Night pooled at a small-city corner, shopfronts lined one side like quiet tiles.

Dim streetlamps bled a faint life into the road, like ember glow.

Sparse passersby moved with heads lowered, eyes on the strip of lighted pavement.

The near-autumn chill nipped their sleeves, so coats tightened and steps hurried like scurrying leaves.

A white scrap rode the evening wind, fluttering across the street like a lost moth.

It wafted into an unlit alley where darkness pooled like cold ink, the path forgotten.

Confusion hit first, cold and raw, like a wave against stone.

Space warped with a ripple, and a blood-soaked, golden-haired girl staggered into the alley.

She braced herself against the wall; crimson seeped down, painting the black bricks like wilted camellias.

Her messy gold hair spilled to the ground like tangled straw; a cherry mouth tasted iron-sweet.

The bleeding at her lips had slowed, but the mouth still held that metallic sweetness.

Panic stirred before memory, a fog thick as smoke.

"What happened before? How did I end up here?" Xiao Qianxue scanned the alley.

Pain bit from every wound, and cold sweat slid from her brow like dew.

She forced her mind to claw back the thread of events, like fingers searching in ash.

The sting of defeat rose first, bitter as burned tea.

"I think the man in the blue cloak beat me." She remembered her last gamble.

He had commanded blood itself, streams jerking like puppets—could he bend any liquid to his will?

Pain shuddered through her, a tremor like winter passing under skin.

She knew she'd been too careless; she glanced at her plight and let a helpless smile tilt.

A man's voice drifted from the alley mouth, casual as a pebble tossed. "That paper flew in here."

Footsteps tapped closer, measuring the dark like a drum.

Fear clamped down first, tight as a vise. "System, are you there?" she asked into the dark.

Silence answered, heavy as a tomb; the steps kept coming.

"Combat mode!" the Little Loli refused to give up, but her body stayed unchanged, slack and cold.

A hollow laugh slipped out, thin as dry leaves. The System had gone silent; combat mode wouldn’t wake.

Wounds covered her like a map of thorns. Xiao Qianxue knew one more blow meant death.

If someone carried her off, she’d be driftwood on a torrent, unable to fight back.

Relief flickered like a candle. "Good… this is still here." She felt behind and drew a delicate dagger.

It was the very blade that had ended the driver who tried to harm the Little Loli.

She lowered it before her, ready to spring at whoever came.

Then doubt hit, heavy as a rock. "What am I thinking? With this body…"

A cough tore up iron-sweet again; blood slicked from her lips like a dark ribbon.

Resolve sank in, cold as moonlight. She turned the dagger toward her throat.

If anyone meant her harm, it was better to die by her own hand than be toyed with.

"There it is—the paper!" The voice sharpened, now barely ten paces away, a young man’s tone.

"Puh—" A mouthful of blood burst free at the worst moment, spattering like dark rain.

"Who’s there?" The young man’s attention snagged, pulled by the sound like a hook.

Frustration surged first, hot as steam. "Damn it…" Even thinking felt like wading through mud.

The hand holding the dagger weakened, fingers trembling like frost-bitten leaves.

"At least… at least let me die by my own hand!" she rasped to the night.

Surprise flickered before sight. "Wh—" A young man stepped into view, maybe twenty, college vibes all over him.

He didn’t look like a bad person; hope glimmered like dawn.

"Save…" Xiao Qianxue spent the last of her strength on that single word, then fell into darkness.

Anticipation buzzed first, like bees under the skin. I'm Lu Ke, nineteen, about to start college.

I couldn’t sleep from excitement, so I headed out to wander the nearby streets.

Luck nudged me—found a nice recruitment flyer on the road.

Then a weird gust, out of nowhere, whisked it into a dark alley like a teasing sprite.

I wasn’t planning to chase it, but a sudden urge for adventure rose like tide.

Exasperation tugged at me, half amused. "I’m a grown man, seriously." I shook my head and stepped into the black alley.

Moonlight dusted the entrance like powdered rice; it barely sketched the path ahead.

"Still too dark. Use the phone." I thumbed the flashlight on, and the world popped open like a stage.

A few steps in, I snagged the white flyer, but a cough floated from deeper inside.

It sounded like a girl, thin and brittle as dry reeds.

Curiosity led first, tugging me forward. I took a few more steps—and froze.

A golden-haired girl slumped at the corner wall, her face flawless under my beam like carved jade.

That wasn’t the point, though—

Blood and wounds covered her, red blooms all over white skin.

A delicate hand gripped a dagger, its tip leveled at me like a needle of frost.

Her arm trembled, tiny shakes like a sparrow in rain; in seconds she’d drop the blade.

She looked back at me; her eyes burned gold and red, like twin embers.

You only see eyes like that in anime, right? Not on a real street corner.

Urgency hit me first, sharp as a blade. "Sa—" Blood slid from her lips; after that single syllable, she went limp.

Her clothes were soaked through, original colors drowned under dark red.

My senses lit up like a struck gong; the only message was clear—save this girl.

I scooped her up, ignoring the blood slicking my arms like warm paint.

Whatever happened before didn’t matter; the flyer vanished somewhere without a second thought.

Her small body lay almost still in my arms, a feather with no wind.

If not for the faint breath I heard, I’d have wondered if she was still alive.

Relief moved first, brisk as a breeze. Good thing I’d driven tonight.

I slipped out of the alley, checked both sides for people, and ran for my parking spot.

I hit unlock on the remote, swung the rear door, and laid her gently on the back seat.

My clothes were soaked with her blood; the iron sting climbed into my nose, but none of that mattered.

I slid into the front, twisted the key, and dropped the pedal.

A blue Audi A5 sliced the street’s quiet like a blade, sprinting toward the road’s end.

I guided the car into the underground garage, scooped the girl, and hustled into the elevator.

"Beep." The door control chirped, and my front door swung open like a mouth.

I settled her on the couch, then sprinted to the storage room for the first-aid kit.

Her wounds were bad, but I didn’t panic; medicine is my field, after all.

Worry moved like shadows. "No idea what she went through to end up like this."

I soaked cotton in disinfectant, then tended each wound with care, stroke by trembling stroke.