Everyone Is Non-Human Except Me [Rebirth] Chapter 83

It was like a dandelion seed landed in his ear, tickling.

His heart thumped violently. He even worried Yun Yongzhou might hear it from how loud it was.

Older Brother Yongzhou. That kind of name was just too…

“No way.” Wei Huan bit Yun Yongzhou’s fingertip, like a puppy in the teething stage.

“Just once.” Yun Yongzhou pinched the back of his neck, making him shrink his shoulders. His voice was unbearably gentle, coaxing, “Be good, and I’ll bully you less.”

“My little Nine Phoenix has never been good since birth.” Wei Huan’s arrogant little expression was exactly the same as ten years ago. “Bully me all you want—I absolutely will not call you older brother, little golden crow.”

“You will.” Yun Yongzhou didn’t press, but sounded so sure.

“Tch.” Wei Huan pretended to scoff, but the tips of his ears were burning. He wanted to push Yun Yongzhou away, but Yun Yongzhou hugged him tightly like holding a plush toy. “I can’t breathe—loosen up a bit.”

Though he was joking, Yun Yongzhou still loosened his arms. He had been so focused on teasing him that he hadn’t noticed until now the folded dan horn hanging around Wei Huan’s neck. He grabbed it and examined it carefully, then looked up and asked, “Isn’t this the one you used to wear?”

“Yeah, you still remember?” Wei Huan was a little surprised. He thought Yun Yongzhou hadn’t paid attention to him back then—he didn’t expect him to even remember something like this. “Do you remember during the school sports day when I fought with the Great Tengu? Zhao Xingjian’s brother? He accused us of cheating and went around slandering our Fuyou team. I beat him up, and then he tattled to the headteacher, and I got punished, and the Principal confiscated this dan horn.”

“The Principal?” Yun Yongzhou frowned. “Those people who said you used connections to get in—was it true?”

“I didn’t use any connections, I got in on my own—” He suddenly remembered—the person who ranked first was sitting right in front of him. He got a little embarrassed, “—second place. You know that, right? Even though I lost to you, I was still pretty good.” Wei Huan thought, they really lacked communication back then. For Yun Yongzhou to like him despite that—it wasn’t easy.

He explained, “The Principal grew up with my mom—they’re sort of family friends. He’s also watched me grow up. This dan horn was a gift he gave me when I was born.”

“No wonder,” Yun Yongzhou rubbed his fingers over it. “It’s filled with such strong Nine Phoenix demon energy.”

Wei Huan nodded. “Even stronger than the energy on me, right? Maybe this thing could actually awaken my demon blood.”

Yun Yongzhou gently stroked his back. “Do you want to turn back into a Nine Phoenix?”

“Don’t you want that?” Wei Huan cupped his face in both hands and nuzzled his nose. “Do you like me as I am now, or as I was before?”

That was a hard question. Yun Yongzhou looked into his eyes and answered sincerely, “I like both.”

Wei Huan hadn’t expected even Yun Yongzhou to give such a boring, middle-of-the-road answer. “That’s so perfunctory.”

Yun Yongzhou brushed his bangs aside, his voice soft, “The you from before was powerful, kind, good in every way—but you weren’t mine.”

“Maybe now you think you’re not as good as you used to be. You don’t have that strong demon power anymore, you can’t do whatever you want.” Yun Yongzhou looked into his eyes. “But the you now belongs to me.”

“I’m a dark person, and I think this is good.” He held Wei Huan’s hand and laced their fingers tightly. “So I like both. I like the good you, and I like that you’re mine.”

His tone, his voice, even the tiny sigh woven into his words, all made Wei Huan feel like he was being wrapped in the softest night clouds—not in a way that trapped him, but in a way that held him gently.

Wei Huan couldn’t imagine how, over these seven years, Yun Yongzhou had changed from the silent boy who never spoke to this version of himself. Everything had changed. The ice had melted into water, into the quiet galaxy flowing in his eyes.

After a full week of classes and non-stop missions, by the weekend, all Wei Huan wanted was to hide in Yun Yongzhou’s instructor dormitory and go nowhere. But of course, right when he was sleeping soundly, his communicator kept ringing. Wei Huan couldn’t even open his eyes, groggily buried under the blanket. He blindly pressed his ring and heard Yang Sheng’s voice.

“Combat Preparedness, Group Seven leader. Come out and take a mission.”

Wei Huan turned over, still half-asleep, his voice full of morning grumpiness. “Take a mission, my *ss. Don’t bother me while I’m sleeping.”

“Sleeping? Healthy sleep or… not-so-healthy sleep?”

Wei Huan covered his ears. “It’s just me here—what do you think?!”

“Oh, so you’re just sleeping alone. No wonder no one’s hanging up on me. If Yun Yongzhou were there, he’d probably have hung up already.” Yang Sheng had his fun teasing him, then got serious. “Alright, enough messing around. I really need people right now. If you’re not busy, come help me out. There were over ten demon puppets spotted in Nanyang City today. The exact number’s still unclear, but even just these have already caused chaos. I think you should come check this out.”

Wei Huan tossed off his blanket. “D*mn, here we go again.”

Nanyang was a small city near the demon realm border, right up against the Dark Zone, with plenty of gray areas. It was a major post for the Shanhai combat units, and a fair number of government troops were stationed there too.

He rubbed his eyes. “Got it. After we’re done, you’re buying me dinner. I’m going to the most expensive restaurant.”

“Why are you so petty? What’s our relationship?”

“Even between brothers, accounts must be settled.” Wei Huan pulled on his clothes and got up. “Did you call Yun Yongzhou?”

“He can’t come. If he could, would I be calling you?”

Wei Huan instantly sobered up. “Hey, what’s that supposed to mean? You think I’m not worth calling?”

Despite their banter, Wei Huan quickly made his way to Yang Sheng’s side. Yang Sheng had brought ten Groups, spread throughout the Dark Zone.

“We’ve already subdued three of them. They look like low-level ones, made from experiments using ordinary demon bloodlines.” Yang Sheng pressed his ring to pull up the footage they’d just recorded. “Look, the combat power of these demon puppets is pretty average. Even the student combat teams can handle them. They’re nothing compared to the level of those like Xie Tianfa.”

Wei Huan nodded. “You might not know, but before Xie Tianfa became a demon puppet, he was actually a highly trained bodyguard. His reflexes were extremely fast, and he was skilled with all kinds of weapons. His body already had strong combat capabilities, and on top of that, he was fused with the Nine Phoenix bloodline. He also happened to be able to digest both of my parents’ abilities. Even though his control isn’t perfect yet, it’s obvious he was trained. He doesn’t have a mind anymore, but his grasp of tactics is still excellent. He’s probably the strongest weapon they’ve been able to make.”

Yang Sheng sighed. “That’s terrifying. Just one of him can catch us off guard. If they can mass-produce this…”

He didn’t finish.

Wei Huan spoke, “What you said last time makes sense. I don’t think they found my body. Xie Tianfa is their most successful experiment so far. It’s given Yang Shu a taste of victory, so they might want to make another Xie Tianfa. Only my body has that potential, which is why they would risk breaking into the ancestral tomb.”

As he spoke, he frowned. “But humans don’t know where my body is, and neither does the demon race. Where could it be?”

“Did you ask Yun Yongzhou?” Yang Sheng asked.

Wei Huan shook his head. “If he had it, he would’ve told me. He knows I want to go back.”

Yang Sheng was about to say more when suddenly his communicator blared an orange alert. He opened the virtual map and saw a dense cluster of red dots appearing in the southern part of Nanyang City, approaching from the Dark Zone toward the city’s border. The red dots represented demon puppets.

“Isn’t that the big bridge connecting the Dark Zone and Nanyang?” Wei Huan zoomed in on the map. Sure enough, it was that location. But he remembered there was a powerful barrier set up there. A flash of realization hit him. “They probably brought demon puppets specifically made with organs from high-level demons. They might be able to break through the barriers between the Dark Zone and the demon realm.”

“This is bad.”

