Chapter Forty-Two

After Zhou Yu finished speaking, he pulled Xiao Jie over, dropped to one knee, and said, "Please forgive my selfishness. If you asked me to give up either of you now, I simply couldn’t do it."

"After all, I love you both deeply. The times have changed; if this were the old days, I would never have acted this way, nor could I have. But things are different now. I believe that with my abilities, even if I can’t become a great warlord in this apocalypse, I can at least carve out my own territory."

"Besides, with the two of you—both brilliant scholars—by my side, I’m certain I can bring you happiness."

"I hope you’ll accept my feelings. I don’t want to be separated from either of you ever again. Will you let me?"

Xiao Jie’s cheeks flushed once more. She didn’t know whether she should accept or not. Though she’d confessed her feelings to Zhou Yu before, that was when Nian Yu had been unconscious. Now, with Nian Yu right here, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was stealing her best friend’s boyfriend.

Nian Yu glanced at Xiao Jie’s reddened face and said, "Zhou Yu, oh Zhou Yu, you troublesome man, what am I supposed to do with you?"

Her words left both Zhou Yu and Xiao Jie tangled in their thoughts.

After a moment’s silence, Nian Yu said, "I can agree to this, or at least, when I see my parents, I can ask them to bless us. But you have to promise me something—and answer a few questions."

Zhou Yu replied, "Of course, I promise. Go ahead and ask."

He knew her character well; if he said yes to everything, she’d likely accept.

"I want a grand wedding," Nian Yu said. "But not now—only when you’ve made your name and achieved success. Can you do that?"

"I can," Zhou Yu answered. "You can ask whatever else you want to know."

He had a good sense of what she would ask next. Though he would have preferred not to revisit it, if he wanted to grow stronger, he would have to reconnect with those people.

He didn’t know if they were alive or dead, or how they’d fared these past years. The bonds were still there, and he would have to seek them out eventually. Nian Yu would learn about his past sooner or later.

Nian Yu said, "I want you to tell Xiao Jie and me honestly about your past—no pointless diversions. You can skip what we already know."

Zhou Yu’s heart trembled. So he couldn’t avoid it after all. Fine, he thought, it’s time to come clean.

He said quietly, "Things have come to this; there’s no point hiding it anymore. I wasn’t like you two at all in the past."

A hint of shock flashed in Nian Yu and Xiao Jie’s eyes, but Zhou Yu continued regardless.

"I was bullied a lot when I was young—you both know that. You also know I eventually found my way up. But you don’t know what I went through."

"Xiao Jie, now that you’re a detective, you probably understand something of the darkness in this country’s underworld."

"I was a part of that world."

"Don’t be surprised—everyone in that world has a legitimate cover."

"I wasn’t some novel’s assassin or mercenary, though it comes close."

"In that world, there are lone wolves and small groups. We took on jobs for money."

"We weren’t the local thugs or street punks. Our fees were high."

"And what we did wasn’t about barroom negotiations or street brawls."

"We used the fastest means possible to achieve our goals. That’s why I had to learn these skills."

"I was part of a team—a very tight-knit one."

"Our team’s name was Asura."

Before Zhou Yu could finish, Xiao Jie cried out in astonishment, "What? Asura! Who were you in Asura?"