<< Planet C13 , Year 2360 >>

It was a starless night in the big city of Xin. Grumpy clouds gathered above the sky and shrouded the moon. The winds howled and blasted violent waves into the river and ocean nearby.

It was truly a stormy night.

On a skyscraper, a teenager in a black military uniform sat on the edge of the roof. His feet dangled in the air over the abyss and his jacket was opened, fluttering in the raging winds.

He clutched the blue glowing gem on his pendant and formed a fist around it, hiding its glow. Popping and cracking noises came from his knuckles, and his tendons protruded out from the back of his hand.

The fingernails drilled into his skin and blood trickled down from it. The drops of blood fell hundreds of meters down from the skyscraper, ending in a splash on the ground.

With trembling hands, he gnashed and grinded his teeth in rage.

And then the rain came. The raging winds turned the slight drizzle worse. The drops shot like needles into his face.

His hair became wet and stuck to his scalp. Water drops formed on the tips of his wet hairs and trickled down onto his face.

Suddenly, the metal door to the roof crashed open, hitting the wall with a loud BAM!

A nurse stepped through the door, covering her face from the raging winds with a hand, and screamed at the youth, "Yan Hao! Your sister woke up!"

The youth turned his head, jumped up, and ran towards her. The nurse stepped aside and let him pass by.

Yan Hao ran down the staircase and entered a long hall. Everything seemed so clean and white. There was neither staff nor patients in the hall.

It was desolate.

In the silence, only his ragged breathing and footsteps echoed through the hall. Tap after tap after tap...

He pushed open a door and entered the room.

A slim girl weakly laid in the bed. Her smooth skin was snow-white and her lips pale, making her seem like a porcelain doll. Her hair was grey and her dim eyes ice-blue. Multiple beeping machines stood next to her and were attached through wires to her wrists.

As she heard Yan Hao entering the room, she gently turned her head towards him and set up a forced smile. "Hao brothe- *cough* *cough* *cough*"

Blood spritzed out from her coughing fit and tainted the white sheets in an ugly red. She was even too weak to hold her hand in front of her mouth. She could only try to endure while squinting her blue eyes.

Yan Hao rushed to her side and worriedly said, "Mei'er! Don't force yourself. You don't have to say anything. Just… -Just rest a bit…"

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He pulled his sleeve longer and gently wiped the blood stains from Yan Mei's mouth away.

Her eyes wandered over Yan Hao's body and noticed that he was soaked from head to toe. His wet clothes stuck to his body and dripped with water.

Yan Mei's eyebrows knitted and her gaze softened, becoming glassy from tears. She parted her lips and intended to say something, but didn't due to the memory of her brother's words.

She just continued to look with this pitiful expression at her brother. Yan Mei knew how to make Yan Hao feel guilty, and she succeeded.

He releases a heavy sigh and weakly smiled at her. "Don't worry about me… I will think of something to help you… I will."

Suddenly, a doctor walked in and halted near the door. He gave a slight cough, trying to notify Yan Hao that he is here.

Yan Hao stroked Yan Mei's grey hair behind her ear and said with a smile on his lips, "I will be back in a moment…"

As he turned around and faced the doctor, his smile faded away and his face showed deep concern. His thoughts were wandering and trying to think of a way to help her.

In unhurried steps, he walked to the doctor and left the room with him. Yan Hao grabbed the door handle and gave a last smile to his sister before closing the door.

The doctor flipped through sheets on his clipboard and said, "Mister Yan Hao, we have fully examined your sister's condition and found the problem."

"She is the bearer of a new disease which we call PHV-9 for now. The disease attacks the core of her soul. She will lose roughly a year of her lifespan every week and die in about 1 to 1.5 years' time."

Yan Hao wiped his hands over his sleepy eyes and replied, "Is there a cure for this?"

The doctor flipped towards the end of the clipboard and explained, "A medical cure? No. All you can do is hope to acquire the Phoenix Coin from the Spirit Pagoda. But the chances are nearly zero."

Yan Hao was perplexed about what the doctor said and asked, "A coin? Can a coin really help her?"

"You don't know of the Coins?"

"I don't think so. I didn't have much contact with civilization at the Northern War and only returned today."

The doctor explained, "Okay, then. You can look it up on the internet later. Simply put, the Phoenix Coin is acquirable in one of the Spirit Realms. I think it was the fourth Spirit Realm."

"The Spirit Pagoda?! Isn't that a space exploration company?"

"Yes, and it still is. The aforementioned Spirit Realms are planets multiple light-years away from Earth. Each of these seven planets is inhabited and contains treasures."

"Because the planets are simply too enormous, the Spirit Pagoda isn't able to search all seven planets on their own. They would need centuries to search through a single planet. That's why they decided to open the planets to the public and let people help them in the search for treasures."

"With their new technology, everything can be turned into coins. A manager of Spirit Pagoda managed to acquire the life-force of a Phoenix and stored it in a Coin - the Phoenix Coin. It is put on show in the Spirit Pagoda where everybody can see it, but it isn't for sale. You can only hope to acquire one in the Spirit Realm too."

Yan Hao scratched his head and tried to digest all this information. It seemed that a lot has happened while he fought in the Northern War. And a sudden thought popped into his head, "With all this new technology, could it be that the reason why we were pulled back from the war was the Spirit Pagoda?"

The doctor interrupted his thought. "I'll have to excuse myself. I have other patients to attend to."

After the doctor hurriedly went away, Yan Hao decided to look it up later on the internet. He carefully opened the door to his sister's room.

Yan Mei had her eyes closed and laid motionlessly in bed. She seemed like a porcelain figure - fragile yet beautiful.

"I should let her sleep," he thought.

After he entered the room, he gently closed the door without a noise and took a seat next to Yan Mei's bed.

"Let's see what happened while I was gone," he thought and pulled out his phone, navigating to the home page of Spirit Pagoda.