Upon hearing that familiar voice, Wei Yang turned around. Although she could not see, she knew exactly who it was.
“Heng’e, why did you suddenly pull me in here?”
“First, because I missed you. Second, I felt your divine power dissipating rapidly and was worried sick, so I hurried and brought you in.”
So that was it.
“I didn’t realize you cared about me that much.”
“Of course! You are my only Angel!” Heng’e said aggrievedly. “Even though you’re always mean to me, hit me, scold me, and won’t even hug me…”
Wei Yang’s mouth twitched.
“Can you stop making me sound like some kind of scumbag?”
“Aren’t you? We haven’t seen each other in so long, and yet your first words weren’t even a greeting. Instead, you asked why you were here. I’m so heartbroken.”
Wei Yang sighed.
This woman was still as annoying as ever.
“What do you want then? I can’t do anything in my current state.”
“Hug me.”
“Huh?”
“Hug me. You promised.”
“Ugh, fine.”
Heng’e eventually pulled back from her embrace, her tone becoming slightly more serious.
“Back to business. You’ve lost your sight, right? You were able to become my Angel because you had absolutely no mana in your body. Divine power and mana are incompatible; only one can exist at a time.”
Wei Yang knew this. Heng’e had mentioned it during their first meeting.
“Now that my eyes are blind, I meet the conditions to use medium sorcery. While I’m capable of using sorcery and mana, I naturally lose my divine arts and divine power, right?”
“Exactly. My divine power was pushed out by your mana, which is unacceptable for both of us. You need to see, and I need an Angel.”
“If I want to return to being an Angel, I’ll need to get the Eye-Veiling Gauze. I could use it to restore my sight… Ah, wait, that might not work either.”
Heng’e had reached the same conclusion as Wei Yang.
“The Eye-Veiling Gauze is useless to us now. Using it would indeed allow you to see the world, but it is a specialized weapon for medium sorcery. It won’t change the fact that mana is what’s flowing through your body.”
“…This is a problem.”
To complete the game mission and resolve the special-grade case involving Zhuji, Wei Yang needed the halo of an Angel. But now that Yuchan had interfered, everything was a mess.
Heng’e sighed. The current situation was not optimistic.
“It can’t be helped,” Heng’e said despondently. “I want to live, and I want more followers. To accomplish that, I must have an Angel.”
Hearing the frustration in her voice, Wei Yang rubbed her temples with her thumbs.
“Do you have any artifacts similar to the Medusa Sapphire?”
“No. I’m just a Fallen God. I only have one follower, Lu Ran, and my divine power is pathetically low. I don’t have any other artifacts besides the horn. If I did, I would have given them to you already.”
Wei Yang could somewhat understand how she felt.
After being lonely for 1,000 years, she finally managed to get an Angel, only for that Angel to vanish.
“However—” Heng’e suddenly spoke up, appearing to have thought of something, though she seemed hesitant. “It’s not exactly a dead end.”
“What did you think of?”
“I can give you my eyes to use.”
Wei Yang was stunned.
“What?”
“If I give you my eyes, you’ll be able to see.”
“…Are you serious?”
“Of course I am,” Heng’e laughed softly. “I am a deity, after all. Swapping eyes is something I can manage.”
“But doesn’t an eye transplant require a cornea, surgery, and all that?”
“It’s not that complicated. I’m a god; I can handle a little thing like this.”
Wei Yang thought of *Naruto*. It was like gouging out someone’s Sharingan and planting it in your own head to use their ocular jutsu. Was it going to be like that?
“What about you? What happens to you if you give me your eyes?”
“Me? I’ll be fine.”
Heng’e explained nonchalantly.
“I’m all alone anyway. As a Fallen God, no other deity would stay by my side. I only have you as my Angel, and I only want you. As long as you’re okay, I’m happy.”
Wei Yang opened her mouth, unsure of what to say.
“Besides,” Heng’e continued, “I don’t really have anything to do. Even if I can’t see, it won’t affect much. At most… at most, I’ll just be lonely because I won’t be able to see your face anymore.”
“…”
Wei Yang never expected that this frivolous goddess—who was always begging for cuddles and whom she constantly bullied or struck—would be willing to sacrifice her own eyes for her.
And Wei Yang had never done anything for Heng’e that deserved such a sacrifice.
“No, I can’t accept this.”
“Eh?” Heng’e blinked. “Why?”
“Because if I do, I’ll be burdened with guilt. Those are your eyes. How could I possibly—”
“It’s fine,” Heng’e interrupted her. “Then just continue suffering for both of us.”
“…You idiot. I’m a cold person, you know. Even if you treat me well, I’ll forget it in an instant. So, send me back to Huyin Town. I’ll find another way.”
Heng’e leaned in close to Wei Yang and gently pinched her cheek.
“Wei Yang, if losing my eyes is what it takes to keep you by my side as my Angel… I have no regrets.”
But the more she acted like this, the more Wei Yang found it impossible to accept. She tried to move away from Heng’e, but that single movement caused her foot to hit empty air, and she began to plummet.
“Huh?!”
The spiritual pathway began to dissolve.
“Have a safe trip~”
That voice drifted down from above, accompanied by a bitter smile. Wei Yang wanted to say something more, but it was already futile.
***
When she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was a broken ceiling.
She was back in Lu Ran’s house.
Wei Yang lay there stunned, her mind a total blank. After a long while, she slowly raised her hand.
In her palm lay a single, pale yellow reed.
Color had returned to the world.
Her original green eyes were gone. Now, she possessed a pair of yellow-orange, crescent-shaped pupils. They had belonged to Heng’e, but now they were Wei Yang’s.
In the end, she accepted the reality. Biting her lower lip hard, she stood up.
Sunlight poured through the hole in the roof, shattering into a messy, shimmering haze over the pile of rubble in front of the table.
But Yuchan was nowhere to be found.