"Alright, alright, lazybones! Get up! If you don’t, your little sister will get lost for good!"

After untying the man, Xia Zixin grabbed a bucket of water and dumped it over him. The icy shock jolted him upright. He scrambled to his feet, eyes darting around before settling on Xia Zixin and Nangong Shiyu with wary suspicion.

"Who are you?"

"Not your enemies, that’s for sure." Xia Zixin set the bucket down and crossed her arms. "Your sister asked us to rescue you."

At her words, the man’s expression shifted to frantic hope.

"Where is she?!"

"Don’t worry. She’s safe for now."

"Where?! I need to find her!"

"Hold on. Before I let you go running after her, don’t you feel even a trace of remorse?"

"Remorse?"

He stared at her blankly, then understanding dawned. He nodded slowly.

"I know."

"But do you *really* know?"

"Of course I do!" he shouted. "I... I wanted to retire from this life!"

"And what about your actions?" Xia Zixin’s voice dripped with skepticism. "All talk. Deep down, you still want to squeeze more money out of this path."

"I—"

He started to argue but swallowed his words. Head bowed like a scolded child, he muttered, "No excuses. You’re right. I’m greedy. I know it’s wrong..."

"Listen," Xia Zixin stepped closer, jabbing a finger at his forehead like a teacher reprimanding a student. "If your sister hadn’t run into me, she’d be dead by now."

"Thank you, both of you. I’ll repay this debt someday—"

"Save it. After tonight, we won’t cross paths again."

"You—"

"Don’t misunderstand. I won’t hurt you. Relax."

Xia Zixin pulled a chair over, sat down, and crossed her legs. "So. What now? Will you keep running your ‘business’?"

"First, I’ll avenge my brothers. I still have influence in the north district—"

"This cycle of revenge ends nowhere," she cut in sharply. "Take your sister. Leave this city. Find honest work. Live quietly."

"I won’t live like that!" he snapped back. "I won’t be poor! That life is worthless! My parents died because they were broke and couldn’t afford treatment!" He slammed his palm on the table. "Without money, you can’t do anything. Sometimes you have to grovel. I won’t live like that! And I won’t let my sister live like that! So yes—I’ll stay in this world. What do *you* know about it?"

"Is that your reason for joining the underworld?"

"Yes!" he declared fiercely.

*SLAP!*

Xia Zixin stood silently and delivered a stinging slap across his face.

"Don’t hit my brother!"

The little girl had somehow slipped back inside. She glared at Xia Zixin and threw herself between them. Ignoring the child, Xia Zixin stormed to the window, flung it open, and pointed down at the corpses littering the alley below.

"You don’t get to say those things unless you’re strong enough to back them up! Open your eyes! Those bodies? Proof of your weakness. You have no right to talk like that!"

The man clicked his tongue and turned his head away, avoiding her gaze.

"If you’re weak, shut up. Your big words will only get you killed—and worse, they’ll get your sister killed too! Frankly, with that mindset? You both deserved to die tonight."

Xia Zixin turned and grabbed Nangong Shiyu’s hand.

"Let’s go. We’ve done enough."

Nangong Shiyu glanced back at the siblings, then at Xia Zixin. She opened her mouth to speak but bit back her words. *Better not say anything now—*

Xia Zixin’s grip on her wrist was painfully tight.

*She’s angry.*

*Really angry.*

They walked back through the death-scented hallway, past the alley strewn with bodies. Finally, they reached the brightly lit main street.

Xia Zixin suddenly called out:

"Balancer. Step forward."

A man in a sharp suit and sunglasses emerged from the shadows behind them, bowing deeply.

"How may I serve the 232nd Thunder God?"

"Handle everything from our entry into the alley onward as an Aberrant incursion. Understood?"

"Yes, ma’am."

"And that brother-sister pair I spoke to earlier... relocate them to another city. Make them ordinary civilians. Permanently."

"Understood."

"Then go."

"Yes."

The Balancer stepped back slowly, vanishing into the bottomless darkness of the alley.

Nangong Shiyu watched Xia Zixin finish her orders, then asked hesitantly:

"Xia Zixin... do you really care that much about them?"

She didn’t understand. Why was Xia Zixin so furious? It felt like she was hiding something.

Xia Zixin didn’t answer.

She just pulled Nangong Shiyu’s hand tighter, walking silently toward home.