Deviant: No Longer Human

"Alright, let's trade. I'll tell you about Fairy Island if you tell me why you let me go alive," Yuexiu Anran suddenly proposed, her voice a blend of wariness and boldness.

"Hm?" Wang Xiao looked genuinely puzzled, his head tilting to one side as his eyebrows drew together. His intense stare sent an unexpected blush creeping up her cheeks. For a moment, her thoughts drifted, 'Is there a hidden significance to his lengthy hair?'

"What makes you think you can negotiate terms with me?" Wang Xiao's curiosity was piqued, not by her information, but by the mystery of her strange thought process.

Yuexiu Anran's eyes blinked back at him, equally baffled. "You won't...?" she ventured, her voice a mix of hope and uncertainty.

"Nope," he replied curtly, shaking his head for emphasis.

Yuexiu Anran sighed, then winced as she gestured to her leg with a strained smile. "Well, that's fine, but can we address this first? It's bleeding."

Without any preamble, Wang Xiao yanked the dagger out, prompting her eyes to widen in shock.

She gasped for air, trying to maintain her composure. Hastily tearing a strip from the hem of her already damaged dress, she wrapped it around the wound, muttering, "Quite gentle, aren't you?"

Wang Xiao merely watched, a faint smirk playing on his lips. 'She's got spirit,' he thought, somewhat impressed by her resilience. "Fairy Island first, pleasantries later."

Yuexiu Anran, "..."

She met his gaze, her silence speaking volumes. 'Is there no way out of this?' her mind raced, searching for an angle, any leverage.

But the truth was as clear and unyielding as the blade he twirled so casually.

Finally, with resignation heavy in her voice, she sighed, "I am not allowed to say it."

"I know," Wang Xiao replied, his voice nonchalant as he cleaned the knife against the mattress, restoring its shine. His next words, however, carried a weight that belied his casual demeanor. "...But would the rules matter after you die?" His smile was subtle, yet it sent a shiver down Yuexiu Anran's spine, goosebumps dotting her skin.

In that moment, the gravity behind his casual exterior crystallized.

She understood the deadly seriousness woven into his words, and it made the air around them grow colder despite the sun overhead.

....

Yuexiu Anran reluctantly shared only the most basic details while shrouding anything related to her identity in secrecy.

Occasionally, Wang Xiao resorted to coercion to make her delve deeper into the details, and it was during one such instance that he stumbled upon some truly valuable information.

It appears, these individuals possessed a worn-out photograph of a mysterious woman soaring through the skies, heading towards a remote part of the island.

The image was just a simple snapshot.

If Wang Xiao's instincts were correct, the woman in the photograph could only be Bing Xueli.

The photograph, taken a considerable time ago, was marked by the passage of years, its edges fraying and the details within fading into obscurity.

Yuexiu Anran tried to retrieve her phone from her pocket to show Wang Xiao something important, but her lips curled into a bitter smile as she realized it had already met its demise in the crossfire of the previous day.

Yet, in this tense moment, Wang Xiao's mind snapped to attention as he remembered something of utmost importance.

With furrowed brows, he posed a question, "What's today's date?"

Despite his arrival in the city, he had neglected to check the calendar or acquire a new phone, leaving him disoriented with the present.

"?" Yuexiu Anran's brows furrowed in confusion, a hint of bewilderment in her eyes. Sensing the gravity in his tone, she paused, "How long was I unconscious?" she asked, her voice tinged with concern.

Wang Xiao's reply was prompt, yet it carried the weight of the ordeal they had been through. "The fight was just yesterday."

Understanding dawned on Anran's face. "Then today must be April 22nd."

Wang Xiao leaned in, his question laced with urgency. "What year is it?"

Anran blinked, taken aback by the simplicity yet strangeness of his question. "2026," she replied, a note of confusion in her voice. Her fate, after all, was still intertwined with his.

Wang Xiao's response was a silent, contemplative pause. A realization seemed to wash over him, leaving a mixture of astonishment and contemplation. 'The time deviation is real...' The thought echoed in his mind, a bewildering realization that he was experiencing something extraordinary.

