Deviant: No Longer Human

Wang Xiao turned to her, curiosity etching his features. He questioned where she had vanished to and how she had managed to hasten her delivery.

Aurora explained that she had been in Xianthera and had instructed Luna to pass on this crucial information to him.

However, as Wang Xiao absorbed her words, his face remained neutral, betraying no sign of prior knowledge.

"I don\'t remember Luna mentioning anything about this," he confessed, his voice carrying a note of resignation mixed with indifference as he shrugged.

"..."

Aurora\'s face fell, a flicker of disappointment passing through her eyes as silence stretched between them.

She searched his face for some hint of jest or misunderstanding, but found none.

Seeing his casual shrug, Aurora was momentarily speechless.

Wang Xiao then added, with a hint of reproach, "You should have chosen a more reliable person to relay such important messages."

Aurora, "..."

She fell silent, left without words but inwardly nodding, questioning her own judgment.

How had she ever thought Luna was reliable?

She wondered, chiding herself for her rare lapse in judgment.

Pressing her lips together in frustration, she exhaled slowly and changed the subject. "How is that girl, Eveline, doing?"

Wang Xiao\'s eyes twitched in surprise. "You placed her with me...?" he asked, a hint of suspicion coloring his tone.

"..."

Aurora fell silent again, catching the wary look in his eyes.

She briefly considered whether it might be better to just stand and walk away before the conversation led to uncomfortable territories of domestic violenc—reconciliation.

Noticing the awkward looks she was casting, Wang Xiao realized what she might be thinking, which only added to his bewilderment.

"She\'s doing well so far..." he responded, deliberately keeping his tone casual.

He chose to momentarily ignore the fact that Eveline and Aurora knew each other and that even his meeting with Eveline seemed orchestrated.

Aurora\'s demeanor grew awkward just as the sky began to rumble again, pulling her attention abruptly upwards.

She glared at the sky as if she could confront it, her mind racing: \'Why is she poking her nose where it doesn\'t belong?\'

The anger seemed to redirect from their conversation to the heavens above, and Wang Xiao, noticing her intense gaze skyward, asked suspiciously, "Is there something in the sky?"

Aurora nodded, her gaze still fixed on the tumultuous sky above. "Someone who doesn\'t know anything other than anger," she murmured, her voice tinged with a hint of disdain.

Wang Xiao fell silent, his brow furrowing as he tried to decipher her cryptic comment.

\'Is she talking about Zhao Yang?\' he wondered, his thoughts drifting back to his recent, violent encounter with Zhao Yang. Was Aurora referring to that confrontation?

Recalling her earlier, equally mysterious statement, he asked, "What did you mean when you said \'he\' hasn\'t died yet?"

Aurora looked momentarily confused as she turned to face him, her expression shifting as she recalled her own words. "Oh, that guy from earlier, he didn\'t die—"

"He burned himself, escaped, and is now standing ten kilometers away from here," she explained nonchalantly, gesturing vaguely in a random direction, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Wang Xiao couldn\'t possibly see that far—his vision couldn\'t stretch beyond a hundred meters in this dense fog, let alone ten kilometers.

She continued as if it were the most normal thing in the world, completely disregarding rest.

"..."

He stared at her, momentarily taken aback by the unexpected innocence in her expression.

Why did this witch sometimes seem so disarmingly cute?

Shaking his head, Wang Xiao reminded himself that delving too deeply into her thoughts was a labyrinthine venture.

This woman was eccentric, and perhaps the weight of years had frayed the edges of her reason.

Deciding to shift his focus, he turned his attention to the baby cradled in his arms, a newer, more updated version.

As he deliberately disturbed the infant, a small smile stirred the baby awake.

"!"

"She looks so similar to Anran\'s daughter...?" Wang Xiao remarked, a wry smile playing on his lips as he looked into the baby\'s wide, ocean-like eyes, filled with curiosity.

Except for the eyes, which sparkled like crystals from the depths of the ocean, he found it hard to distinguish between this child and his other two daughters.

"Well... You can keep this one, if you like her," Aurora said nonchalantly.

"!"

Wang Xiao\'s eyes narrowed instantly, he glanced at her suspiciously, questioning, "What were you going to do with her originally then?"

Aurora replied simply, "Raise her myself."

Wang Xiao, "..."

Although he had once suggested the same arrangement to Anran, the reality of actually agreeing to it sat uncomfortably with him.

These conflicting thoughts forced him to confront aspects of himself he hadn\'t fully acknowledged before.

Noticing his hesitation, Aurora quickly added, "Although, you can visit her whenever you like."

Wang Xiao exhaled, the weight of the situation making him feel weary. "And what\'s your plan now?" he asked, his voice tinged with fatigue and suspicion.

"..."

Aurora met his gaze steadily, undeterred by the scrutiny.

Then, with a directness that caught Wang Xiao off guard, she pointed to her stomach and stated flatly, "Give me another one."

Wang Xiao, "..."

Aurora, "..."

Whoosh!

Moments later, Wang Xiao could be seen handing the baby back to Aurora, his movements deliberate.

As he did so, he resolved internally to ensure he wouldn\'t end up with more of these little creatures than he could manage—certainly no more daughters than the fingers on his hands could count.

Pftt...

Aurora suppressed a smile, amused by Wang Xiao\'s evident apprehension at the prospect of having another daughter.

"I thought you didn\'t care about having children," she murmured, cradling the baby back in her arms.

Wang Xiao raised an eyebrow, nodding. "I didn\'t, but managing too many would be challenging..." he trailed off, his gaze drifting suspiciously toward his curious new daughter. A slight smile then crossed his face. "...And they aren\'t that bad."

"Oh?" Aurora couldn\'t help but be slightly surprised to see him smile. "Already being protective...?" she probed, her curiosity piqued.

Wang Xiao fell silent for a moment, choosing not to deny her observation.

He stared off into the distance, thoughtful, before exhaling a warm breath. "One shouldn\'t have children if they don\'t know how to take care of them. Imagine being able to destroy a person\'s life, merely because you randomly felt life was lacking something. Instead of addressing that void within themselves, some decide to have children."

"Most people in the world just have children for the sake of having them. They want their children to be better than them while mimicking their own habits, which is contradictory."

"Failures are bound to raise failures."