In that instant, it was as if the rain that drenched the whole world vanished. The wind vanished too. Even the sky seemed to disappear.

Wen Yuxian’s expression slowly froze. As he looked at Tang Qiaoqiao, who had fallen in, his mind went blank.

The entrance to this little Bubble was extremely well hidden. It sat right against the wet, thorn-covered wall by the waterfall. Normally, no one would even lean against that wall to rest, and the water would wash away any scent. Because of that location, and because the entrance itself was not large, even a dog circling outside for days would have little chance of finding it. Even with the location Jing Pei gave him, he still had to feel around for several minutes before finding it.

They also had to go out often to move building materials, fetch water, and look for food, so he had not yet found a large stone to block the entrance.

But now, this Bubble—so hidden that no one should have found it—had somehow ended up with someone crashing into it.

And that person was Tang Qiaoqiao.

Why? Was this a hallucination? Why was Tang Qiaoqiao here?

Tang Qiaoqiao’s mind was blank too. She lay on the ground, face full of fear. “T-Teacher Wen?”

Why… why was Wen Yuxian together with a monster? What was he doing just now? What was in his hand? A ring? Was she dreaming?

In the original novel, when Tang Qiaqiao stumbled upon a similar scene while still refusing to believe that Wen Yuxian had a girlfriend, she was completely devastated. She lost her composure on the spot, shrieking at Wen Yuxian and demanding to know why he would rather be with a monster than choose her. She accused him of being crazy or of being bewitched by the monster’s special abilities, and even tried to kill Zhang Simiao—in every way, she stepped right on all the landmines, provoking Wen Yuxian to the extreme.

Tang Qiaoqiao got up from the ground. She looked close to breaking down, and even her voice shook. “It… what are you doing? Are you proposing to this monster? Is… is it your girlfriend?”

This time, she had already accepted that Wen Yuxian had a girlfriend. But she had never imagined his girlfriend would be this kind of monster. That still hit her hard.

Tang Qiaoqiao’s reaction pulled at Wen Yuxian’s nerves. His nerves were already stretched to the limit. Even his spread fingers had begun to twitch.

“How did you get here?” he asked.

“Is… is it a Mutant?” Tang Qiaoqiao asked in a shaking voice, on the edge of panic. “You’re in a relationship with a Mutant? Teacher… are you… are you out of your mind?”

To her, this was no different from a person falling in love with a steak. Mutants ate people. In a Mutant’s eyes, people were food. She could accept that Wen Yuxian had a girlfriend, but how could his girlfriend be a Mutant?

In her eyes, Wen Yuxian was still that warm, friendly, and kind teacher. She sensed no danger whatsoever and, lost in her own thoughts, replied mechanically, without even thinking: “Have you been bewitched by it? It must be. We’ve been taught since childhood that whenever we encounter a Mutant, we must kill it. If we can’t kill it ourselves, we must call others to do so. Their very existence violations our rights and offends our dignity. Killing them is our responsibility and duty…”

Kill… kill… kill…

With every “kill” in her speech, Wen Yuxian’s nerves tightened further and further. His expression grew increasingly dark and twisted, and his hand had already clenched around his dagger.

Miaomiao had never eaten a human being; she even ate pigs, cows, and sheep only after they were cooked. She had always kept a low profile—why did they think her very existence was an offense to others? What kind of noble, superior beings were they? She hadn’t done anything wrong; she was the victim. Why should they kill her?

【Don’t… don’t get angry. She just doesn’t understand.】

But because of that, he could also feel how sad Zhang Simiao was. At once, he thought back to the beginning, when she could not accept what she had become and had been in so much pain she did not want to live. She had accepted herself like this only for his sake, and had struggled to stay alive until now.

Because he could not live without her.

“Right—Long Ling!” At that moment, Tang Qiaoqiao remembered Long Ling. Where was she? Her foot turned toward the edge of the Bubble without thinking, and that one small movement became the last straw. Wen Yuxian instantly thought there were other people outside, and that Tang Qiaoqiao was about to call them in.

She’s going to have someone kill Zhang Simiao!

