The heavy metal door of the bedroom was pushed open silently, just a crack, and a nimble purple figure slipped inside with swift, precise movements. It was the captain of the personal guard.
She didn’t even glance at Mu Xi. Dropping to one knee on the cold floor before the bed, she bowed her head low. Her voice was barely above a whisper, but her words came out at a shocking speed, every syllable carrying a cold, metallic urgency.
“My Lord, the outer perimeter has been breached! Preliminary assessment indicates at least three points were torn open simultaneously! The intruders are well-equipped, their firepower is fierce, and their numbers… far exceed estimates! They are advancing toward the core area at any cost. Their target… is very likely the second floor!”
The captain’s report struck Mu Xi’s heart like a hail of ice, leaving her barely able to stand steady.
The outer perimeter breached… three points at once… well-equipped… numbers far exceeding estimates… target on the second floor.
She could even picture the scene outside right now—purple silhouettes exchanging fire with intruders in the darkness, energy beams ripping through the night sky, explosions, the clash of metal…
And the second floor they were on right now was the very eye of the storm.
Ye Lan listened to the report, her face betraying no excess emotion. Only deep within those phoenix eyes, a tempest was gathering.
She forced her weakened body to sit up straighter. The movement tugged at the wound on her back, causing her brow to furrow almost imperceptibly, but her voice remained terrifyingly steady.
“Seal off all access to the second floor,” she ordered, her voice soft yet carrying an ironclad resolve. “Activate internal defenses. All non-combat personnel are to move to safe points immediately. Order the snipers to take the high ground and find me their commander.”
“Yes!” The captain of the personal guard acknowledged the order. Her figure flashed and vanished beyond the door once more, the breeze her movement stirred brushing against Mu Xi’s cheek, biting cold.
The room was left with just the two of them, along with the muffled thumps filtering in from outside the window, distorted by the thick walls. That was the sound of battle.
Ye Lan still gripped Mu Xi’s wrist tightly, without the slightest slack. She turned her head, her gaze landing on Mu Xi’s pale, terrified face, her eyes still complex and unreadable.
“Afraid?” Her voice was low, carrying a strange, soothing quality. But the killing intent slowly rising in those eyes made the comfort feel eerily unsettling.
Mu Xi opened her mouth, but her throat was too dry to produce a sound. She could only nod forcefully, then shake her head just as quickly.
Afraid? How could she not be afraid.
The shadow of death had never loomed so clearly before her.
And yet, held so tightly by Ye Lan, feeling the overwhelming aura emanating from her—one that even grave injury had failed to extinguish—an absurd sense of safety was also taking root in the depths of her heart.
She remembered the vicious scar on Ye Lan’s back, remembered those words: “This is my honor.” It was a wound left from protecting her.
So this time, would Ye Lan protect her again?
Or rather, could she protect her?
Mu Xi’s mind was a tangled mess. Fear, dependence, and that feeling—the one just beginning to sprout as she tried to love—were shattered by the violent turmoil of the moment. And yet, in the chaos, they seemed to be glued back together into something even harder to put into words.
Ye Lan watched her disordered expression, and the corner of her mouth seemed to curve upward almost imperceptibly. But the arc vanished in an instant, so quick it might have been an illusion.
“Stay where I can see you.” She repeated the words, her tone brooking no argument.
This time, Mu Xi didn’t hesitate. She gripped Ye Lan’s hand back with force.
Cold and warmth intertwined. Trembling and resolve coexisted.
Gunfire!
Deafening gunfire erupted right downstairs, dense as sudden rain hammering against metal plating. Every shot landed like a heavy blow on Mu Xi’s heart. Explosions followed, dull and powerful, making the entire Silent Language Building tremble faintly while the floor beneath their feet vibrated with a teeth-grinding shudder.
The overhead lights began flickering wildly, brightness and darkness alternating in chaotic fragments, carving the room into shifting pieces. They illuminated Ye Lan’s paper-white face and magnified the panic in Mu Xi’s eyes.
The sounds grew closer and closer, as if just outside the door, just beneath their feet, about to burst through at any second.
Mu Xi’s palms were slick with cold sweat. She clung tightly to Ye Lan’s wrist, trying to draw some strength from that slightly cool warmth, yet she felt her own body trembling with the building’s vibrations.
Bang!
The heavy metal door was thrown open once more. This time, it wasn’t silent.
The captain of the personal guard charged in, carrying the scent of gunpowder. Her purple combat uniform was stained with dust and unidentifiable dark smudges. Her breathing was rapid, but her eyes remained sharp as a blade.
“My Lord!”
The captain no longer kept her voice low. It burned with anxiety. “The enemy has broken into the first-floor lobby! Their firepower is too intense. Our people are holding them off at the stairwell, but they… they’re like madmen!”
They’ve reached the first floor…
Mu Xi’s heart constricted violently, nearly bursting from her chest.
The stairwell—that was only one floor away from where they were on the second!
She could even imagine the fierce exchange happening in that narrow stairwell, bullets flying, flesh and blood shredded.
Ye Lan’s face still showed no expression. Only her deep phoenix eyes seemed to have condensed ten-thousand-year frost, cold to the bone.
She didn’t look at the captain. Her gaze remained fixed on the empty space ahead, as if piercing through the walls to observe the battle below.
“Activate the Silent Language Building’s internal defenses,” she said, her voice still steady but carrying a bone-chilling coldness. “Seal every physical route to the second floor.”
“Yes!”
The order was relayed in an instant.
Almost at the same moment, a heavy, grating sound of metal scraping metal came from the corridor, like some massive gate descending.
CLANG—!
A series of thunderous crashes followed, accompanied by another violent tremor of the ground, as if the entire second floor had been completely cut off from the outside world.
That was the sound of alloy gates dropping. The final internal barrier of the Silent Language Building.
Safe for now?
Mu Xi’s heart relaxed for a single instant, but was immediately seized by an even greater terror.
This meant they were trapped here, separated from the enemies below by only a few cold metal doors.
Mu Xi’s gaze unconsciously turned to Ye Lan.
Ye Lan’s complexion was paler than before, fine cold sweat seemingly beading at her temples, her tightly pressed lips nearly drained of color.
But her back remained straight. Even sitting on the edge of the bed, she radiated an imposing presence.
She listened calmly to the gunfire outside—gradually weakening, yet seeming to concentrate in certain areas—calmly analyzing the battle, calmly issuing one life-or-death order after another.
This person… how could she remain so composed despite being so badly wounded?
Mu Xi watched her, and the fear in her heart didn’t diminish. Instead, something even more complicated took root.
Was it dependence? Or something else?
She didn’t dare think too deeply. She only felt that Ye Lan’s calmness was almost terrifying, as if all the chaos and slaughter outside had nothing to do with her—as if she were a lofty chess player, coldly manipulating life and death on the board.
BOOM—!!!
A colossal explosion detonated at extremely close range!
Not from downstairs. Not from beyond the door. But from… beside them!
Mu Xi whipped her head around.
The window not far from her side—its thick bulletproof glass, as if struck by an invisible giant hammer—was instantly covered in spiderweb-like cracks.
Then it shattered with a thunderous explosion!
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