Two hours earlier.
Duan Fei watched in disbelief as Xiao Zhenyun and Si Di sprang out of the ground, dressed in a ridiculous attempt at a disguise, wearing hoods and masks that barely concealed their identities. Without hesitation, they injected Duan Pei with a syringe and then turned to run.
Normal people are immune to QTA; Xiao Zhenyun had told him this before they entered Yao Town.
Why? What are they doing?
Who was that injection really meant for, Si Chu or Duan Pei?
But the answer made no sense regardless of who it was.
Duan Fei had known for a long time that Xiao Zhenyun carried many secrets.
After reuniting with Xiao Jiali, he had heard him talk about how he and Xiao Zhenyun had met.
Back then, those amber eyes had looked up at the sky with a sparkle, lips curling into a smile as he recounted how Xiao Zhenyun had picked him out at the Peach Blossom Club. The way he spoke and his expression made it seem like Xiao Zhenyun knew he would be there, waiting to be dragged out by the manager in his most desperate moment.
Xiao Jiali had chuckled, a bit embarrassed, “Doesn’t it sound like fate? Maybe I’m just overthinking, since Teacher Xiao didn’t know me at all back then.
Duan Fei didn’t know Xiao Zhenyun well enough to comment. But because of Duan Pei, he had started to interact more with Xiao Zhenyun. The more he did, the more he felt an eerie sense of discord around the guide.
Of course, Hedgehog had also keenly sensed this oddity. While interested, he chose to dive right in without overthinking it.
Duan Fei, however, was different. If he were a sentinel, his spiritual body would undoubtedly be a highly intelligent Border Collie, always driven to explore and understand any anomalies.
After Xiao Zhenyun and Si Di fled, Duan Fei frowned deeply, watching Lily and his team as they swiftly flipped the professor’s desk and began prying up the floorboards.
“Brother,” Duan Pei muttered, holding his neck and walking over slowly, only to trip over nothing. Duan Fei quickly grabbed his arm to steady him.
“Careful… Why is your face so red?” Duan Fei asked, puzzled, touching Duan Pei’s forehead with the back of his hand and flinching at the heat. “You’ve got a fever.”
Duan Pei didn’t try to be brave, panting heavily, his eyes bloodshot from the fever. “I’m so hot, so uncomfortable… Is it because of the QTA? Wasn’t it supposed to be ineffective on normal people?”
Duan Fei felt a pang in his heart, a faint sense that he was on the verge of an answer. Without wasting time, he drove Duan Pei to the nearest town hospital.
The young doctor who saw them looked like he had just graduated from medical school, visibly nervous and seemingly unreliable. Duan Fei frowned, considering whether to head straight to the city hospital, but the doctor, before Duan Pei could even explain his symptoms, asked, “Were you injected with a pale yellow substance?”
He pointed to Duan Pei’s neck.
Both Duan Fei and Duan Pei looked up at the timid young doctor.
The doctor carefully continued, “Did you have any previous brain conditions, like a tumor?”
“…”
The doctor read the answer in their faces and explained seriously, “He’s not an isolated case. There was an 80-year-old patient before who…”
Ten minutes later, Duan Pei was on his way to the city hospital, but Duan Fei stayed behind. Sitting in the waiting area, he pondered for a while, then activated the one-way monitoring mode on the communicator he had given to Si Chu.
Lily, who was sitting next to him chewing gum, received a message that the scouts had explored the entire underground tunnel and tracked Xiao Zhenyun and Si Di.
“They went to find Si Chu?”
“Yes, Captain Psychic is living up to his name,” Lily said, accustomed to Duan Fei’s uncanny foresight.
“I don’t deserve that title,” Duan Fei said, standing up. “After all, I still can’t figure out the answer.”
Lily raised an eyebrow but didn’t ask what Duan Fei was mumbling about.
After sending Duan Pei off, Duan Fei left the hospital and rejoined his team, instructing them to stay put. He discreetly monitored the movements of the special individuals from a distance, where sentinels wouldn’t notice.
Under Duan Fei’s orders, Lily set up her sniper rifle, replacing the bullets with tranquilizer darts. Through the high-powered scope, she squinted and clicked her tongue in amazement. “What a soap opera of a family drama… Captain, when do I take the shot?”
Duan Fei remained silent, leaving Lily to wait impatiently.
Soon enough, the extended family of special individuals were locked in a chaotic brawl. Twice, Si Chu narrowly escaped death. Throughout, Lily kept glancing at Duan Fei’s expression, and when she couldn’t take the silence any longer, she finally asked, “Captain, what’s holding you back? Those two are wide open. I could hit each one dead-on.”
Duan Fei slowly parted his lips and asked, “Which two people are you planning to shoot?”
