The One and Only; This Is My House!

"Ow, ow, ow!" The moonlight shone brilliant and pure. Encircled by lunar radiance and the totem of a giant wolf, Bai Zhou looked almost divine, the strands of hair atop his head illuminated with translucent crystal clarity, floating upward. However, this "almost divine" Bai Zhou was currently grimacing with a contorted face, baring his teeth, and his relentless chatter completely ruined the atmosphere: "Crow, help! Do you have any healing rituals? This won't leave any lasting complications or scars, will it?" Crow stepped forward at his call. "Don't move yet—let me see!" Crow carefully examined Bai Zhou's bare back and thighs, her gaze turning sharp. An indescribably acrid, burnt odor hit her nostrils first. Massive patches of skin seemed to have suffered irreversible carbonization. The muscle texture was utterly obliterated, looking as if it had been pulverized by brute force and flash-melted together by searing heat, faintly undulating with an ominous pale-golden sheen. This pale-gold radiance was still corroding deeper into his flesh and blood. Severe injuries spanned half his back and both of his thighs; the situation was far worse than Crow had anticipated. Bearing injuries of this severity, yet he was still crying out in pain almost playfully... Crow looked at Bai Zhou as he grimaced and bared his teeth, her eyes softening into something complex. So his endless chatter was merely a way to cope with the agony. Without her realizing when it had happened, Bai Zhou had already grown so resilient. He truly had become a qualified Destined. —Or so Crow thought, until a moment later. In the brief span of Crow's contemplation, the phantom of the moon wolf behind Bai Zhou gradually solidified. The seemingly irreversible carbonization on his flesh slowly faded, changing before her eyes from charred black back to healthy, ruddy skin. The pale-gold radiance was forced out, dissipating into the air and vanishing. *Hum—* A minute or two slipped by. When the phantom of the moon wolf dispersed, the fatal injuries on Bai Zhou's body were already gone. All that remained was pink, newly formed muscle that needed time to heal. His life aura, which had been quite feeble moments ago, was already surging back with vigorous vitality. Without any special ritual or elaborate effort, an unbelievable medical miracle had unfolded right before Crow's eyes! Yet even so, Bai Zhou was still grimacing and whining relentlessly. "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" "It still hurts so bad! Don't you have magic to blow the pain away?" Crow: "...?" Evidently, this Moon Wolf Totem tattooed across Bai Zhou's back was his latest fortuitous encounter. Crow could roughly deduce that the core of this power was the potion potency of the Tears of the Moon Goddess, but augmented by some bizarre, ancient component. It was this very component that made the power of the Tears of the Moon Goddess far more proactive, greatly boosting Bai Zhou's self-healing and combat endurance. This kind of endurance was something other Extraordinary individuals—who pinched every bit of spirituality like misers—could never imagine, let alone dream of possessing. "You—" Crow was about to say something when she suddenly knitted her brows: "Wait!" Her eyelids twitched. She scrutinized the rapidly surging life aura on Bai Zhou with uncertainty. The boy's spirituality, flourishing and impossible to conceal in the wake of his recovery, gave Crow an increasingly peculiar expression: "Did you... advance again?" "More or less?" "Tch, can't hide anything from you after all." Bai Zhou nodded and awakened the spirituality within him right before Crow. *Hum!* Accompanied by a soft resonance around his body, one hundred and eight motes of spirituality spread evenly across his limbs and bones, forming a self-contained cycle inside him, vigorous and unfaltering. The power of mind enveloped his spirituality, and faint, invisible saber qi seemed to swirl over the surface of Bai Zhou's body, keeping the drizzling rain three inches away and creating a peculiar circular vacuum around him. On his Fate Principle, three secret art marks trembled slightly. Bai Zhou released his Fate Principle's aura without reservation, displaying it for Crow to see. "This is...?!" Even the well-traveled Crow was momentarily stunned. "Purity of Spirit, Projection of Force! You've become a Level 3 Adventurer?!" *Not just Level 3—quasi-Level 4...* Bai Zhou muttered inwardly. If Crow was judging by a normal Level 3 Destined, she probably couldn't fathom what kind of monster Bai Zhou had become now that he had mastered the first three stances of Nine Basic Slashes. And most absurd of all, Bai Zhou had even touched upon a sliver of battle intent! *Hum!* All of a sudden, Crow's expression turned solemn. She waved her hand, drawing the surrounding rainwater as raw material to construct layered rituals around Bai Zhou. "Crow?" Bai Zhou asked in surprise. *Whoosh!