Chapter 15: The Burial Ground (Part 1)
The interwoven branches and leaves in the forest left scratches across Jin Chi’an’s body, and the crisscrossing limbs blocked his path forward.
Jin Chi’an panted heavily, holding the white tiger beastman tightly in his arms as he moved through the woods of the river valley, avoiding the enemy’s pursuit.
As he gradually approached the edge of the burial ground, communication with the outside reconnected. Charles’s voice rang out from Jin Chi’an’s optical computer.
“Chi’an, where are you now?”
“Uncle Charles!”
Hearing a familiar voice, Xiao Yi, who had been buried in Jin Chi’an’s arms the entire time, finally stopped trembling. His eyes instantly lit up, and the previously wilted little tiger immediately became energetic.
Jin Chi’an lovingly rubbed the little ball of fur with its smooth, silky feel, then turned serious as he spoke to the other end of the line.
“Kashemir Zergs have appeared at the burial ground. Xiao Yi and I are currently at the edge of the burial ground. For now, I can’t contact the other members of the team.”
“Chi’an, ensure your own safety. Run toward the outside of the river valley. I’ll send people to meet you.”
“But…”
“Please, Chi’an. I’ll send people to support you as soon as possible.”
Jin Chi’an tightened his arms around the little furball in his embrace. The moment the thought of turning back arose, countless evil spirits from his memories rushed out in full force, making him instantly dismiss the idea in his mind.
He agreed with Charles, “All right.”
The communication cut off.
Jin Chi’an was about to set off again when a tiger paw hooked at his collar. Immediately afterward, Xiao Yi transformed into the form of a little boy and said awkwardly, “Brother, you can put me down. I can run by myself.”
Jin Chi’an looked him up and down. Only after seeing that the limbs injured by the Zerg race earlier had completely recovered did he finally relax and pat Xiao Yi’s head.
“All right. Then remember to keep up with brother.”
“Mm.”
Having received permission, Xiao Yi transformed back into tiger form and obediently followed Jin Chi’an toward the outside of the valley.
As a fierce gust of wind blew from behind them, several similar whistle sounds swept past their ears one after another.
Jin Chi’an’s hair instantly stood on end. He subconsciously looked behind him, only to see that the little tiger who should have been there had disappeared without a trace.
“Xiao Yi?”
Jin Chi’an forcibly suppressed the panic in his heart and tentatively called his name.
His voice mingled with the rustling of leaves blown by the wind and echoed through the forest. He called several times in succession, but no one answered.
A terrible thought instantly grew and expanded. Several slideshow-like images flashed through his mind.
A nursery was engulfed in flames. At the center of the fire, several Kashemir Zergs spread out their sharp tendrils and attacked the young white tiger lying in a pool of blood.
That white tiger lay blankly on the ground, drained of strength. It could only slightly turn its contracted round pupils toward the direction outside the nursery, meeting the eyes of the person trapped in memory.
A suffocating feeling gradually spread through his entire body. The slideshow abruptly stopped, and Jin Chi’an’s consciousness slowly returned.
Ignoring his fear-controlled mind, Jin Chi’an stretched out his mental net, trying to catch the little tiger’s location. The whistle echoing through the valley immediately took advantage of the opening and pulled him into the illusion of the dead.
“Director Mom, it’s time to eat.”
Inside the orphanage in District Fourteen’s underground city, an albino hognose snake twisted its body and transformed into the form of a little girl, calling toward the adult in the kitchen.
Grenna jogged to the dining table. Looking at the small bowl filled with mixed grains, the corners of her mouth immediately drooped.
“Director, aren’t we supposed to have meat this month?”
The woman called Director Mom walked up to her and gently rubbed her head.
“Grenna, the uncles are fighting a war aboveground. Once the soldier uncles drive away the Zerg race, we’ll be able to eat meat.”
“What? You clearly said the same thing last time.”
Grenna pouted. A few tears squeezed out from the corners of her eyes as she aggrievedly picked at her fingernails.
But her unreasonable tantrum did not make the woman before her angry. The other party simply smiled at her, then searched through a bag and found a small piece of old-packaged military chocolate, placing it before her.
The moment Grenna saw the chocolate, her bad mood vanished. Like she had found a precious treasure, she carefully clutched the chocolate in her palm.
Seeing how happy she was, the director smiled softly.
“You can only eat it after finishing your meal.”
“I’m not eating it. I’m saving it until Director Dad comes back after defeating the monsters. Then we’ll eat two chocolates together.”
Grenna put the chocolate into the pocket of her old dress and kept it carefully.
She kept safe the precious, cherished, final piece of chocolate from her childhood memories.
The scene changed.
At this moment, the albino hognose snake had already become an adult. Snake beastmen who had shed their skin became even more beautiful afterward.
Her orange long hair was tied into a bun, hanging at the back of her neck. The girl’s face had already lost its baby fat. Beneath her long lashes were almond eyes like an autumn pond.
Grenna gripped the energy gun in her hand, half-closing one eye as she aimed at a target two hundred meters away.
Five gunshots rang out in succession.
Grenna lowered her arm and watched as the target slowly moved toward her.
