Time's the biggest jerk of all. When you're having fun it speeds up to make your happiness disappear as soon as possible. When you're having a bad time, it does the exact opposite just to torture you more; to make you feel worthless.

They all felt like time didn't want to collaborate. No matter what they did, there was no stopping the company. From a distance, their problems were insignificant, yet the closer they appeared, the more the anxiousness arose. In a synchronized fashion, the troop of carnivores ascended the staircase, their footsteps booming like thunder.

"The Dragon Warrior got patched up, I see."

A voice spoke up from behind everyone's back. Po was the only one to recognize who the voice belonged to, but it didn't take long until everyone else did as well.

"That's why I couldn't find you. Were you spying on us, Shirong?" Po questioned the lion walking towards them as if nothing important was going to happen.

"Yeah, something like that."

He smiled. It was the classic reaction you usually show friends and people you've known for a long time. He was taunting them.

"Our leader wanted to be sure you guys wouldn't try anything stupid. She's working with you, not against you."

Po turned towards Tigress. He noticed her fists tightening.

"But as I can see everything's fine. I'm glad I beat you up earlier. I helped you realize."

The panda's eyes widened in surprise. Shirong must have spotted them earlier!

"How dare you to come in here and disrespect us like this!" The feline growled and dashed towards him, ready to strike the lion down with a punch.

"TIGRESS NO!" To the surprise of his comrades, Po uncharacteristically shielded the enemy with his own body, forcing Tigress to stop just an inch before her attack hit her friend.

"...Why? Why are you doing this?"

Silence.

"I thought you trusted me."

Her entire body trembled. Two different decisions were fighting within her brain to take control until her fist struck the ground in the middle of Po's feet.

"And I thought you, more than anybody else, were able to understand how I feel." Eyes closed, she slowly moved away.

"That's enough, Shirong. I know what you're thinking and I won't let you do that."

A second lion showed up from the Thousand Steps. A lioness.

"I can't hide anything from you, can I?" The sarcastic enemy shrugged and walked towards her, but his eyes never strayed from Po. Another small grin decorated his face as he faded behind the army that finally reached the top.

Po, the Five and the human stepped away in order to make enough space to let them enter without making a mess.

The army itself seemed off. Soldiers wore armors of varying colors: red, orange, yellow, purple, blue and green, making any outsider utterly confused. One noticeable thing was that there were two types of armor. Some lions wore a Phoenix themed armor and others a Dragon themed one, but it didn't make any sense to them. Since both females and males were wearing it, sex wasn't the correct answer. It seemed impossible to understand the reason! There must have been some kind of pattern they couldn't follow.

The only lioness entirely different from everyone else, even Jun and Shiron, who were wearing the same confusing armor.

"I'm honored to finally have the chance to meet the legendary hero of kung-fu, the Dragon Warrior."

The lioness stepped forward next to Jun and humbly bowed to greet them. A few seconds later the entire army, including Jun, followed her example.

"I will now bow to them," Tigress cut off, quickly denying their enemies a simple act of fake courtesy. "We're not friends, nor are we allies. Not after everything you've done to us."

"I understand that the choice of kidnapping is bad in your eyes and you may not forgive us for this, but we know that a better option wasn't possible-"

"THEN WHY DID YOU HAVE TO HURT PO? WHY DID YOU KIDNAP MORE PEOPLE? IF YOU CLAIM TO BE OUR ALLY PROVE IT TO ME!"

"Tigress…please stop. Don't make this harder."

Po tried to walk towards her only to pause, falling to his knees while coughing. He started to feel weakened again.

"Po! You alright?!" Fulvio rushed to him before Tigress could and she stopped half way there, watching him help his friend out.

"Jun, is there something I should know about?" The lioness kindly asked, turning towards her. "What are they talking about?"

"It's inside the latest report I've written. I figured you wouldn't read it." Jun explained, "Basically, we were spotted during the hunt. Shirong, instead of following protocol, decided to be a show off. The Dragon Warrior barely endured it."

Before the lioness could call for the lion he made his way to the front once again. "Come on Lanfen, you know that I-"

"No, don't you dare try." Lanfen placed her paw on his face, pushing him away. "I told you that you're free to do anything with a few exceptions. You're a general, it's important to set a good example otherwise our society would be utter chaos. You don't follow the rules. You can't just act on your own like that."

The lioness continued towards the two pandas and offered her help. "I thought you cared, Shirong. Do you not care about your life? Po is essential for us all to survive."

