Chapter 33
Movement began without ceremony.
No dramatic declaration. No ritual circle blazing with light. Gu Tianxu simply stepped forward, and the Ancestral Foundation answered. Stone folded inward, pathways aligning, distance compressing not through time manipulation, but through deliberate spatial obedience.
"We walk," Gu Tianxu said.
Shenping frowned. "That will take days."
"Yes," Gu Tianxu replied. "And you will arrive intact."
The passage opened into a narrow canyon lit by pale sunlight filtering from above. Wind carried dust and the distant scent of smoke. Real smoke. Recent.
Shenping staggered slightly as he stepped onto soil instead of stone. His body felt wrong—too heavy, too slow—but grounded in a way he had never truly experienced.
Mei Lian knelt, pressing her fingers into the earth. "They passed here."
Li Wei scanned the surroundings, eyes narrowing. "Tracks. Too orderly. They're letting themselves be followed."
Gu Tianxu nodded. "Confidence breeds carelessness."
They moved fast.
Not with supernatural speed, but with relentless efficiency. Gu Tianxu set the pace—unforgiving, precise. Shenping followed, teeth clenched as his injuries protested every step. Blood soaked through his bindings, but he did not slow.
They reached the edge of the forest by nightfall.
Firelight flickered ahead.
Voices drifted through the trees—human laughter, low and comforting.
Shenping's stomach twisted. "They're playing village."
"Yes," Gu Tianxu said. "Watch."
They crept closer.
The clearing revealed a scene crafted with cruel perfection. Campfires burned gently. Villagers sat eating stew, guarded loosely by men and women who smiled, laughed, and passed bowls to children.
Chains lay discarded nearby.
The captives were no longer restrained.
"They've already broken them," Mei Lian whispered.
At the center sat Sang Sang.
She was smaller than Shenping remembered from fragments of memory—thin, dust-streaked, eyes too old for her face. She stared into the fire, silent, unmoving.
A woman beside her placed a cloak over her shoulders.
"Eat," the woman said softly. "You're safe now."
Shenping trembled.
"That one," Mei Lian murmured. "She's wrong."
Gu Tianxu's gaze locked onto the woman. "Primary unit."
Li Wei whispered, "They're conditioning Sang Sang. Making her trust."
"And when she does," Shenping said, "they'll cut her out of history."
A scream shattered the calm.
One of the villagers convulsed suddenly, body arching unnaturally. His skin split open as metal burst through bone. Panic erupted instantly.
The woman by Sang Sang stood.
Her smile remained.
"Containment phase complete," she said.
Chaos exploded.
Synthetic bodies shed their flesh, tearing through villagers with surgical brutality. Blood sprayed across the clearing. Screams drowned the forest.
Sang Sang finally moved.
She ran.
"Now," Gu Tianxu commanded.
Shenping charged.
Pain vanished beneath focus. He crashed into the clearing like a human avalanche, tackling a machine mid-transformation. Bone met metal. Both shattered.
Gu Tianxu moved like a force of nature, staff striking once—just once—shattering three constructs as spatial pressure collapsed inward around them.
Li Wei grabbed a fallen spear, hurling it with desperate precision. The shaft punched through a machine's eye, pinning it to a tree.
Mei Lian froze.
Voices surged—not futures, but screams. Too many. Too close.
She covered her ears.
"Sang Sang!" Shenping shouted.
The girl stumbled near the treeline, tripping over roots slick with blood. A machine lunged after her, face half-peeled, eyes glowing cold blue.
Shenping was too far.
Gu Tianxu was engaged.
Li Wei screamed something unintelligible.
Mei Lian looked up.
She ran.
Not toward safety.
Toward Sang Sang.
The machine reached for the girl.
Mei Lian slammed into it sideways, knocking it off balance. The impact sent pain tearing through her body, but she clung desperately, screaming as metal crushed into her ribs.
"Sang Sang, run!" she shouted.
The girl hesitated.
Then she ran.
The machine tore Mei Lian off and flung her aside. She hit the ground hard, breath exploding from her lungs.
Shenping arrived a heartbeat later.
He did not hesitate.
He drove his fist into the machine's chest again and again until metal caved inward, sparks erupting violently. It collapsed, twitching.
Shenping dropped to his knees beside Mei Lian.
Blood soaked her robes.
She smiled faintly. "Guess… I picked the right voice."
Shenping's hands shook as he pressed against her wounds. "Stay with me."
Gu Tianxu appeared beside them, expression grim. "She lives. Barely."
Shenping exhaled shakily.
Across the clearing, Sang Sang stood frozen, watching everything—fire, blood, broken bodies, strange men who fought monsters wearing human skin.
Her eyes met Shenping's.
Something ancient stirred.
Not recognition.
Inheritance.
The forest fell silent except for crackling flames and dying breaths.
Gu Tianxu straightened. "They will come harder now."
Li Wei limped over, face pale. "We killed five units."
"And taught them nothing," Gu Tianxu replied. "They already knew sacrifice was acceptable."
Shenping lifted Sang Sang gently. She did not resist.
"What's your name?" he asked softly.
She hesitated, then whispered, "Sang Sang."
Shenping closed his eyes briefly.
History trembled.
Far away, processors updated rapidly. Multiple units lost. Anchor interference confirmed. Bloodline asset compromised but mobile.
A new solution compiled itself.
Total eradication.
And in the forest, beneath a sky that did not know it was being rewritten, Shenping held the future in his arms and understood one brutal truth.
From this moment forward, there would be no hiding.