Runes • Rifles • Reincarnation

93. Phoenix City

Jin Shu walked through the shimmering blue void of the slipspace, a child on his head, a person clinging to his back and two others holding his hands.

If anyone could see them, it would be a ridiculous sight—but luckily, they were alone in this space.

“Wow! So pretty!” Yin’er exclaimed from atop his head.

She reached out, trying to grab a floating mote of light that shimmered like blue starlight, only for her fingers to pass right through.

“Aww, I can't touch it.” She pouted.

“You need control over the Water element to interact with anything here,” Jin Shu explained.

Biyu, eyes filled with curiosity, glanced around. “How does this work?”

“You mean this dimension?” Jin Shu clarified before continuing. “I don’t know why or how it exists. All I know is that you need Wind to open a doorway here and Water to move through it.”

“It feels like we’re just walking, how is this faster than normal?” she asked.

“We are walking at normal speed,” he said. “But each step here is equal to about a dozen steps outside. Also, time feels different here—an hour passing here would feel like just a second outside.”

“Really? How does that even work?” Tian Li asked, frowning.

Jin Shu instinctively tried to shake his head—only to nearly knock Yin’er off. Instead, he settled for a shrug. “No clue.”

“Hmm… didn’t you say the aunt from your… other life taught you?” she pressed.

“Yep, she invented this technique—Ripple Walk, she called it.”

“What’s it like?” Li Xue suddenly whispered into his ear.

He flinched at the unexpected closeness. “What’s what like?”

“Having memories of past lives.”

Jin Shu hesitated, then said, “Confusing… but oddly comforting.”

“How so?” Biyu asked, momentarily tearing her attention away from the scenery to look at him.

“It’s like…” He

Jin Shu sighed and walked away.

“…What did I expect from an idiot?”

“Who are you calling an idiot?!”

“Oh… did I say that out loud?” he asked, utterly monotone and insincere.

Li Xue shot forward, aiming a kick at his back, but Jin Shu had been expecting it. Sensing the attack with the Wind element, he coated his back in a barrier of air, deflecting her foot to the side.

She reacted instantly, spinning mid-step to redirect the momentum into a second kick—this time aimed at his other side.

Rather than blocking again, Jin Shu caught her calf and yanked her toward him.

She gasped, trying to regain her balance, but she had been caught off guard. With a startled yelp, she tumbled straight into his arms.

For a moment, he considered giving her another kiss to distract her, but… no. Better to ration those out. A reward system would be far more effective in the long run.

After all, he needed a way to keep each of them in check.

As bad as that sounded, he reasoned that if he didn’t have countermeasures, they would eventually find ways to overpower him instead. So, it was only fair.

…That said, he still wasn’t sure what Biyu’s weakness was.

Setting that thought aside for later, he gently patted Li Xue’s head and leaned down to whisper in her ear.

“Be good, and I’ll give you a reward later.”

She shuddered in his arms, blushing furiously as she nodded up and down like a chick pecking at rice.

“I like this voice the most,” she mumbled, gazing up at him with large, watery eyes. “Can you keep it?”

He paused.

Right… his voice was currently altered by the talisman he was using for his disguise. Since he couldn’t hear the change himself, he made a mental note to check it later.

“We’ll see,” he said, releasing her and walking off to catch up with the others—Li Xue following a step behind.

As he walked, his gaze flicked up to the bold, fiery calligraphy above the city gates—Phoenix City.

A strange premonition settled over him.

Many things were bound to happen during their time in this small city.

Whether they’d be good or bad… he had no idea.

But knowing his luck? Probably both.