Chapter 0017: I Am the Captain

Ning Fan grabbed Dazhuang's falling hand, feeling his blood surge and churn.

"Pfft—"

He coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Qiao Fei glanced at him, one brow raised. Seeing that he wasn't injured — just overwhelmed by emotion — she looked away again.

Huizi was still crying.

Ning Fan, too, was shedding tears without even realizing it.

"How are you even supposed to get a Spirit Servant...?"

Ning Fan muttered to himself.

Huizi looked up at him through his tears.

Then, suddenly, Ning Fan drew the Black Sword and screamed with every ounce of strength he had: "How the hell do you activate a Spirit Servant?!"

Lin Chuan watched him with deep, unreadable eyes.

Ning Fan had completely snapped.

"Aren't there supposed to be loads of wandering spirits out here? Come on then! Come to me! I'll take care of you!"

His frantic voice echoed through the cave.

The Black Sword trembled faintly — but gave no other response.

Just as Huizi had said, the moment one obtained a Spirit Servant was entirely unpredictable.

"Screw this!"

Ning Fan hurled the Black Sword against the cave wall.

He was furious with himself.

Why was it that when everyone else was fighting for their lives, he needed others to protect him?

He was a member of the Hound Shelter too!

This was their home — everyone was doing their part. So what was he doing?

"Kid, calm down—"

"How am I supposed to calm down?!"

Ning Fan broke down sobbing: "You all said I was smart! You all trusted me, let me make the plans! Every move we made followed my plans! And now three people are dead!!"

"Old Duan, Wang Ye, and... Dazhuang! They all died because they trusted me! What gives me the right?! I'd never even been outside the zone before, and you all let me lead?! Are you insane? Why would you trust me?!"

Self-blame.

Ning Fan had fallen into it completely.

If only he had figured it out sooner — that the War Bear was just a decoy, that there was a real expert lying in ambush — maybe none of them would have died.

"The entire plan had the War Bear fooled too. There was no way for you to foresee it. That's normal."

Qiao Fei offered a rare word of comfort.

Everyone had already concluded that the War Bear hadn't known the full plan either.

When the War Bear's men were being slaughtered, the archer hadn't made a move.

He had used those men's lives to draw every bit of the Hound Shelter's attention.

A pure, cold-blooded assassin.

Even so, Ning Fan couldn't let it go.

Strangely, through all of it, Lin Chuan hadn't said a word.

After returning to the cave, he had sat at the entrance, seemingly lost in thought.

Finally, after about twenty minutes — once Ning Fan and Huizi had more or less vented themselves out — Lin Chuan slowly rose to his feet and relit the campfire that had died out.

The other three looked toward him.

Lin Chuan licked his dry lips and turned to Qiao Fei: "Keep an eye on those two. Don't let them do anything stupid."

Qiao Fei's beautiful eyes flickered slightly.

Lin Chuan looked at her, then gestured toward the fire.

"If I'm not back before the fire dies out... from now on, you're the captain of the Hound Shelter."

With that, Lin Chuan turned and walked toward the cave entrance.

Huizi had cried himself to exhaustion.

Seeing Lin Chuan about to leave, he forced himself upright: "Brother Chuan, what — what are you going to do?"

"Weren't you just cursing me out? Now you're calling me Brother again?"

Lin Chuan glanced back with a smile.

Huizi was in no mood for jokes: "I'm asking you a serious question! Where the hell are you going?!"

Lin Chuan's smile slowly faded.

"I am the captain."

Lin Chuan looked at Dazhuang's body, his eyes gradually turning red: "The lives of the living — that's my responsibility. The deaths of the fallen — that's my debt to repay."

Huizi shuddered and strained to get up.

But Lin Chuan waved him off: "In the shape you're in, you'd just be dead weight. Stay alive. If I really don't come back, avenge me."

And with that, Lin Chuan left the cave without looking back.

Ning Fan didn't understand.

Since leaving the inner district, there had been far too many things Ning Fan couldn't wrap his head around.

Knowing full well it was a trap, charging in anyway — he didn't get it.

Knowing full well the enemy was a seasoned assassin, Lin Chuan going back anyway — he didn't get that either.

Knowing full well that everyone here had spent years surviving the outside — why were their choices so...

Reckless?

A memory surfaced — something Lin Chuan had said to him before: If you're going to be a Walker, you have to learn to take responsibility.

For some reason, Ning Fan felt a heavy, suffocating weight pressing down on his chest.

The cave fell silent.

Only the crackling of burning wood broke the quiet.

Huizi had mostly recovered, his emotions settling somewhat.

He sat against the cave wall with his head bowed, lost in thought.

Qiao Fei rested the Tang Blade across her lap and closed her eyes to rest.

Ning Fan had retrieved the Black Sword and held it in his hands, watching it with the desperate anticipation of someone waiting for a call from a lover — hoping for any sign of life.

But the Black Sword didn't even tremble.

He still had no Spirit Servant of his own.

The flames grew smaller and smaller.

And the weight in their hearts grew heavier and heavier.

Lin Chuan didn't come back.

Huizi raised his head, tears streaming down his face again.

But this time, there was no hysteria — just a quiet, hollow look as he turned to Qiao Fei: "Captain, what do we do now?"

Qiao Fei's eye twitched slightly: "The fire's not out yet."

Huizi stood up and kicked the campfire apart, sending embers scattering across the ground.

"It is now."

Everyone knew. Lin Chuan had been gone too long. Waiting any longer was pointless.

Clinging to a hope that no longer made sense — there was no point in that.

Qiao Fei studied him for a moment, then looked over at Ning Fan.

"What's your plan?"

Ning Fan flinched.

Never mind the fact that his mind was a mess right now.

Even if he had a plan, he didn't dare say it.

A wrong call, and people would die.

"Useless."

Qiao Fei suddenly said, her flawless face carrying a look of contempt: "I honestly don't understand why the captain thought so highly of you. What good are grades? You fall apart at the first setback?"

Ning Fan wanted to argue.

The first setback? Three people were dead.

And Brother Chuan's fate was still unknown.

"How can you be so cold about it?"

Ning Fan asked through gritted teeth.

"What else would you have me do?"

Qiao Fei narrowed her eyes: "Wail and sob like the two of you?"

Huizi frowned.

Qiao Fei had no patience for either of them. She picked up the Tang Blade.

The faint glow of dying embers traced the silhouette of her slender figure.

"One archer. One Yang Beihai. Those two are our enemies."

Her voice was cold: "We know who our enemies are. Instead of going after them, you're curled up in a cave crying. Call you useless and you can't even accept that?"

Huizi was quiet for a moment. Then he tore his shirt into strips and wrapped them crudely around his shoulder to bind the wound.

"Which one do we go after first?"

"The archer is harder to track down for now — but Yang Beihai isn't going anywhere in Zone F32!"

Qiao Fei looked at Ning Fan again: "Are you in?"

"I'm in."

Ning Fan stood up.

Everything had finally clicked into place for him.

Every last thing.

All that preparation over the past month couldn't compare to what he had lived through in a single day.

In this moment, he finally understood what it meant to be a Walker.

More precisely — he finally knew how to survive as a stray dog clawing its way up from the very bottom.

"Brother Chuan always said the Hound Shelter's name was polished clean by those who came before us! Someone wants to drag it through the mud... that's not going to fly!"

Ning Fan slung the Black Sword across his back and stepped up beside Qiao Fei: "Sister Fei, don't write me off for being weak. I promise — I'll get stronger."

Qiao Fei's expression barely changed: "Then do it fast. I don't make a habit of babysitting."