Fuhei couldn’t just sit around doing nothing, while his fellow yaren were fighting humans in what might be a historic, turning point for the city. After making sure Fengli is going to be ok, he made preparations to join the fight.

Warping a cloth around his arm, then around the shoulder, he stabilized his useless limb, making sure it won’t get in the way of combat or dynamic movement. He changed into the signature Yawei outfit-the real one, with countless straps and pockets around the legs and the torso-and attached various tools and contraptions to his body. A bunch of throwing knives, a sword, a grappling hook…he looked bitterly at the device. Could he effectively operate it with just one hand? Well, only one way to find out!

Finally, he made his way to a large barrel in the corner. Annu followed, curious to see what was inside.

It was half-filled with black, sandy substance.

“—This is!”

“…Black powder. There used to be more of it, but I used up a lot during my nightly escapades” commented Fuhei bitterly.

He put some of the powder inside a small, portable container, and attached it safely to the inner side of his cloak. Such a small amount alone can’t explode anything, but thrown into a fire, it can significantly intensify it. Although the city was build to be fireproof, it could serve as a good distraction, depending on how the riots play out.

“Listen! If I don’t come back, bring that barrel to one of the sewage exits that drain the water outside. The walls should be very thin around there-put a rope inside the barrel, soak it in the liquid from that bottle, ignite it, then run away and cover your ears….the explosion of the remaining black powder should be enough to break the wall, and the two of you will be free to leave the city….”

Annu raised his hand up, as if he was a school kid asking the teacher a question.

“Stop. No one is actually looking for us. We were wearing disguises, remember? After the quarantine is over, we can just leave the city normally. We just came with you here to escape immediate pursuit.”

Fuhei blinked. The sheepboy was right. He laughed out loud, although the situation wasn’t exactly funny, and nodded in agreement.

“Yup, it is exactly as you’re saying. It’s only I who needs to watch out for being recognized!”

“And now you’re going back there…” pointed out Annu, a displeased tone in his voice.

However, no amount of pleading and rational argumentation could change the mind of the young fox. His eyes were burning with some kind of flame unknown to the sheepboy, and soon enough, he left, waving the two of them goodbye, as he disappeared in the darkness.

Annu pondered if he’ll ever see the daredevil again. He better do, else all of this was for nothing!

Meanwhile, Fengli didn’t say anything and just sat with her head down, staring at her reflection on a polished surface of one of the countless blades owned by Yawei.

And now, the time has come for a confrontation neither of them was particularly looking forward to.

“Fengli…since when do you have heterochromia?”

“I don’t know what that is.”

“Your eyes were normal in the morning!”

“…..”

“You did something when distracting guards?” Annu approached her and grabbed her shoulders, shaking her torso gently “Please talk to me! Why are your clothes stained with so much blood, why is your left eye red?”

“…That’s probably because” She finally raised her head and answered calmly “when I got cornered by the guards in some alley, I broke through some kind of bottleneck, and the newly born black sun within me, until now formless, took a definite shape…”

“I don’t understand a word of what you’re saying!”

Annu was getting frustrated. He felt his best friend is slipping like water from the grasp of his palms, like she’s becoming someone else altogether, someone foreign. He didn’t want to lose her, but what could he do? He felt powerless to save her.

“The bottom line is…..” continued the wolfgirl, mistakenly assuming that her explanations were misunderstood due to the rather esoterical form in which she presented them “I projected a qi blast, not unlike the ones Wang Shunji was fond of and directed it at the guards, who were blown into bits and pieces.”

“You killed people!”

“So it seems.”

An uncomfortable silence fell upon them. One, mortified. The other one, indifferently staring at the reflection of her own eyes.

Finally, Fengli spoke up again.

Her voice, hollow until now, slowly regained color with every subsequent word, and her gray wolf tail was wagging ever more swiftly in growing excitement.

“Isn’t it wonderful? I’m finally a cultivator. I can finally control qi! Who knows, perhaps I am the first yaren in history who can achieve such feats! No one in Chenfei would believe me, no one in the orphanage would believe me! I’d no longer get bullied by the likes of Wang Shunji, perhaps they’d even allow me to train alongside the human cultivators, once they see my new power!”

“…With this artifact of yours?”

She laughed out loud, her bright laughter no different from her usual, cheerful laugh Annu heard so many times. It was so uncanny, it sent shivers down his spine.

“Oh, did you not pay attention the last time? This is just a cultivation help. I don’t need it for anything anymore. There, let me show you…”

She unstrapped the amulet off her forearm and handed it to him. He reluctantly accepted, the unnaturally cold surface of the medallion sent shockwaves down his fingers.

“I don’t want you to show me anything” he shouted, anger and fear mixed in his voice “I just want you to come back to normal!”

