Weakness and armor

The more Qin Miaomiao looked at his outfit, the more he liked it. His black straps matched Lei Ouyan's perfectly, making them look like proper partners. His little cloth bag held several weapons Hao Yin had given him, supposedly as freebies. But I didn't buy anything from him. Was this his way of thanking me for spending a month as his errand bunny? Maybe Hao Yin could be a decent guy sometimes. With half a carrot between his teeth, he lay with his legs crossed on Lei Ouyan's back, not even having to walk. Maybe this was the legendary "Didi Thunder."

Lei Ouyan glanced sideways at him, but Qin Miaomiao didn't notice. Suddenly, he jolted and fell to the ground. He immediately sprang up, on guard. What happened?!

Lei Ouyan looked down at him. "Had enough to eat?"

Qin Miaomiao rubbed his stomach. Pretty much.

"I'm hungry."

Qin Miaomiao didn't understand. Looking up, he noticed something strange in Lei Ouyan's eyes and hurriedly covered himself. Fine, you're hungry, but why are you looking at me? You're not planning to eat me, are you?

"That's an option."

Qin Miaomiao never stopped to wonder how Lei Ouyan could understand him. He was too terrified. He really wants to eat me!

Lei Ouyan crouched, resting his arms on his knees, looking nothing like he was joking. "Go find something to eat."

Where am I supposed to find food?! Qin Miaomiao looked around. This had probably once been a lively village, with neat rows of houses lining the road like a medieval settlement. Now nobody lived here. Everything was dilapidated, deserted, and bleak. The wind carried hollow echoes, making it feel like a haunted house.

Qin Miaomiao shivered and turned back to Lei Ouyan with pleading eyes. How could there possibly be food here?

But Lei Ouyan wasn't buying it. His voice remained level, not remotely threatening. "If you won't go, rabbit is the only thing left to eat."

Fine, I'll go! Qin Miaomiao stalked forward angrily, looking back every few steps, but Lei Ouyan showed no intention of calling him back. This is infuriating. He doesn't think of me as a friend at all! I'm just a little piglet he carries around, ready to slaughter whenever he wants a meal.

Qin Miaomiao checked the sky. The sun was nearly down, so he quickened his pace. His new battle outfit was much lighter than the old one, and he had adjusted to it faster. A few bounds brought him to the village entrance, where a stone tablet stood. Years of weathering had blurred its inscription. Only after careful scrutiny could he make out part of it. It seemed to read, "The lamp we light..."

Qin Miaomiao felt as though he had seen those words somewhere before. He peered into the village and went inside.

Sure enough, thick dust coated the houses' interiors. Apart from broken, rotting furniture, there was almost nothing inside. Qin Miaomiao accidentally bumped something, and a section overhead immediately collapsed. Crumbling masonry fell, nearly hitting him.

Lei Ouyan sent me to find food somewhere this dangerous? Is he even human?! Qin Miaomiao shook off the dust. Suddenly, his ears pricked up. He seemed to have heard something-a human voice.

He looked toward it.

Lei Ouyan had sent Qin Miaomiao away on purpose.

He walked a little farther, turned into an alley, and continued inward until he reached a detached little house. He pushed open the door. A pungent odor hit him. The room was empty except for a table and a basket in the corner whose contents he couldn't make out.

With a creak, the inner door opened.

Lei Ouyan looked over. Someone lay crawling on the floor, though they could barely be called human anymore. Emaciated and dressed in rags, their sex was impossible to determine. They crawled out slowly, then lifted their head. Their features had sunken inward, making them look like a shriveled corpse.

They laboriously reached out a hand, as though begging Lei Ouyan for help.

Lei Ouyan frowned without moving. The next instant, the person's hand shot out, lashing toward him like a whip. Lei Ouyan dodged. The hand instantly split into five strands along its fingers, each with a different attribute and color representing metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Like five living creatures, they attacked him together.

This thing was no longer human at all.

The room was too cramped for Lei Ouyan to maneuver, and he soon struggled to hold his own. A gray finger wrapped around his right hand with enough force to seemingly twist it off. Gritting his teeth, he leaped up. Luckily, he still had some tools Hao Yin had given him. He ignited a flame. The finger recoiled, but immediately began absorbing the fire and gradually turned red.

Lei Ouyan seized the chance to break free and retreat. A sphere had appeared in his hand at some point. He threw it into the corner, and a reinforced barrier sprang open, temporarily trapping the mutant like a cage.

