The man’s sigh was gentle and tender, laced with a mix of helplessness and affection, yet it also carried a faint undertone of hurt and displeasure.
’How could you be angry with because of soone else?’ it seed to say.
And yet, amidst that sigh, Gu Xi grew calm.
"Why can’t I be angry?" she asked, looking up into the void.
In the void, faint wisps of ink that had been floating in the air began to twist and rge. They unfurled slowly, like a traditional ink wash scroll, until at last, the figure of a man gradually materialized before Gu Xi’s eyes.
The man was tall and appeared sowhat gaunt, but his face was so handso it defied all imagination.
But the face was completely unfamiliar. Gu Xi froze for a second. "This is what you really look like?"
"Don’t you like it?" The man of ink smiled gently. His features began to reassemble, quickly morphing into the face Gu Xi rembered.
A face Ye Xin had once jokingly called the epito of a pretty boy.
And it was... Yun Ye’s face.
"How about this?" the man chuckled.
The next second, he was standing before Gu Xi. He raised his hand, as if to touch her face.
Gu Xi sidestepped, dodging his hand. In the sa motion, she swung her Xidao at him.
The man’s ink-like form was sliced in two, but it quickly reford.
"Xiaoxi, why must you do this?" the man sighed, seemingly helpless. His gaze on Gu Xi grew even more tender and doting. "You know full well this can’t hurt ..."
But just then.
SQUELCH—
A soft but distinct sound echoed through the air. The man froze, then looked down toward the source of the noise, only to discover his legs had dissolved back into clumps of ink. Black ink, like blood, was dripping from mid-air.
The man’s brow furrowed slightly, unable to comprehend what had just happened. ’This isn’t my real body, just a projection of my spiritual power. How could...?’
He looked up at Gu Xi. "Xiaoxi, you...?"
"Can’t figure it out, can you?" Gu Xi looked down at her Xidao, slowly running a fingertip along the curved blade’s sharp edge. ’I didn’t let that ghostly thing devour so much of my power for nothing.’
The man was stunned for a mont, then he smiled.
"Xiaoxi, you’re still the sa as ever..." ’She would never willingly take a loss in a fight.’
The man sighed, a nostalgic look on his face. The legs that Gu Xi’s blade had obliterated reford once more.
They looked identical to before, yet for so reason, they now seed unsettlingly bizarre.
Gu Xi looked up at him and sighed as well. "I’ve told you before," she said, her voice deliberate and slow. "This habit of yours... when are you going to change it?"
"Li Ming said that putting on a mysterious act is just a form of bluffing." Gu Xi’s hand, gripping her blade, turned slightly. The silver steel flashed with a cold light in the lonely night.
She looked up at him. "So, what are you hiding?"
The man across from her smiled. "And that is precisely why I can’t stand Li Ming."
"But Xiaoxi, for your sake, I haven’t touched him all these years." The man seed both vexed and wistful. Li Ming had always been a teacher, father, and brother to Gu Xi; his influence on her was plain to see.
"And?" Gu Xi didn’t seem to fully grasp his aning. After a mont’s thought, she tilted her head. "Am I supposed to thank you?"
"That won’t be necessary." The man appeared magnanimous, but his tone shifted. "However, I imagine that for Li Ming’s sake, you’d be willing to make a few compromises, wouldn’t you?"
Gu Xi understood. "So, you went to the Central Base?" ’So his real body isn’t here. No wonder he’s appearing before with all these smoke and mirrors.’
The man was noncommittal. He simply smiled and said, "Or couldn’t it be... that I’ve already co back from the Central Base?"
Gu Xi was suddenly reminded of the ssage Li Ming had never answered. Her heart sank, but her expression remained completely unchanged.
"So?" she retorted, raising an eyebrow. "What kind of compromise are you expecting to make?"
Seeing Gu Xi concede so quickly, the man hesitated for a mont.
...
anwhile, back at the farm, things weren’t looking good for Qi Xiang and the others.
Wei Heng was holding his own. As a peak level-nine powerhouse, he could last a while longer.
But Qin Yi’s power was nearly depleted.
—Black threads were already slithering along the rose branches, penetrating the wall of flowers and about to reach Qin Yi’s back.
Seeing this, Qi Xiang rushed over without a second thought, grabbing the thread with her bare hands and yanking it away from Qin Yi.
"Qi Xiang!" Qin Yi cried out, turning to see what had happened.
The thread in Qi Xiang’s grasp twisted twice before instantly dissolving into a black, inky mass that seeped into her hands.
It happened too fast for anyone to stop.
Both Qin Yi and Yang Chi were terrified.
’God only knows what that stuff is, or what it will do now that it’s inside Qi Xiang’s body. What if...’
Qin Yi had to struggle to maintain the wall of roses against the swarms of black threads, leaving her unable to step away. Yang Chi, however, had already drawn the dagger at his waist, his expression grim.
"Qi Xiang, just bear with it for a second..." he said, raising the dagger.
Qi Xiang jumped back in alarm, dodging him. "What do you think you’re doing?"
Yang Chi pointed to her hands. In the apocalypse, if you were bitten by a mutated animal and couldn’t get imdiate dical treatnt, the safest course of action was to amputate the affected limb as quickly as possible.
Qi Xiang gasped in shock, and the way she looked at Yang Chi changed completely. ’This rotten kid... he actually wants to beco a one-ard woman?’
’Absolutely not.’
’She could live without her once-beautiful face, but she would absolutely not give up her hands.’
"Yang Chi, listen to ," Qi Xiang said, swallowing hard as she tried to reason with him. "I think my hands can still be saved..."
"Qi Xiang," Yang Chi interrupted, his expression heavy. "Once we get back to the base, I swear I’ll have the best prosthetic made for you..."
Qi Xiang was speechless. ’...!’ ’Well, I’ll be. He’s already planning what kind of prosthetic to get ?’
Yang Chi held the dagger aloft, a pained expression on his face as he stared at... her hands.
Qi Xiang quickly hid her hands behind her back. "Listen to , I don’t think it’s that serious... You know my luck has always been pretty good... And besides, worst case, we still have Gu Xi!"
’As long as they could hold out until Gu Xi got back, Qi Xiang was sure she would have a solution.’
"Qi Xiang, I know you can’t bear to lose your hands..."
Just then, Qi Xiang’s gaze shot past Yang Chi, and she cried out in joyful surprise, "Gu Xi!"
—’Gu Xi was finally back! Her hands were saved!’
Qi Xiang breathed a silent sigh of relief... ’I’ve already lost my peerless beauty’s face; I absolutely cannot lose my hands too.’
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