The air seemed to freeze at that very moment.
Larvitar also sensed the sudden wave of sadness. It raised its head in confusion, its crimson eyes shifting between the crying Zhu Zhuqing and the stunned Lin Xia, letting out a soft, puzzled cry.
"Larvitar?"
Lin Xia's mind went blank for an instant.
He had never imagined that this little girl—only five or six years old, who had just been happily playing with him would suddenly ask such a heavy, such a cruel question!
It completely exceeded his understanding of a child her age.
Instinctively, Lin Xia lowered himself to her level, trying to find even the slightest trace of a joke in her tear-filled eyes, but all he saw was bottomless fear.
"Zhuqing."
Lin Xia's voice softened unconsciously, carrying a faint dryness.
"Why would you think that? How could you die? You're still so young, you'll grow up healthy and safe."
He tried to make his tone as soothing as possible.
Zhu Zhuqing sniffed hard, her small chest heaving as if trying to suppress the overwhelming fear.
She raised her little hand and wiped at her tears clumsily, but the sadness kept flowing.
She looked at Lin Xia, her eyes filled with a fragile clarity and a maturity far beyond her years.
"I… I know everything…"
Her voice trembled with sobs, broken yet painfully clear.
"My sister will kill me, Father said it before our family's rules…"
Zhu Zhuqing seemed a little incoherent, struggling to piece her words together.
"I overheard it once, when Sister was talking to Father, they thought I was asleep…"
Her voice dropped, trembling with the fear of that memory.
"Sister said that when I awaken my Soul if it's the Netherworld Hellcat, then she won't let me live because I'll become like her and threaten her…"
Zhu Zhuqing suddenly lifted her head, tears falling like broken beads. Her small body trembled with emotion as her voice rose sharply, filled with a child's pure instinct to survive and her confused grievance.
"But I don't want to die! Brother Lin Xia! I don't want to die! I want to play with my sister! I want to stay with my father! I want to be happy like today… Why? Why do I have to die? Why does my sister have to kill me? Did I do something wrong?"
Each desperate question struck Lin Xia's heart like a heavy hammer.
He recalled Zhu Zhuyun's expression earlier that day, how her face had changed instantly when he mentioned their sisterly bond, how she had left in haste.
So this cruel fate was not borne by Zhu Zhuyun alone.
This innocent little girl had already, in her naivety, glimpsed the blade hanging over her head!
She had buried a fear that could crush even an adult deep inside her heart. And now, in this place of trust and safety, after a fleeting moment of carefree joy, the taut string had finally snapped, her suppressed terror bursting forth like a broken dam.
Lin Xia looked into Zhu Zhuqing's tear-filled eyes, filled with a primal longing to live and utter confusion. His throat felt as though something was lodged in it.
He opened his mouth, trying to say something comforting.
"Zhuqing…"
Lin Xia struggled to form his words, trying to give her even the faintest hope.
"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid maybe… maybe the Martial Soul you awaken won't necessarily be the Netherworld Hellcat. Soul mutations no one can predict them. Look at me, my Martial Soul is very special, right?"
Lin Xia pointed at Larvitar, who was watching them curiously.
Larvitar tilted its head in cooperation.
"Larvitar?"
"And your sister…"
Lin Xia paused, recalling the complex emotions Zhu Zhuyun had toward her younger sister in the original story, there was ruthlessness born of rivalry, but perhaps also a trace of helplessness, being carried along by fate.
He tried to find a balance that could comfort Zhu Zhuqing.
"She might not truly want to do that? She could also be conflicted? After all, you're real sisters…"
However, as he spoke, Lin Xia's voice gradually lowered, until it finally fell into silence.
Because he knew.
He clearly knew how the story would unfold.
Zhu Zhuqing would inevitably awaken the Netherworld Hellcat Soul.
That cruel family destiny, that inheritance system like raising venomous creatures in a jar, was nearly impossible to escape.
In the future, Dai Mubai's cowardly escape would leave the young Zhu Zhuqing alone in the Star Luo Empire, facing even more direct and undisguised killing intent from Zhu Zhuyun and Dai Weisi.
Those pursuits, those life-and-death escapes, were all part of Zhu Zhuqing's cold reality in the original story.
She would be forced to grow amid fear and loneliness, her heart tempered into something hard and cold.
Lin Xia could not lie to her.
Using vague "possibilities" to comfort a child who had already glimpsed part of the truth felt so pale, so powerless almost hypocritical under her despairing gaze.
Yet he also could not tell her the cruel "certainty."
Zhu Zhuqing was far too perceptive.
Though young, she possessed insight far beyond her years, especially when it came to matters of her own life and death.
She caught the pause in Lin Xia's words, saw the fleeting complexity in his eyes, and that something she could not fully understand, yet instinctively felt as heavy—"knowing."
Brother Lin Xia does he know too?
Does he also understand that I can't escape?
That thought was like the coldest water, instantly extinguishing the tiny, fragile spark of "hope" that had just been lit by Lin Xia's comfort.
The light in her eyes completely faded, leaving behind only endless ashes of despair.
Within her small body, that overwhelming sorrow and fear seemed ready to tear her apart.
She tried very hard to control herself.
She didn't want to cry so miserably in front of Brother Lin Xia.
She forced the corners of her lips upward, attempting a smile meant to show she was "fine," a smile meant to express her final gratitude.
But to Lin Xia, that smile was even more painful than her tears.
It was stiff, forced, filled with bitterness, like a broken mask stretched into shape.
Tears continued to slide uncontrollably down her face, falling silently onto the stone ground, leaving darkened spots.
"Brother Lin Xia…"
Zhu Zhuqing's voice was as light as a feather, carrying a heart-wrenching, suppressed calm.
"I understand now."
She lowered her head, staring at her dust-stained little shoes, not daring to meet Lin Xia's eyes again.
In the courtyard, only the rustling of leaves in the evening breeze remained, along with Larvitar's uneasy, low whimpers.
"Larvi… Larvitar…"
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