Chapter 203
Just like at Base 21, as soon as they arrived at the outskirts of Base 16, Ran Lie and Lang Ze, accompanied by Zheng Xing, left the spaceship and flew toward the battlefield on their hover discs.
Li Sinian followed behind the younglings, his nerves no longer as tense as before.
The younglings had fully demonstrated their strength in the battles at Bases 26 and 21. Their incredible abilities, even for a seasoned warrior like Li Sinian, were awe-inspiring.
Imagining these children as adults, fighting interstellar monsters on the front lines, filled him with a sense of excitement and anticipation.
As their temporary guardian, he was flying alongside them while staying in contact with Base 16’s commander to obtain the latest updates from the battlefield.
Even though the children were powerful, the battlefield was ever-changing, and relying solely on past experiences wasn’t enough.
However, just as he connected with the Base 16 commander, Li Sinian sensed something was wrong.
“Ran Lie, Lang Ze, wait!”
He called out, but as he reached forward to grab the shoulders of the two boys flying just ahead of him, they seemed to vanish into thin air. A moment ago, they had been only a short distance away, but now, surrounded by dense red mist, all three younglings had disappeared.
“Ran Lie! Lang Ze!” he shouted.
Ahead, Lang Ze, perched on his hover disc, turned to look back at Li Sinian. “Daddy Sinian, did you call me?” he asked.
The man smiled and shook his head.
Lang Ze scratched his head, puzzled, and turned his attention back to his flight. “Xing Xing, is it this way?” he asked.
“Mm-hmm!” the little black cat nodded. “This way.”
Following Zheng Xing’s guidance, Lang Ze continued to fly in the indicated direction, with the red-haired boy keeping pace beside him, a faint smile on his face.
Suddenly, the wolf-eared boy surged forward, accelerating abruptly and flying in the opposite direction.
His speed was astonishing, even surpassing the hover disc’s maximum capability. The two behind him couldn’t keep up.
“Lang Ze, where are you going? Wait for us!” the red-haired boy shouted, but his plea was met with Lang Ze grabbing the little black cat from his collar and hurling it toward him.
“You’re not the real Ran Lie! Ran Lie wouldn’t smile like that!” he roared.
The “little black cat” he had thrown wasn’t the real Zheng Xing either—when Zheng Xing spoke, his speech was never that fast.
As Lang Ze shouted, he pushed his hover disc to its absolute limit, channeling the wind around him to propel himself faster. The bloodline talent of the Midnight Wolf was awakening within him.
Behind him, the “black cat” he had thrown transformed mid-air into a cloud of black-red blood mist. The man and the boy left behind no longer wore smiles; their gazes turned icy cold and murderous as they exchanged a glance.
They didn’t pursue Lang Ze but instead vanished from sight in a blur.
Meanwhile, Ran Lie, flying through the blood mist, felt an unusual sensation in his spirit.
He instinctively stopped and realized something was wrong—after leaving the spaceship, his hover disc had been controlled by Zheng Xing. Mid-flight, it shouldn’t have been possible for him to stop so freely.
Something had definitely gone wrong!
The red-haired boy furrowed his brows tightly and instinctively activated his golden shield, encasing himself within its protective barrier.
As flames burst forth from him, the hover disc beneath his feet dissolved into smoke. Yet Ran Lie didn’t fall—he hovered in mid-air, surrounded by a dense red mist that obscured everything from view.
“Lang Ze—Xing Xing—Uncle Li!”
Ran Lie called out in all directions but received no response.
What was going on? Could this be the work of a monster?
From within the red mist, a massive eye suddenly opened, observing Ran Lie with an expression of curiosity and malice.
At that moment, a burst of crimson flame appeared out of nowhere, hurtling toward the gigantic eye.
However, instead of catching fire as Ran Lie had expected, the flame fizzled out almost instantly upon contact.
This was a monster impervious to his crimson flames!
“Hahaha, what an interesting boy,” a maniacal voice echoed through the void. “Your flesh must be absolutely delicious!”
Ran Lie gritted his teeth, his usual composure shaken.
The crimson flame had always been his greatest weapon, and his consistent victories in recent battles had instilled in him an immense sense of confidence. After all, he was only a little over ten years old—it was nearly impossible for him not to feel a bit of pride.
But now, upon arriving at Base 16, he had encountered an unprecedented monster that struck a devastating blow to his confidence, yanking him back to reality.
Only now did he realize that beyond his crimson flame, he had almost no other means of combat. Without it, he was like a toothless tiger, completely helpless against this monster.
