After nearly two hours of jolting travel, the vehicle finally came to a halt.
A black cloth was tied over my face, leaving me completely blind to my surroundings. However, from the grumbling conversation of the two brutes beside me, I could vaguely gather that our destination was the Xiaohuan Mountain area in the southern suburbs.
The car door slid open, and a cool mountain breeze brushed against my face, carrying the faint, sweet scent of osmanthus.
A hand reached out and shoved me roughly. My hands were bound tightly behind my back, already numb from the constriction. Yet, the numerous whip wounds across my body flared with agonizing pain at his touch. My right leg, which had hit the ground first, was half-crippled and couldn't bear any weight. The moment my toes touched the earth, my body pitched forward. The jagged, gravelly ground scraped against my wounds, and for a moment, the pain was so intense that tears nearly stung my eyes.
I forced myself to remain silent. It had been five days since they captured me, and there wasn't a single patch of unmarred skin left on my body. I knew that crying out in pain would only give these bastards more satisfaction.
A large hand grabbed my hair from behind, wrenching me upward with brutal force. Then, a coolness swept over my face as the black blindfold was ripped away. Faint, dim flickers of light blurred before my eyes.
I blinked hard, but my vision remained clouded. This was due to a blood clot in my brain caused by the "interrogation" three days ago. Their leader was clearly dissatisfied with this development, as it meant many of his more visual intimidation tactics no longer worked on me.
"You really should be more polite to a lady." To my front left, a wickedly charming chuckle rang out. The sound sent a shiver of dread through my soul—Gu Xin, so it really was you.
A cold hand gently stroked my cheek. I tried to pull away, but the hand gripping my hair didn't loosen its hold in the slightest.
"Xi Xia," he called out, using my childhood nickname with feigned intimacy. "It’s a pity your eyes can’t see clearly. Otherwise, you’d be moved to tears by the grand farewell ceremony I’ve prepared for you."
I turned my face away, trying as hard as I could to distance myself from him.
"Xi Xia," he seemed to lean closer, "it breaks my heart to have to say goodbye like this."
I pulled away again, feeling a sharp tugging sensation behind my ear. The hand at the back of my head was forcing me to face the man speaking. Perhaps I should have thanked him; if he hadn't been holding me up by my hair, I wouldn't have been able to stand for so long.
"Just get it over with." I tried to speak louder, but my throat was hoarse. The voice that was once sweet now sounded like two pieces of coarse sandpaper rubbing together.
"Xi Xia, Xi Xia," the man in front of me said with a sigh of regret. "I truly am sorry. Back when we were in the Narcotics Squad, you were the friend I valued most..."
I cut him off. "You aren't fit to be my friend. Now, I am a cop, and you are a drug trafficker. That is the only relationship between us."
The man paused, then leaned in with a resentful huff. I caught the faint scent of alcohol on his breath and thought self-mockingly: *Killing me must be quite the occasion for him to celebrate.*
"I had no choice. Men die for wealth, just as birds die for food. I just wanted a better life." He seemed to let out a soft sigh. "Even if you hadn't confessed, we know you’ve already uncovered quite a lot. Even if I didn't do it, the Boss would have sent someone else. Your end was destined to be the same. Falling into my hands is actually a stroke of luck for you."
I said nothing. I knew he meant that if I had fallen into someone else's hands, I likely wouldn't have escaped being violated before death.
He paused, then added, "This is the most famous spot in Xiaohuan Mountain—Zangxin Cliff, the Cliff of Buried Hearts. It’s the quietest place around, where no one will disturb you."
As he finished, the brute behind me began dragging me forward. Every inch of muscle and bone in my body screamed in pain—pain, pain, pain. This endless agony made me suddenly feel that death might actually be a form of liberation.
Something cold and hard pressed firmly against my forehead.
My heart sank for a moment, then settled into a strange calm. Behind me, the faint sound of wind rose from a great depth, making me realize that a bottomless abyss truly lay beneath my feet. It seemed he hadn't lied to me this time; this was indeed the quietest place possible.
In the next second, it felt as though a sledgehammer had slammed into my forehead. My body fell backward involuntarily—and just as expected, I didn't hit the ground. Instead, I kept falling.
Gu Xin’s arrogant laughter echoed from above. "Xi Xia, hope you're born into a better family in your next life!"
The wind howled in my ears, growing fiercer by the second, and my body seemed to plummet faster and faster.
Recalling the scent of osmanthus I had smelled when I first got out of the car, I suddenly felt a pang of regret. It was already autumn. I hadn't even seen this year's osmanthus blooms, and now I was going to die so silently.
To think I would die in autumn—my favorite season.
Something warm and metallic slowly flowed into my mouth. I swallowed unconsciously, then swallowed again.
It tasted like... blood!
A jolt went through my heart, and I snapped my eyes open. A world of vibrant green rushed toward me, so bright that I immediately shut them again. I couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief, my heart swelling with sudden joy: *I’m not dead?! My eyes are fixed?!* I tried moving my limbs; the pain wasn't nearly as intense as before, though I had some superficial scrapes. Mostly, I just felt weak.
I took another deep breath. As long as I wasn't dead, as long as I could see and move... Gu Xin, we can keep playing this game. Let’s see who gets the last laugh...
"Hey!" A crisp, childish voice suddenly shouted in my ear. "If you're awake, stop playing dead!"
The voice came so abruptly it startled me. Opening my eyes, I saw a fierce little face hovering right above me, staring at me with wide, round eyes. My instinct was to shrink back, but then I thought: *I’m a proud Squad Leader of the Narcotics Division. How can I let a little brat like you scare me?*
I widened my eyes back at him. "Who's playing dead? I was injured."
