“Young master, how’ve you been…?” Lin Yumo finished her candied apple, the amber glaze catching light like sunset on a lake, then lifted her gaze to the handsome boy.
“Same as ever, I’m fine.” A dull ache rose first, like a pebble dropping into a well, then Lin Fan’s brow tightened. Xiao Qianxue lay in the basement, a moon without light.
His lips parted, then shut, like a door in winter wind. When he’d met Xiao Qianxue, Lin Yumo had already gone to train, a road forked by mist.
“If you’re done eating, come report in with me at the organization.” He rose like a blade sliding from its sheath.
“Young master… before we go, could you spar me? I want you to see my strength.” The words spilled, and her feet rooted like startled grass.
She flushed at her own boldness, a willow bowing in the rain. “If you think it’s too—”
“No problem. Come with me.” He strode forward, a river breaking ice, grabbed the girl off the couch, and headed out in long strides.
“Don’t be so fast, young master—hey, hey…” Lin Yumo got dragged along, hair and thoughts in a whirl like windblown leaves.
—
Training ground
“Careful, young master. I’m starting now!” The green-haired girl checked her gear, her smile sweet as spring peach blossom in dew.
“Bring it.” The words fell, and the light around him dimmed, like day slipping behind storm-clouds and fogged glass.
“It’s broad daylight… a new ability?” Unease beat first like a caged bird, then Lin Fan steadied. Darkness crept in like tide swallowing sand.
Bang. The gunshot came from nowhere, a thunderclap from empty sky. His body moved on instinct, a fish darting through reeds.
The chill on his neck didn’t fade; danger rang like iron on stone. “Rise!” A thick wall of trees surged up, a green rampart pinning the bullet like a moth.
Boom. Another heavy report cracked the air, a drum under a mountain. Lin Fan’s nerves drew taut like a bowstring pulled to the ear.
“Elemental Body!” Power answered like roots drinking rain. After the last war, two bodies had opened by accident, doors in ancient bark.
The call of elements stayed like a low chant of wind through pines. Wood remained faithful; fire still flickered small; earth slept like stone.
Hardwood unfurled fast around him, a forest rising from breath. Before he knew the attack’s range, a living fortress was his safest harbor.
But the hulking round came different, a boar through thicket. It punched through trunks with ease and roared at the boy within.
“Stop for me!” Green sigils flared across his skin, vine-light in a deep grove. Branches braided themselves, a woven net racing the bullet’s line.
The line tore like plastic under claws, then skimmed his arm like a hawk’s talon. He’d already dodged at the shot, a shadow slipping sideways.
Even so, pain licked like fire, and flesh peeled like bark. He shook it off; the sting was a passing bee on the wind.
He drew the trees back, and a green pulse fanned out, a rippling pond with him at the center. “Found you!”
His other arm unfurled into vine and branch, a whip of living wood lashing toward an empty patch like a snake to burrow.
“How did he find me?!” Sweat pricked in the dark where she hid, cold as dew, but Lin Yumo’s feet still flowed like water.
“Ends here.” Midair, the branch curved, a hawk correcting mid-dive, then shot for the moving girl with a hiss like cut grass.
“No time!” She drew her katana in a flash, moonlight on steel, and chopped at the oncoming branch like felling a stubborn sapling.
Clang. The strike bit like against stone, and the force surged back like a wave, nearly tearing the blade from her hand.
That frozen beat decided the match, a bell ending the bout. The next heartbeat, the vine wrapped her tight, a cocoon neat and merciless.
“You’re bullying me, young master! Who finds people like that?!” Her protest puffed like a sparrow puffing its chest in frost.
He let his arm flow back to flesh, bark fading to skin, and stood before a green-haired girl bristling like a cat.
“You’ve gotten a lot stronger, Yumo.” Warmth rose first like fire in a brazier, and Lin Fan smiled, sun through leaves.
“That last shot aimed for my arm. I dodged hard, and I still got kissed.” He shook the wounded arm; wood mended flesh like sap sealing a cut.
His sleeve, though, was ripped wide, a flag torn by wind. Clothes don’t heal, even when trees do.
“Are you okay, young master? Did I go too hard…?” Her crimson eyes tightened, anxious as a doe at the edge of a clearing.
“I’m fine. If it were someone else and you aimed at the heart, the fight was over.” He set the wounded hand on her head, a gentle palm like shade.
“What are those tattoos? They look so cool!” Praise made her eyes turn to crescents, spring moons bright over water.
“Elemental Body. I’ll explain on the way.” He coaxed branches from the ground, nimble as fingers, and fetched the nearby culprits one by one.
A pure black Desert Eagle, night pressed into metal. A silver, custom Barrett, a moon-tusk meant to bite mountains.
“Your ability’s way stronger now.” He glanced at her checking the guns, a mechanic under starlight. “That Barrett round hit hard. Usually I’d stop it. You juice it somehow?”
“Did it feel really dark just now?” Pride flickered like a fox’s tail. “That’s a single-target skill. With more training, I can strip senses.”
“It backfires on me after, like frostbite after fire.” She shrugged. “I only used the basic version.”
“That’s pretty nasty…” Lin Fan rubbed his chin, a thinking pose like a rock under rain.
“It’s called Presumed Sin. The shooting skill’s Dead Line. I lock the target and it pierces straight through.”
“But it needs this Desert Eagle to prime it first.” She pouted, the heavy pistol swinging like a bell. “A great power that has to blow its cover.”
“Alright, alright. In a real fight, you won’t be alone. Others will stand in front of you, like a wall of shields.” He ruffled her hair, a breeze through grass, then walked toward the waiting Rolls-Royce.
“Hey, Yumo, about the repair bill later—think you’ll cover it?” He frowned at the bullet holes, dark blossoms on white steel.
“Ah… please spare me, young master!” Her plea fluttered like a white flag in a spring gale.
