She walked to the small window of the Safe House and gazed out at the darkness.
She didn’t know where Ye Lan was now or if she was even still alive.
Her fingers unconsciously clenched into a fist.
“How should I face you?” Mu Xi whispered, her voice like dust scattering in the air.
‘Of course, that is if you can return alive.’
Suddenly, the Communicator emitted a burst of harsh static, shattering the silence of the Safe House.
Mu Xi’s body tensed instantly.
She swiftly grabbed her Gun and moved with agile steps toward the device.
A faint green light flickered on the screen, where a coordinate point was slowly moving.
Mu Xi’s breath hitched for a moment.
That was Ye Lan’s positioning signal.
She was alive, and she was moving toward the Safe House.
“You always have a way of coming back to me, don’t you?”
Mu Xi stared at the moving point of light, her fingers instinctively brushing over the heart tattoo on her lower abdomen.
Her heartbeat thundered in her ears.
‘Whether I want you or not.’
However, Ye Lan’s movement was exceptionally slow, almost as if she were crawling inch by inch.
Staring at the slowly moving green dot on the Communicator, unease surged through Mu Xi like a tide.
“Something’s wrong,” she muttered to herself.
Her fingers swiped across the screen, calculating Ye Lan’s route and speed.
At this pace, it would take Ye Lan at least three hours to reach the Safe House.
Mu Xi bit her lower lip as countless possibilities flashed through her mind, ‘Ye Lan was injured, she was being pursued, or perhaps the equipment was malfunctioning and sending an erroneous signal.’
She made a quick decision, stuffing several guns and spare magazines into her backpack before grabbing a first aid kit and a tourniquet from the medical area.
Mu Xi’s movements were clean and efficient, without the slightest hesitation, as if she had rehearsed this emergency departure countless times.
“If you die, how am I supposed to get my revenge?” she murmured to the air, her voice carrying a hint of a tremble that even she didn’t notice.
Mu Xi pushed open the hidden door of the Safe House, and the icy air immediately enveloped her petite frame.
The sky was so gloomy it looked as if it might collapse at any moment.
A damp, cold mist permeated the Forest, and the silhouettes of trees loomed in the fog like reaching ghost claws.
She gripped her Gun and walked briskly in the direction indicated by the Communicator.
The muddy ground caused her boots to sink with every step, but she did not slow down.
“You’d better still be alive, Ye Lan,” Mu Xi said softly, her eyes warily scanning the surroundings.
“I haven’t seen enough of your pained expression yet.”
Rain began to fall from the sky, starting as a few scattered drops before quickly turning into a dense curtain of water.
Mu Xi’s silver hair was soon soaked by the rain, clinging to her pale cheeks.
She didn’t stop to seek shelter; instead, she quickened her pace.
The green dot on the Communicator had stopped moving.
Mu Xi’s heart accelerated.
She didn’t know what this meant.
‘Was she finding temporary shelter, or had she already…’
‘No’, she refused to let her thoughts go in that direction.
After pushing through a dense thicket of shrubs, Mu Xi finally saw a figure leaning against the base of a Giant Oak Tree ahead.
Ye Lan.
She was covered in blood, her black hair scattered messily over her shoulders, her eyes closed, and her body motionless.
Her chest didn’t seem to be rising or falling, making her look like a statue abandoned in the Forest.
Mu Xi’s legs suddenly lost their strength.
She stood rooted to the spot, unable to take a single step forward.
A strange sensation gripped her heart, making it impossible to breathe.
This wasn’t the scene she had planned.
Ye Lan was supposed to be alive—alive to accept her revenge—not leaving quietly like this.
“No…” Mu Xi’s lips trembled.
She didn’t even know what she was denying.
Rain slid down her cheeks, mixing with the tears that had escaped at some unknown point.
Mu Xi forced herself to take a step, and then another.
“Ye Lan?” Her voice was almost drowned out by the sound of the rain.
There was no response.
Mu Xi knelt beside Ye Lan, her trembling fingers reaching for the woman’s neck.
There was a pulse.
It was faint, but it was definitely there.
She let out a sigh of relief and quickly opened the first aid kit.
“You can’t die,” Mu Xi said through gritted teeth, though her movements were exceptionally gentle.
