Chi Zhou had never heard Xia Ye’s voice sound like this before. He was desperately trying to appear calm, yet every word that left his mouth trembled.

“Xia Ye.”

He placed a hand on Xia Ye’s shoulder as the black dragon, which had been circling overhead, slowly descended and curled protectively around them.

The ground was collapsing beneath their feet, cracking apart piece by piece before plunging into an unfathomable darkness. Not far away, the redwood forest was beginning to fall.

They didn’t have much time left.

Chi Zhou knew exactly what choice they needed to make.

“Xia Ye,” he called the young man’s name again. “Calm down. That’s not your sister.”

Xia Ye didn’t answer.

Before Chi Zhou had approached him, Xia Ye had already examined the person inside the core, scrutinising every detail without overlooking a single thing.

It really was his younger sister.

Her lips were pale pink, like cherry blossoms, and her skin was so fair it was almost translucent. Her light brown hair was the result of a congenital genetic disorder, and her wrists were so slender and delicate that they seemed almost fragile.

Wearing a thin white dress, his sister looked like a white dove with a broken wing.

Though black, viscous liquid overflowed from the extraterrestrial organism’s core, not a single stain marred her face. She looked exactly as she had when Xia Ye had seen her at school.

Her eyes remained closed. She simply lay there, quietly awaiting Xia Ye’s decision.

—

Xia Ye’s thoughts were in turmoil.

A golden wall suddenly appeared in his mind, and the memories that had once been fragmented came flooding back.

“Chi Zhou.” His voice was even hoarser than it had been that day in the black rain. “I remember now.”

“Go on, tell me.” Chi Zhou said.

His palm was dry and warm, and the familiar heat of his hand against Xia Ye’s shoulder helped steady him.

“Before I left for the mission, I went to see Xia Zhi at school.”

Xia Ye gripped the dagger in his hand so tightly that his knuckles turned white. “She asked me if I was going to the place where people turned into trees.”

Xia Ye raised his head to look at Chi Zhou, seeking confirmation.

“The details of a Special Operations Department mission wouldn’t be treated as gossip and spread all over the school, would they?”

Chi Zhou shook his head, keeping his hand on Xia Ye’s shoulder as though offering him something to hold on to.

“We can’t rule out the possibility that people have been discussing what happened in Longgu Town, but the Alliance has already restricted information about the town’s specific circumstances.”

His gaze settled on the person inside the core. This was the first time Chi Zhou had seen Xia Ye’s younger sister.

The girl was the very embodiment of delicate beauty, with a face as pure and innocent as an angel’s.

Even inside an extraterrestrial organism’s core, she remained pristine and untainted, which only made her seem more uncanny.

“Xia Ye, that’s not your sister,” Chi Zhou repeated. “The fact that she hasn’t been affected by the Leader’s influence is the best proof.”

“Are you sure?”

What Xia Ye truly wanted to ask was: Then what is she?

“I’m sure.” Chi Zhou’s expression was cold and detached. “This is a manifestation of the Leader’s consciousness. It’s one of their old tricks. I’ll explain it to you in detail when we have time.”

The long blade lifted a lock of the girl’s hair. Even with the cold steel hovering beside her, “Xia Zhi” remained asleep, showing no reaction whatsoever.

The blade severed a strand of her hair. The instant Chi Zhou lifted it away, the light brown strands crumbled into ash.

“She has no physical body,” Xia Ye said, his voice growing slightly steadier.

“That’s right. The Leader is exploiting your fear,” Chi Zhou replied. “Xia Ye, kill it.”

He spoke calmly, without the slightest trace of emotion.

Chi Zhou withdrew his hand and stood behind him.

“Xia Ye, don’t hesitate.”

There was something he left unsaid: Even if this really were your sister, you must not hesitate.

The Alliance’s ironclad rule was absolute: once a human was contaminated by an extraterrestrial organism, they were to be killed without exception.

—

Xia Ye raised the dagger.

