Chapter 883
Fan Wei and Li Baijie had not even known each other before entering the entrance examination, and although both came from well-known families within the same city, their interactions had been limited to nothing more than occasional greetings, never even exchanging names properly.
It was only because of this examination, only because they had been assigned to the same region as North District candidates, that they had formed a temporary alliance, and only then had their paths truly crossed.
Before that...
Li Baijie had been nothing more than a name.
A relative of Ryan.
Someone overshadowed by brilliance.
But after getting to know her...
Fan Wei realized just how wrong that impression had been.
Despite her ordinary talent, she possessed a perseverance that surpassed most, a quiet determination that refused to yield, a strength that did not rely on natural gifts but on relentless effort.
Her appearance, though not breathtaking, carried a unique gentleness, a sincerity, a kindness, and a calm maturity that set her apart in ways that could not be described by mere beauty.
Her command during battles was steady and precise, elevating their team's effectiveness several times over, allowing them to defeat powerful monsters with surprising ease.
Without realizing it… Fan Wei had been drawn in.
And somewhere along the way...
He had fallen.
Now… The girl he had come to care for was choosing death, not out of despair, but to free him, to give him a chance to live, to ensure he would not be dragged down because of her.
How could he accept that?
Let her die...
So he could live?
Such a person...
Where else in the world could he find another like her?
At that moment, something within Fan Wei settled, as if a decision had finally been made, firm and unshakable.
Life or death...
Did not matter anymore.
What mattered...
Was not being left behind.
"Fan Wei, what are you doing?! Go!"
Li Baijie saw him stop and immediately panicked, her voice rising as she urged him desperately.
"Why are you standing there! Run!"
But Fan Wei did not move.
He simply looked at her, his gaze unwavering, as though nothing else existed.
Finally...
He spoke.
"I won't let you die alone."
His voice was calm, yet resolute.
"If we die… We die together."
Then...
He stepped forward.
Step by step...
Walking toward her.
Walking toward the flames.
"What are you doing?! Are you crazy?! Don't come here!"
Li Baijie's voice broke as she shouted, her emotions surging, yet no matter how she stomped, no matter how she shouted, no matter how she tried to stop him...
It was useless.
Fan Wei did not listen.
He kept walking.
By this time, the tongue of fire had already reached them, only a few meters away, a distance so short that it could be crossed in a single breath, leaving no time for escape, no room for miracles.
Even before the flames touched them, the scorching heat had already ignited strands of their hair, their clothes beginning to burn, small tongues of fire flickering across their bodies as the breath of death enveloped them completely.
"NO!"
Li Baijie cried out in despair.
She did not understand.
She truly did not understand.
Why...
When he could have escaped...
He chose to return.
Why...
He refused to live.
But there was no time left to ask.
No time left to stop him.
Because in the next moment...
They would both be gone.
And just as everything seemed to reach its end...
"Whoosh...!"
A shadow tore through the sky.
It came so fast that the naked eye could not capture it, like a streak of darkness slicing through the air, crossing space in an instant.
Before the flames could engulf them...
Before death could claim them...
The shadow arrived.
It surpassed the tongue of fire in a blink, appearing beside Li Baijie and Fan Wei, grabbing them both effortlessly before they even realized what was happening.
Then...
Without pause...
It moved again.
In a single fluid motion, it reached Li Wujie, who had not yet reacted, and seized him as well, lifting all three into the air.
The flames passed beneath them.
The heat faded.
The shadow carried them far away from danger, soaring through the sky before descending and placing them gently onto safe ground, far from the battlefield.
Everything happened too quickly.
So quickly that none of them understood what had occurred.
Li Baijie and Fan Wei, who had been prepared to die, only felt a sudden gust of wind, so strong that they could not open their eyes, their bodies lifted as if weightless, carried through the air before being dropped back onto the ground with a dull thud.
Li Wujie experienced the same.
One moment, he had been running in despair, knowing that without a miracle, he would soon be consumed by the flames...
The next...
He was airborne.
Then...
On the ground.
Now, the three of them lay there, stunned, their minds blank, their bodies pressed against the cool earth beneath them.
The scorching heat was gone.
The suffocating smell of burning had vanished.
In its place was the faint scent of grass and soil.
They turned their heads slowly.
The blazing tongue of fire was now hundreds of meters away.
No longer a threat.
"Saved…?"
One of them murmured, voice filled with disbelief.
They looked at each other.
Then...
They turned again, trying to see who had pulled them back from death.
And there...
Standing before them was a familiar back.
That familiar back stood quietly before them, its shoulders not particularly broad and its figure not especially imposing at first glance, yet in the eyes of Li Baijie, Li Wujie, and Fan Wei, it rose like an unshakable mountain, tall, steady, and impossible to ignore.
It was only a back view, yet it carried a kind of calm authority, a quiet dominance that seemed to overlook everything, as if nothing in this chaotic battlefield could shake its composure, as if the very air around it had settled into order simply because it stood there.
And the owner of that back...
"Li Wei?"
The three of them spoke almost at the same time, their voices filled with disbelief and overwhelming joy as they stared at the figure before them, their hearts surging like waves crashing against a long-awaited shore.
That's right.
The one who had appeared at the brink of death, who had torn through the flames and pulled them back from the edge, who had turned certain death into survival was none other than Ryan.
Ryan turned around with an easy, almost casual motion, as if everything that had just happened was nothing more than a trivial matter, and looked at the three of them with a faint smile. "Everyone, long time no see. Did you miss me? Because I missed you quite a bit."
"Brother Wei… really… it's really you…" Li Wujie's voice trembled, and before he could even finish speaking, his emotions collapsed completely, tears spilling out uncontrollably as the shock of surviving and the joy of seeing Ryan collided within him, overwhelming everything else.
Though he usually carried himself with pride and confidence, he was still young, still inexperienced in facing true life-and-death situations, and after enduring such terror only to be saved at the final moment, there was no way he could suppress what he felt.
At this moment...
He cried without restraint.
"Brother Wei… It's really great to see you alive. Just now, I truly thought… my life was over."
Li Baijie spoke as well, her face filled with relief and lingering fear, the weight that had been pressing on her finally lifting.
"I didn't allow it, so how could it end so easily?"
Ryan smiled faintly, then looked at Li Wujie, who was still crying, and said with a slightly teasing tone, "Wujie, how old are you already, and you're still crying like this? If you're like this, how are you going to protect your younger siblings and bring glory to the Li Clan? I heard everything just now."
"And also…"
Ryan turned toward Li Baijie, his expression softening as he spoke sincerely.
"Sister Bai, having an elder sister like you is a blessing for me. You are all my most important family. With you all, I am already very satisfied."
Li Baijie froze slightly at those words, clearly not expecting such sincerity from him.
Then Ryan stepped forward and walked toward Fan Wei, raising his hand and patting him firmly on the shoulder.
"To be honest, I didn't think highly of you before," Ryan said bluntly, yet without malice, "but now, I've changed my mind. You're a real man."
After a brief pause, he added meaningfully, "In the future, take good care of my Sister Bai. She's a good person."
"Uh…"
Fan Wei was caught off guard, his expression stiffening for a moment before instinctively glancing toward Li Baijie, who happened to turn her head at the same time.
Their eyes met.
For a brief instant...
It felt as though something invisible sparked between them, a silent collision that sent both of their hearts into disarray.
Both of them quickly turned away, their faces flushing red, avoiding each other's gaze as if burned by it.