Lu Feng’s excitement was boosted instantly, but he only showed it with a hum.

   “But… I don’t know…” It seemed like the other man was somewhat puzzled, he looked around as if he was looking for help. “I’m a bit worried.”

   “Why?”

     Adjutant Seraing’s brown eyes turned back to Lu Feng.

   “I…” He began speaking slowly. “I’m not supposed to talk about the private tasks he gave me, however… I think something is wrong. A few days ago… actually… I think since he saw your speech on the TV… He changed a little.”

     For that, Lu Feng frowned too. He knew from the adjutant’s voice, that it wasn’t a positive change in his eyes. Fortunately, the trust he felt towards this person was reciprocated, and even though the adjutant was supposed to shut his mouth, he continued.

   “I haven’t seen him as much as in the past, since I’m following you, but I went to report him myself a couple of times. He was always aloof, and no one noticed anything exceptionally weird. But he didn’t tell me he is returning to the Main City today. He also sent me a few messages of checking some books and files, that… I don’t think I should be checking if I’m not the Arbiter. He also sent me a schedule of his close appointments he must to attend to… I knew about them because I’m the one who makes appointments for him many times… But it was a very detailed list, with other instructions that I should follow. Basically, he… he wants me to replace him on these appointments as his spokesman. And it’s not that I’m not willing or would be hard for me to do. But… I’m not sure, why he wants me to take over, because… in the amount of work he wants me to replace him, he doesn’t have any unfinished tasks left.”

     Adjutant Seraing spoke at a faster pace, but lowly as if he suspected that someone would be eavesdropping. Lu Feng hummed, trying to connect the dots, and following the adjutant’s thought processes.

   “Does he want to go out to the wilderness?” Lu Feng asked. Going out was the only long-term mission that would stop someone from doing their daily duty in the city. But knowing the current situation when the Arbiter was needed very badly basically everywhere in the Outer City and even in the Garden of Eden, it didn’t seem like a reasonable choice for him to go out.

     It looked like Adjutant Seraing thought the same because he shook his head.

   “He wouldn’t do such an irresponsible thing right in the middle of the chaos. He sent me here too… I’m not sure, why. He only said, to check his apartment… Lieutenant Lu… I feel like something bad is going to happen to him. Either that he expects an assassination from someone, or…” The adjutant silenced himself, and he was pale as a paper.

     Lu Feng's body stiffened, and the adjutant’s negative mood infected him. His heart rate increased.

   “Where is he now?” He asked, not showing this agitation outside, but he felt urged to call the Arbiter immediately.

     As if he was reading his mind, Adjutant Seraing stared at him intently while said:

   “Try to call him or text him. I think you may have a chance to reach him now.”

   “He ignored my calls and messages before…” Lu Feng murmured, yet, he was already holding his communicator, and he didn’t need further encouragement. Because of the many missed calls, the Arbiter was still at the top of his list.

   “I think he was afraid to talk to you.” Adjutant Seraing’s voice halted when the call started ringing. But there was no reply. However, the familiar female robotic voice didn’t respond either. The Arbiter’s communicator was on; he simply didn’t answer it.

     As always, Lu Feng also texted him.

“I heard you came back to the Main City. Can we talk privately? Where are you?”

     Adjutant Seraing stood beside him, watching him type the message. They’d waited a long time without moving, staring at the small screen.

     This time, miraculously, he got an answer. The Arbiter didn’t call him back, but he texted him finally. Lu Feng’s grip was so tight on the device, that he almost broke it while opening the message.

“Now I understand why you like high places. The city is beautiful.”

     Adjutant Seraing and Lu Feng exchanged a glance, and while Lu Feng texted, he saw the man striding to the small window to look out. Because it was an exceptionally dark night, for it was overcast, he couldn’t see anything, although, a small black figure would probably be lost in the night sky anyway.

     When Lu Feng sent out “On which high place are you at? Can I join?”, he got an answer much sooner than he expected, and the adjutant ran back as well. He rushed so excitedly, that their head almost knocked to each other’s.