Lei Ouyan finally had a moment to pause. Every mutant had a weakness. At first, he had thought the five attributes counteracted one another, but there was more to it. They could instantly absorb each other's attributes: water became fire, fire became metal, metal became wood. They restrained one another while also nourishing one another.

In other words, its weakness was also its armor. Meeting it head-on wasn't a good strategy. Besides, it had only used one hand so far. Its strength with both was easy to imagine.

The quickest way to deal with it was to locate its core.

Unhurriedly, Lei Ouyan wrapped cloth around his hand. When he raised his eyes again, he seemed like a different person, an intimidating aura enveloping him. At the same moment, the barrier shattered, and the mutant surged toward him again.

Explosions thundered, and smoke filled the air. Nobody could see how the battle inside was going.

Night had fallen. Following the sounds, Qin Miaomiao reached a bamboo grove filled with eerie, dense mist. He hesitated before entering.

Inside, he saw a little boy. Dressed in rags and carrying a basket on his back, the boy was digging something out of the ground. Looking closer, Qin Miaomiao thought they seemed to be winter bamboo shoots.

Qin Miaomiao was puzzled. Wasn't it summer? Why were there winter bamboo shoots? And why was there a human here?

The boy noticed him too and turned around. His skin was dark, his face dirty, and his eyes a deep color that somehow made him look especially innocent. Rather than appearing surprised to see a rabbit, he addressed him like an old friend. "Are you looking for food too?"

Qin Miaomiao hopped over.

Holding a hoe, the boy looked intensely serious, yet his movements were exceptionally gentle, as though he were unearthing a long-lost treasure. It took him ages to dig up each shoot before carefully placing it in his basket.

Only then did Qin Miaomiao notice how unusually long his fingers were.

"Would you like one too?" the boy suddenly asked him. Qin Miaomiao hesitated, then nodded.

"Then let's look over there."

But... Qin Miaomiao had sensed a powerful mutant presence as soon as he entered. Yet that presence vanished whenever he approached the boy, as though he stood in the eye of a storm.

Seemingly unafraid, the boy walked straight ahead. Suddenly, a howl rang out, and a spectral green light appeared in front of them. It was a Three-Headed Hyena. It bared its fangs, clearly ravenous and drooling over the two morsels before it. Yet it seemed wary of something and never dared approach.

Maybe my imposing presence scared it off, Qin Miaomiao thought shamelessly, despite being terrified himself.

The boy showed no panic whatsoever, as though he were merely looking at an ordinary roadside tree. He turned to ask the rabbit, "Are you scared?"

Qin Miaomiao's back was soaked. How could I not be? I wouldn't have come in if I hadn't seen a human here.

"But you used to be the same, didn't you? Why are you afraid of it?"

The boy's tone was mechanical and flat, devoid of emotion, but his question stunned Qin Miaomiao. He couldn't tell whether the boy had seen through his mutant nature or meant that the mutant had once been a little animal too.

Uneasy, Qin Miaomiao even stumbled over his thoughts. Because it'll eat us.

"It won't." The boy seemed able to understand him. Tilting his head, he asked, "Then do you want to save it?"

Qin Miaomiao found this increasingly unsettling. He glanced at the mutant and shook his head.

The boy smiled, revealing porcelain-white teeth. "Okay."

Suddenly, with a bang, the Three-Headed Hyena exploded, its body blasted into pieces. Qin Miaomiao didn't even have time to see what had happened. He only heard a rolling sound before one of its heads came to rest beside his feet.

He instinctively backed away, only to see a vine crawl out of the ground and coil around the head.

"Are you sure you don't want to save it?"

The boy asked again. Qin Miaomiao didn't respond. The next moment, the vine seemed to come alive, piercing the mutant's head and consuming it until only a puddle of filthy water remained.

Qin Miaomiao stared, dumbstruck. Throughout it all, the boy remained expressionless, like a puppet. Only then did Qin Miaomiao realize why the mutant presence around them was so faint in a place saturated with it. It wasn't because of Hao Yin's defensive weapons.

It was because of this boy. Something was protecting him.

"Don't you have anything you want to protect?" the boy asked. Qin Miaomiao shook his head, then suddenly thought of Lei Ouyan. But what protection did he need?

He could protect the whole world.

