I'm Not a Flame-Chaser

He pressed down on the candy on the skewer, pulled out the wooden stick, and then walked quickly toward his landlord's son, who had his back to him.

"Elder brother..."

Chen Tianwen saw Chen Tianwu, his face contorted in a ferocious expression, walking towards them. She immediately realized what he intended to do and cried out, "Brother, no..."

"Click".

Chen Tianwu twisted the landlord's son's head, and the moment the other man saw him, he raised his hand and stabbed the wooden stick into his eye, pressing the end hard with his palm until it was completely embedded in his brain.

Amidst the screams and the landlord's son's cries of agony, the gray-haired boy, panting heavily, stared at the boy on the ground, writhing and struggling like a fish out of water, his eyes bloodshot.

Then he bent down, picked up his sister who was covered in mud, and ran away without looking back.

The "Rebirth" of the Sky: Chapter Twenty-Four - I Don't Want to Die

Is it a dream?

A mocking self-question echoed in my mind.

Leaning against the door frame, Chen Tianwu stared at his own hands, still questioning himself. He blamed himself for not noticing sooner, and scenes of Awen's well-behaved and sensible nature played out in his mind.

"Knock knock knock!"

The heavy knocking was filled with resentment.

Chen Tianwu glanced back at the bathroom that Awen was still using, then nimbly climbed up the ceiling, arrived at the door, and looked outside.

The landlord knocked on the door with a menacing look on his face, with two local police officers standing behind him.

The landlord is a good person. He gave Chen Tianwu and Awen a house to live in. Doesn't he know what his son has done...?

Chen Tianwu did not regret what he had done at all. Just as he calmly observed the situation and then quickly returned to the bathroom door, after discovering the truth, Chen Tianwu, with his quick thinking, recalled some of the landlord's previous unusual behaviors and realized that the landlord had known what his son had done all along.

Chen Tianwu's only regret was that he hadn't beaten up the landlord's son again. He wanted to repay Awen for all the bullying he had suffered.

Suppressing the growing rage in his eyes, Chen Tianwu knocked on the bathroom door. "Awen, are you done showering?"

"Ah... um, brother... I heard something outside..."

"Never mind," Chen Tianwu replied coldly. "Hurry up and get dressed, we're leaving."

"Good."

The knocking outside the house grew more and more intense. After trying the key, the landlord discovered that Chen Tianwu had secretly changed the lock from the inside. He roared angrily, while the police began to ram the door.

"Thump!"

The door was kicked open, and the police rushed into the room, but they didn't arrest anyone.

In the still-steaming bathroom, the blurry mirror displayed the words: "Have a pleasant life, Mr. Landlord."

"Brother, where are we going?"

"A warm place."

Where is a warm place?

"It's a place where you can eat your fill, sleep soundly, and not feel the cold in winter or the heat in summer."

Does such a place exist?

Chen Tianwu had no doubt that such a place existed.

But he couldn't go, and neither could Xiaowen.

Places where you can eat your fill and sleep soundly are inaccessible to people who need to eat and sleep.

Chen Tianwu occasionally wanted to complain about his bad luck, or as the Shenzhou saying goes, "Heaven is blind"... but he felt it was pointless. People should have realized tens of thousands of years ago that Heaven was blind, and continuing to complain now was just wishful thinking.

Chen Tianwu simply didn't know where they could have gone.

He didn't want Awen to suffer with him.

Holding her clean and dried Houmei, the little girl shyly held her brother's hand as they walked through the bustling city.

"Are you tired, Awen?"

Chen Tianwu patted Chen Tianwen's head, placed her on a bench in the commercial street, and forced a smile.

It's probably not a very nice smile.

"I'll go buy you something to eat. Wait for me here, I'll be right back."

"Good."

The place to buy food wasn't far, just around the corner. Chen Tianwu wanted to run quickly to buy it, but out of the corner of his eye, Awen gradually disappear.

Her petite figure.

Her innocent and carefree smile.

She kept calling out... "Brother..."

I hate this world.

But I have no choice but to live in this world.

Apart from Awen, this world is just an empty shell, a piece of waste with lies and falsehoods as its outer shell and nothing inside.

Awen cannot live in such a world.

If...

This world has disappeared...

How wonderful that would be...

"Brother... where are you... brother..."

Night Owl stood cold-handed before the ruins of the underworld, his heart-wrenching cries echoing through the collapsed buildings, but soon they weakened, leaving only low sobs.

"Ah... Wen..."

His dark blue pupils trembled and contracted, as if they would shatter at any moment.

Along with the colors of the world, and the girl under the building, her legs crushed, trembling with fear as she hugs Houmei.

"Awen!"

Unable to control his emotions, Night Owl knelt down in front of the girl, reaching out his hands to grab wildly, but he couldn't touch his sister whose eyes were filled with tears and fear. His hands passed over her scarred body, feeling an emptiness just like a man's heart.

It's been more than two years.

More than two years have passed. Night Owl thought he had accepted the fact that his sister died in the Manila Honkai. He tried his best to live on, investigating the truth of the Manila Honkai, hoping to fill the emptiness in his heart. But after seeing what Awen looked like at that time, he burned all his pretense to ashes.

"Help! Someone, please help her!"

