Chapter 12: Father's Warning (The Old Hunter Sees Through "Inhuman Power")

Night deepened, and the shadows cast long by the moonlight beneath the locust tree.

Chen Ye sat on a wooden bench outside, his shoulder against the wall, his hunting rifle and Type 56 semi-automatic rifle lying quietly beside him.

He had just returned home from the mountains, his face slightly weary, the lingering sensations of his sister's passive resonance still present in his mind.

His father, Chen Jianguo, came out, carrying an old hunting knife, his steps steady, each one feeling like a weight on his heart.

"Brother Ye," his voice was deep but powerful, "you've been in contact with those things in the woods far too often lately."

Chen Ye looked up, silent.

His father's eyes held no reproach, yet they sent a chill down his spine.

"Dad…you mean the space?" Chen Ye tried to keep his tone calm.

Chen Jianguo shook his head: "Not the space, it's…them."

He stopped, holding the hunting knife horizontally in his hand, the moonlight reflecting off its gleaming blade.

“You know what I saw in the mountains when I was young.”

“Hunting wild beasts is easy, but controlling the hunter’s heart is harder.”

Chen Ye’s heart tightened. He had never heard his father speak of these things so clearly.

“What is that?” Chen Ye couldn’t help but ask.

His father’s eyes were deep: “Inhuman power.” His voice was soft, but every word seemed to strike his mind.

“This thing—it doesn’t belong to the mountains, it doesn’t belong to people, it doesn’t belong to time.”

“The space you interact with, your domain, and… your sister’s perception.” He looked at Chen Xue, standing in the corner of the room, his eyes unusually bright.

“They are all part of it. Not something you can completely control.”

Chen Ye gripped his hunting rifle tightly, a heavy feeling settling in his heart.

“But, Dad, I… I’ve learned to control it, I can…”

His father shook his head: “Control? You’re just forcing it to temporarily obey your will.”

“Any proactive probing, any expansion, is a game against it.”

Chen Ye swallowed, recalling the fear of being forced to pull the trigger when his domain went out of control last time. That was the first time he truly realized the boundaries of power—not a matter of skill, but the fear of his will being overridden by external forces.

His father continued, “You’re young, and it’s easy to think of power as a tool. But when it begins to have its own feedback—”

He paused, his gaze sweeping across the courtyard towards the depths of the distant mountains.

“You’ll discover that the prey is no longer the beast, but yourself, the core of the danger.”

Chen Xue gently clenched her fist, her eyes shining: “Dad, the inhuman power you’re talking about… will it hurt me?”

His father crouched down and took her hand: “It won’t hurt you, but it might force you to do things you don’t want to do. It senses things faster than you think.”

“The same goes for Ye Ge.” He looked at Chen Ye, “You think you’re in control of the domain, but it’s actually observing you. It knows how you’ll react, it knows who you want to protect.”

Chen Ye’s mind went blank. For the first time, he understood that the domain wasn’t just a “tool,” and his sister’s resonance wasn’t an “ability,” but rather—a potential chain of resonance, any oversight that could be sensed and triggered by space and the system.

The father stood up, slung his hunting knife over his shoulder, his voice steady and authoritative: "Remember, Ye-ge."

"Whether it's the space or your sister's resonance, both are part of inhuman power.

You can use it, but you must never provoke it, never be greedy for convenience and ignore the consequences."

Chen Ye nodded firmly.

His sister leaned gently against his father, as if finding some kind of security.

The father added one last sentence: "You must understand, a hunter hunts wild beasts for survival; a hunter hunts power for growth. But power can also backfire. Learn to respect it first, and you will live long."

The night wind rustled softly through the locust trees.

Moonlight spilled into the courtyard, casting long, long shadows of the three.

Chen Ye closed his eyes, silently making a resolution—

From this moment on, he would not only protect his sister, but also learn to contend with the system, the domain, and inhuman power, instead of being manipulated by them.

Unbeknownst to him, deep in the mountains, the space itself trembled slightly.

As if in response to—his first real choice.