Wen Yuxian’s twisted, murderous face loomed close in an instant, and the cold blade, brimming with lethal intent, slashed toward her neck.

At that moment, Tang Qiaoqiao was no longer his student. She had become a stand-in for those proud Atavist families who thought Mutants had no place in this world. Hadn’t he tried asking for help before?

“What? The people who were injected and turned into Mutants may be innocent and pitiful, but once they’ve become Mutants, there’s nothing we can do about it. We have to kill them.”

“Retain their sanity? That’s even more reason to kill them! Wouldn’t those ordinary people who still have their wits about them go absolutely mad with anger? If there are Atavists everywhere from now on, will we ever be able to live the lives we have now?”

“If you ask me, Mutants are better off without their sanity—it just causes trouble. If a Mutant with sanity appears, we must kill them before anyone else does.”

He went to the Tribunal Division.

“Have you found any Mutants who’ve retained their sanity? Where?” His former classmate and friend, who worked at the Tribunal Division, confided in him, “There are indeed some Mutants who can stay sane, but those kinds of Mutants must have eaten a lot of people—it’s like ‘like cures like,’ you know? The more people they eat, the more human they become. So once you find a Mutant who’s still sane, you can be sure they’ve eaten countless people. You have to kill them.”

These Atavist families despise and view Mutants with hostility, believing they have stolen their precious atavistic genes, and show no mercy—killing them without exception. Even the Tribunal Division has concluded that only Mutants who have consumed a great many people can retain their sanity, and that retaining sanity is itself a crime.

With no help to be found on the Atavist side, he could only turn to the ordinary world.

There are legitimate research institutions dedicated to studying mutants, whose purpose is to develop vaccines that prevent ordinary people from turning into mutants. As a result, they sometimes capture mutants alive upon request for research purposes.

Standing at the glass window, he watched as the mutant inside had its limbs severed to study its regenerative abilities. He saw it being cut open, and even witnessed them being kept together to study whether they could mate and produce new mutants.

They no longer treated Mutants as people.

He vomited again and again. The thought that Zhang Simiao might suffer that kind of fate made him tremble all over, with nowhere for his rage to go.

Ordinary people wanted intelligent Mutants for research, as a hope for evolution. Atavists wanted intelligent Mutants dead. This world had two circles, and neither had any place for her at all.

He returned home, suppressing his anger, only to find blood everywhere. Zhang Simao was crouched in the corner, clutching her head, and on the floor lay her hand—which she had torn off.

[Why has it grown back… Why has it grown back…]

The hand she had torn off grew back. She had five hands, each one so ugly and repulsive. She tore them off several times, but in the end they all grew back—and with each time, they became uglier and uglier.

“Miaomiao, Miaomiao,” he said, holding her close. “Don’t do this. Do you want me to die?”

No matter what she became, Wen Yuxian would still love her. But that was exactly why she hurt even more, and felt even more hopeless.

[Are you really going to spend the rest of your life with a monster? No… you won’t make it that long. One day, I’ll definitely be the one to kill you.]

Thinking of that, she’d rather die right now. Why did she still have a shred of sanity? How much better off were those mutated beings who’d lost theirs—by then, her soul would already be dead, and her broken body would soon be killed as well. He wouldn’t have to suffer like this.

“If that day ever comes, let’s die together. Don’t leave me behind,” he pleaded softly.

Their mothers had each built new families years ago and were living well. They no longer needed them. But the two of them would always need each other.

I will protect you. I won’t let anyone find out you exist.

If one day we really reach the end, if simply existing is a crime, then we’ll go to hell together.

……

The deafening roar of the rain filled her ears once more. Raindrops the size of pearls pelted her body. Tang Qiaoqiao, who had barely managed to dodge them, fell onto the soaked ground and turned to look at Wen Yuxian in disbelief. Had he just… been about to kill her?

Wen Yuxian—Teacher Wen—who almost never lost his temper, who was as patient as could be with his students, the kindest Teacher Wen imaginable—was he going to kill her?