"That's why I didn't-"

"You…didn't?" Lanfen repeated, feeling like he had just mocked her. "I noticed his chi was weaker than before, but I didn't realize it was this messed up."

"He did hold back," Jun commented, "At least in the beginning."

"What are you doing to do to him?" Fulvio's words shivered with anxiety and fear.

"I'd like to fix him up." Lanfen raised her arm to the sky and snapped her fingers.

Among the crowd someone made his way through holding a small bag. "Do you really wish to use our power? Maybe we can fix this with the traditional method," the lion suggested, laying the bag on the ground.

"Check yourself if you don't believe me. This can be deadly if we leave it untouched," Lanfen replied, moving the panda towards the doctor.

The lion touched his abdomen, then placed his paw on the chest and gently pushed in, "This is clearly the work of Shirong…" He sighed, confirming the leader's theory.

The lion didn't move his paw from where he was, closed his eyes and focused. A gold wave of energy enveloped the panda. "Don't move, it won't take much."

The energy was being concentrated on Po, but it was so strong that everyone in the area felt cuddled and relieved by the warm light.

"Thanks Doc," Lanfen said with a smile.

"Do what you want, Lanfen, now that you still can," the healer cryptically replied and returned to his place in the crowd.

The lioness rolled her eyes and went back to Po. "How do you feel now? If it didn't work right away give it a minute. Your chi must absorb the new energy its received."

"Th-Thank you…" Po reluctantly replied, standing up with Fulvio's help.

"I am truly sorry. I didn't know such catastrophe occurred. I'll deal with that insolent lion later. Now we should resume from where we were interrupted." Lanfen stood up, cleaned her vest and went back to her position.

"Maybe you didn't listen, or maybe you're pretending you didn't," Simon muttered. "Shifu's not enough. You want Leo? Fine. Hand over the crocodiles that idiot took."

"I heard it, I just didn't want to reply. I knew my answer wouldn't satisfy you."

"What is that supposed to mean?! Speak up!"

"I do not organize which targets will be chosen for the hunt, nor do I take custody of them when it is completed. Shirong is the only one who can provide you a decent answer, but if he followed the rules our guests must be inside our base right now. Understand that I don't have time to deal with this. It is a minor problem that you shouldn't care about. They're villains, I presume. It won't matter what we do to them, right? Consider it a punishment."

"IF YOU THINK I WILL LET THEM DIE BY THE HANDS OF DISGUSTING CANNIBALS LIKE YOU YOU'RE WRONG!" Simon shouted, pointing his sharp fangs at her.

Lanfen didn't reply. Her face showed surprise, as if she wasn't expecting them to know that much about them. "This is indeed troublesome… That's why we keep these activities secret to avoid any complications."

The lioness pondered for a few moments and declared, "I'll release them. Is that to your satisfaction?"

"Now."

"...They're not here. You must wait until after the exchange. I'll drop them where my units found them."

"How am I supposed to believe that you'll do it? You could easily lie."

"Yes, you're right. There's no way for you to know if I'll keep my word or not, but you have no other choice." She placed her paw on her cheek, sighing. "Can we make this trade already? We're wasting time, and that's the last thing I can waste right now."

"HEY! WE'RE NOT DONE YET!" The crocodile angrily replied, upset to have been disregarded.

"Simon, don't do anything reckless!" Monkey jumped in the way and held him back from attacking her.

"Bring him forward," Lanfen commanded, looking at her army.

Two lions marched towards the front. In the middle of the duo was a silent Shifu, handcuffed, head lowered. He didn't want to meet anybody's eyes to see their shattered feelings.

"Shifu! Thank God you're safe!" Po set himself free from Fulvio's care and sprinted to him, not realizing he was already recovered.

Jun and Shirong appeared just before the panda could touch him. "You know what you should do first, Dragon Warrior."

"Shifu!" Po called again, trying to look at him through the lions to obtain a response. "Why isn't he saying anything? What did you do to him?"

Lanfen walked next to the red panda. "They are worried. Worried we may trick them somehow. Could you please prove to them that you're okay?" She warmly smiled.

"I'm sorry, Po." The old master slowly raised his gaze just to see everyone's worries, fears and…Tigress' eyes. "I thought I could prevent this, but I was just being naive…"

"Shifu…" Po breathed out, sad to see him, a perfectly collected master, messed up like this. "Don't worry! Everything's gonna be fine! I promise!"

"You all are taking your sweet time to do this and I can't keep this going any longer. I must see the lion. Where is he?" The lioness muttered, starting to lose her cool.

Po's ears lowered as he looked away. Just like everyone there he didn't want to sacrifice anyone; he didn't want to play this sick game. The lions are enjoying this and don't care about how they feel. "He's inside… Viper, please, call him out."

"Are you sure this is the right choice?" The serpent repeated, glancing around, "I'm not going to argue, I'm just…sad to see this happen while not being able to do something."

"You think I don't know? I see it as well! I don't wanna do this either! This is our only option if we want to push forward! My heart is crushed everytime I see my friends suffer!" Po vented, but instantly regretted it seeing Viper's expression grow worse.

"I'm sorry, Po. I-I know this is hard for everyone. I didn't mean to-I'll go get Leo." She cut herself off, knowing that she talked too much, and slithered towards the Hall of Training.

The door leading to where the human was quickly opened after the snake went in. The lion stepped outside, followed by Viper.

"So many people... It's making me even more anxious." Leo shivered as he glanced around. "They all look like me. We barely have differences. I suppose I'm not used to seeing another one of this kind…"

"Can you handle this?" The serpent kindly questioned, "If you don't want to we'll fight. It's not a big deal."

"No, I want this. I'm scared, but I'm not going to run away," he declared, moving towards Lanfen and Po.

"Good luck, Leo. I hope you'll be safe." Viper stopped and let him proceeding on his own.

Leo froze when his eyes and Lanfen's met. He gulped, not knowing what to do or say.

"I can't believe I'm looking at Ming Zhu, the real deal in fur and bones! Please forgive me I can't show the level of excitement I usually do. I'm in the middle of a serious mission to save everyone from certain death and I don't have the luxury to fangirl over your gorgeous person."

Leo's anxiety and worry disappeared after what she said. He didn't sense her as a threat, making everything he thought meaningless. "If you aren't I can't imagine when you truly are…"

"Ah, don't worry about that. After we complete our mission I'll have all the time in the world to enjoy a warm cup of tea together and talk about things I know you'll love."

Lanfen invited him to follow her through her army, but he didn't move. She knew what he wanted and pointed at her guards. Jun and Shirong carried Shifu to Po, freeing the red panda from his handcuffs.

"Shifu! You okay?"

The old master wasn't listening. He was looking at Leo, just like the lion was looking back at him. "Prepare yourself for what will come, Leo. We're all counting on you."

The human firmly nodded, hurrying back to Lanfen and disappearing from everyone else's sight. The army retreated shortly after the four lions walked down the Thousand Steps.

"Emily, Mark!" Po shouted as he watched upon the enemy leaving the Valley, "Be careful, they are strong. Do not underestimate them, and keep distance from them even if you are able to perfectly hide and camouflage, okay?"

"I survived almost twenty years because no one ever spotted me, y'know? There's no way I would mess this up now," the cheetah proudly claimed, propped on all fours.

"Did you train yourself though?" The fox asked as she sat on his back, "You're the fastest animal in the world right now, not just a human…"

"Trust me. If there's something I can do, it's running. I'll show you."

Mark swirled his tail with excitement and ran at his maximum speed down the valley, carrying Emily along.

"Good luck!" Po yelled in vain.

"Po, share with me the shortest version of your plan. I must know if what you're doing is actually helpful…" Shifu said, walking inside the palace.

"It's going to be a bit complicated. I don't know if I can really… Shifu?"

Po read the air, but still couldn't believe that Shifu and Tigress didn't warm up to each other as fast as everyone else.

"Were you…worried?" The red panda reluctantly asked as if something was holding him back.

"Yes, Master. I was. I apologize for bringing dishonor to you and everyone else."

"That won't be necessary. I'm the one who's at fault. I made a terrible mistake and dragged you all into their trap."

"It's okay. My plan will surely work out! They don't know, I think…" Po chimed in.

"Sounds like you know something…" Viper slithered in, slightly upset. "I hope you didn't do something reckless. You sent Emily and Mark, not us. We have more experience! You can't just throw them into danger!"

"The truth is…I don't know either. Remember when Shirong first appeared? I…felt like he knew, but he didn't say anything."

"I can confirm that. He taunted us on purpose, I'm sure he wanted to hide it behind cruel words…" Monkey agreed. "That is something I used to do in the past. He was covering himself from Jun…"

"It doesn't make sense though…" Tigress argued, "A lion would never betray another lion."

Po placed his paws on his head, trying to squeeze an answer out. "AAAAH I DON'T KNOW! MY HEAD'S STARTING TO HURT. I'M TRYING TO BE SMART, BUT THIS IS TOO MUCH RIGHT NOW!"

"I just hope nothing bad happens to them," the snake sighed, staring at the now small lions leaving the village.


The sound of countless footsteps banging against the ground reverberated through Leo's mind. He didn't know whether or not it was alright to talk, ask, or do anything. The awkward silence didn't help at all. If Lanfen wasn't threatening, her guards surely were!

Their march continued all the way to the bottom until they both stopped in front of a wagon. One of the countless lions opened its door, allowing Lanfen to sit inside. He did the same with Leo, but he was paralyzed and didn't move.

"It's okay…" The lioness soothed, "There is nothing to be afraid of. They will carry us back home…or do you wish to walk?"

The human didn't reply and went inside. The wagon wasn't that big. It was meant for one, maximum two people. Jun and Shiron didn't leave them alone, they simply sat outside the wagon while the other lions began to move.

"Isn't it nice to be carried around?" Lanfen smiled, looking outside, "I always like sightseeing new places, but to do that I have to sacrifice some manpower…"

She sighed. "We can't afford to move too fast. It's too soon to copy the technology of your world. These people are not ready." She took his paw and held it tighter. "Oh, Ming… you can't understand how excited I am to see you! You're, like, a living myth to all of us!"

"I'm...not Ming though."

"Sorry, I don't remember your human name, but it doesn't matter, right? I think you already know that Ming and you are the same person."

"Are we…really the same?"

"Well…yes and no. You're an alternate version of him, most likely how Ming would have turned out if he was a human. Same thing to you if you were a real animal. You two share the same soul, but it depends on how you have grown. With contrasting developments, your thoughts and personalities could be different."

"Am I?"

"We know Ming only because our people left books, stories and information about him everywhere, but we have no idea of his actual personality. I apologize again for being useless."

"N-No, it's fine…"

"Some of my reports warned me about your awareness of feeling like copies, as if you were meant to be like this no matter what. I do wish to argue this point and break it down. You and Ming are the same person. It doesn't mean he is the original and you're the fake one. There is another me in your world, just like you. You're no different from everyone else."

"Doesn't that make you feel…limited? There's someone exactly like you and you're meant to be this way."

"Not really. You just share similarities because you've been created with the same base, but you can grow and develop completely different or completely the same. That will still be your choice. Furhermore, nobody is ever supposed to meet their clone because they usually live in different timelines as well, not just dimensions. Ming lived five hundred thousand years ago and you live in the beginning of the technology era. In other words, I would feel happy to know someone who's like me you know; we could have been the best of friends."

Silently, Leo stared outside at the scenery passing by, not completely convinced.

Lanfen giggled, "I guess you're not easy to persuade. I'll prove it to you."

"P-Prove it? How could you-?"

"That's a secret!" She hummed, hushing him. "You'll see when we get there!"

"Lanfen, shouldn't we blind him or something? We're reaching the bamboo forest and it's important to keep our base and personal info a secret. He's not a real lion," Jun complained, peeking inside the wagon.

"You're wrong. He has our blood. One hundred percent. I want him to see everything! He's one of us after all, but you're right on something."

Lanfen pointed her paw at him, opening it wide to show him the Chinese symbol printed on it. "This is my little special power, I can cast curses."

"Curses..?"

"Basically, I can strike deals with people or on myself if they want it or not. If you follow the rules you'll be rewarded. On the other hand, if you don't obey, my power will automatically punish you as soon as you break it. It's very useful you know? I can always be sure that people are loyal and obedient to me," Lanfen explained with a soft smile, hiding the true dangerous value of such power. "Oh, don't worry! It's not easy to cast a curse on someone. You'll know when I'll teach the basics of chi. This is my proposal: you're free to ask me everything, see everything, read everything and do anything you want, but you're not allowed to share anything you did with us to your friends or anyone who isn't a lion unless you ask me beforehand."

"What if I refuse? Will you force it?"

"I don't think you will, but if that happens I would simply use the traditional method and every piece of information you're looking for will be off-limits. Is that what you want? Did you come here to obtain nothing?"

"I feel like you're reading my soul…"

"I'll take that as a compliment. I am the leader of this empire, this is only natural for me."

"How do I-"

"Hold my paw."

