Is It Really That Hard to Be the Big Brother of Two Top-Alpha Twins? - Chapter 15

The moment the bone blade swung down, Jiang Xun instinctively shut his eyes.
But the expected agony never came.
Amid the roar of his heartbeat, he heard a heavy thud—something hitting the floor—followed by a piercing shriek that nearly shattered his eardrums.
“Are you just going to die with your eyes closed, Jiang Xun? Run!”
A sharp voice rang out above him. Jiang Xun’s eyes flew open.
In the golden-red light of dusk, a slender figure straddled the monster’s back, one knee pinning down its right limb. A glint of metal flashed in his hand—the blade of a pair of scissors plunging deep into the creature’s compound eye.
For a brief, breathless second, Jiang Xun couldn’t tell if his racing heart came from fear… or something else.
Greenish fluid sprayed everywhere as the monster thrashed violently, splattering across the young man’s light-gray shirt.
Jiang Xun finally recognized the weapon. Craft scissors.
He exhaled shakily, lungs burning, and scrambled to his feet. Stepping over the writhing monster—and over Chen Luan, who was clearly struggling to keep it pinned—he bolted toward the door.
But before he could leave, he turned back. “Chen Luan, you—”
“Don’t talk nonsense! You’re in the way—run!”
Chen Luan didn’t even look back. He pressed down on the monster’s head, the jagged bone spurs along its body slicing across his forearm. His gray sleeve darkened instantly with bl00d.
He gritted his teeth, shifting his grip, forcing the creature’s neck to the ground again. His breath came hard and fast. “I’ll be fine! I can’t let go until you’re out of here!”
Jiang Xun’s gaze lingered on him, eyes flickering with a storm of emotion. His knuckles whitened, then slowly relaxed.
“Okay. Be careful.”
His footsteps faded down the corridor.
Chen Luan, his strength waning, grabbed the scissors again and drove them into the monster’s other eye.
A bloodcurdling scream tore through the air as the creature thrashed uncontrollably.
Chen Luan released his hold, kicked the monster hard from behind, and rolled backward, landing lightly on his feet.
Blinded, the creature rampaged through the storage room, smashing furniture and walls in its frenzy. Chen Luan shoved over a heavy metal cabinet, blocking the doorway, and sprinted for the stairs.
Behind him, the pounding against the door began almost immediately—the cabinet wouldn’t hold for long.
Halfway down the staircase, a terrified scream echoed from below, followed by another guttural, inhuman roar.
“—Another one?!”
Chen Luan froze for half a second before charging down the stairs.
At the far end of the hall, he saw Jiang Xun slumped against a pillar, bl00d pouring from his right leg.
Two students lay nearby, badly mauled and unconscious.
Above them, a gaping hole yawned open in the ventilation duct. From within, something moved.
A twisted silhouette crawled along the ceiling.
Beneath the vent, a handsome boy sat collapsed on the floor—half of his left arm gone, bl00d pooling beneath him. His entire body trembled as he looked up at the creature clinging to the ceiling.
A pale, yellowish fluid spread beneath him, and Chen Luan finally saw the monster clearly.
It was barely human anymore. The body was ravaged and contorted, the limbs jointed like a reptile’s, its face splitting into insect-like mouthparts that opened and closed with a hideous clicking sound.
Then, with a harsh buzz of wings, the creature turned its head—
and fixed its gaze downward.
Fresh bl00d gushed from the boy’s severed arm, the metallic scent drawing the creature in.
Then—it moved.
Chen Luan instinctively shouted, “Run!”
But it was too late.
The boy, frozen in terror, couldn’t move.
Chen Luan managed to reach Jiang Xun just in time, instinctively pulling him into his arms as the reptile lunged. He covered Jiang Xun’s eyes.
A sickening chewing sound mixed with a shrill scream echoed through the empty hall.
The stench of bl00d was overwhelming.
Jiang Xun stirred slightly, but Chen Luan only held him tighter.
“Don’t look.”
His steady voice came from just above, carrying the faint scent of soap and something fresh—like mist and moss deep in a forest.
That clean scent wrapped around Jiang Xun, almost washing away the suffocating reek of bl00d.
The boy’s screams finally stopped. The other two classmates lay unconscious nearby, and Chen Luan couldn’t tend to them all.
Taking advantage of the reptile’s distraction while feeding, he quickly performed basic hemostasis for Jiang Xun and helped him up.
“Can you walk?”
Jiang Xun stood, leaning on Chen Luan’s shoulder. A sharp pain shot through the torn wound on his leg. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead as his face turned pale, but he gritted his teeth and said nothing.
“Get on.” Chen Luan bent down.
“Okay.” Jiang Xun’s voice was soft as he climbed onto Chen Luan’s back with the practiced ease of the past few days.
“Your leg’s had some bad luck,” Chen Luan said lightly. “A few days ago, it was your right foot, and today it’s your right leg. Some people have a golden left cheek—how about I give you a silver right leg?”
He laughed, lifting Jiang Xun’s thigh and bouncing him slightly, somehow still finding time to joke.
Jiang Xun knew he was only trying to distract him—to ease the tension and dull the pain.
