Chapter 174: Feixiao
The air in the small, dark cell was thick with the smell of unwashed bodies, rust, and a faint, coppery tang of old blood. It was a suffocating, hopeless atmosphere.
You instinctively shielded Jiang Li, your hand still on your hidden dagger, your body tensed. These two girls were not allies. They were survivors. In a place like this, survival meant betraying others for an extra ration, killing for a warmer scrap of cloth. Your cold, pragmatic mind, the mind of an adult trapped in a child's body, saw them only as threats.
Jiang Li, still trembling, was a liability. Her innocence was a beacon for predators.
"Wait, Jiang Li..." You wanted to stop her, to hiss at her to stay quiet, to let you handle this. You would bargain, threaten, or, if necessary, use your new, terrifying power.
But it was too late.
Jiang Li, wiping the tears and grime from her face with a dirty sleeve, took a small, shaky step out from behind you. Her body was trembling, but she forced her shoulders straight.
My brother worked so hard to protect me... he knelt in our parents' blood... I need to be brave, too!
She stopped a few steps away from the two wary girls.
"Um... hello there," her voice was small, still thick with the remnants of her sobs, but she tried to sound friendly.
"My name is Jiang Li, and this is my brother... We were just brought here..." She gestured to the heavy iron door. "We ask for your kind care, big sisters!"
After speaking, she revealed a small, innocent smile. It was a wobbly, fragile expression. In the oppressive gloom of the slave pen, it was like a single, impossible candle flame being lit. It was suicidally honest.
The silver-haired girl, Saran, visibly recoiled. Her cold, appraising gaze shattered, replaced by sheer, unfiltered shock.
She had survived in this hellhole for who knows how long. She had seen smiles before—the cruel, mocking smiles of the Borisin guards, the deceitful, desperate smiles of other slaves right before they stuck a shiv in your back.
But this... this was different. This wasn't a smile of supplication or a mask of deceit. It was real. Terrifyingly real. There was no calculation, no angle, no hidden plea for protection. It was just... a greeting.
The sheer, idiotic, suicidal innocence of it left her speechless.
The black-haired girl behind her, Neergul, also poked her head out, her large, dark eyes wide with curiosity, observing Jiang Li as if she were a strange, new creature.
Seeing they didn't speak, Jiang Li's newfound courage faltered. She grew nervous but still extended her small, trembling hand.
"Can... can you be my friends?" she asked, the question so honest it was painful. "I didn't have many friends before, only my brother... But, I feel like I can become good friends with you! I really do!"
The silver-haired girl's gaze wavered. She looked at her companion, Neergul, whose eyes no longer held wariness, but that same open curiosity. The cold, hard front they had built against this world was cracking.
"You... aren't you afraid of us?" Saran finally asked, her voice rough, as if unused to kindness. "We could sell you out to the guards for an extra ration. Or worse."
"Why should I be afraid?" Jiang Li tilted her head, her innocence a shield. "You are also Foxians, like us." She pointed to her own white, fluffy ears, then at Saran's silver ones. "Precisely because this place is so scary, shouldn't we help each other?"
This simple, childish logic struck the two older girls like a physical blow. It was a truth so basic, so fundamental, that it had been completely buried under the daily, brutal struggle for survival. They were all Foxians. They were all slaves to the Borisin. Why were they enemies?
You watched this, stunned. Your sister's foolish bravery... it was actually working. It was disarming them in a way no threat or bargain ever could. This alliance... it was weak, built on a child's hope, but it was better than nothing.
The silver-haired girl was silent for a long, heavy moment. She stared at Jiang Li's outstretched hand, at the dirt under her nails, at the tremor she was trying so hard to hide. This wasn't a trap.
Slowly, as if lifting a great weight, she reached out and grasped Jiang Li's hand. Her grip was firm, her palm calloused.
"My name is Saran." She pointed to the girl behind her, who now stepped forward fully. "This is Neergul. She... doesn't talk much."
"Big Sister Saran! Big Sister Neergul!" Jiang Li's face lit up, her smile returning, bright and genuine this time. "This is great! I made new friends!"
Watching his sister, you were a bit surprised. Normally, she was very shy, always hiding behind you. But today, she mustered her courage. She was also trying hard to survive, in her own way.
"Brother!" Jiang Li turned to you excitedly, pulling you forward by the hand. "Come and meet our new friends!"
You let out a quiet sigh, the tension leaving your shoulders. You walked forward, the heavy, barbed 'Breaker' collar around your neck feeling cold and demeaning. You gave a stiff, formal bow.