Leo listened to her and reluctantly held her paw. Lanfen gripped his as strong as possible. The mark on her paw burned his. He tried to set his free, but it felt like they were glued together and he could only endure the pain until Lanfen herself let him go.

"THAT HURT…" The lion screamed, checking his paw. The same symbol was now on his paw as well.

"I'm sorry, that's how it works." She turned towards Jun, "So? Are we okay now?"

"I don't get it. Why are you wasting so much time and energy on this kid?"

"You don't need to understand. You're just a guard. It is none of your concern how I work. I told you the plan, that's enough." She became extremely serious and slightly upset towards Jun, a side of her Leo hadn't seen until now.

"I apologize if I came across as rude." Jun returned to her place, leaving the two lions alone again.

The lioness stretched her arms and limbs. "It will take a hour or two, depending on my soldiers deciding to do their jobs properly, so I recommend you sleep if you're tired." Lanfen yawned, "Every time I travel in here I start to feel sleepy and tired. I don't know why, it relaxes me."

"I'm content for now, thanks…"

"Good. Just saying, take a pillow and sleep. That's what I'll do now." The lioness knocked towards the small door that led to the outside, "Jun, Shirong! Wake me up before we arrive! Last time it was truly shameful to show me still asleep…"

"Not my fault Lanfen if you can't keep a royal aura around yourself!" Shirong mocked her with a grin.

"Very funny Shirong. Don't forget that we still have to talk about your actions."

"You really need to make a boring lecture?"

"...I'll pretend I didn't hear that."

While the wagon continued on its course towards the lions' base, Lanfen gathered some pillows and went to sleep. Leo continued to stare outside the window. Eventually, he started to feel tired as well as there was nothing to look at but bamboo trees. The boredom brought drowsiness upon the worried the lion until he followed her example and rested all the way to their city.


"Ming, wake up," a lioness exhorted, shaking his body. "We will cross the gate soon. We need to show some proper manners in front of the others, but I admit I enjoyed looking at you while you were sleeping. So cute…"

"...You honestly leave me speechless," Leo replied as he sat up to look outside, trying to ignore Lanfen's weird stalker-like behavior.

The human glanced around and, just like before, only bamboo surrounded them.

"I thought you said we've arrived?"

"Indeed, we have arrived," she confirmed, stopping the wagon. "Jun! Turn off the camouflage device!"

The lioness pulled out a weird remote with just one red button that she pressed as soon as she pointed it in the direction where the wagon was supposed to go.

Leo stared in awe when a huge wall appeared where nothing was supposed to be. A closed iron gate blocked their way in.

"Isn't it great? When you combine chi and technology you can create something extraordinary." Lanfen commented, "WE'RE BACK! OPEN THE PASSAGE!" The lioness screamed towards the iron door.

There was a distinct lack of creaking valves and sharp clicks as the gate slowly opened, allowing them to move inside.

Leo's eyes widened, overwhelmed by a nostalgic feeling. Inside looked nothing like the outside showed. It felt like they all stepped into another realm, another world that crossed time itself. Everything he knew about Ancient China was gone. It was more like his version of China. Their technology wasn't a joke, she wasn't just…messing around when she said that.

"I thought you would say something," Lanfen hummed, slightly upset. "Everything we have here is thanks to you! That's why we don't really care if you're not one hundred percent lion. Your world, your people lighted our way and we discovered what the future was hiding from us."

The human was taken aback by everything. The houses were truly designed as if someone went to his world, visited China and copied everything they could find.

"The God's Eye…" Leo breathed out, "That artifact must have been really powerful."

"I see. Shifu did tell you something in the end. Do you also know who created it?"

Lanfen stared at his face and pointed at him, knowing that his silence was enough for her to say that he didn't know about it.

"Yes, that's right! One of the most powerful artifacts that allowed its user to cross every natural bound has been created by you!"

"If you have something this strong why even bother to bring me here?"

"For someone who loves to learn you know very little. It got destroyed when they tried to seal one of the first portals, but I have a feeling that it's a lie! Ming hid it somewhere and our first objective is to find where it's been hidden!"

"I don't know anything though. If you kidnapped me for this reason then I have no idea how I can help…"

The wagon stopped again, "You think I didn't know that? Give me some credit. I planned everything already!" Lanfen opened the door and jumped outside. "Let's continue inside the lab. I'd like to be alone with you since too many eyes are on us here…"

Leo never felt comfortable since he stepped foot inside this town, but her words conveyed he's not the only one.

