Capturing My Demon King Costar

MY COSTAR WANTS TO QUIT

It takes several tries but eventually, Tan Liansi notices his presence.

"What...," she looks around at the expanse of whiteness surrounding her. "What are you doing here? how did I end up here?"

"Retrace your steps, try to remember the last thing that happened before you ended up here."

Her brow furrows in concentration, and then her mouth falls open on a gasp. "Fuck! Modu, we were in Modu...that guy...what happened?"

"We killed him, me and Xin Hulei, it's over."

Something crosses her eyes, and then she lowers her head. "I guess I wasn't much help," her tone turns derisive, "not in the past, and not now."

Yao Shen frowns. His grip on her shoulders grows tighter as he helps her stand up.

"Don't say that. Xin Hulei might not have survived without you, and you helped me when him, Jincan and Heimao were unconscious for months..." Her only reaction as he speaks is a mild shrug. Her eyes are distant and far away.

Probably still stuck on the memories she was forced to relive.

"You saved yourself too."

Tan Liansi turns to him with a confused look. "What?"

"In the middle of this all, why haven't you stopped to think, that keeping yourself together was perhaps your biggest achievement."

Unlike Xin Hulei, she never forgot anything. Her unresolved feelings with Mei Shuang remained that way forever -- and she even got to learn that that from that resentment an entire cult dedicated to eradicating demons was born.

It's no small miracle that she keeps standing.

"I...I guess that doesn't feel like much of an accomplishment."

Yao Shen looks her in the eyes. "It is."

She lowers her head but nods, a gesture so small Yao Shen barely sees it.

Neither of them is very affectionate. Yao Shen needs Xin Hulei to work through his own mental barriers when it comes to physical affection, Tan Liansi probably does too, except she needs him for verbal affection as well.

Funny, how both of them found in the most stoic man in the world the conduit to their own emotions.

He cracks a smile, it only serves to confuse her.

"What are you laughing at?" She shoots him a suspicious look which only makes Yao Shen's smile widen.

"Nothing." He pats her on the back, and then he looks down and tries to kick the snow beneath his feet. Nothing happens.

"Let's wake up."

Tan Liansi looks back in the direction in which Mei Shuang left. "My dreams are the only place where I can still see her." A thin wet film covers her eyes, but doesn't spillover. "There have been others but," she shrugs." I can't stop thinking about what could have been."

Yao Shen hears an echo of Meng Po's words, reminding him of the power of letting go.

He doesn't know if he's ready to follow that advice, but maybe it's good enough to share.

"Your memories will always be here for you to revisit." He avoids her eyes, looking off into the distance to try and collect his thoughts. "But the people who are here now, might not always."

She frowns. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Yao Shen rubs the bridge of his nose. He really has no talent for this "mystical", "poetic" talk. He should leave that to old ladies in the Underworld and go straight to the point: