Chapter 97 — Fractured Light

  Morning sunlight slipped through the narrow gap between the curtains, slicing cleanly through the air and leaving a warm streak of light across the room.

  As usual, Elena knocked gently at the door.

  “Do you need purification?” she asked softly.

  YiChen answered with a low, muffled sound.

  Within the Consciousness Sea, Shadowfang had already clamped down hard on his Spirit Meridians, refusing to release them.

  Shixi spoke with quiet concern,

  “Shadowfang, you’re being too rough… but it’s alright. I’ll repair the divine meridians properly.”

  Warm, restorative Spiritflame flowed through YiChen’s meridians like spring water flooding a long-barren field. The sensation was steady and overwhelming, pushing his concentration to its limit. He clenched his teeth, keeping his eyes shut—daring neither to move nor to make a sound, afraid that even the slightest lapse would betray his inner turmoil.

  When the purification ended, Elena left as quietly as she always did, her footsteps so light they seemed to vanish into the air.

  The gentler and more restrained she was, the tighter the invisible string inside YiChen’s chest seemed to draw—until even his breathing grew subtly unsteady.

  His gaze drifted unconsciously toward the door, then to the empty bed—

  as if separated by only a wall, yet staring into an immeasurable distance.

  ?

  Days passed in silence.

  YiChen moved between city hall meetings, supervising energy tower construction, and spending time with his family.

  As promised, he took ChengYu alone to Blackpine Forest. They remained only at the outer edge of the Spirit-Realm woods, but even that was enough to leave his younger brother exhilarated—as if he had finally stepped into YiChen’s world.

  “I want to come again next time!” ChengYu said, looking up at him with bright eyes.

  YiChen ruffled his hair, his voice gentle.

  “Alright. I’ll bring you again next time.”

  But on the return trip, YiChen’s expression hardened.

  Two unfamiliar family cars were parked near the forest entrance.

  “So the news about the Light beasts… has finally leaked.”

  Memories of the Contract Frenzy from his previous life surfaced. His brows knit together.

  He immediately sent a message to Leo:

  Meeting tomorrow morning.

  At dusk, the sedan headed back toward the city. YiChen’s reflection slid across the car window, streetlights passing one by one like a silent river of light.

  ?

  Aurora City — South District Slums

  The drainage ditch at the street corner had rusted to a dark reddish brown. Several broken iron railings jutted crookedly from the ground.

  In the darkness, two points of red light appeared first—

  like dying embers, flickering within the filth.

  A gray-black, mangy body clung to the sewer wall, writhing forward. An oily, pitch-black tail dragged through stagnant water, producing a wet, sticky sound.

  They gnawed at the iron bars.

  Creek—creek—

  Metal scraped against metal, accompanied by the hiss of corrosive saliva foaming against rusted steel. Now and then, a particularly thick bar burst with a sharp—

  Crack! Crack!

  like a blunt blade sawing through cable.

  After several heavy impacts, a massive gray-furred rat forced its way through the gap—followed by more than a dozen beasts of similar size.

  With a final clatter, the iron railing snapped apart completely—

  and countless mutated rats surged onto the street like a black tide.

  ——————

  No. 112 Azure Radiance Street

  Elena had been deeply confused these past few days.

  She had done everything she could to be gentle and considerate—keeping just the right distance, never pressuring him, even forcing herself to tell awkward jokes at the dinner table that weren’t funny in the slightest.

  Yet YiChen’s expression only grew more somber by the day. In those deep, shadowed eyes lingered a sorrow that refused to fade.

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  Did I… do something wrong again?

  She bit lightly at the edge of her blanket. Tomorrow, she decided, she would go home and ask her father for advice. Glancing at the time, she realized it was already past nine.

  “YiChen’s a bit late tonight…”

  From downstairs came the sound of the front door opening. Bernard the butler’s steady voice drifted up faintly.

  “Welcome back, sir. Shall I prepare dinner?”

  “No need. I’ve already eaten.”

  YiChen’s voice was low, subdued.

  Elena sprang out of bed at once, hurrying toward the hall like a cheerful little bird.

  Her smile bloomed bright and warm.

  “YiChen, you’re back!”

  YiChen gave a small nod, yet his chest tightened with a sharp, sour ache—like something soaked too long in lemon juice.

  She doesn’t resent the hurt I caused…

  Staying here is probably just part of her duty as a medical officer, isn’t it?

  The thought lodged in his throat.

  Elena failed to catch the turmoil behind his eyes and assumed the black thorns were troubling him again.

  She reached for his hand naturally.

  “Come on. Let’s purify.”

  The moment their palms met, YiChen’s fingers trembled almost imperceptibly—yet he still didn’t dare return her grip.

  Moonlight filtered through the stained glass along the corridor, scattering broken patterns of light between them.

  She turned to lead the way, unaware of the gaze fixed on her back—

  gentle enough to soften bone,

  yet weighed down by a heartbreak so tightly suppressed it ached.

  ?

  Back in the room, the two of them sat facing each other.

  Elena lifted her hand, her fingertips just about to touch his chest—

  when a sharp phone ringtone tore through the silence.

  “Massive mutated rat activity in the South District!”

  Leo’s urgent voice burst from the receiver.

  YiChen shot to his feet.

  Elena instinctively grabbed his wrist.

  “Take me with you—I can help!”

  “No. You stay here.”

