Translator:
Irene_
Editor:
Perriemix, Chrissy
What’s he saying?
I whispered.
Xiaoai only shook her head, looking as confused as I was.
Come here and we’ll explain the situation to you,
the man said.
Should we?
I asked her.
Yes, let’s go. It shouldn’t be a problem,
Xiaoai decided.
Turning around, I flew right into the helicopter.
There were three men within: a pilot and two armed soldiers, one with a megaphone.
Hi,
I greeted loudly for the noise generated by the helicopter made it almost impossible to have a proper conversation.
The soldier smiled and handed us two headphones.
After putting them on, the noise became much more muffled.
Special soldiers,
they greeted.
I forced a smile.
Hello.
We’ve been hearing about this special team for ages now; finally, we get to see you guys today! We didn’t expect you to fly over, though. You guys must be powerful. Are these skills difficult to learn? Can you teach us a trick or two?
the soldier asked warmly.
You flatter us. What happened to Tao Tie?
I asked.
Oh, right, let’s get back to business. Two other special force units have already gone in, but we’ve lost connection with them. There has been no news since.
Are there others inside? What about the small team? All men and one lady?
I prompted.
Civilians? All scattered around. There’s a monster inside; that’s all we know. Go in without worries, though, since the report says that there will be more special beings here to assist us. We didn’t believe it initially, but seeing you guys now… there will be a good show for sure.
I now realized that these soldiers had mistaken us as fighters the higher-ups had dispatched. I was not complaining since this was good for us.
Which direction?
The soldier pointed at the center of the mountain.
Probably around the peak, but we lost connection with our soldiers from the waist onward.
I gave the soldier a thumbs up and said to Xiaoai,
Fly me there.
Not you?
She spoke into the microphone attached to the earphones she was wearing.
It’s too ugly. You do it,
I urged in embarrassment.
It was fine when no one could see us, but now that they were looking, I really shouldn’t make a fool of myself.
After taking her earphones off, Xiaoai helped me with mine. She then pulled me out of the helicopter before flying upward.
We passed a pavilion on the foot of the mountain and noticed a big stove.
Men in yellow robes were dancing around it while holding torches.
Outside the pavilion stood a row of armed guards.
I wondered if the so-called special beings were these robed priests. If that was the case, the soldiers in the helicopter must have been unaware.
Xiaoai brought me higher; however, since she wasn’t going fast, I could observe the surroundings.
Xiaoai,
I called out.
What is it?
Do you want to call your father and ask for their location?
But what if they’re in the middle of a battle?
Is there no other way?
I asked.
I have his location. Mother made me do it in fear that he’d mess up,
she recalled, pulling out her phone.
It shows that they’re close by. Either a bad sign or a slight deviation.
Exactly. There aren’t any sounds or trace of a battle here.
Yeah, it seems a bit too quiet. Should we walk around to get a better look?
Xiaoai suggested.
It’s not safe down there. Let’s head up. Chaos probably chose this place to get a good view of the environment.
Just then, I felt a cold rush of air behind me as a pair of black hands grabbed my ankle.
Since Xiaoai was flying low, something had leaped up from a tree to grab me.
Something’s got me,
I shouted and was about to turn around when the second pair of hands grabbed my other leg.
Then the third, fourth, and fifth started dragging me down.
Xiaoai wasn’t able to react in time, and we were both flung onto the ground.
I caught a glimpse of ten similarly sized black figures.
Just like humans, they had a head and two big eyes. Chaos, I recognized immediately.
At this point, ten Chaos was already holding me down. They reached out and trapped me, leaving only half of my head free.
I could see Xiaoai being smashed heavily onto the ground.
Are you alright?
I yelled.
I can’t move. No more power…
she trailed off.
A figure reached out to cover my mouth, and I felt intense drowsiness spreading throughout my body.
I tried curling myself into a ball to gain energy, but the figures instantly restrained me.
Now that push came to shove, I decided to fling an arm outward, successfully throwing two figures off of me.
I noticed a few other black figures surrounding Xiaoai.
It was dark all around. There must have been at least a few hundreds, if not thousands, of black figures surrounding us, and I have only managed to get rid of two.
I continued gathering force to dispel more figures, but more of them quickly pounced on me.
They were multiplying at an unbelievable speed, leaving me tied to the ground, unable to move or even breathe.
My drowsiness thickened; I felt my blood flowing away from my body as if the veins and the tissues in my left hand were about to spurt out.
Clenching my right hand into a fist, I felt a trident made from my blood emerging from my palm.
Upon launching it, the trident took down quite a few black figures. Regaining sensation of my right hand, I started waving it about crazily.
I started spinning around and attacking wildly, witnessing the figures disperse, but none of them shed blood.
It was all black.
They dove for me, and I could only attempt to slice them apart.
Do you want her dead?
One figure spoke up.
Do you want her dead?
Do you want her dead?
…
The echoes went on for a while.
I was about to move toward Xiaoai when the figures grabbed ahold of her unconscious body.
A figure placed his arm around her neck as if to strangle her.
I dropped my trident, and in the next moment, it re-entered my body.
The figures pressed me to the ground once more and covered my face.
I passed out.