While Wang Xiao was lost in his thoughts, pondering how to navigate this temporal anomaly, Yuexiu Anran made a startling discovery.

"My dress..." Her eyes widened slightly, noticing the change in her attire. "Did you... change my clothes?" Her question was direct, her expression unreadable.

Wang Xiao's frown deepened, his mind still grappling with the revelation. "Do not disturb me, I am thinking!" he said curtly, a hint of annoyance in his tone.

Yuexiu Anran's voice was a mix of skepticism and a forced casualness. "...You did it with your eyes closed, right?"

Wang Xiao's face twitched, "Are you stupid?" he retorted sharply, his patience wearing thin.

Yuexiu Anran's expression darkened, a flicker of hurt crossing her features. "Did you... see everything?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Wang Xiao, visibly frustrated, shot back, "Do I need to remind you that you are the captive here, not me? ... What does it matter if I saw everything? It's not like you have some great beauty to hide. You're barely an adult, more a child in form. Maybe focus on eating more, growing a bit, before you worry about someone seeing you naked."

"..."

There was a moment of charged silence as Yuexiu Anran processed his harsh words.

"That was quite rude of you," she finally stated, her voice a deceptive mask of eerie calm. Yet, her eyes betrayed her, revealing a mix of disappointment and shock, etched with lines of annoyance, at the harshness of his words.

Within her, a seething anger began to simmer, mirroring the intensity of his mounting frustration.

Wang Xiao's curiosity flared like a blazing fire. "Enough, tell me about the tunnel to heaven!" His demand was fierce, his desire for this mystery burning brighter than for the fairy island he had already traversed.

"Tunnel to heaven?" Yuexiu Anran's eyes narrowed to menacing slits, and then she slowly shook her head, her lips pursed in defiance. "I don't know."

*Slap*

The sharp, chilling sound of a slap reverberated through the room as Wang Xiao's palm met her face with force.

His voice remained unnervingly calm, but it carried the weight of impending seriousness. "Do you want me to waste my time torturing you, just to get you talking?" His words hung in the air like an ominous cloud. "Shall I describe how I'd strip your skin, clip your nails, and force you to run naked before you even think of opening your mouth?"

'He is a professional...!' Yuexiu Anran shivered, her breath hitching as the gravity of his threats bore down on her.

She have been captured numerous times, but the seirousness in his eyes was too much even for her to bear!

Fear clawed at her, gnawing at her resolve. "I... I don't know anything directly... But I have overheard people discussing it..."

Wang Xiao's curiosity intensified, his brow furrowing. "Overheard what?"

Yuexiu Anran hesitated briefly before continuing, her voice tinged with unease. "In the neighboring country, Frostholm... They seem to have found something astonishing... Something that could turn the world upside down..."

Wang Xiao's frown deepened at her cryptic words. 'Something that could turn the world upside down?'

She nodded solemnly. "Yes... A source of great power. A way to become God."

"God?" Wang Xiao's mind rang with those words, his senses sharpening.

Yuexiu Anran quickly added, "Yes, anyone who goes inside comes back with superpowers! I don't know how true it is, it might as well be a rumor."

Wang Xiao couldn't help but press further, his thoughts racing, "Then why are they kidnapping children from all over the world for it?" He couldn't shake the unsettling notion that perhaps they were trying to create a supernatural army.

As the weight of Wang Xiao's questions settled in, Yuexiu Anran's disbelief grew. "How does he know so much about us?" Her mind raced, realizing that the information he possessed was highly classified.

Yuexiu Anran continued to suppress her curiosity about Wang Xiao, her gaze unmoving. "Well... The tunnel entrance is said to be quite small, not large enough for a grown-up man to pass through, so they are using children. As for an army, I don't think it's possible, as there is a reason they are kidnapping so many children."

Wang Xiao nodded thoughtfully, silently cross-referencing the information she provided with what he already knew. The fact that the tunnel was too small for adults to enter matched with his knowledge, making her words ring true.

He gestured for her to carry on, his curiosity unabated. "Why kidnap so many children from all parts of the world?"

Yuexiu Anran took a deep breath, her voice weighted with gravity. "Because most of them never return," she revealed, the somber truth finally revealed.