"Let's go." The boy didn't pursue the question. Qin Miaomiao hesitated, then followed him.

They hadn't gone far when a tremendous explosion rang out. Turning, they saw flames soaring over the village, sparks shooting almost into the heavens, as though burning a hole through the sky. The moon seemed on the verge of falling.

Qin Miaomiao's ears snapped upright. Lei Ouyan! For the first time, an expression appeared on the boy's face too. Panic-stricken, he dropped his basket and raced toward the village.

By the time they arrived, the house had already exploded. As the smoke cleared, Lei Ouyan stood covered in blood. The mutant was little better off, its five fingers temporarily retracted as it lay on the ground, barely able to move.

A brief stalemate followed. Lei Ouyan seized the chance to raise his gun and pull the trigger.

"No!" the boy shouted, running toward them. Lei Ouyan turned his head and met Qin Miaomiao's eyes.

He hadn't wanted the rabbit to see this, to witness such a cruel, merciless side of him. But now it didn't seem to matter anymore. He coldly looked away.

Qin Miaomiao stood stunned, unsure how to react. He knew the creature on the ground was a mutant, but the boy was human. The boy spread his arms in front of it, gazing pleadingly at Lei Ouyan.

Only then did Qin Miaomiao see the boy's human side. Lei Ouyan, however, seemed unconcerned. His sole objective was to eradicate the mutant. He showed no intention of stopping.

Lei Ouyan!

Qin Miaomiao shouted inwardly. Lei Ouyan seemed to hear him and paused. In that brief opening, a vine burst from the ground and instantly wrapped around Qin Miaomiao.

In a blink, it dragged him over, then plunged underground and vanished.

Lei Ouyan lowered his gun. Something rolled to his feet. Looking down, he saw an apple-the food the rabbit had found for him. But where was the rabbit? He seemed to see that same look the rabbit had given him in the botanical garden: timid and terrified.

He knew the rabbit feared him, but this was who he really was. He couldn't hide it, and he couldn't keep that rabbit either.

Qin Miaomiao got a mouthful of dirt and nearly choked to death. Clutching his chest, he coughed for a long time before finally catching his breath.

He looked around. They were beside a lake, its banks lined with unfamiliar plants resembling reeds. Under the moonlight, however, they took on a faint pink hue, like a nose reddened by winter cold. They swayed gently in the breeze, as though brushing against the heart. Even time seemed to soften.

The boy said this place was called the Red Cottonwood Forest. It was well hidden. Nobody would find them here.

He was cleaning the mutant's wounds. The mutant showed no aggression now, leaning against a tree trunk. Apart from one finger wrapped like a rope around Qin Miaomiao's foot, it looked like an ordinary human nearing death.

Qin Miaomiao could tell that this was what had been protecting the boy in secret.

"I'm sorry," the boy suddenly said. "But I can't let your friend hurt him, because he's my friend. His name is Brode."

Qin Miaomiao paused and looked at Bruce. He seemed to be asleep, his eyes closed, breathing like a human.

Perhaps he really had been human once.

"Yes." The boy really could hear the rabbit's voice. Sitting beside him, he said, "We used to be good friends. Then the mutants came. He was eaten by one while trying to save me."

"But he didn't die. He was inside the mutant's body. When he saw it coming to eat me, he ate it from the inside. That's how he became like this." The boy recounted it calmly, without hatred or pain, as though those emotions had been diluted through the days and nights he had spent with Brode.

"But he hasn't turned bad. He still remembers me and keeps protecting me."

But...

Qin Miaomiao wanted to say that he was still a mutant, but couldn't get the words out. Subconsciously, he had always believed all mutants lacked reason and knew only slaughter and violence. Everyone in this world said the same thing: mutants had to be eradicated.

But this one was different. He had someone to protect, and even emotions of his own.

"Do you have to kill him?" the boy asked. "He's never killed a human or done anything wrong. Does he have to die just because he protected me?"

Qin Miaomiao didn't know either. But he knew Lei Ouyan would find this place soon. He had a tracker on him. Finding them wouldn't be difficult.

In this chaotic world, he was only a rabbit powerless to do anything.

Seeing his hesitation, the boy stood and went to Brode's side, leaning against him like two fruits on the same stem, depending on each other for survival. "It's okay," he said. "Whatever happens, I'll stay with him."

