Scared?

[ Nails dig very slightly into Xiao Xingchen's skin. Nine fingers. Xue Yang doesn't take any notice. ]

That's a silly question, daozhang. What would I be scared of? Of course nothing's scared me.

[ That's right... this is fine. Xiao Xingchen is still alive, still breathing and responding. There's nothing to be scared of. He wasn't scared. Whatever stupid flare of emotions he's feeling right now surely can't include fear.

Probably he ate something odd, or triggered some other effect of this place. That's the only reason why this reaction happened.

Xue Yang finally relaxes his grip. ]

Daozhang--

[ But that's when he remembers what's going on. He's not the nameless friend right now; he's still Xue Yang. Did Xiao Xingchen forget? Is it more of that effect? Regardless, he can't change his appearance right now. All he can do is work with this situation. ]

Do you really think of me as a dear friend?

[ Hopefully Xiao Xingchen doesn't think anything of him going along without questioning it at first. ]