Chapter 150 Interval
Her body seemed to act before her brain—or perhaps she had a premonition the moment she was grabbed and instinctively fought back.
The rushing water created a lot of bubbles that floated and drifted.
The bubbles gradually disappeared in front of her; she hit nothing.
The bloodless hand still gripped her ankle tightly. The owner of the hand remained motionless, floating silently below her. The air currents stirred the other's dark hair, causing it to tremble slightly.
...The person slowly raised their head in the shadows of the water, revealing a pale face, with a few strands of soft, silky black hair gently brushing against their calves with the current.
His dark eyes gazed at her quietly.
A face so beautiful in the water is more terrifying than any monster.
No heartbeat, no breath—Wei Sheng Qianheng floated in the water like a dead corpse. At this moment, Shu Ningmiao was somewhat lost in thought, wondering if he was also a white bone fish, a wandering ghost.
Wei Sheng Qian Heng was like a wandering ghost, persistently blocking her way.
Why would he be at the research institute? Was it also for those leftover documents? At this moment, Shu Ningmiao no longer had the energy to delve into why he was there; she just wanted to kick him away.
Unfortunately, now is the most unfavorable situation, and she doesn't have any extra time to argue with him.
Wei Shengqianheng must be using 'Forgiveness' again; she can feel the effects of the superpowered item fading rapidly.
He is dead, but she is still alive. The longer she stays underwater, the worse it will be for her.
In a flash, Shu Ningmiao assessed the situation, protected what she was holding, raised her leg and pulled it back forcefully. She couldn't shake off his vine-like grip, and anger surged in her heart. She kicked him again, turning his head to the side.
Unexpectedly, this kick actually made Wei Shengqianheng let go of his hand.
However, in the next instant, his shadow in the water floated in front of her like a ghost, reaching out a pale hand to her.
A chilling aura swept across her neck, like sharp fingernails scratching her skin. She vaguely felt tiny bumps appearing on the skin around her neck, and the mimicked parotid glands vanished instantly under the influence of the other party's superpower.
In the last moment before her parotid gland disappeared, she seemed to smell something sweet again, like the scent of crushed fruit. Immediately following this was Wei Shengqianheng's five fingers tightly covering her face.
An unusually cold finger pressed against her mouth, and she choked on some salty seawater in her panic.
Shu Ningmiao clutched the file bag with one hand, her fingers suddenly clenching tightly, the veins on her arm bulging. Before she could gather her strength to retaliate, Wei Shengqianheng had already leaned in and pressed his lips hard against her ear. His voice, carried by the sound of flowing water, entered her eardrums, accompanied by a sticky buzzing sound, as if countless bubbles were vying to burst out of her eardrums.
"Don't go up, stay here." He held her face, his arms exerting an unusually strong force, and repeated indistinctly, "Don't let my rare kindness go to waste."
How could she possibly believe him? Shu Ningmiao grabbed his hair and pulled it back, tilting her head back to break free from his grasp. She curled her lips and silently mouthed, "Get lost!"
Intermittent rumbling sounds came from afar. Sensing the abnormal airflow, she glanced coldly at Wei Shengqianheng, not having time to argue with him any longer, and released her grip to swim upwards.
Not far behind, Wei Sheng Qian Heng did not follow, but remained quietly in place.
Even after emerging from the research center, she could still vaguely sense his gaze.
The more this was the case, the more certain she became that something beyond her control was about to happen. An extreme unease gripped her heart, arriving as suddenly and unexpectedly as a tremor.
The building collapsed silently shortly after she swam out. Shu Ningmiao quickly swam back. The air currents of the entire sea seemed to be distorted by the tremor, and the water flow carried fragments of various seabed plants that swirled and collided together.
She swam quickly through the vortex back to her original direction. In the distance, there was a bright white light, probably Erici using his powers to mark the way, afraid that she wouldn't be able to find him.
Seeing her swim closer, Erice withdrew his superpowers and hurriedly stuffed the sapphire onto her body. Without saying a word, he tried to pull her upwards, while students around them were equally panicked.
Shu Ningmiao gestured upwards, asking her, "Where's the teacher?"
The people above couldn't possibly be unaware of such an accident, but she hasn't seen a single teacher yet; there are only students in the water who have temporarily lost their composure.
Erice shook her head; she didn't know.
The rescue from the sea was slow to arrive. The student leaders of several classes gestured to the others, indicating that everyone should hold hands and swim to the shore together. With the strength of the superhumans, swimming back would be more than enough. Staying here would only put them at risk of being swept away by the current.
Faced with the sudden disaster, most students agreed to this solution, as no one dared to entrust their lives to the school authorities, whose arrival was uncertain.
The roaring sound did not diminish, and the surging water seemed to want to sweep them away as well. The huge ocean current stirred up waves, creating a huge whirlpool on the surface of the water, which spun around and around.
Eric held Shu Ningmiao's hand tightly as they swam forward with the group. Every finger of hers was taut and stiff, and the stiffer she was, the easier it was for her to lose her balance in the water. After only a few steps, her palm was empty.
She opened her eyes wide and looked back. Shu Ningmiao's fingertips were actively withdrawing from her palm and quickly retracting.
Erice opened her mouth, wanting to ask her what had happened.
The black-haired girl glanced at her, leaned back slightly, her movements sluggish as if in slow motion, yet appearing unusually graceful.
Immediately afterwards, a piece of scrap metal swept through the gap between the two of them from the water's ripples, nearly severing her finger.
Even with just this short distance of retreat, Shu Ningmiao was completely engulfed by the whirlpool in the sea.
Having been mentally prepared to be caught up in it, Shu Ningmiao did not panic, but simply looked up as if she sensed something.
The whirlpool, like a giant eye, twisted and trembled. She clearly saw countless long white objects converging at the center of the whirlpool, moving so fast that they drew trailing white arcs in the water.
She had seen this object draped in white cloth when she was praising the church; it was a white-clad puppet made of clay by Wei Shengqianheng.
It was him again—Wei Shengqian stopped her from leaving. It turned out he had his own plan. What was he going to do?
What is his purpose this time? Is it the students...? No, if he wanted to kill all the students who went into the water, he shouldn't have given them a chance to get ashore in the first place.
These wandering white-clad puppets showed no inclination to attack; their gathering here seemed solely to create a larger vortex.
She paused, then stuffed the documents in her hand into her waterproof suit, turned around and swam towards the center of the whirlpool.
Eric stopped and watched as Shu Ningmiao ran away without looking back, an incredulous look in his eyes.
A classmate who was passing by saw her floating blankly in place and grabbed her hand without saying a word, and they swam to the shore together.
She couldn't help but turn around, but Shu Ningmiao's figure had already been swallowed by the vortex.
Shu Ningmiao was swept into the whirlpool, and the rushing water suddenly pushed her towards the center of the whirlpool, like a piece of clothing in a washing machine. If she were an ordinary person, she would have fainted by now. Even though she had retrieved the mimicry sapphire, she almost choked on the water.
She had to swim upstream against the pressure to see a glimmer of light on the surface of the water before she could reach out and grab a piece of white cloth in the whirlpool.
She ripped the white cloth off, revealing it was full of broken mud and sand, which splashed onto her face with the water, causing a rough and painful sting.
Only after tearing away this piece of cloth did she see what was wrapped in the center of the swirling white cloth: the school's patrol ship. The entire ship had been torn down by the white-clad puppets controlled by Wei Sheng Qian Heng.
Upon closer inspection, the boat was completely empty, just a shell; the teachers and Xiao Jiang must have already abandoned ship and left.
Having confirmed this information, she lingered no longer—she had dealt with Wei Sheng Qianheng's tricks countless times. This person was immortal and indestructible, and dealing with him using ordinary methods would only be a waste of time. She had no desire to even touch this white-clad puppet again and swam straight towards the water.
Suspecting that Wei Shengqianheng wanted to do something with the whirlpool, she did not swim to the shore for the time being, but surfaced as soon as she left the whirlpool's range.
The ocean currents around the whirlpool were relatively calm. She looked towards Gab and saw the sun rising in the distance, its crimson rays stretching into the distance like lava burning the horizon.
The water surface rippled and shimmered with countless golden dots, and the warm sunlight shone on my face. The boundless blue sky and the enclosed, dark seabed seemed like two different worlds.
Shu Ningmiao exhaled forcefully and felt herself being lifted up from behind.
Xiao Jiang stood on a small inflatable boat and pulled her out, who was soaking wet. Lux and two other teachers were also on the boat.
Just by glancing around, she paused in her act of speaking to Xiao Jiang, a sense of unease washing over her.
Xiao Jiang is a very straightforward person who doesn't consider any risks. Since she's there, it's impossible for her not to take the initiative to go into the water to save people, unless she has a more important task or there's someone on the lifeboat with more authority than her.
Shu Ningmiao pursed her slightly parted lips, lowered her head to hide her expression, and Lux took a few steps forward and knelt down in front of her, anxiously trying to grab her shoulders, but then awkwardly hung in mid-air, waving his hands in the air as if he wanted to express something, but did not know how to speak: "Is it just you? Where is everyone else?"
Shu Ningmiao moved away and wrung out her wet hair: "They've already swum ashore, they should be fine."
Unusually, Lux did not relax at all upon hearing this answer. Instead, he blurted out, his voice tinged with tension, "No! How can we get ashore!"
Shu Ningmiao's eyes instantly turned sharp as she looked at him, and Lux was taken aback by the sudden coldness in her gaze.
He quickly added, "You shouldn't have made the decision to go back on your own. Don't you know it's easy to get lost at sea? Our boat was just dragged into the water by something. We just set up the lifeboats and then sent the other teachers to find you. With the ability of the operatives, it's definitely safer than swimming back."
Shu Ningmiao remained silent upon hearing this, turning her head away from her scrutinizing gaze.
By the time the other teachers went to look for the students swimming towards the shore, it was too late.
It was just a tiny time difference in reaction after the shipwreck that allowed them to miss it. Was this a coincidence—or was it Wei Sheng Qian Heng's intention?
She glanced at the lifeboats now floating on the sea.
The lifeboat was barely able to move on the sea thanks to Xiao Jiang's "North Wind" ability. The wind surrounding the boat steadily supported its bottom, and as the only floating rescue point on the sea, it seemed reasonable that Xiao Jiang could not leave at will.
Xiao Jiang leaned out of the boat and looked into the water, his eyes not in her direction. He simply stretched out one leg and crushed a piece of white cloth that was floating up, muttering under his breath, "What the hell is this?"
The entire sea was filled with these white things. Although they didn't attack people like pollutants, their dense, overwhelming numbers were quite eerie. They couldn't be cleared away quickly and were also obstructing their movement and vision.
If it were an attack, that would be one thing, but this inexplicable shipwreck had no specific target, and Xiao Jiang was furious.
Shu Ningmiao stared at her from a distance for a long time, then looked away and focused her gaze on Lux, her eyes revealing an undisguised sharpness: "Aren't we going back?"
With Xiao Jiang's superpower controlling them, there's no need to worry about losing direction. Whirlpools could appear on the sea surface at any time, so why should they stay in one place like fools?
Lux also fell into the water, his blond hair plastered to his face, making his thick eyebrows and big eyes stand out even more. Faced with her question, he inexplicably lost his momentum: "Uh, let's wait for the other teachers to rescue the students first... In short, ensure the students' safety."
“So much time has passed, they may have already reached the shore.” Shu Ningmiao paused briefly, carefully observing his expression. “And even if we find them, this small boat can’t carry that many people.”
Lux was clearly flustered by the sudden situation. It was only after Shu Ningmiao's reminder that he realized that the small boat could only carry seven or eight people and could barely stay afloat under Xiao Jiang's superpower control—a problem he had not considered at all before.
He covered his forehead, still struggling to maintain the flawed arrangements: "Find the students first...confirm their safety first."
Seeing the panic on his face, Shu Ningmiao had gotten the answer she wanted.
Since she boarded the small boat, Xiao Jiang had not spoken to her, and the other teachers also remained silent and completely obeyed Lux's arrangements.