Knowing full well that this was nothing more than a phantom existing in the past, the man named Chen Tianwu still screamed hysterically, his voice wandering aimlessly in a dirty and broken world.

He remembered Anna, who was nearby, and he heard Chen Tianwen's cries for help. He looked hopefully at the chestnut-haired girl walking into the ruins, panting heavily.

Save her quickly.

Save her!

Chen Tianwu knew Anna's kindness and courage; she would never let him down. She was his savior, and she would definitely be Awen's savior too!

Even if... she ultimately failed to save Chen Tianwen.

Even if... in the end it was still beyond saving.

But... Anna... please... even if it's just acting... give me a little hope.

Let me know... that this world isn't all that terrible... that I have other reasons to live...

"This is a photo of my sister, Chen Tianwen. I hope you can look for her during the search and rescue operation."

"She..."

"..."

Chen Tianwu would always recall the hypocritical demeanor of his landlord and his son. They were ugly and shameless, two-faced. After Chen Tianwu their actions, he remembered their past pretense and saw through it.

So... why... did he now recall the scene where Anna didn't agree to help him find Chen Tianwen and refused to take back the necklace?

Raven recognized Chen Tianwu's insightful abilities; he was often able to anticipate situations and act ahead of time.

But Raven was also dissatisfied with Chen Tianwu's laziness, as he often failed to do things that were feasible.

Just like Chen Tianwu always deceived himself, even after knowing the truth, he still used a despicable manner to pray to Anna, who did not exist.

"Brother... where are you... brother..."

I'm here.

"Big sister... please save me... I don't want to die..."

I don't want you to die either.

"Waaah... I want to... go to... a warm place..."

"I don't want to die..."

"I... don't... want... to... die..."

Chen Tianwu knelt before the girl who was slowly losing her life. He didn't know when Anna left. He just stared numbly at the person who was once called Chen Tianwen, whose pupils had lost their color, becoming just another insignificant member in this hell filled with corpses.

"I... want to die..."

He hugged his head, curled up, and couldn't even cry out.

The "Rebirth" of the Sky: Chapter Twenty-Five - First Rated Power

"Class President... and Lin..."

Kiana's brain was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information and couldn't process the shock of what she was seeing. The two people who had been closest to her during this time had actually known each other for 50,000 years?!

"If you don't know who to live for, then live for me."

For some reason, she recalled the vague voice she had heard in her dream.

Those memories didn't belong to her; they came from another person's broken past, a past that could no longer be recalled.

The Class President... has amnesia... She and Lin are both warriors from 50,000 years ago... They carry different missions...

The clues to the two people's identities were now strung together, forming a complete picture in Kiana's mind.

Could such a coincidence really happen? It turns out that the Class President's comrade-in-arms had been right beside her all along, but she didn't recognize Lin, and Lin couldn't see her either...

Upon witnessing this scene, seeing Lin walking towards the penniless girl in the apocalypse, Kiana stood there blankly with her arms hanging limply, unsure of what to think.

Instead of being jealous of the past, we should think about what to do next.

The icy voice shattered Kiana's immersion in the projection from 50,000 years ago. She snapped out of it, shook her head, and looked at Yan Luo, who had his arms crossed, in a panic. "W-what's with the jealousy...?"

She wasn't jealous at all. What she saw about Lin and Fu Hua's past was more of a shock, and jealousy... well, maybe a little bit?

Kiana couldn't help but keep looking at the two of them. She couldn't imagine how Fu Hua had grown from this lost little girl into a warrior who seemed to have abandoned all human emotions. Just thinking that the two of them knew nothing about their tumultuous 50,000 years made Kiana feel breathless.

This world has never changed, not 50,000 years ago, and not 50,000 years from now.

"The sense of spatial anomaly in this area has intensified; something must have happened."

Upon hearing what Yan Luo said, Kiana's Herrscher Core also vaguely sensed something, and a resonance-like energy reaction came from not far from them.

"Oh dear... it seems I've escaped unscathed."

A blade carrying a strong aura of death was drawn from its white scabbard and pressed against the pale neck of the person behind him. The person smiled calmly, showing no fear of being on the verge of death.

"It's you?" Kiana frowned. She hoped it was Lin who appeared, but clearly not everything goes as planned.

Rita, who seemed to be in good spirits, chuckled and raised her hands to indicate that she meant no harm and would not resist, at least not now.

"I'm sure Miss Kiana knows how to leave this place, or perhaps..."

Rita glanced at Yan Luo's astonishedly cold face, then narrowed her eyes meaningfully. "This young lady is the one who guides us."

"Heh, I haven't even settled the score with you for secretly notifying Durandal to capture me last time, and you want me to save you again this time?" Kiana's smile was less sarcastic and scheming than Yan Luo's and Rita's, but her sincere smile made Rita's face stiffen. "Miss Maid, you've run into this yourself this time, so I have no obligation to take you away."

"Miss Kiana, you're joking. If you had a way to leave and didn't want to bother with me, you would have left long ago. Why would you be staying here?"

Rita understands Kiana better than Kiana herself. Although Rita has done many things to hurt Kiana and her companions, Kiana cannot stand by and watch life slip away. When she has the ability to help, she will not hesitate.

"Have you finished talking nonsense?"