Xinyuan couldn’t believe what he had just heard.
His eyes remained wide. His lips parted slightly.
For a mont, he could only stare.
His grip on Jingxin’s shirt remained tight while his brother stood there with blood sared across his face, breathing hard through a broken nose.
Jingxin grabbed his wrist. "Now you know why."
His voice was rough. "So why don’t you let go?"
Xinyuan didn’t move. His thoughts felt tangled, heavy and loud.
But slowly, he forced his expression back under control. "I was fifteen."
His voice ca out quieter than expected. "I didn’t do any of that intentionally. I didn’t ask to beco a disaster-class Esper."
Jingxin imdiately burst into laughter.
The sound echoed through the room.
"Look at you." He grinned through the blood. "You look completely broken."
Xinyuan’s jaw tightened.
"If you regret it so much, you can always co with ." Jingxin’s smile widened. "They want to fix everything."
He leaned forward. "If you can open rifts, then maybe you can close them too."
Xinyuan stared at him, unblinking. "I don’t believe you."
The answer ca imdiately.
"I don’t fix things." His fingers tightened. "I destroy them."
Dark mist drifted around his body slowly.
"So this whole story about saving the world?" He laughed coldly. "Sounds like a lie."
"A lie?" Jingxin scoffed. "Then co find out for yourself."
His eyes sharpened. "Co with ."
Xinyuan shook his head. "You think you can emotionally manipulate ?"
"You’ve always been sensitive, brother." Jingxin didn’t even bother denying it. Then his grin returned. "Maybe you can tell more about Lin Wenzhi."
Xinyuan’s expression darkened instantly.
"Why are you so attached to him? We can catch up as—"
The doors slamd open.
Both Espers turned.
Wenzhi stood in the doorway with his gun still in hand. His freckled face twisted into a deep frown.
"Okay." His voice cut through the room. "That’s enough."
Xinyuan looked at him and slowly released Jingxin.
The mont Jingxin shifted, Bang.
The gunshot echoed through the room.
The bullet tore straight through Jingxin’s leg.
Jingxin barely had ti to react before Xinyuan grabbed his head and slamd it into the floor. Hard.
The impact knocked him unconscious instantly.
Silence followed.
Blood spread beneath Jingxin’s face.
His nose was broken. His leg was bleeding.
Xinyuan stared down at him. Both fists clenched tightly at his sides.
Wenzhi walked over. His eyes briefly moved over Jingxin’s injuries. Then up toward Xinyuan.
Only now did he notice it.
The red eye. The uneven breathing.
The way Xinyuan looked like he was holding himself together through sheer force of will.
"What happened?"
Xinyuan looked at him. For a mont, he looked like he wanted to say nothing.
Then, "I found out why they sold to the CEA."
Wenzhi’s eyebrows rose. "And?"
Xinyuan laughed. A small painful, hollow sound.
"My awakening opened the rifts." The words felt strange even coming out of his mouth. "The ones that beca the Red Zones."
The room suddenly felt very quiet.
"They think if I opened them..." He swallowed. "...then I can close them."
Wenzhi stared. "What?"
Xinyuan’s lips curved. Not into a smile. But... Sothing sadder. "I don’t believe them."
"Good." The answer ca without hesitation.
Wenzhi raised the gun, pointing it directly at Jingxin’s unconscious head. "Now he has to go."
"No." Zhaohe’s voice interrupted as the door opened again.
Jiang Zhaohe stepped inside.
Wang Chenxi and Gu Luhan following behind her.
"We need him."
Wenzhi let out a slow breath and turned to Zhaohe. "We don’t need him. If any one of us had been in his position, he wouldn’t have hesitated to kill us. We shouldn’t make stupid decisions."
"Stupid decisions?" Zhaohe frowned. "We need him, Wenzhi."
She stepped forward. "Shao Jingxin is valuable to Old Blood. We can use him as a shield."
"We don’t need a shield." Wenzhi’s finger settled against the trigger.
He wasn’t even looking at Jingxin anymore but the gun remained aid directly at his forehead.
"Wenzhi." Zhaohe’s voice sharpened. "You need to trust ."
"And you need to trust ." Wenzhi countered. "I thought you made faction leader for situations like this."
The room fell quiet.
Neither of them backed down.
Wenzhi could pull the trigger right now. He could end it. Simple and easy. But this faction wasn’t going to survive if every disagreent beca a power struggle.
Trust had to exist sowhere. Especially between the three people standing at its center.
His gaze remained fixed on Zhaohe asking a silent question.
Explain.
Zhaohe understood imdiately. "If anything goes wrong because of this decision..."
She straightened. "I’ll take responsibility."
A long silence followed.
Then Wenzhi sighed and lowered the gun. He shoved it back into his waistband.
"Fine." His eyes moved across the room.
Wang Chenxi still looked exhausted and half-dead inside. But there was amusent in his expression now.
anwhile Gu Luhan wasn’t looking at Zhaohe or Jingxin. He was staring directly at Xinyuan.
Xinyuan hadn’t spoken or moved. He looked lost sowhere inside his own head.
Gu Luhan took a step forward as if he wanted to approach him.
Before he could, Wenzhi grabbed Xinyuan’s hand.
The movent imdiately drew everyone’s attention.
"Look at ."
Xinyuan’s eyes lifted, eting those grey eyes.
For a mont, the room disappeared.
The unconscious Jingxin. The argunts. The faction.
None of it seed important.
Wenzhi exhaled. "Take us out of here."
Xinyuan nodded and a dark mist burst from his body. Shadows spiraling around them.
The air distorted and both of them vanished.
Silence settled over the room.
Gu Luhan’s jaw tightened. His hand slowly clenched at his side.
"Faction leader, huh." Wang Chenxi broke the silence first.
Zhaohe glanced at him. "If you’re not interested, you can leave."
Chenxi snorted. "Oh, I’m in."
His eyes drifted toward the place where Xinyuan and Wenzhi had disappeared.
"Lin Wenzhi is a good choice. But did you hear what Xinyuan said?"
The atmosphere imdiately shifted.
"The Red Zones."
"You don’t trust Xinyuan?" Zhaohe asked.
Chenxi shrugged.
Before he could speak, Gu Luhan answered instead.
"It’s not about trust." His voice was quiet. "Shao Xinyuan is different."
Everyone looked at him.
"Even with the monsters and rifts, he is the closest thing to a living catastrophe I’ve ever seen."
No one interrupted.
"If it’s true that his awakening created the Red Zones..." Gu Luhan’s expression tightened. "Then I don’t trust a B-rank guide to handle that."
Zhaohe looked at him for a long mont and smiled. A small confident and certain smile. "I’m sure he’s doing just fine."
Gu Luhan frowned. "Shao Xinyuan needs a higher-ranking guide regardless of compatibility. Otherwise, he’ll destroy himself because of compatibility."
"Maybe." Zhaohe shrugged. "But Lin Wenzhi hasn’t failed him yet."
That answer clearly didn’t satisfy him. Not even a little.
"Can you help move Jingxin?" Zhaohe asked Chenxi.
"Sure."
The two of them walked toward the unconscious Esper.
Gu Luhan remained where he was watching, thinking and worrying. Then without another word, he turned and left the room.
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