“Yeah… I’m above the Magnetic Field Center.”

     Lu Feng instinctively looked up, and this time, he was the one looking out the window. He was fairly familiar with the city to know that the Magnetic Field Center was the facility around the magnetic pole – the huge black thing in the middle of the Main City. It was truly the highest place in the whole base, but Lu Feng had no idea that people actually could go up there.

   “Lieutenant… I think he is really about to… You have to go… Please…”

     Lu Feng didn’t need any begging, and he cursed at himself in his head that he came up to the top floor. It seemed so slow to go down with an elevator, that Lu Feng rather chose the staircase, and used his explosive energy to reach the ground floor quickly, leaping down multiple steps at once. Admirably, Adjutant Seraing was able to catch up with him.

     They had to take a car, and they went together, not wasting any time. Adjutant Seraing was faster to jump into the driver’s seat, and Lu Feng blessed him for that: he had a car race with a bomb before, but he had no idea where he was heading, and what saved him that night was mostly luck, rather than actual driving skills. But Adjutant Seraing was a good driver, and even in such a populated area, they were almost flying, cutting down corners, barely avoiding streetlamps. He didn’t stop until they were beside the Magnetic Field Center.

   “I will go, and ask for reinforcements.” The adjutant cluttered while undoing his seatbelt already. “Please, go up immediately. You don’t have to go inside the Center’s building. There is a maintenance staircase on the side of the magnetic pole. It runs to the top floor, it is quite narrow, so I can’t follow even if I want to…”

     Lu Feng only nodded, and as soon as they got out of the car, he started running while the adjutant was still yelling.

   “Right over that corner, you will see a gate that closes the staircase, you can open it with your ID. But if not, just shoot the lock down!”

     He only waved his hand as an answer, and his eyes focused on the road. The cold night air pierced his lungs while running.

     A storm was coming. Generally, he liked storms; now, as he tore up the gate, which was not locked at all, and entered the iron staircase, taking three high steps at once going up in the narrow area, he only could think about if it was even safe up there in a storm and wind, and that these iron steps will be slippery coming down.

     Even with Lu Feng’s build and regular exercises, it was pretty tiring to go so many meters upwards. In addition, it was a spiral staircase, so he got dizzy after a while. Yet, he didn’t dare to stop. He didn’t think the Arbiter would do anything until he reaches him, but his heart and stomach were still aching from that weird message.

     This black tower was really high, and it was made from an odd material, that wasn’t convenient to touch. By the time he reached the top floor, Lu Feng’s hands were slightly tingly and numb, and the cold was not helping either. He was somewhat right: up there, the wind seemed much more vicious. Some clouds even reached down and licked the very top of the building, making his vision blurry as if there was a fog around him.

     He found his way inside the pole, in a small room – so far, he didn’t see the Arbiter just yet.

     The room was the same size as his living room, but its form was rather narrowed. The ceiling was tilted from the four corners, making a tent-like dome over the room. Only faint, red lasers had given him any light, but they didn’t reveal much. The room had a few iron boxes, which from pipes were running all over the place, and different labels warned people not to open them, unless they were professional engineers.

     Lu Feng squinted in the dim light, looking around until he found a second door, which was slightly opened; the wind moved it, and it let out a muffled, small, continuous noise as if a waterdrop fell from somewhere repeatedly with great precision.

     Lu Feng realised that if the Arbiter was seeing the city, then he must be out somewhere – he strode to the door, and opened it.

     A bridge lay in front of him, making a one-man-wide path from iron rods around the magnetic pole. It was lit up with small, red LED lamps, but they’d put down a few stronger, white reflectors that made the corners of the bridge brighter. It was a bit knee-weakening, looking down from such a height with a see-through floor under his boots. He wasn’t afraid, but he understood, why Dr Ji would feel uncomfortable here. The iron rods made his steps very loud, while the railing only reached one’s waist. For a tall person like him, that is. For a tiny figure, it might have given a bit more safety.

     That tiny figure he was thinking of stood quite far the door. As the one-meter-long bridge intersected with the path around the building, he was there, a few meters away from it.