It is obvious that the real person in charge of this superpower practice is Lux—Lux Belial.
He may have excelled in school and was quite adept at being a teacher due to his personality, but when faced with a major crisis, he still panicked.
None of the experienced teachers present, such as Xiao Jiang, intended to give him advice; instead, they left him to make all the decisions haphazardly.
This was a silent resistance, the reason for which she did not yet know.
Was it because he was so young and had just graduated that he could lead them based on his father's connections as the principal? Or was there a deeper reason...? In any case, Lux's flustered actions revealed his intentions to her—he didn't want the students to leave this area at all.
There must be a problem on the shore.
She made a decision immediately, twisted her wrist, gave Xiao Jiang a look, and said while backing away, "Then teacher, I'll go help look for it too. The sooner we find it, the sooner we can go back."
"Hey, wait a minute, you!" Lux exclaimed in surprise, reaching out to grab her, but Xiao Jiang intentionally or unintentionally blocked his advance. In the blink of an eye, Shu Ningmiao slipped into the water and disappeared.
Lux's shouts were drowned out by the sudden, amplified sound of the splashing water.
She was wary of Lux's abilities and did not surface. Instead, she slowly swam down into the water towards the land she remembered.
After a long while, a splash of water rose from the shore, and Shu Ningmiao suddenly emerged from the water, grabbed the bank and slowly got up, looking extremely exhausted.
The series of changes gave her no chance to react. She swam to shore as fast as she could, but still didn't encounter a single student.
They left before her and should all be ashore by now.
When I left in the morning, the temperature wasn't high, but now that she's surfaced, an undeniable wave of heat hits me.
Shu Ningmiao slowly raised her head from the water-soaked air. The riverbank in front of her led to the village of Gabo. The road stretched forward, and at the end of it was not the radiance of the rising sun, but a blazing inferno.
The flickering, cold flames, along with the wisps of thick smoke, swirled into the sky, merging with the nascent clouds to create a pale red glow that enveloped the entire city of Gab.
She first saw the strings of flames, and then the cries suddenly flooded her mind. Some people were carrying children, some were carrying poultry, and people kept running out of the village. Half of the sturdy stone houses collapsed under the scorching heat.
Her strides gradually lengthened, and her weary forward movement gradually turned into a run.
Someone called her name.
Shu Ningmiao turned her head and saw the students who had decided to swim to the shore first. They hadn't changed out of their waterproof suits yet and were covered in soot. At this moment, the students of Kornunos had completely forgotten their previous dislike for these villagers. Some were trying their best to put out the fire with their superpowers, while others were evacuating the villagers to escape.
The teachers who caught up from behind had also gone ashore with the students, and the instructor of Class E was kneeling on the ground treating the severely burned students.
Without changing her clothes, she could clearly feel the stickiness under her feet as she approached the village entrance. The sea was right next to her, and students with water-based abilities kept trying to put out the fire, but it couldn't be extinguished because of the excellent accelerant.
She had seen such a fire countless times and could distinguish the differences. Ordinary fires could not burn so intensely or so high. Only the fire ignited by Pandora was so cruel, persistent, long, and despairing, with no hope of extinguishing and almost destroying everything in an instant.
They said the fire started instantly, and before some people even had a chance to leave their homes, it had already spread from one end of the village to the other.
A teacher, along with the translator, asked, "What happened?"
Those who escaped gestured, saying that not long after their boat left, a group of people wearing red headscarves came and viciously stabbed several villagers, leaving blood everywhere. The village elders tried to reason with them but were also hacked to death. At that moment, a loud noise came from the other side of the sea, and those people suddenly stopped, set the village on fire, and fled.
A woman holding an infant suddenly wailed, her voice almost blood-curdling: "Red Sand Party! Those people are Red Sand Party! They're all wearing red headscarves, I can't be mistaken, these Intoli people—ah—I'll kill them!"
“The sound from the sea must be their signal! Their accomplices gave them the signal, which is why they fled.”
The teachers looked at each other, and said in trembling voices, "...Intoli."