“Huh?” Lily was puzzled. “What kind of question is that? Obviously… wait a minute, which side are we supporting? I might have been biased… So, I should actually be targeting the other four? Including that damn snake?”
Lily’s inexplicable excitement grew.
But she wasn’t entirely wrong; Duan Fei was indeed hesitating. For over twenty years, he had always acted with clear logic and reasoning. This time, though, his actions were based on fragments of intuition rather than complete facts.
First, Xiao Zhenyun hadn’t lost his memory or been brainwashed. He was consciously lying, with inconsistencies such as claiming not to know the silver-haired sentinel one moment, then fighting alongside him the next without hesitation.
Second, Xiao Zhenyun called Briggs ‘Briches,’ indicating he wasn’t on Professor’s side. Duan Fei had seen Xiao Zhenyun kick Briggs through his binoculars.
Third, Xiao Zhenyun was Xiao Jiali’s benefactor, and for that, he had made a solemn promise to repay the favor in times of need.
Fourth…
Finally, Duan Fei received his fourth clue. His terminal rang, and he answered it, listening to a report from the subordinate who had accompanied Duan Pei to the hospital. After a few sentences, Duan Fei involuntarily held his breath. “Really?”
The voice on the other end continued, meticulously relaying a long message, but Duan Fei could hardly focus anymore. The overwhelming joy struck him, engulfing him completely.
Fourth, Xiao Zhenyun was also Duan Pei’s benefactor, both psychologically and physiologically.
Finally, the fifth reason was Duan Fei’s leadership acumen. As a decision-maker, when the situation was unclear but required a stance, he needed to have the courage to make a decisive call.
A long-awaited tranquilizer dart shot out from Lily’s rifle, slicing through the cold air with precision. It shattered a falling snowflake before accurately striking Xiao Jingfeng in the shoulder.
At Duan Fei’s command, twenty armed special forces soldiers, trained like a hunting pack of wolves, swiftly surrounded the sentinels and guides in the snow. The only S-class dark sentinel was restrained by another S-class sentinel, and most of the soldiers’ gun muzzles were aimed at Si Chu’s head.
Lily restrained Ye Feiran, while Duan Fei walked up to Xiao Zhenyun and respectfully said, “Mr. Xiao.”
Xiao Zhenyun hadn’t expected Duan Fei to come to his aid at such a critical moment. Considering the syringe he had used on Duan Pei, it was surprising enough that Duan Fei hadn’t shot him on sight. Was Duan Fei about to reveal that he had figured out he was a time traveler?
Duan Fei did speak next, but not the words Xiao Zhenyun had anticipated. With a smile in his eyes, Duan Fei said, “The QTA has had a remarkable effect on Duan Pei’s condition. In just two hours, the tumor in his brain has visibly shrunk by 1.5 millimeters.”
Xiao Zhenyun was stunned.
Duan Pei’s brain tumor was shrinking, while Xiao Zhenyun nearly felt a new tumor forming from the shock. His mind went blank, almost convinced that Duan Fei was lying.
QTA, Duan Pei, tumor?
Even as Xiao Zhenyun’s brain raced, his expression remained flawlessly composed. After a brief moment of contemplation, he responded lightly, “That’s good to hear. The situation was urgent, and I didn’t have time to explain. I apologize for the scare.”
Hearing this, Duan Fei exhaled a barely noticeable sigh of relief. He gave Xiao Zhenyun a sharp, precise military salute before stepping aside and raising his right hand in a welcoming gesture. “Mr. Xiao, you can do what you need to do now.”
In truth, Duan Fei’s words not only overloaded Xiao Zhenyun’s brain but also left Si Di flooding their spiritual link with question marks, constantly asking if this was in the book, if Xiao Zhenyun knew beforehand, and if Xiao Nian knew about this.
Of course, this wasn’t in the book, Xiao Zhenyun replied. In the original story, Duan Pei’s grave was covered in lush grass by now.
The most crucial part was that Duan Fei’s words left Si Chu stunned. The young man was paralyzed, his recently rebuilt worldview once again shattered. The dry tear tracks on his face stung in the freezing wind. His mind echoed with the words he had angrily shouted at his brother not long ago: How can you say injecting QTA into me is for my own good?
Could it be… they really meant well?
Could it be that he also had a tumor in his brain, and his brother and little uncle couldn’t bear to tell him? They might have wanted to treat him secretly to spare him the truth, fearing he couldn’t handle it. After all, sentinels experience intense emotional swings, and an extreme reaction could have severe consequences.
So, they chose to be the bad guys to protect him?
The logic… actually made sense?