* Without a word, Crow let flowing fire bloom in her palm, turning into wandering fire serpents in the air. Two tongues of flame intertwined, vaguely forming the symbol of a fish. Before long, the intense heat vaporized the rainwater, enveloping Bai Zhou in dense plumes of steam. *"Inspeccionar!"* *"Purificación!"* Inspection, purification—Crow unleashed all manner of rituals upon Bai Zhou. Crow subjected him to a full set of reinforced, complex SCE rituals. "As you know, power can sometimes be a trap. I must ensure you haven't touched taboos you shouldn't have!" Issuing her warning, Crow narrowed her eyes, sensing the feedback from the rituals. Then, she blinked her long eyelashes and murmured with some uncertainty: "Yet... your condition seems exceptionally good?" Aside from the weakness brought by his wounds, Bai Zhou's body had never been better. The explosive growth of spirituality continually nourished him, each mote remarkably solid, with no hidden dangers. His Fate Principle was exceptionally serene, the three secret art marks branded upon it all belonging to the Adventurer pathway, upright and radiant like solar discs. It was nothing at all like what Crow had suspected—that Bai Zhou had succumbed to temptation and traded with some taboo entity for power. Instead, it looked as though every bit of his progress had been earned through hard work, blood, and sweat. Though still astonished, Crow had to admit she could put her mind at ease. Or rather, if such an exhaustive inspection while Bai Zhou was completely unguarded couldn't turn up a single issue— Then even if there truly were trouble with the source of Bai Zhou's power, Crow wouldn't be able to solve it in the future anyway. Yet the more this was so, the more bewildered Crow became: "Does Yuanmeng Middle School actually have the subsequent legacy for the Adventurer pathway?" "What on earth... did you encounter?" Crow recalled the bizarre golden light that had clung to Bai Zhou's back earlier. Though small in quantity, its essence was clearly extraordinary. "You know..." Bai Zhou blinked, weighing his words. "I ran into a bit of an opportunity. The Reflected Ruin Realm is never short of opportunities." "You're right, but—" Crow trailed off. *Is that really something you should be saying?* Everyone had strokes of dumb luck in life, and that went double for Extraordinaries. The Reflected Ruin Realm was a place of opportunity prepared by the world for Extraordinaries. Fate told every Extraordinary, "If you want secret treasures, go search for them; I left all the treasures there." Then a bunch of clueless Extraordinaries would eagerly embark on a journey of no return. Among them, some would get carried off by a starving werewolf right out of the gate, while others would take a leap of faith, land square in a hidden sanctuary, obtain a mysterious legacy, and make a name for themselves across the world. All of this was normal. Crow had learned long ago not to envy others. Outstanding talents among Extraordinaries never lacked opportunities, but everyone had their own path that only they could walk. Opportunities simply arrived earlier for some and later for others; luck balanced out in the end. An unknown nobody today might well become famous throughout the world tomorrow. But... Crow looked at the tattoo on Bai Zhou's back with a bizarre expression, feeling utter bewilderment. Weren't this guy's opportunities coming a bit too frequently? It was as if everyone was attending a university called "History." Extraordinaries never lacked brilliant talents graced with colossal fortune: yesterday a senior named Zhang Liang picked up the *Art of War of Taigong* on a bridge, and tomorrow a repeating student named Liu Bang would run into a white serpent thrusting its forehead forward, daring him, "Chop here if you've got the guts!"— Yet there just had to be some anonymous freak of a freshman. On his first day of school, he digs up a worn imperial seal stamped "Destined by Heaven, May He Live Long and Prosper" from the library; returning to his dorm that night, he hears foxes whimpering ominously from the bushes; going to the lake to feed fish, a koi spits out a supreme jade slip of the *Scripture of the Hidden Talisman*— What, everyone else is a destined hero, but you're an incarnate deity who reincarnated this time specifically to unite the world and end mortal strife? We're living in a peaceful Federation era now, that kind of thing isn't in vogue anymore— And on top of that, he complains the foxes are too noisy and keeping him awake, or whines that his wounds hurt and begs for healing magic to blow on them. Yes, I'm talking about you, Bai Zhou! An ancient taboo glyph! A secret art legacy of the Adventurer pathway! And now a Moon Wolf Totem! Originally, Crow had wanted to question Bai Zhou thoroughly about all this. At some point, the youth she had guided into the Extraordinary world seemed to have developed secrets of his own. Yet in the end, Crow shook her head, forcing