Shu Ningmiao knelt down, her fingertips gliding across the burned ground. A little sticky black residue clung to her fingertips—waste material from the burning of Pandora.
How could the Intori people, who oppose the development and utilization of Pandora, misuse Pandora as a flammable agent?
The person who called her was Erici. Her face was tense, and her eyes were full of tears.
She asked her, "What should we do? Shu Ningmiao, what should we do?"
Eric was unaware of the far-reaching changes that were about to unfold. All he knew was that he kept gripping her wrist, his breathing heavy as if a stone was pressing down on it: "Shu Ningmiao, what do we do? You An rushed in, and we can't stop him."
Upon hearing the name You An, one of the people who escaped nearby suddenly said, "His father was stabbed by those people when he went to feed the pigs. His body was still hanging on the wall. His mother didn't come out when the fire started."
Eric held her hand, his palm trembling like a leaf, while on the other side, Rennagi was also pleading with her mentor to save Youan.
The instructor of Class E looked at the raging inferno before him with a troubled expression.
Another class's instructor calmly said, "This is not an ordinary fire scene; it's quite difficult to handle. He went in by himself, so we can only prioritize the safety of the students present."
For the first time in front of so many people, Rennagi lost her voice: "So we just leave him be?"
The E-class instructor tried to ease the tension: "We've already contacted the nearest police station, and the military is on its way. We'll be able to leave soon. The subsequent search and rescue will be handled by professionals. Don't you know how dangerous this place is? The dangerous perpetrator could come back at any time."
As they were talking, the burnt bricks rolled down from the house, making a loud cracking sound that sent chills down everyone's spine.
A voice broke the deadly silence.
"Then I'll go in and take a look." Shu Ningmiao closed her eyes, then opened them again.
She wasn't afraid of fire, and You An, being a fire-type ability user, shouldn't be afraid of fire either. Since he hadn't come out for so long, everyone could sense that something else was happening inside. You An wasn't there to save his life, so the teachers naturally didn't dare to take the risk for him.
Shu Ningmiao's mind was clear. The water on her body was cool and refreshing, and the burnt smell made her nose feel sore and swollen. She knew that what the teacher said was right. The situation was still unclear, and she should leave as soon as possible and not get involved in this strange and dangerous situation.
But then it dawned on her: if the Gabt affair were left to the authorities, she would never have the chance to find out what role Misaki Chihō played in it.
The firelight illuminated Shu Ningmiao's calm face, and the red reflected in her eyes was not like the explosive, destructive fire, but rather an undeniable... reassuring power.
Erice was frustrated by this indifference, but also thankful countless times that she was there for him.
If one couldn't be stopped, the others were even less likely to be stopped.
The mentor had no choice but to let her enter Gab, which was already engulfed by raging fire. The thick smoke from the fire acted as a natural barrier, making it almost impossible to see anything inside the village.
She covered her mouth and nose and headed toward the direction of You An's house from her memory. The surrounding trees were dried out and completely lost their color. Both sides of You An's house had collapsed, and the windows were crooked and falling down, leaving a large hole.
The bedsheets in the yard floated upwards with the fire, stained with a dark blood color. She didn't see any signs of living people, but there were no corpses in the yard as others had mentioned. You An must have been here.
She hesitated for a moment, but still waded into the inner room with its tiled roof.
Amidst the ruins, two indistinct, charred bodies leaned against the corner of the house. She took a step forward, and flames suddenly leaped up before her eyes.
The flames made a popping sound, and Shu Ningmiao keenly heard a heavy breathing sound in the sound.
She rushed to the two charred corpses, which were almost charred. You An was curled up between the two corpses, his flesh peeling off as the fire burned him. She could even hear the crackling sound of the fire scorching his skin.
If he didn't possess fire-based superpowers, he wouldn't still be breathing after being roasted for so long.
She reached out and grabbed him, pulling him up—she didn't even know where to pull him, there wasn't a single good piece of flesh on his body, burned skin and clear sap slid down his bones.
The smoke made her voice hoarse and brief; she raised her voice: "Get up!"
“—You An!” She grabbed his hands and shouted, “Get up, use your powers.”