     Lu Feng’s heart stopped for a moment.

     The Arbiter wasn’t standing on the bridge.

     He stood outside the railing, putting his heels between the rods on the very small frame, where they wielded the rods and the bridge together. Both of his arms twisted backwards, as he was grabbing the railing, resting his elbows on it. His posture almost seemed relaxed. He wore his military uniform and hat, briefly wrinkled and folded by the wind. Lu Feng noticed that his hands were red… Maybe it was not from the cold, just from the red lights. He only could see his nape.

   “What… what are you doing out there?” Lu Feng asked, raising his voice a bit. The wind’s howling was so loud around the bridge as if it tried to scold the Arbiter to go back, yet it was also pushing his small body to lose its balance.

     He briefly realised what Dr Ji felt when Lu Feng stood at the very edge of the Lighthouse's roof. He shivered from the coldness that awakened inside him.

     The Arbiter didn’t reply at first; he looked down at the faraway city. It was much, much smaller than from the Twin Towers… Actually, as Lu Feng went closer to the railing, and looked down, the Twin Towers itself seemed like a toy building block for children to play with. He saw the lit up dome of the Garden of Eden too… like a tiny bug with broken wings.

   “Isn’t it nice looking?” The Arbiter suddenly spoke; his voice was a bit shaky, but it didn’t seem disturbed, more like he was shivering from cold, standing out here for too long. “This is the last city we have. I failed to protect the Outer City, and then, I failed to protect the Garden of Eden. What is next? Do we lose the Lighthouse, where people still can think of a solution to save us?”

     Lu Feng didn’t say anything, just clenched his fist on the railing. It made his palm hurt, and his fingers ached as if he touched fire. He couldn’t hold it for too long.

   “It’s still there.” Lu Feng pointed out when the young man didn’t continue. He tried to think of a way to convince him of coming back from that place. “We can look at it together as much as we want because it’s still there. So come back now. Let’s drink and eat something. I will come up here with you next time.”

     Lu Feng’s face was attacked by tiny needles, but he ignored them. This wasn’t even rain, it seemed like snow or ice. A nostalgic feeling. He felt this way when he first woke up in his new body.

   “Is that a date?” The Arbiter asked casually, not turning back, and not moving at all.

   “Yes.” Lu Feng said confidently. “And this time I will make something edible. What do you want to eat?”

     The Arbiter’s shaky laughter almost got lost in the wind. It was short, and carried something, that Lu Feng had never heard from him… what was that? What emotion is that?

   “Date, huh… You know, I… I’m really confused.” He said, and his voice became stronger too. “I really wanted to believe that you would date me… for me. Was I just delusional? Was I so lonely, that I fell for a deception? Even when I thought, the answer is no, I forced myself to think that you only want to date me because you want to get close to me and kill me… because you’re a xenogenic, or because your mother told you… I still fell into that illusion from time to time… That you genuinely cared for me… So silly… how could the Arbiter be so silly.”

     Lu Feng didn’t expect such words, and for a moment, he was frozen.

   “I’m genuine.” He said without wavering. “I want to date you for you… I’m interested in you.”

   “Are you sure?”

   “Yes.”

     The Arbiter couldn’t reply right away. Lu Feng slowly took one step closer to him, but didn’t dare to do any harsh moves so as not to scare the Arbiter to possibly let the railing go, and fall down.

   “Your speech… You just told what people wanted to hear… right?”

   “…I don’t think they wanted to hear me siding with you.”

   “But no one in their right mind would side with someone who killed both of their parents.”

     Lu Feng paused in his half-step. It was such a weird thing… he was close to the Arbiter, yet, he felt he was too far. The rain gradually became stronger, the waterdrops grew bigger, and wetted their clothes. Their sound on the magnetic pole and the iron bridge was as loud as a gunshot.

   “I don’t care about that.”

   “Then you have some mental problems yourself.”

   “I don’t know. You saw my assessments results. Do I have mental problems?”     

