Volume One Chapter Twenty-Nine: Reunion

Beads of sweat dripped from his brow, scattering among his hair as Mode flexed his fingers, easing the numbness lingering from the last clash. The bodies of the Gate-Taming Mist Beasts, comparable to those of the Second Awakening realm, were incredibly tough. Had he not been fortunate enough to break through earlier, he might never have finished off these two Gate-Taming Mist Beasts so swiftly. Golden light flowed between his fingers, growing upwards at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye. In past missions, he could only rely on his unreasonable physical prowess to contend with Gate-Taming monsters; even when victorious, the wins were always pyrrhic. To end a battle so easily as now was an experience entirely new to him. Yet Mode’s heart grew heavier, for though his strength had improved, the man who once shielded him was gone.

He scanned his surroundings, confirming that the elite students had engaged the Receiving Mist Beasts, while the others worked together to repel those below the Receiving realm. Mode felt a measure of relief, then turned to observe the distant battlefield.

The escort troops had gathered there, using firepower and their lives to halt the advance of the Mist Spider Spirit. Gunfire spat, spells thundered, blood splashed; eight blood-red wheels crawled steadily closer. This was a Mist Spirit that had broken through its second awakening, reaching the pinnacle of the Outer Transformation realm.

The Mist Spider towered over twenty meters, its eight seemingly slender legs, each over a meter thick, alternately striding forward with slow, powerful motions. About ten minutes earlier, the beast horde within the mist had gone mad, the defensive line breached by this Mist Spirit Spider, unleashing a tidal wave of Mist Beasts upon the school bus defense perimeter. Amidst the chaotic melee where the buses served as barricades, Mode had covertly eliminated the two strongest Gate-Taming Mist Beasts, ensuring no further casualties. Now, the students’ impromptu defensive line had stabilized somewhat; the wounded were being tended to, but the crisis brought by the Mist Spirit was far from resolved.

Mode was no stranger to battlefields or the sight of blood, yet death had always been separated from him by an invisible, insurmountable barrier. Now, what he heard were screams and sobs; what he saw were friends and classmates, once laughing together, now fighting and bleeding. What he felt was the oppressive presence of death inching closer. He raised his hands, the golden light flickering between his fingers seeming pale and powerless at this moment.

Taking a deep breath, Mode gathered his scattered thoughts. The golden light ceased its flow, instead concentrating at his fingertips, ten golden arcs dancing as his fingers moved.

Li Changsheng was no longer by his side, but the others remained. The living before him were still fighting desperately to survive.

He had lost his support, drifting aimlessly through his days. Now his fate was uncertain, wandering without knowing where to go. But at this moment, he resolved to win a bit more time for those who still lived.

As tides ebb and flow, as years wash away travelers, he feared death—yet he loathed the thought of facing it alone after witnessing it swallow all life around him. That loneliness brought memories of his infernal past.

Faced with the choice between death and solitude, unable to carve out a third path, he chose the former. For after loneliness, there is only death.

“This time, I must do it myself,” Mode murmured, tilting his head as if speaking quietly to someone.

Behind him were blood-soaked classmates; ahead, the shadow of war.

Beside him, no one.

He tapped his toe lightly, then leapt toward the eight blood-red lanterns glowing through the distant mist.

“Mode...” Su Ziwen suddenly felt a tightening in her chest, turning toward the battlefield obscured by mist. Aside from the flickering firelight and those giant crimson eyes, she could see nothing more.

“Ziwen! Don’t space out!” Ji Keqing shouted urgently, kicking away a dog-shaped Mist Beast lunging at Su Ziwen.

“Oh... All right.” She withdrew her gaze, forcing herself not to think further, though ripples of worry still stirred within her heart.

“You... don’t do anything reckless.”

...

After contacting the reinforcements one last time, Zhu Xiaoyu slammed her radio to the ground. The expected reinforcements had been blocked by the sudden surge of Mist Spirit Beasts, leaving only self-rescue as the solution. She ordered a sergeant to distribute all melee weapons and some firearms to the students, not caring how many could actually use them.

Her wind abilities billowed her cloak as Zhu Xiaoyu ordered all awakened troops to unleash ranged attacks without regard for losses, determined to slow the Mist Spider’s rampage.

