As they continued to walk through the forest, Ninth actively ignored the Canzer. She was avoiding even looking back at her direction. She just kept her head forward and continued to walk through the endless forest.


    Carmine rmended they take some detours to try and confuse their pursuers, which made their journey a lot longer.


    It came to a point where they had to make camp to sleep for the night.


    "We don''t need shifts. I can keep watch all by myself. I''ll make sure that no Canzer ambushes us in the middle of the night," Ninth said.


    Even though she wasn''t looking at the Canzer''s direction, the implication was clear. Ninth was insinuating that the Canzer could betray them in the middle of the night and kill them in their sleep.


    The Canzer understood Ninth''s words, just from her hostility alone. She knew that Ninth hated her and Canzers to her core. But she didn''t care.


    She thought that her own kind were monsters too, so she didn''t me this mistreatment from Ninth.


    "It''s fine. I''ll protect you," An said to the Canzer.


    She nodded and shed a meek smile towards him as a gesture of thanks.


    Since they didn''t do much today, most people on the team had trouble falling asleep. They had to exercise and exhaust themselves from practice first before they finally slept in their makeshift beds made out of leaves.


    An didn''t feel tired too, so he simply justid in bed right next to the Canzer.


    Then, he felt a poke in his shoulders. He turned around and saw the Canzer looking at him.


    "What is it?" Continue your journey with empire@@novelbin@@


    ''How do I understand you?''


    "I don''t know," An replied.


    ''How can you understand me?''


    "...I don''t know," An replied again.


    Then, the Canzerughed, surprising An.


    "Why are youughing?"


    ''I''m sorry, you remind me of one of my mothers. Whenever I asked her about something, she would always say that she didn''t know.''


    An didn''t know if that was apliment or not. Either way, it was good that the Canzer was feelingfortable enough tough even in this situation.


    If he could build a better rapport with the Canzer, there would be a smaller chance that she would suddenly run away from the group. They needed her in order to defeat the monster in the castle.


    "...interesting…this is the first documented case of a human and a Canzer having a conversation! An, you are amazing at this."


    Back at the meeting room, Carmine and the other Specialist Operators couldn''t help but praise An for his empathy that could even transcend species. Somehow, he could understand the emotions of the Canzer and build trust with them.


    "You''ll have to teach us your ways once you''re back in Genesis City," Carmine said.


    An ignored Carmine''s words. There was no way he was going to tell them that he could speak and understand Canzers perfectly. It wasn''t a special technique, it was a mutation.


    "Tell me more about yourself. I''m curious about your home."


    ''Sniff… we just lived in a quaint little cottage in the middle of the woods. We were far away from everyone else, so we were excluded from everyone else…my mothers didn''t want me to go out of the confines of our home, so I was stuck wandering in the forest without meeting anyone…''


    An listened to her story and from what he could surmise, it seemed as if her mothers were purposefully hiding the Canzer.


    Her mothers most likely knew that she was the key to the death of the creature in the castle. That was why they were adamant about keeping her in the confines of her home.


    She must have asked her mothers why she couldn''t go out into the town or in the castle, and all her mothers could tell her was that they didn''t know.


    However, something must have happened for things to go so wrong. If the Canzer was able to grow up for years and years on end without the creature in the castle finding her, then her mothers must have done a good job in hiding her.


    Therefore, something must have happened to break that bnce.


    "You know, when I was back in my home, the Unimed Lands, I also wanted to go out and explore. However, people always warned me that there was nothing but death outside.


    Of course, as the kid I was, I thought differently. I thought I would see something more outside.


    So, I defied their words. I got out on my own.


    However, they were right. There was nothing but death outside my home. I almost died. But the people that warned me in the first ce, got out too and saved me from death.


    They…they died…they died trying to save me. If I hadn''t defied their words, then they would have still been alive. And if they didn''t save me back then, then I wouldn''t be here at all."


    An finally poured out the truth to the Canzer. The story he told her was true, and it was the reason why he proimed himself a pacifist.


    The world outside was already harsh enough. It would kill even good people indiscriminately. So, An vowed that if possible, he wouldn''t be like that. He wouldn''t want to be the one to take the life of another human indiscriminately.


    ''Sob…sob…sob…''


    An looked to the side and saw tears streaming down the Canzer''s chitinous cheeks.


    His story seemed to have struck a chord with her.


    ''It was my fault!....I…I wandered too far off our home…and when I got back…our house burned down!....it was my fault…I shouldn''t have gone out!''


    An understood her pain well. After all, they experienced the same thing too.


    He moved closer to her in their bed and took her head to his chest. He pulled her close to him and allowed her to let out all her emotions.


    She was shivering and crying hard, but at least, someone was there with her. He was there tofort her.