   “I… I don’t know anymore.” The Arbiter slightly lowered his head. This was the first move he made since Lu Feng arrived. The rose didn’t dare to look away anymore, and this small move made his body more tense. “Lu Feng… when I killed your father… they didn’t find any signs of infection in his body. I… I didn’t know what to do. It was my first kill… and I made a mistake. He was a well-respected man… why did I think he was infected? Am I really up to do this job? Maybe I just deceived myself all the time… I couldn’t even face with you for many years, I avoided meeting with you, I avoided being at the gates when I knew you would be there… When you showed up unannounced that day, I thought I’m going to die inside. I was sick to my stomach, yet I had to look into your eyes, and I had to examine you, and you know what…? I felt even sicker when I wasn’t able to tell you to just go because you’re fine. Your mother already hated me… so I didn’t dare to make a judgement on you right away… I just couldn’t decide… I was doubting myself. I thought, what if I cannot decide only because I’m afraid of killing you too, and afraid of being wrong with your case too…”

     The rose stopped again. For some reason, what this young man said to him now, was more painful than the fact that he wanted to kill him. If he knew at that time, how much pain he caused to this man with his appearance, he might have chosen death instead.

   “An Zhe.” He called his name, for which the young man shrugged. “I’ve never hated you for killing my father. I wasn’t close to him. I trust your judgement. I saw how incredible your talent is. If you felt he was infected, then he was. There is no need for me to doubt it. I would’ve done the same. I wouldn’t want any of my relatives to hurt others, or bring danger to humanity.”

     This time, he wasn’t a fraud. If there was a case when his family would be a threat to this place, he would not get mad at humans, and would help to get rid of all the roses if needed, even if it was hurtful to think of.

   “Well, maybe you would be a better Arbiter than myself.” The young man suddenly said, his voice barely coming through the noise of the rain as if he was only saying it to himself. But this next sentence was louder again. “I’m… I’m not this strong. Lu Feng… I really thought, I can do it. But right after my first kill, I realised, I’m not good for this job. Others were right. The people who forced the Trial Court to hire only soldiers were right. I should’ve never accepted the job… I cannot do this anymore. Not with you… not with people I care for… It hurts so badly… I… I’m confused… and I was even foolish enough to let myself have feelings for you… I only make mistakes, and no one wanted to see me in this position anyway. I’m tired… can you take it from me? If you have that talent like mine… I’m sure you could bear it… please… Lu Feng, please… I can’t do this anymore…”

     Despite the rain, Lu Feng’s lips were dry. He even forgot to shake from the cold. Now, he understood the emotion in his voice.

     Desperation.

     The Arbiter was crying, but because of the cold wind and rain, Lu Feng didn’t realise it sooner. Maybe he was crying a long time ago. Lu Feng’s heart sank to his stomach.

   “Okay. Let’s talk about it inside. If you really can’t do it, we’ll find a way. Now, come back. You don’t have to kill yourself.”

     For his words, finally, the Arbiter turned his head towards him. Then, he twisted his hands, grabbed the railing from a different angle, and turning away from the city’s landscape, he stood face-to-face with Lu Feng. For a moment, Lu Feng thought he was about to climb back.

     The Arbiter suddenly smiled. His wet face, his red eyes under the dim red and white lights, his small body drenched in rain… Everything relaxed. He looked like someone who was easy to protect because he wore his weakness on the outside. But he was also easy to hurt because he didn’t have walls around him. His smile was the kind of smile he looked at the aurora with, on that night. Lu Feng felt in awe back then. Now he thought, how can he smile this kindly when it looked like anyone or anything could shatter his kindness?

     Lu Feng felt as if time had slowed down. He knew, what was going to happen before the Arbiter actually made the move, and yet, his body felt like stone. His legs didn’t move, and the Arbiter was still too far; no matter how long Lu Feng’s legs were, he wouldn’t reach him, before he…

     When the young man’s hands released the railing, and he leaned backwards, still smiling and crying, Lu Feng’s body reacted on its own. No… not his human body. One of his arms turned into thousands of thornless vines, and jumped forward, like a snake. They were faster than a heartbeat.

