'Running. Running. Running.'
The words pounded through Mei Ling's mind in rhythm with her desperate footsteps as she stumbled through the dimensional portal, her newly enhanced Core Formation aura flickering wildly around her trembling form.
The golden light that had once been his—'his' vitality, 'his' life force—still coursed through her meridians like liquid fire, but it felt wrong, tainted with the bitter taste of abandonment.
'We left him. We left him. We left him.'
She crashed to her knees on the rocky ground of the research station, her pencil skirt torn and bloodied from their escape, the fabric clinging to her sweat-drenched skin.
Lin Yue landed beside her with warrior's grace despite her own emotional devastation, while Elder Feng materialized last, her newly ascended Soul Formation cultivation crackling with unstable energy.
'Why did we leave him? Why did we run?'
