Ruan Xing didn't even have time to react. The sudden darkness around him threw off his senses, making it impossible to focus. It was only after about ten seconds that shapes finally began to form in his vision.

What he saw felt like a sea of trees. Light brown and deep green leaves wove together into a thick, airtight blanket.

Right now, he was being held tightly in someone's arms. The man's brows were furrowed, and his grip was so firm it was almost suffocating. That alone showed just how strong he was.

A pitch-black blade appeared in front of him, pressing against that leafy layer.

At that moment, the man holding him had his arm tense, wrist taut, and as he moved the blade, it followed a strange rhythm, almost like it was playing a melody. The movement tore through the darkness like slicing open the night sky. Moonlight poured down in silvery beams, flooding the enclosed space with brightness.

They looked just like butterflies breaking free from a cocoon, returning to the world once more.

Moonlight spilled across both of them. The man's short hair lifted slightly in the wind, and his jawline was sharp and defined.

Ruan Xing stared blankly for a moment.

His brain was still stuck in the nighttime illusion. When he saw Fu Zhi, he instinctively overlapped him with another figure.

"You're still alive?"

Ruan Xing asked, a hint of surprise slipping into his voice even before he noticed it himself.

Those icy blue eyes looked at him with a soft smile. "Yeah, I'm still alive."

Ruan Xing tried to reach out, but realized he couldn't move. His gem-like eyes were instantly filled with panic.

Wait… was something wrong with his head? This was the real world, and he was still stuck in that puffball form! And he had just spoken out loud! Fu Zhi definitely heard it. Would he think he was a pollutant?

The little puffball's face changed dramatically.

Fu Gui yelled, "Run! That monster is coming!"

A noise followed, not quite human, not quite beast. It sounded more like the sharp, grating screech of crushed twigs being pressed together. A creaking sound that makes teeth ache.

Ruan Xing focused his vision and saw a massive arm rolling toward him. The arm was made up of countless plants twisted together, forming the shape of a giant hand reaching in his direction.

Neither of them had time to speak. Fu Zhi stuffed Ruan Xing into his coat pocket, and this time he fastened the button. Then he raised the hilt of his blade again, and dark marks began to appear on the handle.

The pollutant clearly recognized the danger of those black flames and quickly backed off. The massive hand, made of vines, collapsed easily, falling apart and unraveling back into tangled roots that writhed across the ground.

Fu Gui shouted, "Now's the time!"

Fu Zhi leapt out of the encirclement and stepped onto the highest vine. The vines bucked and twisted with all their might, but they couldn't shake him off.

Shwaa!

The blade swung down. The thickest vine was chopped cleanly and dropped with a thud, its pale green leaves still twitching like the limb of a giant octopus.

The plants around them began retreating like a tide, one after another, disappearing back into the dense woods.

Fu Gui landed on Fu Zhi's shoulder. "What the hell happened just now? You two almost got eaten!"

Ruan Xing squeezed his squished little head out of the pocket. [We were stuck in an illusion!]

"We were?" Fu Gui immediately picked up on that.

"…I was," Ruan Xing answered, unsure if his guess was right.

Fu Gui narrowed his bird eyes. "That guilty tone, don't tell me you had another bird in that illusion behind my back?"

Ruan Xing: [No.]

Fu Zhi said, "You two seem to be chatting quite happily."

Fu Gui replied, "Of course—wait, huh? You knew we were talking?"

Fu Zhi smiled. "I don't understand, but I could tell."

Ruan Xing suddenly got nervous. He was afraid Fu Zhi might start asking questions. But the man didn't seem curious at all, leaving Ruan Xing both disappointed and relieved.

Fu Gui muttered, "Why do I get the feeling that Fu Zhi's acting weird? A moment ago, he looked like he had lost the love of his life, and now he looks like spring came early. Look at that grin, it's practically touching the sky."

Ruan Xing: [Really? I can't see it.]

Fu Gui tilted his head, looked at Fu Zhi, then at Ruan Xing. "You two are seriously strange."

Ruan Xing wriggled his way out of Fu Zhi's pocket and hopped onto the other shoulder. "I already told you. It's all in your head."

Fu Zhi didn't stop him. He just looked straight ahead at the plaza and pulled up the city's data.

"This place used to be an eco-city, world-famous for its greenery. The air quality ranked among the best on Earth. This plaza was famous too. It was the city's landmark."

"But eighty years ago, it wasn't like this." A projection appeared on his wristband, showing a barren city with barely any infrastructure. It looked like it was built on empty land.

"After the new mayor took office, everything changed in just a few years. By around five years before the apocalypse, the city had been transformed into what we see now."

Fu Zhi sounded like he was talking to himself.

Fu Gui mumbled that it felt way too late to be explaining things now. Why not say this when they first arrived? It almost felt like he was deliberately introducing the place to someone.

