“It seems… we’re thinking the same thing,” Sister Siwei said.
“Oh? You think so too?” Brother Gu Yu asked.
“To be honest, last night, Brother Wan laid out the future path for our city, but I think it’s wrong.” Sister Siwei’s gaze shifted to me as she softly said, “He claimed that ‘Jade City’ will soon enter the ‘Age of Chaos.'”
“With the three of us here, it’s hard to imagine an ‘Age of Chaos.’ Brother Wan underestimated our little hero here—and you even more,” Brother Gu Yu replied. “What we’re about to face isn’t the ‘Age of Chaos,’ but rather…”
Sister Siwei nodded. “The ‘Age of Heroes.'”
“Siwei, this will be a dangerous path. We’ll elevate our little hero’s ‘divinity’ to an extreme, making people blindly worship him,” Brother Gu Yu said gravely. “I was born here, and if I want to escape, this is the only way. Other cities might seem better, but I can’t afford to rush there every time I revive—it would waste too much time.”
“So you’re planning to return… to tame this ‘beast.'”
“That’s a fitting metaphor,” Brother Gu Yu said with a bitter smile. “Right now, everyone in ‘Jade City’ has indeed formed a ‘beast.’ It might be our only advantage compared to other cities. This beast is incredibly powerful, yet none of us can escape its grasp. It keeps pulling us into its body, growing stronger. Though it’s extremely dangerous, the three of us might be able to control it. Whether it devours us or destroys the world… will depend entirely on our fate.”
“But…” Sister Siwei’s expression darkened as she realized a crucial issue. “Where do we steer this ‘beast’? Without collecting enough ‘jade,’ there’s no safe path anywhere… How do we escape?”
Brother Gu Yu sighed. “To be honest… Siwei, I don’t know.”
“You… don’t know?”
“Yeah.” He opened his eyes, filled with faint despair, glancing at me and then at Sister Siwei. “I don’t want to lie to you. Over the past four years, I’ve traveled between three cities, but I still don’t know the real way out. From what I’ve seen, both ‘Vortex City’ and ‘Dao City’ rely on ‘killing the Zodiacs,’ but that method requires ‘gambling with life’—clearly not suitable for ‘Jade City.'”
“Right…” Sister Siwei hesitated. “If we suggest gambling with the Zodiacs, they’ll see it as a ‘death sentence.’ Unless we overcome that psychological barrier, we’ll never take that step.”
“That’s why I said our situation is perilous. We’re trying to control this ‘beast,’ yet we have no real goal,” Brother Gu Yu said. “Right now, my only thought is to calm it down first. Otherwise, once things spiral out of control… very few in ‘Jade City’ will survive.”
“Calm it down…” Sister Siwei paused. “You mean… revert the people’s mindset to how it was before?”
“I know that’s nearly impossible. It’s not just Brother Wan’s fault—they themselves want to earn ‘jade’ in the safest way possible, which is pure delusion. They won’t leave their comfort zone, hoping to drag others in and reap wealth effortlessly… It’s the same here as in the real world. Since when was life ever that easy? Is money really that simple to make?”
“*Sigh*…” Sister Siwei exhaled. “In that case… can we really do this?”
“We have to try. It’s the only reason I chose to come back. If too many ‘participants’ vanish, our collapse will be unstoppable. Many won’t even make it out of the interview rooms, and if it reaches me… I’ll lose all hope of escape.”
“So that’s it… That’s why you said everything was still manageable.”
“Yes. I’m not just protecting you—I’m protecting myself,” Brother Gu Yu continued. “Either way, ‘Jade City’ will fall sooner or later. We have no choice but to go all in.”
Watching Sister Siwei and Brother Gu Yu discuss their strategy, I stepped forward and said, “I want to help too.”
“Little hero…” Sister Siwei looked at me with sorrow. “You’ve already done so much. Your nose was bleeding every day recently—don’t push yourself so hard.”
That day, I caught a scent on Sister Siwei I’d never noticed before—something called *guilt*.
“But I’m the ‘hero,'” I said. “Sister, can you tell me what I should do?”
“You…” She hesitated. “Hero, just do what you want.”
“Do… what I want?” I froze. No one had ever asked me that before.
“Hero, what do you want to do?” she asked.
Me…?
I want to run down the hallway, scream, and jump on the bed endlessly.
I want to collect cool cards, own toy cars, and play soccer.
I want to eat lots of candy, drink soda I’ve never tasted, and talk to Mom and Dad.
After a long silence, I whispered, “Can I really do… anything I want?”
“Of course,” Sister Siwei said, kneeling before me. “Little hero, we’re free from Wan Cai’s control now. You can do whatever you want. You’re your own person—not anyone’s tool. Understand?”
“Then…” I clenched my teeth. “I want to be a *real* hero.”
“Huh…?” Both she and Brother Gu Yu were taken aback.
After a moment, Brother Gu Yu spoke. “Little hero, even though Wan Cai is dead, I won’t lie—we *will* still rely on your abilities to stabilize things. But Siwei and I promise you’ll be happier than before. So I agree with her: you don’t *have* to be a ‘hero.’ Just do what makes you happy…”
“Brother, sister… I don’t know if this counts as ‘growing up,’ but I feel different now.” I looked up at them with a smile. “Before, I thought adults never let me do what I wanted, so I just did what *they* wanted. But now… I don’t want to do what *I* want. I want to do what’s *right.*”
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage