In the swamp forest region, they encountered the monster horde exactly as expected.

“Damn it!” The three mercenaries’ faces changed at once. The cantaloupe-tattooed man immediately threw away the loudspeaker he had been fiddling with.

“Were we discovered all along?”

“Run!”

The three acted without hesitation. They chopped off the hands wearing their tracking bracelets and tossed them into the monster horde, letting the beasts carry them away before turning and fleeing.

They had never intended to face Hualan’s atavists head-on. This was enemy territory, and a direct confrontation offered them no advantage. They had long since decided to sacrifice the hand if necessary. Besides, their team had a healer. As long as they stayed alive, severed limbs could always be regenerated.

A dark figure suddenly appeared in front of them.

A leg lashed through the air with enough force to send all three retreating several meters in a single leap.

In his atavist form, Wen Yuxian’s canine eyes glowed in the darkness.

“My friends,” he said, “you’ve come a long way. Why not stay a while?”

The mercenaries had no intention of listening.

They scattered at once.

Wen Yuxian could only pursue one of them.

Fortunately, other figures quickly closed in on the remaining two.

Meanwhile, without anyone driving them forward, the hundreds of monsters began spreading out. They were no longer packed together and easy to manage as they had been under the mercenaries’ control.

Fortunately, this possibility had been anticipated.

Preparations were already in place.

Following the plan, those not assigned to apprehending the criminals formed ranks. Their atavist powers spread outward and linked together, creating a vast semicircular barrier just large enough to intercept the monsters and funnel them toward the designated “slaughterhouse” for cleanup.

The maneuver demanded extraordinary control over atavist power.

Projecting a circular field around oneself was relatively simple.

Maintaining a broad, flat formation like this was far more difficult.

A moment’s lapse in concentration could cause the entire structure to collapse.

Fortunately, the students who had been called in were among the academy’s best. Under their teachers’ guidance, they managed to keep the formation intact.

---

During the first semester of her final year of high school, Mei Yanlan’s adoptive mother, Mei Feiying, died in a car accident.

She was already seventy years old.

Yet she still loved excitement.

And alcohol.

She had always been carefree, raising Mei Yanlan with a hands-off philosophy. She disliked managing others and disliked being managed herself. There had never been much overt affection between them. Most days, they felt more like roommates than mother and daughter.

Even so, there was one thing Mei Yanlan could never deny.

When she had needed help most, Mei Feiying had been the one who reached out a hand.

When Mei Yanlan came home late, there was always a light left on for her.

Only after losing her did Mei Yanlan realize how deeply she cared for her.

Living alone in that house felt like being trapped inside endless loneliness.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t escape it.

Curled up on the sofa with her knees drawn to her chest, she hated the world.

Why did everyone she loved have to be taken from her?

The doorbell rang.

She ignored it.

Then Wen Can’s voice came from outside.

“Lanlan? Lanlan? Are you home? I brought your homework. The teachers said it has to be done, okay? Open up.”

She remained silent.

Every morning before school, he came by.

Which meant he had to get up before dawn.

When she refused to answer, he would leave breakfast hanging from the doorknob and remind her to eat.

After school, he came again.

If she still didn’t open the door, he would sit outside and chat to himself.

He talked about what had happened at school.

He repeated jokes he had heard.

Sometimes he simply sat there in silence, keeping her company.

Only when he absolutely had to go home would he finally leave.

In her quiet, lonely world, his endless chatter gradually pulled her back out into the world.

One day she heard him fall.

He sucked in a sharp breath, clearly in pain. Apparently intending to leave without saying anything, he started to get up.

The door suddenly opened.

He immediately stopped rubbing the injury, straightened up, and pretended nothing had happened, determined to preserve his masculine pride.

“What happened?”

The boy looked embarrassed.

“My leg fell asleep.”

“Come in,” Mei Yanlan said.

“Okay.”

His mood brightened instantly.

Falling in front of the girl he liked had been humiliating.

But the door had opened.

And once it opened that day, it never closed to him again.

As far as Wen Can was concerned, rolling down a staircase would have been worth it.

From that day onward, he showed up every morning to walk her to school and escorted her home after evening study sessions.

Eventually, he even received the door code.

On weekends, while Mei Yanlan was still asleep, he would show up with bags of groceries and fill her refrigerator.

Then he would make breakfast in her kitchen.

He turned down invitations from his friends to play basketball or spend time at internet cafés, choosing instead to spend entire days with her.

