"Is it for freedom? For revenge? Or perhaps... are you enjoying the thrill of having the world as your enemy?"
In that instant, Xifulin thought she saw an eerie gleam surface in Yaxiu's pitch-black eyes. That kind of gaze was something she had seen only in her teacher's eyes—a gaze yearning to watch the world burn.
Yet soon, Yaxiu broke into his familiar playful grin, making Xifulin wonder if she had simply seen wrong.
"I just want to be able to clean my ears whenever and wherever I please," he shrugged and chuckled. "Instead of having to make a special trip to the toilet just to clean my ears or pick my nose."
"Besides, getting exploited without earning a single cent far crosses the bottom line of any working stiff. Every time I think about that, I get so depressed my hormones go haywire and my endocrine system crashes."
Xifulin asked, "Is that worth dying for?"
"Not worth it, but I won't necessarily die," Yaxiu smiled. "As long as I leave the Blood Moon Country, I can naturally start a new life."
"Leave?" Xifulin froze. "Where do you want to go? How will you leave?"
"No idea. Do you have any good recommendations?"
"I do! I've read about many other countries in books. The one I want to visit most is the monster country built in the Abyss, followed by the illusory country where all souls live forever, and then the star country that rules the sky..."
Yaxiu waved a hand. "No, what I actually wanted was for you to recommend a way to leave the Blood Moon."
"How could I possibly know how to leave the Blood Moon... Every country is a completely sealed world. There are no conventional ways to travel between two countries. If there were, they would have gone to war and merged into a single country long ago." Xifulin was somewhat speechless. "You don't even know how to get out, yet you still want to leave the Blood Moon? Give it up, Yaxiu. Bloodmad Hunters hit very hard."
"But I'm certain I can leave the Blood Moon."
"Now I seriously doubt your earlier claim that 'I'm the only normal person in this team.' With zero hope, what kind of miracle are you even counting on?"
Yaxiu thought for a moment and said, "Though it sounds a bit absurd as proof, I learned from a Destiny Q&A that I will leave the Blood Moon in the future."
Xifulin was stunned. "Destiny Q&A? Really?"
"Really."
"...Damn it, how did something so good happen to fall on you!"
Yaxiu blinked. "222, I'm escaping prison, not going on vacation."
"Still, I'm so envious!" Xifulin said with a sour tone. "People like us... healers, our future lives are decided from early on. We're only permitted to live under the Blood Moon's glory, with rules and regulations for everything we do. Life is full of untouchable red lines everywhere."
She said downcastly, "Apart from Void Realm Exploration and performing surgeries, my future has no passion whatsoever. It's like a stagnant pool gradually turning foul."
"Then do you want to come with me?" Yaxiu smiled. "We're still missing a healer right now."
Xifulin could no longer remember how many times she had been stunned dumb by Yaxiu's words.
"Are you serious?"
"Of course. It's not like I'm asking you to go to the toilet with me. This is a prison break—how could I joke about that?"
"You must be joking. I'm a healer with a bright future... Why would I live a precarious life on the run with you?"
"Why are you asking me?" Yaxiu spread his hands. "I'm only giving you an option for friendship's sake. You should ask yourself this question—do you want to abandon your current life and come with me?"
Xifulin flusteredly retorted, "What friendship... Wait! Last time you came up with so many excuses to borrow my healer uniform, was it so you could use it to break out of prison?"
"Yeah."
"Then how can you talk about being friends? You're clearly just using me!"
"Treating you as a friend and using you aren't mutually exclusive. Even though I hope you'll join my team, I also hope you can live the life you actually want. Working in a place you like is called living; working in a place you hate is called torture."
"Selfishness is inevitable, but I'm not so selfish as to assume everyone else is selfless. That's why I won't tell you nonsense like 'trust me'—clichés even a Swindler wouldn't bother saying."
Yaxiu extended a hand toward Xifulin. "I'll only ask you: 'Do you want to come with me?'"
Thump.
Her dormant heart seemed to beat; her cold blood seemed to warm. Born in a top-tier rearing institute, strictly educated since childhood, entering the research institute to become a member of the Blood Saint clan before even graduating, and having never violated a single rule or law—this was the first time Xifulin had ever encountered such an outrageous, wildly audacious invitation.
It was like a fish living in a pond being asked by a passing bird if it wanted to fly away together.
"...No."
"What a pity."
Yaxiu hadn't expected to whisk away a healer with a few words anyway. Walking over, he scooped up the ogre mayor. "Then see you next time, 222."
Xifulin suddenly felt an urge to tell him her real name, but held back. "Will there even be a next time? Even if there is, you definitely won't recognize me."
"Then you'll have to remind me," Yaxiu smiled. "When the time comes, I'll tell you stories of the world outside the Blood Moon Country. Look forward to it."
"Wait."
Yaxiu stopped, looking at Xifulin curiously. Xifulin froze, not knowing what she wanted to say either—was she going to advise him to surrender and turn himself in? Advise him to stay and wait for death?
After a moment of silence, she turned her head away and whispered, "If... if I had a way to clear your guilt, and even let you leave Shattered Lake to start anew and live openly in the Blood Moon Country, would you be willing?"
That method to acquit an atrocious cult leader and release him from prison truly did exist.
