Yin Chao smiled and gently stroked the soft strands of hair on top of Ois's head.
"Of course not."
After speaking, he turned to look at the chairman at the front, who had already returned to normal.
Yin Chao stood up. His frame was frail, but the contempt and anger in his eyes toward these people were nothing a child should have possessed.
The chairman instinctively retreated behind the worshippers. "Seize him! Sacrifice him to our Lord!"
Like rabid dogs receiving an order, the worshippers surged forward, their faces burning with fanaticism, threatening to engulf the two surrounded figures.
Ois broke free of the ropes, stood up, and gathered Yin Chao into his arms.
He was like a sturdy shell, shielding him from their punches and kicks.
Listening to his muffled grunts, Yin Chao said quietly, "You really don't have to..."
He had meant to finish with "restrict my movements," but that sounded a little too cold.
Instead, he took the opportunity to curl up in Ois's arms and pull out the scroll.
This time, he didn't want to set any rules. He simply wanted these brainwashed, rabid dogs dead.
The moment he took out the black scroll, thick fog rose around Yin Chao.
Gray-white mist filled the entire hall, so dense that no one could see their own hand before their face.
Someone shouted that the doors were locked. Others screamed as the crowded, panicked mob trampled them into mangled pulp.
Only Yin Chao and Ois could see clearly.
The boy slowly straightened, looking around in terror, but his hand still held Yin Chao's tightly.
Suddenly, the hand in his began to feel different.
As a child, Yin Chao had looked like a little girl, his hand as soft as a cotton doll's.
But the hand of the eighteen-