     He grabbed the small body with them; at first, it was only his right hand, then his whole arm. Then the tendrils crawled up to his shoulders and back down on his torso, almost forming a bassinet, covering him up gently, and keeping him hanging in the air for a few moments before he pulled them back with a similarly fast move.

     It turned out to be way too fast, maybe because of the bad lighting, or because he wasn’t doing it fully consciously. He pulled the Arbiter into his arms, hugging him tightly, but the momentum knocked him off his feet. He backed away, almost losing his balance completely, but his back clashed with the magnetic pole, near the door.

     He felt An Zhe’s wild shaking, as he pressed him to his chest, and Lu Feng didn’t let him go. He hugged him, despite how much he wasn’t a hugger; he became the ivy he didn’t like, but he didn’t care either. His left hand stayed in vine form, growing bigger, making a cocoon to protect him from the rain, and with his other hand, he held his shoulders strongly. An Zhe didn’t have the strength to fight against him, and the rose just pressed his face into the cold neck as if he was about to merge with him.

     They were both gasping for air in this secluded space. Being so cold outside, their misty breaths warmed up their faces and necks soon.

     Maybe the Arbiter needed some moments to realise he was alive and what exactly happened, but when he did, he just started crying again. From this close, Lu Feng heard every single sniff and chuckle, and the tiny body shrugged in its whole. He was crying loudly, but as he buried his face into Lu Feng’s chest, the voice wasn’t that loud… its vibration, however, radiated through all of the clothes, and reached Lu Feng’s heart. He instinctively tightened his embrace around the young man.

     Not feeling the wind and the cold rain anymore, Lu Feng quickly regained his heat. He also absorbed all the water with his tendrils, giving him some extra strength to overcome his numbness.

   “Let’s go down.”

     An Zhe slowly lost his strength, and stopped crying. Fortunately, he nodded, and didn’t try to argue or ignore Lu Feng anymore.

     Lu Feng slowly loosened his vines. Gaps started to appear between them. He didn’t even take them down fully when he froze once again, and only in a matter of seconds, he doubled the vines, forming them into branches, with lots of thorns on them. Just in time after the sound of a thousand small explosions: his stems were able to catch all the bullets that were fired at him. The bullets got through the first layer though, but not further than that – inside of their small cocoon, it was still safe and sound. He only felt a brief pain from some of the scratches, before he realised, he has to go inside with An Zhe. He was able to defend himself against simple guns, but not against a grenade launcher…

     A helicopter was hovering right in front of them.

     He didn’t have time to think how it got there; he hugged An Zhe, lifted him into his right arm, and jumped inside the building. There was a second round of shots, even more than in the first round, and the noise of the impact was deafening. The magnetic pole was made from a strong material, not many weapons could harm it, but the sound of metal hitting something harder than metal was just unbearable.

     Lu Feng fell on his back, losing his breath for a short moment, before he looked up, and saw the helicopter pointing its gun at them from the open door. The rain and wind didn’t affect it or the person behind the weapon, and was ready to fire again. The rose quickly turned his other hand into tendrils to close the door, but the door was made from a different material. Once the bullets hit it, there were small, mushroom-like forms reaching out from it, almost letting the bullets break through.

     Inside, many noise got cancelled. They only heard themselves, and a faint buzz of the outside world.

     It was temporarily safe.

     Lu Feng let An Zhe go, and both of them stood up awkwardly but without a scratch. Lu Feng turned his hands back to human arms, and with his new right hand, he grabbed the Arbiter and pulled him towards the exit.

     He wanted to urge him, and say “let’s hurry down”, or something like that, but he forgot the words instantly when he felt the small wrist escaping from his grip, and before he could look back, An Zhe jumped in front of him.

     His pistol was in his hand, aiming at Lu Feng.

     Lu Feng was hit in the chest, but he just stared at the small figure. An Zhe’s forever unchanging face wasn’t so forever unchanging anymore. His struggle, his pain, his doubt, and his sense of duty were all written over it, in every single wrinkle in the corner of his mouth and eyes and forehead. He lost his hat somewhere, and his hair was a sweet mess… he didn’t look vicious at all, he looked like he wanted to go back inside the hug that ended just a minute ago.

