May the Heavens not fear the frost

[Polar Region.]

The sky‍‌​‍​‍‌‍⁠⁠⁠​‌‍‌‌‍‍‍⁠​​‌‍ lost its original colors. Glaciers and ocean currents were churned into the high sky. A huge vortex spiraled between heaven and earth. That vortex grew stronger and stronger, expanding outward uncontrollably. Urban steel and concrete, high-rise buildings, and crowds were all swept into it. No one knew which unlucky Bait City it was this time, nor did they have time to think about how it was sucked into the vortex.

Aurora refracted on the vortex. Beyond the eerie light, a mass of aberrant tide was boundless. Not only airborne aberrants, but creatures that should have been running on land also appeared abruptly in the high sky, swept into the chaos vortex, then poking their heads out to scream wildly at the edge of the vortex.

The freezing air cut one gap after another on the wings. A drop of semi-congealed blood fell from Bo’s eyelid. He folded his trembling wings in pain, slowly raised his eyelids, and looked up at the vortex in the high heavens.

The rumbling of the chaos reaction, the screams of the aberrant tide, and the wails from the depths of the reaction wove into the only sound between heaven and earth, about to tear his eardrums apart.

Accompanying another burst of violent collision sound, the vortex expanded again. Far away, humanity lost another piece of a Bait City.

And as if in response, a sound of cracking ice burst from the chaos vortex. The addition of new “fuel” allowed it to swallow everything even more unscrupulously.

Fluttering morpho butterflies perished one by one at the edge of the vortex. An and Ning’s faces were white as paper, sweat pouring down. A pitch-black aberrant bird rushed down and bit fiercely on An’s shoulder. In an instant, it tore away a large chunk of flesh. Blood streamed down. Those white morpho butterflies only weakly circled twice around their master’s wound before dissipating in the cold air.

An couldn’t care about his own injury. He knelt on the ground, closed his eyes, clasped his hands in front of his chest, releasing waves of giant white morpho butterflies. The butterflies struggled to fly high into the sky, all the way to the vicinity of those golden wings.

Streaks of flowing fire rubbed off the sky like falling meteors. Those were Xi De’s scattered flight feathers.

“An…” Bo murmured hoarsely towards An. “You’re running out…”

An didn’t respond. His fan-like eyelashes trembled violently. He completely cut off his perception of the outside world, only desperately providing protection for Xi De.

It seemed only this way could he hold on for another second, then another second…

Until death.

Another gust of biting cold wind howled. The chaos vortex churned and expanded rapidly again. The frost instantly froze the wings Bo had just reopened. When the gale howled over, Bo almost foresaw the pain of broken wings.

However, the expected pain did not come. A burst of scorching wind howled down from overhead. Xi De spread his wings high in the sky, completely neutralizing that biting, knife-like cold wind.

Bo knelt on one knee, gazing up at that towering, proud figure, and murmured, “Commander…”

Xi De glanced down at him from high above. His wings of molten gold twisted once more, shrouding Bo, An, and Ning on the ground in firelight, finally preventing them from being swept into the vortex by the howling polar winds.

But the murmuring liquid fire in the air was growing thinner. Bo fought against his increasingly heavy eyelids and whispered, “You are about to burn out too, aren’t you…”

The headphone channel was a vast emptiness. He had lost his sense of time, knowing only that they had never received a response from the Main City. This cold seemed endless. The chaos vortex grew larger and larger, and the aberrant tide in the air was spreading madly. The Bait City they were originally guarding had long been swept into the vortex. He no longer knew for whom he was resisting for.

But he knew that if he didn’t resist, even he himself would be swallowed by that terrible power.

Temperature was clearly no matter; it had no substance, yet it seemed to have joined the fusion with these materials.

At this moment, Bo finally understood why the Commander hated the cold so much. Because the bitter cold could indeed bite into the bone, trampling human will and spirit underfoot, coldly and brutally crushing people.

His heart suddenly trembled, and he looked up even harder towards the high sky—

Yet right here in this Polar Region that Xi De loathed the most, that Commander didn’t speak a single word of retreat. The flowing fire of the golden phoenix wings flapped and circled in the high sky, seemingly tireless from the first appearance of the chaos vortex until now. That figure fought and soared above, never descending an inch despite being scarred all over.

Not only the terrifying chaos vortex but also thousands of fierce aberrants were blocked behind those wings by that man alone.

When the chaos vortex grew again, the screeches of the aberrant tide became more intense, as if clamoring arrogantly between heaven and earth.

The temperature continued to drop. Those aberrants were encased in ice, and the venom and saliva they sprayed at Xi De froze into ice spikes in mid-air.

