Chapter 26: I Once Looked Up to You, But I Won’t Always Look Up to You

Chapter 26: I Once Looked Up to You, But I Won’t Always Look Up to You

What is a true genius?

Once upon a time, Chen Xing was what everyone called one.

The envy of the neighbors.

The pride of her teachers.

The treasure of her parents.

Before she ever came to Ember, her life had been something out of a fairy tale—beautiful, bright, and full of hope.

Until that day came. The day the Beast Tide appeared.

Her parents vanished.

Her little brother cried until his voice broke.

And the monsters tore through their city like demons set loose from hell.

In a single night, her life fell from heaven straight into the abyss.

But only the weak complain about their circumstances.

The strong adapt to them—or change them.

Even back then, Chen Xing had never met the Ember Organization.

She had never undergone the Star Core Surgery.

And yet, with nothing but her exceptional combat instincts and a desperate will to live, she managed to survive.

She protected her helpless, crying little brother Chen Kong through the deadliest three months of the beast outbreak.

But survival has a price.

Under the merciless baptism of that world, the girl who had once been kind and innocent was gone.

What replaced her was someone far too mature for her age—and someone unbearably cold.

It was in that darkness that she met Him for the first time.

A freezing, moonlit night.

Chen Xing, out of food and options, had tucked her brother safely into a corner of their ruined shelter.

Then, clutching a dull knife, she stepped into the ruins to scavenge whatever scraps the beasts had left behind.

The supermarket she entered was half-collapsed, the shelves broken and scattered like bones.

She moved quietly—painfully so—each footstep deliberate, her eyes scanning the floor for shards of glass or loose debris that might make a sound.

The slightest noise could draw the attention of a monster.

After a long, breathless search, she finally spotted something—a dusty can wedged under a fallen shelf.

But just as her fingers brushed it—

“Hey. You hungry?”

The unfamiliar voice froze her in place.

Her breath caught in her throat.

Heart hammering, she spun around, knife clutched tight in her trembling hand.

And by the faint moonlight filtering through the shattered roof, she saw him.

A silver-haired boy, around her age, sitting cross-legged on the corpse of a giant spider, watching her with curious eyes.

That boy was the one who would one day be known as Masamune Tendou.

Of course, she didn’t know that name yet.

She didn’t know whether he was friend or foe.

So she said nothing.

Instead, she bared her teeth, trying to look fierce, hoping he’d back off.

But the boy didn’t seem the least bit threatened.

He casually pulled the small knife lodged in the spider’s eye, hopped down from the carcass—and held something out toward her.

“Here.”

In his hand was a can of fruit.

Untouched. Clean. Precious.

For a moment, Chen Xing just stared at him, stunned.

Chen Xing stared blankly at the fruit can that Tendou held out to her.

For a long moment, she didn’t move. She didn’t know whether she should take it or not.

Her silence, however, made Tendou misunderstand.

“You don’t like this kind?”

He tilted his head, then pulled the can back and rummaged through his small, dirt-stained backpack.

A moment later, he took out a sealed pack of beef jerky—something far more precious in a world where food was scarcer than gold—and held it out again.

“Then… how about this?”

The sight of that packet snapped Chen Xing out of her daze.

Her expression shifted—surprise, confusion, and a hint of wariness flickering in her eyes.

“Why… why are you giving this to me?”

Tendou’s answer was completely outside her expectations.

“Oh, no reason. I just really like your eyes.”

“So, I thought… maybe I should help you.”

‘You like my eyes…?’

The words sounded strange, almost nonsensical, but Chen Xing wasn’t stupid.

She understood what he meant almost immediately.

He wasn’t talking about the color of her eyes—he was talking about what they reflected.

In a world where most survivors had long thrown away their humanity for a scrap of food, she had somehow managed to hold on to hers.

And in those eyes, Tendou saw something that still resembled a person.

That simple, almost childlike recognition—that small spark of kindness in the endless dark—was enough to shatter the dam she had built inside herself.

All the grief, the fear, the loneliness she had buried deep within came flooding out, like a tidal wave breaking through fragile walls.

And before she knew it, tears began to fall.

Silently, uncontrollably.

Even though the boy in front of her was a total stranger, even though she didn’t even know if she would see him again—Chen Xing couldn’t stop herself.

She cried.

That, of course, left Tendou completely panicking.

He had no idea how to deal with crying girls.

“Ah—uh—don’t—please don’t cry—”

He hurriedly fumbled through his bag again and pulled out a small packet of tissues, thrusting it toward her like a soldier offering a white flag.

