After securing the formerly crazed man with tight ropes, Shion brushed dust off her hands irritably. Her amber eyes still flashed with annoyance. "Master Xiao Yan needs to hear about this!" she muttered to herself, then shot a sharp look at Leon, who was still standing there like a stone statue. "Hey! What are you standing around for? Help me carry this nutjob back to base, now!"
Leon startled slightly when snapped back to reality. He made his usual quiet "mm" sound, then awkwardly bent down to hoist the now-unconscious man onto his shoulder. Again... this is really all I can do... The self-deprecating thought flashed through his mind. Both of them quickly pushed through the crowd of still-panicked onlookers and left the chaotic area immediately.
As they walked through the commotion, Shion's mind churned heavily. "That guy was weird as hell. Whatever he shoved in his mouth, plus that crazed behavior... and that roar sounded exactly like a Vine-born." Suspicion built thick in her chest. She rolled her eyes thoughtfully, then spoke to Leon, who was following silently behind, her voice still tinged with irritation. "Hey... what's your name anyway?"
Leon was caught off guard by the unexpected question. He hadn't thought Shion would want to know his name. "Uh... er... L-Leon," he answered, stumbling over his words, eyes still downcast.
Shion frowned, studying Leon with undisguised scrutiny. "Leon... Earlier, when that guy was going berserk, did you see anything? Besides just standing there like a deer in headlights?"
The question made Leon freeze up. The scene of the man's rampage was still vivid in his mind, but deep in his psyche, those terrible memories about Eva were flooding back again. Her screams... that final touch... it weighed on him so heavily he could barely breathe. He turned his face away, swallowing the bitter lump in his throat. "No... just saw that guy going crazy... and eating something... that's all." And I couldn't do anything... same as always...
"Shit! You're completely useless!" Shion cursed, more frustrated than before. "Are you from some backwater hick town? How can you be this clueless?"
"Well... I guess that's about right," Leon replied weakly, accepting his fate.
"And why do you keep avoiding eye contact with me? Am I that disgusting to look at?" Shion kept pressing, her voice carrying hidden hurt beneath the aggression.
Leon stayed quiet for a moment, words stuck on his lips. The heavy secret he carried made it impossible for him to look anyone in the eye with confidence, especially a woman who seemed as strong and self-assured as Shion. "I... I can't answer that, Shion... Sorry." His voice was barely audible.
Shion closed her eyes and let out a long, exasperated sigh. A cold aura radiated from her visibly. "Whatever. I won't ask you anything else. So damn annoying!"
After trudging through the darkness and suffocating silence for a while, they finally reached the base entrance. They saw Xiao Yan sitting in meditation by the gate, as if he'd been specifically waiting for their return. His eyes were sharp as freshly honed blades.
But then the unexpected happened! The man Leon was carrying, who seemed to have recovered from whatever drug or substance had made him go berserk, suddenly snapped his eyes open! His eyes weren't bloodshot red like before, but filled with cunning and malicious intent. He jerked his body violently, using the moment when Leon's guard was down to break free from his grip, then snatched the short sword from Leon's waist and thrust it back toward Leon's stomach with shocking speed and precision!
"Ugh..!" Leon cried out in excruciating pain. His body convulsed as bright red blood gushed from the wound like a broken dam. He collapsed to his knees, eyes wide with shock and disbelief. He never imagined the seemingly defeated man would still have fangs, and would choose to attack him - the very person who'd helped carry him!
Shion, standing nearby, was stunned by what happened right in front of her. She couldn't even react! In the split second she'd looked away toward Xiao Yan, the enemy had turned the tables unbelievably! But before she could draw her massive sword to deal with the traitor, the air around them suddenly turned ice-cold, making her skin crawl! Tremendous pressure radiated from where Xiao Yan stood!
In the blink of an eye! Xiao Yan's figure, which had been sitting in meditation moments before, appeared in front of the man like a ghost! No wasted movement, no hesitation. The silver spear tip that appeared in his hand - when had he drawn it? - pressed precisely against the man's throat! The deadly killing intent radiating from the spear was so intense that the man's body went rigid, his breath catching.
