FXDL V5 Epilogue

Translated by: TaffyGirl13

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Epilogue: The heart’s balance wavers indecisively

Greenwich, United Kingdom.

It was August 9th, 11:50 PM. The three-week school trip would end in ten minutes.

All of the current students had gathered at the plaza, excitedly sharing what had happened during their journeys as well as any glorious spoils of war. 

Only one group was lifeless and ashen-faced.

“There’s still no news.” Zhu Yue stared at her cellphone with tightly furrowed brows. “None of our classmates in Southern China saw Fu Xing.”

“Same with the northeast,” Dan Juan frustratedly reported the latest update from last night.

Momiji, Emerald, and Brad were in the same boat – they had no luck.

Leon remained silent. In spite of the elders’ censure, he had mobilized the Sagveiss clan to search everywhere for Fu Xing’s whereabouts without any results.

The only information they had obtained was that someone had spotted a youth resembling Fu Xing at a hospital in St. Petersburg, accompanied by a young man.

“Now,” Professor Peiris stood before them. He glanced through the list of people that had checked in, “Only Eastbound Group 77 has not completely gathered?”

“Yes, we are missing one person.”

“Will they be coming? Would you like to remove them from the team list so that the rest of you do not have to bear the burden of them abandoning the group?”

“No thanks!” Leon and the others resolutely replied.

Peiris smiled in bitter sympathy. “In that case, as Group 77 does not have all their member present, they are disqualified—”

“W-wait!” A panicked shout rang out from the back of the plaza where the entrance was. “I’m here! All members are present!”

Multiple heads turned to see an exhausted black-haired youth dragging a suitcase like he had just rushed from the airport. He squeezed through the crowd to reach the centre stage.

“Fu Xing?!”

“Where did you go?!”

Momiji and the rest were astonished and overjoyed as they moved to surround Fu Xing.

Fu Xing scratched his head in embarrassment. “I ran into some trouble that caused a delay. I’m really very sorry.”

He had been worried about being followed, so he had first flown to Moscow, Russia, then to Prague, Czech Republic, Budapest, Hungary, Berlin, Germany, Paris, France, and finally Greenwich in London, UK. This crazy flight journey had exhausted the scholarship funds he had saved over the past two years, in addition to leaving charges on the credit card Lin Lin had lent him.

“Eastbound Group 77 has all gathered.” Peiris marked a check in his notebook. “In that case, please present your guidebooks for an audit of the stamps.” 

“There’s no need,” Emerald replied.

Fu Xing whipped his head around. “Why?”

“Because every one of us is missing three stamps. We didn’t complete the mission.” Brad indifferently fanned himself with his guidebook. “It’s no big deal.”

“Eh? How!” Fu Xing was shocked. “There was clearly enough time, why—”

“Don’t be stupid.” Momiji said with a hint of anger in her tone, “You went missing. How could we think about finishing the mission?”

Fu Xing blinked and stared at his companions.

“So…we failed?” So I’m once again the reason my friends have fallen into a difficult situation?

“It’s fine.” Zhu Yue smiled as she consoled, “You returning safe and sound is most important.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Rocort added, “Without Fu Xing, even the snacks started tasting bad.”

Fu Xing’s heart sank and hit rock-bottom as he received his friend’s forgiveness and concern.

I haven’t changed at all.

I’m still as useless as usual. I haven’t grown a single bit.

I’m a failure as a human and a failure as a monster. What’s the point of my existence?

“Will Eastbound Group 77 not be submitting stamps then?” Peiris pushed up his heavy, gold-rimmed glasses. “In that case, do you have any proof for bonus points?” 

“No!” Emerald immediately replied in an attempt to end the topic as quickly as possible. “We really did not complete the mission. Please go onto inspecting the next group.”

However, Fu Xing had no plans on letting it end there after hearing a critical word. He continued to ask more questions.

“Bonus points?” There was such a thing? Why didn’t I know? “What is the proof for bonus points?”

Peiris raised a brow doubtfully at Fu Xing’s question, wondering if Fu Xing was deliberately trying to make a scene. However, after confirming that the student was truly oblivious, Peiris knocked on the object placed at the front of the platform.

“This is proof for bonus points. As long as you have two, the entire team can pass.”

Fu Xing’s eyes shifted over to the round, fishbowl-like glass container that was half-filled with round buttons, some of which were covered in blood.

Those are….White Triangle’s engraved buttons!

“Why…are those here?”

Seeing that they could not cover it any longer, Dan Juan had no option but to confess, “The bonus question on the final page was: The severed bloody triangle, knock down the unjust rite of law. It means for us to find White Triangle members and destroy them…”

“What…” Fu Xing was shocked by the fact that the seemingly simple and fun school trip had actually hidden a dark and bloody side. “Did the rest of you know about this?”

The expressions on his friends’ faces told the answer.

Realised dawned on him.

Ah, no wonder… 

No wonder Brad’s family back in California had so sincerely requested us to help Brad…

After all, the school trip had been concealing such a dangerous and blood-drenched mission!