A few moments later, Chen Xing wiped her eyes, face still red, and muttered shyly,

“Th-thank you…”

“Eh? Oh, uh—no problem.”

Tendou awkwardly scratched his cheek, desperate to change the subject.

The silence that followed felt suffocating.

Finally, he pointed toward the massive spider corpse behind him and said,

“Um… next time you come to a place like this, remember to check your surroundings first.”

“If you don’t see any other beasts around, it usually means this place has already been claimed by something stronger—or by someone. You have to be twice as careful.”

“Otherwise, you might walk straight into a trap again, like tonight.”

Having said his piece, the silver-haired boy slung his little backpack over his shoulder and started walking toward the exit.

The awkward tension in the air was unbearable. He wanted out—fast.

But just before he stepped outside, a small voice called out behind him.

“Wait— What’s your name?”

At the doorway, Tendou paused.

Without turning around, he raised a hand and waved.

“Tendou. Masamune Tendou.”

And with that, he disappeared into the ruins—his figure quickly swallowed by the cold, moonlit darkness.

Chen Xing stood there for a long while, clutching the pack of beef jerky he had given her.

Quietly, she whispered his name under her breath, committing it to memory.

Masamune Tendou.

In the days that followed, she returned to that ruined supermarket again and again.

She searched the aisles, the shelves, the collapsed corners—hoping, just once, to see him again.

She wanted to thank him properly.

She wanted to tell him her name.

But no matter how many times she came back—he was never there.

For a long time after, Chen Xing was quietly heartbroken.

She convinced herself that Tendou must have died somewhere out there—eaten by a beast, or killed by the kind of desperate, cruel adults who roamed the wasteland.

It wasn’t until much later—after she and her brother Chen Kong were found and taken in by the Ember Organization—that she saw him again.

The boy she thought she’d lost forever.

But things didn’t turn out the way Chen Xing had imagined.

When she saw Tendou again—alive, well, and standing there among the Ember Organization—he didn’t greet her with surprise or warmth.

In fact… he barely reacted at all.

His tone was distant. His eyes calm, polite—as if she were just another stranger.

As if that night in the ruined supermarket… had never happened.

But she remembered. She remembered every word, every look, every tiny detail.

Especially the way he had once said—

“I really like your eyes.”

The gap between her memory and his indifference hit her like a blade.

A strange, heavy ache grew in her chest, something she couldn’t quite name.

And so, Chen Xing swallowed her words.

She didn’t tell him about that night.

Didn’t remind him of the can of fruit, or the beef jerky, or her tears.

Because pride wouldn’t let her.

Pride wouldn’t let her admit that she had once been nothing more than a nameless passerby in his life.

Wouldn’t let her accept that the boy she had been so desperate to see again—had already forgotten her.

So instead of speaking, she chose to act.

From that day on, Chen Xing declared silent war.

Against him.

To the rest of the organization, their rivalry looked simple—two geniuses unwilling to lose, locked in endless competition.

But only Chen Xing knew the truth.

It wasn’t about pride.

It wasn’t even about victory.

It was about proving something.

She wanted Tendou to remember.

To see her again—not as some forgettable stranger, but as her.

If in the past Tendou’s eyes could look past her—then in the future, those same eyes would have to see her.

—

In the training chamber of the Ember Organization.

Chen Xing pulled herself out of her memories and looked straight at the boy standing inside the sparring ring.

Her gaze burned with determination as she spoke:

“Tendou, I once looked up to you… but I won’t let myself look up to you forever. Because people… should never keep looking back.”

“Huh?”

Tendou blinked. His sunglasses slid halfway down his nose.

‘What the hell does that even mean?’

‘We’re supposed to be sparring, right? Why are you giving a dramatic monologue all of a sudden?’

And that expression on her face—half sorrow, half challenge—why did it look like something straight out of a melodrama?

‘Are we fighting or filming a scene here?!’

While Tendou stood there utterly lost, someone else was paying much closer attention.

Caroline.

Her eyes darted between the serious-faced Chen Xing and the confused Tendou.

And in that moment, something clicked.

She understood.

Her gaze sharpened—cold, dangerous.

The friendly warmth she usually carried vanished, replaced by the instinctive tension of a warrior facing a rival.

To her, Chen Xing was no longer just a teammate.

She had just become an opponent.

A threat.

But Chen Xing noticed none of it.

Her focus never wavered.

Because in her world—there was only Tendou.

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