Ruan Xing looked ahead, silent.

Fu Zhi pulled up another image of the current city. Neatly organized infrastructure and lush green plants everywhere. Even through the screen, you could almost hear birds chirping and smell the flowers.

He didn't say what came next, but Ruan Xing already guessed.

After the transformation, the city drew worldwide attention. Environmental groups gave the mayor honorary awards. Cities everywhere wanted to replicate the success, but none could. That was how this place earned the nickname "The Green Miracle."

With all the attention came a flood of investment, especially into real estate. Rich people rushed in to buy property, the economy boomed, the city got even better, and more people moved in. A perfect cycle.

But alongside its fame… was another unsettling statistic of the city's stubbornly high rate of missing people. The year before the apocalypse, the number of disappearances even reached 50,000 in that year alone.

Ruan Xing gave Fu Gui a look. [Guide Fu Zhi, or he won't know which way to go.]

Fu Gui: [No way, he's doing just fine. We're already at the most polluted area.]

Ruan Xing paused. This plaza?

As if to confirm Fu Gui's words, rustling sounds came from the retreating plants.

Then came wave after wave of popping noises, the same sound Ruan Xing had just heard recently, the sound of trees "giving birth" to puppets.

Sure enough, one after another, puppets started crawling out of the trees. But unlike before, they were already in puppet form as soon as they appeared, as if they knew disguises were pointless now.

Ruan Xing suspected these might be the full population of puppets in this city. There were just too many, at least ten thousand.

One of the puppets opened its mouth and said, "Dad, I finally found you?"

Ruan Xing and Fu Gui both snapped their heads to look at Fu Zhi from left and right, giving him goosebumps.

As the only human here, Fu Zhi was the only one who could be called "Dad."

Fu Gui: [I knew it! These things latched onto us because Fu Zhi abandoned his kid!]

Ruan Xing: [Can you take this seriously?]

Fu Zhi's face turned serious. He slowly drew his sword.

Ruan Xing watched his stance carefully.

It looked exactly like the pose he took at the end of the illusion.

Fu Zhi said, "Fu Gui, take him up."

Fu Gui: "Aye aye, sir!"

To prevent Ruan Xing from falling into enemy hands again, Fu Gui squeezed with both feet, lifted him gently, and turned him into a round little water droplet, floating upward.

Fu Gui muttered, "You're heavy. Hey, in this form, do you even poop?"

Ruan Xing: "Shut. Up."

Fu Gui spread his wings and carried Ruan Xing high enough to see the whole plaza clearly.

As soon as Ruan Xing looked down, his expression changed.

"Look at the pattern in the plaza, it's strange."

Fu Gui said, "Looks okay to me. From up here, even though it is a bit messy, it feels like it's holding some kind of power."

Ruan Xing narrowed his jewel-green eyes, staring intently at the pattern below.

"No doubt, this is a sacrificial ritual."

Fu Gui almost dropped him. "What?!"

"This world should have legends too, right? Like sacrificing people to demons to get something in return."

Fu Gui said, "Yeah, in stories. But I never actually did it, though."

"This whole plaza is a sacrificial array. Those missing people probably disappeared around here."

And if it really was a ritual, then it made perfect sense that tens of thousands went missing every year.

Suddenly, an explosive rumble came from below. A massive wave of polluted energy burst upward.

Ruan Xing looked down. The place where the puppets had been was now completely cleared out.

Something was trying to push its way up. Leaves spun rapidly along the ground, forming a huge vortex that stretched all the way into the sky.

Fu Zhi's movements froze for a second. The wind swept toward Ruan Xing, and his round, plush body suddenly felt rigid, like all elasticity had drained away.

Even blinking, he could feel the skin around his eyelids being pulled tight.

Fu Gui screamed, "I can't feel my feet! My legs are gone!"

His legs were not actually gone. They had just gone stiff, like they lost their "vitality."

Whatever was coming… its very presence was causing every living creature nearby to start turning into wood.

Ruan Xing locked his gaze on the center of the vortex. A towering figure emerged, thirty or forty meters tall. Every step it took made the ground tremble.

That figure looked way too familiar. It was the one who had walked alongside "Ruan Xing" through the first twenty years of his life, all the way until death.

Fu Zhi looked up. They could not meet eyes, but Ruan Xing was sure Fu Zhi was staring straight at him.

He had recognized that figure, too.

Ruan Xing's father. Ruan Zhi.

A strong jawline, stubble on the chin, crow's feet at the eyes, and a cigarette often tucked behind one ear. Aside from the oversized body, he looked almost identical to the real Ruan Zhi.

Ruan Xing had no memories of this man. But he had seen pictures. And now, looking at that enormous puppet in front of him, he felt a mess of emotions bubbling inside.

"Ruan Xing, why are you occupying my son's body?" the massive figure asked.