The Red Cottonwood Forest was so well hidden because the Fog Forest surrounded it, home to countless mutants. Brode had always been like a lion king here, allowing the boy to live safely.

But now Brode was wounded and barely alive. Mutants began stirring, baring their fangs and staring fixedly at them from the shadows, as though they might pounce at any moment.

The atmosphere grew increasingly tense. Brode seemed to sense it too. Slowly waking, he let out a piercing roar, and the restless sounds instantly fell silent.

But only for a moment. Soon they resumed, and some creatures, unable to restrain their hunger, charged. Brode destroyed them just before they reached the group. They seemed to be inside a safe circle, but that circle was clearly shrinking. The mutants drew ever closer, about to breach the barrier.

To the mutants, the rabbit and human weren't the only temptations. There was also Brode, who contained immense power.

The rabbit seemed to realize something. He suddenly stood and told the boy, I'll lure them away. You can escape while they're distracted, but you have to release me first.

"Them" included both mutants and humans.

The boy didn't understand. "Why?"

Qin Miaomiao's eyes suddenly became resolute. Because I'm not like them, he said. I have things I want to protect and cherish too.

Brode's roar offered little deterrence, but it also alerted the people outside.

"Did you hear something?" Li Weisen raised his hand, and the group stopped. The instrument in the technician's hands behind him suddenly began beeping toward a particular direction.

"There's an extremely strong mutant reading over there."

"I see it." With a long cigarette between his lips, Li Weisen climbed off the motorboat and looked at the solitary figure ahead. "Wherever he is, mutants are never far away."

Lei Ouyan stood straight ahead, his gaze icy as he stared at the forest before him.

Li Weisen approached and glanced at Lei Ouyan, noticing his injuries. "Looks like you've already fought it. But it's hard to imagine a mutant escaping you. You let it go on purpose, didn't you?"

Besides, Chris's intelligence had identified it as a level II mutant. A level II mutant was nothing to Lei Ouyan. It shouldn't have injured him this badly.

Unless...

Realization struck Li Weisen. Could it actually not be level II? The mutant readings were probably so strong they disrupted the signal. Communications with headquarters were malfunctioning, and for the moment he couldn't reach them.

Lei Ouyan showed no reaction whatsoever to his arrival. He had already started walking straight into the forest.

"Fuck!" Ignored again, Li Weisen burned with anger and shouted after him, "Do you know how strong the mutant readings are in there? Are you trying to get yourself killed, going in like that?"

But Lei Ouyan didn't listen. He had always been like this. Death was no threat to him. He had nothing to fear.

"Madman!" Li Weisen muttered furiously, yet followed him anyway.

No matter how formidable a human was, escaping a wolves' den was difficult. Besides, Lei Ouyan had just fought a battle, and his stamina and condition had deteriorated considerably. Handling the attacks took some effort.

And the reason the Fog Forest bore that name and had become a mutant stronghold was that, for a very long time, nobody who entered had ever made it out.

Li Weisen stayed close behind him, unable to understand why he had charged inside so recklessly. They had only traveled a short distance, and he was already panting.

Li Weisen leaned against a tree trunk, only to discover that the tree was a mutant too. He was nearly swallowed when a white blur flashed under the moonlight, shooting toward him like a bullet. The mutant behind him immediately fell.

The white blur landed. Li Weisen blinked, thinking he had seen wrong. It really was that rabbit! A curse hovered on his lips, but something seemed off. Had this rabbit always been so strong?

And somehow, he gave Li Weisen the impression of a rabbit version of Lei Ouyan.

Qin Miaomiao ignored Li Weisen. In a few bounds, he reached Lei Ouyan and dealt with the mutant behind him.

Lei Ouyan froze slightly when he saw him. He hadn't expected the rabbit to return willingly. Qin Miaomiao had no time to concern himself with anything else. Their situation couldn't have been more dangerous.

He called, Follow me, and led the way. Thanks to his keen senses, they temporarily shook off the mutants. But the Fog Forest was enormous. Apart from Brode, even Qin Miaomiao couldn't easily find a way out.

The boy had warned him before he left. But Qin Miaomiao had plunged inside without hesitation anyway, because he knew Lei Ouyan was in there. He had come to find him.

They found temporary shelter in a safe spot-a cave. Lei Ouyan was badly injured. Qin Miaomiao took the pills Hao Yin had given him out of his bag and placed them in Lei Ouyan's hand. But they could only relieve the pain temporarily.

Li Weisen had some emergency medicine too and tossed it over with a stony expression. At some point, his attitude toward Lei Ouyan had softened considerably, though he couldn't understand why. Thinking of him as a murderer still filled him with indignation, yet a tiny voice suggested that perhaps he really had misunderstood something.

Li Weisen couldn't be bothered to think about it. He fetched some branches and built a fire.

Lei Ouyan tended his wounds while Qin Miaomiao sat beside him, looking afraid even to breathe, as though he were the injured one. Li Weisen rolled his eyes so hard they nearly disappeared. "I'll keep watch outside and look for a signal to contact Chris."

Neither of them acknowledged him. Fuck. Li Weisen couldn't be bothered to argue and went outside.

To Lei Ouyan, these injuries weren't anything serious. He finished treating them quickly. The rabbit looked as though he hurt more than Lei Ouyan did.

Head lowered, seemingly casual, he suddenly asked, "You let them go?"

Qin Miaomiao froze, guilty yet defiant. I only did it because I wanted to come back and find you.

Lei Ouyan looked up at him. "So you did that on purpose back then too?"

He meant what had happened in the village. This time, Qin Miaomiao had nothing to say. He had shouted to draw the mutant's attention, making himself its target and reminding the boy to take him hostage.

But he had been a little afraid then too-afraid Lei Ouyan wouldn't care whether he lived or died and would fire anyway.

Fortunately, he hadn't. At the thought, warmth suddenly surged through Qin Miaomiao, and his nose stung. It felt as though it had been ages since someone had cared about him like that.

"Why did you do it?"

Because they aren't bad people either... Qin Miaomiao thought. In truth, he didn't know whether he had done the right thing. There hadn't been time to think so much. Besides, he was just an ordinary rabbit. Perhaps he would never be able to see the bigger picture, only the small bonds and kindnesses right in front of him.

After all, he had always followed his heart's first instinct completely. Otherwise, he wouldn't have followed Lei Ouyan.

Lei Ouyan smiled and asked no more. The moment the rabbit returned, none of it had mattered to him anymore.

Lei Ouyan looked outside. Everything was pitch-black, with occasional cries from wild beasts. Suddenly, he said, "Maybe we can't help him at all."

Why? Qin Miaomiao looked over.

"Because humans will stop at nothing to achieve their goals."

In the conference room at NAT Base headquarters, Damon watched the footage of Lei Ouyan fighting the mutant for the fifth time.

Chris stood beside him. Initially, she hadn't understood what Damon meant, but she increasingly felt something taking shape. Suddenly, realization flashed through her mind, and she looked at Damon in surprise. "This mutant..."

"A level III mutant. A Five-Element Beast."

Human historical records contained information about certain mutants, including the Five-Element Beast. In legend, it was a fierce beast resembling a pixiu, with five extraordinarily long fingers representing metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Its energy was boundless and inexhaustible.

One had appeared seventy years ago, when humanity hadn't yet fallen into despair. They captured the Five-Element Beast, confined it, and treated it like a mine, extracting considerable amounts of gold.

Later, somehow, the Five-Element Beast disappeared. Some said it had died; others said it had been released. Nobody knew where it had actually gone.

Nobody had expected another to appear now, much less one in human form.

Damon braced both hands on the table. "So, to find a water source, we only need to make him set water as his primary attribute."

"But how do we do that?" Chris did not quite understand. The Five-Element Beast turned into fire when he encountered fire, and earth when he encountered earth. If they wanted him to turn into water, where would they find water when it was already so scarce? Surely they could not soak him in water. That was clearly impossible.

Unhurried, Damon played the video again and paused it at the end. He tapped the table with a finger and said slowly, "We just need to find him."

Then he added, "And use fire."

The boy was on the screen.

Chris immediately understood what he meant. She froze for a moment. "But he's human."

"One person." Damon's face was expressionless, his voice as cold as ice, without a trace of hesitation. "In exchange for the survival of all human civilization. Surely you know which to choose, Executive."

But... Chris fell silent. If she were merely an ordinary person, she would choose that child without hesitation. But now the survival of humanity rested on her shoulders. She had no choice at all.

Chris gritted her teeth. "Understood."

So they were going to capture the boy, lure Brode out, and force him to turn into water? Qin Miaomiao finally understood. He grew frantic. But they've never hurt anyone. Why would you do this?

