Chapter 17

Chapter 017

During his leisure time, aside from reading, practicing archery, and watching horror films, Lu Yan occasionally indulged in romance dramas from the last century.

His main goal was to learn how humans normally express emotions.

He was twenty that year, watching the protagonist on screen cry, "Please, don't fight over me." He had scoffed at the time, thinking that once fists were flying, such pleas were useless.

Now, Lu Yan desperately wanted to shout the same thing: "Please, don't fight over me!"

But circumstances didn't allow it.

"Give my sister back to me!"

Lu Jiahe's tone was exceptionally furious, the flames around his body burning endlessly, making him look like a ferocious demon crawling out of a crimson lotus hell.

Tang Xun'an drew his blade. The arcs of light it carved through the air wove into a lethal, dazzling net, beautiful yet saturated with an aura of death. Everything around him began to wither and decay.

Time was the world's most fair, and most cruel, force.

Jet-black dragon scales emerged from beneath Tang Xun'an's skin.

He raised an eyebrow and said, "Want her? Come and take her yourself."

It was a standoff of needle against wheat awn, heaven's thunder meeting earth's fire.

[If I were you, I'd find a safe spot to watch the show. When these two get serious, they're both madmen. You're too weak, easy to get caught in the crossfire.]

Hearing this, Lu Yan instinctively retreated from the scene, asking as he moved, "System? You're back?"

Something strange happened. As he moved, the sea of flames ahead automatically parted, clearing a safe path. The scene was spectacular, like the mythical parting of the Red Sea.

[The energy fluctuations here are too intense. The Dream Eater feels it's losing control of the dreamscape and decided to cut its losses before Tang Xun'an decides to clean house. Plus, the Wall of Resentment... well, it's about to manifest. Anyway, I'm secure now.]

[Oh, I know you must be curious. The Dream Eater is that Lin Sinan from your messages. He's clever with his little tricks, but against a combat specialist who's found his true body? He's a complete amateur.]

The system sighed with feeling. [A normal person would have died in this scenario long ago. Because in big brother's dream, little sister is always destined to die. He couldn't save Lu Yan back then, so naturally, he can't save you now.]

[After his sister died, Lu Jiahe's mind... fractured. He became convinced she'd just run away from home. Infected at a young age, dogged by misfortune, it wasn't until after her death that it all erupted, transforming him into a pollutant. He walked countless streets searching for her, only to have the misfortune of encountering that wall eight years ago. You are his three thousand, six hundredth cycle.]

[Oh, right. Did I forget to give you big brother's profile?]

[Lu Jiahe, codename... well, because when he entered the Wall of Resentment, Lu Jiahe was just an E-Class pollutant with contamination under 200, so he still doesn't have one. Current contamination value: 12,939.]

[Manifested Abilities: Karmic Flames, Bone Blades.]

[Aberration Vector: Carbonization, Pyrokinesis, Luck E.]

[With a bit of luck, he might even awaken a third ability here...]

[Good thing you're a koi fish. No, wait. You're not a koi. You're a Disney princess in hiding. An S-Class Awakener and an S-Class pollutant, fighting for your honor. How delightful, little sister.]

Lu Yan's fist clenched at the system's teasing tone.

He glanced at his watch. His aberration rate had climbed to ninety.

As a doctor with a researcher's mindset, he made a habit of checking periodically, noting the physical changes as the percentage rose.

At fifty, clear aberration signs had appeared: fish-scale growth, gill-like formations on his cheeks, a thirst for water... and for blood. Tinnitus.

Now at ninety, those physical traits had receded. But his mood had shifted dramatically, filling him with a powerful urge to find a river and either drown himself... or be reborn in it.

Fortunately, his innate calm temperament and muted emotional range helped suppress the alien sensation.

He watched the distant clash of blade and light. Lu Jiahe wielded no weapon, only bone-white claws that sprouted from his hands. Their collisions with the dragon-forged steel rang with the cold, shivering chime of close-quarters combat.

This was the gift Lu Jiahe had earned through countless cycles. Once, he'd almost saved his sister. But back then, he was just a low-level pollutant. A nanny's axe had severed his hand, and he could only watch as that same blade split his sister in two.

After that cycle, bone blades grew from his hands.

So thirsty. Need water.

The flames had consumed everything. Though they didn't touch him, they had undoubtedly boiled away all moisture in the air.

Lu Yan licked his parched lips, knowing it only hastened dehydration, but the unbearable dryness overwhelmed reason. "What about Tang Xun'an's profile?"

[Tang Xun'an. S-Class Awakener. Codename: 'Tyrant.' Spiritual power threshold fluctuates around 11,000.]

[Abilities: Dragon Bone, Bloodthirst Gene, and an incomplete form of... Time. Time ranks third on the Ability Sequence List. Pity he can only utilize a fragment. Can't be helped. Not everyone is as fortunate as you, blessed with a system as generous as I.]

[Aberration rate: 94.1.]

