Chapter 158

Chapter 158

When Wei Yi appeared again, Sheng Zhaoning had already begun to lose touch with reality.

She started spending long stretches of time staring blankly while fully awake, as if her soul had been siphoned away. She neither made a fuss nor lashed out. There was only utter silence.

A full month had passed since the last time he appeared.

She was truly strong.

For an ordinary person trapped in absolute darkness, surviving seven days would already have been a rare feat.

Most people would be driven mad. They would scream to vent their despair, smash things, or repeatedly hurt themselves. Once they realized that none of it would do any good, their hearts would slowly fall silent. Boundless despair would devour them. As their minds began to unravel, their backs would break as well. No matter how proud and unyielding they were, they would eventually be crushed into submission and beg for mercy.

When someone finally gave them light again, while retaining the power to take it away at any moment, they would be completely tamed. They would cling to the light he brought, terrified of losing it, and never dare resist him again.

Wei Yi had never expected Sheng Zhaoning to endure an entire month.

She had not made a fuss or tried to vent her frustration. She had simply sat quietly in the corner, her face expressionless and her eyes utterly hollow.

He lit a candle far away. By the time its light reached Sheng Zhaoning’s eyes, only the faintest glow remained.

Yet even that much light made her tears stream uncontrollably.

Wei Yi watched as she blinked slowly, looking somewhat bewildered. Then she lowered her face deep into the crook of her arm, hugged her knees, and curled into a ball.

A sharp pain suddenly pierced Wei Yi’s heart.

He softened his steps as he approached her. Then he slowly crouched in front of her, brushed aside the hair covering her forehead, and asked quietly, “Are you still going to leave?”

Sheng Zhaoning flinched and shrank back. When she heard his voice, she raised her tear-filled eyes. Her gaze was filled with utter confusion.

She did not know why she was there, and she had forgotten who the person in front of her was.

The prolonged darkness and emptiness had scattered her consciousness.

She could no longer tell hallucinations from reality.

Her pupils began to focus with agonizing slowness. She lifted her head and carefully studied the person before her. His features gradually came into focus.

Sheng Zhaoning seemed to think for a long time before finally remembering his name.

“Wei… Yi?”

A hand gently touched her cheek.

“Yes, it’s me.” Wei Yi’s eyes were feverish. He seized her hand and, trembling, pressed it against his face. He asked insistently, “Will you run away again?”

Sheng Zhaoning merely stared at him blankly, as if trying to make sense of his words.

Wei Yi crouched before her and stubbornly waited for her answer.

When Sheng Zhaoning sensed the darkness in his eyes gathering into a storm, she flinched and pulled her hand back.

She did not answer.

The anticipation in Wei Yi’s eyes dimmed inch by inch.

His palm was left empty. He lowered his arm and tilted his head slightly. The deep, sinister darkness that had been lurking in his eyes gradually rose to the surface.

Still not enough?

What would it take for her to obey him…

Wei Yi drew a deep breath and rose in silence.

If a month was not enough, then it would be two months, three months, half a year, or a year.

He would rather Sheng Zhaoning truly went mad.

Once she forgot everything, she would stay obediently by his side. She would no longer try to escape, and she would never leave him again.

Wei Yi clenched his fists and slowly turned around-

A hand suddenly tugged at his sleeve.

Behind him, a hoarse voice, dry as dead wood, rasped, “Don’t go…”

He froze.

Sheng Zhaoning clutched his sleeve, as if she had suddenly realized what would happen after he left.

She could never go back to that kind of darkness again.

She tried to stand, but after being trapped for so long, she no longer had the strength to keep her balance. Relying only on the faint, dim candlelight, she lifted her head and pleaded in a trembling voice, “Please don’t go, okay?”

Don’t blow out the candle again. Don’t leave her alone again.

She did not want to be consumed by that kind of terror again, oppressed by the darkness as though she had been cast aside by the world, gradually forgetting who she was.

Wei Yi turned his head stiffly to look at her.

His lowered gaze fell on the hand clutching his sleeve. It was so thin and pale that the faint blue veins beneath the skin were clearly visible. It looked so fragile, as though he could snap it in two with the slightest twist.

Sheng Zhaoning had finally yielded and begged him.

The frost in his eyes shattered in an instant.

He placed his hand over hers, looking down at her as he slowly pulled his lips into a sinister, uncanny smile.

“Then answer me. Will you run again?” he asked once more, his persistence bordering on obsession.

Sheng Zhaoning shook her head in anguish.

But the hand wrapped over the back of hers still did not let go.

She stared up at him blankly. Wei Yi watched her without moving, as though he absolutely had to hear her say it aloud.

Sheng Zhaoning’s back instantly collapsed.

She closed her eyes and, trembling, gave him the answer he wanted to hear: “I won’t run anymore.”

Wei Yi finally released her.

Even though he knew there was not a single truthful word in Sheng Zhaoning’s mouth, he still smiled from the bottom of his heart, choosing to believe her in a self-deceiving act of faith.

And so, Changhua Hall was finally restored to light.

The boards were removed, the main doors opened once more, and everything returned to how it had been.

Only Sheng Zhaoning was different. She began refusing to communicate with anyone.

Though she was clearly terrified of the dark, she could not bear the brightness of daylight. She spent her days curled up in shadowy corners, hiding from the light. Yet whenever night fell, she would tremble in terror, panic swallowing her whole. A solitary lamp remained lit in the hall throughout the night.

She did not regain her senses for a long time. She remained dazed all day, quiet and obedient, like an exquisite marionette, docilely allowing herself to be manipulated.

She had finally become the way he wanted her to be, but Wei Yi could no longer smile.

Sheng Zhaoning had truly gone mad.

Not the hysterical kind of madness, but the kind that left her unable to perceive the world, stripped of all emotional response.

She no longer cried, nor did she ever smile again. She had forgotten many things, and her mind had become a blank expanse. She could go an entire day without saying a single word, leaving behind only a long, bottomless emptiness.

Wei Yi assigned a Shadow Guard to watch over her personally.

After morning court ended, he would go nowhere else, silently remaining by her side.

Sheng Zhaoning would eat quietly. Whatever he gave her, she ate. She even drank every drop of her medicine, never resisting again.

He no longer knew how long it had been since he had heard her speak.

On an utterly ordinary afternoon, Wei Yi gazed at the motionless figure sitting before him and suddenly began to weep.

“Sheng Zhaoning, do you hate me?”

He asked a question to which he already knew the answer, wanting to hear her voice, even if all she gave him was an unpleasant curse.

When silence was all he received in response, Wei Yi said, nearly pleading, “What else can I do? Tell me. Can’t we just be together properly?”

Sheng Zhaoning remained silent, burying her head even lower.

Wei Yi took a powerless step backward, his fingers trembling beyond his control.

His eyes filled with profound anguish, but even after things had reached this point, he still did not dare imagine the possibility of letting her go.

How could Wei Yi let her leave?

She did not love him. She was unwilling to return.

The moment he let go, he would lose her forever.