The morning sun woke up both Yetao and Lucas through the windows of their separate rooms. Yetao felt elated by the morning since his best friend is here with him, to travel together in this unfamiliar world. He immediately stood up, fixed his bed hair in a hurry and prepared to wake Lucas.
"Lu used to wake me up always. This is my chance to do the same," Yetao thought with excitement as he prepared to leave his room.
He swung the door open, only to find Barcode already waiting outside, his tall figure silhouetted against the morning light.
"Barcode?" Yetao's surprise was evident in his voice.
Barcode smiled softly, though there was a hint of uncertainty in his eyes. "Are you feeling well now, Taotao?" His concern for Yetao's recovery seemed genuine, but something else lurked behind his words—a hesitation that Yetao immediately noticed.
Yetao studied his face carefully. "So... did Jeff gege tell you about everything?" he asked tentatively.
The subtle flinch that crossed Barcode's features was all the confirmation Yetao needed. He knew everything now.
"Barcode, I..." Yetao began, unsure how to explain his strange predicament to someone who had been nothing but kind to him in this world.
Before he could continue, Barcode stepped forward, speaking with unexpected intensity. "Taotao.... I don't know so much about what this vessel means, but I'm sure that it's very important for you. I'll help you in whatever you're trying to do, just like you helped me." He reached out, clasping Yetao's hands in his own with a reassuring grip.
The sincerity in Barcode's voice touched something in Yetao, bringing a soft smile to his lips. Without words, they moved into an embrace, Barcode's steadfast loyalty providing a moment of warmth in the midst of all the uncertainty.
After a warm hug, Yetao pulled back.
"The White dragon lord also wanted to apologise since you fell unconscious after receiving his heart scale. He worried it caused some problems for you. But Jeff gege and Jackson gege took care of it", Barcode said.
Yetao smiled. "I must be the one to thank him. He was a hard one to please", Yetao sighed.
"Oh right. I think I did not see him yesterday too. Where is he?', Yetao asked with curiosity.
"He waited until you wake up. But you disappeared yesterday and returned late. He had an urgent calling from his clan and left the palace yesterday. He said to pass on his apology to you", Barcode confessed making Yetao nod in understanding.
After a brief moment, Yetao suddenly remembered something. "Oh, I want to wake Lu," he said, already backing toward the corridor.
"Lu?" Barcode's brow furrowed in confusion.
"It's the Wolf lord," Yetao explained quickly. "Since he's young, he told me I should call him that." He forced a smile, hoping the hastily constructed explanation would suffice.
Barcode's confusion only deepened. "Huh? But he's more than 700 years old. How old are you, Taotao?"
The question hit Yetao like a physical blow. He froze, the implications suddenly dawning on him. "Oh, seems like even Lu's got an old man's body," he thought, his mind racing. "But beats me. How old am I? Considering how I have 9 tails, I must at least be 1000 years old, right?"
While Yetao was lost in these troubling thoughts, Barcode waited patiently for an answer, his expression growing more concerned with each passing second.
"I don't know," Yetao finally admitted, his face falling into lines of genuine sadness.
Barcode's expression softened with understanding. "Oh yes, Jeff gege said you don't remember anything," he sighed sympathetically.
"Seems like the Wolf lord really liked you since he said you could call him that," Barcode continued thoughtfully. "He closed his heart ever since his mom abandoned him. It's good that he's feeling better around you."
As he spoke, Barcode's own face took on a melancholy cast, shadows of old pain darkening his eyes, hinting at stories and wounds that Yetao knew nothing about in this unfamiliar world.
Yetao was concerned about Lucas's back story that he pushed, "Why do you say that?" with a curious expression.
Barcode deeply sighed, his eyes taking on a distant look as if peering into the past. "You know Jeff gege's mom right? Wolf lord's mom is her sister," he confessed.
"What?" The revelation struck Yetao with unexpected force, his eyes widening in shock.
Barcode nodded, continuing the tale. "She loved an immortal and left the demon realm. My mom said when everyone opposed her, Jeff gege's mom was the only person who stood by her side. When she was sentenced to death for the crime of falling for an immortal, Jeff gege's mom helped her to achieve her happiness by making her escape." A small, sad smile touched Barcode's lips at the memory of such loyalty.
"Falling for an immortal is a crime? No wonder all the fantasy series I watched had sad endings", Yetao thought.