This time, when the soldiers pinned him down, Si Chu didn’t struggle. He lay quietly in the snow, hands restrained, looking up with wide, trusting amber eyes at Xiao Zhenyun.
Even the Czech wolfdog stopped barking, circling its master worriedly before approaching Xiao Zhenyun and rubbing against his leg affectionately.
“Little Uncle…” You want to protect me, right?
“I’m here,” Xiao Zhenyun replied calmly.
Si Chu didn’t ask anything, just smiled peacefully and closed his eyes.
Ye Feiran also remained silent, his peacock pressed close to his leg, nervously watching the scene.
Hedgehog stood beside Si Di, carrying the unconscious Xiao Jingfeng on his back. A short-tailed viper poked its head out from Tai Ji’s hair, flicking its tongue curiously.
Xiao Zhenyun’s left hand rested in his coat pocket, where the last QTA syringe lay. With no obstacles left and the end in sight, he hesitated.
Is everything really alright? Will there be no more surprises?
Can I really do this?
Suddenly, a shout broke the silence. Xiao Zhenyun turned and saw that Xiao Hui had woken up. Xiao Jingfeng’s earlier whip strike must not have been heavy, so it made sense for Xiao Hui to regain consciousness now.
An idea sparked in Xiao Zhenyun’s mind. He waved Xiao Hui over.
Clutching his aching head, the Bat Sentinel approached Xiao Zhenyun under the watchful eyes of the soldiers.
“What’s going on…?”
“Xiao Hui.” Xiao Zhenyun took the glass vial from his pocket and forced Xiao Hui’s hand around it, despite his immediate resistance. “What’s the meaning of this? I don’t want to…”
Si Di stepped forward, worried about Xiao Zhenyun complicating things, but understanding his concerns. The wolfdog’s awakening in the story was a miracle; who could guarantee it could be replicated in reality? He understood Xiao Zhenyun’s desire to follow the original plot as closely as possible.
“It’s okay, trust me,” Xiao Zhenyun reassured. Seeing Xiao Hui still resisting, he lowered his voice, sounding like a devil whispering in his ear, “I know this is what you’ve always wanted to do, and it still is…”
“…”
“You can’t let go of such deep hatred that easily. You might fool others, but you can’t fool me.” Xiao Zhenyun gripped Xiao Hui’s hand, forcing him to kneel beside Si Chu. “I don’t know if you’re pretending to be reformed out of necessity or if you’ve truly decided to change. But at least for now, you still hate all high-ranking special individuals…”
“Now, you have the chance you’ve longed for, the chance to retaliate against the high-ranking sentinels, right in front of you, within your reach, and without any consequences. It’s the perfect opportunity for release,” Xiao Zhenyun whispered, his voice low.
Xiao Hui’s breathing grew heavier, not rebutting Xiao Zhenyun’s words, only murmuring softly, “I thought you were here to pull me out of this quagmire.”
A faint smile played on Xiao Zhenyun’s lips, knowing he had guessed right.
Only Si Di heard this subtle hint of a smile, a sensation that made his throat tighten.
Xiao Zhenyun helped Xiao Hui steady his hand against Si Chu’s neck, then slowly released his grip. “Let it all out completely, then truly look forward…”
Xiao Bai watched all of this in bewilderment. Xiao Zhenyun stood up and walked over to her, gently stroking her rabbit ears.
So many twists and turns had occurred within just a few hours. Until Xiao Hui lost control of his emotions and roared as he injected the entire QTA syringe into Si Chu, Xiao Zhenyun felt like he was dreaming, as if none of what was happening was real.
True to the original plot, Si Chu writhed in pain. After the needle was removed, a stream of crimson blood flowed from his neck, quickly swelling into a large bruise.
Ye Feiran and Si Di rushed to him simultaneously.
Meanwhile, Xiao Hui discarded the syringe and brushed past them, pulling Xiao Bai into his arms.
“This is bad,” he trembled, holding Xiao Bai close. “This feels awful.”
But Xiao Bai laughed happily, hugging Xiao Hui tightly and jumping around.
“Xiao Chu, Xiao Chu!” Si Di lifted Si Chu and used the cotton balls Lily handed him to stem the bleeding from the needle hole.
Si Chu weakly smiled at his brother, then suddenly realized something, and shouted in horror, “Xiao Mu… Xiao Mu!”
The QTA’s effects were swift. The Czech wolfdog staggered a few steps in the snow, its jaws gaping as saliva dripped uncontrollably. Then, its eyes turned blood-red, baring its teeth as it lunged at a soldier indiscriminately.
Hello, everyone ヾ(＾∇＾). I hope you enjoyed the story! If you’re feeling generous, please buy me a coffee, share/comment on my translated works! Check out the link below for early chapters. (๑>ᴗ<๑)
