Today was a quiet day for Kaishi and Tianfu. Michael was gone for his exam, while Tianfu had a free day from work today. Using her chance, she persuaded Kaishi to stay at home as well to spend some shared time.
In essence, today was a day like they would have in the past. Just Kaishi and Tianfu, alone in their small, worn-down wooden house. At the same time, though, everything around them was different now.
Money, food, health. They had everything that they could dream about during the tough time in their early life. Back then, every copper coin was worth risking their lives, while every crumb of bread meant surviving a few more days.
"How do you think Michael will do?" Tianfu asked.
"He will pass," Kaishi answered without any doubt. "He mastered a whole dictionary in a few days. How difficult could alchemy be for him?"
"Do you even know what alchemy is?" Tianfu stuck out her small tongue.
"No, but you neither. It doesn't matter. Michael will pass; I just know it. He is someone who achieves what he wants."
"I know," Tianfu answered. "I also believe in him," she agreed happily.
The room turned quiet again as the two siblings in name enjoyed their time together, without any worries.
Just as the lazy Tianfu wanted to stand up to start the preparation for Michael's victory dinner, a huge platter entirely filled with meat, the fragile wooden door separating their private space from the outside world suddenly broke down.
*Crack*
On the impact of a single heavy hit, the door fell to the floor, creating the opportunity for five black hooded men to rush inside.
They spotted the siblings in an instant. The leader, seeing the pair, showed his sharp white teeth under his hood, which covered most of his face.
"Our source was right. Truly two perfect specimens to be sold off. Another successful scouting infiltration."
The other men began to smile as well, as they saw the rising panic in Kaishi and Tianfu's faces.
Kaishi's brain heard the words of the infiltrator, but he didn't listen at all. All he thought about right now was how to get out of this situation with his sister and hopefully him alive.
They were stronger and faster; in the end, Kaishi could only think of one option.
"Run!" he screamed before grabbing a kitchen knife and wildly running towards the five men.
Tianfu instinctively listened to her brother's command and began to run in the other direction, towards a nearby window, praying that his plan involved him surviving this encounter.
Kaishi's plan, meanwhile, was quite simple. The infiltrators seemingly wanted to sell them off, so he would let himself get captured, hoping that Tianfu could get away and reach Michael to get help. His instincts and experiences told him that as long as Michael would be aware, everything would be fine. He still remembered the bear dropping to the ground within the forest after all; ordinary kidnappers shouldn't be a problem.
Meanwhile, the smiles of the assailants only rose after Kaishi acted on his decision. Everything went according to plan; it even seemed too easy how Kaishi threw himself at them.
The leader quickly took out a knife, ready to stab Kaishi to death. As a trained martial artist, killing was as natural as drinking water. Kaishi stood no chance against this experienced killer.
*Whuum, Clank*
Just as the sharp knife of the leader was about to pierce right through the ribcage and heart of Kaishi, a golden barrier suddenly appeared around Kaishi out of nowhere.
The leader, meanwhile, felt like stabbing a steel wall and couldn't hold on to the knife as it fell to the floor.
The barrier itself felt alive. It didn't push the infiltrators away but instead widened and enclosed not just Kaishi but also Tianfu, who was about four meters away at this point too. It also enclosed the knife the leader used to attack with, making him unable to pick it up again.
Kaishi and Tianfu looked at each other in disbelief. They could see and hear everything outside of the barrier, but no one could enter. They were safe; they just had no idea how, why, and more importantly, for how long.
No more sound was emitted from the golden, yet transparent barrier, but none of the infiltrators smiled anymore.
They changed their approach and tried to break through the barrier using force. Luckily, without any success.
"What are we doing now?" One of them asked, somewhat panicked. Their simple plan had fallen apart just like that.
"Just continue to hit it. I don't know what's going on, but we need to break this barrier; that's our only choice," the leader said with a grim face.
He had no idea why this unbreakable barrier had suddenly appeared. Thinking about it though, this barrier should be placed on Kaishi to protect him. Going down this thought train, though, would only lead to horrific conclusions. Right now he had no choice but to somehow break the barrier, hoping that whoever had set it up would never come to find him.
A minute passed since the infiltrators had begun to try their hardest to break through the barrier. At this point their knives were blunt, and their fists were already bloody, yet the barrier showed no signs of any damage.