"How dare you get cocky right in front of my base..." Xiao Yan's voice was colder than his spear tip. It wasn't a threat but a declaration of death. His deep indigo eyes blazed with merciless intent as they bored into the man's gaze until the other party felt like he was being frozen alive. "If you move even a fingernail... I'll show you suffering worse than living hell."
Pure terror showed in the man's eyes. Cold sweat broke out as he dropped the short sword to the ground with a loud clang, then collapsed to his knees in complete defeat. His earlier confidence evaporated, leaving only horror before the grim reaper standing before him.
After restraining the man again - this time several times more securely than before - Shion rushed over to check on Leon, who was clutching his wound with a pale face. "Hey! How bad is it? You're bleeding so much! We need to get you to the infirmary right now!" Her face showed clear worry, temporarily forgetting her earlier irritation with Leon.
Xiao Yan glanced coldly at the man kneeling on the ground, then grabbed his arm to haul him up and dragged him into his private office not far from there. The sound of dragging against the stone floor echoed throughout the area...
The atmosphere inside Xiao Yan's office was suffocatingly quiet, with only dim light from an oil lamp revealing the shadows of two figures. Xiao Yan threw the man down onto the floor carelessly.
"You're behind all of this, aren't you?!" Xiao Yan roared. Suddenly, dozens of weapons - swords, spears, and short blades hidden around the room's walls - floated up into mid-air through his psychic power. Every sharp point turned toward the man's body like a swarm of venomous creatures ready to strike at any moment. Xiao Yan stood with arms crossed, staring down at his prey with eyes ready to tear him apart. "Why the silence! Think staying quiet will help you? Or do you want me to carve you up piece by piece first before you'll talk!"
The man looked up. His eyes had lost the fear from moments before - now they showed emptiness and a twisted, mocking gleam. He grinned nastily. "Yeah... I'm the one behind it!" His voice was hoarse but defiant. "So what are you gonna do about it? Think catching me will stop anything? You're all just dumb cogs in a machine bigger than you can imagine... a machine that's about to crush your rotten world to pieces! Hahaha!"
"Then where are all the missing kids?!" Xiao Yan bellowed, his eyes hardening at the other's arrogant words.
Shion, who had just finished giving Leon basic first aid and ordered him to rest, walked in just in time. She'd heard the previous conversation and felt uneasy. "Looks like he's hiding something else, sir." She pointed to the dark stains around the man's lips. "When he ate that thing... it looked like... plant debris... no, charred animal flesh that somehow gave off a cold aura. Really strange - nothing like I've seen before."
"Animal flesh... with a cold aura..." Xiao Yan absorbed the information from Shion, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully as he tried to piece the story together. "What the hell is this madness..." he muttered to himself. The scent of evil more complex than expected began permeating the room.
"The kids?" The man laughed hoarsely, interrupting with a mocking tone layered with twisted philosophy. "They're just products of the world you created, aren't they? A world full of selfishness, deception, endless greed... You intoxicate yourselves with fake happiness, chasing worthless things until you forget life's true essence... Those children... they're just about to taste true 'freedom'... freedom from the corruption you've forced on them!" He looked at Xiao Yan and Shion with what seemed like pity. "I took them to the forbidden zone 'DryZone'! There... they'll discover their true selves... Hahaha! Hahahaha!"
Xiao Yan's face twisted with such rage that his veins bulged! His patience had reached its limit! He grabbed the man's collar and violently dragged him out of the room. "I'll be right back, Shion! Take good care of Leon!"
Before Shion could object or ask any follow-up questions, the sounds of "Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!" rang out heavily about ten times in rapid succession from outside the room. It wasn't just ordinary stabbing or cutting - it was the sound of something being pulverized... the sound of flesh being torn apart... followed by the scraping of something being dragged across the ground... then everything went silent... leaving only the faint smell of blood drifting in on the wind...
A terrifying, deathly silence fell...
Xiao Yan... he hadn't just killed it... he had "destroyed" it until nothing remained!
And it seemed... his fury wasn't finished... his next target was "DryZone"... and he was going alone!!