76: Chapter 76 You Understand Heartbeats Too?

"Wang Sheng,"

Zhao Linger's voice was no longer the syrupy, coquettish tone she usually used, nor the silver-bell laughter from her playful moments, nor the sharp, blade-like clear shout she used in battle.

Instead, it was a settled tenderness, like honey soaked in the setting sun, resembling the softest note a Spirit Sound Master had finally found after three years.

"Did you know? A Spirit Sound Master can hear everyone's heartbeat, and everyone's is different."

Her slender fingers traced unconscious circles on the edge of his collar, just like a Spirit Sound Master plucking the softest melody on their most cherished instrument.

"Sister Xun'er's heartbeat is like the moon, quiet."

Her voice was like petals falling into a stream, as gentle as the faintest breeze on the Savage Continent.

"Sister Shiyun's is like ice, slow."

"Sister Mengyao's is like a flower, soft."

She paused.

That pause was like the most exquisite rest mark of a Spirit Sound Master, amidst the savage sunset, under the golden-red shafts of light, and in the warm breath she pressed against his back.

That pause was like a spirit flower that had stored up three years of rainwater, finally arriving at the moment of bloom.

"Yours is like the sun, hot, thud, thud, thud."

Her voice grew fainter and fainter, like the gentlest note of a Spirit Sound Master slowly dissipating in the setting sun.

"I've been listening to it for three years."

Wang Sheng's footsteps faltered slightly.

The pause lasted only for an instant, but Zhao Linger felt it, just as a Spirit Sound Master would sense the slightest vibration on a string.

Every step he had taken was like the steadiest drumbeat on the Savage Continent, but this one step was chaotic.

"Since my sophomore year, every time we had class, I sat in the third row behind you."

Her voice was like petals falling into a stream, carrying the most gentle courage on the Savage Continent.

"Just to listen to your heartbeat."

The golden-red shafts of light cast by the setting sun through the treetops slowly darkened, as if a savage deity were slowly withdrawing the golden painting he had drawn in this forest.

The edges of the light shafts turned from golden-red to dark red, and then to deep purple; the night, like the softest curtain, was slowly drawn down from the edge of the firmament.

Zhao Linger did not stop.

She knew that if she stopped now, she would never be able to say it again. It had been three years; in these three years, she had hidden all her words in the deepest notes of a Spirit Sound Master.

Hidden in the gaze she stole at his profile when she fell in the cafeteria, hidden in the frequency of her trembling hand when she handed him a tissue after being brought to tears by spice during the autumn outing.

Hidden in the song she sang at the New Year's Eve party, every note of which was sung for him alone.

"Wang Sheng,"

Her left arm tightened, holding him closer. Her slender arms wrapped around his neck, as if a Spirit Sound Master had gripped her most cherished instrument, refusing to let go ever again.

Her chest pressed more closely against his back. The soft, warm sensation came through his thin combat uniform, like two warm clouds soaked in the setting sun, pressing tightly and unreservedly against him.

She could feel his heartbeat right where her chest was pressed: "Thud, thud, thud-thud." It had sped up.

"Your back is so warm."

Her voice was soft, like the gentlest note of a Spirit Sound Master, like the faintest breeze on the Savage Continent blowing over the petals of a spirit flower, like the almost inaudible sigh when moonlight falls into the Lingxi River.

"Let me lean on you forever, okay?"

That sentence was not coquettish.

Zhao Linger knew how to be coquettish; her usual "Chieftain!" carried a syrupy sweetness, her usual "I want to go!" carried a playful, silver-bell tone, and her usual "It hurts!" carried a kitten-like grievance.

But at this moment,

"Let me lean on you forever, okay?"

There was no coquettish sweetness in that voice, no playful charm, only a sincerity that seemed like the softest, most genuine, and unadorned truth a Spirit Sound Master had finally found after three years.

That was the sentence she had most wanted to say for three years, sitting in the third row behind him, listening to his heartbeat, from the cafeteria to the classroom, from the autumn outing to the party, from Earth to the Savage Continent.

The setting sun cast its last ray of golden light through the treetops.

That ray of golden light was like the last finger extended by a savage deity, gently landing on top of Zhao Linger's head. Her short hair in the golden light looked like crushed amber.

Every strand of hair glowed with a warm golden-red luster, as if meticulously dyed with gold dust by a savage deity.

In that last ray of sunset, her large, round eyes reflected the silhouette of Wang Sheng's head.

In those eyes, there was no coquetry, no playfulness, but a girl who had spent three years, from the fall in the cafeteria to the battle with the Ink-scaled Python,

from sitting in the third row behind him secretly listening to his heartbeat to finally opening her mouth while lying on his back, mustering the courage to speak... her true heart.

Wang Sheng stopped his footsteps.

He did not turn around.

But Zhao Linger felt it, as if a Spirit Sound Master had sensed the slightest vibration on a string; his heartbeat had changed.

"Thud, thud, thud-thud."

That heart, like the sun, at the very instant she spoke those words, beat faster than during the Beast Tide, faster than when facing the Ink-scaled Python,

faster than any battle, any crisis, any life-or-death moment...

Zhao Linger's Spirit Sound Master hearing precisely captured the change in that heartbeat.

From the steady "Thud, thud, thud," to the accelerating "Thud, thud, thud-thud."

It was as if the steadiest drumbeat on the Savage Continent had suddenly been struck by a savage deity into a different rhythm. In that rhythm, there was no fear, no tension, but...

She had been listening to that heartbeat for three years since her sophomore year; she was more familiar with its every change than anyone else. And at this moment, that heartbeat told her,

that he also...

"Linger,"

His voice was deep as gold, as if the most ancient bell on the Savage Continent had been struck by the hand of a savage deity.

"Your heartbeat has sped up, too."

Zhao Linger froze for a moment.

She instinctively listened to her own heartbeat; the Spirit Sound Master's hearing turned inward.

She heard her own heart being struck by a savage deity with the fastest drumbeat: "Thud-thud, thud-thud, thud-thud."

It was faster than Wang Sheng's, more than three times faster, like the heartbeat of a spirit sparrow, resembling the most frantic melody written by a savage deity.

Her face flushed red instantly.

It wasn't a slight blush, not just red ears, but as if a savage deity had splashed the paint of the setting sun from her cheeks all the way to her ears, her neck, and her collarbone.

Her entire baby face was as red as a spirit flower soaked in the spirit liquid of a frost moon orchid; the tips of her ears were so red they were almost dripping blood.

She buried her face abruptly into his back.

"Don't listen! You're not allowed to eavesdrop!"

Her voice came out muffled from his back, carrying a trembling tone of shyness and annoyance, like the most disheveled note of a Spirit Sound Master.

But that "not allowed to eavesdrop" was clearly a cover-up; the Spirit Sound Master's own heartbeat was already this fast, yet she still said not to eavesdrop.

Wang Sheng laughed.

The laughter vibrated from his chest. Zhao Linger, pressed against his back, felt as if a Spirit Sound Master were pressed against a golden drumhead struck by a savage deity; every note vibrated, making her heartbeat even more chaotic.

It was the warmest laughter on the Savage Continent.

Not mocking, not teasing, not frivolous.

But a warmth like golden sunlight passing through a dense forest and falling upon a spirit flower, like a melody written by a savage deity in the gentlest timbre.