Hui Tian Ch40

Chapter 40

Be the first pair of saving hands

---

6:30 AM, Central District Specialized Hospital for Evolutionists.

With a whoosh, the glass door was pushed open, and the few staff members in the on-duty lobby looked up in astonishment. A fully armed team rushed in. The man leading them, in a black suit and white shirt, was sharp, capable, and had a refined face—it was none other than Shenhai City Supervisor Shen Zhuo.

“Wh-what is this?”

“This is an A-level security area, Supervisor Shen, you can’t go up!”

The on-duty guards snapped back to their senses and immediately surrounded them to block their path. However, Shen Zhuo said nothing and strode towards the stairs. His operational team pushed the guards aside without another word. “Get out of the way!” “Official business!”

“This is the central district, not your Shenhai! You can’t force your way in!”

“Quick! Report to the Central Supervision Office, quick!”

The spacious and quiet duty lobby instantly descended into chaos. A guard lunged for the emergency phone, but before he could even pick up the receiver, Shen Zhuo, from a distance, drew his gun without turning his head—

Bang!

The phone exploded into pieces, and the chaos instantly fell silent.

“The Ten Supervisors have global law enforcement authority. Anyone obstructing official duties will be detained on the spot.” Shen Zhuo walked briskly up the stairs, turning his head to order his men, “Lock down the hospital, no one in or out. Helicopter on standby on the roof.”

“Yes, sir!”

This perennially quiet and heavily guarded Evolutionist hospital was completely breached in an instant.

The Central District Supervision Office, having received the air-raid siren, was still racing over with sirens blaring, but all the hospital’s passageways were already swiftly secured by Shenhai’s heavily armed forces. In the dim pre-dawn sky, a roar grew from far to near, and a massive helicopter with the Shenhai emblem slowly landed on the hospital roof.

A rush of footsteps came quickly up the fire escape, and then the door was thrown open. Shen Zhuo, along with Luo Zhen and Yang Xiaodao, strode through the corridor. At the end, the door to Special Care Ward No. 1 had a name tag—Su Jiqiao.

Suddenly, Luo Zhen let out a gasp. “Isn’t that…”

On the bench in front of the ward door, a figure slowly rose. It was Yue Yang.

“I guessed you’d be here around this time.” Yue Yang gave a faint smile. “No matter how hard Nielsen tries to stop you, it’s useless. You will definitely find a way to save that Bai Sheng.”

Perhaps because of the stark white light overhead, Yue Yang’s face looked somewhat desolate, but Shen Zhuo paid it no mind. “Are you going to continue to stop me?”

“…I just don’t want you to take the risk.” Yue Yang looked at him deeply, a trace of pain in his eyes. “Shen Zhuo, I’ve known you for five years, and I’ve never seen you go this far for anyone…”

Shen Zhuo cut him off coldly. “I have to go in and draw Su Jiqiao’s blood now. What can you do?”

Yue Yang fell silent, his face in shadow looking like a chiseled stone statue.

After a moment, he said slowly, “…Then I’ll have to make a move.”

Shen Zhuo wasted no more words with him, turning his head to order, “Yang Xiaodao.”

Without a word, Yang Xiaodao casually dropped the ridiculously large backpack from his shoulder to his feet. The concrete floor shuddered with a boom.

Yue Yang narrowed his eyes slightly. The boy’s expression was one of silent defiance. His body was lean, typical of a growth spurt, but his muscle lines were deep and his body fat percentage was frighteningly low. He opened the backpack and pulled out two heavy objects, casually tossing them to the ground.

Clang!

Clang!

A cold, sharp light glinted under the lamps. They were a pair of steel-forged half-finger gauntlets.

The boy put on the gauntlets and flexed his fingers a few times. With a heart-stopping bang, he slammed his fists together, and a terrifying, crackling arc of electricity shot between the two gauntlets!

Shen Zhuo pointed at Yue Yang and said coldly, “Stop him.”

Before his voice had even faded, the boy shot through the air like an arrow. Yue Yang instantly dodged to the side. A roaring current of electricity brushed past him like a released venomous dragon, blowing the entire ward door off its hinges.

“Overestimating yourself,” Yue Yang said in a low voice, catching the second punch that came at him with a boom. The ground beneath his feet exploded, and a huge gash extended all the way to the end of the corridor!

The entire hospital shook from the tremor of the two strong A-classes fighting in close combat. Shen Zhuo walked through the billowing smoke and dust and strode into the ward. The life support systems by the bed trembled continuously from the shaking ground, letting out rapid, beeping alarms.

On the bed, Su Jiqiao lay with his eyes closed, completely unaware.

He had the kind of face that made people feel he was gentle and kind at a glance, with a jade-like complexion and slightly curly black hair. The severe injuries he had sustained in the Qinghai explosion were no longer visible. Time had frozen for him for three years, as if it had never moved forward.

This person’s face was worthy of an A-class evolution. The medical staff’s movements would subconsciously become gentler when they came in every day. However, Luo Zhen showed no such sentiment, skillfully taking a needle from the blood collection kit. “Supervisor, how much should we take?”

“…”

Shen Zhuo looked down at the innocent face and, after a moment, said softly, “…If I had drained him dry earlier, none of this would have happened.”

Luo Zhen tactfully stopped asking questions and plunged the needle into a vein in Su Jiqiao’s arm. A continuous stream of dark red liquid quickly flowed through the tube into the blood bag. It was soon completely full, and then they heard—BOOM!

With a huge bang, Yang Xiaodao was sent flying through the doorway, his body crashing through half a wall!

Yue Yang strode in through the swirling dust and grabbed Yang Xiaodao, who was lunging at him. He was clearly enraged from the beating, but he instinctively held back from using heavy force against a minor. In that thousandth of a second of hesitation, the blood-crazed Yang Xiaodao landed a vicious punch on his cheek. With a crack of bone, a spray of blood shot from between his teeth.

Wee-woo, wee-woo—

Outside the window, the sirens of the Central Supervision Office’s vehicles grew closer. Shen Zhuo yanked out the blood collection needle. “Go!”

Luo Zhen quickly packed away the blood bag. Yue Yang caught a glimpse of it and was about to snatch it, but the moment he moved, he was intercepted by Yang Xiaodao. The boy was like a ferocious beast, his red-rimmed eyes filled with a terrifying, bloody light.

—In that three-second stalemate, the roar of a helicopter approached from mid-air, and a rope ladder was dropped outside the window with a swoosh.

Bang! Shen Zhuo decisively shot out the glass. Luo Zhen, in perfect coordination, leaped out the window with the blood bag, grabbed the rope ladder, and climbed up. Shen Zhuo then pointed his gun at Yue Yang and ordered Yang Xiaodao, “Go!”

However, the beast, having tasted blood for the first time, ignored the command. His eyes were filled with ferocity, the veins in his neck throbbing as he stared fixedly at Yue Yang.

With a bang, Shen Zhuo fired a shot at the boy’s feet and snapped, “Yang Xiaodao!”

Yang Xiaodao snapped out of it as if waking from a dream. He realized what he was doing and, without another word, vaulted out the window and quickly climbed up to the helicopter.

Only Yue Yang and Shen Zhuo were left in the wrecked hospital room. The latter retreated step by step to the window, gun raised, while Yue Yang had no intention of pursuing him. The publicly acknowledged young and promising director of the Central Supervision Office stood amidst the ruins, wiped the blood from his lips with the back of his hand, gave a bitter laugh, and raised his hands to show he had given up.

“Are you really so sure you won’t die in the second dream?” he said dejectedly. “Or are you so desperate to break ‘Daydream’ that you’re willing to risk trading your life for his?”

Shen Zhuo put away his gun and said faintly, “Why are you and Nielsen so sure that I will die in the second dream?”

Yue Yang said futilely, “You are one of the Ten Supervisors. Your life is far more important than one S-class. Your importance to the current peaceful situation…”

“Is that so?” Shen Zhuo cut him off, seeming to find it somewhat laughable. “So your obstruction just now was entirely out of consideration for the peaceful situation? Not a single selfish motive?”

The sirens in the distance were rapidly approaching. Below the hospital building, the Central Supervision Office’s cars screeched to a halt one by one, their red and blue lights flashing.

The wind blew in from the window, ruffling Yue Yang’s hair.

“…If there were no selfish motives,” he finally said in a low voice after a long while, “I wouldn’t have hidden it from everyone and waited here for you all night alone.”

Though for years it had been an open secret, a fact they both knew without saying, admitting it out loud was always different, especially under such difficult and sour circumstances.

“…And you?” Yue Yang paused, looking up into Shen Zhuo’s eyes. “You’re willing to die to break ‘Daydream’. Are you really just being self-sacrificing, with no selfish motives at all?”

“—What is your selfish motive, Shen Zhuo?”

“Over there!” “Go up from there!” “Surround all the exits!” …

The footsteps of the pursuing troops from the central district closed in from all directions. They rushed to the top floor, running from the end of the half-collapsed corridor, and then all froze in shock. “In-Supervisor Shen?” “Yue-ge?!” “What are you two—”

Under everyone’s gaze, Shen Zhuo did not answer Yue Yang’s question. He simply turned, grabbed the rope ladder outside the window, and said coolly:

“It’s just a daydream. Don’t talk to me about dying. Don’t judge others by your own standards.”

The central district supervisors present were all confused. They saw the helicopter in mid-air immediately ascend, creating a howling hurricane that quickly pulled Shen Zhuo into the sky.

“Wait—”

However, before the supervisors could even rush forward, Yue Yang raised a hand, his voice weary. “Forget it.”

He didn’t explain the mess around them, had no energy to deal with his subordinates’ concern and panic, and didn’t want to look at Su Jiqiao on the bed, who had who-knows-how-much blood drawn from him. Yue Yang leaned back against a half-collapsed wall, then slowly slid to the floor, burying his face in his hands.

He had once thought Shen Zhuo was different towards Fu Chen.

Shen Zhuo would smile at Fu Chen, look at Fu Chen with warm and patient eyes, and remain silent when others teased them. At that time, Yue Yang could still comfort himself that, after all, Fu Chen was so outstanding, and Fu Chen was an S-class. Him standing with Shen Zhuo was, if not a match made in heaven, at least reasonable.

But it was only today that he realized what Shen Zhuo being truly “different” towards someone looked like—so reckless.

It had nothing to do with being an S-class, and nothing to do with being outstanding. Even if there was a high probability that Bai Sheng couldn’t be saved, even if he really became a mindless invalid for the rest of his life, Shen Zhuo was still willing to risk himself for him, without any calculation or conditions.

Yue Yang could no longer deceive himself. He hadn’t lost to the S-class Fu Chen; he had lost to Shen Zhuo.

From their very first encounter, he had only dared to gaze from the crowd, never truly standing before Shen Zhuo.

“Yue-ge, Yue-ge, you’re injured!” “Yue-ge, what happened to your face?”

…

A large patch of skin was torn on the corner of Yue Yang’s mouth, making him look a bit pathetic. He waved his hand wearily, declining his panicked subordinates who wanted to apply medicine for him. He took out his phone, opened his email, and his finger hovered over the screen for a moment before he typed two lines:

[Target serum has been taken by Supervisor Shen]
[I let him take it. It is my responsibility]

Recipient: Director-General Nielsen. Send delayed by six hours.

As Director-General, Nielsen’s authority was vast. Even if his private jet was still in the air, he could mobilize ground forces to obstruct Shen Zhuo. These six hours of delay were enough to buy Shen Zhuo time.

Yue Yang casually tossed his phone aside, rubbed his face hard, and let out a deep, sour, and hot breath of blood.

---

With a heavy whoosh, Shen Zhuo climbed to the end of the rope ladder and was pulled into the helicopter cabin by Yang Xiaodao. The cabin door slammed shut behind him.

“Where’s the blood bag?” Shen Zhuo asked as soon as he sat down.

An supervisor next to him quickly helped him buckle his seatbelt. Luo Zhen passed the blood collection bag from the front. Shen Zhuo opened it and took a look, his expression relaxing slightly. He ordered, “Notify the HRG lab to start preparing immediately. Any news from the hospital?”

The supervisor was already well-informed. “Mr. Bai’s condition is stable. The brain scan hasn’t worsened since 3 AM last night. Although it can’t be explained, the doctor said it’s a good thing.”

Shen Zhuo showed no emotion, just a simple nod.

Then he turned and asked Yang Xiaodao, “How are you?”

The boy had already taken off the steel gauntlets and was curled up in a corner of the back row, a lingering smell of iron and blood on him. He shook his head silently, indicating he wasn’t injured.

But Shen Zhuo lifted his black T-shirt.

Underneath was a lean waist, and on his side was a fist-sized, bloody scrape, likely torn open by the force of Yue Yang’s punch. Fortunately, it didn’t reach his internal organs.

“Have a doctor bandage it for you when you get back.” Shen Zhuo casually patted the back of his head. “Not bad, you held him off for a full three minutes. Yue Yang is actually softer-hearted than most Evolutionist. He’s not someone who can bring himself to be harsh on a child.”

“…” Yang Xiaodao was like a small animal with messy fur. If he had a tail, it would be drooping right now. After a long while, he stubbornly forced out a sentence, “I’ll be stronger than him in the future!”

Shen Zhuo didn’t comment, an amused smile on his lips.

This kid was truly raised by Bai Sheng. He sat there dejectedly for a while, then suddenly seemed to realize something and looked up at Shen Zhuo suspiciously.

“So that Chief Yue…”

Shen Zhuo: “?”

“Nielsen, Rong Qi, and that Chief Yue…”

Shen Zhuo’s expression changed in a second. He said coldly, “Shut up.”

The helicopter roared across the early morning sky, the smoke-filled Evolutionist hospital receding into the distance. Yang Xiaodao resentfully shrank back beside Shen Zhuo, occasionally stealing pure, righteous, and critical glances at him, but his expression clearly showed he only dared to grumble internally.

---

Shenhai Airport.

With a huge roar, the International General Administration’s private jet swooped down towards the runway. After a few minutes of taxiing, the silver-blue Gulfstream G550 slowly came to a stop on the tarmac.

“This is Shenhai City Supervisor Shen Zhuo. I cannot take your call right now. Please leave a message…”

Nielsen hung up the phone, his face like stone. His secretary whispered a word of advice, “Perhaps Supervisor Shen will pick up later. He’s still angry right now…”

“Impossible,” Nielsen said coldly. “Shen Zhuo never wastes such useless emotions on me.”

The secretary was at a loss for words.

“He must be up to something.” Nielsen narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “But it can’t be… The Ten Supervisors were all given a gag order. No one would tell him that method…”

It was impossible to hide the method to break Daydream from Shen Zhuo forever, but fortunately, he didn’t have to hide it forever, just long enough to pass the 24-hour golden treatment period. After that, even if Bai Sheng really died, he would have an excellent excuse to face the UN Security Council. After all, he had saved Shen Zhuo’s life—that old fox Cameron might even have to come and thank him.

The only tricky part was Shen Zhuo.

Even the Wolf of Odin could not accept the risk of falling out with Shen Zhuo, whether from the perspective of power and status, or from the personal feelings that the whole world thought he didn’t have.

The moment Bai Sheng died, that Evolutionist named Rong Qi would surely attack immediately. He had to personally accompany and protect Shen Zhuo. That would be his only chance to win back Shen Zhuo’s affection.

The private jet’s cabin door opened. Nielsen and his entourage walked down the stairs. The first thing he saw was the car waiting on the tarmac to greet them, and the young B-class Evolutionist with a smile by the car door.

—Nielsen recognized him. The man’s name was Chen Miao.

There were hundreds of A-class Evolutionist in the International General Administration, many of whom never even had the chance to have their names remembered by the Director-General. But Nielsen knew Chen Miao’s age, ability, alma mater, and the dessert shop this young man liked to visit most when he was on business trips in Basel. Not just Nielsen, many high-ranking officials in the General Administration were also very friendly and polite to this young B-class. The reason was simple: this person was one of the students Shen Zhuo had personally trained.

Flattering him might not get you in Shen Zhuo’s good graces, but offending him would definitely put you on Shen Zhuo’s bad side for life.

“—Director-General!” Chen Miao hurried forward to greet them, about to salute. “I’m so sorry, we only found out about your arrival half an hour ago. The Supervisor immediately sent me to personally welcome you…”

Nielsen quickly stopped Chen Miao’s saluting hand and shook it firmly with a smile. Anyone who saw the Wolf of Odin’s amiable face would have to doubt their own eyes. “Where is your Supervisor Shen?”

Chen Miao said sincerely, “The only S-class Evolutionist in our jurisdiction has met with an unfortunate incident. The Supervisor feels very responsible, believing he has failed in his duty to protect Evolutionist.”

Nielsen’s smile froze slightly.

The wind blew across the tarmac, and everyone fell into an indescribable silence.

“So the Supervisor went to a meeting,” Chen Miao said apologetically. “A general symposium on clarifying management, deepening regulations, and how to better protect the personal and property safety of Evolutionist within the jurisdiction.”

It probably took Nielsen several seconds to understand every word in this English translation. His ice-blue eyes slowly turned the gloomy gray of a stormy sky. He opened his mouth and slowly, word by word, with emphasis, asked:

“…What exactly is your Supervisor Shen up to?!”

His phone buzzed.

The secretary looked down, his face changing drastically. He hurried forward and whispered, “Director-General, it’s a notification from Supervisor Yue.”

Nielsen already had the worst premonition. He picked up his phone and glanced at it, then instantly closed his eyes.

[Target serum has been taken by Supervisor Shen]
[I let him take it. It is my responsibility]

Chen Miao didn’t even need to look to know what the message was. He stood smiling before the Director-General who reigned over all Evolutionist globally, the polite curve of his lips not changing in the slightest. It wasn’t until Nielsen took a deep breath and opened his eyes, almost forcing the words through his teeth, that he spoke:

“Do you know that what you’re doing will get Shen Zhuo killed?!”

“Director-General,” Chen Miao replied calmly, “I am my senior’s man. I unconditionally trust and obey all orders given by my senior.”

Nielsen took a deep breath, finally understanding why he had failed countless times to drive a wedge into Shenhai. “Where exactly is Shen Zhuo?”

“In the lab.” Chen Miao looked at his watch, raised an eyebrow, and advised, “But there’s no need for you to rush over. The Daydream ability potion should have been cultivated by now.”

“…”

“My senior said he can do it, so he definitely can.” The young B-class Evolutionist stood before Nielsen, his tone very calm. “He will definitely bring Bai-ge back safely, just as he has always done his best to protect all of us.”

---

With a soft hiss, a rush of cold air poured out as the incubator was opened. The research director carefully took out a tube of serum mixed with faint blue specks of light.

It was a gene jammer capable of inducing A-class evolution, cultivated using Su Jiqiao’s serum.

“A normal A-class gene jammer can maintain its effect for more than 40 minutes, but this potion was cultivated for too short a time. It’s a temporary product, so the effect will probably only last for 30 seconds.” The research director handed it to Shui Ronghua, unable to help but sigh, “The potion can only act on a human body. Luckily, Doctor Shui is in human form now, otherwise, we would have had to find someone else on short notice…”

Shui Ronghua’s expression didn’t change. She took the potion and confirmed with Shen Zhuo one more time, “Are you ready?”

Shenhai City’s HRG lab was located underground in the Evolutionist Specialist Hospital. Its scale was nothing compared to the one at the Research Institute back in the day; from an industry perspective, it was almost pitiful.

But thanks to that, this miniature lab had not attracted much unwelcome attention from the outside world and had managed to survive under the protection of the Shenhai City Supervision Office to this day.

Bai Sheng had already been moved down from the special care ward. He lay on a bed in the center of the lab, his eyes shut tight, in a deep sleep. Fortunately, his S-class physique was robust. More than twenty hours of illusionary torment had not caused too much damage to his central nervous system and cardiopulmonary system. If it had been an A-class, even if they could wake from the dream, the physical side effects would have been enough to take half their life.

Shen Zhuo didn’t answer. He took off his suit jacket, sat in an armchair by the bed, and unbuttoned his white shirt one by one with one hand.

The researchers were already well-trained. They attached various wires and electrode pads to his body, connecting them one by one to life monitoring devices and a real-time brain scanner. Finally, the director personally inserted an IV needle into the back of his hand. In the IV bag was a liquid of an indistinct bloody color.

Shui Ronghua asked in surprise, “This is…”

“Neuron stimulant,” Shen Zhuo said, his shirt buttoned only twice, the line of his long neck winding down, his collarbones disappearing into the shadows. “One of the derivative products of HRG back then. Once the brain is detected to be in a certain deep hallucinatory state, it can start dripping. It will cause strong stimulation to the cerebral cortex within 60 seconds, thereby reducing the effect of the illusion.”

“…Will there be side effects?” Shui Ronghua couldn’t help but ask.

“Yes. 95% of recipients will experience a sudden personality change within three days,” Shen Zhuo said. “If I force you to work overtime or cancel your quarterly bonuses for no reason by then, please bravely stand up and oppose me.”

The researchers all laughed.

Shui Ronghua loosened her collar, plunged the needle into the side of her own neck, and pushed the serum all the way in with a clean motion, replying with a smile, “We will wait for you to wake up and give us triple quarterly bonuses, Supervisor.”

A power belonging to Su Jiqiao quickly enveloped her entire body. The ability radiation rose sharply, and the monitor let out a frantic series of beeps.

Shen Zhuo extended the hand with the needle in it and firmly grasped one of Bai Sheng’s hands on the bed, looking calmly at Shui Ronghua.

The next second, the female doctor’s five fingers spread out towards Shen Zhuo. A faint blue light erupted in mid-air, and a powerful, formless mental force rushed at him!

—A-class ability Daydream triggered.

Millions of deadly light fragments enveloped Shen Zhuo. In an instant, he fell backward, his five senses detached. The real world, the snow-white lab, receded quickly like a tide.

His consciousness plummeted downwards, sinking into a blazing inferno.

In all directions, as far as the eye could see, was a terrifying, towering fire.

A small boy lay on the ground, staring blankly at the cracked, scorched earth before him. Half of his body was already burned to a blackened skeleton. The flesh on his fingers was burned away, leaving only bare, charred bones.

“…Help…”

“Save us…”

From the crashed car not far away, calls for help still came intermittently. Desperate sounds of pounding on the car windows could even be heard from within the flames, but he really couldn’t walk anymore.

It hurt too much.

Will someone come to save me? he thought hazily.

Will someone give me a hand? Will someone come to save me?

Death suddenly became an alluring and close option. It was so comfortable, so easy. If he just blocked his ears and stopped listening, closed his eyes and stopped looking, if he just stopped and fell into a deep sleep, he would never feel pain again.

“I’m sorry,” the little boy murmured, his dry, bleeding eyelids growing heavier.

I tried so hard to change causality, but I’m too weak. I can’t save you… I’m sorry.

“…We’re still alive! We’re still alive!”

“We are your mom and dad!”

“Bai Sheng! Bai Sheng! Bai Sheng!!—”

As if a red-hot needle had pierced his heart, his internal organs convulsed in excruciating pain.

Bai Sheng’s eyes snapped open.

He gasped for hot, bloody air and once again staggered to his feet, stumbling forward. His carbonized foot bones dragged a black trail behind him. Every step was agonizing. But his innate madness, his gnawing regret, the obsession carved into his very bones, supported him. Even if he were burned to carbon at the last moment, he could not stop.

Can’t fall down, can’t fall down.

That year, at the end of the blood-red street, the child had vowed with a tender voice that he would never stand behind the crowd of onlookers in his life. Even if the future was a mountain of knives and a sea of fire, he would step forward and be the first to offer a saving hand.

“Go forward!” “Go!” “That’s it!—” The numerous demonic shadows that had reappeared outside the fire let out encouraging, shrill laughter.

“Go and burn alive!” “Go and burn to ashes!” “Hahahaha—”

The demons danced wildly, blotting out the sky, extremely excited, but Bai Sheng could no longer hear them. His entire body was engulfed in flames, his small body burned into a human torch. He stumbled to the car door and, with the last of his strength, reached into the car—

In that very instant.

A brilliant white light burst forth in front of him, unstoppable and destructive, sweeping away all the demons and ghosts. The demonic shadows in all directions turned into twisted gray smoke amidst screams.

Then, a familiar figure appeared in the white light.

The little boy’s eyes widened in astonishment. He looked up at the person coming with the light, like a god, possessing an unimaginable appearance and a power that suppressed everything. He walked step by step through the flames and smoke to stand before him, reaching down a hand from above:

“How long are you going to make me wait, Bai Sheng?”

In that moment, as if his soul had been enlightened, the little boy’s pupils dilated abruptly.

He raised a trembling hand and intertwined his fingers with the god’s.

The moment their palms touched, the little boy’s horribly burned body rapidly grew taller. Flesh covered the charred black bones, and the raw, bloody flesh was all restored. Bai Sheng, like a battle-scarred wolf king, hugged Shen Zhuo tightly and let out a cry that had been held back for nineteen years, hoarse to the extreme.

The sky-high fire quietly extinguished, and all the tragic scenes vanished into nothing.

The cries for help finally disappeared. The twisted, burning car dissipated like light smoke. The souls of the couple from nineteen years ago were finally at peace. They gently brushed their beloved son’s cheek one last time, then intertwined and spiraled away, disappearing under the sky.

Time was like a winding, long song, carrying the eight-year-old child’s wails far into the sky.

“I really wanted to save them, but I just couldn’t…”

Bai Sheng knelt on the ground, his head on Shen Zhuo’s shoulder, hot liquid seeping into the white shirt drop by drop. “I thought I had become very strong. I tried so hard, but I still couldn’t do it…”

“Do you know why you were able to evolve into an S-class?” Shen Zhuo wrapped one arm around Bai Sheng’s back and pressed his other hand against the black hair on the back of his head, saying calmly, “It wasn’t to go back nineteen years and change causality, but to become a person with absolute power in the future, who could be the first to step out from the crowd of onlookers.”

“It was this obsession that transformed you. It was because you yourself hoped to protect every human and Evolutionist that evolution granted you the world’s most powerful causality weapon. Only the strong will always have a compassionate heart for the weak.”

The world became a quiet void, boundless and empty as far as the eye could see.

Bai Sheng’s choked sobs gradually subsided. Like a dazed child, he hugged Shen Zhuo tightly.

“…It’s strange,” he murmured as if in a dream, “why would I cry in front of you?”

The tears and resentment that he hadn’t let out since he was eight years old, had they not disappeared?

It was as if an indestructible shield had suddenly shattered, the armor polished for years easily crumbling. He was the one he most wanted to conquer and possess, the person in front of whom he most wanted to display his strength, yet the moment that person extended a hand, he had eagerly let out a wronged whimper, like a wild beast seeking shelter from a snowstorm.

It was as if he had long known that it was okay to show weakness in front of this person.

Under the gaze of these beautiful eyes, he could completely retract his claws, lay bare his fur, and expose the embarrassing wounds he never showed anyone, and the raw flesh that had never healed.

Bai Sheng held Shen Zhuo tightly in his arms, buried his face in his neck, and asked in a small voice, kneeling on the ground, “Are you here to take me out?”

He felt Shen Zhuo smile, a very faint smile.

“No, I’m here to send you out.”

“…”

A terrible guess suddenly surfaced, and Bai Sheng’s pupils silently widened.

The next moment, Shen Zhuo easily pushed away his embrace, stood up, and bent down to press his cold lips to Bai Sheng’s forehead.

“Go back. It’s been 24 hours. You’re out of time.”

“What comes next is my own battlefield.”

—With that kiss, the surrounding scene rapidly twisted, dismantled, and collapsed with a roar. The first dream, under the assault of Shen Zhuo’s powerful mental strength, was like a city trampled by iron hooves, turning into dust that blotted out the sky.

A giant abyssal mouth appeared at Shen Zhuo’s feet, pulling his entire being into the second dream. At the same time, Bai Sheng was uncontrollably pushed into the sky, the white light leading to reality enveloping him from behind.

A scorching hot, dark red S reappeared on his chest. It was the power of evolution finally beginning to return to his body, bit by bit.

“…Shen Zhuo?” Bai Sheng watched with wide eyes as Shen Zhuo offered no resistance, spreading his arms and letting himself fall into the abyss. He began to tremble uncontrollably.

“Where are you going, Shen Zhuo?!”

---

“—It worked!” “It really worked!”

Exclamations of surprise rang out by the bedside. On Bai Sheng’s brain scan, the area controlled by the illusion quickly faded from blood-red, the danger index dropping in a straight line. His long-still eyelashes trembled slightly.