They didn’t waste another word. Yang Sheng immediately opened the barrier passage and took Wei Huan straight to the scene. As soon as they passed through, they saw the traces of raging fire everywhere. People were fleeing in panic through the streets. Shops and buildings were ablaze, and the student Groups from the Combat Preparedness teams on site were scrambling to put out the fires.

“No wonder they could get in—they actually made these Huo Dou demon puppets.” Wei Huan checked the area and saw more than a dozen of them. All of them were huge, with dog bodies but human heads. When they opened their mouths, they breathed fire—extremely strange.

“Group Three, clear the civilians from the bridge. Groups Five and Twelve, hold the damaged section of the barrier! Groups Thirteen and Seventeen, repair the barrier as fast as possible!” Yang Sheng quickly issued orders. He just gathered a wind sphere in his hand but immediately crushed it. His wind power, in this situation, would only add fuel to the fire. He could only rely on other weapons to attack, but with limited effect.

Wei Huan had rushed out in a hurry, still wearing casual clothes. Changing into combat gear in public was too embarrassing, so he had no choice but to fight in his regular clothes.

“These things are tough to handle. Tell your students to stay back.” As he spoke, a large number of light blades instantly appeared behind him, shooting at the vital points of the Huo Dou demon puppets at incredible speed. The light blades were widespread—anywhere Wei Huan could see, they could quickly reach. One by one, the Huo Dou were pierced, letting out frenzied roars and immediately charging at Wei Huan, breathing fire at him.

“Careful!”

Wei Huan was completely unfazed. “Did you forget? I’m not afraid of fire anymore.” As he spoke, his fingers intertwined to guide his energy. Twelve clusters of Golden Crow True Flame instantly appeared around him, forming a circle that spun halfway before radiating outward to attack the frenzied Huo Dou.

A student from the combat unit nearby shouted, “These monsters can swallow fire!”

“I want them to swallow it,” Wei Huan smirked.

They dared to swallow Golden Crow True Flame?

The Huo Dou demon puppets barely hesitated before gulping down what they thought were incoming attacks. Nothing seemed to happen, and they pounced at Wei Huan again. Some students nearby were starting to sigh and even prepared to rush in to help—but suddenly, the Huo Dou began convulsing. Crimson firelight glowed from inside their bodies, as if they were about to ignite from within. In moments, they spontaneously combusted, flames wrapping around them as crackling sounds and agonized howls filled the air.

The monsters collapsed to the ground, barely clinging to life.

Wei Huan turned and tipped his chin at Yang Sheng. “Hey, go find some kid with spatial abilities to collect these.”

Yang Sheng crossed his arms. “That was god-tier.” He called over a young girl from Jiahui Academy—she happened to have over a dozen flower pouches that could seal the demon puppets. Just as she was about to start channeling her power, synchronized footsteps approached from behind.

Wei Huan and Yang Sheng turned to see a uniformed police inspector leading a group of officers.

“Here we go again,” Yang Sheng’s face darkened. Wei Huan glanced at the man. The inspector gave them a brief nod—barely a greeting—and said, “Leave this to us. You can return to Shanhai now.”

Wei Huan’s temper flared instantly. He pressed it down and forced a smile. “Wow, perfect timing—not too early, not too late. Just right.”

Some of the combat unit’s students echoed his sarcasm. After all, they were the ones who had fought so hard to capture the demon puppets, nearly exhausting themselves, and now these police were showing up to chase them off and claim the credit. No one could stomach that.

Yang Sheng, the only instructor on site, stepped up to the inspector and gave a formal salute. “Thank you for coming, but we’ve already handled it here. We’ll take the demon puppets back to Shanhai to report.”

The inspector smiled. “Why draw such hard lines? Isn’t Shanhai also part of the Demon Federation? Instructor, do you represent the entire Shanhai and intend to break away from the Federation?” As he spoke, he glanced at Wei Huan. “So that’s why—no wonder there’s even a human student here.”

The moment the words left his mouth, Wei Huan’s light blade shot straight toward him—but Yang Sheng quickly wrapped it in a wind sphere. The golden light blade entwined with purple wind, stopping just inches from the inspector’s forehead.