"Hello. I am her brother, Orion. Please take care of us."
Saran observed you, her sharp green gaze lingering on the collar. "You're also a battle slave?" she asked, her voice flat.
[Inorin's Note: A 'Breaker' collar is a device used by the Borisin to control slaves destined for gladiatorial combat, often equipped with disciplinary mechanisms like neuro-shocks.]
"Yes." At this moment, as you looked closer, you noticed the faint outline of an identical, tarnished metal ring hidden beneath the high, ragged collar of her own tunic. You realized she was the same.
"...You'll die," she said bluntly. It wasn't a threat, but a simple, cold statement of fact. "The survival rate for new battle slaves is almost zero. They break us for sport."
"I know," you replied calmly. "But it's better than letting my sister go to her death."
Saran and Neergul fell silent. They looked at your calm, 8-year-old face, then at the bright, naive Jiang Li, and they finally, completely understood. They understood the kneeling in blood. They understood the submission to the Borisin leader. They understood the collar.
This boy had traded his own life and pride for his sister's.
"You two siblings... have such a good relationship," Saran said, the ice in her voice completely gone, replaced by a grudging, pained respect.
Neergul, the quiet one, spoke for the first time, her voice barely a whisper. "Um... are you from a Celestial Ark?"
[Inorin's Note: "Celestial Ark" (Xianzhou) is the common term used by many in the universe to refer to the massive, city-like flagships of the Xianzhou Alliance.]
"Yes! Our hometown is the Fanghu!" Jiang Li nodded enthusiastically, her spirits lifting. "It's so beautiful! There are palaces that float in the sky, and star-skiffs that fly like schools of fish, and... and the medical commission is the best in the universe!"
She began to chatter, describing the wonders of the Xianzhou, a place that now seemed a million light-years away.
Saran and Neergul listened intently, captivated. Their eyes, once dull with despair, now held a faint, painful light of yearning. To them, the Xianzhou Alliance wasn't just a place. It was a legend. A paradise they could never reach.
"Escape..." Saran gave a bitter laugh, the sound ugly and sharp. It shattered the fragile, hopeful atmosphere Jiang Li had built. "Child, do you know how many have tried?"
Her voice dropped, filled with a cold, hard memory. "Do you know how high the walls are? Do you know how many bodies I've seen hung from the city gates to dry, left as a warning?"
The atmosphere immediately became heavy again.
But Jiang Li, with her impossible, stubborn hope, wasn't scared. She tightened her grip on Saran's hand.
"Then we'll figure it out together!" she insisted, her small voice ringing with a strange certainty. "Four people are better than one! Big Sister Saran and Big Sister Neergul, plus me and my brother... we'll definitely find a way!"
Looking at Jiang Li's eyes, full of absolute, unwavering trust and hope, Saran was stunned. In this place where trust meant betrayal, where kindness was a weakness to be exploited, this girl she had known for less than 15 minutes... trusted her. Completely.
"You... you idiot..." Saran's voice choked, and she roughly wiped her own eyes. "In a place like this, being so naive will get you killed faster than anything..."
"Then let's just get stronger together so we don't get killed!" Jiang Li declared with a brilliant smile, as if it were the simplest thing in the world. "Big Sister Saran protects Big Sister Neergul, Brother protects me, and then we all protect each other! That way, no one will die!"
This simple, childish declaration silenced the other three.
In this dark, hopeless place, if there wasn't even this single, foolish spark of hope, what was the point of drawing another breath?
"Alright!" Saran suddenly pushed herself to her feet. The weariness and cynicism fell away from her like a shed skin. For the first time, a fire ignited in her green eyes—a fire of rebellion. "It's settled then! The four of us. We live. And we escape. Together!"
"Mm!" Neergul, inspired by her friend and this strange, hopeful girl, also bravely nodded, her small fists clenched.
"Of course," you said with a faint, genuine smile, adding your own quiet strength to their vow.
"This is great!" Jiang Li jumped up happily, her white tail wagging. "It's a promise! A pinky-promise!"
And so, in that small, dark prison cell, in the heart of the Borisin stronghold, four ill-fated Foxian children forged a bond.
Many years later, when the name "Feixiao"—Soaring Sky—echoed through the Xianzhou Alliance as a symbol of valor and an unyielding will, the Arbiter-General of the Yaoqing would often find herself staring into the void between stars.
She would remember this day.
She would remember the smell of blood and fear, and the impossible, brilliant smile of a little girl who had rebuilt her shattered world.
She would remember the courage to still choose hope, even in the deepest, darkest pit of despair.
This day, she would never, ever forget.