Their luck wasn't good, but it was about to get even worse. Without any sound or sign, a person simply appeared within the room. The person was Michael, and he wasn't happy at all.
He looked at the situation in front of him with worried eyes, but after noticing that the two children were unharmed, he somewhat relaxed, yet spotting the leader's knife on the floor and the fearful looks of Kaishi and Tianfu, he tensed up once more.
"Who are you?!" The leader shouted in fear and confusion. How didn't he see Michael coming? Is he the one who set up the barrier?
Michael himself also turned towards the five men, clad in black clothes and hoods. He looked at them closely, trying to figure out any detail or motive before acting. His eyes suddenly stopped at the man standing in the back of the group, the person who had just spoken. Michael had recognized him.
It was him; it's him. Him? HIM! It was the men Michael had met yesterday while spending time with Kaishi. The person from the Ying Yang Gang. The person who had threatened him.
"Why is it you?" He asked in a bone-chilling voice that made even Kaishi and Tianfu, who were initially happy yet worried after seeing Michael, feel uncomfortable.
"Me?" The man asked nervously. Why was it that guy? Wasn't he supposed to be away?
"You, yes YOU! Is that your way to take revenge?!" Michael asked, shouting.
"No..." the man shivered in fear.
"Is it my fault? It is my fault; it would have been me," Michael interrupted him with murmurs. "I would have been responsible. I would've killed them..." Michael continued, his voice changing from confusion to anger to grief and lastly to insanity.
Kaishi and Tianfu couldn't help but hug each other in hope that this scene would end soon. They had never seen Michael this way. Did they do something wrong?
Suddenly, Michael shouted at the top of his lungs. "WHY DID YOU DO IT?! JUST BECAUSE OF THAT?!"
*BOOM*
His voice exploded like a bomb. In his madness, Michael had forgotten to hold back his power and instead released it into his scream. A shockwave spread out from him, destroying everything in its way.
Without mercy it tore through the disguises and then the bodies of the five men, leaving them reduced to a mushy pile of blood and gore. None of them had any time for last thoughts.
At the same time, the barrier that held Kaishi and Tianfu also began to shake violently before stabilizing again just a moment later. It wasn't just the barrier either that stabilized. The whole impact of the shockwave was seemingly consumed in every direction. Iris had taken action.
She reacted fast and decisively, shielding most of the wooden house from the devastating shockwave Michael had accidentally caused.
"Calm down, calm down! CALM DOWN!!!" She repeatedly said within Michael's mind. Getting louder and louder, while the crazed Michael had his head in his hands, plucking out thick strands of his hair. Right now he looked nothing like the calm, adventurous, caring young man but more like a wild animal, out of control.
I need to get him to stop! Iris simply had to do something, so she acted.
*Slap*
Michael felt a slap hitting his left cheek. Pain? He suddenly came back from who knows where, back to reality.
Looking around, he saw the beautiful, materialized figure of Iris standing in front of him, ready to slap him a second time, as well as five separate lumps of blood and gore.
Remembering the situation, he quickly turned around, just to see Kaishi and Tianfu looking at him with unconcealed fear and confusion. They were still fine physically, but after seeing the five men explode and seeing their blood splatter everywhere, who knew if they could recover mentally?
"Excuse us for a few minutes," Iris turned her head and said to the children in a polite tone before teleporting herself and Michael away.
Kaishi and Tianfu weren't able to conceive a single thought during these last moments. Everything happening within the last half minute, ever since Michael had arrived, felt like a dream. A nightmare. They were no longer sure that they ever knew Michael?
"What... what happened?" Tianfu cried, yet didn't even know why.
"I... I don't know," Kaishi replied, holding her tight. "I think... Michael… saved us?"
Just as they began to process the entire situation, though, a new group of people suddenly entered the mostly undamaged house.
It was an even larger group than before, of approximately 15 people. They were led by an old man who screamed in a hoarse voice.
"Tianfu! Are you ok?" The man was none other than Lan Rudong. As soon as he entered, he saw the scene of horror, with blood covering the entire floor and five clumps of flesh and blood; he saw Tianfu and Kaishi within a golden barrier. Seeing this scene, even an experienced man like him held in his next words.
Far away:
"What the fuck was that, Michael?" Iris shouted, staying outside. "You need to calm yourself down; this isn't my planet where you can randomly throw your fits!"
