Almost at the same moment, another humanoid shadow lunged forward.
Firelight stretched its body into a twisted shape.
Unnatural.
A sharp claw cut the air.
It snatched the burning ceramic jar from its perch.
It did not retreat.
Something unseen drove it forward.
It clutched the jar to its chest.
Flames swallowed its torso at once.
The figure twisted violently.
Its body took everything.
The fireballs.
The heat.
The coming explosion.
All of it was forced inward.
Toward itself.
Toward the archers hidden in the dark.
Just before the flames could erupt, the second arrow moved.
It bent.
Wrongly.
The shaft hummed low in the air.
As if an invisible hand had seized it.
Yanked it aside.
It curved off its path.
Then slammed straight into an archer's chest.
Then came the third arrow.
At the exact moment the blast hurled the humanoid shadow backward.
Its body went weightless.
Off balance.
Its mouth was forced open.
The arrow struck.
It punched through the mouth.
Tore through the throat.
Shattered the neck bone.
Drove deep into the back of the skull.
Pinned.
Everything happened too fast.
Too fast for even a single scream to form.
Lin stood frozen, his eyes chasing the afterimages, unable to process what had just occurred.
But his body reacted before his mind could catch up.
It felt as though a massive, invisible force had shoved him with all its weight.
The next moment, Wei felt an overwhelming impact slam into him.
He lost control.
His body was thrown backward.
The air whistled past his ears with a sharp, cutting sound.
The world flipped.
Sky. Ground. Firelight. Shadows.
Everything blurred together.
He crashed back toward the hut, breaking through the night, and slammed hard onto the floor inside.
Wood cracked close to his ears. Dust and splinters hit his face and filled his nose.
The pain arrived a heartbeat later.
Wei froze, as if someone had yanked him out of a long, chaotic dream.
He dropped his head and checked himself instinctively.
No new wounds.
Bones still in place.
Nothing broken?
The thought barely formed when his chest suddenly tightened, as if something heavy pressed down on his lungs.
"Dad… you're really heavy."
The words slipped out before he could stop them.
His voice was hoarse, yet strangely light. Relief threaded through it, a joke born from survival.
The weight on him stiffened.
Only then did Lin realize someone was beneath him. He pushed up and staggered to his feet.
In the next second, he bent down again, grabbing Wei's face with both hands. His movements were frantic, almost losing control.
"Your eyes… what's wrong with your eyes?"
-----------------
Wei opened his eyes without thinking.
The world fell away.
Color vanished. Texture vanished. Everything became a stark black-and-white sketch. Outlines, structure, cold and clear cause and effect.
For the first time, he saw everything with absolute clarity.
One thought filled his mind.
I can't wait any longer. I can't hide behind my father anymore.
A burning current surged from the back of his head into his eyes.
Pain tore through him, sharp and violent, but his mind felt strangely clear.
Every solid object began to fracture.
The world turned into a web of faintly glowing lines—lines of motion, force, trajectory, weak connections.
In front of the humanoid shadow's claw, a thick red line stretched straight forward.
Heavy, precise, like a fully drawn arrow of death, pointing directly at his father's temple.
For the first time, Wei could see distinct, cruel labels in his vision.
Red meant fatal.
Blue meant usable force.
Green meant weak, breakable.
For the first time, he reached out on purpose.
Not to throw. Not to dodge.
"Ah—!"
Wei screamed, forcing his consciousness to stay intact as the pain tried to crush his mind.
He grabbed at the air.
His fingers twitched.
The red line twisted under his touch. The arrow's path bent. Its color faded to green.
Next, he touched a blue line.
The flow of force shifted. The owner of the claw was pulled along and struck at—its own throat.
The blue line snapped red in an instant.
And then, almost invisible, a thin green line appeared.
Using the last of his awareness, Wei tugged.
His father's body was dragged backward through the air.
Time slowed.
The world sank.
Darkness rushed in.
Wei's strength gave out. He collapsed to the ground.
The last thing he felt was his father's solid weight pressing down on him again.
Lin forced himself upright, staring at his son.
Shock. Fear. Disbelief. And something else, something unnamed, churned in his eyes.
"You… you figured it out by yourself?"
His voice broke with shock. "That's… that's not possible."
Then something seemed to occur to him.
The astonishment drained from his eyes, replaced by a dim, regretful calm.
"…What a waste."
The sentence broke.
Warmth spilled from Wei's eyes again, streaking down his cheeks.
Lin snapped back, fumbling for a handkerchief. His hands shook as he pressed it over Wei's eyes and wrapped it tight.
In the darkness, more footsteps sounded.
Shouts. Shrill whistles.
They drew closer, like death itself approaching.
Lin's face hardened. He shoved Wei and Chun toward the tunnel.
"Chun, get into the tunnel! Now!"
"Dad!"
Wei groped blindly, grabbing his father's arm.
Lin patted his son's hand. Then he pulled another oil jar from his pocket and lit the fuse.
"They're not after me," he said."I'll draw them away. You run through the tunnel. Cross the plank bridge. Cut the rope. Maybe you'll survive.
Go!!!
Listen to me."
At the last moment, Wei was shoved into the tunnel. A heavy bed plank fell over the opening.
Then came the explosion.
The roars of the humanoid shadows mixed with the blast.
Chun dragged him deeper into the darkness.
Rough breathing and hurried footsteps swallowed every other sound.