[ He wants to believe him. He doesn't want to believe him. There's a very real war going on inside of Xingchen. Xue Yang has done so many things, killed so many people. Do their lives simply get erased? Do their deaths not matter? Yet, what alternative does Xingchen wish to achieve? Does he want Xue Yang to die? Would that return a single life lost? Imprisoned? It would assure there wasn't more blood on those hands, but if he's really changed, hasn't that reduced the risk of violence?

It's all so confusing. The feelings he developed for his mysterious friends are real. The laughter, the delight, the gratitude he felt to have the man by his side. In those years, to Xingchen's knowledge, he hasn't resorted to his own ways. Now, to hear Zichen has been working with him, even with Zichen being the one who was hurt the most... ]

If...if what you say is true, I don't seek your death, Xue Yang.

[ Even those words are foreign on Xingchen's tongue, but he can easily hear himself say an alternative to the man who was by his side in Yi City:

It would pain me to lose you.

How can both of those things be true at the same time? ]

All I'd wanted was for you to turn your back on your ways.

[ To spot killing people. ]

Now, you say you have? And Zichen has seen it?

[ Xingchen has seen it.

While veiled in doubt, there's an opening, an offering in there, a relenting. Xingchen isn't sure how he'll handle the information, but it's not immediate rejection. ]