Among the troops, besides Zhu Xiaoyu, a Gate-Taming peak, there were three Gate-Taming awakeners and 180 soldiers who had completed a single awakening. Facing a Mist Spider whose strength surpassed their own by an entire realm, every soldier was prepared to stake their lives to buy time.

After all, with death looming, they couldn’t let the children behind them walk ahead. Many among them had children of similar age.

Compared to the battle between students and Mist Beasts in the rear, this battlefield was far bloodier.

The enemy was singular, but some had already exhausted their powers and stamina, left only to unleash machine gun fire at the crimson vortex.

Black spears gleaming with barbed armor appeared silently, as if wielded by death itself; what followed was but a moment of pain and eternal darkness.

184, 183... 152, 151... 139, 138...

The numbers were cold, the blood was warm. In the mist, six red moons grew ever clearer. As suppressive firepower waned, the Mist Spider’s steps accelerated, eager to slaughter these meddlesome insects and then seek its final feast of flesh.

Zhu Xiaoyu had long depleted her reserves, the backlash of ten rapid “Wind Roar Bombs” left her head splitting, but each blast was blocked by the spider’s black forelegs, forcing the massive body back but inflicting no real harm.

Dizzy from overusing her abilities, Zhu Xiaoyu glimpsed a fleeting shadow approaching the monstrous beast.

“Is that... reinforcements?” She pressed her forehead, struggling not to collapse, as the lone Gate-Taming vice-captain supported her.

Mode concealed his aura and breath, his movements ghostly and swift. He deftly dodged spells and the giant claws, pressing himself against one of the blood-red moons, stabbing out with all five fingers, sharp and fierce. The Mist Spider Spirit failed to notice his rapid approach until he was upon its eyes. Its slender claws tried to intercept, but it was too late.

His strike was like piercing layers of armored glass; the spider’s tough cornea nearly foiled him, barely tearing open a narrow seam. Red mist began to seep from the damaged membrane, but Mode had no chance to strike again and widen the wound. The spider, as if a living creature, writhed madly from the sudden injury, flinging Mode away with a tremendous force before he could attack with his other hand. Of its six giant eyes, each over two meters across, the lower left began to dim, while the others burned even redder. Starved of its master’s vital energy, every wound only fueled its dying life-force.

Mode crashed to the ground, the Mist Spirit Spider’s overwhelming power instantly injuring his proud physical body. He struggled to his feet, blood pouring from his mouth and nose. Watching the wild, eight-legged monster nearby, Mode understood the vast gap in strength between them.

Even with a surprise attack, he’d barely wounded its vital point, while a casual blow from it left him battered and broken. As the injured eye faded completely, the spider ceased its rampage, five red pupils fixed on Mode, palpable murderous intent licking at his skin.

Hunched, coughing blood, Mode raised his head to meet the furious beast. He pulled from his chest a small dark green vial inscribed “Azure Tide,” placing a pill in his mouth, ready to bite down—his final lifeline. Even a whole and uninjured Mode could only buy a little more time.

A frail human looked up, greeted by five blood-red moons hanging in the dark.

Mode suddenly felt regret—not for being a moth to the flame. Weakness was his failing; fighting was his choice.

He only regretted not saying goodbye to those people, regretted that he would sleep alone in eternity.

Li Changsheng, so independent, still bade him farewell before leaving.

Yet Mode was to rush to his end, unable to say goodbye to those in the tide, his classmates, his landlord sisters, or that troublesome fellow.

“The black fire ahead... you’ll have to figure it out yourself,” he muttered, bloodied, a faint apologetic smile tugging his lips. His teeth pressed, shattering the green pill.

Suddenly, something stirred in his heart and Mode inexplicably looked higher.

A beam of moonlight broke through the mist, falling silently but faster than the spider’s lunging forelegs.

No, it was not moonlight, but a figure bathed in moonlight.

A streak of silver pierced the darkness overhead, extinguishing the fiery blood moons. The Mist Spider’s massive form shuddered, frozen in place, its raised foreleg suspended midair as if that silver light had locked it in time.

Mode gaped, stunned, recognizing the descending moonlit figure.

The silver-white silhouette landed lightly, then collapsed backward, raising a cloud of dust.