  He tried to pull free, but her grip only tightened.

  “You haven’t finished purification!” Her voice trembled as images flashed through her mind—him returning drenched in blood, poison-dark thorns embedded in his body deep within the forest.

  “We’ll talk when I’m back.”

  He tried to break free again.

  The instant he turned away, Elena lunged forward and wrapped her arms tightly around him from behind.

  YiChen went rigid, acutely aware of the violent trembling running through her body.

  “I can’t… I can’t just let you go like this…”

  Her teeth clenched as rose-gold Spiritflame erupted without warning—bursting forth like fractured dawnlight, blasting away the gloom within him.

  The black thorns were annihilated in an instant, reduced to ash in the pure fire.

  A violent backlash surged through his body. Unbalanced spiritual currents tore through his nerves, nearly shredding his consciousness apart.

  YiChen spun around on instinct—

  only to freeze the moment he saw her face.

  Crystalline tears hovered within the Spiritflame, each drop reflecting his stunned expression.

  Her devastation struck his heart like a crushing blow.

  “Please… you have to come back safely…”

  She choked on the words, Spiritflame winding around him like a sobbing lament.

  “I’m so afraid… I can’t endure it anymore…”

  The words shattered him.

  Desire collapsed into raw, aching pain.

  YiChen stood frozen.

  His lips halted mid-breath.

  His fingers trembled as they brushed her cheek.

  Shame and remorse surged up from the depths of his heart, nearly tearing him apart.

  Slowly, he closed his eyes.

  “I’m sorry…” he whispered, his voice unsteady.

  The next moment, he released her, turned, and strode away.

  The door was pulled shut by the wind.

  The Spiritflame had yet to fade—

  but the room was already empty.

  —————

  The car was steeped in silence, broken only by the low, steady hum of tires rolling over stone.

  Dim halos of streetlight slipped through the windows, rising and fading across the sharply defined planes of YiChen’s profile like a wordless shadow play.

  He rested with his eyes closed against the glass, his thumb unconsciously rubbing the base of his fingers—

  the lingering warmth of her Spiritflame still clung there, searing, as though it were about to brand itself into his bones.

  Within the Consciousness Sea, Shadowfang spoke—without his usual mockery.

  “I didn’t expect the girl to possess that kind of explosive strength.”

  Shixi’s voice followed, soft, almost fragile with concern.

  “Those tears… you don’t cry like that unless you truly love someone, right?”

  YiChen’s brow tightened further.

  That image lodged in his throat like a splinter—

  the way she had cried so desperately, as though one more step forward from him would shatter her completely.

  Those crystalline tears suspended within the Spiritflame

  had pierced his heart more deeply than any black thorn ever could.

  “…Did I hurt her too badly?”

  Fragments surfaced, unbidden—

  the knock at dawn.

  the spring-warm Spiritflame during purification.

  the clumsy jokes at the dinner table.

  the instant her eyes lit up when she saw him at the door.

  She had proven it a thousand times with quiet gentleness:

  she had always been there.

  Never once leaving.

  And the one who had dragged them both into winter—

  had always been him.

  Guilt surged over him like a rising tide, cold and suffocating, threatening to drown him whole.

  And the only thing left to do—

  was to kill.

  To kill until even his dreams no longer carried the sound of that crying.

  ?

  South District.

  Government-subsidized housing built more than thirty years ago stood like a stack of yellowed newspapers, swaying precariously in the night wind.

  Inside the peeling four-story buildings lived low-income families, single mothers, displaced refugees—

  people for whom even the sound of rattling pipes at night was enough to send children shrinking beneath their blankets.

  But tonight, the first wave of mutated rats burst straight through shattered security doors, tearing apart what little protection remained.

  The emergency call logged at six o’clock contained only a single, gut-rending scream—

  “Help—”

  —and then silence.

  By the time armed units finally raised their rifles, the entire block had already fallen into hell.

  Gunfire detonated in rolling waves, mingling with screams that rose and fell without end. Children’s cries cut through the smoke like blades.

  A shadow the size of a stray dog leapt past a burning trash bin, a half-severed finger clenched in its jaws.

  When YiChen arrived, the street had become a blood-soaked purgatory.

  Towering flames dyed the night sky a corroded red. Mutated rat swarms darted through the ruins, their shrill screeches stabbing at the ears.

  A bloodstained cloth doll lay abandoned in the center of the road, trampled beyond recognition beneath countless clawed feet.

  YiChen’s temples throbbed violently.

  Fury ignited in his chest—not hot, but absolute.

  “Alternate cover—now!”

  The team snapped into formation, heavy fire forcing the rat swarm toward the fissures tearing open the ground. Between bursts of flame, the tide of rats released a piercing, collective shriek.

  YiChen’s pupils contracted sharply.

  “Damn it!”

  He roared and surged forward, his body launching like an arrow loosed from the bow.

  Dark-gold radiance erupted from the Pact Mark.

  Battle fusion completed in an instant.

  Shadowfang’s dragon scales reflected a cold, lethal gleam in the firelight.

  Man and dragon slammed into the pavement like a falling meteor—

  crashing straight down into the pitch-black depths of the sewer.

  Concrete exploded outward in all directions.

  And the last thing reflected in YiChen’s eyes

  was a sea of crimson pupils within the fissure—

  like shattered light at the bottom of an abyss,

  waiting

  to swallow him whole.