Deviant: No Longer Human-Chapter 802: A Shadow Beneath the Golden Lamp: The Moment She Heard the Truth (1)
12th January, late afternoon.
Just moments after Wang Xiao stepped out of the villa and vanished into the thin winter mist, a light mist had settled over the neighbourhood like a dull silver veil.
Bare branches rattled quietly over the roofs, and every breath condensed into pale clouds.
Ten minutes down the road from the villa, beneath a streetlamp casting a hazy golden cone of light, three figures stood frozen.
Their faces were tense, yet soft with relief.
A strange mix of melancholy and hesitant happiness.
The woman in the center stood out immediately.
Curvy frame wrapped in a neat beige coat, long dark hair cascading in lush waves down her back, her posture elegant despite the cold. Her face carried surprise, disbelief... and something like longing.
It was Lin Xue.
Over forty now. A woman who had spent nearly a decade behind bars.
And yet, after a bath, clean clothes, and the silver jewelry Zhang Sisi had lent her...
she looked nothing like a former inmate.
More like a wealthy Madam standing under a winter streetlamp, glowing faintly in the golden mist.
Her plum-colored lips parted slightly as she exhaled a trembling breath.
Across from her, two younger women hurried toward her, Chen Meili and Fu Yuxin, faces pale, eyes wide in disbelief.
The moment Meili saw her, she broke.
"Y-you’re out..."
Her voice cracked, and without waiting for permission she lunged forward and wrapped her arms tightly around Lin Xue.
Lin Xue stiffened, surprised by the intensity.
Then she gently stroked Meili’s back, smiling softly.
"Meili... it’s all right. I’m here."
But she hadn’t yet realized something was wrong.
Chen Meili’s body was rigid.
Her hands trembled against Lin Xue’s back.
Since the moment of her own death and revival, she had lived every day in fear,
jumping at shadows, waking from nightmares, unable to rest.
Seeing someone familiar, someone known, finally broke the tension in her chest.
Lin Xue mistook it for affection... not recognizing the paranoia beneath.
She lifted her gaze to Fu Yuxin, who stood quietly a step behind Meili.
Yuxin offered a thin smile, not enthusiastic, not relieved.
More like someone forcing a smile when they don’t know how to react.
She looked... strange... uneasy.
"Yuxin," Lin Xue greeted softly, her fingers rubbing her sleeves as if unsure how to stand in her own skin. "You came too."
Fu Yuxin exhaled a cold breath. "...Mm."
She managed a small nod, her voice gentler than she expected. "It’s... really good to see you back."
Lin Xue blinked, as if the warmth surprised her.
Yuxin immediately looked away.
She didn’t know how to feel about this woman.
The one who covered for Wang Xiao.
The one she once resented.
But also the woman who had quietly written her name into half of her estate, a gesture Yuxin had never understood or forgotten.
Lin Xue gave a small smile, but didn’t step closer.
Chen Meili still clung to her arm tightly, face buried near Lin Xue’s shoulder like someone desperate for a kin.
"You look... healthy," Yuxin added awkwardly.
Lin Xue huffed a weak laugh. "As healthy as someone who hasn’t seen sunlight for nine years can be~"
"..."
"..."
A silence followed...
Cold wind passed between them, carrying the smell of mist and street dust.
Then Lin Xue swallowed, her voice trembled.
"...How is she?"
Fu Yuxin’s heart stopped, she stared at Lin Xue for a full second before answering.
"You mean... Zhenxi?" she whispered.
Lin Xue nodded, lips tightening.
"She... she must have grown a lot."
Yuxin exhaled sharply, controlling her expression.
"She has," Yuxin said quietly. "She’s taller now. Talks more. Eats everything except tomatoes. She hates math. Loves drawing. Fights with boys every week, the teacher often complains... And she—"
Her voice softened without meaning to.
"She sleeps holding my arm every night. So... yes. We’ve taken care of her."
Lin Xue’s eyes glistened.
"Thank you."
The simplicity of the words made Yuxin’s chest tighten painfully.
She didn’t want gratitude.
She didn’t want this woman to be gentle.
It made everything harder.
Lin Xue hesitated, her fingers tightening around her sleeves before she finally whispered:
"...Does she ever ask about me?"
Fu Yuxin’s eyes widened, for a moment she looked away, guilt flickering across her face.
"...No," she admitted quietly. "We haven’t told her. She... she thinks I’m her mother."
A heavy silence followed.
Chen Meili sniffed, wiping her eyes with her sleeve.
"But she still keeps the tiny hand bracelet you gave her," she added softly. "She won’t let anyone touch it."
Lin Xue’s hand flew to her mouth.
"She... still keeps it?"
Yuxin nodded. "She bites it when she’s nervous. I try to stop her, but... she doesn’t listen."
Lin Xue exhaled, a sad, trembling breath.
