novelraw Chapter 312: It’s Him
Chapter 312: It’s Him
His massive fleshy wings unfurled behind Su Zhan, whipping up dust and fallen leaves from the ground.
With a powerful beat of his wings, his figure shot skyward.
He vanished into the thick night and the cloud layer, disappearing from sight.
The sound of air being torn apart completely dissipated into the night wind.
Feng Jue and the other two slowly regained their senses.
They exchanged glances, each seeing the same towering waves of shock reflected in the other's eyes.
Liu Ziming's mouth opened and closed. "Just now... that was..."
Xu Hao's voice trembled. "The scales... the voice... and Teacher Wang's deliberate guidance... all of it..."
Feng Jue gazed up at the night sky where Su Zhan had vanished, complex emotions churning in his cold, sharp eyes.
He remained silent for a long time before speaking in a low voice. "It was him."The three of them stood frozen in place.
Their gazes, without exception, were fixed unwaveringly on the patch of night sky where Su Zhan had disappeared.
What replayed in their minds wasn't the fight from moments ago, but the figure of that Aberrant.
And the eyes, filled with far too many complex emotions, as he departed in the end.
Back when Qin Bai had laid out piece after piece of indirect evidence pointing to Su Zhan possibly being an Aberrant, they had heard it, they had considered it.
Those seemingly coincidental timings of Mist events, those difficult-to-explain details from several missions... How could they have chosen to completely disbelieve all these suspicious points?
But they had chosen silence. They had chosen trust.
This trust did not stem from blind friendship.
On the contrary, it was precisely built upon a profound understanding forged through shared life and death.
They understood Su Zhan's character better than anyone.
Deep in their hearts, they had long ago connected Su Zhan with an even more earth-shattering suspicion.
That unknown Aberrant who had appeared multiple times in desperate situations, saving them from perilous waters and blazing fires—it was very likely Su Zhan.
When the proposition "Su Zhan might be an Aberrant" and the fact "that benefactor who saved us might be Su Zhan" were placed before them, their choice went without saying.
The world's rules told them Aberrants and humans were irreconcilable enemies, but their personal experiences told them Su Zhan had never harmed them, instead pulling them back from the brink of death time and again.
This trust, which transcended racial stances, made them willingly stand on the opposite side from Qin Bai, stand on Su Zhan's side.
And during that turbulent week before Su Zhan's disappearance, Qin Bai had brazenly detained him.
If not for receiving orders from higher-ups, how could they have moved against Su Zhan, who was at the peak of his fame at Vermilion Bird Academy at the time, based on mere indirect evidence?
Back then, Teacher Wang Mingyuan had also given them hints.
Until tonight.
Until they witnessed with their own eyes those familiar scales manifesting on that figure.
Sensed that familiar aura.
Heard his clear, resonant voice.
Combined with the oddity of Teacher Wang Mingyuan guiding them to take on this mission, and the face on the "Chen Qing" wanted notice that vaguely echoed Su Zhan's former outline...
All the clues, all the suspicious points, all the suspicions, at this moment, formed a complete chain of truth.
Their former captain, Su Zhan, was not only an Aberrant, but also that guardian who had saved them multiple times.
His disappearance was a brutal flight following the exposure of his identity.
And they, just moments ago, had almost, in ignorance of the truth, faced off in a life-or-death struggle against the person they had been desperately searching for.
After the immense shock came a pang of sorrow.
They couldn't imagine how, for over two years, Su Zhan had shouldered such a secret alone, struggling to survive under the dual pursuit of the Aberrant Purge Division and the Transcendence Society.
How many unknown wounds and pains were hidden beneath that seemingly effortless evasion of his just now?
A long time passed.
Feng Jue slowly lowered his head, looking at the Startling Swan Sword in his hand that had been pointed at Su Zhan. "We have to help him."
Liu Ziming roughly wiped his face, forcing back the moisture welling in his eyes. "Right! This time, no one will take him away from us again, screw the Aberrant Purge Division, screw the wanted notices!"
"The direction he left in was towards Black City. The situation there is complex;
it's our chance."
Xu Hao added.
Under the night sky, the hearts of the three young men were tightly bound together.
The mists of the past had been parted, but the road ahead remained strewn with thorns.
Yet their goal had never been clearer.
Find Su Zhan, stand by his side, whether the path ahead leads through mountains of blades and seas of fire, or pits them against the entire world.
On the other side.
Wings tearing through the night sky, icy currents of air buffeting his face.
Su Zhan's heart burned.
The complex emotions in their eyes were etched into his mind.
They... had recognized him.
This thought carried a stinging pain, but also a sense of release.
He was acutely aware of the uniqueness of his identity—a former genius hailed as the hope of Vermilion Bird Academy, who was in reality a lurking Aberrant.
If this truth were made public, it wouldn't just mean the collapse of his own life;
it would be a massive shock to the stability of Daxia.
The Aberrant Purge Division, the higher-ups, would never allow such a scandal and threat to exist.
It would be utter catastrophe...
Therefore, the best method was to silence them.
With his High-risk peak strength, even in his current less-than-optimal state, he was confident that by paying some price, he could permanently eliminate the three former comrades below, who were only at the early Tide Realm.
That way, the secret could be temporarily preserved, and his path of escape would have far fewer potential threats.
This was the choice most aligned with survival logic.
But he couldn't do it.
It was two years ago when Qin Bai had laid out evidence piece by piece.
That evidence wasn't baseless;
it was highly suggestive. Given their intelligence, how could they not have suspected?
Yet they had chosen silence. They had chosen to argue vehemently on his behalf when he was detained. They had chosen to continue remembering him, unable to forget, after his disappearance.
They had used their actions to make their stance clear.
Whatever he was, he was Su Zhan, their captain.
This trust, which transcended the divide between races, had been, at that time, a faint glimmer of light he felt amidst deep despair.
Over two years had passed...
Time was the most merciless diluent.
Over two years of no news was enough to let even the deepest friendship gather dust, to blur even the clearest memories.
He had long been psychologically prepared to be forgotten.
He could have used this "Chen Qing" identity to completely turn this chance encounter into a life-or-death conflict, using the most resolute method to sever the past and preserve himself.
But, just moments ago, when he revealed his scales and shot into the sky...
He had seen it.
Seen the complex emotions in his teammates' eyes.
Within those gazes, there was no disgust, no fear, no killing intent.
What was there was familiarity, sudden realization, the joy of finding something lost, and worry.
They... still chose to believe in him.
He couldn't raise a butcher's blade against his own brothers, even if it concerned his own life and death.
Therefore, he chose to believe in this trust.
He abandoned the safest choice, staking his own safety on this bond of camaraderie.
When Su Zhan spread his wings, he didn't dive towards them. Instead, he turned his back to them, flying towards the unknown darkness, leaving his back completely exposed to them.
This was both a resolute farewell and a silent entrustment.
He left the truth with them, and also handed the choice to them.
To report him? To pursue him? Or to remain silent?
He didn't know the answer, but he was willing to gamble.
To gamble that they were still those brothers from two years ago, the ones he could entrust his life to.