“Shanhai has always welcomed all talents. As long as the student is capable and of good character, we never turn them away.” Yang Sheng grabbed the light blade with his hand, and only then did Wei Huan reluctantly disperse it.

The inspector clapped a few times. “Great. Since Shanhai is so inclusive, our government forces and Shanhai’s combat units are practically family—no need to separate us. How about this: I see your students are tired. Since you’re here in Nanyang, you should try the local specialties. I’ll treat you all to a meal—relax and have some fun. As for these tedious cleanup tasks, leave them to my men.”

As he spoke, his subordinates began securing the demon puppets into prison cages. The inspector extended his hand. “Instructor, this way please?”

Yang Sheng smiled politely. “No need. We still have other tasks to handle.” With that, he turned around. The smile disappeared from his face as he issued a cold order to the students: “Return to Shanhai and report.”

Watching these shameless people snatch their credit, Wei Huan was furious but also puzzled. Yang Sheng didn’t leave with the students. Instead, he quietly opened a purple barrier and brought Wei Huan inside. When they stepped out of the barrier, they weren’t in Shanhai—they were in the Dark Zone.

“Why are we here?”

Yang Sheng said, “Those Huo Dou clearly came from the Dark Zone. I want to see if there are more around. Letting this many demon puppets loose at once—I think something’s off.”

Wei Huan nodded in agreement. He also thought of what had just happened. “This kind of interception isn’t their first time, right? Wasn’t it the same thing last time at the Arctic Vault? They cut in afterward too.”

“Yeah.” Yang Sheng frowned. “It’s been happening a lot recently. Ever since Xie Tianfa and those demon puppets hit the Arctic Vault, the demon puppets have been appearing more frequently, and their numbers keep increasing. That’s not the strange part. The weird thing is that normally, the government troops on routine patrols wouldn’t interfere. It used to be that we minded our own business—combat units did their job, and the Federation did theirs. But now, every time demon puppets show up, they rush to take over. Isn’t that odd?”

“Could it be…” Wei Huan suddenly thought of a very dark possibility. “What if these demon puppets are connected to the Federation?”

Yang Sheng shook his head. “I thought that too at first. I thought I’d stumbled onto something huge. So later I asked a shadow demon to tail those government troops for a while. They didn’t stash the demon puppets privately. In fact, they burned them all in a centralized location—more thorough than Shanhai’s combat units. Not only that, they even invited reporters from Demon Capital News to record the whole thing. It’s all over the media now.”

Isn’t this a textbook case of cutting in and stealing the credit?

“I heard they’ve been capturing demon puppets themselves too, not just intercepting Shanhai’s missions. The key thing is—I don’t understand what their purpose is. What’s the point of broadcasting this?”

Wei Huan frowned deeply. He had some vague ideas, but they weren’t fully formed yet. “Something doesn’t feel right. I keep getting the sense that something’s about to happen.”

“Speaking of something happening, your family’s got plenty going on lately,” Yang Sheng casually chatted as they walked forward.

“What’s going on?”

Yang Sheng sighed. “Next year, the Demon Federation is changing leadership. All factions are eyeing the opportunity, and it looks like the current Prime Minister is betting everything on Yun Yongzhou.”

Wei Huan was stunned. “You mean he’s using Yun Yongzhou as a tool to secure his re-election?”

“Hasn’t that always been the case?” Yang Sheng shrugged. “You have to understand—Yun Yongzhou has always been a chess piece for the Golden Crow family. He was sent to Shanhai originally so he could directly enter the government forces, but now he became an instructor because of you. The school board’s been under constant pressure over this, and the principal has talked to him about it several times recently.”

“Talked about what?”

“Obviously, they want him to resign. Shanhai can’t hold onto a Buddha like him. Yun Yongzhou will have to leave sooner or later. Once he joins the government forces, even without earning major military achievements, just by leveraging the influence of being a first-generation Golden Crow and hyping up his teaching background at the top academy, once they set him up as a model figure, you can imagine how many votes the Golden Crow family will secure.”