And that was to turn the criminal into a Blood Saint or Moon Shadow.
The crimes of the two Blood Moon races were not subject to normal judicial proceedings; they were handled solely by the Church and the research institute. If a criminal became a member of the Blood Saint clan, their case had to be handed over to the research institute. The institute's most common punishments for kin were confinement and community service, typically measured in units of "centuries," but they genuinely would not execute their own kind.
Yet whether Blood Saint or Moon Shadow, transforming one's race required a convoluted process. This was certainly not a procedure a death row inmate in prison could undergo, unless...
Unless one used the most primitive method of propagating scions: for instance, the First Embrace ritual.
However, aside from the Blood Saint's own strong desire, the First Embrace ritual also required something of the initiate: the one receiving the embrace had to fall in love with—
Xifulin suddenly realized a problem.
Why did she want to keep Yaxiu back, even to the point of being willing to give him the First Embrace? Because she didn't want Yaxiu to leave; she wanted him to stay.
A fish in a pond would not fly away with a bird; it would drag the bird into the pond, wishing the bird would turn into a fish as well.
Did the First Embrace ritual truly require the initiate to fall in love with the Blood Saint?
In many biosymbiont implant operations, there were cases where recipients underwent personality shifts due to the implants. Mechanical symbionts reduced material desires and shifted focus toward spiritual fulfillment; abyssal symbionts enhanced destructive urges, making recipients far more irritable and violent; soaring eagle symbionts caused recipients to develop a taste for insect cuisine...
Not all Blood Saints were mind sorcerers. How could they know the initiate's true feelings toward them?
They merely assumed that "the initiate fell in love with them."
Perhaps this was not the ritual's prerequisite, but rather its outcome.
The name "First Embrace" might have originally meant literally that: a first embrace. And the truth of the First Embrace ritual might be more romantic than the records told—and far more cruel.
"I wouldn't."
Xifulin looked at Yaxiu. Yaxiu shrugged. "Although I don't know what method you're talking about, I'd probably say no anyway."
"Why?"
"Even if judging the whole by a part isn't entirely fair, from what I've gathered inside this prison, I feel like the Blood Moon Country out there might just be a bigger Shattered Lake." Yaxiu sighed. "I don't think of myself as some kind of liberal terrorist, but I have a feeling I'd suffocate out there too."
"It's not that the Blood Moon cannot tolerate me; it's that I cannot tolerate the Blood Moon."
"Quite the boast," Xifulin smiled faintly. "You truly are a cult leader through and through."
"I'll take that as a compliment for now. Sorry for declining your goodwill."
"It's fine. I started regretting it the moment the words left my mouth anyway. Good thing you didn't agree." Xifulin waved her hand. "See you next time, Yaxiu Heath."
Yaxiu suddenly remembered something. "Come to think of it, I still don't know your name."
"If I tell you my name, I'll be breaking regulations. And you claimed you weren't a cult leader, yet here you are trying to lure me into committing a crime before you leave?"
"Fair enough, but parting like this feels a bit cold. At least we should shake hands."
Yaxiu dumped the ogre aside and walked over, extending his right hand toward Xifulin.
"Even though it might not be worth mentioning to you," Yaxiu said earnestly, "I've always been grateful for how you pulled me back from death every time. Several times, I felt like I could hear a crowd of people critiquing how my deaths weren't spectacular enough..."
"That might be an early sign of schizophrenia. I suggest you replace your brain."
"Every time you speak, you refresh my understanding of biotechnology..."
Looking at Yaxiu's hand, Xifulin felt a sudden impulse. She stepped forward and gave Yaxiu a hug.
During Yaxiu's momentary shock, she let go, took several steps back, and murmured softly, "As expected, it's not that simple... All right, the farewell ritual is over. Get going."
"Huh? That? 222, you really are a woman..."
"Got a problem with that? Keep guessing, and the more you guess, the closer I get to committing a crime."
"No problem at all! And to preserve that feeling from just now, I've decided never to take a bath again—"
"Get the hell out of here!"
Watching Yaxiu carry Financier out of the Treatment Room, Xifulin felt strangely dejected, an empty feeling hollowing out her chest.
She shook her head, tossing aside the idle thoughts, and turned back toward the lounge.
This was merely an insignificant interlude in her thousand-year lifespan. She could never accept Yaxiu's invitation; her bloodline would not permit it, her soul would not permit it, her mission would not permit it.
Because she was Xifulin Gowen, the most talented blood scion in a thousand years.
Just as her hand gripped the side door's handle, she abruptly heard the sound of a heartbeat.
Yet it was not her heart.
It came from below the prison, deep within Shattered Lake—from the Black Coffin tomb guarded by the finger sharks!
"...Descendant... your... Blood Lock... need help...?"
Xifulin did not push the door open. She stared at the gleaming black door panel in front of her, smooth enough to serve as a mirror.
She saw her blood-red pupils daubed in black.
They looked just like ordinary human eyes—just like the eyes of Yaxiu Heath.
"Not needed. Go back to sleep."
The heartbeat grew faint, gradually dissolving into the surging waves of Shattered Lake.
Xifulin pushed the door open and returned to the healers' lounge.
Chapter 126