“He’s waking up!”

Shui Ronghua glanced at the clock: 1:16 PM.
Exactly 23 hours and 59 minutes since Bai Sheng was dragged into the dream, just barely making the golden life-saving window.

She let out a sigh of relief, but then couldn’t draw another breath—because the danger index on the real-time brain scan suddenly paused, freezing without warning.

Then, it plummeted like an avalanche. The area of the brain controlled by the illusion rapidly turned blood-red!

“What’s going on?!”

“What happened?!”

“B-blood oxygen is dropping! The patient has fallen into a coma again!”

The surroundings were in a clamor, with chaotic voices and footsteps. The life-support monitor beeped frantically. Shui Ronghua’s gaze shifted inch by inch from the brain scan to Bai Sheng on the bed, and she finally let out a sound of disbelief:

“He… he jumped…”

“He followed Shen Zhuo into the second dream…”

Above the abyss, blotting out the sky, the phantom light of the second dream was about to swallow the universe. But then a magnificent thunder dragon roared forth—it was an S-class strike full of furious rage, tearing the thousands of air currents trying to send him out of the dream to shreds!

The abyss was completely shattered. Heaven and earth rang and trembled ceaselessly. Even the Daydream ability itself let out a precarious tearing sound.

In that world-ending, magnificent spectacle, Bai Sheng broke through countless layers of resistance between heaven and earth, rushing towards the falling Shen Zhuo, desperately reaching out his hand in the gale—

This time, it’s my turn to take you out.

Heaven and earth suddenly turned a stark white.

It seemed like only a moment, but also a very, very long time.

Bai Sheng slowly opened his eyes. He saw the scorching sun high in the sky. The hot wind blew across the sand dunes. As far as the eye could see, the sea of sand stretched to the sky. It was a magnificent, vast desert.

Where is this place?

He sat up abruptly, hissing in pain from the sharp ache in his head, and clutched his brow.

His mind had been brutally tortured for too long; it was impossible to recover completely in the blink of an eye. That furious, frenzied strike just now had inevitably overdrawn his mental power.

But that didn’t matter. He had only one thought now: where was Shen Zhuo?

Bai Sheng agilely got up and scanned his surroundings. Suddenly, he heard the growing roar of a helicopter overhead. Then, a camouflage-painted Ka-52 military helicopter descended from the sky, the hurricane-force winds whipping up a boiling wave of sand, until it slowly came to a stop at the bottom of a sand dune a few dozen meters away.

The left and right cabin doors opened, and two figures in combat uniforms jumped to the ground, landing steadily on the sand.

Even from that distance, Bai Sheng recognized the two men at a glance.

It was Fu Chen and Su Jiqiao!

Fu Chen was carrying huge toolboxes in both hands. His gaze swept alertly around the area, then he put down the toolboxes and turned around. However, Su Jiqiao was faster. He had a camouflage equipment bag slung over one shoulder and a PP19-1 submachine gun in his right hand. The first thing he did after landing was turn and extend a hand towards the high cabin door, his face upturned with a smile.

Following Su Jiqiao’s gaze upwards, a third person appeared in the cabin doorway.

Bai Sheng’s gaze froze.

It was the 26-year-old Shen Zhuo.

Shen Zhuo was wearing a black windbreaker, carrying a silver freezer box in one hand. He was so fair in the desert that he was almost dazzling. The fierce sun made his skin translucent, the lines from his cheek to his jaw reflecting the light.

His expression was exceptionally cold. He ignored Su Jiqiao’s outstretched hand and leaped straight from the cabin door to the ground.

“Teacher, we’ve been flying for several hours. Do you really not need a break at all?” Su Jiqiao nonchalantly retracted his hand, as if he were used to it and not at all embarrassed, asking from behind Shen Zhuo.

Shen Zhuo strode forward. It was Fu Chen who sighed and said loudly, “Let’s head forward first. The Qinghai base is one kilometer south!”

Qinghai Base.

As those words landed, the premonition that had been faintly emerging was confirmed. Bai Sheng finally determined the current situation—

Shen Zhuo’s dream was from three years ago. May 11th. The Qinghai test site explosion.

He had returned to that night where the truth was forever buried.

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