The human sticked close to the lioness and moved towards the biggest building in the city. While walking he did notice that everyone was looking at them. They were pretending to do daily activities, but auras of doubt and skepticism radiated all around the place. For a while, the two guards Lanfen carried around weren't as scary as this place and its people.

Not to mention the big white skyscraper...

"Wait, what? This doesn't make any sense…"

"You mean how could we even hide this?" She giggled, "The guards all around the town protect the entire city. They not only cover for us, but also make sure no one would discover us by accident. That would be unfortunate and we would be forced to eliminate them, well…at least we would be able to eat something!" She caressed her stomach. "Maybe I shouldn't have said that…"

Lanfen exhaled a sigh of relief as they finally walked inside the big building. "Time to climb a bit!"

"Your lab is on the fifth floor, Lanfen. Shouldn't we take the elevator?" Jun questioned with worry.

"Nah-ah!" She replied, wagging her finger to emphasize her point. "I want him to see just a small fraction of what we have here. That's the least I can do for him…"

Leo was stunned. There was a huge difference, even more than thought! They pushed a button on the wall and turned the light on. They had electricity, something that shouldn't be here yet. They also mentioned an elevator. He wondered if that as well was powered by electricity. Other than that, nothing weirder appeared. It felt more like a big office than a lab.

There were a couple of lions at the entrance. They quickly exchanged some words with Lanfen and let everyone go through a long hallway. They didn't meet anyone else, just countless doors that were ignored until they reached a spiral staircase decorated with a beautiful dragon at the bottom.

"What's inside those doors?" Leo asked.

"Scientists that are working on what the ancient have left behind. We know we can get a lot more, but our progression is awful. I guess that's the reason why your world needed to develop for centuries in order to reach that level of intelligence. We're skipping lots of stages here…"

"The ancient? I'm trying really hard to follow you, but most of the time what you're saying doesn't make any sense…"

"My answers will make sense later, now let me find my room…" Lanfen muttered, stopping all the lions.

"Shouldn't you know about your own room?" The human asked again, "I guess you don't use the same one every time."

"Lanfen, that room is-"

"Yes, of course I know. That's why I'm using it," she hushed Jun, took Leo's paw and dragged him inside.

"I can't see anything in here…" Leo complained, "Could you- thanks."

The room was stuffed with shelves and closets of every kind and shape, making the place look unnatural and poorly designed. In the middle of the room was one white table with a few chairs of the same color surrounded it.

There was a different feeling inside that room, something he couldn't quite understand. The lions weren't stupid enough to create a room with such a terrible design.

"What are you doing standing there? Go on; grab a seat!" Lanfen exhorted as she started looking for something around the place.

The more he looked at it, the more he felt like this room was made like this on purpose.

"Ha! Found it!" Lanfen cried out, satisfied, holding some sort of remote. "Now, let me show you the true colors of this room."

"The…true colors?" He reluctantly repeated, even if he already sensed the mystery hidden within this place.

The lioness pressed something on that controller and the entire layout changed. The shelves and the closets moved all around the place, switching, disappearing or getting sucked inside the wall.

Monitors that showed different locations in China appeared, weird guns hung on the walls, and a huge map covered what space was left in the room. Some shelves and closets remained, but these ones were matching the design of that white and modern-looking room.

"Wow…that's incredible."

"I know. It was really hard to replicate what we discovered from your world, you know? We kept trying and trying and trying, but in the end it was worth it."

Lanfen took a book from a shelf and a weirdly shaped gun before sitting down next to him. "This book contains the summary of the first two dimensional wars. You can give it a look through later. You're also allowed to share non-lion information you obtain from it."

"That's amazing! Is there really everything inside?"

"Well…don't expect too many details, but you'll have a good idea of what happened and why you are here now."

"That too?! Is there really a reason?!"

"I mean we don't know for certain; it's a theory. The book itself will say so, but I'm sure it's a correct assumption. Otherwise this isn't going to happen a third time."

"What's the other thing for?" Leo pointed at the gun.

The lioness sighed as if overwhelmed by sadness, "There's something I must do and it may hurt." She held the gun towards the human.

"H-hey! What are you doing?! Are you going to kill me?!"

"What? No! This gun can't kill."

"..."

"But it will hurt you for a while. Depends how strongly your chi will react to it."

"What are you saying?! I-I don't understand!"

"I'm going to bring Ming back."

Lanfen overcame her hesitation and shot him with her gun.