"Wolf lord's mom hated everyone except her sister since the incident. But when she lost her sister too, she almost lost her sanity. She only calmed down since she had to protect Jeff gege and her clan members. That's why she sacrificed her own son in this realm," Barcode hesitated, his voice dropping lower as his face clouded with sorrow.
"Sacrificed?" Yetao repeated, confusion and concern mingling in his voice.
"She wanted her second son to inherit the next Wolf lord's position since they didn't have a brother. Jeff gege's mom handled her father's wrath when she was alive, but after she passed away, he almost waged a war against Black dragon palace. A war without a possibility for their win. The previous black dragon was considered to be the strongest demon next to our demon lord."
Yetao fell silent, processing this tangled web of family politics and personal tragedies. His brow furrowed as he tried to make sense of it all.
"So Lucas's mom left him alone in this realm?" he asked finally. "Why didn't she leave her first son? He would've been matured at the time, right?"
Barcode shook his head gently, his expression somber. "Fate doesn't bend its way for us, Yetao. When everything happened, the Wolf lord was only 6 years old, I admit. But the Phoenix lord(Oscar) was already ordained at that time as her elder son. Her only choice was Lucas."
The weight of the story settled between them in the quiet corridor. Yetao's heart ached for the young child, caught in the crossfire of adult conflicts and political machinations. Six years old—just a child—suddenly separated from his family and thrust into a different world from his parents without explanation or choice.
"That's why it's significant that he seems comfortable with you," Barcode added softly. "I know it may be a memory from everyone's forgotten past. But that's not the case for me. I watched him struggling to grow up until recently. Even though I have not lived the past 500 years, I've heard he was still cold and distant to everyone like he did in the past while preparing for the ceremony. But with you..." He left the observation unfinished, letting Yetao draw his own conclusions.
Yetao understood why Barcode thinks that.
But Yetao was also curious about the so-called demon lord that everyone talks about. "Barcode, you said the most powerful one is the demon lord, right? Where is he now?" Yetao asked, his curiosity evident.
"Oh..." Barcode's eyes drifted upward in thought. "Our demon lord is currently in a deep slumber under the ocean. No one knows when he will wake up. My mom used to say he'll wake up when the immortals are endangering the demon realm. But I don't know if that's true or just a theory." He forced a smile and scratched his head, clearly uncertain about the mythology.
Yetao wanted to ask more about this mysterious figure, but his desire to see Lucas won out. He politely ended the conversation with Barcode and hurried down the corridor, his steps quickening with anticipation.
He turned the corner and froze. There, just outside Lucas's chamber, stood Lucas and Bambam. The atmosphere between them crackled with tension, their rigid postures suggesting a confrontation barely held in check.
Yetao instinctively stepped back, contemplating whether to hide and eavesdrop on their conversation. Before he could decide, Lucas looked up, spotted him, and waved.
With his cover blown, Yetao offered a small smile and started walking toward them. Before he could reach them, Lucas strode forward and grabbed his hand, the gesture both possessive and protective.
Yetao blinked in surprise at this sudden display of affection. Lucas had never been so openly clingy before, and the warmth of his hand sent an unexpected flutter through Yetao's chest.
Bambam watched the interaction with narrowed eyes, his jaw visibly tightening. Then, with deliberate slowness, he moved forward and captured Yetao's other hand in his grip.
"You want Oscar's heart feather right? Come with me," Bambam stated, his voice leaving no room for argument.
Yetao flinched at Bambam's touch, the memory of his passionate confession by the bridge replaying in his mind like an echo chamber. The intensity of it made Yetao pull both his hands free, stepping back from the two men.
"Do you even know how to get it?", Lucas asked with suspicion.
Undeterred, Bambam reached for him again. "I can just kill him and take the feather. He can revive even after that since he's a phoenix," he said with disturbing casualness.
Lucas's eyes widened at the cold-blooded suggestion. "No," he countered firmly, reclaiming Yetao's hand. "I'll ask him myself since he's my brother."
"You?" Bambam scoffed, his voice sharp with disdain. "How do you plan to ask him when YOU are not even his real brother? You already acted suspicious being close to Taotao yesterday. Now, you're telling me you can ask about a family secret out of the blue? You'll only make him more suspicious since the original Wolf lord might already know how to obtain the heart feather."
Lucas faltered momentarily, the logic in Bambam's argument hitting its mark. But he recovered quickly, his grip on Yetao's hand remaining firm.
