"You did really well. Keep it up," Xiu Yuan praised her again.
"Eula, how did you make so many wave sounds with that little thing?"
Amber was brimming with excitement.
"It's not hard."
"Teach me, teach me! I want to learn too!"
"Sure, I'll teach you tomorrow."
"Yay, yay, yay! Awesome!"
Laughter and cheerful chatter filled their journey home.
Before they knew it, they were back home. Amber and Eula shared a bed, while Xiu Yuan slept in a separate one.
The next day.
A ray of sunlight slowly spread across the sky.
"Ha!..."
Xiu Yuan jolted upright, his eyes wide as he gasped for breath.
"It was a dream..."
"That dream again..."
Haunted by lone calamity, Xiu Yuan suffered nightmares from time to time.
And every nightmare was more or less the same.
Forget it.
Forget it all.
Xiu Yuan shook his head, pushing the nightmare from his mind, then turned his gaze toward Eula and Amber.
Seeing that the two were still fast asleep, he took a deep breath and tiptoed outside.
Behind the little house, he took off his clothes, which were soaked with cold sweat, and poured disinfectant over his back.
As the disinfectant washed over the wounds that had yet to heal fully, a searing pain spread through his back, like countless fine needles piercing his bone marrow.
He endured the excruciating pain without making a sound.
Yet just as the pain became unbearable, his mind suddenly shuddered.
"Urgh..."
Xiu Yuan immediately doubled over and fell to his knees, clutching his head with an agonized groan.
Karmic debt.
That damned karmic debt was eating away at his mind again, trying to seize his consciousness.
It always emerged when Xiu Yuan was at his weakest, when its chances of success were much higher.
His eyes were