What’s... happening to me?

Panic hits first, like ice blooming under skin. Brightness knifes through my shut lids, a white spear stabbing my eyes. My head reels like a boat in storm-swell. It feels like I’ve been out forever, a winter of sleep. Did I die, like a candle snuffed in wind?

I force my eyes open, a slit of gold like a cat at noon. Figures in white coats drift past like gulls over foam. I try to reclaim my arm, but something clamps it like iron vines. It won’t budge, stone-still.

Can’t move? The last memories unwind slow, like film in smoke. So that’s it... they played me like a flute. I lower my gaze, and the table under me is cold as slate. Every joint is pinned by cunning locks, like traps on all my limbs.

Mmmph! Cloth seals my mouth, a damp gag like a band of winter moss. I have to get out, like a fox chewing free. Xiao Qianxue’s first instinct is to switch to combat mode, quick as a spark. Then let Bloodgod Claw turn this place into red confetti.

“Awake, are you?” An old man in glasses and a white coat looms, a mad scientist stitched from shadow and glare. His presence reeks like bleach and rust.

I ignore him, heat spiking like wildfire in dry grass. I try to trigger battle mode; once the system flips on, these normals are just meat paste, like fruit under a cleaver.

“Your ability’s cute, but it can be sealed,” he says, gloating like a crow on a wall. His smile wrinkles into a dried chrysanthemum.

“Combat mode sealed. Skills unavailable,” the system whispers, cold as sleet on the nape.

Impossible! Mine are skills, not some street-corner ability! My worldview cracks like thin ice. To others, it’s only a string of muffled whimpers, small as a trapped bird.

“Hard to believe, isn’t it?” His old face puckers, each line a withered petal. In my mind, my fist blooms like thunder and turns him into red mist. Mmmph, I keep whining, a kettle singing on low flame.

“Skill unseal in 12 hours, remaining,” the system chimes, a bell in fog. I go still, like a lake freezing over. Twelve hours from now, old man, you’re just ground meat, like bait tossed to crabs. My lips curl, and my golden eyes bloom scarlet, like winter berries.

“Hm?” The plot won’t follow his script, his gaze falters like a candle guttering. He barks, “Come! Begin the experiment!” His voice snaps like a whip.

Five minutes crawl by, each step outside a drum on a hollow bridge. Xiao Qianxue hears a bustle rolling closer, but her angle shows only the ceiling, a white sun that blinds.

“Doctor, are you sure about this?” A voice trembles like a string in wind.

“Doctor, this is at least three years, at worst dea—” The rest dies under a slap, loud as a plank on water.

“I called you to work, not to fart words,” the Doctor snarls, shaking his hand like shaking off mud. He turns and starts mounting machines, piece by piece, grumbling like a millstone.

The researchers bow to their tasks, heads down like rice under rain. I roll my eyes and scout the room, a fox peering from brush.

“Blood draw ready!” Metal arms drop from the ceiling, mantis limbs angling needles at my skin like stingers.

Damn it, I won’t let you! Fear bites first, then I clutch at strength, a spark under ash. I pour everything into my right hand, flood to a single point like a river into a gorge. Crack! The shackle snaps, bright as ice breaking, and I smash the rig above me into glittering scrap.

“Guards! Guards!” They stare, stunned like rabbits before a tiger. A girl this pretty and cute, yet strength like a storm in a teacup turned hurricane. “You’re next, old geezer!” I drive for the Doctor, a hawk stooping. Water wraps my hand mid-flight, a cold serpent that locks bone and tendon.

“Ouyang Si!” I lift a fraction, and there he stands at the door, a youth in a blue cloak, calm as a winter river.

“If you lie still, you suffer less,” he sighs, a breeze over dead leaves. He doesn’t loosen his hold; the water stays, a glove of the sea.

“A mere test subject, and you dare so loud!” the Doctor roars, fear hiding like a thorn. He snatches a syringe and rams it into me, fast as a wasp.

Mmmph! I watch the drug seep in, a cold dye in warm cloth. My body turns soft, cotton after rain, and my strength ebbs like a tide leaving black rock.

“This sedative will keep you from kicking up waves,” he spits, eyes like pins. He glares at my face, a porcelain mask, yet his gaze stays dry as sand.

His palm cracks across my cheek. Pa! Fire blooms there, hot as a brand. Mmm! My voice goes sharp, a reed under too much wind. Did he just hit me? I stare, eyes wide as moons.

“Tsk, that made me hurt to watch,” a researcher mutters, pity rising like mist. “No wonder the old man will die alone,” another adds, bitter as old tea.

The Doctor doesn’t care; rage beats in him like a drum. “You, bring her to the dungeon.” “Let her ‘have fun.’ Work her over, then bring her back.” “I need time to bolt on the new machine.”

Before I can steady my breath, burly men hoist me like a sack and haul me out. Ouyang Si sighs, then follows, a shadow trailing a cart.

In the dungeon, damp seeps like cave-breath. They hoist me up; fist-thick chains bite my wrists like cold snakes. My ankles take irons, heavy as millstones.

Mmm! I thrash, but only a small, clear clink answers, like glass in a breeze. Right now I’m just an ordinary girl, paper against rain. Scarlet in my eyes dims, a lone ember. My pale cheek swells red, a plum blossom struck by hail. Will these grunts lay hands on my body today?

“Don’t touch her body. Everything else, do as you like.” As they surge, Ouyang Si’s words fall like frost, and their boots freeze on stone. He leaves, cloak trailing like water.

I thought I was doomed to defilement. At his voice, I lift my head and watch his back, and gratitude flickers like a candle shielded by a hand.

“Damn, if we can’t touch her, what now?” one growls, hunger rattling like a chain.

“Who cares! I’m taking this cute thing tonight!” he barks, lust spilling like sour wine. Water orbs bloom around him, round as glass marbles.

“You can try,” Ouyang Si’s voice comes from the spheres, distant as thunder over hills. “You dare disobey me?”

“Mercy, sir! Mercy!” The harmless little globes can burst and turn him to chunks, like a watermill crushing pulp. The loudmouth almost drops to his knees, bones jelly.

The orbs vanish the next breath, popping like dew. No one questions Ouyang Si again; fear plants roots like bamboo. They know if they miss this chance, there won’t be a second in this life.

“Then we use other things. Bring the restraints and the instruments!” Their voices echo, cold as iron in rain.