down her investigative urge and curiosity. At least she had checked and vetted every secret art he learned and every fortune he obtained, and so far nothing had been amiss. There was just a bit "too much" of it, happening a bit "too frequently." To someone who didn't know better, they'd think Fate was an overbearing mother worried Bai Zhou wouldn't get enough to eat, or that Bai Zhou had fallen into some parallel world of the Reflected Ruin Realm where treasures littered the ground. Of course, none of that was possible! Crow just felt that every time Bai Zhou went to the Reflected Ruin Realm, he'd be walking down the street and run into something "spilling" out of the Deep Ruin Realm, defeat it, and walk away with a windfall. Crow had heard of people like that. —A tiny fraction of people, upon entering the Reflected Ruin Realm, would by some twist of fate be teleported directly into the depths of ruins strictly sealed off by major powers. The details were strictly classified, but the various opportunities they reaped could support them through great strides on the Extraordinary path. Such people often possessed unique physical constitutions distinct from ordinary mortals. As regular humans, their lives were usually fraught with misfortune, but as Extraordinaries, they were destined never to be mediocre. They were fated to be pulled into the eye of destiny's storm, involuntarily drawing all kinds of Extraordinary items and crises toward themselves. Consequently, they were hailed as "Natural Extraordinaries." "Yin-Yang Eyes" and "Child of Destiny" all fell under this scope. If Bai Zhou could fully absorb the Tears of the Moon Goddess and awaken the corresponding "Moon Goddess's Blessing," he would count among them too, and at a rather high tier at that. *Could it be—* Crow scrutinized Bai Zhou thoughtfully. Could there be some special constitution in Bai Zhou that she hadn't discovered before? "Actually, it went like this—" Bai Zhou weighed his words, giving a broad explanation of what he could share. He hadn't even gotten halfway through when Crow raised her hand, signaling him to stop: "Though I am quite curious—you must keep in mind, if it is a secret that outsiders must not know, there is no need for me to know it either." Crow's expression turned stern. "Unless it directly threatens your life like that half-glyph did and requires my help to vet it, otherwise—" *Tap!* Crow turned to look around, raising her booted foot and stamping twice on the rooftop beneath them: "This is an open rooftop exposed to the wind on all four sides, not the stronghold where we set up rituals in the past. It cannot be completely concealed." "Whatever is spoken may be heard." "If your whereabouts are leaked, certain special Black Boxes can even reconstruct past projections of you here." "Do you remember what I taught you?" "Keep secrets that belong only to you permanently, and carry them to your grave. Even if that person is your teacher, your wife, or me." As long as the tree hadn't grown crooked, it should be allowed to grow freely. Too much interference and protection was not a good thing for an Extraordinary. Besides, Crow could not intervene directly in reality too much; even if Bai Zhou ran into trouble in the future, she couldn't offer immense help. So right now, Crow suppressed her curiosity and gave Bai Zhou another lesson. She was indeed astonished by how fast Bai Zhou was growing, but more than that, she felt pleasantly surprised. When a student grew to a certain point, a teacher had to realize it was time to let go—to quietly stand aside, watching over the student as he spread his wings, seeing just how far he could fly. And she, as his teacher, only needed to stand to the side to offer timely reminders and oversight. *Patter, patter—* Light rain fell upon the rooftop, the hazy night misty and drizzling. Suddenly, looking at Bai Zhou's pensive expression, Crow felt a momentary daze as a memory from the past surfaced— "..." "People are different from one another." "The world of a genius is not something mediocre minds can understand, much less dictate—I should have realized this long ago." It was a torrential afternoon. The teacher sat in a warmly heated room, wisps of steam rising from a pure white, gold-rimmed porcelain teacup: "Remember the wave of the Black Calamity three years ago?" "Although the Disaster Prevention Bureau led the operation, we deployed seven tactical squads according to protocol, including three of my students." The man's voice paused gravely. In the room, only the sound of rain drumming against the glass could be heard. "Yet within three hours, they were wiped out entirely, every one of them turned into incubators for the Black Calamity." "In the end, it was a kid branded as an 'unstable element' who, relying on two bundles of explosives and a trench knife, took out the entire contamination source in the most unorthodox manner imaginable!" "Afterward, I sat in the command room staring at the