Those bloodied, mangled eyes stared straight at her, motionless and silent, just like a corpse being dragged along by her.
Shu Ningmiao slowly released her grip: "I'll give you three seconds. If you don't want to live, I'm leaving."
"Shu Ningmiao."
As soon as he opened his mouth, blood bubbles kept coming out.
The vocal cords, scorched by the fire for so long, produced a sound that was almost inhuman.
After calling her name, he seemed to pause for a century before struggling to continue.
“I can’t find my brother,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
Shu Ningmiao didn't know if the apology was directed at her or her parents, but the moment she heard those words, her thoughts seemed to be struck by something.
“I know where he is.” She was about to slowly loosen her grip when her fingers suddenly tightened around You An’s arm. “I know where he is!”
Yu Gua... isn't in the village at all. The child told her yesterday that he's going to take Peo on the rocks by the sea today when they go out to sea. Peo has strong side effects, and he won't have a chance to wake up halfway through.
He's still at the beach.
Upon hearing her voice, the boy, who had just been like a walking corpse, seemed to have a sudden burst of energy before death, and he forced himself to stand up and staggered forward a few steps.
In his current state, it was questionable whether he could even leave the house safely. Shu Ningmiao grabbed his arm, turned him around, and half-carried, half-supported him as she led him out. You An staggered, his body swaying precariously as he leaned against her. She could feel something warm between them. She frowned, and when she turned around, she noticed a dark shadow falling down between them—it was the serval.
It jumped down on its own initiative, and its spirits were not bad. Only a few parts of its fur were singed. You An had just been curled up in the fire, seemingly to protect it.
“When I came back, it was the only one alive. I’m so lucky.” You An leaned on her shoulder and said softly, “I don’t want to live anymore, but it probably still wants to live.”
She lowered her gaze, and the serval jumped down, nimbly weaving through the ruins as if scouting a way for her. It could have left on its own without touching a single fire, but it obediently stayed in You An's arms, waiting to die with him.
You An sniffed and made a soft gasp: "Can you smell it?"
Shu Ningmiao replied to him, "What?"
"Hmm, the smell of being roasted."
Shu Ningmiao ignored him. You An finally remembered his special ability. With him controlling the flames to clear the way, it only took him less than half the time to get out.
Dragging her bloodied body, she stumbled toward the sea. The official army of Pinheis had not yet arrived, and no one knew if the attackers would return. Every minute of delay meant more danger for Yugua.
You An could barely speak, and Shu Ningmiao told him to speak less because the blood he vomited would flow into her collar.
The fact that his younger brother was still alive gave him a glimmer of hope, and his eyes regained a little sparkle. He whispered a complaint that You Gua had a little secret that she had told but not him.
However, after speaking, he stared blankly for a moment, realizing that he hadn't been listening to him properly, and murmured repeatedly, "I'm sorry."
Shu Ningmiao cautiously observed her surroundings, completely ignoring what he was saying. The moment she arrived at the destination, she noticed that the small boat that had been stranded on the white sand beach was gone.
The serval walked in front, letting out a threatening growl.
Her hands tightened suddenly, and a strong sense of unease welled up inside her.
You An seemed completely oblivious to the abnormality, and whispered, "Quack, is he here?"
Shu Ningmiao walked forward step by step until she reached the reef. Suddenly, she flicked out a small knife she carried with her hand, and a figure excitedly darted out from beside the reef. Instantly, the figure was caught in a black ring called "Vector Shackles." She pulled the direction, and the person was slammed to the ground.
Before she even got close to the reef, she could tell from the shadow's height that the other person was not You Gua. This person was slightly taller than You Gua, but even thinner.
Most importantly—
She stared intently at the boy—no, the young man—scrambling to his feet from the beach.
He looked only two or three years older than You Gua, and was dark-skinned and thin, like a long, thin monkey.
The man was wearing trousers that made swimming easy, and was shirtless, with only a red headscarf covering his face completely.
Only those eyes were exactly as You Gua had described: large, bright, and full of brilliance.
Upon seeing the bright red headscarf, You An's body convulsed slightly, and his breathing became heavier: "Where is You Gua?"