He avoided looking at the girl’s face. It was almost indistinguishable from Xia Zhi’s, and he knew he couldn’t bring himself to remain cold and detached if he looked at it directly.

The blade pierced the white dress and sank into soft flesh.

For a fleeting moment, he could almost hear his younger sister cry out in pain.

The golden wall bathed in sunlight appeared before him once more, its image superimposed over his retinas.

Xia Zhi sat in the sunlight, smiling radiantly. “Gege, are you going to abandon me?”

Blood spread across his vision. Rubble and shattered walls crashed down in front of Xia Ye and Xia Zhi, and beyond the fallen stones, he could hear the roars of extraterrestrial organisms.

Xia Zhi had been wounded in the abdomen. Blood poured from her injury, staining her white dress crimson.

She asked, “Gege, are you going to abandon me?”

The District Twelve contamination incident, the golden wall, the tip of the blade piercing flesh, and Xia Zhi’s cries of pain all merged into one. A dull ache throbbed at Xia Ye’s temples.

The hallucination held him captive, leaving him unable to see anything else.

This was the Leader’s final attack. It had withdrawn all the energy from its territory and concentrated it within its core, unleashing an extraordinarily powerful mental assault.

In the void that had swallowed his vision, Xia Ye called Chi Zhou’s name.

“Chi Zhou,” he asked, “what should I do?”

“Point the blade downward,” Chi Zhou replied steadily. “Don’t stop.”

The Leader’s shrill screams filled Xia Ye’s mind, threatening to pierce his eardrums. Unbearable pain enveloped him, leaving his hands weak and powerless.

Someone grasped his wrist with a firm, forceful hand.

Chi Zhou spoke beside his ear. “Take a deep breath. Control the pressure.”

Xia Ye bit down on his lower lip, clenching his teeth so hard that they left a thin line of blood on the delicate skin.

The faint taste of blood spread through his mouth, bringing with it an unusual sense of clarity.

Ignoring his own suffering, Xia Ye followed Chi Zhou’s instructions without hesitation.

Guided by Chi Zhou, he drove the dagger precisely into the black heart.

—

In an instant, the earth shook violently.

The redwood forest, the black monolith, and the experimental pods scattered across the ground all vanished. A deafening roar exploded inside Xia Ye’s head as countless images flooded his mind, plunging his vision into complete darkness.

His knees buckled, and his body swayed unsteadily.

Chi Zhou had been keeping a close eye on him. The moment he noticed Xia Ye faltering, he reached out and pulled him into his arms.

Xia Ye froze for a moment, then turned his head away, feeling awkward.

He had almost no strength left. That final stab had felt as though the blade hadn’t pierced the Leader at all, but had instead been driven into his own body, leaving him utterly drained.

Chi Zhou slipped one arm around his shoulders and the other beneath his knees, lifting him effortlessly into his arms.

“Forgive the impropriety,” Chi Zhou said with impeccable courtesy. “The domain is about to collapse. I’ll carry you out first.”

Xia Ye’s vision had already been spinning. The sudden sensation of weightlessness made him instinctively clutch Chi Zhou’s collar.

“Chi Zhou,” he said, breathing heavily, “I can’t see anymore.”

“I know.” Chi Zhou’s voice came from above, carrying a soothing warmth. “Get some rest. Don’t exert your mental power any further.”

“But…” Xia Ye wanted to remind him that their mission wasn’t over yet.

“The mission is over,” Chi Zhou assured him. “You did very well. You’re the finest guide I’ve ever seen.”

Xia Ye fell silent for a moment before asking, “Really?”

“Really.” Chi Zhou tightened his arms around him, holding him more securely. “I’ll take care of everything else. Don’t worry.”

Xia Ye murmured an “En,” his voice as soft as a kitten’s mew.

Just before he slipped into unconsciousness, he heard Chi Zhou mutter, “You’re so young. How did you get to be such a worrier?”

Xia Ye wanted to argue, but the sweet darkness of sleep had already claimed him.

—

Xia Ye had a very long dream.

It had nothing to do with him; Xia Zhi was the protagonist.

