Why can't humans do it too?

With her head bowed and her body curled up in an effort, she did these subconscious things just to minimize her exposure to Xin Ke. But how could such futile actions possibly fool this clever forest elf?

Even the magic that allowed Suer to survive was created by Xinke.

Her hand.

A hand trembling slightly.

The invisible heat emanating from him seemed to be steaming Suer's face, making it increasingly difficult for him to breathe.

He instinctively tried to dodge, but he couldn't even manage such a simple action. Those hands finally touched his cheeks, as if gently cradling the most fragile treasure, and slowly lifted them up.

Was it her burning gaze? Or perhaps it was her close breath?

Suer could clearly feel Xinke watching him. She was holding his face and looking at him, but he didn't want to open his eyes at all. He even squeezed his eyes shut and closed everything off.

The unspoken silence grew increasingly unbearable with the passage of time, yet at this moment, the passage of time seemed to slow down. As Suer's heart grew restless, the fluorescent flowers and plants broke through the darkness, turning into a blood-red hue.

"...It must hurt a lot, right?"

With a voice so low it was almost suppressed, Xin Ke finally spoke her first words since she came in. The pain she had experienced seemed to reappear in her body, and even the sound of each word trembled.

His body, which had been as withered as a dry twig, suddenly gained new strength from somewhere, and Su Er couldn't help but sway his body.

He couldn't stand it.

Chapter 265 Gradual Change

It was an ordinary and unremarkable question, one that Suer had heard from almost everyone he met in the cave. Yet, when he heard Xin Ke say such a thing, he felt as if he had been through a field ravaged by a tsunami.

It doesn't hurt... and I don't regret it.

As if trying to shut Xinke up with words beforehand, Suer spoke at an extremely fast pace.

We are on the road to success, your predictions are correct, and we will surely achieve final victory.

His words were dry and monotonous, like self-hypnotic slogans, seemingly no different from when he faced Riku. However, even Sull himself realized that in front of this forest elf, his words contained more than just excitement.

That's not what she saw.

That's not what she wanted to hear.

Beneath that hard shell lies a soft interior.

“Speak to me…in your own voice,” Xinke demanded almost rudely, as if she hadn’t heard Suer’s words.

She didn't want to hear such a magically simulated voice, even if every word and emotion was perfectly mimicked, allowing even the weakest person to converse with others without any apparent abnormality.

Unlike Riku and the others who knew nothing about magic, no one understood Sull's current physical condition better than Shinko. She knew that this man could speak with his own vocal cords, even if he was very weak and very slow.

However, this is exactly what Sull wanted to avoid.

Silence, more and more silence, even the air felt hotter, but Xin Ke had unimaginable patience, simply holding Su Er's cheeks without moving, making it impossible for him to even look away.

"...Does it have to be this way?" Finally unable to bear the silence any longer, Suer spoke slowly in a hoarse voice.

His tongue had become clumsy from not speaking for so long, and the weakness deep within his body made it incredibly difficult for him to utter even a single word, like an infant relearning to speak, moving from awkwardness to fluency.

"Ah, it has to be this way." Since entering this cave, Xin Ke showed a faint smile for the first time, but the smile quickly disappeared.

"...It hurts a lot, doesn't it?" Xin Ke asked again, staring into Su Er's eyes. Even the question was exactly the same as before, but both she and Su Er knew that this was different.

"..."

“…Um…it hurts,” Suer finally answered in a low voice after a long silence.

The words he spoke himself were like thorny vines, pricking him and causing him to close his eyes in pain. To Suer, these words were a betrayal, a betrayal of everyone.

Taking deep breaths, without any further comments, Xin Ke simply changed her posture, burying Su Er's head in her chest, tightly embracing his broken body, and gently shaking him.

Her fingers traced the back of the man in her arms. The strong muscles he had developed in harsh environments had long since disappeared. The skin that her fingertips could feel was gone; all that remained were scars, scars, countless scars, one after another.

The edges of the congealed scars still have hardened flesh and blood, and touching them still feels slightly prickly to the palm. With just a gentle press, you can touch the pale bones, or simply place them on the body and feel the blood flowing from between your fingers, as if the blood has slowed down, as if it has lost its power.

Her breathing gradually became heavy. Xin Ke wanted to hold the man in her arms tighter, but then unconsciously loosened her grip the next second, fearing that she might cause him, who was so fragile, to suffer even more serious injuries.

“…Let’s leave,” Xin Ke’s voice murmured, her breath trembling as she lowered her head and licked his earlobe, “…Leave this world, use magic to go to the world of those otherworldly creatures…”

“Go find the world where you were really born. Don’t you want to go home?” Xin Ke’s voice became urgent, as did the words she uttered quickly. “Leave this foolish world and stay away from these dangers.”

"The so-called plans are nothing but unverifiable conjectures. Your body may not even be able to hold out until that day arrives. We don't even know if you can become the embodiment of the entire Elf Corridor as expected... At least if you leave now, you can still live—that's the only certainty..."

His pupils widened in surprise. At least in Su'er's memory, this was the first time he had ever seen Xin Ke like this. He couldn't see her expression at this moment, but Su'er could hear suppressed sobs in her trembling words, so faint as to be almost imperceptible.

