Cat isn't so self-centered that he can't hear the reason for the question underneath words framed as being about him -- and maybe they still are, in some sense. After all, in his experience, Li Lianhua has never done much to dissuade company. Often, he invited it instead, whether through obvious hints dropped or the way he couldn't hide the way others amused and earned affection. Li Lianhua might cast himself aside readily for others, but to Cat it was clear that he longed for a better life together with someone, just as he did. Of course he would also look to another for reassurance or company when it came to taking his life into his own hands and raising it up rather than tossing it away like he had the last time he was in this position.

It still makes him laugh, albeit tiredly. He's no stranger to failed attempts or the next step being kept just out of his reach, having spent every last shard of ergo from not only his pockets, but Fox's deeper ones, and every bit of effort he'd held back over the years. The only thing that would make another failure different is that his hourglass will have run dry of sand by then.

"Not for me," Cat responds after another cough, and he doesn't manage the same softness that the other has. Just as Li Lianhua can't ask Cat to give up over the man's fears, he can't make Li Lianhua try using his own will to fight this unfair battle waged against him. "That just means everything so far was worth it, to get me here. All those terrible things I put my sister through... Besides, the absolute worst thing would be that it that really does work, but I decided never to find out. Then it really would all be for nothing."