Fog—vast, empty, ethereal fog—blanketed the entire city. Ruined walls and shattered buildings lay everywhere, while unfinished high-rises stood along the roads. Every now and then, a human silhouette appeared in one of their dark, hollow windows.

It was District Twelve, the place where he and Xia Zhi had grown up together.

Xia Zhi wore a white dress. She always wore white dresses, but this one seemed different from her usual clothes. Elaborate ruffles adorned the fabric, and delicate lace traced its edges. It looked like something that would never have belonged in District Twelve.

She kept walking, heading deeper into the vast, empty fog.

Xia Ye wanted to call out and ask where she was going, but she didn’t look back.

He quickened his pace, trying to catch up and grab his sister, only for his hand to pass straight through her body.

She had no physical form.

For the first time, Xia Ye noticed how tall she was. She stood only half a head shorter than him, almost the same height as someone her age.

It was strange. In his memories, Xia Zhi had never grown this tall. Her physical development seemed to have stopped in the year of the attack. Ever since then, she had barely reached his shoulder, her small stature making her stand out among a crowd.

Xia Ye began to realize that this was a dream—a dream that made little sense.

He ordered himself to wake up, but the dense fog surged toward him from every direction, swallowing his sister whole.

…

Xia Ye jolted awake and sat bolt upright, gasping for breath.

In the dream, the eerie fog had seemed to suck all the air from the world, leaving his lungs painfully constricted, as though they had been twisted into a knot.

He coughed violently, his fingers instinctively searching the space beside him. But his vision remained completely black, and he couldn’t see a thing.

His eyesight still hadn’t returned.

This was unlike anything he had experienced before.

His mental power was usually so abundant that he often struggled to control it when it went berserk. This time, however, the opposite had happened. After that prolonged battle, his Mental Domain had become like a dried-up well, with even the snow leopard curled up inside it, dozing.

Unable to expand his Mental Domain, Xia Ye grew increasingly uneasy in the darkness. His hand brushed against soft fabric, which felt like a bed.

Faint sounds came from nearby, as though someone were approaching him.

Still caught in the clinging remnants of his nightmare, Xia Ye sprang up, seized the approaching person’s wrist, and slammed him onto the bed.

His hand clamped around the man’s throat.

“Who are you?” he demanded sharply.

The man made no attempt to resist. Instead, he let out a soft chuckle.

“It’s me. Chi Zhou.”

Xia Ye didn’t loosen his grip. “Prove it.”

“Hmm…” Chi Zhou seemed to be thinking. “I’m not sure you remember what my face looks like.”

Someone gently took hold of Xia Ye’s fingers, treating him with the tenderness one might show an untamed cat.

The hand guided his fingers over the man’s eyes, nose, and lips before finally stopping at the Adam’s apple that rose and fell with each breath.

“Xia Ye, I’m entrusting my life to you.”

The hand holding Xia Ye’s wrist released him, leaving the vulnerable throat completely exposed. If Xia Ye wished, he could snap it with a single movement.

“Can you trust me now?” Chi Zhou asked.

Xia Ye’s breathing gradually settled. He released his grip, finally realizing just how absurdly he had reacted.

He was straddling Chi Zhou’s waist, their positions undeniably intimate.

Xia Ye didn’t know whether the lights were on in the room, but he instinctively turned his face away, not wanting Chi Zhou to see it.

“Quick reflexes.”

Chi Zhou wrapped an arm around his waist and sat up, smiling with his usual nonchalance. “I teach you how to fight, and you put your skills to use on me?”

Xia Ye’s ears grew hot. He suspected his face might have turned red as well.

“Weren’t you so bold just a moment ago?”

Whether intentionally or not, Chi Zhou’s fingertips brushed against Xia Ye’s ear as he rose.

“Why are you blushing now?”

The Author’s Note:
Guys, aren’t the romantic scenes sweet?!
Don’t panic! I’ll explain what happened to the little sister in the next chapter. Don’t worry, my little angels! qwq

 

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