He tried to control his emotions, but couldn't suppress his body's instincts. Shu Ningmiao could even feel his scalding tears streaming down his face as he asked the boy from the Red Sand Gang in a trembling voice, "Where is my brother?"
The boy raised his hand fearfully, his eyes reddening with excitement, waving frantically and shouting loudly, "You've come! You've finally come!"
"I saved him." The boy made exaggerated gestures, as if afraid they would misunderstand, waving his arms towards the sea: "I put him in the boat, he's alright, I came to help him, now you can believe me, right?"
“No, we did it.” He was even more agitated than them, jumping and leaping as if he had been granted a pardon: “We didn’t kill anyone, we didn’t set any fires. Do you all think I did it? I saw a fire at sea and thought of the crows that ate my Peo, so I came here. You have to help me prove it.”
You An coughed violently a few times, then roared back with all his might, "It wasn't you, you were all in cahoots!"
The boy's pupils trembled, and he loudly retorted, but he was tongue-tied and so angry that tears were almost streaming down his face: "It really wasn't us!"
Shu Ningmiao gestured for him to be quiet, and then said, "I'm going to pick him up now. Can you bring your small boat over here?"
The boy clenched his fist, and after a moment said, "I don't trust you. I'll get on the boat first, and then I'll put him down. You guys, stay away and don't come near."
“Okay.” You An agreed immediately, staring at him without blinking.
The boy faced them and walked backwards to the seaside. He quickly jumped onto the small boat floating on the shore, deftly untied the anchor rope, and tried to pick up the sleeping You Gua. However, he seemed to be too weak to move him, so he changed his position and carried You An on his back.
"Alright." He looked at her from afar, a hint of hesitation in his eyes, "You can come over here slowly now."
He held You Gua's arm tightly with one hand and pushed the small boat away with the other, intending to throw You Gua to her after the boat had drifted some distance.
She slowly approached in rhythm with him. When she was almost at the edge, he could only use one hand because he was carrying You Gua on his back. He hadn't finished reeling in the anchor rope yet, so he gestured for her to slow down.
Shu Ningmiao stopped in her tracks, then, as if remembering something, suddenly asked, "You said it wasn't you, but did you see the person who committed the crime?"
The boy lowered his head and said, "I didn't see it."
Shu Ningmiao said softly, "In other words, you didn't see any other ships at sea."
The boy said, "I'm the only boat on this sea."
Shu Ningmiao calmed down.
The Red Sand Party of Intoli attacked Gab. Where else could they hide if they didn't escape by boat?
He finally untied the ropes completely, raised his head, and solemnly said, "It's not us. We live by the sea. If the Pines come, we will all die."
After the boy finished speaking, he calmly lowered his head and, in a comical gesture, laboriously grabbed You Gua's arm and pushed him forward, trying to get him onto the small boat.
As if suddenly given strength, You An broke free from her hand, straightened up, and staggered towards the sea, whispering his younger brother's name.
Shu Ningmiao took a deep breath and looked up at the blue sky. White smoke filled the air, obscuring everything except smoke and clouds. The crackling sounds of fire all around seemed to be fading away.
The boy paused, then looked up and shouted, "You have to help me prove it! I'm really not a bad person!"
You An stumbled and ran over, and Shu Ningmiao's pupils gradually shrank as she saw a gust of air pass through the clouds above.
Its bright tail sliced through the air.
It was just a very small "whoosh".
Then came silence.
The boy with the red headscarf stood out like a bright target against the clearly defined white sand beach and azure ocean.
He stood straight in front of the boat, motionless, still holding Yougua in his arms.
A blue bullet pierced through his forehead and exploded with a loud bang, his skull shattering and rolling on the ground, leaving a scene of utter devastation.
Something blasted into his hand. You An raised his hand with trembling hands. It was a piece of skull covered in bits of flesh.
In the silence that seemed to stand still, You An rushed towards the small boat like a madman.
Above the sky, hundreds of bullets rained down from mid-air like meteors, scattering in all directions with brief flashes of light, instantly shattering the small boat into pieces.
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