     But his hand wasn’t shaking. He needed both to secure his aim, but his arms were confident.

     The rose understood. Every single part in his body cramped up, he felt nauseous, and his heart hit his chest so loudly, it was unbearable, but he understood.

     Painful. He didn’t expect him to do this. But at the same time, it was much like An Zhe. He killed when he had to, even if he didn’t want to.

     Lu Feng exposed himself to save him, it was not the Arbiter’s fault that he had to do his duty.

   “Y-you are a xenogenic.” He said. His voice didn’t mirror his steady hands. He could barely speak without stuttering.

   “Mn.” Lu Feng answered, not trusting his own voice either.

   “…Are you sure?”

     It was a silly question. Yet Lu Feng couldn’t help but let himself think about it.

     Would it change something if he said no? If he pretended to be a human, would An Zhe cover for him?

     But then, he realised. Others had seen him. Now he remembered, that Adjutant Seraing said, he was going to get reinforcement. They probably expected the Arbiter to jump, and prepared with a helicopter to catch him, or something along those lines. He was also sure, that at the foot of the magnetic pole, Judges and soldiers gathered together. People liked to watch these events… Maybe even the TV was there.

     There wasn’t any way to cover for him anymore. Especially not from the Arbiter. If he would do that… if he weren’t going to kill him, after everyone saw Lu Feng turning into vines, they both will certainly be executed. People already hated An Zhe… There was only one thing Lu Feng could do.

     He went down to one knee. With this move, the Arbiter’s muzzle pointed right in the middle of his forehead.

   “Yes.” The muzzle slightly shook. But Lu Feng added. “In my room, there’s that bag of seeds I took from the Outer City. Once you can… please, go out, and plant them somewhere. Somewhere high… it doesn’t really matter to where, they will find a way to live.”

   “What… what are you? Why are you here… what is with the seeds?”

   “I’m a rose.” He couldn’t help but say it proudly. He wasn’t ashamed of it… but deeply in his heart, he wished he was different. Just for this moment, he wished he was a human. “Those seeds are my family. I just want my species to live on. They are harmless. I… I’m harmless too. I loved to be here. Humans are…” He swallowed. “You’re a wonderful being.”

     An Zhe stared at him, and wandered at Lu Feng’s face for a long time as if trying to find a single sign for a lie, something that could allow him not to shoot… before he lifted his weapon again, and aimed it.

   “Okay. I will plant them.”

     Lu Feng’s stomach ache eased with his muscles. He knew, for he promised it, he will do it. An Zhe was a kind soul. He was already keeping plants in his house, he will do this for him. There was nothing else he could ask for. There was no point in asking for forgiveness or explaining things. Just like how Lu Feng didn’t feel fear of death at that last moment, the rose was the same. From now on, it was not his business anymore. It was a strange, but comfortable calmness in his bones that enveloped him in that moment.

     He was ready to go. He looked at An Zhe without any negative feelings, with a relaxed face, and maybe just a tiny amount of yearning for this person. His time was up too soon, and he wanted to be with him just for a little longer, but he was still happy that he had this much time. He was able to save him at least.

     However, the bullet was late.

     The Arbiter stood in front of him in the perfect shooting position, Lu Feng didn’t defend himself, and there was no wind or rain or any obstacle to distract him. Yet, the time was ticking, and An Zhe didn’t pull the trigger.

     Soon, the muzzle started shaking.

     Then, it went lower. It didn’t aim his head anymore.

     An Zhe was crying again.

   “I… I can’t…”

     Something in Lu Feng’s heart moved, and warmness spread through his body, but right in the next moment, it disappeared before he could say or even think about a reply. His pupils contracted as his eyes caught on a small movement behind An Zhe, and once more, he knew before it happened, but this time… this time he wasn’t fast enough.

     A gunshot sounded, and An Zhe’s body shrugged, dropping his arms immediately, and staggering forward.

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