“You owe me. I want you to watch me leave you with your own eyes.”
She tore open Ye Lan’s blood-soaked clothing, revealing the gruesome wounds beneath.
A long knife wound extended from her shoulder to her abdomen, and there were several obvious gunshots.
Mu Xi’s hands paused for a split second before she resumed cleaning the wounds with more focus, albeit still clumsily.
She injected antibiotics and stitched the most severe lacerations.
The rain continued to wash over them, forcing Mu Xi to use her own body to shield Ye Lan from the downpour.
Her movements became increasingly frantic as Ye Lan’s breathing grew even weaker.
“Hang in there,” Mu Xi whispered.
“Didn’t you say you’d protect me? Didn’t you say you love me? Then prove it to me.”
Just as she finished bandaging the last wound, Ye Lan’s eyes fluttered open a crack.
“Little Xi…” Ye Lan’s voice was so weak it was nearly inaudible, “You… came…”
Mu Xi’s hand froze mid-air.
She looked at Ye Lan’s pale lips, momentarily unsure of what to say.
“I killed them all,” Ye Lan said with great difficulty, every word seeming to drain the last of her energy.
“All the… traitors… are dead… You’re safe…”
Mu Xi wanted to say something biting, wanted to remind Ye Lan of the hatred between them, but as she looked at the wounds covering Ye Lan’s body, the words got stuck in her throat.
“I love you,” Ye Lan’s fingers twitched slightly, as if she wanted to touch Mu Xi but lacked the strength.
“I love you… Little Xi…”
Mu Xi knew what Ye Lan was doing.
‘She’s begging for a chance to live, using love as a chip to exchange for help. This is Ye Lan’s trick—using love to control her, to make her unable to leave, to ensure she won’t be abandoned. She isn’t saying “I love you”; she’s saying “don’t let me die.” ‘
But why did those words make her eyes well up again?
“Shut up,” Mu Xi said brusquely, though her voice was surprisingly soft.
“Save your strength. I won’t let you die.”
She draped Ye Lan’s arm over her shoulder and tried to pull her up.
Ye Lan was much taller than her and significantly heavier; the effort left Mu Xi nearly breathless.
“We have to get back to the Safe House,” Mu Xi said, feeling as if Ye Lan’s weight might crush her.
“If you dare die on the way, I’ll throw your corpse to the wild beasts.”
Ye Lan smiled weakly, “You’re so cruel… but I like it…”
Mu Xi gritted her teeth and began moving toward the Safe House.
Every step felt like moving a mountain, but she didn’t stop.
The rain blurred her vision and the cold seeped into her bones, but an emotion she was unwilling to acknowledge burned within her heart.
“I love you,” Ye Lan repeated in her ear, her voice growing fainter and fainter, “I love you…”
“If you really love me,” Mu Xi finally spoke, her voice carrying a hint of a sob she didn’t realize was there, “then shut up and stay alive.”
The corners of Ye Lan’s mouth curled up slightly into a weak but satisfied smile.
“As you wish… my love…”
Mu Xi didn’t respond.
She simply adjusted her stance, pulling Ye Lan closer to better support her weight.
She didn’t know why she was doing this, why she was risking everything to save a person she should hate to her very core.
Perhaps it was because she needed Ye Lan alive to complete her revenge.
Perhaps it was because in this strange and dangerous world, Ye Lan was the only one who truly cared about her, even if that care was twisted and morbid.
Or perhaps—just perhaps—deep down, a part of her couldn’t truly hate this woman who was covered in wounds for the sake of protecting her.
“We’re almost there,” Mu Xi said, feeling Ye Lan’s body grow heavier and heavier.
“Hang in there.”
Ye Lan didn’t respond.
Her head rested on Mu Xi’s shoulder, her breathing so faint it was barely detectable.
Mu Xi’s heart clenched violently.
She quickened her pace, almost dragging Ye Lan forward.
“You can’t die,” she whispered, her voice laced with a vulnerability she had never shown before.
“You promised to protect me, remember? You said you would never leave me.”
The rain washed over the two of them, carrying away the blood and the tears, leaving only two figures huddled together, struggling forward through the storm.