While the two of them were arguing, Fuhei was briskly making his way through the dark, underground tunnels, illuminating his way with the fire stick, careful not to slip and fall, but doing his best to maintain a steady pace. He wanted to join his uncle and other rioters as soon as possible.

Pain. Malnutrition. Stress. Guilt. He went through a lot past 24 hours and was mildly aware that his current behavior is erratic and irrational. Yet, he couldn’t just sit in the hideout and do nothing while his friends, his kin, were fighting against humans. The reason he took up arms and assumed the identity of Yawei in the first place was because of his strong sense of justice-seeing how fellow yaren are mistreated by the humans, he couldn’t just stand back and curse his powerlessness forever. Besides, Fuhei also didn’t feel like living as a slave whole his life.

So he sought out the hidden base of the semi-legendary Yawei. Although the man himself was already gone, it was believed he had to have some kind of hideout somewhere. The way he appeared and disappeared out of nowhere lent credit to such speculations. However, since no one could ever find it, the existence of such a place stayed in the realm of rumors and urban legends.

But then 12-year-old boy, who looked up to his childhood hero, didn’t give up and kept searching. He figured out it has to be somewhere in the underground waterway maze. Having scouted and mapped the tunnels first, he began his meticulous search, meter by meter, brick by brick. It took him over three years, but eventually, he found it-a loose piece of wall-a hidden lever beneath it! And thus, his lone fight against the tyranny of humans began.

And now, that struggle has reached its climax! The yaren marched out on the streets, united together against their oppressors. Human guards are armed, but that doesn’t tell the whole story-the mixed people are stronger, faster, and more agile from the “pure” bloods. Victory is a possibility! And after they take control of the city, even the sect will be forced to negotiate with them. No one will look down on yaren anymore….

His uncle was right. This was a historic moment. There was no need for Fuhei to feel guilty-the rebellion would have broken out eventually anyway. It wasn’t a matter of if, it was merely a matter of when! In fact, he should feel proud that he became a stone that begun that avalanche. And now he will lead his people towards their destiny…now!

…now…

The exit of the sewers was within his sight, but something was wrong. Very, very wrong.

For one, it was unnaturally quiet.

When they were entering the underground passage, the sounds of riots and battle echoed behind them. Hundreds of people clashing together, screaming, swearing, banging, and stomping. But now, not a single voice could be heard.

It’s only been about an hour since then. Could the riots already be over? Impossible! He estimated, regardless of the outcome, that they will last well into the morning! How could it already be over? What is going on there!?

He felt his heartbeat rapidly accelerating, and his hand involuntarily scratched his neck. His footsteps slowed down, and his breathing became shallow. Yet despite a terrible, foreboding feeling, he pressed on, as if some invisible force pushed him onwards, towards the city, towards the truth.

Maybe it’s just him? Maybe, as a side effect of using that ring, he lost hearing as well, but didn’t notice until now?

Suddenly, a dog started barking somewhere far away. He could clearly hear that. A lone dog barking. Somewhere far away.

Ah, so it seemed his hearing was ok after all.

Finally, he left the sewers, climbed the stone stair leading into the market plaza, sticking to shadows, even though the darkness of night provided sufficient cover already. His fingernails tearing the skin of his neck, his mind and heart clouded by worry.

Not a single sound.

And no wonder. After all, it didn’t seem like there is anyone left to make noises.

On the central plaza, lied a mountain…no perhaps a bunch of smaller hills, in between flower fields? No, that’s too poetic. Perhaps it was better to describe it as the contents of sewage, no different from the ones flowing in the putrid water he just left behind. The smell was somewhat similar too, plus a prevalent metallic odor that a healthy person would be unlikely to find…to find…

He suddenly felt nauseous and utilized all his willpower not to return the contents of his stomach. Alas, a valiant effort it was, in the end, it was quite useless-he vomited a lot of water mixed with a bit of whitish foam. Thank heavens they didn’t feed him in the dungeon!

The heavens didn’t answer the desperate plea of yaren youth, standing among the gory field of corpses that decorated the Plum Blossom street along its entire length. Not just yaren-there seemed to be humans mixed in there too, though considering the heavily mutilated state they were in, it wasn’t so easy to tell at first glance.

But perhaps there wasn’t a need to. Because a single glance was enough to tell Fuhei that he really doesn’t want to be there, and he needs to get out of there immediately. Running away, and frantically waving his healthy arm, he didn’t even bother scratching himself like he usually did when under pressure;

The limits of his mental fortitude were broken, and the only thing he could think about was running, running for his life, running away from that hell, not turning back; not looking for his uncle, forgetting about his fight against injustice, forgetting about everything he sacrificed so far; the only thing on his mind was getting away, finding safety in the underground shelter and staying there, never to leave, never to challenge this hellish world again.