It didn't matter how many people died.
But there wasn't enough time.
He could only bring him here.
Shen Xun bit down on his folding knife. Pressing both hands against the ground, he slid his entire body close to the floor beneath the bottom of the storage tank. The cold fog was the perfect cover; his movements made no sound at all.
He bypassed White Sparrow's blind spot and circled to the other side of the tank.
The young man raised his hand, thrusting cleanly toward White Sparrow.
White Sparrow laughed at his overconfidence, dodging with ease. With a backhanded slash, the blade swept just below Shen Xun's collarbone, slicing open a gash deep enough to show bone.
Seeing his sneak attack fail, Shen Xun used the momentum of his opponent's backhand to step back, his fingers brushing against a metal valve.
The piping diagram he had seen flashed rapidly through his mind.
If the shut-off valve was fully opened, liquid nitrogen would pour into the adjacent drain pipe, and that drain pipe led directly to the reactor beneath the rooftop.
So, what exactly would happen?
The answer was a highly probable explosion.
Shen Xun didn't hesitate. Wrapping his hand in his school uniform jacket, he forcefully twisted the shut-off valve open.
Liquid nitrogen surged out from the drain pipe.
The outlet of the drain pipe aimed directly at the top of the reactor, and the ultra-low temperature liquid poured in along the walls of the pipe.
Meanwhile, the wall of fire Shen Xun had left behind was baking the outer wall of the reactor with intense heat, while inside sat a large amount of tetrahydrofuran solvent and unknown chemicals.
The temperature had long since approached the boiling point.
A few seconds later, there was a muffled burst.
The entire building shuddered.
White Sparrow's expression changed.
He wasn't entirely sure what had just happened, but he knew they couldn't stay here much longer.
White Sparrow weighed his options for a moment. He still wanted to kill this boy; he wanted to see that woman suffer.
He didn't want to let him escape for nothing. After alerting the enemy, he wouldn't find a second chance.
The man's speaking pace quickened. Looking toward where Shen Xun was hiding, he tried to bait him into speaking to pinpoint his location: "What is your codename?"
"Zero." Hiding in the cold fog, Shen Xun's voice was very light as he answered, "Return to Zero."
Initially, he had wanted to be called Hotdog, but Shen Sigui shot that down and chose Zero for him. Later, Shen Yi felt the word was a bit ambiguous and added the word Return to it.
Hidden in the cold fog, Shen Xun was also trying to use the conversation to stall for a little more time.
He couldn't let this White Sparrow get out.
He couldn't let him kill him and then turn around to go after Shen Yi.
Given White Sparrow's ruthlessness, Shen Yi would absolutely die.
"You've killed a lot of people, haven't you." White Sparrow searched for his position.
This boy's reflexes were far too sharp.
His patience was running out.
"You must really like that sister of yours?" White Sparrow said slowly. "But a soulless killer like you actually has someone you care about? Then haven't you ever considered that other people have important ones too?"
"Like?" Shen Xun hid less than two meters away from him, the wound below his collarbone still seeping blood.
"No," the youth's voice was very soft and flat, correcting this rather inaccurate definition. "I think I love her."
"As you said, I am a person with very little empathy."
He held no reverence for life. He never counted how much blood stained his hands, because those numbers held absolutely no weight for him.
He despised everyone except his family.
Shen Xun didn't even respect his own life.
Whether it was injury or death, he lacked even the most basic capacity to feel pain from them.
"But from the first day she came to our home, Mom told me to protect my little sister well." Shen Xun watched his gradually approaching movements, speaking so softly it was as if he were muttering to himself, "And I promised."
Yes.
Of course he would protect her.
Just give him a little time.
He would learn to be a good brother for her.
Even if he couldn't truly understand what the word love meant.
He would still sacrifice himself for her.
This was perhaps the only twisted way Shen Xun knew how to express love.
"You really aren't afraid of death, are you." White Sparrow's voice suddenly closed in, his blade piercing through the cold fog. "Planning to leave any last words?"
"No,"
Shen Xun didn't dodge. He tilted his head back slightly, completely at peace, and even smiled. "I didn't plan on leaving here alive when I came, sir."
He backhandedly grabbed White Sparrow, dragging the man into the white fog.
Due to prolonged hypothermia, both of their movements were stiff and numb.
A mutually assured destruction fighting style, utilizing the terrain and every tool currently at his disposal, all to pave an absolutely safe path for Shen Yi.
As long as this meddlesome White Sparrow died.
Shen Xun could be completely certain that even if Shen Yi were cornered, she would be able to leave safely.
Therefore.
He had no last words.
Dying here was exactly what he wished for.
White Sparrow's expression turned cold. His entire body was also numb in the freezing fog, to the point where he could barely take a step.
Realizing what Shen Xun was trying to do, and seeing his own situation deteriorating, the man struggled fiercely to break free, immediately opting to slit this annoying brat's throat.
This strike was utterly merciless.
A bloody line was sliced across the skin of Shen Xun's neck. His body fell backward, his back hitting the cold, curved outer shell of the storage tank as he slowly slid down.
Blood flowed from the youth's neck, washing over his collarbone and pooling together.
The white fog on the rooftop surged, half-concealing him in the vast, freezing mist.
His vision began to black out in overlapping layers.
In his chaotic mind, only Shen Yi's name remained.
He wondered, once Shen Yi found out, how would she reminisce about their past together?
Would she think of the times he tied her hair for her?
Would she recall the whispered secrets they shared while huddled together as children?
Shen Yi once said that he was her best brother.
So, in her heart, would he always be that best brother from now on?
The life flashing before his eyes just before death made Shen Xun rarely recall even earlier memories.
The first time they met, Mom had said to him: "Family needs to be protected. You will protect your little sister well, won't you, Little Xun?"
Shen Xun looked at the little girl who was a head shorter than him.
He promised.
Saying, "Okay, Mom, I will protect my little sister."
At that time, Shen Xun didn't yet understand what protection was, much less what love was.
Being so young, he had never even considered that,
words once spoken became a lifelong commitment.
Through fading vision, Shen Xun silently murmured in his heart.
Mom.
I protected my little sister.
The sound of the reactor's second explosion finally rang out.
The wall of fire downstairs finally ignited the tetrahydrofuran vapor.
The tank could no longer withstand the frantically expanding gas inside and violently blew apart.
A massive fire engulfed everything, the crumbling structures collapsed, sealing a fate of mutual destruction.
It was over.
