"If possible, I'll do whatever I can."
Zhou Heng stood with his hands behind his back, meeting Han Qingshui's desolate, pleading gaze, his tone calm and steady.
He did not recklessly spout empty boasts such as "I will reverse everything" or "I will save your entire race."
Having reached his current rank, he had long since weathered the erosion of time and the baptism of immense despair. He knew full well that in a Trial like this, any rash promise would become a karmic shackle binding him.
Doing all he could and planning before acting had always been Zhou Heng's guiding principles. At this moment, this was also the most honest answer he could give the heartbroken village chief, and the one most satisfactory to both of them.
Even so, upon hearing this seemingly restrained yet immensely weighty promise, more than half the once-bottomless despair and gloom on Han Qingshui's face, formed from gentle water and transparent bone, vanished in an instant.
An irrepressible smile of relief slowly spread from the corners of her lips, like spring water breaking through ice.
Although she could not fully fathom Zhou Heng's capabilities, the mere fact that he could remain unharmed and composed in this fallen world was enough for her to stake the last faint hope of her entire race, and even their whole future, on this young human.
"Big sister! Human big brother! The water's here!"
Just as the heavy, oppressive atmosphere in the courtyard began to ease, a boy's cheerful cry, clear as a silver bell, suddenly rang out from the road outside.
Little "Ci Shui" held a transparent bucket larger than his own body steadily in both hands. With quick, short steps, he rushed straight into the wooden house's courtyard like a merry breeze.
The bucket was filled with