Mode, too shocked to hesitate, quickly swallowed half the shattered pill to mend his body and rushed toward the fallen moonlight.

The Mist Spider’s form began to collapse and dissolve into mist, its massive body crashing down with the loss of its eight legs.

...

Clutching the person, Mode barely managed to escape the collapsing Mist Spirit, gazing at Mu Qing’s battered, unconscious form in his arms. He hesitated no more, pressing his lips to hers and transferring the remaining fragmented pill into Mu Qing’s mouth.

The potent medicine soothed Mode’s wounds but seemed barely enough for Mu Qing. Leaning close, he still heard the strong heartbeat and steady breath, finally able to relax. He lifted Mu Qing in his arms and headed toward Zhu Xiaoyu and her squad.

At the cloud layer high above the mist, a petite figure confirmed there were no further complications below, then turned and flew deep into the Qinhuang Mountains.

...

“I am Mode, a second-year student at Tianshui High. This is my cousin...” Before Zhu Xiaoyu could question him, Mode preemptively invented an identity. The crisis had been resolved thanks to the two before her, and Zhu Xiaoyu still couldn’t fathom how they had slain such a formidable Mist Spirit, but she didn’t press for answers. The priority was to count the casualties and begin the return journey.

The soldiers still capable returned to the school bus perimeter, helping students clear out the remaining Mist Beasts. Mode was assigned to a relatively intact vehicle to care for the unconscious Mu Qing.

He placed Mu Qing on the seat, gently moved the tea-colored sunglasses from her face, and as expected, though unconscious, her brows were furrowed in pain. Black flames were already seeping from her tightly shut eyes. No wonder she felt hot in his arms before.

After her desperate battle with the Dog Diagram, Mu Qing had exhausted herself to reseal the black fire, but injured and delirious from the Mist Dragon fight, she could barely maintain the seal.

“Mode...” A whisper shattered Mode’s image of Mu Qing; he still preferred her strong, unyielding demeanor.

Descending from the sky with overwhelming force, she had shattered his death sentence.

For a moment, her silhouette overlapped with that of another, but Mode knew this time his survival was mere coincidence. The era of facing every crisis with ease, of having someone erase all accidents for him, was past. If he was not strong enough, would he have to close his eyes and pray for Mu Qing’s arrival again whenever death threatened?

Moreover, someone as powerful as Mu Qing could still be gravely wounded by unknown dangers. If the miracle humans prayed for was destroyed first, what were the petitioners to do?

Faced with the giant spider, Mode had chosen to confront death; yet the silver moonlight had dispelled his shadow of demise, letting him taste once more the joy of being alive.

He longed for strength—enough to protect everyone around him, enough to face all surprises and crises calmly, just as that person had. He wanted to be strong enough never to be suffocated by loneliness again.

“Never rely on anyone. Always believe in yourself,” he softly recited the last lesson that person had taught him.

A fire called “desire” leapt into the depths of his grief, anger, unwillingness, and powerlessness, slowly burning, taking root and sprouting.

“Mode...” Another weak, determined whisper came from Mu Qing, as if searching for something even in her sleep. Mode was moved, kneeling beside her.

“All right, all right, I’m here.” Mode gently stroked Mu Qing’s cheek, guiding the black fire from her sunglasses into the black cord around his wrist.

Sensing the relief, Mu Qing curled up, her hands flailing as if reaching for something, her soft cries revealing fragility and unease.

After some hesitation, Mode placed his left hand in Mu Qing’s bandaged hands.

Like a drowning cub grasping a drifting branch, Mu Qing clung tightly to Mode’s left hand, no longer trembling, her breathing growing steady.

Shielding the weirdness of the black fire and the cord, Mode appeared simply to be soothing a sister after a nightmare.

After a long time, the sounds of battle and explosions faded, Mode ceased guiding and absorbing the black fire, withdrawing his left hand from Mu Qing’s embrace. He took the blanket Zhu Xiaoyu had prepared and covered Mu Qing.

“The area is cleared; we’re ready to depart,” Zhu Xiaoyu, still weak, approached, handing Mode a bottle of nutritional supplement.

“I’ll go report to the class leader,” Mode replied, setting the supplement by Mu Qing’s bedside and returning to the school bus circle.