, they will be moved by me…” another long string of boasting.

The crowd got high on their own, and Shi Yuan took the opportunity to steal a few more bear cookies.

At nine o’clock, the celebration party broke up and everyone was ready to go home.

Shi Yuan left the door of the theater, thinking of something again, and turned back to find Tracy: “Can you lend me the fairy tale book you read to me yesterday? I will return it to you tomorrow.”

“Yes,” Tracy said. “What are you going to do with it?”

“Bedtime story,” Shi Yuan replied.

By the time Tracy got the book out, the lights in the hallway had long since gone out and it was pitch black. As he walked by with the fairy tale book in her arms, he heard the sound of crying.

Hearing the sound of crying in this situation, if it was someone else, their heart would have trembled a few times, wondering if it was a ghost. But Shi Yuan was never afraid of the dark, he followed the sound and found that the sound came from Cheng Youwen’s office.

The door was ajar, and the light from the desk lamp poured out through the crack.

Shi Yuan subconsciously lightened his steps, stood at the door, and saw the crutches fell on the ground, books scattered all over the floor, Cheng Youwen nestled in the corner of the room, sat on the ground, curled up, tightly hugging the heavy script and the out-of-print gold-plated fountain pen.

He cried loudly.

Shi Yuan left quietly.

It was half past nine when he left the theater, and he was a little late to catch the last bus.

He was just about to pick up his pace when his phone lit up.

Lu Tinghan: [Is the performance over?]

Shi Yuan: [It’s over, I’m going to take the bus]

Lu Tinghan replied: [Wait for me at the entrance of the theater]

Shi Yuan stood at the door. After 10 minutes, the familiar black car drove by, and the lights pulled his shadow very long.

The car window rolled down, Lu Tinghan said, “Get in the car.”

They went home before the curfew.

After Shi Yuan took a shower, he ran to Lu Tinghan’s room wearing wide, ill-fitting clothes as usual.

He bribed General Lu with two bear biscuits and successfully invaded his bed.

Shi Yuan first talked about how the performance was successful, and then about Cheng Youwen.

He said: “You said before that this is my story, so I made a decision.” He thought for a while. “Cheng Youwen really likes Xie Qianming. He always says that only Xie Qianming really understands him.”

Lu Tinghan was silent for a while: “It’s rare to find a close friend in this world.”

“Hmm,” Shi Yuan said. “He and Xie Qianming also have many unique stories, but it’s a pity that I can’t know.”

Lu Tinghan didn’t answer, but just rubbed Shi Yuan’s head and asked, “What are you holding in your hand?”

“Fairy tale book,” Shi Yuan said. “I borrowed it from Tracy.”

He turned the fairy tale book to page 27. The fairy tale book had a fantasy background, with mermaids, gargoyles, and griffins, and a group of demons was painted on page 27, some ugly and some beautiful, some with thick fur and some with scales.

Shi Yuan said, “Look, my horns are particularly similar to theirs, and the scales are also a little bit similar.”

“It’s quite similar,” Lu Tinghan commented, and touched Shi Yuan’s horn smoothly without changing his face.

“So I thought about it,” Shi Yuan continued. “You can change my nickname to ‘demon’.”

Lu Tinghan smiled: “Shi Yuan, this is not a good word. We generally use this word to describe the abyss, saying that they are ‘demonic creations’.”

Shi Yuan: “Well, I still think they are quite cute. Look at how big this demon’s eyes are, don’t you like it?”

Lu Tinghan looked over and saw that the ball-shaped demon had only one eye, was as big as a human, and was bloodshot.

Lu Tinghan: “…” Shi Yuan not only had problems with self-perception, but also had problems with aesthetics.

Shi Yuan said again: “Didn’t you also say that I am like them?”

“I’d better change you back to your real name directly,” Lu Tinghan said. “There is no need to worry about the nickname.”

“No, I finally thought about it,” Shi Yuan insisted. He took the phone from Lu Tinghan’s hand and replaced the “long-tailed purring monster” with “demon.”

Lu Tinghan took back the phone, thought for a while, then changed it to “Little Devil” for him, and said, “This suits you.”

This move was with selfish intentions. The little devil still sounds the same, especially in line with Shi Yuan.

“Then call me that, and you can change it to something else later,” Shi Yuan said. “Anyway, only you can call me that.” His heart was very satisfied and soon began to purr happily.

Lu Tinghan touched his head and asked, “Why do want to have a nickname?”

Shi Yuan was busy purring, but still took time to answer him: “Because then I am special.”

Among all the people, he only wanted to be favored by one person.

Lu Tinghan paused slightly.

Shi Yuan was, of course, special.

Shi Yuan came from outside the city, and there were indeed other survivors outside the city, but they were pitifully few, especially in recent years – this had already cast doubt on Shi Yuan’s identity, and the nostalgia and familiarity in him, as well as the looming sense of danger that was almost like an illusion when he first saw it.…

He still had no answer.

And on this night, Shi Yuan, who was hiding a secret, was in his arms, looking at him seriously, and said: “One day you will know, we also have a unique story.”

Shi Yuan now understood that there were many stories in this world.

There were ups and downs in the script and on the stage, when the lights were on, and the fictional characters were acting out real love, hate, sorrow, and joy; there were also those that happened around him, such as the story between him and Xie Qianming that began in the wilderness, he met the first human after a long wandering and made a promise. Another example was Xie Qianming and Cheng Youwen’s past.

And the other people he knew, like Wolfgang and Tracy, as well as Qin Luoluo and Xia Fang, or Wang Yu and Lu Bafang, they must also have peculiar stories, tragedies, and triumphs, except that onlookers don’t know.

As for the story of him and Lu Tinghan…

It started many years ago.

The abyss who was afraid of loneliness, and the human who found him.

“…what’s the story?” Lu Tinghan asked.

Shi Yuan replied: “The story that was started by you – I think it can have a very good ending.”