casualty list for twenty hours. Guess what I was thinking?" "..." Crow had remained silent. The man continued: "I was thinking that perhaps I had to reconsider my methods of training. Maybe I should grant my subordinates more freedom—including you, my students." "A person cannot train a second self, much less train an existence that surpasses their own understanding." "When such a Black Calamity arrives, no number of flickering candles will ever suffice to ignite the light. We need to detonate every sun at once! Even if just one is enough!" His words fell with resounding force. The teacher of that time looked at Crow, who stood quietly beside him: "A genius who truly stands at the apex of the era is like a venom-coated blade. Grip it too tightly, and you hurt yourself; grip it too loosely, and you hurt others." "Yet I would rather be cut than miss seeing its brilliance!" "Beyond the North Pole, beneath the South Pole, above the firmament, as well as the Reflected Ruin Realm and the various disasters that break out from time to time..." "We do not need model soldiers who can recite the operational doctrine backward. What we need is someone who can tear through the endless night through their own strength alone—" "A single person!" At that moment, the teacher's eyes had reddened slightly, his Adam's apple bobbing: "Not a well-trained army, nor a multitude of geniuses. We only need someone—one unique, irreplaceable person!" "Let him be eccentric, let him develop freely, let him grow wild and untamed, and then... watch him grow wings and soar across the abyss!" *Clack!* The porcelain cup was placed gently onto its saucer. The teacher looked seriously at Crow. On that rainy afternoon, he spoke words that Crow had remembered to this day. He said: "This era needs a hero—" "—I hope that person will be you!" ...Alas. She had disappointed her teacher. To the very end, Crow remained an unaccomplished, rebellious disciple. She had even ended up in her current state— What people feared most was possessing a sliver of talent, glimpsing the light of the ceiling, only to find when brimful of confidence that they could never touch it no matter what. Ultimately realizing how powerless one was and coming to terms with one's own incompetence—that was the cruelest fate of all for "geniuses." That was why Crow had told Bai Zhou with such mixed emotions back then: "Before the trendsetters of the era, mere geniuses aren't even worth mentioning!" *Yet, Teacher...* Raising her eyes, Crow looked at the youth before her who was looking up at the falling rain, slightly opening his mouth and wagging his tongue as if catching rainwater to quench his thirst— Crow quietly lowered her gaze once more. Some special people acted in ways that could never be understood or predicted. Perhaps that person— The eccentric, one-and-only person her teacher had sought in vain— *Perhaps... I am the one who found him—* "Honestly, I'm really thirsty!" Bai Zhou stared up at the cloud-covered night sky, mouth wide open to catch the rain. Back in Wancheng, he often did this to save money on water. Except Wancheng's rain was red and slightly sweet. "So—" Seeming to have digested Crow's words, he suddenly turned back to her: "Shouldn't we find a temporary safehouse?" "A discreet setup is one thing, but nursing injuries in the rain isn't great either, right?" "...True." Looking at the ragged, injured Bai Zhou, Crow agreed with his reasoning. There was plenty to do tomorrow; the sooner Bai Zhou's injuries healed, the better. With that in mind, Bai Zhou climbed through a window and slipped into a nearby ownerless residence. The homeowners seemed to have been an elderly couple who had presumably passed away. Black-and-white memorial photos of them sat on the living room table; dust covered the floor and sofa, evidently unoccupied for a long time. Crow performed a simple ritual test. The result matched Bai Zhou's guess: In a literal sense, this residence was in an "ownerless" state. "Excuse the intrusion!" "—Then it's not ownerless anymore." Under Crow's speechlessly hesitant look, this outlaw displayed not the slightest awareness that trespassing in a private home was inappropriate; instead, he acted right at home, like the master of the house. After all, adventure stories often featured adventurers lodging in ruined temples. "Housing has high turnover, right?" "In Wancheng, if a previous homeowner dies, any passerby without a home can move right in and become the new owner." "You could call it Wancheng's form of public housing." "—First come, first served, of course!" Bai Zhou explained: "That's how I got my place back there. I was young, keeping watch on an empty stomach for days over the previous owner as he drew his last breaths." "I was even the one who helped bury his ashes." "—Ah, good memories. Neighbors helping neighbors, such simple, honest folk." As Bai Zhou reminisced, he asked Crow: "Is it like this in Tinghai City too?" Crow was speechless: "..." *That's certainly one way to define simple and honest.