Journey to the End of the Night
Chapter 165 - 165 163 The Rabbit's Only

165: Chapter 163: The Rabbit’s Only 165: Chapter 163: The Rabbit’s Only Baili An snickered and quickly comforted, “Although your paws are short and plump, the pads are tucked in just right, and one can still tell the difference, so what did you mean by comparing it to mine?”

Afu Tu’s eyes widened in disbelief.

Are you trying to comfort a rabbit?

What do you mean by ‘paws short and plump’?

Are you comforting the rabbit or flaunting your sharp eyesight?

Afu Tu’s fluffy chest heaved with barely contained agitation.

Seeing its petulant demeanor, Baili An couldn’t help but think that this rabbit was an entirely different species from the ferocious dragon-eating Afu Tu described by Sister Wen.

He couldn’t help but laugh softly, sitting on the ground covered in dry leaves, and extended a palm toward the little rabbit, gently saying, “Be good, tell me, what were you trying to say just now?”

The sky was bright with sunlight, and the misty rain warmed.

The world outside the forest was bathed in the light of dawn, and even the dense leaves could scarcely hide the sun’s high-hanging brilliance.

There he sat on the ground, lashes gently lowered, looking over with deeply attentive and varying depth of focus.

The light sprinkled through thin and delicate glass, showering him in what was naturally the world’s tenderest hue.

Meeting that gaze, looking at the palm that was extended toward it.

Afu Tu’s cool, indifferent eyes seemed to sink into the scene before them, becoming distracted.

A cold wind suddenly arose from the lake in the woods, whipping up the dead branches and fallen leaves on the ground and obscuring their line of sight.

Afu Tu seemed to snap back to reality, its gaze regaining its clarity.

It stepped on the dry leaves, approaching Baili An slowly and with extreme earnestness.

Its fluffy little legs obediently lifted and then settled into his ice-cold palm, entrusting its tiny body into his hands.

The clear gaze held no more indifference, and as it watched him, it became impossibly deep and distant.

Baili An was taken aback, feeling the warmth of the soft pads in his palm, and for some reason, he thought he saw a hint of sorrow in the rabbit’s eyes, not befitting of its innocent animal nature.

As it stood so earnestly in his palm, for a moment, he had a strange illusion.

As if it wasn’t simply obediently coming into his palm.

Rather, it seemed to be tentatively and almost reverently offering everything it had, its all and its entirety, into his hands without reserve.

Willing to become an object in your grasp.

Watching the rabbit intently staring at his face with those red eyes, at this moment, Baili An even began to doubt…

If he were to close his fist and squeeze it until it bled and its bones broke, would the rabbit still look at him with the same gaze?

What a preposterous illusion.

Baili An’s mind went blank.

He had merely saved its life on a whim in the Chaotic Netherworld Valley, and during the time it spent with Sister Wen, this rabbit expressed nothing but coldness, aloofness, and disdain.

So why now, with a simple beckoning gesture, did it repay him with such a heavy gaze?

However, the next moment, the rabbit’s silent actions told him that none of this was an illusion.

It awkwardly tiptoed up, raising a paw and, shunning embarrassment, once again lifted a furry finger earnestly, lightly touching his forehead, its eyes utterly sincere.

Baili An felt a mix of wonder and sudden understanding as he murmured, “Are you trying to refute what I said earlier about your ‘three loves in life’?”

The rabbit nodded, then used its soft finger to gently tap his forehead again as if to indicate its own faithfulness.

Baili An realized, “Are you saying that the one love in your life is the only one?”

The rabbit continued to nod, and its red pupils brightened a bit.

Baili An, somewhat incredulously touching its paw with his forehead, hesitated, “So, that only thing…” his voice faltered: “is me?”

The rabbit, discontent with his hesitation, stamped its little feet that stood in his palm.

“Alright, it really is me,” Baili An said with an expression caught between laughter and tears.

He bowed his head and tenderly kissed the rabbit’s fluffy ear, “So you really like me that much, such an unexpected, delightful surprise.”

The rabbit in his palm shuddered, its body stiffening up.

Underneath the soft, hanging ear that his lips had just brushed, through the white fur, he could see its ears rapidly blushing with embarrassment.

“Hmm?

Your ears are so red, are you shy?” Baili An blinked at the rabbit, “Could it be that, like the little deer, you’re actually a girl?”

The rabbit, whose ear had just been kissed, moved, and although its round face was expressionless, that ear twitched happily.

It rubbed its soft pads against his nose, as a response to his question.

Baili An sighed helplessly, his handsome brows knitted in mock distress.

“Afu Tu is known for having three loves, and none can satisfy their appetite, and now it seems, you are even stranger, loving only me; won’t you be unable to eat anything else?

You looked at me with such longing and depth earlier, and you moved me so much that I was genuinely touched, only to realize that you were serious about wanting to ‘eat’ me.”

The rabbit on his palm almost toppled over, almost slipping off.

It indignantly retracted its paws, covering its nose like a petulant child and plopped down in his palm, glaring at him with cold, stern eyes.

Baili An felt a tingling on his scalp.

This rabbit, it’s too spirited.

Even more than the little deer.

It’s really a bit overwhelming.

“Well, do you still want to eat this Drowned Maiden or not?

If you really want to eat me, I could feed you some blood, but you’ll need to be prepared to turn into a corpse demon rabbit.”

The rabbit pretended to be serious, shifted from sitting to squatting, and then leisurely turned away, leaving him nothing but a plump little rear to look at.

The tuft of a fluffy, discontented tail twitched and flicked.

Baili An laughed, watching the short plump tail shake, and wanted to reach out and poke it.

But one hand cradled the small rabbit, the other controlled the Drowned Maiden, leaving no hand free.

Out of options, he merely lowered his head and took a deep breath on Afu Tu’s fluffy ear, “Little rabbit, you don’t really want to eat me, do you?”

Afu Tu, as if struck by lightning, gave a squeak and plopped down in his palm, its fluffy ears limply drooping.

Baili An jumped with a start, quickly flipping the little rabbit over, examining it with concern, only to see this legendary ferocious and wicked Afu Tu apparently subjected to an unbearable shock.

Its eyes rolled back, and it fainted away.

The soft, tripartite mouth could no longer move, slightly open, panting weakly, its short and chubby limbs adorably limp in his palm, softly twitching, looking completely played out.