Lei Ouyan had no way to explain so much to a rabbit, nor could he soothe him in his current state.

Qin Miaomiao immediately turned and ran out, as though he could find the boy. He plunged headfirst into the night.

Li Weisen also learned the truth through the communicator. He had never imagined that they could not even find a water source, and would ultimately pin their hopes on a mutant.

Li Weisen came in, his expression much more serious, and asked Lei Ouyan, "What do we do now?"

"If they can't find the boy, they might burn this place down."

Li Weisen stiffened. "You mean this forest?"

Indeed, a small fire would not require much water. They needed to create a vast blaze that could not be extinguished, so that there would be an endless supply of water.

Something suddenly occurred to Li Weisen. "Then what about us?"

"Do we matter?"

Li Weisen's heart sank. However arrogant he usually was, however exalted his status, he understood that he was merely an ordinary person. In this world, anyone could be sacrificed at any moment, including him.

He had simply never wanted to face that fact. Lei Ouyan was different. He seemed to have understood it all along, which was why he placed so little value on his own life.

"Are you willing to accept that?" Li Weisen suddenly asked. "Even so, my life is my own. It's not theirs to decide."

"So I'll hold on until the very last moment." He turned, then added, "Lei Ouyan, I know you've always thought your life didn't matter. You've never taken it seriously. You've even wished someone would come along and end it for you. But things are different now."

He fell silent for two seconds. "Even if he's only a rabbit, seeing you hurt hurts him too. I don't think he'd want to watch you throw your life away."

Just then, a red glow filled the distant sky. Flames raged, and the air was thick with the smell of scorched trees. The mutants also began rampaging wildly.

Qin Miaomiao stopped at the cave entrance. He had not expected them to come and set the fires so soon. If they did not get out now, they would either burn to death or be trampled by mutants.

And the mutants had already found this place. Mutants were not wild animals that feared fire. Some grew fiercer in its presence and became even harder to fight. Others fell from the sky like sparks, quickly setting whole stretches alight. The entire forest burst into flames in an instant. They were trapped in the heart of the blaze, with almost no way out.

The searing heat and suffocating air alone were enough to kill them, never mind that Lei Ouyan was gravely injured and Li Weisen was almost out of strength.

The two men and the rabbit moved side by side, ready to carve a bloody path out, but the mutants kept coming like water from a tap. Li Weisen seized a chance to send a distress signal, then killed a mutant with a backhand slash.

In an instant, another Three-Headed Hyena lunged at Lei Ouyan. He staggered and was knocked straight to the ground.

"Lei Ouyan!" Qin Miaomiao turned and cried out. He rushed over and drove his little dagger into the hyena's body. The hyena fell to the ground, twitching uncontrollably, then instantly dissolved into a puddle of filthy water.

This was the first time Qin Miaomiao had truly killed a mutant. His eyes widened, and his hands were still trembling, but he had no time to dwell on it.

Lei Ouyan lay on the ground, seemingly unconscious, with only the faintest awareness remaining. Qin Miaomiao ran over but could not wake him, while Li Weisen had his hands full. The flames around them grew fiercer.

The rabbit gritted his teeth and activated his combat suit's flight mode, trying to carry Lei Ouyan into the air. But he was only a rabbit, and the flames above were even more scorching. Before he could rise half a meter off the ground, he could not hold on any longer. Man and rabbit fell to the ground. Qin Miaomiao desperately tried to grab Lei Ouyan's hand again when, suddenly, something wrapped around him.

The next second, everything went black. He heard Li Weisen scream as well, then lost consciousness.

Qin Miaomiao was the first to wake. He looked around and discovered that he was inside a ring of fire. Above him was an enormous cage, and the person inside it was the boy.

Qin Miaomiao froze. He had been caught after all! Where were they now?

"I asked Brode to save you. Your companions are outside, at the human camp. They're both fine."

Qin Miaomiao understood and hurriedly asked, "Then where's Brode? They want to use you to force him out. Why didn't you hide?"

"I know." The boy was neither surprised nor afraid. As long as Brode was safe, nothing else mattered to him. He said, "He's fine right now. He won't come out."

Qin Miaomiao breathed a sigh of relief, then asked, "Why did they catch you? Can Brode get you out?"

The boy shook his head. "Brode is a mutant. He can't go near this cage."