“So our group doesn’t have a single one?” Fu Xing looked at Leon.

Considering Leon’s character and the fact that his revenge for Lia hasn’t been fulfilled yet, Leon should have fervently carried out this mission. Why would he—

You’re what made Darkclaw weak!

Sylvia’s words echoed through his mind.

Could it be for my sake? 

“We had no interest in something so troublesome.” Brad lazily commented, “If we’re going to go out and have fun, we should just have fun. What’s the point in getting involved with such complicated things?”

“Exactly,” Momiji chimed in. “Who knows how much shopping time we would’ve wasted on just finding White Triangle.”

“Yeah, that’s right!”

“I had no desire to spend money on avoidable medical costs.”

Fu Xing knew that every word leaving his companions’ mouths was meant to comfort him.

Guilt filled his heart once more.

Although he thought that the school trip’s mission was cruel, he was more unwilling to see his friends be labeled as failures because of him.

“So, Eastbound Group 77 does not have engraved buttons for bonus points?” Peiris asked again. “In that case, those who have failed must take on the accumulated costs from the trip—”

“Wait!” Fu Xing suddenly blurted.

Everyone’s eyes turned towards him.

“Fu Xing?” His friends stared at him in confusion.

“If it’s an engraved button, I have one!”

Fu Xing opened his pouch and pulled out the gold engraved button from a small pocket. He went up to the platform and passed it to Peiris.

“It’s only one, but if you add it together with the stamps, we should have enough to pass, right?”

Peiris studied the gold button in Fu Xing’s hands, his eyes widening.

“T-This is—”

Fu Xing anxiously watched Peiris, worried that the button wouldn’t be counted as points.

“This is the button of the highest-rank official!” Peiris declared in astonishment. 

White Triangle members had ranks. People from each rank possessed engraved buttons with differences in colour and material to distinguish them. The lowest rank were normal citizen volunteers that knew of White Triangle’s existence and supported their operations that had green copper buttons; then the soldier rank with red copper buttons, the captain rank with black steel buttons, the upper-level officials with silver buttons, and the core officials with gold. 

Not understanding, Fu Xing asked, “Meaning we can get bonus points?”

“Of course! Of course you can!” Peiris excitedly patted Fu Xing on the shoulder. “Amazing! This is beyond outstanding! To think that such a young jingguai could retrieve the highest-rank gold button! This is something that even our trained veteran captains of the garrison troops could not necessarily achieve! Truly, the young will be redoubtable in the years to come! The future generations will surpass us!” 

Instantly, the Eastbound Group 77 that had been on the brink of failure skyrocketed up to become the champion.

Both hands of the clock came together to mark the midnight hour.

Shalom’s school trip had officially reached its end.

While the professors were giving emotional speeches on stage, Momiji and the others bombarded Fu Xing with questions about where Fu Xing had been in the several days he had gone missing.

“On the way back to find my pouch, I happened to bump into Sylvia’s group. We chatted by the road for a while, but ended up being suddenly attacked by White Triangle. After Sylvia and the others were killed, White Triangle brought me away, thinking I was a human.”

“Why did White Triangle think you were human?”

“I don’t know…probably because I look so clumsy?” Fu Xing joked in reply.

However, Leon was well aware of the truth.

The reason Fu Xing had been mistaken as a human was undoubtedly because he had been under attack. White Triangle had subconsciously determined the scene as a group of special animate beings attempting to kill an innocent commoner.

The reason Fu Xing deliberately did not say this was because he did not want to put Leon in a difficult situation.

“One of the members took me under their care for a few days to ask me a ton of questions, and it seemed like he was a bit suspicious of what I said. So during a moment when security was relatively lax, I secretly ran away. Because I was afraid of being pursued, I circled around a bunch of countries before coming here. My cellphone went missing, and I couldn’t remember everyone’s numbers, so I wasn’t able to contact you guys…” 

Fu Xing gave a simple rundown of his bitter experience, though he hid quite a few details.

“You lucky brat!” Brad whacked Fu Xing on the head. “What a mess!”

“It’s just like Fu Xing though!” 

After the gathering, Peiris returned the button to Fu Xing, saying that it was a hard-to-come-by spoil of war, and that he should keep it as a testament to his bravery.

Fu Xing passed through the dispersing crowd and prepared to catch up with his friends. Suddenly, he heard someone call out to him from behind.

“Fu Xing.”

Fu Xing turned to see Leon standing there.

“You forgot something…” Leon tossed an object at him.

Fu Xing caught it with his right hand and opened his fist. A silver-blue “LUCKY STAR” keychain lay on his palm.

“Let’s go.” Leon walked over to stand by Fu Xing’s side. “Keep proper care of it, don’t lose it again.”

“Mn…”

The gold button from Fidel was in his left hand; the keychain Leon had returned to him was in his right hand.

Fu Xing’s chest was full of complicated emotions. 

Which side will you choose, Fu Xing?

Eventually, it was rejected by both birds and beasts, alone for the rest of its life.

He Fu Xing, jingguai and human.

Which faction would he stand with in the end? 

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