My vocal cords hadn't recovered yet. Before I "died," my voice sounded like sandpaper; now, it sounded like a young, prepubescent girl. The sound sent a thick layer of goosebumps crawling over my skin.
The boy curled his lip, giving me a disdainful look as he muttered, "Little brat."
That comment actually made me chuckle. Such a small child, yet he already had such a chauvinistic streak. I looked at him with amusement. "How old are you? What grade are you in?"
The boy looked me up and down with a bewildered expression, then put his finger to his lips and let out a long, sharp whistle. Before long, an identical whistle echoed back from the distant forest.
Lying on the cold, damp ground was making me uncomfortable, so I struggled to sit up. The boy hesitated for a moment before reaching out to give me a hand. To my surprise, the first thing I saw upon sitting up were two corpses by my feet. One was a wild pheasant with a large hole in its neck—needless to say, the blood I had just drunk belonged to that poor creature. The other was a young woman. Even though her back was toward me, my experience with corpses told me at a single glance that she had been dead for at least twenty-four hours.
A sudden shock hit me. My first thought was: *Just how many people did Gu Xin kill here?*
I hurried over and forced the body to turn over. Not knowing my intent, the boy came over to help. But once the body was turned, I froze again.
The deceased was a girl, perhaps fifteen or sixteen years old, dressed in a strange long skirt and a short jacket. Her hand was still tightly clutching a silk bundle. When I opened it, I found only two or three sets of girl's clothing and a few pieces of gold and silver jewelry.
I rubbed my chin in confusion, muttering to myself, "This person... how could she have starved to death? This doesn't look like Gu Xin's handiwork at all."
The boy looked at me strangely. "You don't know her?"
I looked back at him, equally puzzled. "Of course I don't know her. Why would I?"
In the boy's eyes, which looked at me as if I were a monster, something uncomfortable began to brew: a mix of anger and blatant contempt.
This look left me somewhat baffled. What was wrong with me? I had just fallen off a cliff; how could I possibly know this teenage girl in her bizarre clothing?
The boy's lips began to tremble, and finally, he shot me a resentful glare. "I've never seen such a heartless Young Mistress. This maid clearly starved to death just to save you, and yet you won't even admit you know her! You... you..."
My head began to spin. Why was this kid pinning such a terrifying accusation on me out of nowhere?
"Hey!" I snapped, getting a bit angry.
"Don't 'hey' me!" His temper was even hotter than mine. "She's dressed like a maid, and you're dressed like a lady. The bundle she was carrying is full of clothes that only you could wear. Anyone with half a brain could figure out she must have given all the rations to you! You..."
I froze. Looking at the boy's fuming face, I suddenly realized something was very wrong.
I looked down at myself. I was wearing a pale blue silk skirt. Though it was dirty and torn in places, the craftsmanship and material were undoubtedly high-quality. The hem was embroidered with several delicate butterflies that looked ready to take flight. It was exquisite, and... and terrifying!
It really... it really was a skirt!
A sudden chill struck my heart. Ever since my dad sent me to judo classes when I was eight, I hadn't worn a single skirt. I looked down at my hands. They were incredibly delicate, with slender, graceful fingers. Most importantly, they were very, very small—only about two-thirds the size of my original palms.
A cold sensation slowly crept up my spine.
This wasn't my body. This wasn't Xi Xia's body at all.
I sat in the forest, staring at my hands in a daze. Had Xi Xia really died? Had her soul somehow found its way into this small, starved body, only to be revived by this boy with the blood of a wild pheasant?
Then... what about Xi Xia's original body?
The boy was frightened by my expression and took two steps back, stunned.
A dark, fierce thought suddenly surfaced in my mind: *Since Heaven has seen fit to give me a new skin, it means even if I stood right in front of Gu Xin, he wouldn't recognize me as Xi Xia, right? Doesn't that give me a massive advantage?*
I couldn't help but let out a couple of grim chuckles.
I looked up just as a man emerged from the dense forest. A large dog followed at his heels, panting with its tongue out. The boy who had saved me immediately threw himself into the rugged man's arms, crying out, "Father!"
The dog didn't scare me. I used to work with the narcotics unit's German Shepherds all the time; no matter how fierce a dog was, it wouldn't frighten me. But that man... he was wearing bizarre clothes with a side-fastening collar and a wide cloth belt around his waist. On his feet were crudely made animal-hide boots. Most shocking of all was his hair—it was pulled up into a strange topknot! This entire outfit looked exactly like something out of a period drama.
My head began to thrum. Trembling, I asked him, "What year is it?"
The man looked at me curiously and said, "The twelfth year of Tianmang."
I couldn't understand a single word he said. What did "the twelfth year of Tianmang" mean?
I stammered another question. "Where... where exactly is this place?"
A flicker of surprise crossed his eyes. "This area is under the jurisdiction of Rong City. From here to the capital, Zhongjing, it takes about a month's journey by fast horse."
Rong City? The Capital? Zhongjing? Fast horse? And... a month's journey?
I felt like I was about to lose my mind. "What capital? The capital of which country?"
The man stared at me blankly, a strange look glinting in his eyes. "You remember nothing?"
I didn't answer; I didn't know how to answer him.
"The Kingdom of Yantian," he said quietly. "We are all subjects of the Kingdom of Yantian."
My head suddenly felt light. This couldn't be real, could it?
I, the proud Squad Leader of the Narcotics Division, finally buckled under the weight of this sudden revelation. My body tilted back, my head struck a tree trunk, and I quite pathetically knocked myself unconscious.
***