One day, Mei Yanlan leaned against a wall and watched him cooking.

The sight reminded her of her parents.

Before they had been taken away by the Ling family, her father had been like this too.

Hair tied in a bun.

Apron around his waist.

Busy in the kitchen.

Taking care of his wife and daughter.

And then Wen Can said:

“In the future… how about I take care of you?”

She didn’t need someone to take care of her.

A person burdened by a blood feud could not afford such weakness.

Yet being cared for felt wonderful.

At first, she had agreed to date him simply because she didn’t dislike him.

And because Mei Feiying had laughed and said:

“Then date him. If you go through high school without falling in love, you’ll regret it when you’re older. Just don’t let it affect your grades. Otherwise you’ll regret not studying hard enough.”

She accepted his confession and started dating him for no grand reason.

Just to enjoy the moment.

But he was so sincere.

So lovable.

Somewhere along the way, she found herself falling for him more and more.

“In that case,” she teased one day, “you’ll have to have children in the future. I’m an atavist whose men get pregnant.”

Wen Can immediately turned bright red.

“W-we’re too young! We can’t do that yet…”

“Isn’t pregnancy the important part? Aren’t you scared?”

“If it’s pregnancy, then it’s pregnancy. I’m a grown man. Why would I be scared?”

Not only was he not afraid.

He sounded pleased.

“I’ve heard childbirth is hard on women. If I could do it instead, wouldn’t that be great?”

Her father once said that if you truly loved someone, you couldn’t bear to see them suffer.

Wen Can was happy to carry that burden himself.

He even told her that when she grew up, she should find a man willing to have children in her place.

Perhaps Wen Can was exactly the type of person her father had hoped she would find.

But what about her revenge?

She could never abandon it.

And if she pursued vengeance, there could be no future with Wen Can.

Could she bring the Ling family down through legal channels?

Impossible.

There was no evidence.

Even if there was evidence, the Tribunal Division belonged to the great atavist families in all but name, and the government was restricted by the Atavist Management Regulations.

Worse, if people learned why the Ling family had gone to such monstrous lengths, there might be far more people targeting her than just the Ling family.

With nowhere else to turn, she finally told Wen Can about her past.

They would eventually have to part ways.

What she didn’t know was that something had already begun moving behind the scenes.

That is to say, as long as everyone here died, Mei Yanlan would be safe.

Those were the details Wen Can had pieced together after being captured, casually probing for information without drawing suspicion.

Because nothing in Wen Can’s expression seemed off, Mei Yanlan believed him when he said he hadn’t taken the poison. Urged on by him, she eliminated every one of them.

The two of them dug a pit together and buried all the bodies.

At five in the morning, dawn had yet to fully break. Sky and earth were both caught in that murky gray between night and day. Railroad tracks stretched endlessly into the distance.

Then Wen Can began to feel pain.

He dropped to his knees.

“Wen Can!”

Mei Yanlan’s face drained of color.

“They said… they found traces of your atavist power near that cliff. You used your power to save me.”

The thought tormented him.

If not for him, Mei Yanlan would never have been discovered. She would never have been forced toward all the suffering that followed.

How could someone be so unfortunate?

The thought broke his heart.

Fortunately, those people were dead now.

She was safe.

That made him happy, even if he himself was dying.

If Mei Yanlan hadn’t saved him three years earlier, he would have fallen from that cliff and died. Back then, he had felt cheated, as though he were dying for no reason at all.

Now, however, he was happy.

He had protected her.

He had gained three extra years of life.

And he had found Mei Yanlan.

He’d come out ahead.

In the distance, a train thundered toward them.

“It’s too late…”

Wen Can refused to let Mei Yanlan take him to a hospital.

The Ling family had already told him that no ordinary hospital could detect the poison, much less cure it. Worse, the examination would leave records behind.

Taking him to an Atavist hospital would be even more dangerous.

For all they knew, the hospital would notify the Ling family immediately, and Mei Yanlan would be dragged back into their hands.

“Don’t rush to take revenge. Promise me this. Ten years. Wait at least ten years before you go after the Ling family.”

He feared she would act recklessly.

He feared she was still no match for them.

He hoped that over those ten years, she would meet people willing to help her.

He hoped she would find happiness.

That she would enjoy life while she could.

That she would live well.

Grow old naturally.

Surrounded by children and grandchildren.

