When Randall returned to that windswept mountain in his dream, he knew clearly that the nightmare of his mother's death would haunt him like a leech for the rest of his life, never to be forgotten.

Looking at the skeleton hanging from the crooked old tree, Randall knelt down, pale-faced and expressionless, muttering something as if he had lost his soul.

Why are humans so afraid of those who are different?

A sudden sound came from the mist, causing Randall to look up.

The male Shadow Claw emerged from the darkness, its dark eyes fixed on Randall, and said, "Humans, even your own flesh and blood, will be abandoned and hated if they are even slightly different from you."

Randall asked softly, "Why are you here?"

Standing beneath the old tree, the shadowy figure countered, "You should ask yourself why you ended up here?"

Randall asked in confusion, "Who exactly are you?"

"Our kind of creatures tends to absorb the negative emotions of other creatures. For us, fear, sadness, jealousy, doubt... are like a connoisseur of fine wine encountering a vintage vintage. But my favorite emotion is guilt."

“Your Holy King, the one who faced the rulers of the four directions alone, once told me that guilt is the strongest of all human emotions, even stronger than fear.”

Randall frowned and asked, "The Four Commanders? Who are they? Wait a minute! You said the Holy King spoke with you? You can think and speak like humans?! I always thought war beasts were..."

"Are all war beasts a bunch of stupid, pig-like animals, ready to be slaughtered?" The shadowy figure chuckled. "Millions of years have passed, and humans are still so arrogant and conceited."

"The Eye of Hell that you speak of leads directly to a world ten thousand meters underground, a place with a harsh environment and scarce resources, where tens of thousands of powerful and diverse creatures fight and devour each other."

Randall's throat was dry: "Why don't you come up to the ground?"

Shadow explained, “We, the race known as War Beasts, were forced to flee underground to escape the chaos of war. Some of us gradually lost our intelligence and became creatures no different from wild beasts, desperately trying to climb back to the surface; others clearly understood what fate was, no longer hoping for light, and completely fell into darkness.”

"The Holy King you speak of has brought the teachings of our ancient gods. As a member of the divine order, he desires to establish a world where all races can coexist peacefully without fear of extinction."

Shadow sat down cross-legged, stroking the tentacles on his body as he said in a low voice, "Sounds like a good idea, doesn't it? But all four leaders of the Eye of Hell believe that your Holy King is lying. Humans are a cunning, cruel, and untrustworthy race, which has become a consensus among almost all races in the underworld."

Randall shook his head and said, "Times have changed."

Shadow wagged its tail: "You can't blame the underground races for their caution and vigilance. After all, the painful memories of the past have left deep imprints of fear and pain on our souls."

"Under these circumstances, your Holy King made a suggestion: that the underground races send some observers to the human kingdoms to investigate what the world is really like now."

The shadowy figure pointed to itself with its paw: "So, here I am."

Randall said sorrowfully, "Then why do you follow me, making me relive the suffering of the past again and again?"

The shadowy figure was taken aback: "You think this nightmare is my creation? No, no, no, you're wrong. I am not your deity. I do not have the ability to create a world of souls. This dream itself exists deep within your consciousness. I am at most a guest here."

Randall stared blankly at the old tree in front of him: "You mean, everything here is just my own thoughts?"

"After the four commanders reached an agreement with the Holy King, I mingled among those low-level war beasts and came to Twilight City. I pretended to be tamed and controlled, but in reality, I was carefully observing this world with my own eyes."

"The Holy King has granted me a certain degree of freedom; as long as I do not harm the people of other kingdoms, I can travel with the army. And among so many targets for observation, you are the one I am most satisfied with?"

"I?"

The shadowy figure shook its head: "In you, I see an incredible side of humanity."

“Your Holy King once said this when he met with the leaders of the four directions: ‘Human beings are neither purely evil nor purely good, but like two sides of a coin, with both light and darkness.’”

Youying nodded in agreement and said, "At first I didn't understand these words, but through observing you, I gradually came to understand them."

The shadow stood up, turned and walked into the darkness, saying to Randall, "Human, I'm leaving."

"Wait a minute!"

Randall asked hastily, "If you're going to absorb negative emotions, then tell me, how can we escape this nightmare of guilt?"

Shadow turned around and looked at Randall with his dark eyes: "Escape? You can never escape guilt, because you can never get rid of your past."

"Then what should I do...?"

"Wait, wait for the moment that is destined to come."

"What?! What does this mean?!"

"Wait...when the time comes...we will know."

The shadow's voice vanished completely into the darkness.

Randall jolted awake, drenched in sweat, and sat up in bed, staring into the emptiness of the room.

Barbara, who was sleeping next to Randall, was awakened by his movement. She opened her eyes groggily, covered her naked body with the blanket, and asked, "What's wrong?"

The sound of the wind from his nightmare still seemed to echo in Randall's ears. He rubbed his ears, trying his best to drive the hallucination out of his head.

"I had a nightmare... but it's all in the past now."

Barbara supported Randall's arm and helped him lie down slowly, resting her head on his chest as she asked, "Is it still that past incident involving your mother?"

Randall hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

Barbara's pointed ears twitched slightly, her fair arms wrapped around Randall's neck, and she pressed her body against his chest, whispering, "You must try to move on from the past."

Randall closed his eyes and sighed deeply: "Wherever I go, the past follows me like a shadow."

Barbara brought her mouth close to Randall's ear: "Before long, you and I will have a gift from the future that can dispel all the shadows of the past."

Randall opened his eyes: "A gift from the future?"

Barbara gently kissed Randall's cheek and said tenderly, "You'll know when the time comes."

After she finished speaking, she moved her right hand down and gently covered her lower abdomen.