Is that eternally proud and confident forest elf... grieving for me?

A sudden surge of emotion welled up from the depths of my heart and reached the tip of my nose, a pain so intense it almost hurt, but in the end it only brought tears to my eyes.

Even her tears had long since dried up.

Unable to raise his arms to give the pale golden-haired forest elf a bigger hug in return, Suer could only slowly move his withered arms and gently grasp her warm hand when Xinke noticed.

"Thank you, and... I'm sorry."

The words whispered in those beautiful long ears were for that concern that was focused solely on him, and also for everything Xin Ke had done.

The arrogant forest elf who once lived in a world untouchable by others now possessed tears—an emotion that Suer had never thought Xinke would ever experience. He had always believed that no matter how great the setbacks, the light-golden-haired forest elf would grit her teeth and launch an unyielding counterattack against the enemies she had identified, and would never vent her emotions with tears.

But he was wrong.

Even as Suer wandered through his memories, he was surprised to find that the forest elf's sharp and outspoken personality had somehow become more restrained. Along with it, many of the blunt words that used to come out of his mouth had also become more restrained, just like the people in the country where Suer had once lived, who had been silently changed because of him.

Like spring rain, it nourishes things silently.

I don’t know when it started, but in my conversation with Xinke, Suer hasn’t felt that sense of unease about being in another world or the differences between different races for a long time.

He saw it all, and he remembered it all.

But I have no way to repay you.

Chapter 266 Redamancy

“What I need is not an apology,” Xin Ke’s voice was only slightly hoarse, never a hysterical outburst.

Suer knew that he couldn't give Xinke what she truly wanted, and even Xinke herself knew this, which was also why she didn't choose to take the man away by force.

"...Do you remember?", as if he were an elderly person, Su Er simply stroked Xin Ke's hand and spoke slowly in her ear, "The promise we made during the last days of our long escape, before we arrived at the ruins."

“…Ah, I remember,” Xin Ke said stiffly.

"The Riku I knew in the past had a heart that he had locked away. He faced the outside world with reason and coldness, keeping his softness and vulnerability locked inside his heart and never showing them to anyone." Jumping around the topic, amidst Xin Ke's doubts, Su Er slowly began to talk about Riku.

“Until he met Shubi,” Suer smiled and continued, meeting the gaze of Xin Ke who had slightly opened herself up. “When we returned to the settlement and saw that man, I saw life in his eyes for the first time… It was a light of hope, a light that wanted to live, the most vibrant and lively light.”

“He fell in love with that machine girl, a human named Shubi, and it was because of Shubi’s existence that a more powerful version of himself was born from his body—Riku wanted to see Shubi’s smile,” Sull said softly. “If he didn’t care about the life or death of the world, abandoned everything and ran away, enjoying his short life, then that girl would not smile, and the future he promised, that new world, would not be possible.”

"That silly, clueless Mech girl who had already found it but didn't realize it was always talking about—the human heart."

Muttering to himself, Suer's gaze remained fixed on Xinke's face as he continued speaking.

"So... do you know... what that kind of smile... means to me?"

With a long, unwavering question, Xin Ke seemed to have already learned the answer from the future. Her lips moved, silently making the shapes.

"I want to see your smile—the smile of Xinke Nielbaren," Suer chuckled weakly, struggling to raise his arm, but he could only touch Xinke's cheek with his withered hand with Xinke's help.

"No more worrying about the crisis of survival, no more fearing that one day you will wake up to find that the planet beneath your feet has been shattered. I want you to live in such a beautiful world... without sorrow or worry."

His eyes seemed to be shining, as if Suer could already see that beautiful world.

"Walking carefree across the land, the white sunlight warms everyone's bodies, golden waves of wheat surge towards us from where the sky meets the earth—I want to live with you in such a world, watching the sunrise, the sunset, the rising tide, the surging clouds..."

Crystalline tears flowed slowly down her fair face; even the tears of the forest elves were transparent.

"...We will win...we definitely will..."

He gripped Suer's hand tightly, the strength of which caused the man immense pain, yet he remained smiling, unchanged.

Silent tears flowed like flames beneath an icy sea. After a long while, Su Er slowly uttered the words he had long wanted to say but only now, without any warning.

"Let's get married... Xin Ke."

He could no longer tolerate it.

!!!

Surprised, she opened her eyes wide and even forgot to breathe for a moment, causing Suer, who had lost the support of her arm, to almost slip out of her arms.

When Xin Ke frantically helped the man up again, she saw a smiling face that looked like a prankster had succeeded.

"Please promise me, okay? Otherwise, I feel like I'll lose face if I say it out loud~"

In Xin Ke's eyes, that smiling face even had a furrowed brow, feigning distress.

"Heh," she couldn't help but chuckle coldly, yet the chuckle was strangely warm. Xin Ke even chuckled and trembled, giving her answer simply without needing many words.

"Okay~"

Crystal-clear blue flowers then bloomed throughout the entire cave, illuminating everything around them.

--------------

"Hey!!! Su Er! Why did you suddenly decide to get married at this time?!"

Looking at the girl baring her teeth and brandishing her claws in front of him, what should have been a loud shout was compressed into a low growl like a feline purring under her extreme pressure, which looked particularly comical. At the very least, Suer wanted to laugh.