Chapter 14: A Day as a Brother, a Lifetime as a Brother
Yiming ran with Li Li, gripping her wrist tightly, while his other hand morphed into a baseball bat-like iron rod, knocking down enemies from behind.
During this, after running a long distance, Li Li gradually felt out of breath, clearly indicating her stamina was inferior to Yiming’s.
“That guy didn’t chase us,” Li Li said steadily, catching her breath.
Those who misunderstood her probably couldn’t imagine that the ‘A-rank big shot’ who scared off a C-rank with a single look couldn’t outrun a D-rank.
Pretending was one thing; actually keeping up was another.
Li Li felt that the forum was right in some respects: her physical skills were truly inferior to these secondary-world natives.
“He didn’t chase us?” Yiming was surprised.
He pulled Li Li to lean against the wall at a corner, behind them another long corridor.
Learning from the experience, Yiming lowered his voice and moved more cautiously.
But when he peeked out, several black-robed figures were walking straight toward him.
Their clothing edges bore jin wen, and this time there were six ability users!
The moment they spotted Yiming, the six black-robed figures shouted and charged.
Brown hair fell, forming a spherical barrier.
Yiming was about to confront them head-on when Li Li pulled him into the corner’s shadows.
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The black-robed figures ran past them, chasing empty air.
Yiming stood stunned for a while, only speaking after the figures disappeared: “Is this your ability?”
“Yes,” Li Li claimed smoothly.
She just felt she couldn’t completely slack off; she had to do something where Yiming and the manga readers could see.
Though her identity was that of an injured person, she couldn’t just let Yiming carry her entirely.
Seeing the black-robed figures head in the wrong direction, she said, “We’ve already been spotted. Stalling with them is just a waste of time.”
“You’re right,” Yiming nodded, clenching his fist.
When he looked up, he grabbed Li Li’s wrist, emerging from their hiding spot and jogging toward the corridor ahead. “We need to take Tang and leave quickly, before Qing Yu Chen returns.”
The brown-haired youth seemed encouraged, running even faster.
The iron sphere from earlier floated beside him, striking a black-robed figure from behind at the next turn, simple and efficient.
As they zigzagged through, the number of black-robed figures dwindled, and Yiming was nearly unstoppable.
With nothing to do but be pulled along, Li Li suddenly felt this was a good opportunity to enrich her character.
She glanced at the black-robed figure Yiming had just knocked down, whose chest was still rising and falling.
...
“Don’t you kill?”
The black-haired youth behind him suddenly asked.
“No,” Yiming replied quickly.
He lowered his voice, his bright blue dog-like eyes scanning their surroundings.
“Even if they’ve hurt you?” Li asked again.
“No, Buyan said if they kill and I do the same, then there’s no difference between me and them,” Yiming answered swiftly, his arm turning into a hard steel plate to knock out another black-robed figure with a muffled strike.
He seemed happy that Li was talking to him, his tone cheerful, as if their bond was growing, their relationship improving.
Hearing this, the youth behind him fell silent for a moment.
“Someone who taught you that, are they family?”
The youth’s words seemed devoid of emotion, but Yiming seemed not to notice at all, or rather, didn't feel the other was being cold.
“Buyan is my adoptive father,” Yiming explained. “When I was young, he sent me to school, taught me how to develop my ability, and told me how to survive in the empire.” When speaking of his adoptive father, his blue eyes seemed like the sky breaking through dark clouds, sparkling brightly.
Low-rank ability users, especially children, would find it very difficult to survive in this society if they were alone, let alone simply grow up.
Yiming greatly respected his adoptive father. His adoptive father had given him a childhood.
It was something he shouldn't have had.
After a long while, Li sighed: “He loves you very much.”
But Yiming was stunned for a moment.
Li seemed to be just reminiscing about the past and then sighing with emotion. But it wasn't just a light, floating sentence; it contained some indescribable emotions.
Envy? No.
Empathy? A bit like that.
They were discussing something they had both once possessed.
Yiming had this feeling.
At that moment, they seemed to have a sense of resonance.
“Do you have them too?” Yiming couldn't help but ask, “Family.”
He couldn't help but secretly turn his head when rounding a corner, looking at the youth's expression.
His eyebrows and eyes softened, his eyelashes lowered as if covering the light in his eyes, as if lost in memory.
Although Li's face was still cold, it was different from true coldness. Yiming could clearly read nostalgia from it.
“I do,” Li said in a seemingly light tone, “I wasn't born from a rock.”
Yiming seemed happier than Li, saying: “Once we get out, you can go home!”
In the empire, those without a surname or name were mostly commoners, more likely to be at the very bottom, like Yiming.
He knew from the beginning that Li was a commoner like him, and also knew that they, like Tang, belonged to the lower class of this society.
They were all struggling to survive in this world.
So he was genuinely happy for Li, because he had a home.
But before he could say anything more, he heard Li say casually: “No, she's not in this world.”
An understatement, as if he didn't care at all.
But it seemed this person would always use such an attitude to hide his true emotions.
This was real. Yiming realized this.
He suddenly had an illusion of suffocation.
