Chapter 405: So I’ve Become Your Savior?

Hearing this, Zhai Jia finally understood Zhai Yu’s reasoning.

“So as long as Zhao Henian doesn’t leave the Holy City, Xiao Ya can’t leave us. No matter what tricks she wants to pull, she’ll have to consider her own situation first.”

As he spoke, Zhai Yu turned his gaze to Zhai Jia.

“What if…” Zhai Jia suddenly spoke again, his tone hesitant. “What if she has us take out Zhao Henian, and then once it’s done, she turns around and throws us under the bus as scapegoats?”

Zhai Yu looked at him and laughed in exasperation. “She’s our hostage. Selling us out? Isn’t that a death wish?”

“Holy crap!” Zhai Jia froze. “Bro, don’t tell me you never planned on letting her go?”

Zhai Yu didn’t say anything, as if he couldn’t be bothered to answer the question.

Wan Ze couldn’t help but turn his head to look at Zhai Jia. “Brother Jia, are you serious?”

The air was silent for about two seconds before the information finally finished processing in Zhai Jia’s brain.

He opened his mouth, then closed it. His face flushed, and he gave a dry cough.

Zhai Jia reached up to scratch his nose, his eyes darting to the side, not daring to meet Zhai Yu’s gaze. “…Okay, I was being an idiot. Can we just pretend I didn’t say anything?”

Without another word, Zhai Yu swung a kick at him.

Zhai Jia reacted quickly, dodging with a turn of his body. He chuckled and took the opportunity to bolt downstairs, his slippers making a rapid PATTER-PATTER sound on the steps.

“Less talk, more action. Get your shoes on and get your car,” Zhai Yu’s voice followed him from upstairs.

Zhai Jia ran to the first floor, changed his shoes, and quickly pulled open the driver’s side door. He plopped into the seat, set the food down, and then, as if just remembering something, stuck his head out the window and shouted upstairs, “Aren’t you getting in?”

“We’re not going the same way.” Zhai Yu shook his head. As he spoke, he pulled a car key from his pocket and pressed a button.

A short unlocking chirp sounded from outside the courtyard. It was the car he’d had someone drive over from the base this morning.

Seeing this, Zhai Jia didn’t press the issue. He pulled his head back in, shifted into gear, and after calling for Wan Ze to get in, he stomped on the gas and shot off.

Zhai Yu stood at the top of the stairs, watching the car disappear at the end of the alley.

「In the car.」

Zhai Jia steered with one hand while using the other to pull a steamed bun from a plastic bag and stuff it in his mouth. He let out a long, muffled sigh of contentment.

“It’s back! Everything’s back to how it was!”

Wan Ze sat in the passenger seat, also holding a bun. He chewed while tilting his head toward Zhai Jia, confused. “What’s back?”

“The feeling,” Zhai Jia said, glancing back at him.

It was rare to hear him speak so seriously, his tone tinged with a sort of nostalgia.

The early morning sun slanted through the front windshield, softening the usual devil-may-care expression on Zhai Jia’s face.

“Ten years ago, Brother Yu, our Eldest Martial Brother, and I were just like this, fired up every single day.” Zhai Jia turned back, his gaze returning to the road ahead, a hint of a smile in his voice. “Back then, the three of us woke up earlier than the chickens. Our Eldest Martial Brother led the way, Brother Yu watched from the side, and I chased from behind. It was exhausting, but we had endless energy every day.”

Wan Ze listened quietly, the bun in his hand paused at his lips.

“Later, our Eldest Martial Brother left, and it felt like that drive just dissipated along with him.” Zhai Jia’s voice dropped, but it quickly rose again. “But recently, especially after we were done, I feel like that feeling is back. It’s like nothing ever changed.”

Wan Ze silently ate his bun.

The car was quiet for about half a minute before Zhai Jia suddenly spoke again. “But Ah Ze, your situation is something else.”

Wan Ze looked up. “My situation?”

“Yeah.” Zhai Jia gripped the steering wheel, his eyes quickly flicking between the road and the rearview mirror. “I was tossing and turning last night, couldn’t sleep. I was mulling over a possibility.”

“What possibility?”

Zhai Jia took a deep breath, as if gathering his thoughts. “I’m just saying, what if… This is a total shot in the dark, so just hear me out.”

He gave a little disclaimer before changing the subject. “Look, we’ve all heard the term ‘Qi Refiner,’ right? We’ve known it since we were kids. It’s in books, and it’s passed down in the stories of the older generation. But the common understanding now is that Qi Refiners are just something the ancients made up. They’re myths, fiction, fakes.”

Wan Ze didn’t speak, but his chewing slowed.

“But you’re not fake.” Zhai Jia turned to look at him, his gaze direct. “You’re real. The things that have happened to you are real. So that raises the question: if Qi Refiners are real, why aren’t there any now?”

He paused, then added another sentence.

“Or, to put it another way, why do we *think* they’re fake now?”

Zhai Jia continued, “I was thinking, what if a long, long time ago, in an era so distant we can’t even imagine it, Qi Refiners actually existed in the real world? Then, something happened—we don’t know what. Maybe it was some kind of catastrophe, or maybe some kind of rule was changed. In any case, this group of people vanished from the real world. But they didn’t go extinct. Instead, they created a new world and transferred the legacy of the Qi Refiners into it.”

Wan Ze stopped chewing.

Zhai Jia went on, “This ‘something happened’ part is really important. Because if it was some kind of restriction, like a rule in the real world that prevents Qi Refiners from existing, what if that restriction disappears in the future? What if, one day, that gate opens? Then…”

He turned his head again to look at Wan Ze.

“Will the people who stayed in that other world come back?”

The car was quiet for a long time.

Wan Ze had finished his bun.