“What about the final stage?” Sister Mind asked.
“The final stage is the ‘Collapse Era.’ Extreme order will bring an equally extreme backlash,” Uncle Wan said. “I can already foresee the coming collapse.”
Sister Mind sighed. “Even if this place does collapse, it’s entirely your doing.”
“Is that so?” Uncle Wan stood up, casting a cold glance at us. “All of you could have stopped me, but you let me take this family to where it is today, didn’t you? Besides, you’ve been by my side all along. We’re all complicit.”
“Did Hero and I even have a choice?” Sister Mind gritted her teeth. “We were assigned to the same room as you. Everyone in that room was brainwashed by you—how could we have left?”
“Blame Zheng Yingxiong for that,” Uncle Wan sneered. “Why did he have to be the ‘Scent Seer’? And you, Xiao Li—’the innocent man is guilty only of his jade.’ As long as you stayed by his side, this was always your fate. No one else is to blame.”
The scent radiating from Sister Mind was thick with fury, but I knew she was powerless.
From the moment Uncle Wan set foot on this land, there had been no stopping him.
“Wan-ge…” Sister Mind’s voice softened. “Since you’re about to leave, could you at least tell them something? Just say Hero has lost his ability and let the two of us go?”
“Ha…” Uncle Wan leaned in, his voice low. “Xiao Li, I wouldn’t try that if I were you. Once those fanatical ‘family members’ realize Zheng Hero is useless, their reaction will be more dangerous than anyone’s.”
In the next moment, an icy scent—**despair**—emanated from Sister Mind.
“You must have considered this already,” Uncle Wan said. “They worship Zheng Yingxiong like a god. Every morning, having him sniff their scents is their only solace. And now you want me to tell them their ‘god’ has become human? I’ve always danced on the edge of a blade, but this is one I won’t touch. They’d tear me apart.”
Sister Mind swallowed hard. “So… whether you escape or not, little Hero can’t leave.”
“Do you think that’s my concern? Xiao Li, I’m leaving.” Uncle Wan patted her shoulder. “Embrace the collapse.”
“Wan Cai…” Sister Mind called out to him, her voice icy.
“What?”
“Did you come here in the dead of night just to threaten us?”
Uncle Wan scratched his head. “Why would you think that? I just felt I was about to leave, so I wanted to give you some advice on how to survive here. Call it a parting gift.”
With that, he walked out and vanished into the night.
That evening, I huddled against Sister Mind in the corner. Though the room wasn’t cold, her body was ice.
I didn’t know how to warm her.
Her once-clean scent kept shifting—sometimes murky, sometimes sinister.
Thoughts flickered through her, rising and fading like smoke.
It terrified me. I was afraid she’d wake up the next morning as someone else entirely.
At dawn, the moment we opened our eyes, chaos erupted outside.
She pulled me downstairs, where a crowd had gathered in the basement vault.
A heavy, uneasy scent hung in the air. Pushing through the crowd, we reached the front.
Uncle Wan was on his knees, staring at the massive safe—the one he always used to store the “jade.”
But it was empty.
“This… this…” His entire body trembled as he knelt before the safe.
“Stop stammering!” a Team Leader snapped. “Wan-ge! Where’s our jade?! You were supposed to safeguard and distribute it!”
Uncle Wan turned, his eyes bloodshot. I could smell **panic** radiating from him.
“I know now—someone stole the jade! Who? Who dares defy the family rules?!” His voice was strained, nearly cracking. “Aren’t you afraid of the consequences?!”
But the crowd stayed silent.
His scent was thick with **tension, fear, unease**, and finally, **despair**. He was losing control.
“Wan-ge, you were the one in charge of the jade,” an auntie Team Leader said coldly, her scent laced with **killing intent**.
Her words ignited the same intent in everyone.
“Right, wasn’t it your responsibility?”
“We trusted you with everything. How could you betray us?” another Team Leader demanded.
“Did you hoard it for yourself?”
“H-How could I?!” Uncle Wan scrambled to his feet. “Do you think I’m an idiot? If I wanted to steal it, why would I bring you here this morning to distribute it?!”
“Then where is it?” The Team Leaders pressed, leaving no room for excuses.
Faced with the empty safe, words were useless.
“How should I know?!” Uncle Wan shouted. “Don’t you trust me? If I wanted to take it, I’d have done it long ago!”
Just as hesitation flickered in the crowd, Sister Mind spoke up.
“That’s because there’s now enough jade for someone to escape.”
“Xiao Li…!” Uncle Wan’s eyes burned with rage. “I see. Kick a man when he’s down, huh? Damn you…”
He lunged for her, but the uncles who’d always protected him blocked his path.
“Wan-ge, did you really take the jade?” they asked.
“Have you all lost your minds?!” he roared. “If I wanted to steal it, I wouldn’t have let you find out!”
“But you’re the only one who knew the safe’s combination,” an uncle said.
“I… I…”
The killing intent in the room thickened, suffocating the entire floor.
The very people who’d trusted him most bound him tightly and dragged him to the plaza outside the office building. What awaited him was the judgment he himself had established.
Was Uncle Wan about to disappear, too?
The thought brought me no sorrow—only a surge in Sister Mind’s scent beside me.
She didn’t take me to witness his execution. Instead, she led me back to our room.
“Hero, I’ll protect you,” she said.
“Protect me…?”
“Yes.” She turned to me, her gaze resolute. “I won’t let the ‘Chaos Era’ happen. If we can’t change the situation, we’ll just have to keep using these people.”
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