Her eyes looked to Ye Lan for help, then looked at Nan Qiao with fear, her hands clutching her clothes in panic.
The last trace of doubt was cast aside.
Mu Xi’s body trembled even more, and she raised her misty eyes like a frightened deer, which instead made Nan Qiao’s heart stir.
A smile that she thought was kind appeared on Nan Qiao’s face as she stepped forward.
“Don’t be afraid, little beauty.”
The buttons on Mu Xi’s chest were undone. Her movements carried a forceful dominance as she reached out to unbutton them.
Ye Lan pressed down on her shoulders, making her unable to move. Mu Xi let out a short gasp, shrinking back, but was firmly held by Ye Lan.
Her cheeks instantly flushed bright red, tears of humiliation welling up in her eyes.
Ye Lan watched coldly from the sidelines, not stopping Nan Qiao’s actions.
The buttons were undone, revealing snow-white delicate skin and the soft curves.
Nan Qiao’s breathing grew slightly heavier, a flash of amazement and possessiveness in her eyes.
She hesitated no longer, bending down slightly to approach Mu Xi’s chest.
The moment the warm lips touched the skin, Mu Xi’s body shook violently, almost collapsing.
She closed her eyes, her long lashes trembling intensely from endurance.
Nan Qiao sucked, initially with a mindset of tasting and verifying.
The warm, slightly sweet liquid slid down her throat, pure and delicious, far surpassing any drink she had ever had.
A strange warm current descended along her throat, rapidly spreading to her limbs and bones, as if every cell in her body was cheering.
“Indeed…”
Nan Qiao raised her head, about to praise the magical experience, but her words got stuck in her throat.
A sudden, irresistible wave of weakness instantly swept through her entire body. The warm current turned into numbness, her limbs felt as heavy as lead, impossible to lift. The scene before her began to spin and blur, with a buzzing sound in her ears.
Her legs gave way, and she uncontrollably fell to the ground.
“How… what’s happening…”
Nan Qiao tried to support herself, but it was extremely difficult.
Bang! The dull sound of a body hitting the floor was clear in the silent room.
Nan Qiao struggled to lift her head, but found even turning her neck extremely difficult. On her face, there was no trace of the previous greed and anger, only cold mockery that saw through everything. She looked at Ye Lan in shock, who was looking down at her from above.
“You…”
Nan Qiao forced out a single word, her consciousness rapidly fading.
Ye Lan slowly crouched down, looking at her with an almost pitying expression.
“If I directly poisoned you, you would have been on guard. You wouldn’t have drunk the water in the cup either. So I had to use a roundabout method.”
“Nan Qiao, oh Nan Qiao, your vigilance is indeed very strong.”
She reached out a finger and tapped Nan Qiao’s forehead.
“From the breakfast you ate this morning, the water you drank, to the air you breathed in this Silent Language Building, and even the doorknob you touched just now… I added some ‘ingredients.'”
Nan Qiao’s pupils suddenly contracted, her face full of disbelief.
“Those ‘ingredients’ themselves are not a big deal, the doses are small, scattered everywhere, and your body doesn’t even notice anything unusual. They are like sleeping seeds that need a specific trigger to awaken.”
A cruel smile curled at the corner of Ye Lan’s lips.
“And that trigger is Xi’er’s essence.”
She stood up and clapped her hands.
“But you can’t make a sound. Nan Qiao stared at Ye Lan, her lips moving, wanting to say something, with anger, regret, and fear intertwining in her eyes.”
“Once they are activated, they synergize instantly to produce this effect. Isn’t it wonderful?”
In the end, Nan Qiao’s consciousness completely sank, her body collapsing to the ground, no sound.
Ye Lan glanced at the unconscious Nan Qiao on the floor, then at Mu Xi beside her, whose face was pale and body still trembling slightly.
“You did well, Xi’er.”
Ye Lan’s voice returned to its usual coldness.
She stepped forward, bent down, and effortlessly dragged Nan Qiao like a sack, heading toward the door.
The heavy metal door opened and closed again.
In the room, only Mu Xi remained.
She slowly slid down to sit on the floor, leaning against the cold wall, gasping heavily.
The front of her clothes was open, carrying the residual warmth and humiliation of Nan Qiao’s touch.
She raised trembling hands and buttoned her clothes one by one, her movements numb and slow.
Nan Qiao was down. The first step of the plan was successful.
Mu Xi closed her eyes and buried her face in her knees.
She didn’t know what would happen next, but she knew this was only the beginning.
She and Ye Lan had set foot on a path with no return.
Ye Lan dragged Nan Qiao out of the Silent Language Building and threw her to the personal guards waiting outside.
“Keep an eye on her. Don’t let her die or escape.”
Ye Lan ordered coldly.
“Yes, Lady Ye Lan!”
The guards responded in unison, quickly taking the unconscious Nan Qiao away.
Ye Lan turned around and looked up at the window on the second floor of the Silent Language Building, where Mu Xi’s figure had disappeared.
A complex emotion flashed in her phoenix eyes, but was quickly replaced by her usual coldness and calculation. She raised her hand and ordered into her communicator.
“Notify the others. Execute the plan.”
Time in the Silent Language Building flowed like a solidified hourglass, slow and oppressive.
Mu Xi remained alone, still imprisoned in this cold cage of metal and concrete. Day after day.
The walls were gray, hard and cold. Occasionally, a sliver of light from the outside sky would break through the heavy alloy window frames, but it was cut into pieces. Silence was the eternal main theme here, occasionally broken by her own monotonous footsteps.
She ate, slept, and then, facing the pale, delicate but empty-eyed self in the mirror, drank the milk that shouldn’t exist and bore the mark of humiliation.
At first, it was resistance and disgust.
Then, numbness. Her body gradually got used to this strange cycle, self-sufficient like a carefully designed closed loop.
She no longer even thought about Nan Qiao’s desperate eyes when she was dragged away, nor about Ye Lan’s cold and calculating profile.
Thinking too much would make her heart ache. Aching would make her weak. She could not be weak.
She didn’t know how many days had passed.
Three days? Five days? Or even longer?
Time had lost its meaning here, leaving only endless waiting and oppression, along with hatred for Nan Qiao.
One day, the heavy metal door let out a low rumble as it slowly opened.
Light poured in from outside the door, outlining a slender and upright figure. Ye Lan had returned.
She was still wearing her sharp combat clothes, her jet-black hair tied back, with a few strands of hair sticking to her fair neck. Her phoenix eyes were slightly tilted, with an indescribable charm, and her face was filled with an undisguised victorious glow.
She walked in, her steps bringing a breeze that dispelled the stagnant air in the room.
Mu Xi sat on the sofa, not getting up, only raising her head to look at her calmly.
“Is it done?”
Her voice was very soft, betraying no emotion.
Ye Lan walked up to her, looking down at her as if admiring a precious item that belonged to her.
“Not that fast.”
Ye Lan spoke, her voice carrying a hint of barely perceptible fatigue, but more of the confidence of being in control.
“It’s not that fast. The power structure of Stone City is more complex than imagined. Those old men are deeply entrenched and can’t be uprooted overnight.”
She paused and changed the topic.
“But everything is developing in the direction we hope. The chess piece Nan Qiao was used just right.”
Her gaze fell on Mu Xi’s slightly pale face, swept over her tightly pressed red lips, and finally rested on her clear but cold eyes.
“Xi’er,” Ye Lan’s voice lowered, carrying a strange, almost gentle apology. “What happened before… having you directly feed Nan Qiao, it was unavoidable.”
She was trying to explain, or rather, trying to appease.