Wongtao could tell the one speaking was the young general Dibu Wi. He only became a general a few months ago.

"La mian ti pen dai qiu zhi yo fen te. Wao pu zhi la jie wu shun te yen kuan, yo fen ju ren cao qiu que xi de. Zuo wi yo kao zu li, fing nian yo qiu wao kao zu guang zhang yo wao xing ci shu fa, (That land has always been ours. If not for those civil officials, we Jurens would have risen in glory. So I am telling you now that I will ask the emperor tomorrow for permission to go to the frontline,)" Dibu's voice was filled with excitement and anger. He was not joking about what he said. He was one of those war hawks who wanted to rise in power through wars and expansion.

These military officials always disgusted Wongtao. He was educated enough to understand the ridicule in their claim of historical territory and was too conscientious to approve of people who wanted to prosper in others' blood. Regardless, his father, who was much more educated than him, had been expressing increasing interest in the words of the military.

Aitao curiously tapped on Wongtao's back, sticking her head over his shoulder to see his facial expression. Not wanting to explain anything to his sister, Wongtao turned his face away and started walking again. He wasn't willing to keep hearing Dibu spitting false history and hate speech anyway.

The siblings took this little adventure about every day. Both of them enjoyed the idea of secret snacks, and each had their own fun. Wongtao could practice his hex and listen to gossip, and Aitao could experience some thrill. Sometimes, they would have patrolmen walking past right in front of them while they were hiding behind groves. Unfortunately, this was already not enough excitement for the girl. While many were starving or struggling to keep living, Aitao was lacking thrill and excitement.

To fulfill her need for more exhilaration, Aitao had a sudden idea entering her mind. She bounced lightly on her toes while the two were waiting next to a building a few meters away from the entrance of their quadrangle. Wongtao had sensed a servant who was, at the moment, looking in the direction of the arch. He waited for the person to turn away and made a step.

"Juan, (Twirl,)" the girl behind Wongtao whispered. She seized the jerky in her brother's mouth, dashing back to their garden with her speed hex, Twirl. Not knowing what his sister was mad about, Wongtao slowly and elegantly activated his Twirl, "Juan. (Twirl.)"

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Aitao knew she was much slower than her brother and was heading toward the kuai tree. Aitao, running with her full strength, was about to be caught by her brother, who only chased gracefully and gently.

She would've been caught up if she had not cast High Jump. After spinning a lap in the air, Aitao jumped slightly less than four meters into the air. Then, She stretched her hand out and embraced a thick branch on the tree.

Wongtao stopped in front of the tree. The side effects of using Twirl hit neither of them because of how little time they spent. The boy watched his sister slowly gaining a foothold on the branch. Surprisingly, he felt a weird pleasure in this. Twirl and High Jump were about the only two hexes that Aitao could perform, and she was using them well. Although Aitao's Twirl was much slower than Wongtao's, and her High Jump was lower than his, he could still see Aitao's effort in them.

Wongtao jumped, spun, and jumped again. He easily got on to the branch Aitao was standing on. The two stood on the branch, facing each other. Wongtao held his hand out with a little smile on his face. In contrast, Aitao's mean smirk faded into a mixture of disappointment and boredom after seeing that her brother was not even faintly enraged. She jumped off the branch after casting High Jump to safely land on the ground. Wongtao followed behind her.

It was at the moment before her brother finished falling that Aitao got a new plan to enrage him. The tree was next to the pond, and her brother was closer to the pond than her. She could run toward her brother and bump him into the pond. "He had to be enraged at that point," Aitao thought and executed the plan.

Wongtao was caught off guard and fell backward. All the koi fled out of his way, leaving him a space big enough to enter the water completely. A giant splash was made as Wongtao's body collided with the otherwise peaceful pond. Aitao had dodged far enough not to get herself wet. After all, it wouldn't be as fun if she got herself wet, too. She wasn't afraid of getting wet. She just wanted her brother to do it. It was the part of the fun.

Aitao joyfully waited a dozen seconds for her brother to get up from the pond before she decided to check out what had happened. As she approached the pond, she wished that her brother was just baiting her closer to drag her into the pond. She peeked into the pond, finding no person lying in it. Her most pessimistic guess was that her brother hit his head and fainted. Not seeing anyone other than fish was out of both her optimistic and pessimistic expectations and everything in between.

Aitao was scared by the fact that her brother disappeared in thin air. She worriedly looked around, trying to see if her brother had just learned to teleport and was messing with her. She could see nothing but the buildings and plants. She slowly realized that her brother was actually gone as she turned her sight back to the pond. Her brother disappeared in the pond. Perhaps the pond had done something to him? Aitao couldn't tell, but she suspected it and, most importantly, feared it.

The little girl rushed back to her room and pounced under her quilt, quietly whimpering. She could not tell what had happened, but her brother was certainly missing. She felt guilt rising from the deepest part of her heart. If Wongtao were dead, she would be the killer. If her loving brother were dead, she would be the cold-blood killer. If the brother who had been taking care of her since she was little were dead, she would be the heartless, family-murdering killer. How did everything escalate so fast?