* How was she supposed to explain to Bai Zhou that no matter how ownerless the house was, it had nothing to do with him? Sure enough, a single copy of *Eight Thousand Questions of Naughty Black Cat* was far from enough... *Click!* Bai Zhou flipped on the dim, aged light. The room illuminated, the worn, old-fashioned furniture and sparse layout confirming Bai Zhou's earlier suspicions. There were barely even a few pieces of furniture left, as if it had been cleared out long ago. Wrinkling his nose at the faint smell of dust and decay in the air, Bai Zhou retrieved a broom from the bathroom, preparing to clean up. Watching Bai Zhou set to work, Crow thought for a moment and warned him: "I think... it's better to turn the light off." "—True!" Bai Zhou immediately grew cautious: "Otherwise the neighbors might get suspicious!" A house that had been dark and empty forever suddenly lighting up would look like a ghost story. Fortunately, it was already the dead of night, past midnight; no one would notice the brief flash of light. Turning off the light and tying on an apron, Bai Zhou swept the floor in the dark. He vaguely recalled cleaning the dorm when he first arrived at the Special Control Bureau base. Back then, his heart had been full of trepidation, waiting for Crow to show up. At that time, he had no idea where this mysterious girl would lead his life. Yet now, the two of them were sharing a room in harmony. In the quiet, dim room, Crow sat gently on the sofa, calmly and quietly watching Bai Zhou busy himself with chores. An inexplicably reassuring atmosphere settled over Bai Zhou, allowing him to gradually relax. Just then— Crow sprang up from the sofa with a sudden *whoosh*, staring toward the door in shock and suspicion: "Someone's coming!" "Wait... a normal person?" Crow's tone was laced with confusion. She had verified it with a ritual; this residence was supposed to be ownerless. Where did someone come from? A passing neighbor? Bai Zhou blinked, pondering: "Could it be... a burglar?" *Clack!* The sound of a key turning came from the locked front door, ruthlessly shattering their theories. With a creak, someone pushed the door open. In the darkness, the person casually flicked the light switch by the door, clearly very familiar with the place. The dim yellow light turned on, illuminating the sparse furnishings of the living room. The newcomer wore a school uniform. Though she had a cute, delicate face, her shoulders drooped and her head hung low, exuding an inexplicably downcast aura like a dispirited puppy. This appearance was hardly unfamiliar to Bai Zhou. It was the original body that Yuanmeng Middle School's "Fang Xiaoyan" constantly fretted over—the hissing little fire dragon, Fang Xiaoxia! Why was it her? Then, Fang Xiaoxia immediately spotted Bai Zhou doing chores in the living room, wearing an apron and holding a broom: "?!" "Eeeek!" Seeing this uninvited guest suddenly revealed beneath the light, the girl shuddered violently in terror. Letting out a shriek like a startled puppy with its fur standing on end, she backed away in horror at the open doorway, nearly tripping over herself. Before she could even make out the other person's face, the girl was already trembling from head to toe against the wall. In the middle of the night, past midnight, an illegal break-in into her home—what else could an intruder want? A thief! A robber! An escaped convict! In a single breath, the girl cycled through seventeen or eighteen possible identities. Just look at him! His back and thighs were completely shredded, his body covered in horrific wounds. At first glance, he looked like a vicious, desperate criminal—maybe he'd just been in a ferocious street brawl with his mortal enemies. What evil deed was he committing in her home? This scoundrel! This villain was... was... ...was wearing an apron and sweeping the floor in her living room?! Fang Xiaoxia: "?" Before her stood a guy with an apron in front and a completely bare back behind. Ignoring the bloody wounds and ragged state, at first glance it looked almost like an erotic apron— The girl rubbed her eyes, wondering if her vision was playing tricks on her. Were burglars nowadays incomprehensible? What kind of performance art was this supposed to be? Wait a minute— Didn't his face look a little familiar? "Y-Y-Y-You!" Having finally summoned her courage, her tongue still tied in knots. Scurrying over to the foot of the stairs to grip the railing, she kept a safe distance from Bai Zhou: "What are you doing in my house?!" However. Faced with the girl's courageous demand, Bai Zhou's reply was: "—How insolent!" "What do you mean, 'your house'?" Without a second thought, the boy retorted with utter righteousness: "This is clearly *my* house!" "I should be asking you that very question—in the dead of night—" Brandishing his broom, Bai Zhou demanded with righteous indignation: "—what are you doing breaking into *my* house?!"