The shock was even greater than seeing Wen Yuxian in love with a monster. In that instant, every girlhood dream she had shattered completely. Tears mixed with the rain as they ran down her face. In the dark, with a knife in his hand and walking toward her step by step, Wen Yuxian looked cold and terrifying, like a ghost coming to take her life.

Tang Qiaoqiao dodged several times in disarray; each blow felt as if it had struck her right in the heart, causing her immense pain,

Her Atavist purity was not the highest in her family, so she was not the heir of the Tang family. But it was not low either—60%. If she fought Wen Yuxian with everything she had, she might not lose. His Atavist purity was only 25%, and he was far below her in both physical ability and Atavist power.

But maybe the shock of the man she liked being in love with a Mutant was too great. Or maybe the blow of the man she liked trying to kill her was too great. Or maybe it was the way Wen Yuxian’s aura now was the complete opposite of how he always seemed before. Before the fight had even begun, she had already fallen behind on every side. More than fighting, her mind gave her only one order: run.

So she ran. She used her Atavist power to flee, moving fast, springing back up the moment she fell.

But Wen Yuxian knew this mountain better than she did. He could have walked it with his eyes closed. He chased after her without stopping and was getting closer and closer.

Wen Yuxian had only one thought: she had to kill her. Only then could Zhang Simiao survive.

……

Inside the cave, the four people shot to their feet.

“Wen Yuxian came out!”

“Well, damn. Tang Qiaoqiao really did draw Wen Yuxian out.”

“Quick, catch Wen Yuxian. Then Zhang Simiao won’t be able to stay hidden!”

……

Jing Pei looked at her phone. The green dot that marked Tang Qiaoqiao was moving very fast down the mountain. It looked like she was running for her life.

“Wen Yuxian, don’t let me down. I already warned you.”

This rebellious child was too strong and never listened to his mother. Even Jing Pei was getting tense. She stuffed several preserved plums into her mouth in a row, her cheeks puffed out like a squirrel’s.

She zipped up her raincoat and pushed the car door open.

……

The streetlights along the highway were already visible. Just as Tang Qiaoqiao began to feel a glimmer of relief at having survived the ordeal, she was suddenly knocked flying by a force striking her from the side, sending her tumbling several meters. Before she even had a chance to get back up, she found herself pinned to the ground the very next second, her throat gripped by a hand as hard as rock.

Wen Yuxian pinned her down. In the dim glow of the streetlights at the foot of the mountain, his expression was grim and terrifying. The knife in his hand glinted coldly as he raised it high, as if he were about to plunge it into her heart at any moment.

“Teacher Wen!” she cried in terror, her voice hoarse and barely audible. “No, don’t…” The student’s eyes were filled with terror, and a warm liquid—unlike the cold rain—spread across the back of his hand. He had always been tolerant and gentle with his students, never discriminating against even the worst of them. Even with Tang Qiaoqiao, the girl who had been clinging to him for so long, he believed she would grow up and come to her senses, that she would eventually understand what it truly meant to love someone.

He had never imagined that one day he would lay a hand on a student.

But Zhang Simo was the most important thing. This woman had been discovered by her—a descendant of a prominent family—and she would surely bring people to kill Zhang Simo. Even more terrifying was the thought of her taking Zhang Simo back to subject her to all sorts of horrific experiments.

He would never allow that to happen. They had forced his hand!

A cold glint flashed in his eyes as the knife fell mercilessly toward her heart.

【Do you believe in fate? Maybe each person’s life has already been written by an unseen hand, and no matter how hard they struggle to change it, the ending will still be the same. I want to see whether your fate can be changed.】

【Of course, for my own reasons, I’ll also do my best to help you change it.】

【If it changes, I’ll tell you.】

【I hope he doesn’t go down the wrong path and kill the wrong people; otherwise, even if others want to protect him, they’ll be powerless to do so.】

The knife came to an abrupt halt, its tip hovering just one centimeter from Tang Qiaoqiao’s wildly beating heart; if she dared to move even an inch, it would pierce right through.

For some reason, the words of that information broker and Jing Pei’s words suddenly rang in Wen Yuxian’s mind.