Amid the shocked cries of the surrounding crowd, a perfect score of fifty rings appeared on the screen above her head.
Grenna slowly let out a breath and casually accepted the energy drink handed to her by the person beside her.
“Thank you.”
Clearly not expecting her to thank him, the crested eagle beastman standing nearby froze for a moment before curling his lips.
“In that case, would you be willing to go on a graduation trip with me?”
“No.”
Grenna replied. Not a trace of emotion could be seen on her expressionless face.
Precisely because she had been like this all year round, Xuzhen, the crested eagle beastman who had spent four years with her, still could not figure out her thoughts. He could only follow along beside her, chattering nonstop.
“Grenna, don’t be in such a hurry to reject me. I haven’t even said where we’re going yet.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“Don’t be like that.”
Xuzhen jogged to keep up with her hurried steps.
“Let me tell you, Hundred Birds City is really fun. There’s the water-town market, the wishing sacred tree, the Hundred Birds Music Festival… Mm, and also the snowy mountain ranked first in Iskan.”
Xuzhen ran in front of Grenna and blocked her path.
“I heard that District Fourteen is a planet without a cold season. You probably haven’t seen a snowy mountain before, right?”
“That makes sense too. Most of you snake beastmen don’t like cold areas.”
Xuzhen kept talking to himself, completely failing to notice the subtle change in her expression.
“But it’s fine. My feathers are very thick.”
At this moment, Grenna’s heart was faintly shaken.
Those things he described—the water town, the sacred tree, the snowy mountain—were things she had never seen before. They were also things that most children living in District Fourteen’s underground city had never seen.
Grenna raised her eyes and looked at the sincere-faced boy before her, the boy who had chased after her for four years. At this moment, he was telling her about everything beyond her understanding as if performing a one-man comedy show.
She admitted that even the coldest heart should have been warmed by now.
Under Xuzhen’s shocked gaze, Grenna slowly spoke the words she had suppressed for many years.
“Okay.”
“Hello, is this Grenna?”
Director Mom’s voice came from Grenna’s optical computer.
At this moment, Grenna was sitting on a branch of the sacred Quetzal tree, holding a sacred flower of Hundred Birds City brought back by a crested eagle. Her face was full of happiness as her fingers intertwined with the person beside her, admiring the Hundred Birds Song sung by a hundred birds beneath fireworks blooming in the sky.
“It’s me. What’s wrong, Mom?”
Listening to the symphony played by birds on the other end of the line, the director’s voice paused for a long while before sounding again.
“Grenna, happy birthday…”
“Beep…”
Before the other party could respond, the director, standing downstairs at District Fourteen’s military headquarters, hung up the call. Smiling, she wrote her name on the enlistment form.
From then on, it was her new life…
“Grenna, where are you going?”
Xuzhen jogged forward and blocked Grenna, who was dragging her luggage outside.
Her eyes were scarlet, and tear stains hung on her cheeks. She replied decisively, “I’m going back to District Fourteen.”
“I’m sorry. It was me, I…”
Xuzhen, who had panicked, helplessly tried to make her stop. His mouth kept repeating apologies.
“Did I do something wrong?”
“I’m sorry, Grenna. Don’t go, okay? We… we haven’t gone to see the snowy mountain yet.”
Grenna pulled free from the hand gripping hers tightly and self-mockingly curled her lips.
“You didn’t do anything wrong. I just want to go back.”
Unable to suppress the sob that came the moment the words reached her mouth, Grenna turned her back and tried not to look at Xuzhen’s devastated expression.
“Xuzhen, I’m going back to District Fourteen. Let’s not contact each other again.”
The fighting on District Fourteen’s frontline was extremely tense. Grenna had not eaten for half a month and had only managed to hold on until now because of a snake’s primitive instincts.
At this moment, she was dragging her teammate’s blood-covered body and had collapsed beside a giant tree at the bottom of the valley. Her face was full of pain as she clutched the wound on her lower abdomen that was still bleeding.
She could not die.
This had become her only thought.
It was not until a back injury one month earlier that the teammate bandaging her told her that a beastman had placed a one-way brand on her.
When her teammate took a photo of the totem on her back, it was the first time she saw the mark that had long ago been branded onto her.
She knew very clearly that it was the mental brand of a bird beastman.
It was Xuzhen’s…
The pain from the wound had already left her consciousness blurred. A feeling of fullness that she had not felt in a long time gradually enveloped her.
Grenna took out a dagger and stabbed it into the back of her own hand, using it to warn herself not to fall asleep.
She saw a person wearing a black robe walk up to her. A soothing voice echoed beside her ear.
“Let me help you. Let me help you keep him alive.”
As the energy in her body lightened, Grenna clearly felt the brand on her back slowly being extracted.
Listening to Director Mom and Director Dad calling out to her, Grenna slowly pulled out an unattractive smile.
She knew that she could finally die.
…
The scenes of the illusion gradually peeled away from Jin Chi’an’s mind. The mental net he had sent out earlier also received information at that moment.
In that same corner piled with fading points of light, he found the overflowing mental-power fluctuation that belonged specifically to the young white tiger.
Unlike last time, around this mental power, there seemed to be someone else’s mental energy mixed in…
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