Vic felt like he was having a long nightmare.
He was lost in a dense white mist, where he couldn’t see his own hand.
He didn’t know who he was, nor did he know where he was.
In his heart, there was only a vague notion.
He furrowed his brows and began to ponder.
Thus, he recalled his identity and what he was doing.
He was searching for Ade, searching for that most intimate—
An unknown mocking voice arose.
"No! Ade is not a dog!" he instinctively retorted, "He’s a wolf!"
Meanwhile, he looked around.
But all he saw was the vast whiteness, with no sight of anyone, nor any sound.
It seemed as if everything earlier had been just an illusion.
"Ade is a wolf," he whispered, "and more than that, he’s my... family."
The moment he finished speaking, a faint "whimper" sounded again from the mist.
The sound was very small, like a gentle breeze.
But Vic still recognized who that sound belonged to.
He felt as if in the boundless night he had found the sole ray of light, swiftly stepping towards the origin of that sound.
"Ade, are you there?!" he shouted, as echoes of his voice reverberated continuously in the pale world, "Is it you?!"
He heard that whimper again.
The sound made his body tremble.
Then he increased his pace, from walking to running, and finally to sprinting.
But it still wasn’t enough, it still wasn’t enough!
Too slow, still too slow.
He needed to be faster, faster, as if only this way could he catch Ade.
So he decided to give it his all.
Unknowingly, his viewpoint lowered, but his speed increased.
All he heard was the whistling wind by his ears, but before him, Ade’s silhouette became increasingly distinct.
Right ahead, right ahead!
Finally, he broke through the fog, the ephemeral and illusive shadow in his view clearly coming into focus.
But at the end of the mist, it wasn’t Ade.
It was an incredibly familiar young man.
"Ade." The "Vic" opposite him opened his arms with a smile, softly saying, "I’ve been looking for you... for a long time."
Vic instinctively lowered his head.
He realized at some point, what he had been running on were no longer legs.
The two were about to embrace.
Then, an abrupt mechanical voice interrupted everything, accompanied by a nearly emotionless male voice.
"It’s time to wake up."
In an instant, the "Vic" before him, the white mist surrounding him, all vanished instantly.
He abruptly opened his eyes.
Bai Wei, covered in injuries, was sitting in front of him, holding the old music box.
The gears of the music box were slowly turning.
"Finally woke up." Bai Wei shrugged, "That wasn’t easy."
It took a while for Vic to recover from the lingering effects of the bizarre dream.
Although he was eager to ask Bai Wei what was going on, why he had heard the sound of the music box in the dream.
But before that, there was clearly a more pressing issue.
"Ulu... What happened to you? Who hurt you?" Vic asked in shock, looking at Bai Wei covered in wounds, then around, "Where are we now... exactly?"
Vic’s last memory still lingered in that dilapidated little house, he only remembered feeling tired, wanting to take a nap, locking the door, and falling asleep.
Upon waking again, they were already in a desolate field, and Bai Wei was emanating the same intense and pungent scent of blood as when they met in the Senluo Church just two days ago.
He really didn’t know who could have wounded Bai Wei this way.
"A lot happened last night," Bai Wei said blandly, "To put it simply, both your enemies and mine came knocking."
His enemies... meaning the pursuers of the Wildfire Sect?
Then who were Bai Wei’s enemies?
"Why didn’t you wake me?" Vic hurriedly said, "I have some combat ability, at least I could have helped you!"
"We’ll talk about whether to wake you up or not later." Bai Wei leaned against the slope, slowly speaking, "Now there is a more important matter I need to explain in advance."
"...A more important matter?"
"Yes." Bai Wei nodded, "It’s about my enemies, they’ve sent a troublesome thing to hunt me down."
"Troublesome... thing?" Vic noticed Bai Wei’s choice of words, "Not a ’person’?"
"That thing is hard to describe as ’human’," Bai Wei said, "In fact, I’m not even sure that thing can be considered a normal creature."
What Bai Wei was referring to was undoubtedly the "Devourer" unleashed by Rhein.
That thing was definitely the greatest malevolence of the Rhein Church.
They were a group of entities that could not be killed, even if their bodies were completely destroyed and ground to dust, there was always a chance of resurrection. Furthermore, each resurrection increased their numbers; if one were cut in half, those halves would regenerate their missing parts, forming new entities.
Moreover, they shared memories, visions, and combat experiences.
So each battle, each failure made them stronger, until they completely devoured their target.