Lu Yan was stunned. "He's the Tyrant?"

He'd never seen the Tyrant. He'd imagined a man past his prime but still formidable, sharp-eyed and resolute. Perhaps ill-tempered, losing sleep over humanity's fate, body aching from years of fighting pollutants.

He hadn't expected humanity's strongest combatant to look, at first glance, like a university student who knew he was handsome, playing dress-up in a military uniform.

Then again, by certain anime logic, it wasn't entirely impossible.

The system took a drag on a cyberpunk e-cigarette. [Yes. Chose the codename when he was too young. Embarrassing, but it's stuck now.]

As Lu Yan and the system spectated, the fire-blackened wall beside him suddenly took on a crimson hue.

Blood, as if alive, swirled and coalesced.

The thick scent of copper once again overpowered the stench of burning tar. Lu Yan turned and froze. A humanoid figure of blood had condensed on the wall.

Countless bloody hands reached for it from the wall's surface—some grasping, others pushing.

Or perhaps the hands' intentions were simply not the same.

The eerie scene startled Lu Yan so much his aberration rate jumped another 0.1.

The blood figure struggled, taking one heavy step after another toward him. With each movement, the temperature plunged, becoming abnormally cold. Moments ago surrounded by fire, Lu Yan now felt the biting chill of potential frostbite.

The hairs on his neck stood up. "What is that?"

[A fragment of resentment from the Wall of Resentment. You should be familiar with her.] The system sighed. [This is the physical manifestation of Lu Jiahe's obsession. The wall holds the resentment of countless wronged dead... An ordinary person might become part of the wall after a dozen cycles. But Lu Jiahe has cycled thousands of times. He's lost all memory, yet forever remembers his mission to save his sister. So, on this wall saturated with bloody resentment, the sister has become its most powerful monster.]

[This place is both void and reality. A person is made of memory. If the body dies, but the memory remains... who does it become?]

The girl of blood finally tore free from the grasping hands. She stepped from the wall into reality.

The hands left behind on the surface shifted, becoming blood figures of varying heights, featureless save for their eyes. Some gazes held blessing; others were vicious beyond measure.

They were all who had died within the wall. Some hoped this girl could shatter the curse, granting their souls true peace, freeing them from endless cycles of despair. Others envied her, for she might attain final release...

[I should tell you to run, but it seems little sister has something to say.]

The crimson figure stepped toward Lu Yan. It had no features, no voice—just a coalescence of blood.

His scanner displayed its contamination value: 700.

A derivative of the wall, it wasn't particularly strong once separated.

The sister extended a hand. An invitation.

Lu Yan swallowed.

He was thirsty. Desperately so.

As if bewitched, he reached out and took her hand.

The mouth on his palm opened wide, swallowing greedily. The mass of blood condensed, grew smaller, and was finally completely absorbed into his body.

Memories not his own flooded Lu Yan's mind, and he understood why she had extended her hand.

Take my blood. In exchange, let me borrow your body for a moment.

His soul detached from its shell, hovering like a deity overlooking the world. Everything lay bare. He could even see a few black ants crawling from cracks in the scorched earth.

In his ear, the system's voice: [Ah, congratulations. This is the perspective from which I usually view the world.]

......

......

The distant battle raged on.

Half of Tang Xun'an's body had fully dragonized. His elegant hand had become a draconic claw, and jet-black wings unfurled from his back.

The transformed hand could no longer grip Huang Chen. Tang Xian’an could only rely on brute force to tear and bite.

Crimson flames still wreathed his body, the heat so intense the surrounding air warped and shimmered. Between his scales, golden blood seeped out, only to be instantly scorched dry.

Lu Jiahé had lost an arm. Deep within his charcoal-blackened body, where bone should have been, a patch of constantly regenerating, churning pink flesh struggled to rebuild. The rate of destruction now far outpaced his own repair.

This fight had long since descended into ugliness. Two monsters tearing into each other, the ground littered with severed limbs, shattered dragon scales, and splashes of gold.

Yet, in the end, Tang Xian’an gained the upper hand. His draconic claw clamped around Lu Jiahé’s throat.

This wasn’t the first time he’d crushed this charcoal-skinned man’s neck. The creature seemed to possess limitless regenerative power. Even if his entire body was pulverized, a single shred of that pulsing flesh could stubbornly reassemble itself. Charcoal was cheap, after all. Plenty to go around.

But Tang Xian’an knew this would be the last time.

Just like Lu Jiahé’s shattered limbs, the remnants of his power were no longer enough to fuel another rebirth.

The sea of flames around them had, at some point, begun to die down. Only a few stubborn embers remained, flickering like dying candlelight.

A warning chimed in Tang Xian’an’s earpiece: "Aberration rate has reached 99.7%. Cease all talent use immediately and follow prescribed medication protocol! Aberration rate—"

Too annoying. He crushed the earpiece with a thought.

