Task 6

"..." After a full minute of silence, Shi Youchen returned to the ground with the meatball and stretched out his hand to He Xian: "Eat it."

"Oh, so this is the power of the Feller family's wolf totem?" He Xian took it and held it up, looking at the flowing patterns on it in the moonlight. Then he swallowed it, smacked his lips and said, "It doesn't feel like anything."

Shi Youchen's eyes fell: "What feeling do you want?" Then he turned around and was about to leave.

The small floating island in front of them lit up completely, then turned into tiny fragments of light and began to disappear. He Xian looked around but couldn't see Furen. He asked, "Where are Furen? Aren't they up there with you?"

Shi Youchen paused slightly, pointed in the direction of the edge of the sinkhole and said, "Someone was attacking, and he went to stop them." "Someone was attacking? How come I didn't know? He went by himself? Why didn't he call us?" A series of questions popped out of He Xian's mouth, and Shi Youchen didn't answer any of them.

He Xian then realized something was wrong and asked hesitantly, "What was that thunder just now?"

"He blew himself up," Shi Youchen said, his voice as calm as ever, as if the person who died was a stranger who had nothing to do with him. He Xian paused, moving to embrace Pei Chanbai. After a few seconds of contemplation, he said, "He blew himself up? He's dead?"

"Yeah." Shi Youchen recalled the last scene he had just witnessed, and his voice became much hoarse. "The one who attacked was Will Philler. He and him have a deep-seated grudge."

He Xian finally picked up Pei Chanbai and realized: "He is the experimental subject of the Feller family. You also said that he is the younger brother of your old friend. Could it be that his parents were given to him by Will..."

"yes."

"He was tortured to death by Will's impulsive experiment."

"..." He Xian sighed, "That's better than being thrown into a place like this alive. Fortunately, it's all over, and he can be reunited with his family." At the end, his expression was obviously much more lonely.

Shi Youchen: "Let's go see if we can find any more fragments and bring them back to Mirage Abyss together." Then the three of them instantly moved to the place where Will had launched the sneak attack just now. There was only a mess left there, with various red, yellow and white liquids sprayed all over the ground.

Shi Youchen searched carefully, picked out a few scattered fragments that still showed human body parts, and put them into his personal space.

At this time, the small floating island that served as the carrier medium had completely disappeared. "Let's go, go back." Shi Youchen said, and just as he was about to open the space crack, he vaguely caught some movement.

He Xian lifted Pei Chanbai up and noticed his hesitation. Just as he was about to ask what was wrong, he suddenly felt a swelling and pain in his eyeballs and his hands lost strength.

Pei Chanbai fell heavily to the ground and was about to wake up in a daze.

"Hmm..." He Xian suddenly spat out a large mouthful of blood, which just happened to splash all over Shi Youchen's back. "He Xian?"

The moment Shi Youchen turned around, he saw He Xian's body inexplicably and rapidly expand, like a fully inflated balloon, his torso deformed and his eyeballs bulging outward. "He Xian!" He didn't have time to think, and immediately reached out to freeze time for the entire body.

Although the mutation seemed to have stopped, the strange distortion did not disappear. Under the moonlight, He Xian's skin became crystal clear, fragile, and extremely thin.

Shi Youchen's palms were trembling. He had finally managed to control the energy of stopping time within a perfect range, but he didn't dare to touch it to find out what was going on.

"What's going on? Why is it like this suddenly? Is it possible that his power and the Wolf Totem's power cannot be integrated? What went wrong? Or?" He was in torment.

Pei Chanbai rubbed his eyes and sat up. He could only identify the person in front of him, who looked like some kind of frog experiment, as He Xian from his clothes. He froze there: "He..."

"What happened to him?!!"

Shi Youchen was horrified, but he still remembered to stop Pei Chanbai and prevent him from touching He Xian: "Calm down! I will save him! I will definitely save him!"

Pei Chanbai struggled to break free from Shi Youchen's restraints, but his previous actions had drained all his energy. Now he was completely limp, unable to muster any strength. "What the hell is going on?! He was fine just now! What did you ask him to do?!"

In a hurry, Pei Chanbai hit Shi Youchen's most vulnerable spot, and in a trance, his elbow was about to poke his throat.

"Youchen!" Suddenly a figure fell from the sky, accompanied by urgent and angry shouts. The emotionally excited Pei Chanbai froze in place.

Ying Yungui grabbed his collar and approached him, saying, "Calm down! Are we going to hurt him?" Pei Chanbai's pupils were still trembling violently, but it could be seen that his breathing had calmed down a little.

Ying Yungui let go of him, but did not remove the space lock on him: "I will untie it when you are completely calm. Enjoy the cool breeze here." After saying that, he held Shi Youchen's shoulders and lifted his face with a slight tremor.