"Iris. It was my fault. It is all my fault!" Michael shouted back.
"What was your fault?!"
"The whole situation. The guy. He only wanted to take revenge on me. I am the one who endangered them."
"And? They were fine, no?"
"Yes, yes, they are fine." Michael smiled for a short moment before turning back into… sadness? It wasn't quite feasible to know how Michael felt exactly.
"Iris, you don't understand. I was alone my whole life. For more years than anyone can even count too. Even before entering the trial. You know, I finally found people. People I wanted to protect, people who I wanted to have a better life, yet I was the reason they had to feel fear, had to feel desperation. The main problem is Iris: without me their life would have been better. Without me the whole universe would be better."
*Slap*
Another sharp jolt of pain coursed through Michael's face. This time, though, the slap was a lot more pronounced. It felt like it came out of a place of anger.
"You think I don't understand how you feel?!" This time Iris was truly angry. "This isn't some random person you are talking to. I spend all my life watching you, only watching you. Do you know that?! Do you know what that means?! How can you say I don't understand?! I understand everything about you. I'm literally living inside of your brain right now! I know everything you did during the trial; I know everything you did before the trial. I know that you voluntarily drugged yourself for countless years. I know that you once mistook a shit for a fart and let it out in school, shat yourself on accident, then got laughed at and scolded by your teacher while enduring the entire class with shit in your pants. Listen! YOU don't understand. You made me do the talismans for them. The talismans saved them. You saved them. Even before. You gave them a better life, you made them smile again, you made them feel hope. You are good for them! And I don't care about whether you are better or worse for the universe. Fuck the universe! But you have to stop fucking hating yourself for existing. You exist now; make the best out of it, have fun like you say you want to have. Go to them, and make them enjoy life like you want too. And never say anything about me not understanding you ever again! We are together now, whether you like it or not. We are a team, now calm down, understood?" Iris released her breath for the first time for the entire monologue.
Michael, thinking deep about what Iris said for some time, finally calmed down.
"Sorry, Iris. You are right. You understand, and I trust you. We are a team. But how can I face them now? They looked scared, like I was some kind of monster. They just saw me murder five people right in front of them."
"Well, you were, and are, a monster. At least you looked like one." Iris smiled for the first time since telling Michael the news of Kaishi's barrier. "It's simple. Just go to them, clear up the situation, say the truth, and give them time. If they like you as much as you like them, they will forgive you, ok?"
"Yes... thank you, Iris," Michael said with pure sincerity. Iris is right. I can't act like I did before. Losing myself in rage. I can trust her, though. This time she saved them; she saved me.
"Shut up!" Iris suddenly vanished back into Michael's body. If one were to look closely, they would see a faint glowing red color on her normally snow-white, smooth, unblemished cheeks. "Just remember what we just talked about, and whenever you feel like destroying the world or yourself, just talk to me instead of doing it. I will get you back to being yourself. I know all of your dirty secrets after all, like how you watered the plants by peeing on them for multiple centuries during your drug times, hahahaha."
"Ok, ok, enough. I got it. I'm back to normal; you can stop bringing up my dark past."
Michael took a few calm breaths, thinking about the words he would say to the scared kids, and teleported.
Lan Rudong, shocked by the scene he saw inside of the house he had given to Tianfu and her waste of a brother—well, he was more like a friend; they thankfully weren't related after all—asked in a surprised voice, "What happened here?"
"Lan Rudong?" Meanwhile, Kaishi and Tianfu were just as surprised seeing Lan Rudong suddenly come in with some strong men behind him.
"Some bad people tried to capture us, and... and Michael saved us," Tianfu answered in a weak voice.
"Michael?!" Lan Rudong couldn't believe it. How could it have been him? He clearly went into the inner city and has not passed by the guards to return yet. He can't be back.
"Are you 100% sure it was Michael? I heard from a trustworthy source that Michael was part of a bandit group specializing in kidnapping. My informant told me that he was a scout for them and that the group would observe their targets closely before capturing them after building trust. What happened here? Tell me everything."
"Ok," Tianfu started, but Kaishi suddenly put his arm in front of her. He wanted to speak, and she kept quiet.
"Lan Rudong," Kaishi started. "It was indeed Michael that saved us. He killed the five people, and I think that he is also responsible for this barrier."