What should he do now?
“Hahahaha, let me savor your flesh and blood!” The voice continued to reverberate around him.
A hint of panic surfaced in Ran Lie’s heart, but he quickly forced himself to calm down.
Before he had become so confident, he had faced countless dire situations. Those experiences—surviving the scorching flames and swarms of giant spiders—were his most valuable treasures.
Through those trials, his resolve had been forged into something unbreakable. No matter how dire the circumstances, he wouldn’t allow himself to despair.
Quickly, Ran Lie grasped the key to the situation.
Su Su had once told him that crimson flames could burn all forms of filth, meaning the flames needed a tangible target to burn—like the bodies of monsters. They couldn’t ignite something intangible, such as the red mist.
If this enormous eye couldn’t be burned, it likely wasn’t a true physical entity!
The eye seemed so real and terrifying because the monster’s attack was likely targeting his mind directly. He must have fallen into an exceptionally vivid illusion!
The monster kept talking about savoring his flesh and blood, which proved it did have a physical body. However, its physical form was likely weak, forcing it to rely on mental attacks to control him instead.
Ran Lie furrowed his brows in thought for a moment before sitting down cross-legged. He reached into his spiritual storage bag and pulled out his small wooden fish.
The mental domain was his weak point, and the only way to save himself now was to hold firmly to his inner self, preventing the monster from inflicting harm on him through his mind.
Knock—knock—knock.
The crisp sound of the wooden fish echoed through the void, accompanied by the boy’s steady recitation of a Buddhist scripture.
As the sound of the wooden fish and the chanting resonated, a faint golden glow began to shimmer over the crimson shield surrounding him, protecting him within.
Ran Lie’s analysis was spot on.
The giant eye in the void morphed into a massive mouth, opening wide as it lunged toward him.
But as the mouth touched the boy, who was calmly striking the wooden fish with his eyes closed, it suddenly disintegrated into a cloud of black-red blood mist. The mist enveloped Ran Lie but couldn’t penetrate the golden shield protecting him.
“You cursed brat!”
The voice in the void roared with anger but couldn’t disturb Ran Lie, who remained steadfast, reciting the meditation scripture Su Ci had taught him.
Finally, the voice let out a furious snarl. “Hmph! I’ll devour your companions, consume their flesh and blood, grow stronger, and then come back for you!”
The voice gradually faded, and the blood mist-covered space quieted. The red-haired boy continued striking the wooden fish and chanting the Buddhist mantra with unwavering focus.
The golden glow of the shield shimmered softly, keeping him safe from all filth and corruption.
After an unknown amount of time, the blood-red eye reappeared in the void.
It stared at Ran Lie with venomous hatred but, unable to find an opening, slowly dissolved into nothingness.
Whether it had truly left or was lying in wait, no one could say.
High in the air, Lang Ze stood on his hover disc, finally shaking off the unknown monster pursuing him. He gradually slowed down and exhaled in relief.
But where were Xing Xing and Ran Lie?
He pulled out his communicator to try contacting Zheng Xing and Ran Lie, but no one answered, no matter how long he waited.
What was going on?
Had Xing Xing and Ran Lie been captured by the monster? Or had he been taken by the monster?
Lang Ze scratched his head anxiously. Just as he was about to control his hover disc to fly back toward the spaceship outside the base, he looked down and realized—
His hover disc had disappeared!
Panic surged through Lang Ze as he felt himself plummeting.
He was falling from mid-air!
“Ahhhhhh!”
Lang Ze flailed his arms wildly. But after his initial fear, he quickly regained his composure, adjusting his body mid-air as he prepared for the landing.
Countless times spent running, jumping, and escaping had given Lang Ze ample experience. He could control the wind, and as long as he could slow his fall and use the wind’s power, he wouldn’t crash to his death!
A gust of wind surged upward, cushioning the wolf cub and gradually reducing his descent.
Finally, he tapped lightly on the air with his toes, leaping mid-air. When he touched the ground, he rolled to absorb the impact, landing firmly and safely.
“Woohoo!”
He had succeeded!
Lang Ze cheered, but just as he was about to get up, a rough voice behind him made him freeze in place.
“You filthy mutt!”
The all-too-familiar curse, like a nightmare, sent a shiver through his body. He stiffened as he turned his head slowly.
As he turned, the scene around him shifted.
This wasn’t Base 16 at all—it was a filthy, rusted iron cage. The dim, damp environment was the place he had lived in for as long as he could remember.
