Duty

Youcheng, a street steeped in blood.

Hua Yin had just withdrawn his Tang Blade from the neck of an out-of-control bar security guard. The breeze stirred by his pale butterfly wings scattered the splattered filth.

Sun Haoran warily sniffed out the next energy fluctuation, while Zhao Tiezhu kicked open a twisted car door, dragged out the trapped mother and son, and escorted them behind a relatively safe convenience store.

"Thank you... thank you!" The shaken woman clutched her child and bowed repeatedly.

Hua Yin merely nodded slightly, his gaze already fixed on the street corner in the distance where glass was shattering.

"The next point is over there. Move."

The three-man team advanced swiftly through the spreading chaos like precise cleaners.

Hua Yin's use of the Pale Bewitching Butterfly had grown increasingly skillful. The Jade-Bladed Mantis's sharp traits worked in tandem with the Nether-Ring Viper Queen's consciousness-swapping ability, often dismantling the seemingly fierce attacks of the out-of-control victims in an instant and striking directly at their weak points.

Their efficiency continued to rise amid the life-and-death fighting.

Just as they crossed an intersection littered with wrecked cars and shattered storefronts, preparing to turn into another alley where cries for help could be heard, Hua Yin suddenly caught sight of a familiar and detestable figure from the corner of his eye.

Across the street, panicked crowds were fleeing from a half-destroyed twenty-four-hour pharmacy.

Amid the chaos, a young man in a dirty, ill-fitting coat, his hair disheveled and his face covered in scrapes and fear, kept his head down as he desperately squeezed deeper into the crowd, trying to hide himself among the flow of people.

Chen Xu.

Hua Yin stopped for a second.

Why was he here?

Shouldn't he have been detained at the Special Affairs Bureau?

Had he escaped amid the riot in the detention area?

Chen Xu had clearly seen Hua Yin as well—or rather, the Special Affairs Bureau field uniform and Hua Yin's stern profile.

The color instantly drained from his face. His eyes widened in terror as though he had seen a ghost. He suddenly hunched his neck and shoved even harder through the crowd in the opposite direction, even knocking over an elderly person in his way, wanting only to escape Hua Yin's sight as quickly as possible.

"Hua Yin?"

Sun Haoran noticed his hesitation and followed his gaze. He saw Chen Xu too. "That kid... shouldn't he be locked up?"

Zhao Tiezhu spat. "Damn it, he must've escaped when things went to hell underground! Should we..."

Hua Yin tightened his grip on the hilt, his eyes flickering.

In an instant, countless images flashed through his mind: his mother Li Xiulin's tearful accusations, Chen Xu's arrogant provocations, the venomous look in his eyes when he was detained...

Catching him now would be effortless.

But just then—

"Help! Monster! The monster got in!"

Farther away, a woman's shrill scream rang out from the middle floors of a residential building, accompanied by the thunderous crashes of heavy objects smashing into walls and glass exploding.

A bloated, misshapen shadow could vaguely be seen moving past a window.

Captain Wang's hoarse but urgent voice came through the communicator as well. "Hua Yin's team!"

"Blue Bay Apartments in Block Seven reports multiple out-of-control victims breaking into the residential building. There may still be a large number of un-evacuated residents inside! Top priority! Provide support immediately!"

Duty and personal grievances, saving the many or capturing one person—the answer was obvious.

Hua Yin hesitated for only an instant.

He gave one last look at Chen Xu's bedraggled back as he vanished around the corner, then turned away decisively.

"Mission first."

His voice was utterly calm, as though the person he had just seen was merely an irrelevant passerby. "To Blue Bay Apartments."

Sun Haoran and Zhao Tiezhu immediately acknowledged and followed his lead.

Zhao Tiezhu still glared resentfully in the direction where Chen Xu had disappeared, but he understood that now was not the time to dwell on it.

The three figures swiftly sped toward the new crisis point, temporarily casting their personal grudges aside.

Soon after.

Panting and stumbling, Chen Xu ran back to his own townhouse villa.

The guard booth at the neighborhood entrance was empty. The guards had likely fled to take shelter or maintain order elsewhere.

He made the entire trip in terror, afraid that Hua Yin or someone from the Special Affairs Bureau would come after him. Only after he shakily unlocked the front door with his fingerprint, slammed it shut behind him, and slid down against the cold door panel did he feel as though he had gotten half his life back.

"Mom! Mom!"

"I'm back!!"

"Xiaoxu?! Is that Xiaoxu?"

Li Xiulin's tearful voice came from the living room.

She clearly had not slept either, worrying herself sick the entire time.

When she saw her disheveled son collapsed on the floor by the entrance, she froze for a moment before bursting into overwhelming joy and heartache.

"My son! You're back! You're finally back!"

Li Xiulin rushed over and knelt before Chen Xu, her trembling hands touching the scrapes and grime on his face. Tears instantly welled up in her eyes. "Did they hit you? Did they abuse you? How did you get out? Do you know your mother was worried sick?"

Still shaken, Chen Xu was overwhelmed by his mother's tears. All his grievances, fear, and lingering dread surged up at once, and he burst into tears. "Mom... Mom... I almost died!"

"The Special Affairs Bureau is full of monsters underground! They hit me and locked me in a dark room... I escaped during the chaos. I almost got killed!"

He rambled through his sobbing account, half-truthfully exaggerating what he had endured and doing his utmost to portray himself as an innocent victim.

Li Xiulin's heart twisted in agony as she blamed Hua Yin and the Special Affairs Bureau for everything. She tightly hugged her son. "You're back. You're back, that's all that matters!"

"Your mother is here. No one can hurt you anymore! That jinx, and all those black-hearted bastards, will get what's coming to them!"

The mother and son embraced and wept at the entrance, acting out a deeply moving reunion after disaster.

The warm lights shut out the distant sounds of chaos beyond the windows, making this place seem like a safe haven.

Yet in an unnoticed corner amid that warmth—

Inside Chen Xu's slightly rolled-up cuff, a faint milky-white speck of light, so dim it was almost impossible to notice, quietly moved.

It was the tiny crystalline spider that had entered the Special Affairs Bureau's underground levels, "visited" Scarface King, and wandered through the detention area's pipe network for who knew how long.

No one knew when it had hidden itself on Chen Xu. Perhaps it had clung to him in the chaos, or perhaps it had attached itself deliberately.

It silently crawled up Chen Xu's arm, passed through the gap between the embracing mother and son, and lightly leaped onto Li Xiulin's loose hair.

Li Xiulin noticed nothing. Still immersed in the overwhelming emotions of having her son back, she gently patted his back and comforted him in a low voice.

The little spider moved swiftly through her hair until it reached her ear. It paused, as though confirming something.

Then its threadlike legs gripped the rim of her ear, its crystalline body contracting slightly as it aimed at her ear canal—

And silently crawled inside.

Li Xiulin's body gave an almost imperceptible shudder. Her brows furrowed slightly, as though she had felt a faint itch or something strange.

But that slight discomfort was quickly buried beneath the intense emotions of being reunited with her son. She did not even raise a hand to scratch at it.

The little spider disappeared completely into the depths of her ear canal.

A few seconds later, the hand Li Xiulin used to pat Chen Xu's back seemed to stiffen almost imperceptibly for an instant. Her eyes also went slightly unfocused for a moment, but she quickly returned to normal, tears and concern unchanged.

No one saw it.

Outside the windows, the city still burned, and distant explosions rolled like muffled thunder.

And within this seemingly safe, warm home, a more sinister and far less noticeable "seed" had already been quietly planted.

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