Free Web NovelChapter 91: Face Your Destiny
The moment they stepped through the rift, they were greeted by corpses. Thousands of them.
Monster corpses littered the desert-like landscape as far as the eye could see. Some were torn apart. Some had been decapitated. Others looked as though they had simply exploded.
The thick red haze drifted between them like smoke.
Even the air felt hostile.
Kaiwen stopped walking looking genuinely shocked. "What the hell..."
Wenzhi adjusted the oxygen mask covering his face. His attention barely lingered on the corpses.
Unlike Kaiwen, he wasn’t seeing them for the first time.
Earlier, for that brief moment aboard the airship, he had seen this place already through Xinyuan’s eyes.
The memory made his stomach tighten.
Kaiwen looked around slowly. "This is insane."
The destruction stretched endlessly. Evidence of hours of fighting, killing. Hours of refusing to retreat.
Wenzhi felt it then. Xinyuan’s wavelength even from this distance.
His pulse quickened. The hostility inside that wavelength was impossible to miss.
Without thinking, he increased his pace.
Kaiwen followed. "He really killed all of these."
His voice carried a mixture of disbelief and admiration. "He didn’t let them escape."
They continued moving through the sea of corpses.
Kaiwen kicked aside part of a shattered monster skull. A low whistle escaped him. "Sometimes I forget how terrifying he actually is." frёewebηovel.cѳm
Wenzhi said nothing.
"They locked him away for a reason." Kaiwen’s smile faded.
The further they walked, the heavier Xinyuan’s corrupted wavelength became.
Then Kaiwen spoke again. "This is a suicide mission."
Wenzhi snorted. "Of course it is."
Kaiwen glanced at him. The casual answer clearly wasn’t what he expected. "I’m serious."
"So am I."
Neither slowed down. The red haze drifted around them.
Kaiwen stared ahead. "Xinyuan was coming to Sector Two because of you."
Wenzhi frowned. "What?"
Kaiwen blinked. "You didn’t know?"
The confusion in his voice was genuine.
Wenzhi stopped walking. Kaiwen stopped too.
For a moment neither spoke.
Then Wenzhi asked slowly. "What do you mean?"
Kaiwen’s cheerful expression disappeared. "Oh. You really didn’t know."
The silence that followed felt awkward.
"He was looking for help."
Wenzhi stared at him.
"About someone who might be able to help with your condition."
For a second Wenzhi simply stood there processing.
"He was planning to come here before he heard about the Rift." Kaiwen rubbed the back of his neck. "He never told you?"
"No." The answer came sharply.
Kaiwen winced. "Oh."
Wenzhi looked away, his jaw tightening.
So Xinyuan knew. He knew his guiding energy was depleting and instead of saying anything, he had been trying to solve it himself.
"No wonder."
Kaiwen blinked. "No wonder what?"
Wenzhi scoffed. A humourless sound. "No wonder he tried to suppress the corruption. The tattoos too..."
Wenzhi had thought it was stubbornness.
But now.... it looked like concern.
The realization irritated him a lot.
"That idiot."
Kaiwen smiled faintly. "That sounds affectionate."
"It isn’t." Wenzhi exhaled slowly.
A guide’s energy wasn’t endless. It was their life. Their breath. Their soul. Once it ran out, that was it.
There was no recovery, treatment. No second chances. Which was why low Rank guides weren’t paired with high rank Espers.
Wenzhi rubbed the back of his neck, his expression darkening. Then he suddenly stopped walking. "Change of plans."
Kaiwen frowned. "What?"
Wenzhi looked toward the distant source of Xinyuan’s wavelength.
"The pills I took aren’t going to do anything." Wenzhi adjusted the strap of his oxygen mask.
Kaiwen smiled. "Of course they aren’t. That is why I said this is a suicide mission."
"Well, I do not want to die." Wenzhi stepped over another mutilated monster corpse. "And I do not want today ending with Xinyuan exploding and taking all of us with him."
Kaiwen already disliked where this conversation was going.
Wenzhi pointed ahead. "So we’re changing plans."
Kaiwen narrowed his eyes. "To what plans?"
"We contain him." Wenzhi’s voice remained perfectly calm. "Trap him. Suppress him."
Then he added, "Well. You will do all those things."
Kaiwen stopped walking. "What?"
Wenzhi kept moving. "You are the Esper."
Kaiwen looked horrified. "This is supposed to be your suicide mission."
He pointed at himself. "When did it become mine?"
Wenzhi didn’t even look back. "Just knock him unconscious." He said it like he was asking Kaiwen to close a door.
Kaiwen stared at him. Then stared at the mountains of corpses surrounding them. Then stared back at Wenzhi.
"Look at this place." He pointed at the devastation around them. "He spent over ten hours killing mutated monsters."
Wenzhi kissed his teeth. "Coward."
Kaiwen froze.
Wenzhi continued walking.
Kaiwen stood there for several seconds with his mouth open, his hand still gesturing.
Eventually he sighed and followed after him. "You are the one being a coward."
Wenzhi glanced at him.
Kaiwen pointed accusingly. "Face your destiny."
"What fucking destiny?" Wenzhi folded his arms. "I am not doing that self-sacrifice nonsense."
He looked ahead. "Knock him out."
He stopped instantly.
Kaiwen nearly walked into him. "What are you—"
The words died because he saw it too.
Someone was walking through the haze slowly and unsteadily.
The red mist curled around him. Both eyes burned crimson. The glowing chain markings stretched across his skin.
Blood stained his face. His clothes were torn. His hair hung loose with strands stuck to his forehead and cheeks.
Even Wenzhi forgot to breathe.
Xinyuan looked terrible, exhausted and broken like his body had continued moving purely because it had forgotten how to stop. And somehow that bothered Wenzhi more than the red eyes.
The red haze twisted around Xinyuan’s body. Merging with the dark mist. Neither seemed separate anymore.
"I think his shadows merged with the red haze." Wenzhi narrowed his eyes.
Kaiwen looked deeply disturbed. "That is one of the most horrifying things I have ever heard."
He took a step back.
Wenzhi immediately looked at him. "Coward."
Kaiwen didn’t even argue.
Xinyuan finally focused on them. Or rather.... on Wenzhi.
His eyes widened slightly as though he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
For several seconds he simply stared.
Then, "Freckles?" His voice came out rough, barely recognizable.
Yet the moment he smiled, the entire terrifying image shattered. His dimples appeared. That familiar stupid smile appeared.
The one that always surfaced whenever he looked at Wenzhi like nothing else in the world mattered.
Wenzhi released a long sigh. "There he is."
Kaiwen looked between them. Then at Wenzhi. "Are you still expecting me to knock him out?"
"Yes."
"N—" Kaiwen never finished.
Because Xinyuan vanished and suddenly, he was standing directly in front of Kaiwen.
Those crimson eyes narrowed with cold, murderous intent.
Kaiwen had exactly enough time to think. Oh. Before he was launched into the distance.
Wenzhi stared. His brain struggled to process what had just happened.
Somewhere far away, Kaiwen was probably regretting every life decision he had ever made.
Then Xinyuan took a single step forward.. to Wenzhi. Then another and wrapped both arms around him tightly and desperately like he had been holding himself together purely for this.
His face buried itself against the side of Wenzhi’s neck.
A long breath escaped him. "It’s so quiet now."
The whisper was rough, exhausted, relieved.
Wenzhi closed his eyes as his guiding instincts immediately took over.
His hand slowly lifted... wanting to touch his hair... Wanting to stabilize him... Wanting to....
Xinyuan suddenly grabbed his wrist, stopping him.
His grip was weak. Much weaker than it should have been.
He forced himself to speak. "Doctor..."
His breathing shook. "Ruixin."
Then his eyes closed as he forced himself to lose consciousness and the hand holding Wenzhi’s wrist slipped away.
His weight collapsed forward.
"Wha—" Wenzhi’s eyes widened.
He immediately grabbed Xinyuan’s waist before he could hit the ground.
Xinyuan had stopped fighting.
