At the time the mental health became so bad that Mara refused to go home and be 'comfortable'.

  He could've painted a fake smile on his face, convincing himself that these things were now a part of his parents' habit – fight, curse, and go back to ughing.

  But that wasn't his thing. Even though he was depressed, he wasn't insane enough to stoop that low. He had his own motto and beliefs.

  And from that day on, he showed no special feelings towards his parents.

  He would respect them for the food and clothes they gave him, but his feelings for them had died down.

  Two years ter, his thoughts remained the same.

  Mara looked at Muyang sleeping with his little palm closed and smiled.

  He leaned closer and gave his forehead a light peck. "Guess I gave off a total mother-like feeling," Mara thought before closing his eyes.

  But even though his parents cked in many things to be called parents, a sense of security was an instinct that remained.

  Mara knew that until this house wasn't broken, he still had a pce, though it felt like hell. After a thousand thoughts like these, Mara felt his consciousness slip.

  In the morning, the world woke up, and so did Mara. But before he could do anything after freshening up, his phone rang.

  He picked it up to see Tianyeng calling. "Hmm? Did something happen? This guy would never call anyone without a reason unless some rocket science was involved," Mara thought as he answered the call while walking out of his room.

  As expected, his parents weren't home.

  "Hello? Did something happen? Are you sick?" Mara asked, his voice ced with worry.

  "Yes, something's happening...many things happening! West is bombing the East region without any valid reason!" Tianyeng replied.

  Hearing this unexpected news, Mara was somewhat baffled.

  Tianyeng took no more than fifteen minutes to expin the basic details of why the sudden war had been dumped on the region very close to them.

  It was said that leaders throughout the regions were participating in an important meeting. The meeting's discussion was all about energy stone mines discovered in the northeast region. Gradually, the meeting of smooth discussion came to an abrupt end when East refused to increase the percentage rate of energy stones given to West.

  West, even though having quite a rge amount of mines in their own region and also transacting more from others, tried to persuade East with other resources. East still refused, saying West should have a decent amount of energy stones saved, as it never participated as a seller in this transaction.

  Regions other than West needed these stones more for further development. They both then leaped into a fierce verbal fight, and thus things escated quickly to the point of war.

  As for why Tianyeng tagged West the vilin, the reason was simple: what would West do with so much energy stone? In this world, other than money, energy stones were the most valuable resource. Automobiles, industries, and even farms all depended on it. It was basically a fuel for everything – from food to electricity. But in terms of use, it shouldn't be squandered – one stone could work for up to 3 to 4 days if spent vishly and up to a week or one and a half weeks if spent meagerly. One mine could consist of energy stones up to 1 billion or less.

  The value of energy stones was indeed high, but if one could decide, they could buy it after eating dry food for a week. Mines were scarce, but energy stones weren't. Once mines were found, the energy stones could grow well under care. These were like precious and abundant fruits from a scarce tree.

  West had the smallest popution of any region and more energy stones. They thought it was striking towards regional development and tech, but even after years, the result wasn't what they expected.

  The region indeed developed, and so did the thoughts of the people. In the end, many shrugged these thoughts away, saying at least West was treating its civilians well, unlike any other region's discrimination between rich and poor.

  As, people saw their trauma before anyone else.

  In between, a conspiracy theory also rose among the youth, saying that West was experimenting and thinking of conquering the whole world. Well, these thoughts too got submerged in the vast ocean.

  From the ocean, Mara remembered that Yen had gone to visit his rich father's family in the well-off East region.

  He didn't need to scroll through his contact list to find his humourless friend's name; it was already on the starred person list.

  He swiped his number, but Yen didn't pick up, so he was about to send him a text asking where he was and why he wasn't picking up his call, but then repced the whole text with 'Call me if you're alive'. The previous tone gave Mara a chill, so he just removed the cover of a housewife and texted him as his original facade – a best friend.

  Well, to be clear, he had gone because his uncaring father suddenly approached him and asked him to come back. "Ah, well-off people and their mistresses and illegitimate sons," Mara sighed and closed his room door.

  He then walked into the kitchen, only to see Muyang sitting on the dining table in a daze.

  "Eh? Why are you sitting here? I told you to freshen up," Mara asked, quite skeptical of Muyang's expression.

  "Oh, wash up, wah up, I forget!" Muyang as if enlighten, smiled bright and then jumped down from the chair, using Mara's legs as support, and fshed into the washroom while mumbling a rhyme.

  So the little old man was sitting here in a daze, thinking about what he was asked to do!?

  Well Mara do remember Muyang's habit of forgetfulness and clumsiness.

  Pfft.

  While the things here are warm it was not like this in other side...

  The scene where

  Countless human body was ripped apart. Some on ther side were ying on the ground lifeless, pale and dead.

  Their body parts were sewed with thick metal wire and many organs were dispyed in their side clean without any drop of blood but working.

  Another weird things was that not all the bodies were like that if any normal human. Some where with long ears some with sharp canines.

  And all whether human or not they were all dead but still alive.

  In the midst of death river and life potion.

  To be continued if life remains.....

  ....

  A: Here we are starting with our plot arc...