
blimarch:
"Xiang Liu smiled until his eyes were slits “I don’t want to know!” " > So, he certainly knew...
In chapter 48 he clearly distinguishes between removing the bugs and killing the bugs. He was never able to remove the bugs. He didn't know how to, because it wasn't possible to do. And he didn't want to know how to remove them.
But he did know how to kill the bugs (something only he, a person with multiple lives, could do), which would break the connection in a way that would hurt him but not XY. He says that he never lied to XY about not knowing how to remove the bugs, and that XY can't blame him for her not asking the right question (i.e., not asking him if he knew how to kill the bugs instead of knowing how to remove them).