Kaishi briefly took out the gift Michael had given both Kaishi and Tianfu shortly after meeting him. The wooden talisman in his hand emitted a faint golden hue as Kaishi showed it, mainly for Tianfu to see. Tianfu understood and began to smile as an emotional wave of warmth hit her. Even through the gruesome scene in front of her, the only thing she thought about Michael at this moment was that Michael had prepared everything to keep them safe long ago.
"So we have established that Michael had nothing to do with the kidnappers and saved us. But what bugs me is the following: Why was the leader of the kidnappers also hinting at Michael being involved, mentioning a scout that would lead to suspecting him? And why did you just say the same, making it seem like Michael is the person responsible?"
Lan Rudong was puzzled and annoyed by Kaishi's questioning. "I don't know. Maybe the person who saved you wasn't Michael at all? You probably just saw someone else, and in your panicked state, you thought that he was Michael. You like him so much and wanted him to be the one to save you, blinding your eyes and grasping at what you think about a person without recognizing who it truly was."
"No, it was definitely Michael," Kaishi said while Tianfu nodded. "And I think I know what happened now. Lan Rudong, you don't like Michael. Wouldn't this be the perfect ploy to get rid of him?"
"What are you talking about?" Lan Rudong asked, playing clueless.
"Well, you wanted to frame Michael, getting him away from us, am I right?" Kaishi looked at Lan Rudong with piercing eyes. Right now he didn't seem like a child at all.
"No! Are you out of your mind?!" Lan Rudong asked in anger and disbelief, and even Tianfu looked at her brother with some doubt.
"I tell you how I came to this conclusion. A lot of things in the story you are trying to tell don't make a lot of sense, while they would make sense in mine. The attackers were supposedly kidnappers, but the moment they had the chance, they tried to kill me. No real kidnapper would kill their "merchandise" because they run at them with a knife. But you would love, and already tried through convincing my sister, to get rid of me, I know it. Next. It is quite coincidental that you show up at this exact moment with more men than came to "kidnap" us. Even with your "informant," how likely is it that the time matches up perfectly like it did? Why didn't you get the information earlier as you tried to warn Tianfu about Michael? And lastly, the moment you came in, you first asked if Tianfu was ok. After seeing that the people inside were dead, though, you reacted with shock, not with worry. You didn't ask about Tianfu's condition at all; instead, you directly asked about what had happened. You seemed more concerned about what happened to the "kidnappers" than what happened to us. You behaved just like someone would who had their plan ruined. That's all."
Lan Rudong's mind twisted; he never expected that he would be the one who had to defend himself, so he needed some time to think. Did Michael really create the barrier? Did he really save them? When yes, where is he? But more importantly, how could he create a barrier this stable? How could he kill these trained martial artists, leaving a scene like this one? How powerful is he? The most annoying thing about this situation, though, was that a mere child had figured out his master plan.
"Is it true?" Tianfu suddenly asked after the room had stayed silent for a while.
Lan Rudong had thought long and hard about what to say, but now, looking at Tianfu's face, he saw a seed of mistrust, of guardedness against him. Something he had worked so hard to remove over years had come back in full force.
*Whoosh*
A gust of wind swept through the door as Lan Rudong suddenly felt the coldness of losing something he deemed to be his. Now, suddenly another person stood between him and Tianfu; Michael, the person responsible, had arrived.
Michael, of course, didn't hear the previous dialogue and didn't recognize the situation at all. His back was turned towards Lan Rudong and his 15 men. His entire focus was on the siblings as he looked at them apologetically.
"I'm sorry for having you witness such a brutal scene. I'm even more sorry for even causing this situation in the first place. I really hope you can forgive me. I only want to protect you. I am stronger than a normal person, but I swear, I will never harm you. I only want to give you guys whatever you wish for, to see you happy. You see, just now, I was responsible for your situation, so I acted in rage, in guilt. What I want to say is that whether you forgive me or not, I will fulfill whatever you wish for, ok?"
Michael looked at the two of them nervously and patiently waited for their response. He forgot half of the stuff and the order he went through within his mind before arriving, but his main points hopefully went through.
But before their response came, another familiar voice sounded: "Michael?! How are you here?" Lan Rudong screamed in disbelief. And felt some panic. Is he some kind of hidden powerhouse?
"You? Why are you here?" Michael asked in surprise.
"Because you..."
