"Is everything okay?" Worried for his safety, his friend had followed after them. Wang looked at him completely worried, his eyes moving between Baiju and the strange man standing behind him.
"Yes, yes. Everything is fine. Completely fine." Baiju quickly pushed the otherworldly man away from him and walked back toward his friend, hoping he could somehow put the entire bizarre encounter behind him.
But another pair of footsteps immediately followed after him.
"Mortal Baiju."
He ignored him.
"Mortal Baiju."
He kept walking.
"Baiju."
He finally stopped and pinched the bridge of his nose before slowly turning around. "What?"
Lian Hua blinked at him innocently, as though he had done absolutely nothing wrong. "You finally answered."
"..."
"You can't just leave like this. You are the only clue I have to finding all the broken pieces of the Book of Marriage." The man suddenly grabbed his hand tightly before Baiju could turn away again.
Baiju immediately shook his hand out of the man's grip. "I can't help you."
He walked over to Wang and gripped his shoulders tightly, almost as though he needed the familiar presence of his friend to remind himself that he wasn't completely losing his mind.
"Did that guy bother you? What's going on, man?"
"Nothing. He is just..." Baiju glanced toward the handsome stranger, who was still staring at him intensely without the slightest intention of hiding it. There was something unnerving about the man's gaze, as if those dark eyes were searching for something buried deep inside him. "...a stranger."
He quickly nodded toward the barbecue shop, and his friends all followed after him.
Strangely though, another pair of footsteps continued behind them.
Glancing back, Baiju noticed the man walking after them with his hands folded behind his back, looking left and right as if he wasn't following them at all. The moment their eyes met, Lian Hua immediately looked up at the night sky, pretending to admire the moon.
There wasn't even a moon tonight.
Baiju stared at him blankly.
'Does he seriously think that looks natural...?'
Lian Hua continued staring at the empty sky with a suspicious amount of concentration.
Baiju sighed and continued walking.
By the time they entered the barbecue shop, Lian Hua had naturally taken the empty table right beside theirs as if he belonged there. He even straightened his torn robes with utmost dignity before sitting down, completely ignoring the strange looks he received from the other customers.
It was creepy.
Like being stalked by an unusually handsome stray cat that refused to leave.
Shaking his head, Baiju tried his best to concentrate on the conversation his friends were having.
"She said she's close by..."
"Huh?"
"Rui said she's close by, so I called her here. I hope it's okay with you," Wang repeated with a sheepish grin.
The group of friends immediately started cooing and joking around, teasing Wang about his upcoming date, but Baiju barely heard them. His attention had already drifted upward.
The golden slip of paper above Wang's head looked... different.
It was still shining, but not as brightly as before.
Baiju frowned.
'Is it my imagination...?'
He quietly stood up and circled Wang once, pretending that he was simply looking for something on the table. His eyes remained fixed on the floating fragment the entire time.
The paper remained there.
But its golden glow seemed weaker.
Before he could think any further, a pair of delicate hands landed on Wang's shoulders.
"Rui, sit here," Wang said, quickly pulling out a chair next to him for her.
The woman sat down with a bright grin on her face. "It's a surprise we meet again. That too before our official date," she said with a flirtatious gaze.
"I just wanted to see you again," Wang replied with a smitten smile.
The group immediately started making exaggerated gagging noises.
Wang's ears turned slightly red, but he couldn't hide the smile spreading across his face.
Baiju, however, frowned even more as he listened to their exchange.
They were talking as if they had known each other for much longer than they actually had. Wang had only just met this woman, yet he was already looking at her with the same expression Baiju had seen on his face countless times whenever he talked about Juni.
And strangely, the golden piece of paper was slowly getting duller and duller.
Baiju's eyes narrowed.
Its brilliant golden light gradually faded until it looked almost pale. Its edges slowly curled inward, almost as though they were drying under invisible heat.
He leaned closer, his heart beginning to beat faster.
One tiny corner...
turned black.
Baiju's eyes widened.
He quickly looked back at the handsome man, who was still staring at him intently.
'Can he see it too?'
But after watching him for several seconds, Baiju realized the man's gaze never once moved toward Wang's head.
He couldn't see it.
'The man really can't see it happening...'
Baiju looked back at the paper.
'It's getting darker. What happens if it turns fully black?'
He stood up and walked over to the handsome man, sitting beside him.
Lian Hua gave him a slight smirk.
"You have a kind heart, mortal. You have decided to help me."
"What does it mean when it's turning black?" Baiju asked, interrupting his yapping.
Lian Hua blinked, his long lashes fluttering as he looked at him in confusion.
"What is black?"
"The golden paper. It's turning black."
The moment Lian Hua heard that, his expression changed.
He shot to his feet, grabbed Baiju's arm tightly, and dragged him back toward the table.
"Show me."
"What are you—"
"Touch it."
Lian Hua grabbed Baiju's hand and forced it upward toward Wang's head.
The instant Baiju's fingers passed through the floating fragment, Lian Hua's eyes widened.
He could see it.
The golden paper that was once a fragment of the Book of Marriage was no longer shining with its pure golden light. Dark veins had begun spreading across its surface, crawling outward from the blackened corner like cracks in glass.
Then Lian Hua saw something even worse.
Tiny flames were licking at the edges.
"Ahhh! Why is it burning?!"
Lian Hua stared at the blackened corner in disbelief. He grabbed Baiju's wrist again and forced his hand closer to Wang's head as though getting a better look would somehow make the situation less terrifying.
"Don't move."
"I'm not moving, okay!"
"Umm, guys..." Wang gazed up at them with an increasingly confused expression.
"Shh, mortal. Be quiet. I need time to think."
Lian Hua's eyes remained fixed on the fragment.
Something was terribly wrong.
He could feel the spiritual energy inside the golden piece slowly diminishing, its once-pure aura becoming darker and heavier with every passing second. It was almost as though something was poisoning the fragment from within, twisting the heavenly energy into something corrupted.
His face slowly lost its arrogant confidence.
This had never happened before.
The Book of Marriage was a divine artifact. It recorded the threads of countless mortal relationships and maintained the balance of their destined connections. It was not supposed to burn.
It was not supposed to darken.
And it certainly was not supposed to become corrupted.
If the Book of Marriage were to fall completely into darkness, the consequences would be unimaginable.
The heavenly laws would collapse.
Destined relationships would become meaningless.
Countless lives could be thrown into chaos.
Wars could begin.
Kingdoms could fall.
Worlds could burn.
Millions could die.
Lian Hua's face went pale.
"Oh my heavenly lords... what have I done?"
He reached desperately for the golden fragment, but his fingers passed through it just as they always had.
"No..."
He tried again.
Nothing.
"I have to stop this."
"I tried, but I can't touch it either," Baiju whispered beside him.
Lian Hua barely heard him.
"What happened right before it started burning?" he asked, keeping his eyes fixed on the fragment.
Wang stared at the two of them as though they had finally lost whatever sanity they had left.
"Are you both drunk?"
He shook his head and turned back toward Rui.
"Don't mind them. Not all my friends are weird like them."
"Ah!"
Lian Hua suddenly pointed at the fragment.
"It became even more singed!"
Baiju immediately looked upward.
The blackened section had spread farther across the golden paper.
His gaze shifted toward Rui.
It was her.
The moment Wang spoke to her, the paper changed.
The moment he smiled at her, another dark mark spread across the fragment.
Lian Hua's expression became increasingly horrified as he watched the connection between them.
The woman was the cause.
Or rather...
Their relationship was.
The golden paper wasn't simply reacting to Wang.
It was reacting to the relationship being formed around him.
"Oh my lords..." Lian Hua whispered.
"What is going on?"
Baiju grabbed him by the arm and pulled him away from his friends, his patience finally wearing thin. "Can't you explain things properly? You're freaking them out."
Lian Hua didn't answer immediately.
His gaze remained fixed on Wang and Rui.
For once, the eccentric arrogance disappeared from his face.
His expression was completely serious.
"His life is in danger," he finally murmured.
Baiju's irritation vanished.
"What?"
Lian Hua slowly looked at him.
"If he doesn't end up with his intended match..." His voice dropped even lower as he watched another corner of the golden paper begin to burn. "...then he will end up dead."