What is a true genius?
Chen Xing once was, in the words of countless people, a genius. The admiration of neighbors, the praise of teachers, the care of her parents... Before coming to Ember, Chen Xing's life was like a fairy tale princess, everything was so beautiful, until... the beast tide appeared.
The disappearance of her parents, her brother's cries, the ferocity of the exotic beasts... This series of upheavals instantly plunged Chen Xing's life from heaven to hell.
And just as only the weak complain about their environnt while the strong always adapt to, and even change it, Chen Xing, though she hadn't yet t the Ember Organization nor undergone Star Core surgery, still relied on her exceptional combat talent and strong survival instincts.
She, along with Chen Kong, her helpless younger brother who only cried when things went wrong, endured the most dangerous three months after the beast tide arrived.
However, under the baptism of this cruel environnt, Chen Xing's personality underwent an earth-shattering change. Her forr innocence and gentleness had long disappeared, replaced by a maturity far beyond her age and... endless indifference. It was under such circumstances that Chen Xing unexpectedly encountered Tendo, who was also 'struggling to survive' in the ruins at the ti.
It was a cold, dark night. Chen Xing, having exhausted her supplies, was forced to leave their safe small house after settling Chen Kong. She ventured alone to the nearest supermarket, risking her life to search for precious and scarce supplies scattered in the ruins.
During this process, she not only had to guard against exotic beasts with bizarre abilities and fierce strength but also against other disaster victims who, like her, had luckily survived the beast tide.
After all, starving disaster victims would do anything, dare anything, and... would do anything. This included pointing a knife at a defenseless, half-grown child like her.
Late at night, inside a supermarket in the aftermath of the disaster.
Young Chen Xing, bent over, moved slowly between the crooked shelves of various goods. Her movents were very cautious; before each step, she carefully checked the debris on the ground, including the scattered fragnts of broken glass, fearing to make the slightest sound that might attract the attention of nearby exotic beasts.
But just as Chen Xing finally found a dusty can under a collapsed shelf, an unfamiliar voice suddenly sounded from behind her.
"Hey, are you very hungry?"
The sudden voice not only startled Chen Xing but also instantly sent her heart into her throat. She quickly looked in the direction of the voice, gripping the small knife in her right hand, her face wary.
By the faint moonlight from outside the supermarket, Chen Xing soon saw the owner of the voice. In a corner not far from the supermarket, a silver-haired child of similar age to her was sitting cross-legged on the corpse of a large spider, looking at her with a curious expression. This boy was none other than the future Tendo Sii.
However, at this ti, Chen Xing did not yet know Tendo's na, nor whether his appearance was good or bad. So, when faced with Tendo's question, young Chen Xing not only did not answer but instead showed a fierce expression, as if trying to scare away the unfamiliar Tendo in this way.
But Tendo paid no mind to her feigned fierceness. He pulled out the small knife stuck in the giant spider's compound eye, then leaped down.
"Here."
After landing, Tendo took out a can of fruit from his small satchel and, completely unguarded, handed it to Chen Xing. Seeing this, Chen Xing was stunned. She stared blankly at the fruit can Tendo offered, montarily unsure whether to reach out and take it. Her reaction, however, caused Tendo to misunderstand.
"Don't like this?"
Tendo withdrew the fruit can, then rummaged through his bag again. A mont later, Tendo took out a bag of plastic-wrapped beef jerky and offered it again.
"Is this okay?"
Looking at the precious food Tendo offered, Chen Xing, who had been in a daze, finally regained her senses. She looked at Tendo with a complex expression and asked, "Why are you giving it to ?"
Facing this question, Tendo's answer surprised her. "Oh, nothing. I just really like your eyes."
"So I thought I'd help you."
You really like my eyes...?
Although Tendo's answer was a bit whimsical, the clever Chen Xing understood his aning in an instant. He was saying that she hadn't, like other disaster victims, abandoned her human dignity for survival, still diligently upholding the bottom line of being human.
And Tendo's sudden recognition and kindness, combined with Chen Xing's long-accumulated pressure and unspoken suffering, inadvertently broke through her already shaky psychological defenses like a bursting dam. So much so that even though she was facing Tendo, a stranger she had never t, the strong Chen Xing suddenly began to quietly sob.
