Far above, cutting through night clouds, Fan Yumei stilled mid-flight.
Her blindfold fluttered in the wind, golden threads of aura trailing from it like strands of lightning.
Maxius, the Phantom Apex Mirage bound to her soul, perched on her shoulder, talons flexing in anticipation.
Beside her, Grimme and her beast mirrored her focus, coiling energy, ready to intervene.
She reached through her senses, extending toward Egg Hatch City—and froze.
Something shifted.
Mystic and Lufei pulsed at the edge of her awareness, but not steadily. Their energy wavered, layered, as if something mimicked them. Not hostile, but… wrong.
"…Mystic… Lufei… what are you two doing?" she whispered.
And then—six presences.
Two she recognized immediately: Kai Shi and Zhou Qian. Their auras flared sharp and heavy, respectively. Three more were unknown—rough, jagged, unregistered.
Outsiders.
Fan Yumei's jaw set.
Maxius screeched, wings lifting. Grimme's beast growled low, energy coiling.
Jin Minhe and Min Zhao were alive.
Close.
Not close enough.
Fan Yumei inhaled, steeling herself. "I'm coming."
The storm surged with her.
Fan Yumei felt the aura cut through the storm as she and Grimme descended over the jagged ruins of Egg Hatch City.
Maxius screeched, his spectral body dissolving and reforming in shards of phantom light as he scanned with sharp precision.
Grimme's beast crouched low beside her, claws brushing cracked stone, eyes glowing as it extended its senses.
The ground still smoked where a building had collapsed inward. A black fissure yawned below—a hole ripped open into the depths—spilling dust and echoing with the last traces of falling stone.
Fan Yumei stilled mid-step.
Her blindfold fluttered in the storm's updraft, and her breath caught.
There.
Two faint threads.
Fragile. Flickering. Almost swallowed by the mass of qi distortion below, but unmistakable.
Jin Minhe.
Min Zhao.
Alive.
Barely.
She exhaled, trembling. For a second, her hand hovered at her chest, pressing against the ache in her heart. Then her voice broke out, low and urgent.
"…I found you."
Maxius lowered his wings, pressing closer, sharing her tension.
Grimme laid her palm against the ground, her beast growling softly as its aura reached downward like roots into the cracks.
Together, they probed the depth, confirming what Yumei already knew.
The auras were real.
Min Zhao's deep red, pink, and grey aura was faint—like the last embers of a flame fighting the wind.
From her training in the space, learning how to move while blindfolded, Fan Yumei had grown familiar with the colors she perceived when interacting with living beings.
Red meant injury.
Pink meant unconsciousness.
Grey meant poison.
Jin's aura was green with tints of purple, red, and white—ragged, torn with pain.
Yumei felt momentarily speechless at the bright white and purple shine of his aura. It was almost blinding.
White signified obsession.
And purple meant he was very hungry.
Green marked active power.
Even while half unconscious, Jin Minhe was still protecting Min Zhao.
Finally, she scanned the surrounding area and located Panda sitting nearby, guarding them.
She wasn't surprised to see he was just like his master—nearly blinding her like the sun.
Its aura burned intensely with purple, red, and white.
Fan Yumei wisely turned her eyes away. Those two were still thinking about food at a time like this—but it wouldn't be them if they weren't.
She searched for any other presence.
There was no sign of Min Zhao's fox beast aura. Nothing at all.
Min Zhao's fox had been captured by an enemy Academy.
Since entering this realm, she swore their fortunes had been switched with disaster stars.
This world's students were brutal.
At such a young age—look what they had done to her team.
They weren't just hunted.
They were tortured. Played with.
Fan Yumei clenched her fist. Her skin trembled—but they were unbroken.
She reminded herself constantly that this world was completely different from her original one. And she had a second chance—she was a child herself in this lifetime.
If she could avoid it, she would rather not take the life of another, especially a small child.
But in this world, only the strong ruled.
And she was not willing to be on the other end of someone's knife.
As the saying goes—if it has to be you or me, then I'd rather it be you.
"We're going down," she said firmly, already drawing storm qi into her palm.
Lightning shivered through the rubble at her command, illuminating the jagged hole like daylight.
Dust scattered, revealing the fractured edges of an old underground structure beneath the city, humming faintly with dead sigils.
But just as she prepared to leap, Yumei paused.
She felt it—her connection again.
Her missing beast.
Mystic's distorted resonance echoed in the distance, and her chest loosened with relief and joy.
The sound rolled across the bond like a beautiful whale-calling song—heavy, longing.
Instantly, anxiety flooded her bones.
Lufei's qi pulsed alongside it—uncertain, tangled—like two presences caught in a half-finished weave.
Grimme shifted uneasily. Her beast snapped its jaws toward the echo.
"That's not right. That's not a normal call."
"I know," Fan Yumei said tightly, her storm aura flaring harder. "But Jin and Zhao come first."
Her blindfold shimmered with golden threads as her aura expanded deeper, piercing through the broken lab below.
She felt it clearly now—Jin's arms wrapped around Min Zhao even in collapse, Panda standing guard despite its wounds.
They had fallen hard.
Bones broken. Blood scattered.
But their bond was alive, holding both of them together.
Tears stung the corners of her eyes, unseen beneath the blindfold.
"Just a little longer," she whispered. "I'm here."
Maxius screeched, wings spreading wide.
The storm answered.
Lightning cracked across the ruined skyline as Fan Yumei and Grimme prepared to descend into the abyss.