Epoch of Twilight

Huo Dong was awake at the break of dawn and found Luo Yuan sitting outside the house as he opened the main door. Luo Yuan looked very calm with his eyes closed; his clothes were damp from sitting outdoors the whole night. The blade of the Zhanmadao which pierced into the ground, looked rather impressive under the rays of the morning sun.

“What’s wrong?” asked his curious roommate, Sun Xiaowu, who was also up early.

“Brother Luo is practicing outside, we better not disturb him.” Huo Dong said, despite noticing that there something could be wrong.

All the mutated beasts seemed to have eaten an aphrodisiac, as they were roaring and made a cacophony of loud noises over the last few days. Apparently, there were some major changes in the mutated beasts and the way Luo Yuan behaved seemed to prove his speculations right. Initially, Sun Xiaowu wanted to go outside for a breath of fresh air but he dared not, when he knew that Lu Yuan was outside. He was afraid of Luo Yuan and tried his best to avoid him.

“As dedicated and hardworking as Brother Luo is towards his training, it’s no wonder he’s so powerful!” Sun Xiaowu whispered while peeping through the gap.

“I can’t be too sure, you can ask him if you want in on his secret,” Huo Dong smiled.

“He won’t impart his knowledge unto me... not even if I ask him to” said Sun Xiaowu, trying to conjure excuses as he secretly did not dare to approach Luo Yuan.

“Brother Luo is not that kind of person, in fact, he is teaching us martial arts at present.” explained Huo Dong, fearing to criticize Luo Yuan, lest he overheard.

“Nonsense. All we ever did was to practice the stance over the last few days, nothing else.” Sun Xiaowu whispered.

“We are still learning the basic techniques... there are much more to come later. Besides, Wang Shishi is also learning with us.” Huo Dong was trying to advise him, but deep down, he actually thought that Sun Xiaowu was being too impatient.

“Who knows what she has done for him? They are sleeping on the same bed, after all!” Sun Xiaowu exclaimed with jealousy.

“Shhh! Watch your mouth, it won’t do you any good.” Huo Dong frowned and took a step back.

Sun Xiaowu refused to listen to his advice and shot a glare at Huo Dong before retorting, “I was just joking! Why do you have to be so serious?”

Huo Dong yawned and adjourned to his room. Coincidentally, Lin Xiaoji came out from his room and yawned as well. He then looked at Sun Xiaowu for a second and then sat down on the couch without so much as a mere acknowledgement.

“What are you actually trying to show off here? You’re just lucky to even have the chance to evolve,” thoughts ran through Sun Xiaowu’s mind when suddenly, Luo Yuan burst his bubble and entered the room, shooting a glare towards his direction.

Gradually, the rest began to emerge from their bedroom.

Lin Xiaoji was trying to challenge Wang Shishi by being sarcastic to her. Unfortunately, he ended up floating in the air and was frightened by Wang Shishi’s shuttle. He then approached Ning Xiaoran as he wanted to know how powerful she was. Initially, Ning Xiaoran rejected his challenge, as she was worried that she might hurt him unintentionally.

In the end, he did claim to have rapid recovery power, which managed to convince Ning Xiaoran to finally agree to unleash her power on him.

Lin Xiaoji did not expect her to have such a tremendous improvement in her skills in such a short period of time. He was flung across the air, some 4-5 meters away. Ning Xiaoran felt very guilty and burst into tears at the mere thought of what she did to him.

Luo Yuan suddenly beckoned Wang Shishi and Huang Jiahui to come into the master room on the second floor.

“You have been acting strange since yesterday and you hadn’t even had a good night’s rest. I thought you told me you could meditate anywhere you wanted to?” said a worried Huang Jiahui, before he pursued the matter, “What’s wrong? Is there something that you can’t even tell us?”

“Brother Luo, what happened?” Wang Shishi asked.

"It’s no use even if I did choose to tell you; it’s not as easy as you think, this time around. We are all in danger." Luo Yuan sighed.

“What’s wrong!?” exclaimed Huang Jiahui, in a state of panic.

“The mutants are undergoing a new evolution process, as many of the dark blue mutated beasts have been acting extremely wild and vicious as of late. Some of them had even left their territories to kill those blue mutated beasts; one of which is just nearby”.

Huang Jiahui looked pale. She grabbed his arm and asked, “What do you want to do? Please, don’t be reckless. We won’t even be able to satiate him, should they kill us. Can we hide somewhere else for a few days?”

Luo Yuan shook his head and said, “We can’t do that now as we have a war beast with us. It’s too gigantic.”

“Can we let the war beast go?” a tearful Wang Shihi suggested.

“We could escape if we let the war beast go, but the district would still be unsafe. Besides, it is too difficult to get another war beast and it’s an even more ridiculous idea to let it go.”

The atmosphere in the room was tense. With tears in her eyes, Wang Shishi said, “I won’t let you take such a risk! I just want you to be safe!”

Huang Jiahui too, was begging Luo Yuan with teary eyes, “Let’s run away, we could go to the western region... to Tibet, or to the dessert. I’ve heard that they have built a new city there. Can we live a peaceful life there instead?”

Luo Yuan was touched, but he shook his head and said, "It’s too late, I can feel the dark blue mutated beast coming closer and closer. Besides, it will be very long journey to the west and we would not know how dangerous it could be. We will definitely incapable of reaching our destination without a powerful team. Just stop persuading, would you? I’ve made up my mind. I may not even come back safely..."

Huang Jiahui quickly covered his mouth, with tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Don’t say anything stupid like that, I won’t know what to do with my life if you don’t return."

Wang Shishi could not stop crying. She was still young, and death was definitely something too much for her to handle. She did not even know if she would be brave enough to face it, should it ever happen. Her world would come crashing down in its entirety, if she ever loses him.

Luo Yuan moved her hand away and held it tight.

“You must stay alive. Wang Shishi, you must remember to kill all of them in the house if I don’t come back, do not pity them. Then, hide in the underground chamber, as the food would be enough for the two of you to survive for another 3-4 years. After that, let’s leave it to fate to decide.

The two ladies had now become his closest family; he will do anything for them to survive. He would have killed all the other people in the house, if he were not hoping for a miracle. Wang Shishi and Huang Jiahui kept nodding their head, while sobbing.

“I want to follow you!” demanded Wang Shishi bravely, as she wiped away her tears.

"I have a gun, I want to go too!" Huang Jiahui said.

“Your power is still at a very weak point, you would be a distraction if you were to come along. Stop trying to reason with me. Stay here and await my return.”

Luo Yuan gazed at them lovingly, before turning around as he walked towards the door. Both of the ladies fell to the ground helplessly upon hearing the door close.