But her crying imdiately made Tendo, who was not good at interacting with girls, utterly flustered. Looking at Chen Xing, who was biting her arm and weeping incessantly, Tendo quickly took out a packet of tissues from his bag and handed it to her.
A mont later, Chen Xing, wiping away her tears, lowered her head, blushing, and softly said, "Tha... thank you."
Hearing this, Tendo awkwardly scratched his cheek: "Uh, it's nothing."
After Tendo finished speaking, the two imdiately fell into a brief silence. Perhaps feeling the atmosphere was too heavy, Tendo imdiately pointed at the large spider behind him, actively changing the subject: "Well, if you co to a place like this again next ti, be sure to pay attention to whether there are other exotic beasts around."
"Because if there aren't, it ans this place has likely been occupied by so exotic beast or adult, and you need to be extra careful."
"Otherwise, you might, like today, inadvertently step into soone's trap."
With that, Tendo, who was not good at interacting with girls, imdiately slung his small backpack over his shoulder and walked out of the supermarket. After all, Tendo couldn't stand the toe-curlingly awkward atmosphere inside the supermarket for another second.
But just as Tendo was about to leave, Chen Xing suddenly called out to him.
"Um, what's your na?"
Tendo, who had reached the door, waved his hand at Chen Xing with his back turned: "Tendo, Tendo Sii."
With that, Tendo disappeared into the ruins of the night, and was soon gone. Looking at Tendo's retreating back, Chen Xing, clutching the beef jerky he had given her, silently etched the na 'Tendo Sii' firmly into her heart.
In the period that followed, Chen Xing returned to this abandoned supermarket many tis, hoping to et Tendo again, to express her gratitude to him in person, and to tell him her na.
But she tried many tis, yet never managed to et Tendo again. This made Chen Xing sad for a long ti. She thought Tendo might have died in the mouth of so unknown exotic beast, or at the hands of so vicious adults.
It wasn't until she was unexpectedly found by the Ember Organization and brought to the base along with Chen Kong that she unexpectedly saw the person she thought she would never see again.
However, contrary to Chen Xing's expectations, Tendo not only did not show the warmth she had imagined at her appearance but was also very distant. It was as if, to Tendo, they were rely strangers who had never t. Yet... he had personally said he liked her eyes.
The imnse disparity, and a complex emotion that even Chen Xing herself couldn't pinpoint, made her ultimately abandon the idea of telling Tendo about that day. Because her pride refused to admit that she was just an ordinary passerby in Tendo's life. Nor would she admit that the person she wanted to et again had long forgotten her.
And it was from that day on that Chen Xing began her fierce competition with Tendo. Although to outsiders, this was rely a display of her unwillingness to admit defeat, only Chen Xing knew that her reason for doing so was never truly to compete with Tendo for superiority.
Rather, she wanted to use this thod to make Tendo understand one thing: that she, Chen Xing, was absolutely not an irrelevant stranger in his eyes. After all, perhaps she hadn't mattered to Tendo in the past. But in the future, in Tendo's eyes... she must exist.
In the Ember Organization's training room.
Chen Xing, pulling her thoughts back from her mories, looked up at Tendo, who stood in the circle, and said with a firm voice: "Tendo, I once looked up to you, but I won't let myself always look up to you, because... humans never look back."
"Huh?"
Hearing Chen Xing's serious yet inexplicable words, Tendo's sunglasses tilted askew in surprise. No, if we're fighting, we're fighting. What are you rambling about? Also, aren't we just sparring? What's with that resentful expression that could easily be misunderstood? Do you want to add more drama too?
Unlike Tendo, who was caught in the mont, Caroline, upon hearing this, first looked at the serious-faced Chen Xing, then turned to look at the bewildered Tendo, seemingly vaguely understanding sothing. Then, she unexpectedly looked at Chen Xing, her eyes suddenly becoming... sowhat dangerous. It was as if, in her eyes, Chen Xing was no longer a training partner but a powerful enemy who needed to be taken seriously.
However, Chen Xing in the arena was unaware of all this. Because in her eyes, from beginning to end, there was only Tendo.
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