This… this was…
Realizing where he was, Lang Ze spun around in panic, only to hear the grating sound of metal scraping. That familiar noise had haunted him for countless nights.
Looking down, he saw the rusty collar around his neck, connected to a thick iron chain bolted to the wall.
The cold, unyielding touch felt all too real.
Before he could process the situation, a shadow loomed beside him. Lang Ze instinctively tried to dodge, but the chain around his neck restricted his movement.
BAM!
A burly man’s foot slammed into his stomach, sending him flying into the iron bars of the cage before he crumpled to the ground.
“You filthy mutt! It’s like you itch for a beating every day!”
Clutching his stomach, the boy curled into a corner. The searing pain dragged him back into the nightmare of his past. After catching his breath, he glared up at the man, his usually lively green eyes now filled with bloodthirsty fury.
“You’re not dead!” he growled, hatred blazing in his eyes as he fixed his gaze on the burly man.
“Ha! What dream are you living in? Even if you died, I’d still be alive,” the man sneered, a twisted grin on his face as he swung an iron rod and slowly approached Lang Ze.
A dream…
The boy, chained and restrained, looked momentarily bewildered.
He glanced down and saw that he wasn’t wearing his usual youngling clothes. Instead, he was dressed in the dirty, tattered rags he’d worn for years. His spiritual storage bag, his flute—everything was gone.
Su Su… Brother A-Yan… Xing Xing… You You… Xiang Yang, Little Li Hua…
The faces of his friends and loved ones shattered like fragments of dust before his eyes. He desperately reached out to grasp them but clutched only empty air.
Could it be… that they were all just a dream?
“No! You’re lying! It can’t be a dream!”
The boy’s anguished roar echoed as his eyes transformed into cold, beast-like pupils. Fur began sprouting on his face.
“You’re a monster, and I’m going to kill you!”
He thrashed violently, but the collar and chains—ones he had never managed to break free from in his memories—held him firmly in place. No matter how much strength he used, they didn’t budge an inch.
Countless times of parkour and rooftop jumps had honed his instincts. Lang Ze knew how to control the wind. As long as he slowed his descent and used the power of the wind, he wouldn’t crash to his death!
“Kill me? With what, you filthy mutt?” The burly man sneered coldly.
“I’m Lang Ze! I have a name! I’m not a filthy mutt!”
The boy glared at the man with unyielding defiance. The man was just as strong as he remembered—so strong it seemed impossible to defeat him.
Lang Ze knew the next moment would bring the iron rod crashing down.
Painful memories surged over him like a tidal wave, drowning him and sapping his will to fight. Was the beautiful life at the nursery really just a dream?
As he watched the iron rod descending, Lang Ze instinctively closed his eyes.
“Meow!”
A sharp, piercing cry broke through the oppressive silence.
Lang Ze opened his eyes in shock. The man’s iron rod had stopped mid-swing because a small black cat had leapt from nowhere onto his shoulder, sinking its teeth into his neck.
“Xing Xing!”
The dull despair in Lang Ze’s eyes melted away, replaced with joy.
Xing Xing had come to save him! The life at the nursery wasn’t a dream after all!
But the next moment, the burly man grabbed the black cat, tore it from his neck, and slammed it harshly onto the ground.
The little black cat struggled to push itself up on trembling legs but couldn’t rise.
“Lang… Ze…” it called out weakly.
The man clutched at the bleeding wound on his neck and raised his foot, ready to stomp on the black cat.
“Bastard! Don’t you dare touch him!”
Lang Ze thrashed wildly against his chains, his desperation and rage fiercer than ever. In an instant, he heard the sound of chains snapping. The shackles that had bound him so tightly finally gave way.
He launched himself at the man like a cannonball, slamming into him with all his strength and sending him flying. Scooping up the fragile black cat from the ground, Lang Ze cradled it protectively in his arms.
Kneeling on the ground, Lang Ze held the weakened little cat close, ready to shield it from the man’s attacks. But then, a soft, childlike voice whispered in his ear.
“Lang Ze, don’t be afraid.”
Lang Ze froze, his eyes blinking in confusion. As he looked around, there was no iron cage, no burly man. Instead, he was surrounded by a space shrouded in red mist.
And in his arms… there was no black cat.
Startled, Lang Ze cried out, “Xing Xing?!”
“I’m right here.”
With the gentle, soothing voice, a small, nimble black cat appeared on his shoulder. It softly licked his cheek.
“Lang Ze, it’s okay now,” it said reassuringly.