"Then we can think of another plan. But killing Oscar is stupidity. Just because he can revive doesn't mean that it hurts less to die," Lucas insisted, his moral compass clearly drawing a line Bambam was willing to cross.
The two men glared at each other, almost visible sparks of animosity passing between them. Caught in the middle of their power struggle, Yetao's discomfort grew until he let out a groan of pain.
The sound immediately broke through their standoff. Both men released his hands swiftly, identical looks of concern replacing their hostility as they realized they'd been hurting him in their attempt to claim him.
"Sorry," they murmured in unison, then glared at each other again for the coincidence.
Yetao rubbed his wrists, looking from one to the other with exasperation. "We need to work together on this," he said firmly. "And without causing any unnecessary pain to anyone—including Oscar."
As Yetao was lifting his sleeves to rub his wrists, Lucas gasped. A strange mark on Yetao's skin had begun to glow with golden light. Lucas immediately grabbed his hand again, making Yetao bristle with annoyance.
"What are you—" Yetao began to protest, but the words died in his throat as he too noticed the luminous symbol etched into his skin. The light pulsed rhythmically, like a heartbeat.
"Yetao, what is this?" Lucas's voice was tense with concern as the glow intensified, transitioning from a warm gold to an alarming crimson.
Panic flashed in Yetao's eyes. "This.... how....," he was confused too, staring at his own arm as if it had betrayed him.
"Could it be since he's from the wolf tribe? But it didn't glow like this when Jeff gege's mom or Barcode held it. It looks kind of dangerous now", Yetao panicked in his thoughts.
Bambam stepped forward, attempting to pull Yetao away from Lucas, but found his efforts futile. It was as if an invisible force had bound their hands together, making separation impossible.
"There is no way then," Bambam muttered, his expression hardening with resolve. "I'll just cut off your arms." He drew his sword with practiced efficiency, the blade glinting in the morning light against Lucas's hand.
The glow from Yetao's mark grew blindingly bright, radiating heat that Lucas could feel searing through his palm. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he tried to maintain his grip despite the pain.
Bambam hesitated, his sword poised mid-air. Something in the energy's pattern made him reconsider his drastic solution. He sheathed his weapon and instead reached out to place his hand over the spot where Lucas held Yetao, attempting to neutralize the mysterious force.
The moment his fingers made contact, the air around them shimmered and distorted. A tear in reality opened before them—a swirling vortex of light and darkness that seemed to bend the very fabric of space.
"What's happening?" Yetao cried out, but his voice sounded distant, as if coming from underwater.
Before any of them could react further, the vortex expanded, enveloping the three men in its irresistible pull. One moment they stood in the palace corridor, the next they were gone—vanished completely as if they had never been there at all.
A palace servant turning the corner witnessed the last seconds of their disappearance. Her eyes widened in horror, her tray of morning tea clattering to the floor as she turned and fled, desperate to alert the palace lord of the impossible event she had just witnessed.
Meanwhile, in a place far from where he was moments ago, Yetao awoke with a violent gasp. His lungs burned as he gulped down air, his eyes darting wildly as he tried to make sense of his surroundings.
The familiar earthy scent of moss and damp stone filled his nostrils. Low ceiling, worn sleeping mats, carefully arranged herbs hanging to dry from crude wooden beams—he recognized it all. This was the fox cave where he had spent his first few days in this world, under the watchful eye of his aunt.
Yetao tried to push himself up on trembling arms, his mind racing. How had he returned here? And more importantly, where were Lucas and Bambam?
Consciousness returned to Yetao with brutal abruptness. He awoke with a violent gasp, his lungs burning as though he'd been submerged underwater. Disoriented, he blinked rapidly, recognizing the familiar earthen walls of his fox cave where he spent his initial days of this world under the watchful eyes of his aunt.
Yetao tried to push himself up on trembling arms, his mind racing. How had he returned here? And more importantly, where were Lucas and Bambam?
Yet as the initial shock subsided, terror bloomed anew. Though fully conscious, Yetao discovered with mounting horror that his body was no longer his to command. His limbs moved with fluid precision, governed by some unseen will. When he attempted to cry out, his voice remained trapped within him, while his lips formed words not of his choosing.
"What's happening?", his mind screamed as panic surged through him like wildfire. He was a prisoner within his own flesh, helplessly watching as his body—now a stranger to him—rose and moved with purpose toward the mouth of the cave.
The disconnect between his thoughts and actions was absolute, as though some malevolent entity had claimed his physical form, leaving only his consciousness intact to witness the violation.