On the starlit hibiscus-covered hillside, Ku Yue stared bnkly at the gift Luo Ye handed him—a bnk sheet of paper.

  "This is your birthday gift for KING?" Ku Yue flipped the paper over, examining it from every angle, but couldn't make sense of it.

  "Yep." Luo Ye grinned with pride, carefully running her fingers over the paper. "I named this painting ‘Day and Night.’ Pretty poetic, don't you think?"

  Ku Yue couldn't help but chuckle, saying, "But this is clearly just a bnk sheet of paper."

  "It's not!" Luo Ye protested, frustrated. "Put your face close to it! On the left side of the paper!"

  Ku Yue raised an eyebrow but leaned in, pressing his face to the left side of the paper. The moment his skin touched the surface, he squinted, then his eyes widened. It was warm?! The left side of this paper felt warm—not like a slight summer heat, but with a peculiar, almost living warmth, as if a small sun was hidden beneath the paper.

  "I spent many days gathering sunlight from Moon City," Luo Ye expined enthusiastically. "Every morning and evening, I collected the warmth of the sun in all its forms. I was clumsy with the sealing technique, so it took me ages to trap that warmth in the paper. But this is real, genuine warmth from the sun!"

  Ku Yue remembered the first time he’d met her—this little girl sitting on a rooftop, holding that gss bottle. He pointed to the right side of the paper. "Then why is the other half cool?"

  "Silly," Luo Ye giggled. "I told you it's called ‘Day and Night.’ That side is sunlight, so of course this side is moonlight! You have to wait until nightfall to see!" She looked up at the sky and touched her own face. "Hmm, it should be about time now."

  As night deepened, a gentle, flowing glow—like soft moonlight—appeared in Ku Yue's eyes, flickering in hues of silvery white.

  On the right side of the paper, there was a crescent moon surrounded by a scattering of fine stars, painted with some unknown ink.

  "It's the juice from starlight hibiscus flowers," Luo Ye said with a joyful smile in her eyes. "I can't see it myself, but I know it must be beautiful."

  Holding the painting, Ku Yue began to wonder what kind of emotions and thoughts would lead this girl to "pce" the sun, stars, and moon into a painting and gift it to Jin Feiyu.

  "I know he's been missing someone," Luo Ye said, sitting down. "That time he got drunk, he leaned on me and said he'd lost an entire world."

  "So, you're giving him a world where day and night intertwine, with the warmth of the sun and the glow of the moon," Ku Yue said, sitting down beside her, speaking to her with an unusually earnest tone for the first time.

  "Yes." Luo Ye nodded firmly. "KING has done so much for me, so much for all of Moon City. Without him, the yaokai here might have already ended up as ingredients in some alchemist's furnace—or worse. It feels like he's never really lived for himself." Her big eyes shimmered. "The only thing I can do is live happily. And then, share that happiness with him as much as I can."

  Ku Yue was silent for a moment, then carefully rolled up the paper and handed it back to her.

  "He′ll love it," he murmured.

  Nightfall, the world was silent.

  Ku Yue sat on the windowsill of the room, tapping on the keyboard. "Transaction canceled. Payment refunded." He pressed send.

  "Reason?" The reply came swiftly.

  "I've fallen in love with a bar here."

  "What's so special about it?"

  "The owner of the bar always pys just one song—Butterfly Kisses. It's a song a father wrote specifically for his daughter."

  "Assassins don't need much of an artistic sense, let alone emotions. You've committed a grave mistake."

  "But you need to. The butterfly rocking chair is finished; even the coloring is done, and it's beautiful. He said it took a thousand years."

  After that, there was no further reply from the other side. Turning off the computer, Ku Yue y quietly on the bed.

  Life in the Rainbow Realm, his home, his parents, his older brother, his younger sister—every scene he had long tried to forcibly forget—gradually became clearer. What if, back then, he had chosen to turn back instead of running away…?

  He had painstakingly cultivated his skills in the human world, gaining deep powers. He hunted yaokais with ruthless precision. Every ugly, vicious yaokai reminded him of the enemies who had turned his father, brother, and sister to ashes. But after killing so many, he still couldn't find happiness. His father and brother, and all his kin who perished with the Zhaohong Realm, were the true night butterfly warriors—those who were born to protect their homend and loved ones. As for him, he was nothing, just a shameful deserter.

  He had bought countless houses around the world, hoping to find a home. But no matter how many houses he owned, they were still just houses, never truly a home.

  Thinking of Jin Feiyu, thinking of Luo Ye, Ku Yue couldn't help but hum Butterfly Kisses, a song he had listened to hundreds of times.

  He began to feel grateful that he had come to Moon City. Perhaps he could do something for this pce and for certain people in a truly right way. Some regrets, for him, could never be healed, but for others, there might still be a chance to make things right... If that were the case, why not try?

  In the early hours, as the sky began to lighten, Ku Yue quietly left Moon City. He was going to retrieve something he had left elsewhere—something he had once regarded as a shame, something he had been unable to bear carrying.

  The sand outside Moon City swirled in the air, rising in thick clouds.

  Beneath the heavy clouds, dozens of strange-shaped, advanced, battle-like aircraft circled arrogantly.

  Mo stood in the spacious cabin, gazing down at the city below, which looked like an old photograph, expressionless.

  "Mo, it's time for you to undo the defense barrier here, isn't it?" The bearded man in the b, now wearing a dark green military uniform instead of a suit, urged excitedly.

  Mo remained silent, standing still in the same position without moving.

  "We have an agreement! You're not backing out now, are you?" The bearded man's face darkened. "Mo, if that's the case, there will be serious consequences."

  "Shut up." Mo replied coldly, "I know what I'm doing; I don't need you to lecture me."

  The dark aircraft silently nded beneath the clouds, like vultures with their wings spread, ready to pounce on their prey.

  Inside Moon City, all was quiet. Jin Feiyu and Luo Ye y side by side on the sofa in Butterfly Kisses, sound asleep, showing no signs of waking up.

  On the table before them y the bnk sheet of paper, which held an entire world within it. From the speakers, the same gentle male voice continued to sing Butterfly Kisses, over and over again.

  On the bed where Ku Yue had slept, there was no one. On the windowsill, several blue bottles stood, their lids opened one by one. Inside the bottles had once been the most effective yaokai-sleeping mist. The dose he released was enough to put the entire Moon City into a deep slumber until the sunset today...

  "Sleep for now. When you wake up, everything will be better."