Xinyuan’s world slowed the moment the bullet found Wenzhi.

"No!" He moved in a blur, catching Wenzhi before he hit the ground, hauling him into a tight embrace. As he pulled him close, a fresh hail of gunfire began tearing through the area again.

Xinyuan rushed behind a shattered pile of rubble while shielding Wenzhi against his chest, his breathing turning uneven.

Wenzhi’s eyes had gone half lidded. Blood was spreading far too quickly beneath his hand.

"Don’t sleep. Don’t sleep. Don’t sleep..." Xinyuan kept repeating the words over and over like a prayer as he tore apart the fabric around Wenzhi’s stomach, exposing the bloodied wound beneath.

His trembling hand pressed hard against it. "Wenzhi, stay awake. Please. Please don’t sleep."

Wenzhi looked like he was trying.

His grey eyes widened weakly before losing focus again, his lashes trembling as they slowly drooped.

Xinyuan’s heartbeat slammed against his ribs. "No..!"

He could hear vehicles approaching. But none of it mattered.

Xinyuan forced his psychokinesis into the wound, his control sharp despite the panic flooding through him, and the bloodied bullet suddenly slipped free into his hand.

The moment it left, Wenzhi lost consciousness completely.

Xinyuan froze. The world held its breath.

"No... no no no—" He grabbed the supply box beside him with shaking hands, yanking out the first aid kit before hurriedly pressing bandages against the wound, trying desperately to stop the bleeding.

His thoughts were a complete mess.

Too much blood. Why was there so much blood?

At that moment, several trucks stormed into the area.

The old blood faction members stepped out one after another, guns raised as they slowly surrounded the rubble where Xinyuan was hiding.

"Shao Xinyuan," one of the men called carefully as he stepped forward. "We can help your guide."

No response came.

Their eyes stayed fixed on Xinyuan’s back.

He remained crouched there, completely focused on the unconscious Wenzhi in his arms like nothing else in the world existed.

The old blood faction members exchanged uneasy glances.

Even from behind, they could feel it.

That pressure. That instability.

The man in front adjusted the oxygen mask covering his face before speaking again more cautiously. "We have all the essentials that can help him, Shao Xinyuan. So hand him over to us."

Still, Xinyuan did not reply.

A massive wave of living dark mist suddenly erupted from his back. It spread out slowly at first, thick and unnatural, writhing like something alive as the air pressure around the entire area changed completely.

The old blood faction members froze.

"Shoot!" the man in front suddenly screamed.

Gunfire exploded everywhere.

At the exact same moment, a violent sonic force burst from Xinyuan’s body.

BOOM.

The cracked ground beneath him shattered from the pressure alone.

Above them, several drones hovered silently, recording everything happening below.

The mist lashed out.

Xinyuan never even looked at them.

The dark tendrils moved on their own, swallowing the blasts from the specialized weapons meant to suppress Espers before wrapping around the old blood faction members.

Then.... tearing.

Arms ripped away from bodies. Blood sprayed across the rubble.

The screams that followed echoed endlessly through the ruined city.

"Code red! Code red!"

Panic spread through the remaining old blood faction members as they started scrambling backward.

Some desperately fled toward the trucks.

Two vehicles actually managed to start moving before an enormous wave of dark mist exploded outward from Xinyuan again.

The pressure was horrifying.

The ground shook violently as rubble, broken concrete, and abandoned vehicles slowly began lifting off the ground under the force of his wavelength.

Even the trucks were dragged upward despite their engines roaring.

Metal bent inward with sharp groans.

The drones above spiraled uncontrollably from the distortion flooding the atmosphere.

Only then did Xinyuan finally move.

His head came up slowly. He stared into the lens of a hovering drone, his neck tilting at an unsettling angle.

CRACK.

The drones shattered apart midair.

Once everything around him had gone silent, once everyone had either fled or died, Xinyuan rose to his feet, carefully carrying Wenzhi into his arms.

The dark mist wrapped around both of them, swallowing them whole. And in the next second, they vanished.

Far outside the deeper sectors of the red zone, right at the shelter premises, the military guards stationed near the borders suddenly saw dark mist materialize into existence.

Xinyuan appeared silently with Wenzhi in his arms.

He gently lowered Wenzhi onto the ground before placing the supply bag beneath his head for support.

For a brief moment, he simply stared at him.

But his wavelength had already become dangerously unstable.

The mist around him twisted wildly.

He backed away, his silhouette blurring into the red haze. One more step and the red zone claimed him again.

Only after he was gone did the military personnel and paramedics finally rush toward Wenzhi in alarm.

They quickly carried him onto a stretcher, rushing him deeper into the shelter to treat his injuries.

Meanwhile, deep within the red zone, Xinyuan walked through the red haze like a god of death.

Dark mist poured endlessly from his body in violent waves while rubble and broken concrete slowly lifted around him under the pressure of his unstable wavelength.

The deeper he walked, the worse it became. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Until finally, he could not move anymore.

Xinyuan suddenly dropped onto one knee. The ground beneath him cracked brutally on impact.

His breathing was rough.

He lowered his gaze toward his hand.

The electric restraint that had once been locked around Wenzhi’s ankle rested in his palm.

For a long moment, Xinyuan simply stared at it. Then he let out a deep, exhausted sigh before dropping it onto the ground beside him.

CRACK.

The earth beneath his feet continued fracturing from the pressure leaking uncontrollably from his body.

At that moment, a vehicle suddenly emerged through the haze before stopping several meters away from him.

The doors opened.

Commander Jiang Zhaohe and Kaiwen rushed out at once.

"Xinyuan!" Zhaohe called sharply.

The two of them approached carefully, though even now the wavelength pressure pouring from Xinyuan made the air feel unbearably heavy.

Xinyuan slowly lifted his head to look at them.

Surprise flickered briefly across his face.

If they were here already, then it meant the civilians had successfully been evacuated from the camp.

"Take me back to the facility," Xinyuan croaked weakly.

Both Zhaohe and Kaiwen looked visibly startled by those words.

Then Xinyuan closed his eyes. And forcibly dragged himself into unconsciousness before the backlash could completely consume him.