Hulei's massive body crashed to the ground with a thunderous boom. His wolf mane was charred black by flame, and only faint breaths leaked from his muzzle.
"…Weird." Huo Linfei shook out his wrist and dismissed the Qilin Armor. "Either I've gotten weaker, or he's just way tougher than he looks."
He kicked the unconscious Hulei and curled his lip. "That's it? You were so arrogant in the Shackling Prison—turns out I didn't even start trying and you're already down."
All around them, Borisin fell under the residual fire. Yet from among the "corpses," soft rustling sounds rose.
"Hey, brother—give me a hand!" a Cloud Knight called out, except the man only had his upper body left.
"Holy—!" Huo Linfei jumped back half a step. "You're still alive?!"
"Relax." Another Cloud Knight casually aligned his lower half with the wound, like he was fitting puzzle pieces. "You're not local, are you? Xianzhou folk are cursed by the Plagues Author—so long as you don't die on the spot, missing arms and legs can be reattached."
With a wet, skin-crawling squirm, the body actually reconnected—though vine-like marks still clung to the seam.
"…Doesn't that hurt?" Huo Linfei asked, scalp tingling.
"Used to it." The Cloud Knight grinned. "We've all got Abundance's curse. We don't die that easily."
Huo Linfei helped them "assemble" themselves anyway, mentally cursing the absurdity of this universe. By the time he'd jammed the last soldier's head back onto his neck, the guy rolled his shoulders, stood up, and clasped his fists in thanks.
"Much obliged, righteous hero. May I ask your honored name?"
"Me?" Huo Linfei glanced toward the Cloud Knights rallying in the distance and answered offhandedly, "Just a passing Super Beast warrior."
He turned to leave—
"Wait!" someone called. "The Huigu tribe's ritual cut off all communications. The main force won't be back for a while—could you please—"
BOOOOM—!!!
The rest of the request was swallowed by a distant, sky-splitting roar of battle.
Huo Linfei sprang up onto the shattered city wall. Far on the horizon, a black tide of Cloud Knight banners broke through the Abundance forces' encirclement—flags whipping in the wind—
and five familiar silhouettes led the charge at the very front.
"It's the High-Cloud Quintet!" the Luofu defenders erupted in cheers.
Baiheng was nearly the first to leap down from the skiff. Her fox ears were pinned tight with anxiety; her tail fur had bristled so hard it looked like it might explode.
"Baiheng—slow down!" Jing Yuan shouted behind her, but she'd already become a white blur streaking toward the residential district.
The streets were scarred with battle, but casualties were fewer than expected. Baiheng's heart hammered as she ran, praying the little kid she'd "picked up" was safe.
She rounded the final corner—
and froze.
The courtyard she and Huo Linfei had lived in for over ten days… was rubble.
Walls collapsed. Beams snapped. The child-sized furniture Yingxing had made lay smashed across the ground.
"Xiao Huo…?" Baiheng's voice shook apart. She clawed through debris with frantic hands, nails splitting without her noticing. "Huo Linfei!"
A bloodstained scrap of cloth stopped her cold.
It was a torn piece of his clothing.
Baiheng pressed it to her chest. Her tail went limp, dragging on the ground.
"No… no, it can't be…"
High above, on a distant tower, Huo Linfei bit down hard on his lip.
He saw her kneeling in the wreckage, shoulders trembling violently. Even from this far, he could feel the grief—raw, tearing, unbearable.
"I'm sorry, Baiheng-jie…" he whispered. "If I'm discovered like this, it'll only cause more trouble. And…"
Sooner or later, he had to leave this time anyway.
When Jingliu and Jing Yuan arrived, they found Baiheng still kneeling—like her soul had been ripped out. She clenched a blood-marked note as silent tears slid down her face.
"Baiheng…" Jingliu's voice softened—rarely.
"It was the Borisin." Baiheng's tone turned to ice. "They killed him."
She stood, slowly. The sorrow in her eyes drained away, replaced by something darker—something dangerous.
"I want them to pay in blood."
Jing Yuan frowned and scanned the surroundings. "And the righteous helper who fought here?"
"He called himself 'a passing Super Beast warrior,'" a Cloud Knight reported. "He dropped Hulei, then left."
Jingliu's gaze flicked toward the towerline.
Huo Linfei instantly shrank deeper into shadow.
That "cheap master" of his had instincts sharp enough to cut.
The Luofu recruitment post had been set up in one of the few intact plazas. The sign reading Cloud Knight Recruitment hung crooked, swaying as if it might fall at any moment. Inside the tent, a recruiter with a face full of exhaustion was slumped over the desk, dozing.
Huo Linfei lifted the flap and cleared his throat. "Excuse me—"
"Enlisting? Now?" The recruiter wiped drool off his mouth and stared at him like he'd lost his mind. "Kid, do you know what time it is? You don't look like someone with a blood-feud. Why not just live quietly?"
"Can anyone really live quietly?" Huo Linfei raised a brow.
"Uh…" The recruiter scratched his head. "That sneak attack earlier was an accident. False intel—said the Plagues Author's lackeys were hiding on the planet we're docked at, so the main force got pulled away. After this, it won't happen again!"
Huo Linfei didn't smile. "I still want to enlist."
The recruiter studied him for a long moment, then sighed.
"I'm not avoiding paperwork. It's just—enlistment has more steps now, to prevent Abundance cultists from disguising themselves and slipping into the army. Plenty of young guys ran away before they even finished the screening."
Huo Linfei nodded. "Makes sense."
He'd seen the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus before—how they could mask mara-struck bodies to look normal. After a lightning raid like this, it wasn't hard to guess there might be moles inside the system.
"Fill this out." The recruiter slid him a form.
Huo Linfei took it and wrote quickly.
"'Huo Linfei'…" The recruiter squinted. "That surname doesn't sound local. You from the Xianzhou Zhuming?"
"…Close enough," Huo Linfei said, offering nothing more.
The recruiter pulled on gloves, then took out a white pill from a nearby box.
"Alchemical Commission special—Heart-Illuminating Pill." He tapped the desk with a knuckle. "Once you swallow it, it'll drag your worst memories into the light. If you're mara-struck…"
He mimed an explosion at his head.
"Bang. You reveal your true form on the spot."
Huo Linfei pinched the pill. It was cold as ice.
"What, scared to take it?" The recruiter narrowed his one eye.
"I was just wondering…" Huo Linfei tossed it up, caught it in his mouth, and swallowed. "If it's bitter. I like sweet."
The pill dissolved instantly.
He didn't even get time to taste it—because an iron-rust flavor exploded across his tongue.
Blood.
The tent's lighting warped. The recruiter's face melted like candle wax. Huo Linfei lunged for the edge of the desk—
and his hand passed straight through it.
Join here to read ahead.
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