Chapter Eighty-Nine: A Feeling That Cannot Be Returned

From this day on, there will be nothing further between us. Goodbye.

After saying it, and seeing that Xia Qingyao remained silent, Cheng Feng did not linger. He turned and walked away.

Xia Qingyao seemed to want to speak, yet held back. She stood there in a daze, watching his figure recede into the distance, a trace of reluctance faintly surfacing in her gaze. Her hand tightened unconsciously into a fist, and her heart was a tangle of conflicting emotions.

In truth, from the very day she had seen Cheng Feng appear on the arena and formally reveal himself as a demon hunter, shocking both teachers and students across the entire school, she had already foreseen that everything would change.

The day Cheng Feng would leave the school was bound to come sooner or later. She had only never expected it to arrive so soon.

Xia Qingyao’s feelings were complicated. Cheng Feng, as a demon hunter, had drawn an unbridgeable boundary between himself and her, a mere high school student. From this moment on, the two of them would walk separate paths.

In this world, where monsters and gifted beings ran rampant, those who awakened superhuman powers were almost all taken in by the Disaster Relief Association, while ordinary people lived their usual lives of study and work, with almost no interaction with the former.

During the three years she had spent alongside Cheng Feng in high school, Xia Qingyao had always paid close attention to his studies and physical development, caring for him even more than a guardian would.

Every time she looked at him in class, it sometimes seemed as though she were looking at a cabbage she had raised for years.

All along, she had never ceased caring about everything concerning Cheng Feng, striving relentlessly to lead him down the road of being a model student.

Whenever Cheng Feng was about to fight someone from another school, she was always the first to step in and stop him.

Whenever Cheng Feng ate junk food, she would appear and snatch his snacks away.

Whenever Cheng Feng ignored classroom discipline, she would take the initiative to report him to the teacher.

If Cheng Feng skipped class and stayed away from school, she would send him study materials and that day’s lecture notes through her social account, hoping he would not fall behind.

Even if he never opened them, she never grew discouraged and still sent the notes on schedule every day, fulfilling her duty to the utmost.

Even if her actions annoyed Cheng Feng, she did not care.

Perhaps she truly had been too meddlesome, but she had always believed she was right—that she was doing what was best for Cheng Feng, thinking of his future.

Should she simply let him neglect his studies, fail to get into university, and after graduation from high school, end up as one of society’s lowest-level workers?

In a world where monsters appeared all too often, those on the lowest rungs lived not only in danger, but in far harsher conditions as well.

And now Cheng Feng had awakened his power and become a demon hunter, silently shattering everything of the past three years, shattering all of Xia Qingyao’s efforts and plans.

If Cheng Feng left the school now, then there would essentially be nothing left between them.

Xia Qingyao felt bitterness and unwillingness in her heart. She could not understand why Cheng Feng had forgotten the promise they made twelve years ago.

The two of them had been childhood sweethearts, yet Cheng Feng had forgotten it completely, leaving her both angry and saddened.

She had kept that lifelong promise etched in her heart for so many years, while he did not remember it at all, proving that he had never truly taken their childhood meeting to heart.

That was why, when they met again in their first year of high school, she had not wanted to bring it up to him.

And now, Cheng Feng was about to leave the school without knowing anything at all.

Xia Qingyao was unwilling to accept it. In that instant, she had the urge to lay everything bare and say it directly, to see whether this “scoundrel’s” reaction would be one of guilt.

“Cheng Feng!”

At the sound of her call from behind, Cheng Feng stopped once more and turned his head to look at her. “What is it?”

Xia Qingyao bit her lower lip. “You’ll be fighting monsters often from now on. It’ll be dangerous, so be careful.”

“Mm... all right.”

Cheng Feng felt that her words did not match her true meaning; that this was not what she really wanted to say. “Anything else?”

“And...” Xia Qingyao hesitated for a moment, then said softly, “You should take better care of yourself. When you eat, make sure you have more vegetables so you can keep your nutrition balanced. When it gets cold, wear more clothes. And don’t always go out at night... it’s dangerous.”

“I’m such a huge nuisance, and you’re still being this concerned about me. Could it be... that you’ve got feelings for me?”

Seeing her chatter on like an older sister, Cheng Feng grinned and said half-jokingly, “If you’ve got a crush on me, today’s your last chance to confess.”

“What... what nonsense are you spouting?”

Xia Qingyao’s face flushed red, steam seeming to rise from her head as she grew visibly flustered. “You’re always causing trouble for me, and I can’t wait for you to leave. I’m only showing a final bit of concern as an old classmate, so don’t go imagining things.”

“All right, then I was thinking too much.”

Cheng Feng laughed at her slightly nervous reaction. “So what you really wanted to ask me was?”

With a trace of unrealistic hope, Xia Qingyao asked, “You... really don’t remember anything? About when we were children.”

If he said he didn’t remember, she could still accept that somewhat. After all, more than ten years had passed between them, so forgetting her would be normal. A childhood promise, worn away by time, could indeed be forgotten.

But if he said he did remember... then she truly could not accept it. If he remembered, yet had never once brought it up over the past three years, that would only make the hurt greater.

“Did you hear that? The class president said that she and Cheng Feng actually knew each other since they were little.”

“I really didn’t expect there to be a story between Cheng Feng and the class president.”

“Damn, I knew this gossip was worth eating up. There’s a school rule against dating, so is our diligent class president finally going to break it?”

“Cheng Feng is the champion from the competition, and our class president is so beautiful. They really do make a perfect pair.”

Voices from the teaching building rose in noisy discussion, each one eager to stir things up.

Xia Qingyao heard them clearly. Normally, she would never let such people off, but now she only waited quietly for Cheng Feng’s answer.

Yet to her question, Cheng Feng remained silent. He did not make a sound and gave no response.

Seeing his reaction, Xia Qingyao pressed her lips together and sighed. “If you don’t remember, then forget it.”

“Class president, I wish you success in the college entrance examination and great achievements in your studies. Goodbye...”

Cheng Feng turned and walked away. This time, Xia Qingyao did not call after him. She only watched silently as he left the school gate and vanished from sight.

She remained silent, her eyes growing a little hot and her nose slightly sour.

Since he truly did not remember, then all those feelings ended here.

After Cheng Feng walked out of the school gate, Xia Qingyao’s question echoed through his mind.

He had not forgotten. In truth, he did remember. But he could not respond to Xia Qingyao’s feelings, and he could not make plain the matter of their childhood bond or the old promise.

Because her feelings and her memories belonged to the original owner of this body, not to him. He could not claim that affection.

A ringtone sounded. Cheng Feng took out his phone and saw a message from Liu Shiyu.

There is a new mission. Meet up outside tonight.

Thank you to Mo Shang Qing Hua, Hao Ri Guang Hui, Coffee Filling, Reader One Forty-Nine... for the tips.