The Bracelet Clue

"Another squad has located and destroyed a minor Demon-Beast entry point," Commander Cheng said, returning from the side, his expression grave.

"That's good news, isn't it?" Xu Dahuang's face broke into a grin.

"The squad was wiped out," Commander Cheng added quietly. "No survivors."

Xu Dahuang's grin died on his face.

The others opened their mouths and closed them again. Whatever lightness had flickered through the group was gone.

Demon-Beast entry points were always swarming with creatures. Breaking in might be manageable — but the moment you triggered a collapse, the noise would draw every furious Demon-Beast in the area, surrounding the squad in an instant. In fact, when selecting the team, Commander Cheng had made it perfectly clear: this mission was almost certainly a one-way trip.

"Move out," Commander Cheng said. "We should be close to Mingwen Girls' School."

"Right. Past this block of old buildings there's a student market street. Clear that and you'll see the school's front gate. Reports said the cafeteria had prolonged tremors — so the entry point is most likely underneath it." Xu Dahuang said.

Everyone nodded and fell back into formation, following Xu Dahuang's lead.

They ran into a few troublesome Demon-Beasts along the way, but Commander Cheng dispatched each one quickly. An Intermediate-Level Mage was lethal against Servant-class Demon-Beasts — capable of dropping them in a single strike — and the squad maintained a brisk pace.

"Help!! Help— *someone, please help me—*"

Just as they moved forward, a desperate scream split the air from somewhere down the street ahead.

Xu Dahuang started to react, but Commander Cheng stepped directly in front of him, cutting him off.

Xu Dahuang's face showed confusion; he was about to speak when Commander Cheng said flatly: "I made this clear before we left. Our mission is to destroy the Demon-Beast entry point. No rescues along the way — not even family. The only one here with a personal reason to save someone is Mo Fan. Everyone else needs to remember what they came to do."

Silence settled over the group.

They were all Military Mages. Obedience was the job. So no matter how agonized the screaming became from around that corner, all they could do was stand there and clench their teeth.

A jolt of shock ran through Mo Fan.

But he thought it through, and the brutal logic became clear. Stop for one person, and this squad became a rescue team. Drag civilians along, and they'd never break through to the entry point. Every additional minute that entry point stayed open meant dozens more deaths. They had no choice — even if a single outstretched hand could save the person screaming around that corner, they weren't allowed to reach out.

After roughly two minutes, the screaming stopped.

A moment later, instructor Luo Yunbo rejoined the group. "Demon-Beasts have moved on," he reported to Commander Cheng. "We can advance."

Luo Yunbo had watched it happen with his own eyes. His face was pale and tight — it was obvious that every instinct in him had wanted to intervene, and only the mission had held him back.

The street ahead was reasonably wide and empty of traffic, but the sight of several blood-soaked bodies strewn across the asphalt sent a crawl of dread up the spine. These people hadn't been dead long.

A few steps in, a heavyset man lay sprawled facedown, reeking of filth.

He wasn't quite dead. His eyes were open, and with tremendous, grinding effort he was trying to lift his head to look at the squad.

His eyes were full of fury and bewilderment.

As he'd dragged himself here through his own blood, the glass of a nearby building had thrown back a clear reflection — a squad of Mages, right there. He'd screamed for them. Screamed himself hoarse, hoping those Mages would come.

But when the Demon-Beasts bit through both his legs, the Mages hadn't moved. When the creatures began devouring him from the waist down, those conscienceless bastards had stood there without flinching…

Now, as the Military Mages filed past him, he spent his last scrap of strength to grab the trouser leg of one of them. He wanted to demand an answer — to scream at these bastards: *Why? Why did you leave me to die?!*

Pan Lijun paused half a step. She glanced down at the man clinging to life by a thread — and her eyes held nothing at all.

The next second, she walked on.

None of them looked back. They kept moving.

A few steps further, more bodies — faces mutilated beyond recognition.

Near the center of the road, the Military Mages — each battling their own silent conscience — spotted a woman's body slumped by a storm drain. Her throat had been torn open by a Giant-Eyed Ape-Rat.

"They must have tried to escape through the drainage tunnels," Luo Yunbo murmured. "And then..."

"The sewers are Giant-Eyed Ape-Rat territory." Xu Dahuang shook his head helplessly. "Going down there was a death sentence."

The sewers were the very last place anyone should have gone — they were how the Demon-Beasts had spread through Bo City's underground network to every district in the city.

"Move on," Commander Cheng said, his voice stripped of feeling. "The longer that entry point stands, the more people die."

The others nodded.

Mo Fan started to follow — and stopped dead.

His gaze had locked onto the dead woman's wrist. He'd never seen her before in his life — but the bracelet on her arm stopped his heart.

It was the DIY bracelet he and Ye Xinxia had made together on her sixteenth birthday, the day they'd wandered through the student market street. You picked your own beads and threaded them onto the string yourself — and out of every bead on that bracelet, exactly one ugly black bead was his: the single bead he'd actually managed to get on the string.

Other couples split the work evenly, each threading half. Mo Fan, clumsy as ever, had fumbled for an embarrassingly long time before that one mismatched black bead finally went through. The result looked like someone had dropped a rat pellet into an otherwise pretty bracelet — but Xinxia had worn it happily every single day.

DIY bracelets were everywhere in that market, but that one black bead was unmistakable. This was absolutely the bracelet he and Ye Xinxia had "collaborated" on. So why was it on a stranger's wrist?

"Mo Fan?" Pan Lijun had turned back, eyeing him with a puzzled frown. "What's wrong?"

"I think I've found something." Mo Fan crouched and carefully removed the bracelet from the woman's wrist, turning it over in his hands — and the certainty solidified. "This woman is wearing my sister's bracelet."

"The fat man we passed had a Walmart logo on his back," Pan Lijun said. "These people must have come through the Walmart basement tunnels — ran into Ape-Rats partway and had to surface."

Mo Fan peered down into the storm drain. Two more bodies lay at the bottom. The reek of the sewer clung to the people above as well — they'd definitely come up from underground.

"There's only one Walmart in this area — in the basement level of Mingwen Shopping Plaza." Xu Dahuang knew the neighborhood well and said it without hesitation.

Until now, the search had felt like looking for a needle in the ocean. Mo Fan hadn't expected the world to hand him an actual lead.

He couldn't be sure Ye Xinxia was still in that supermarket — but at least now he had a direction. He wasn't flying blind anymore.

"Mo Fan." Commander Cheng's voice was firm. "You protected the Earth Sacred Spring — that counts for something. But it doesn't mean this squad delays its mission for your personal search. From here, you're on your own."

Mo Fan nodded. "Understood."

"Then good luck." Commander Cheng said nothing more and led the squad onward.

"Good luck to you all," Mo Fan said after them.