The number of black-robed men on the road ahead gradually decreased, as if they had been transferred elsewhere.
It seemed there were only the two of them in the long corridor.
The bronze-colored walls that were constantly receding as they ran grew darker in color. Ahead seemed to be a darkness where one couldn't see their own hand.
The claustrophobic space seemed to press down, weighing on his shoulders.
The sound of their running footsteps was like a drumbeat, striking his pounding heart.
He understood this feeling very well, because he too once had a family. After gaining and then losing, he finally became alone.
And he still had friends by his side. What about Li, who had been imprisoned in Qing Tong for who knows how long?
He could be carefree and throw his sadness to the back of his mind, but what was Li thinking beneath his feigned ease?
Yiming suddenly had an impulse.
He stopped his steps, turned around, and looked at the seemingly lonely youth with serious eyes.
“We can be family in the future,” he said.
In that instant, everything around seemed to fall silent.
The brown-haired youth gently lifted his face, which still had some baby fat, looking extremely earnest.
The black-haired youth's eyes widened slightly, his mouth slightly agape, but he said nothing.
His dark pupils seemed surprised, seemed stunned, reflecting Yiming's face completely.
“Didn’t you say a couple of days ago that I could call you big brother if I wanted to?” Yiming said, “I happen to have always wanted a big brother.”
Those blue eyes were like a beautiful sky after the dark clouds had parted, without a trace of haze.
Li looked at him, stunned.
This youth, who was always cold-faced, sharp-tongued, and unwilling to speak the truth, seemed to have heard something utterly unbelievable, yet he showed a touching tremor.
After a long while, Li raised his head slightly.
His black pupils, hidden behind raven-like dense eyelashes, glistened with moisture, revealing a relaxed smile.
“Alright.”
The black-haired youth said softly.
...
In the Qing Tong organization, the ‘Can Zu’ guarded the merchandise.
When chaos erupted outside, they would still stick to their posts.
And these ‘Can Zu’ were guarding even more important merchandise.
It was quiet outside the merchandise rooms.
Black-robed men stood in front of the doors, lined up in order.
They knew what was behind the doors they guarded: a piece of merchandise with a special ability.
The leading black-robed man had a tiger-like golden pattern on the corner of his robe.
He did not belong to the ‘Can Zu’, but to the combat-capable ‘Hu Zu’.
A D-rank mimicry-type, his sharp claws could tear the earth, and his five senses were exceptionally strong, able to hear faint sounds from a hundred meters away.
No one could escape his eyes, and no one could bypass his ears. Whether day or night, he could firmly grasp his prey.
And at this moment, he was in charge of keeping order here.
This was a very extravagant matter. After all, an ability user like him was more suited to go outside and look for new targets.
But it was said that a D-rank had previously offended an esteemed guest of Qing Tong, causing great losses to Qing Tong, so they were forcibly detained at the Qing Tong headquarters by the leader, for no reason at all.
He was a bit impatient, but he didn't dare to disobey the leader's orders.
Suddenly, he heard a “bang.”
After this sound, the lights in the corridor ahead suddenly went out.
The black-robed men immediately pulled out the guns from under their robes and looked warily at the location where the sound came from.
The black-robed man from the Hu Zu also raised his hand—his palm transformed into sharp claws, and small feathers appeared on his face, like a bird-like creature.
At the end of the corridor, it was as if there was a beast that could devour humans, a pitch blackness.
Above their heads, where the lights could illuminate, fragments of the chandelier could be vaguely seen.
The assailants arrived here.
Before they could react, a figure suddenly rushed out from the darkness. It was a brown-haired youth.
The black-robed people instantly opened fire, bullets reaching the youth’s position in an instant, but they hit hard metal instead!
A clanging sound rang out, bullets falling to the ground, while the iron ball beside the brown-haired youth directly smashed through the chandelier above their heads!
Darkness descended instantly.
The black-robed people aimed at the youth’s previous location and continued firing, the muzzle flashes temporarily illuminating their vision.
The ability user from Hu Zu, following the light, looked over with a dismissive cold snort.
In the face of his ability, even metal would be torn apart, crushed into fragments.
He extended his sharp claws, almost able to envision the youth being ripped apart.
But before he could make another move,
“Thud!”
A tremendous force struck from behind, instantly hitting the side of his neck.
It was an attack without any warning, bypassing his keen senses, rendering his prized ability utterly useless.
Instinctively, he looked back.
He saw a black-haired youth, smirking in the darkness, watching with slight interest as he staggered forward, gradually slipping into unconsciousness.
In that moment, he realized.
His ability was, of course, worthless, utterly useless.
He was facing the esteemed guest repeatedly mentioned by the leader, that unfathomable A-rank powerhouse!
But why hadn’t this powerhouse killed him?
He was puzzled, confused.
Before losing consciousness, he looked forward and saw the brown-haired youth who had knocked out all the others but spared their lives.
He saw the youth turn his head, flashing a smile at the black-haired youth behind him, those blue eyes as clear as a pristine sky.
His final, sluggish thought was: Was it because of him?
Because of consideration for that youth’s wishes, he was spared?