“What a ridiculous, cheesy joke.” Chen Luan heard a quiet laugh behind him.
“Hold on tight.”
Carrying Jiang Xun on his back, Chen Luan carefully avoided the reptile and ran toward the gate.
Sirens blared outside.
Only then did Chen Luan notice that one of the creature’s elytra was broken and two of its legs were missing.
In a flash, he remembered—the Wasteland Disease patient who’d injured someone and escaped days ago.
It had been hiding in the school’s ventilation ducts all this time?!
What were the school’s security officers even doing?
The growing wail of sirens startled the creature. It stopped feeding, lifted its head, antennae twitching. Its elytra began to vibrate.
Footsteps sounded outside.
Chen Luan, burdened with Jiang Xun, couldn’t move fast enough—they were still far from the gate.
Suddenly, the reptile lunged.
Chen Luan’s back was slick with cold sweat.
“Put me down, Chen Luan,” Jiang Xun rasped, clinging tighter. “You can’t run fast with me.”
“What nonsense are you talking about? Hold on tighter.” Chen Luan’s voice was low but firm. “…I’m your brother. What kind of brother abandons his little brother?”
“We’re not even bl00d brothers.”
“So, what if we’re not? You’re still my brother.”
They were almost at the gate—but the creature was closing in fast.
Chen Luan gritted his teeth, turned sharply, and hurled Jiang Xun through the doorway.
Then, as the creature’s claws slashed toward him, he rolled aside and narrowly avoided being impaled.
“Chen Luan—!”
In the chaos, a familiar voice called out.
It was Jiang Ling.
“Chen Luan, catch!”
Something flew toward him. Jiang Ling came running, breathless.
Chen Luan dodged another strike, caught the thrown object, and realized—it was a gun.
No, a black dagger.
There was no time to question where Jiang Ling got it. Chen Luan cocked and aimed in one fluid motion.
Jiang Xun, now caught by Jiang Ling, looked up just as Chen Luan moved—his body sleek and tense like a coiled cheetah, the gun spinning once in his hand.
With a crisp click, he cocked it.
Two shots rang out in rapid succession— “Bang, bang!”—so fast it was hard to tell he’d even aimed.
But in their view, two crimson blooms burst perfectly on the creature’s head.
The reptile shrieked, staggering back, its elytra fluttering as bl00d poured down its face.
The special task force was closing in fast.
“Don’t just stand there! Run!”
Chen Luan sprinted forward, hauling Jiang Xun up onto his back again and pulling Jiang Ling close with one arm. He fired two more shots over his shoulder, each one precisely hitting the monster’s joints and slowing its movement.
As they reached safety, a sweating young man with an intern’s armband rushed up, nearly in tears.
“Hey, hey! Where’s my gun?! Give me back the gun you stole! If I lose it, I’ll fail my internship and get kicked out—I worked so hard to get in!”
Chen Luan blinked. “Wait, where did you even get this gun?” he asked Jiang Ling, catching his breath. “You stole it?”
“It was an emergency,” Jiang Ling retorted. “And you know how to use one, right? You graduated from the military academy—emergency means emergency.”
“Such twisted logic.” Chen Luan reached over and ruffled his hair, earning a glare. “But you did arrive just in time, so… thanks, our savior.”
“You’re welcome. I just wanted to save my brother,” Jiang Ling muttered, turning away.
“Yes, that’s right,” Chen Luan said deliberately. “Even if we’re not bl00d-related, a brother’s still a brother. Thanks for saving me.”
Before Jiang Ling could react, he held up the weapon. “Is this the gun you lost?”
“Yes, yes!” The trainee sighed in relief, only to flinch when he touched the still-hot barrel.
“You—you fired it?! I’ll have to file a report for every bullet—”
“I’m a teacher at the Federal Military Academy,” Chen Luan interrupted, showing his ID. “I’m authorized to carry and discharge a firearm in emergencies. Two headshots, two to the limbs. You should find the shrapnel inside its body—assuming you didn’t let it escape again.”
The intern froze. “Wait… It’s that one? The one that escaped?” His expression darkened.
They’d already been blasted online for letting an extremely dangerous Wasteland creature get away—and now it had caused another attack, at a school.
This was bad.
Rumors had already spread that the military was planning to dissolve the special task force and replace it with a new department specializing in Wasteland incidents, drawing from the army and military academies. And now, another failure…
He’d just passed the entrance exam, too!
But human joys and sorrows are never truly shared.
For now, none of that mattered to the three Jiang brothers.
They had reached the emergency evacuation point, where an ambulance was waiting.
Jiang Xun, pale from bl00d loss, was losing consciousness. He leaned weakly against Chen Luan’s chest.
Chen Luan touched his forehead—his heart sank.
He was burning with fever.
The boy in his arms clutched weakly at his collar, his skin flushed, sweat beading across his brow, his long dark lashes trembling. His lips were pale and cracked.
Chen Luan tried to lay him against Jiang Ling and stood to fetch water—but before he could move, Jiang Xun’s arms tightened around his waist.
“Brother…”
The pale, delicate boy burrowed weakly into his chest, his face fevered and flushed, his brows drawn tight, voice hoarse and low.
“It hurts.”