The roar of the train filled Mei Yanlan’s ears until her head rang.

Once again, she was losing someone she loved.

---

Wen Can unfastened his seatbelt.

A triumphant smile spread across his face.

The purpose of his existence had always been simple: use the love Mei Yanlan once gave Wen Can to help the Ling family capture her.

And he had succeeded.

As long as he succeeded, he would become the real Wen Can.

There were no streetlights here.

Darkness blanketed everything.

Fortunately, the terrain was open enough for moonlight to spill across the ground.

The car sat motionless.

The silence around it felt dangerous.

“We’re here. Let’s get out.”

Unable to hide his eagerness, he reached for the door.

Suddenly, a delicate fragrance drifted through the air and wrapped around him.

Mei Yanlan moved closer.

Like a seductive spirit.

Her pale arms slipped around his neck.

A tingling current raced through his entire body.

“Hm?”

He reached up and touched her arm.

“What does it feel like,” she asked softly, “to be Wen Can?”

The clone froze.

“Too bad.”

Her voice remained gentle.

“A fake will always be a fake.”

The clone’s face changed.

Just as he tried to struggle, Mei Yanlan seized him by the throat and dragged him toward her.

The car door flew open.

She shoved him outside like a human shield.

In the next instant, countless tranquilizer darts tore through the darkness.

The clone was hit so many times he resembled a pincushion.

The tranquilizer had been specially formulated for Mei Yanlan.

The clone immediately went limp.

Several moments passed.

Only after realizing something was wrong did the attackers stop firing.

The Ling family emerged from concealment and surrounded the vehicle.

Their first move was to destroy all four tires.

Mei Yanlan tossed aside the unconscious clone.

At the same time, she caught the faint scent of something sweet.

“Yilan, my precious granddaughter. It’s been so long. How could you be so heartless? Not once in all these years did you come visit your grandfather.”

The voice dragged her attention away from the mysterious scent.

The moment she heard it, memories buried deep within her mind resurfaced.

Revulsion surged through her.

She turned cold eyes toward the speaker.

The Ling Family Head stood among a ring of guards.

After glancing at the clone on the ground, he smiled.

“Do you like the gift Grandfather prepared for you?”

“If you like him, then behave, and I’ll let him stay by your side.”

“If one isn’t enough, I can make several more.”

He spoke so casually.

As if Wen Can were nothing more than a toy rolling off an assembly line.

Naked disgust lurked beneath his words.

He hated Wen Can.

There was no doubt about it.

Had Wen Can lived, he would have found a way to kill him sooner or later.

After all, it was because of Wen Can that Mei Yanlan escaped them ten years ago.

Ten years.

Even an atavist’s lifespan was not limitless.

How many more decades did he have left?

“If that’s still not enough,” he continued, “look what else I’ve prepared.”

Several figures stepped forward from behind him.

The instant Mei Yanlan saw them, her eyes nearly split apart with fury.

They were her father.

Her mother.

And her adoptive mother, Mei Feiying.

“Yilan, sweetheart. Come to your father and mother.”

“Lanlan, come here.”

They smiled.

They held out their arms.

But there was no love in their eyes.

None at all.

Clones.

“You dare!”

Rage exploded through Mei Yanlan.

Her black hair transformed into crimson waves.

Horns burst from her head.

A fierce sense of violation consumed her.

The people she treasured, the people who had been unique and irreplaceable, had been copied at will.

Then forced to stand beside the very people responsible for their deaths.

Used like obedient dogs.

Of course the Ling Family Head knew this would enrage her.

That was the point.

A drug had already been prepared for her.

It was unusual.

By itself, it did nothing.

Only when combined with a second, odorless compound would it take effect.

That second drug had already filled the car earlier.

Mei Yanlan had inhaled it.

It had entered her lungs.

Her bloodstream.

Only now could she smell the sweetness in the air.

The more furious she became, the faster her blood circulated.

And the faster the drug should take hold.

A faint smile appeared on his lips.

He waited for her to collapse.

Instead, Mei Yanlan crossed the distance between them in an instant and wrapped a hand around his throat.

Her footing remained perfectly steady.

So did her grip.

The smile vanished from his face.

His expression changed.

“You think I don’t know your filthy little tricks?”

“You think I’ve spent the last ten years hiding from you because I was afraid?”

She tightened her fingers around his neck.

“Times have changed.”

“I want every last one of you dead.”