Her eyes dropped to the misty pavement.
"It’s good you didn’t tell her about me," she murmured. "I never wanted her to grow up... under someone like me. A prostitute like me shouldn’t raise a child."
Fu Yuxin stiffened, her mouth opened, then closed. She didn’t know what to say.
But Chen Meili did.
"You are NOT a prostitute," she snapped, voice enraged. "You never sold yourself. You never even, you were scared of men. You hated being touched. Don’t call yourself that!"
Lin Xue gave a faint, bitter smile.
"People are what the world sees them as," she said quietly. "And people only see who you stand beside."
The words hit Chen Meili like a slap.
Because she understood exactly what Lin Xue meant and yet the guilt twisted inside her.
A memory surfaced.
Ugly.
Honest.
The night she was ready to sleep with Wang Xiao, not for money, not for love, but because she believed it would secure a future.
Her hands clenched tightly.
’Was that not a form of prostitution too?’
And another thought followed, darker:
’Women sleep with men they love...
is that not still a form of exchange?’
Everyone sleeps with someone for something.
Safety, affection, power, stability... even comfort.
So what was the difference?
Wasn’t everything in the world just...
transaction?
Chen Meili swallowed hard.
"...Then we’re all prostitutes," she muttered under her breath, half laughing, half shaking.
"At least by that logic."
Lin Xue glanced at her with sad eyes.
"Maybe," She whispered, voice cracking in the cold mist. "But I just... didn’t want her to live the kind of life I did. Not even the shadow of it." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞
Fu Yuxin’s breath stalled.
Something inside her twisted sharply.
The raw honesty in Lin Xue’s eyes, heavy, tired, yet unwavering, made Yuxin suddenly feel small.
Childish, even.
All the fear she’d been clutching so tightly...
felt embarrassingly petty in front of this woman’s quiet determination.
After a long pause, Yuxin exhaled softly.
"...Do you want to meet her?" she asked in a low voice.
She wasn’t sure why she said it.
Maybe because she realized denying it would be selfish.
Maybe because Zhenxi deserved a choice.
Maybe because Lin Xue’s sincerity disarmed her completely.
Fu Yuxin added quietly. "You did your best. You... you should see her. She’s a smart kid... she’ll understand."
But Lin Xue shook her head.
"No."
Both women froze.
"...What?" Meili whispered.
Lin Xue lowered her eyes.
"??"
Both women stared at her.
"No," Lin Xue repeated quietly, eyes lowering, she stepped closer and gently touched Fu Yuxin’s cheek, a quiet acknowledgement, almost a thank-you.
Seeing how guarded Yuxin was made her strangely relieved; it meant the girl had protected Zhenxi well.
"I don’t deserve to suddenly walk back into her life just because I’m finally free," she said, voice trembling. "She’s settled... loved. If I show up out of nowhere, I’ll only confuse her."
Before she could continue—
A small gasp echoed through the mist.
"!?"
The three women instantly turned.
They weren’t alone.
Just ten meters away, partially hidden behind the old stone wall, three figures stood under the pale winter fog.
Wang Mei, crouched, tense.
Eirene clasped her little hands together, watching in silence, her eyes shimmering like distant galaxies.
And...
Zhenxi.
Her tiny body rigid.
Her small fists trembling
Her eyes, those dark, starry crimson eyes, were filled with tears she didn’t understand.
Wang Mei’s heart dropped.
She had tried to cover the girl’s ears, but it was pointless.
Zhenxi’s hearing had long surpassed mortal limits, she could hear a bird blink in the sky, let alone a conversation ten meters away.
Wang Mei felt her own throat tighten painfully.
She had wanted to protect the kids from cruelty, from confusion, from heartbreak...
but she had failed.
Especially when she saw Zhenxi’s tears.
Those weren’t the loud, dramatic tears of a child.
They were silent.
Slow.
Crushing.
The kind that meant understanding..
"Zhenxi—" Wang Mei reached forward, voice trembling.
But the small girl had already taken off.
A blur of hair, and tiny shoes sprinting straight into the light of the streetlamp.
Her sudden appearance made all three women jolt in shock.
"Z-Zhenxi?!" Fu Yuxin gasped.
"What are you doing here?!"
But the girl wasn’t listening.
She was staring at Lin Xue.
A woman she had never met.
A woman she had never been told about.
Yet the resemblance was unmistakable, the same hair, the same eyes, the same quiet fire hidden beneath innocence.
Lin Xue froze.
Her breath left her in a painful rush.
’This... this is my daughter...’
Older... Taller.
A little version of both her and him.
But before she could even reach out, Zhenxi’s trembling hand lifted.
Her voice cracked.
"...Why?"
Lin Xue blinked, confused. "Wh–what?"
The child’s lower lip quivered.
Tears rolled down her small cheeks.
"Why don’t you want to meet me?"