Shi Youchen's face was icy cold, and his pupils were dilated for several moments. Ying Yungui could tell that he was genuinely frightened, so his voice quickly softened, stroking his back and whispering, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, he's fine. I'm here, he'll be fine."

"Yun...Gui?" Shi Youchen's voice was fragmented, and his eyes flickered upwards, as if he couldn't believe that the person in front of him really existed. "Why...are you here?" Then he seemed to realize something, "Why are you here? The association..."

"It's okay over there, everything is okay." Ying Yungui held the back of Shi Youchen's head with his broad palm and touched his forehead with his. "Fortunately, fortunately I followed Will here." Ying Yungui was terrified that if he changed the route or turned back halfway, things would probably get into an irreversible situation.

"Calm down and listen to me." After seeing that Shi Youchen's eyes had finally regained some of their usual indifference, Ying Yungui continued, "The power of the Wolf Totem has gone out of control, which is why He Xian has this rejection reaction."

Shi Youchen lowered his eyes and listened without saying a word, so Ying Yungui let him go and finally breathed a sigh of relief. "The Feller clan's actions over the years, coupled with the way they handled the experimental subject this time, were truly extreme. The Wolf Totem is incorporeal, which is fine, but once it materializes, it will surely go berserk. I didn't have time to tell you, so you don't need to blame yourself."

Shi Youchen slowly shook his head: "I was too impatient. I thought everything was foolproof and ignored the changes in this world line."

Ying Yungui looked at his self-denial and felt a pang of pain in his heart. "Given the current situation, it's most likely unwilling to acknowledge the Feller clan and reject their bloodline from inheriting the power of 'equal exchange'."

Shi Youchen's heart pounded: "But He Xian has already swallowed it. Do we have to cut it out alive and wash its blood and replace its marrow?" Thinking of the worst possibility, his breathing stopped for a moment.

Ying Yungui said, "There's a way to avoid such a huge risk, but it will definitely come at a price." He turned to look at Pei Chanbai, who was standing still, and explained the method, "The Wolf Totem's original power is equal exchange. So, use its way to appease it, and then become its new bloodline heir."

"No," Shi Youchen said flatly, "Who can guarantee what it wants? Who can be sure that He Xian can afford the price? Don't forget that 'curse' is also a form of 'equivalent exchange'."

"Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't dare take the risk, but Will died less than a hundred meters away from Hexian, or in other words, from the origin of the Wolf Totem. This completely meets the conditions for sacrifice."

"Besides, now is the time when it wants to get rid of the Feller clan the most. If we forcibly separate it, it will have to return to its original situation first. By then, we may even face an even stronger rampage."

Ying Yungui's words were not a sudden impulse, but the result of careful consideration after analyzing Will Ferrier's various behaviors.

"I will temporarily separate He Xian's body and blood, giving him enough room to choose. As long as the price is within an acceptable range, I will take action."

Shi Youchen bit the corner of his mouth until it bled. "He Xian has been covered in time stasis. There's no room for reversal." This means that once it starts, there's only one chance to choose. "Whether to accept the price or not, who can decide for him?"

Ying Yungui said in a low voice: "I will decide for him. Whether he hates or resents me in the future, I will bear the responsibility."

“…”

After a moment of silence, Ying Yungui put his arm around Shi Youchen's shoulders and whispered in his ear, "Believe in me, believe in He Xian."

Finally, Shi Youchen closed his eyes and nodded, making way. Ying Yungui took a deep breath and reached out to touch the crystal-clear and fragile skin.

He Xian's deformed body kept changing and twisting its position due to the flow of energy in his body, like a water ball. In the last second, his lower limbs were swollen, and in the next moment, he became a porcupine with a floating upper body.

Finally, the deformation began to take shape, spreading to his left arm. The entire arm was three times the size of his body, and anyone who saw it would be shocked that it hadn't exploded yet.

When the deformation stabilized and stopped changing, Ying Yungui took out a knife specially used for cutting from the association's laboratory and pointed it at He Xian's left shoulder. "Huh!" He tried to steady his hands and prepared to exert force.

"I'll do it." Pei Chanbai actually broke free from the spatial lock and approached with blood dripping all over his body, repeating, "I'll do it."

Shi Youchen wanted to stop him, but was shocked by the determination in his eyes and realized his true intention.

"Yun Gui, give it to him." Shi Youchen whispered.

Pei Chanbai snatched the knife from Ying Yungui's trembling hand, pushed him away, and stood close to He Xian. "Don't be afraid, I will be with you, forever." He put one hand behind He Xian's head and kissed his cold lips, while raising his other hand -

He Xian's grotesquely swollen left arm was instantly severed and fell to the ground. However, because his body was still covered in the Time Standstill, not even a drop of blood was spilled.

At an angle that Shi Youchen and Ying Yungui could not see, the blood and tears flowing from Pei Chanbai's eyes mixed together and flowed over the tip of He Xian's nose.

This was the first time in his life that he cried out of pain.