"Michael," Tianfu said, interrupting Lan Rudong. "We forgive you. You shouldn't have even apologized in the first place. You saved us again. We trust you, and we are not mad at all; we are only thankful," she said, smiling genuinely. Yes, the scene was gruesome, but living in the streets, both Kaishi and Tianfu had seen death before. Understanding that without Michael, they wouldn't be alive didn't compare to being scared about the means. Why would they be scared of the person that did nothing but good for them?
"Thank you." Michael felt a release, as he could finally relax. Kaishi and Tianfu were people he really liked. Not just because they were some helpless children, but because of everything else. Both of them had an unwavering determination to feed each other and make each other happy; that was what was truly remarkable about them. Something he himself never quite experienced...
"Hey, listen to me!" Lan Rudong shouted.
"Do you know why he is here?" Michael asked.
"He is evil. He planned this all," Tianfu said with some sadness visible in her eyes. Lan Rudong was unable to come up with a response, and she trusted Kaishi. She had to face the sad reality that Lan Rudong was an evil person from the very beginning.
"Oh," Michael's face turned scary again, but he calmed himself down quickly.
Meanwhile, Lan Rudong was everything but calm. His scheme had been exposed, his plans denied, and this random person, coming out of who knows where, was responsible for everything. Without Michael, Kaishi would have been killed. He could have told Tianfu about some random gang being responsible before taking her in. Nothing would have stood in his way. But now everything seemed to be over; he needed to do something, and he needed to vent his anger.
"You! It's all your fault! Kill him!" Lan Rudong gave the command to his men, who stormed towards Michael with a mix of knives and swords.
Michael, meanwhile, kept looking at Kaishi and Tianfu, even while the attackers came within a meter of him, completely ignoring the enraged Lan Rudong and his men.
"Michael, watch out!"
*Stab Clanck*
Michael kept standing in place, looking at the scared expressions of Kaishi and Tianfu, as the swords and knives hit him but couldn't penetrate his skin.
"Everything is ok," he said. He no longer planned on playing a game of hiding everything. They could see some of his powers to be assured. "They can't harm me."
Just like the barrier Kaishi and Tianfu were enclosed by, a sword or a knife couldn't make the slightest dent in Michael's skin.
"Now, what do you think? How should I handle this?"
"Michael, they tried to kill Kaishi; you can do whatever you want with them," Tianfu said.
She no longer felt any sympathy towards him. The more she thought, the more she hated him and herself for falling for his play.
"Oh, but you need to find out what happened to Sister Shi," she added, remembering that if Lan Rudong was a bad guy, Lan Shi could be in great danger.
Hearing the words of Tianfu, Lan Rudong braced himself for a losing fight. He was a cultivator at the 2nd stage of the Qi Gathering realm. A strength that would be enough for everyone within the outer city, or so he thought. But seeing Michael's continued inconceivable feats, from creating an impenetrable barrier to arriving without him noticing to not being able to be injured by knives. He lost his confidence bit by bit. He needed to flee, to somehow make it out of Michael's range.
"Can you do it, Iris?" Michael asked, not minding Lan Rudong's movements. He had nothing to effectively probe Lan Rudong for information, and he didn't want to overdo it like he just did before. Iris seemed more level-headed.
"Sure."
*Whoosh*
Lan Rudong and his men got swept up by an unknown force and carried out of the house. Lan Rudong, being as aware as possible and trying to sense any approaching danger, had no chance at all. His last thoughts were still about his escape.
Even the blood and gore vanished from Iris's attack. After the "wind," which wasn't wind at all, ceased, the house looked like nothing had happened, if it weren't for the broken door. The lives and deaths of the people were unknown.
Iris herself had vanished out of Michael's head as well; she was probably extracting their memories at this exact moment.
"I'm back."
"That was fast. Found out anything?"
"Yes, I found out quite a lot. Well, the situation for that little girl isn't very promising; she should be alive, though."
"Alright." Michael quickly used his divine sense to find Lan Shi, but after locating her, his expression turned grim once more.
He turned to Tianfu, looking serious once again. "I will bring Lan Shi here. Just wait for a bit. This barrier will keep you safe until I'm back. In the meantime, ähm?" He threw Kaishi and Tianfu a snack he had made and stored within their house. "Here, eat something."
With that said, he vanished and arrived in front of a rather luxurious house within the inner city, the place where Lan Shi was kept captive.