Only then did Qin Miaomiao notice that this cage was specially designed to imprison mutants. It had something on it that was lethal to them. However powerful Brode was, the boy would never let him take that risk.

What could they do now? Something suddenly occurred to Qin Miaomiao. He hopped up, trying to open the cage, when Lei Ouyan's voice abruptly rang out.

Qin Miaomiao turned to look at him, thinking he had come to stop them. He was about to continue when the boy said, "He's afraid you'll get hurt."

But I'm not...

Qin Miaomiao froze. In that brief pause, Lei Ouyan had already walked over. He opened the cage easily and helped the boy out. Only then did Qin Miaomiao notice how terribly pale he was. Even his lips had lost all color.

He must have rushed over the moment he woke, as though he had known from the start what Qin Miaomiao would do.

Qin Miaomiao followed them, only then realizing that they were inside a tent. They seemed to have established a camp here, preparing to capture the Five-Element Beast in one fell swoop.

Everyone guarding their tent lay unconscious at the entrance. Clearly, Lei Ouyan had done it.

In the distance, they could still hear Li Weisen raging. Several Executives were being berated in front of him. "Do you know who I am? Did you know I was in there? You knew, and you still fucking set it on fire! You knew, and you didn't even send a fucking helicopter to pick me up!"

Everyone's attention had been drawn over there, making this side seem particularly quiet.

The ground slowly stirred, like a beating pulse. Lei Ouyan glanced at it and said, "Go a little farther before coming out. It's too easy to be spotted here."

Qin Miaomiao led the way. He did not know how far they had walked, but he was sure they were safe enough here. The burning forest was not far away. Only from outside could he see how ferocious the blaze was, filling almost his entire field of vision. And the flames kept spreading, devouring more and more.

Qin Miaomiao felt a chill of fear. If the Five-Element Beast had not come to save them, they might already have been reduced to ashes. But he did not actually know why the boy had sent the Five-Element Beast to rescue them.

The boy withdrew his gaze and suddenly asked, "Back then, you said you had things you wanted to protect and cherish too. Besides him, you meant me as well, didn't you?"

Qin Miaomiao paused and glanced back. Lei Ouyan had not followed them; he was waiting beneath a tree.

Qin Miaomiao shook his head. "Not you. The bond between you and Brode."

The boy smiled. It seemed to be the first time he had smiled so sincerely. "Thank you."

Qin Miaomiao did not understand what he meant, but the boy offered no explanation. He only said, "Me too. That's why I have no regrets."

He looked into the distance. Flames danced in his pupils as though alive, and at last he seemed to take on color too, vivid and fiery red. "We know what they want to do. Brode and I won't regret it."

Qin Miaomiao did not understand and looked at the boy with concern. But the boy only smiled, said goodbye, and disappeared into the night.

Qin Miaomiao felt hollow inside. He remembered that he had not even had a chance to ask the boy's name. But it was too late now.

"Let's go," Lei Ouyan called from ahead. Qin Miaomiao turned and ran toward him. He had meant to jump onto him, but seeing how weak he was, he gave up.

The next second, his ears hurt. Lei Ouyan bent down, picked him up by them, and placed him on his back. Qin Miaomiao paused, unable to stop the corners of his mouth from lifting, but he still secretly switched on his flight device, trying to make himself lighter.

Lei Ouyan turned his head to glance at him, and the corners of his lips rose almost imperceptibly too.

It rained the next day. Qin Miaomiao saw the stone tablet at the village entrance again. After a night of rain, the dirt on it had been washed away, finally revealing the complete inscription.

It was a poem-

I wait for the wind from the plains

I wait for the tidings brought by the clouds

When the jasmine-leaf curtain flutters, the roses will appear

I watch the people passing by

I wait for the lamp to be lit, to shine on those I love, and those who love me.

Only then did Qin Miaomiao realize what had happened. He finally understood what the boy had meant that day when he said he had no regrets.

He had never seen the wind from the plains arrive, nor the roses on the windowsill. The lamp had never been lit.

But what he cherished was Brode, and this world teetering on the brink.

That rain fell for ten full days, and water suddenly began seeping from the ground as well. Fifteen days later, the rain stopped. The world seemed transformed. A winding river now stretched from the Red Cottonwood Forest to the main city, its clear waters rushing onward without pause, like an endless stream of tears.

But no one would ever know that his original name was Brode, blood, a wound in this world dripping with fresh blood.