His hand shifted back to human form, fingers closing around Huang Chen’s hilt. The long blade slid from its sheath, radiating a killing chill.

A hand caught the blade before it could fall.

It was Lu Yan’s hand, yet not entirely his.

Even enhanced, his palm split open instantly, the wound deep enough to show bone. Wang Yu, sliced by the blade’s edge, shrieked in pain and burrowed deeper toward Lu Yan’s heart.

Tang Xian’an’s golden eyes blazed with violent intent. “Get out of the way!” he snarled.

The sister did not listen. Instead, with stubborn defiance, she placed herself between Tang Xian’an and her brother.

Lu Jiahé struggled to his feet and wrapped his remaining arm around her.

Tang Xian’an’s blade was raised, a fraction of a second from its descent.

Then, the world began to break apart.

Like a game suffering catastrophic rendering errors, chunks of reality dissolved into nothingness. The first to be swallowed by the spreading voids was Tang Xian’an, and the very ground beneath his feet.

The sister spoke rapidly, her words aimed at the brother whose flame had all but guttered out. “I never blamed you.”

“My personality is bad. I hated a lot of people. I hated you too. But I knew, deep down, you never failed me.”

“Our parents were often disappointed in me because I wasn’t a boy. That wasn’t your fault. I took it out on you because you were the only one who wouldn’t fight back.” She stated her own malice with blunt, unapologetic clarity.

Humans were never noble creatures. Most existed in a murky middle ground—not wholly good, not entirely evil.

“You’ve done enough for me. I’m tired of watching.”

“You should have realized it long ago. I’m already dead. Wake up. Go live your own life.”

“Brother.”

From the two dark, empty sockets on Lu Jiahé’s featureless face, two trails of tears seeped out.

His voice was a ruined rasp. “I wanted… to save you… I’m sorry…”

Lu Jiahé had been called a jinx since childhood. In time, he’d accepted the role—those who get close to him meet misfortune. But he’d wanted a family so desperately.

If not for him, perhaps his adoptive parents, perhaps his sister, could have lived. In a world without him, they might have known peace.

The sister in his arms did not answer. Instead, she began to evaporate, dissipating like morning dew.

Panic flickered across Lu Jiahé’s expression. He tried to hold her tighter, but his grasp closed only on handfuls of flowing sand.

The dream collapsed.

His features shifted from confusion to blankness. Skin and hair regrew, but his eyes were hollow, utterly vacant.

It was night. Behind Lu Jiahé stood a wall.

The wall crumbled into dust.

The Wall of Resentment would never exist again.

Chaos churned in Lu Jiahé’s mind. He felt he should remember something, but there was only emptiness. Countless cycles had worn all memory to a blur.

He did not know who he was.

He did not know where to go.

He stood alone, a solitary figure under the night sky, unaware of how many watched him through satellite feeds at that very moment, their hearts gripped by fear.

A long time passed. He opened his mouth and slowly uttered two words: “…Sister.”

But who was ‘sister’?

His figure vanished from the spot.

Deep in the night, the highest-level alarm blared through the M City Pollution Prevention Center.

“Instantaneous pollution value exceeding ten thousand detected in M City central district. Pollution source origin unknown. Satellite imagery captured. Analysis in progress.”

“New S-Class pollutant identified. Abilities unknown. Designation… pending. Number 11.”

“Data encrypted.”

*

Overseas.

Tang Xian’an’s eyes snapped open. Golden irises still swirled with fading, unconsumed violence.

The teammates waiting beside his containment pod tensed immediately.

“Team Leader Tang! Deep breaths!! You’re the best!”

“The medicine, here’s the medicine!! Team Leader Tang! Stay calm!! It’ll pass once you take it!”

Tang Xian’an’s gaze swept over the familiar faces. He took the offered straw and the specialized medication.

The aberration rate on the monitor began its slow descent. The draconic wings folded back into his skin. Only then did the surrounding team let out a collective sigh of relief.

He looked older here than in the dream—no longer resembling a university student. His eyes held a sharper, more weathered edge.

No one blamed his team for their tension.

The First Squad of the Special Operations Department’s First Group had a captain, Tang Xian’an, but no vice-captain.

Thirteen years ago.

Consumed by bloodlust after eliminating a high-level pollutant, Tang Xian’an had lost control. He’d killed the squad’s sole surviving member—his own vice-captain—with his teeth.

Rescue teams arriving on scene had nearly mistaken him for a fully-fledged mutant, his aberration rate surely past 100. The ground was awash with blood. He’d stood silently beside the vice-captain’s body, his Tang blade in hand.

Tang Xian’an had requested euthanasia. Headquarters denied it. Instead, they issued him a specialized mask—a muzzle fit for a dangerous beast.

He drank the medicine through the straw. “Mission failure. I did not eliminate the pollution source.”

“…But the Wall of Resentment is gone?” a teammate asked, confused.

Tang Xian’an lowered his gaze. “It merely changed form. From a wall into a person. Prepare to return home.”