Wei's eyes never left the man in black.
Not the weapon.
Not the fire.
The man's back.
From beginning to end, the bandit had kept his back to the woods, to the darkness where enemies could easily be hiding. It was almost arrogant.
A tightness slowly crept into Wei's chest.
Something was wrong.
His father had once told him that a real enemy never exposes his back. Yet from the moment they had taken cover, this man had done exactly that, as if he did not care whether anyone was watching him at all.
Chun swallowed. Her throat was dry.
"What are you thinking? At least make a sound."
"Mhm."
The reply was soft, and utterly dismissive.
Chun kept her voice low, yet the words kept spilling out of her like water from a tap that would not shut off.
"Don't do anything reckless this time. I mean it. Please don't."
She paused, then hurried to add, "That guy is not ordinary. He looks like the kind of warrior who has killed more people than he can count.
Look at the way he's sitting. His knees are steady, like he could spring up at any second. We are no match for him."
Wei answered with another quiet "Mhm," his eyes fixed on the vague dark figure across the bridge. His fists had already clenched.
The moment Chun noticed, her anxiety spiked. Her voice began to tremble.
"You don't even know how to fight. Climber went easy on you earlier. If you charge over now and make one mistake, we will die here. Just like that. No one will even find our bodies."
She sniffed and kept talking, half trying to encourage herself, half trying to hold Wei back.
"And Little Butterfly is still over there. She's so small. If we die, what will she do? She will cry. No, she might not even get the chance to cry."
"Chun," Wei said quietly at last, turning his head slightly.
"Hm?"
"Can you stop talking for a moment?"
She froze. Her mouth opened, then quickly closed. Two seconds later, she could not help herself.
"I just don't want you rushing in because you get worked up…"
Silence.
"I mean, what if he falls asleep? Maybe he nods off. We could wait for a chance and sneak across. Or wait for the wind to pick up, for the fog to get thicker. Maybe then…"
Her voice grew softer and softer until only her lips were moving, as if she were speaking to herself.
As Wei listened, the corner of his mouth twitched. Not a smile, but something caught between helplessness and tenderness.
He reached out and gently pressed his hand over the back of hers.
"I know," he said softly. "I won't be reckless."
Only then did Chun let out a breath, though she still added under her breath,
"Really. This time, listen to me."
Across the bridge, the dark figure moved at the same unhurried pace.
Chun fell quiet for a moment.
Then she murmured softly, "But if you really can't hold back… don't go alone. Take me with you."
Wei said nothing. He only tightened his grip on her hand.
The bridge was still swaying.
So was his heart.
Wei was not the kind of person who carefully weighed every step and laid out detailed plans. Most of the time, he acted on instinct, on something he could not quite explain.
But now he forced himself to focus, trying to slip into that strange state that only came when danger was near.
He could not control it.
Yet it had saved his life before.
This time, however, no matter how hard he tried, he could not enter it. A sharp pain stabbed through his eyes. Blood-tinged tears slid down his face.
A bad feeling rose in his chest.
He remembered the first time his father had seen that strange ability of his. His father had only said, What a pity.
What had he meant?
Had his eyes already been pushed too far, the veins damaged beyond repair?
Had his father meant that he would never be able to use that power again?
Wei let out a quiet breath and forced the thoughts away.
Young boys liked to imagine they possessed extraordinary gifts. But once you truly had one, you realized that in this world, the more precious something was, the heavier the price it demanded.
Forget it.
No need to make this complicated.
He shot to his feet, as if he had finally made up his mind.
"Stay hidden. The moment I draw him away, you run and save her."
Before Chun could react, he stepped out from the grass.
The blades rustled loudly around him.
When Wei rose, Chun almost rushed out after him. She bit her lip until she tasted blood to stop herself.
She watched his firm, ringing steps.
With the kind of resolve only a young boy could have, and the reckless courage of someone ready to face death, he walked straight toward danger.
-----------------
The man in black paused.
He still did not turn around.
Did not even glance back.
Only the strip of meat in his hand crackled over the fire, and a spark snapped sharply into the air.
For a brief second, Wei felt his courage press against something unseen, as if an invisible wall had risen in front of him.
He did not stop walking. But without seeming to, he curved his path in a slow half circle, moving farther from Chun and away from the narrow wooden bridge.
"You came faster than I expected."
The man's voice carried easily across the clearing.
"Or maybe my men flushed you out of your hole like a rabbit."
The mocking tone slipped through the open ground and into the trees.
Wei's breath caught. A flicker of confusion crossed his eyes.
Then it struck him.
He had just stepped into a new trap.