Bo struggled to prop himself up and shouted hoarsely, “Commander, let me—”

“No need.”

As the words fell, Xi De retracted his wings forcefully backwards, tightening his shoulder blades to the extreme, then flapped his wings forward with all his might. A heat wave swept through, instantly creating streaks of firelight in the air, melting all those ice spikes.

The dazzling firelight almost blurred Bo’s vision, and the tears welling up in his eyes became scorching hot.

He clearly saw more and more fissures opening on those golden wings. The streaks of liquid fire falling from the sky were clearly that person’s flesh and blood.

“What are you crying for?” Xi De roared past over his head. “If it hurts too much, close your eyes and sleep for a while. Leave the high sky to me.”

Xi De fought more bravely as the battle went on, but his face gradually turned pale amidst the frost. Feathers already covered his neck, and clusters of flame-like patterns appeared on his forehead. He was rapidly moving towards complete phoenix transformation.

“Commander…” Bo murmured, “Stop.”

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Bo asked weakly, “What are you going to do?”

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“No need for you kids.”

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“Yes, I will definitely protect them…” Bo realized something was wrong halfway through his sentence. He raised his head forcefully to look at the high sky. “You are going alone—”

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Xi De’s laughter was cold and clear. “Bo, you seem to have always misunderstood me a little.”

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“I only loathe the cold; I do not fear it. Frost, what is there to fear about frost?”

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Then, a clear phoenix cry came from high above. Before Bo realized what was happening, scorching liquid fire almost singed his feathers. He was blown far away by the giant wind from the wing flap.

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Bo turned back abruptly, only to see that liquid fire-like figure flapping its wings alone towards the gigantic reaction vortex.

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When the plane finally broke through the distorted space, An Yu heard only a sorrowful crane cry that resonated through the heavens.

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An Yu didn’t have time to call Xi De’s name. The instant that golden light submerged into the chaos reaction, heaven and earth became very quiet. The cold wind that ravaged the world also paused for a moment. The world seemed to turn into a silent film.

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A black arc flashed across the sky. Bo, with both wings crippled, fell from high above.

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Only a lonely figure remained, lying quietly on the peak of the glacier.

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But he had already left.

The golden phoenix wings were torn in the high sky, crushed against the bitter cold in the vortex. That pair of wings Xi De was most proud of finally burned out for humanity.

An Yu walked forward slowly, knelt sitting in front of the corpse, reached out, and held the ice spike embedded in the forehead. Fresh blood slid down the ice spike, along Xi De’s forehead, staining those eyes that died with everlasting regret red.

An Yu pulled the ice spike out abruptly and covered those eyes with his bleeding hand.

The skin under his palm was soft and thin. This was the first time he perceived that Xi De was actually just a young man.

Without those golden phoenix wings, he was as equally soft and fragile.

After a long time, An Yu raised his hand, put the ice spike aside, leaned over, and gently kissed those eyes that finally closed.

“It’s a bit cold here, but it has finally calmed down. In a while, I’ll take you back to a warm place.”

He murmured in a whisper, his trembling lips brushing over the cold eyelids through blood and tears.

“Sleep, Wushuang.”

Author’s Note:

Snowflake fragments
[An (2/3)]
[Butterflies Are Not Fragile]

I rarely speak; even to the Commander, I haven’t said many words.

I often think, maybe the Commander doesn’t recognize my voice at all.

So I don’t know if he heard my last sentence.

Just as his body was about to submerge into the vortex.

My morpho butterfly whispered in his ear, Please rest assured.

Butterflies are not fragile.

Without the Phoenix’s protection, we can also flap our wings alone.

Light, scorching, heading straight for the high sky, never descending.

Flying across the endless road for him.

Fulfilling the unfinished tasks for him.

Snowflake fragments
[Xi De (2/2)]
[Flapping Wings for Humanity]

Few Protectors like their mutation; I am an exception.

The golden phoenix wings are the pride of my life.

They took me away from my stepfather’s freezer, severing the trampled fate.

Where the phoenix’s golden light reaches, all high-altitude aberrants submit.

The firelight flowing on the wings was my burning rebirth.

Previously, I always felt that I was willing to fight decisively not because I loved humanity, but because I loved these wings.

But when I finally flapped my wings and rushed towards the vortex, I suddenly understood.

To be torn apart for humanity is the glory these wings deserve.

At the final moment, I didn’t close my eyes.

I saw a streak of flowing fire flash through the blue-green aurora of the sky.

That was the trace of it soaring and falling.

My wings and I will never be separated.

Previous Snowflake Fragments:

[Chapter 82] Xi De (1/2) Fire that Melts Ice.

[Chapter 83] Ning (2/3) Our Secret.