Chapter 3

Xiao ZeZhou slowly awoke from her slumber. She lifts herself up and sits up on her bed with her eyes half-closed, and still a bit of drool hanging off of her mouth. She drags her arm over to the right side of her bed, slams her hand on the table and uses her wrist to crawl around in search for her glasses. After her 10-second hunt, she slides out of her bed reluctantly and makes her way to where she thought the bathroom was, but instead was just a wall that she ends up bumping into. She yawns and rubs her eyes with her wrist and finally opens them. She winced and took a step back when she noticed she was in the hospital room. She still couldn't habituate this place at all. The next day would finally be the day of her discharge, having been there for five days already. She didn't quite understand, they had magic, right? Why couldn't they just heal her straight away and be done with it? That's how it works, right? What would be the use of keeping her in there? She still didn't know why she was in the hospital in the first place. Sighing, she made her bed. She was humming a famous song in which she couldn't quite remember the name, eventually sitting down on the bed when she was done. The door creaked open by a little bit, a voice following after it:

"ZeZhou? Are you ready?"

Xiao ZeZhou stands up and walks towards the door. She opens it, revealing her father hesitantly standing there.

"What's wrong, father? You seem.. worried."

He lifted his face up, shaking his head.

"Nothing, my dear. Let us head outside, the healing bank has let us have some fresh air."

Healing bank? This place really has some weird names, huh. But now that she was aware, their language was different, right? She listened carefully to what the people around her said. Whatever, she thought, not paying too much attention to that matter. At least she could understand the language.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

She follows her father outside, barefoot, her purple hair still draped down, carrying a cheap notebook.

She had been recording all the species she had witnessed and taking note of their actions and behaviors. There barely was a difference compared to humans, but she still felt weird around them, as if they were giving off an odd aura. Her eyes twitch when she sees their skin move unnaturally- she was never a fan of animals, even in the past. Noticing that her father was engrossed in watching a stall with a bunch of horses for sale, she walked over to a pub and ordered beer to pass the time. It won't be the same as the canned ones back in China, but she hoped that they would be somewhat similar. As she went to find somewhere to sit down, a cloaked figure accidently bumped into her. As she was about to apologize and walk away, the man took his hands out of his barely visible pockets and hastily said sorry and bowed repeatedly. She frowned and nodded, her eyebrows furrowed. When the man took out his hands, there were black marks all over them as if something had stained them, and scales were scattered all over his arms. She had seen multiple hooded people up from her hospital window, but she never actually paid any attention to them. Maybe they were a different species or race she didn't know about? Well, whatever it is, she was desperate to know more about it. She scrambled, trying to find a free table, she took her notebook out and started writing about her new discovery with raw graphite. She had finally finished reading all of her memories and apparently they were poor. Well it was pretty understandable, they were all faint anyway.

She would just wait until she became a powerful woman, then she would become rich enough to buy an actual pen! Was what she had devised in her mind. But then she took it back. Hadn't she planned on being eliminated in 2 months? She stroked her chin thoughtfully. Maybe it won't be so bad to follow what Miss robot says. But then again, if she went back to her own world instead of dying, won't it be awkward? It would be embarrassing and creepy to know that her so-called husband had attempted to kill her. Besides, she had nothing to return to. After all, she was a loner, and nearly all the people who came to her wedding were people from her husband's side. The only person who came to see her was that same coworker who pestered her so many times.

She didn't know which to choose. She shakes her head and calmed down. After gulping down her beer, she quickly ran over to where her father was. He must be worried, she thought. At first, he wasn't at the horse stalls. After looking around for a couple of minutes she found him walking around, aimlessly. She called out to him, and he hurriedly made his way towards her.

With a serious expression, he sternly said:

"Xiao ZeZhou I thought I told you t-"

BANG

The aftermath of an explosion was ringing in everyone's ears. After that several more came.

BANG

BANG

BANG

Everyone covered their ears, the ones sensitive to sound fainted, leaving everyone worried and in a state of shock.

Xiao ZeZhou frowned and looked towards the direction that the sound had come from. Several homes were fighting a losing battle against a raging fire that appeared, and some had already been burned to the ground.

In the air, a large message was written, enveloped and covered in fire and heat. The crowd began separating and running in different directions, desperate to find somewhere safe. Some were seeking shelter in their homes, others were sending reinforcements, it was absolute chaos. She had only just noticed the message, and it read:

"We strike at dawn"

What seemed even more odd was the fact that it was.. comforting. It looked and felt like home. Xiao thought that she was mad since she wanted to embrace fire and burn herself to death, but even so, it looked beautiful. Staring above at the sky with her ears ignoring her father's voice and with the craziness that was h appening, she subconsciously let out a smile.