Chapter 211: A Child’s Last Hope

A Child’s Last Hope

Deep within a primeval forest, a staggering figure struggled forward.

The forest was ancient.

And unnaturally quiet.

Towering trees rose toward the sky, their enormous canopies blocking out most of the sunlight. Twisted roots crawled across the earth like sleeping serpents. Moss covered the stones. Dead leaves crunched beneath every unsteady step.

The man barely noticed any of it.

Blood had soaked through his clothes.

Some of it had already dried.

Some was still dripping.

Every time his foot touched the ground, another faint red mark was left behind.

His breathing came in rough, broken gasps.

His entire body was covered in wounds.

Some were shallow.

Others were deep enough that every movement sent another wave of pain through him.

Yet he kept walking.

His arms trembled violently.

His knees threatened to give out.

Still, he refused to stop.

"Find the main family..."

His voice was hoarse.

Barely audible.

"Must find the main family..."

He repeated the words like a dying man clinging to his final prayer.

Then he looked down.

A pale-faced infant lay in his arms.

The child was frighteningly still.

Too still.

The man’s heart tightened.

"Lucas..."

He swallowed hard.

"Don’t sleep."

He pulled the child closer.

"Lucas..."

The child’s eyelids fluttered.

His tiny chest rose and fell with difficulty.

"Cough..."

A weak cough escaped his lips.

"Uncle..."

His voice was so faint that the man almost missed it.

"Lucas is so tired..."

Jacob’s expression changed.

He immediately lowered his head.

"Don’t say that."

His voice trembled.

"Just stay awake, Lucas."

The child struggled to breathe.

His tiny fingers weakly clutched the front of Jacob’s torn clothes.

"Uncle Five..."

Lucas paused to catch his breath.

"You must be tired too..."

His voice was innocent.

There was no accusation in it.

Only concern.

"Don’t keep running for Lucas..."

Jacob’s footsteps faltered.

For a moment, he nearly collapsed.

He clenched his teeth and forced himself upright.

"I’m not tired."

It was a lie.

A terrible one.

But Lucas was too young to know that.

The child looked up at him.

"Let’s rest..."

His voice became softer.

"Lucas is so sleepy..."

Jacob’s heart sank.

"Don’t."

"Lucas misses Mother and Father so much..."

The child’s once-bright eyes had lost their light.

There was no childish excitement left.

No mischief.

No curiosity.

Only exhaustion.

"Little Lucas..."

Jacob’s lips trembled.

Something inside his chest seemed to twist painfully.

"Lucas!"

He suddenly tightened his hold on the child.

"You can’t sleep!"

His voice cracked.

"Lucas, look at me!"

He shook him gently.

"Stay awake!"

The child barely reacted.

Jacob’s eyes turned red.

Tears gathered in the corners.

He looked at the wounds covering the child’s tiny body.

Then the grief inside him finally became rage.

"That poisonous woman..."

His voice shook.

"That poisonous woman!"

He looked toward the sky and roared.

"How could you do this to a child?!"

His voice thundered through the forest.

Birds suddenly burst from the treetops.

Their wings beat frantically as they fled into the distance.

But Jacob didn’t care.

He had no room left for fear.

His entire body was covered in wounds.

Even as a Stellar Sovereign, he had reached his limit.

His cultivation should have given him an imposing presence.

He should have been someone others feared.

Yet there was nothing majestic about him now.

His clothes were torn apart.

His long hair was tangled and soaked with blood.

His face was pale.

His body was covered in wounds.

And tears were running freely down his cheeks.

"If only..."

His voice broke.

"If only I had stayed beside Lucas."

His fingers curled into fists.

"If I had been there every moment, none of this would’ve happened."

His nails dug into his palm.

Blood slowly seeped between his fingers.

"Big Brother..."

His voice trembled.

"Father..."

He lowered his head.

"You sacrificed so much."

"For cultivation."

"For the family."

"For those alliances."

His voice became weaker.

"And now..."

He looked at the child in his arms.

"Even Lucas..."

"The last bloodline of our Salvatore family..."

His throat tightened.

"He’s going to be lost too."

Jacob could no longer hold back his tears.

They fell onto Lucas’s pale face.

The child slowly opened his eyes.

"Uncle..."

Jacob immediately looked down.

"I’m here."

Lucas stared at him.

His expression was strangely calm.

"What’s an Honored Bone?"

Jacob froze.

His entire body went rigid.

Lucas continued.

"Why did Auntie dig open Lucas’s chest?"

Those words struck harder than any weapon.

Jacob’s lips parted.

But nothing came out.

Lucas didn’t understand.

How could he?

He was only five or six years old.

He didn’t understand why the woman who was supposed to protect him had locked him inside a dark room.

He didn’t understand why she had brought a frightening man there.

He didn’t understand why that man had cut open his chest.

And he certainly didn’t understand why his own cousin had stood nearby and watched.

That was the child he had once played with.

The child he had shared food with.

The child he had trusted.

Yet when Lucas screamed in pain, that child had simply watched.

Coldly.

Silently.

Lucas had no idea why.

He only knew that it hurt.

So much.

"It hurts..."

Lucas whispered.

His tiny fingers weakly grabbed Jacob’s clothes.

"If Auntie wanted something..."

He struggled to breathe.

"She could’ve just asked..."

Jacob’s eyes burned.

"If my little cousin wanted it..."

Lucas’s voice became even softer.

"Lucas would’ve given it..."

Jacob lowered his head.

He couldn’t look at him anymore.

His vision blurred.

His eyes felt as though they were burning from the inside.

How could he explain it?

How could anyone explain something like that to a child?

Lucas had done nothing wrong.

Nothing.

After his parents died, the boy had simply stayed at home.

He rarely caused trouble.

He played by himself.

He ate by himself.

When nobody paid attention to him, he never complained.

He had never demanded anything.

Never asked for more.

Then his aunt had taken him in.

For the first time since losing his parents, Lucas had believed he had a family again.

He had been happy.

He had trusted them.

That was what made it so cruel.

He had trusted the wrong people.

Jacob’s shoulders began to shake.

His eyes were filled with helpless fury.

"Lucas did nothing wrong!"