“Most people don’t really care about policy plans. They just vote for whoever they recognize. That’s exactly what they’re exploiting.”

Exactly.

Very few people actually understand how their votes should be cast. Most are unknowingly manipulated by public opinion.

“Yun Yongzhou has been holding out for a long time. Now even the principal is personally trying to convince him—looks like he won’t be able to stay much longer.”

Wei Huan’s mood sank. Yun Yongzhou had never told him any of this—probably because he didn’t want him to worry.

“If that’s the case—”

Before he could finish, an explosion suddenly sounded in the distance. Both of them looked up and saw black smoke rising from the top of a nearby building.

“Again?” Yang Sheng spread his wings. “You haven’t fully recovered yet, don’t fly.” He rushed off as he spoke. Wei Huan quickly followed, weaving through a crowded street to the blast site. Three demon puppets were circling in the air, each with three bird heads and one human head, plus two pairs of red wings. They opened their sharp beaks, spitting out explosive fire.

Wei Huan was about to send his light blades after them when he realized shots had already been fired. Two shots had taken down one of the demon puppets.

Someone beat them here? Wei Huan rushed over and saw a team of humans in black uniforms. The leader looked very familiar.

“Ah Zu?”

Yang Sheng shot down the other two that hadn’t been hit and landed beside Wei Huan, glancing at the black-clad group. “You know them?”

Wei Huan quickly explained, “Yeah, he’s the one who saved me in the Dark Zone when this all started. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have made it to Shanhai.”

The masked Ah Zu also recognized Wei Huan and pulled off his mask. “Ah Heng? What a coincidence! What are you doing here?”

“We just caught some demon puppets at the border. What about you guys? Fighting demon puppets too?” Wei Huan nodded at the others in greeting, then asked, “Do you have enough equipment? These demon puppets vary in strength—you guys need to be careful.”

“We’re good, we’ve got more.” Ah Zu said, “These things have been popping up all over the Dark Zone the past couple of days. Our boss even brought out the entire armed division today—we’ve been fighting since dawn. D*mn, it looks like some of them escaped.”

“Yeah, they’ve fled into the Demon Territory. I heard the same thing’s happening in Fanzhou. Seems like this research lab is really pushing its luck.” Wei Huan suddenly remembered something. “You said your boss? Is he here?”

“Yeah, he was just here. You want to meet him?” Ah Zu glanced around. “He fired those last few shots… Eh? Where’d he go? Little Zhi, where’s the boss?”

A short guy named Little Zhi pointed toward the street corner. “I think he went that way.”

Wei Huan didn’t say much more. He’d always wanted to know who this boss actually was, so he immediately ran in the direction Little Zhi pointed. He saw a black-cloaked figure walking ahead.

“Hello?”

Wei Huan called out while chasing after him. The other person’s speed was shockingly fast. When he turned another corner, he nearly crashed into a street vendor selling artificial fruit. “Sorry, sorry.” By the time he looked up—the person was gone.

So mysterious. Wei Huan walked back in disappointment. Ah Zu asked, “You didn’t find him?”

He shook his head. “I only followed him for a bit—he disappeared around the corner.”

Yang Sheng was surprised. “There’s actually someone you can lose track of? Impressive.”

“Maybe he went to find other team members.” Ah Zu shrugged. “Our boss is always like this—never stays in one place, always coming and going silently. With all these demon puppets popping up lately, we’ve been swamped.”

Wei Huan fell into deep thought. That silhouette just now—it seemed so familiar, like he’d seen it somewhere before.

Who is this Yu Sheng, really?

“Hey, don’t dwell on it, Ah Heng. Let me tell you something we just found out.” Ah Zu enthusiastically slung his arm around Wei Huan’s shoulders. “You know? You’re not the first successful experiment from that lab. There was someone even earlier than you.”

“What?” Wei Huan’s face flashed with surprise. He immediately thought of Xie Tianfa. “Was it a demon puppet with blue demon energy, skilled at using wind-based constructs?”

Ah Zu shook his head. “Nope. It was a boy who looked human but not quite human. I even ran into him once in the Dark Zone.”